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It’s so nice to see the girls hitting a stride with their careers. I can understand why their variety show would be such a hit, especially with someone as adorably clumsy as Haruka. At least the crowd was loving every moment of it.
Failure to obtain the penguin drum leads to a darker consequence I’m sure many weren’t expecting to see quite yet, especially if the series really is only halfway through its two-season run.
It’s interesting how everything around our usual cast of characters starts to fall apart just because the diary isn’t what it used to be anymore. Revelations about the past begin to surface, those being hunted still don’t know why they’re being hunted, and Ringo’s sudden change of heart in her plans to initiate Project M all begin to take us down a familiar train ride where destiny no longer makes clear sense anymore.
Because of Kanade’s injury and Subaru’s insistence that it was her fault for not protecting her master, Subaru is forced to stop being a butler. A series without our star butler? That was only acceptable in the beach episode some weeks ago, but she can’t give up now!
Then again, as long as Punyuru fills in the void, then I guess it’s okay.
This is another one of those shows I didn’t blog about for the summer season, yet still kept up with week-by-week anyway. And what better time to start talking about it than with the proper introduction of another one of our favorite forbidden book archivers: Archangel Raziel. Ready for some eye-patch moe? I sure am.
My wishful thinking from last week came true in the form of a rather touching and symbolic display of long-headed poppy blooming across the entire school rooftop. Who’d have thought Ayaka had a knack for large-scale logo designs.
Thanks to Hikari and Hibari’s Tokyo Sky Metro ads for efficiently summing up just about everything that happened this episode, we’re now left with the concept of how memories are just as important as the individual destinies some of the characters seem to be adamant at adhering to. Some use those memories to uphold the dreams of the past, and others use them as a means to an end. But if one’s destiny is already torn in half, how does one recover the pieces to keep said destiny alive?
Aoi’s appearance this week: mere flashback or a sign of what’s to come? As the story draws closer to its finale, lots of loose ends are tied and crystals shattered. Will either Kijima or Kagami ever prove themselves useful this late in the game? Did we really see Arma break character and shed some honest manly tears? Will Fei’s Darkstone transformation ever make its way into the hands of a skilled vinyl figure artist? And will Kenmi ever know the concept of self-restraint in his path to master Darkstone God-mode?
Pieces of the most recent puzzle are starting to come together with the confirmation of the creator of Angel Fix, the hottest underground drug to hit the streets of Shibuya. It’s only a matter of time before our NEET detectives either catch up to him and discover the truth behind last week’s circumstances, or he gets away and leaves the case open for good.
It sure isn’t easy being a parent, but it definitely helps to be surrounded by those who share similar circumstances. And like the loss of Rin’s two front teeth, every character moves on and realizes either what’s been laid before them or what must be done in order to make the precious time they’re given all the worthwhile for themselves and their loved ones.
After facing problems with tax evasion accusations that are probably true in hindsight, the Aiba Foundation is brought down by authorities and everything starts to hit the fan. If not for our wonderful team of maid soldiers and little miss trump-card Fei, I doubt the cast would have lived to survive past this point in time in the story.
We get a chance at connecting the (elevator wall) dots to Himari-alter’s origins through the helpful hand of penguin #3, as well as what this all has to do with the mysterious pink-haired man who seems to be fan of both Dalian and Victorique and their libraries of books.
Parental courage rather than Rin’s sickness is what the story seemed to focus on. There was quite a gap in the differences between Daikichi and Yukari in their capacity to nurse their loved ones back to good health. For his stature and good intent towards Rin all this time, he seemed frail and weak in his inability to properly react to her condition. At least one thing’s for sure: last episode’s family togetherness between the two main families did this episode well for how comfortable they seem in willingly reconvening at Daikichi’s place on a whim. Sure, Rin’s health was a good excuse to come over, but it’s that sort of comfort that is helping remind Daikichi that he needs to start picking up the slack and beginning conveying that same emotion to others, especially in front of an ailing Rin.
Dealing with nothing but curve balls from last week, we’re thrown another one this round with a healthy dose of Ayaka back story. We find out there’s more to that awkward smile of hers than meets the eye, as well as what it means to take a leap of faith in a direction impossible to turn back from.
(If you’re looking forward to this episode and haven’t seen it yet, I strongly suggest you hold off on reading this.)
For an episode that strayed from all of the serious business the past four weeks or so, the only question I have aside from a few that came to mind about this baseball-centric story is this: just where exactly were the bacon-wrapped hot dogs?
Having Kouki’s mom over for dinner while Kouki is forced to borrow Rin’s clothes pretty much sums up how much closer together these two families are becoming. And what better timing for some family bonding than during a rather rough typhoon.
The truth behind any story can easily be uncovered if you just let it unfold as and when it should. It’s a hard lesson Renji had to learn before he found out what really happened to Hison, as well as why Soichirou never bothered telling him. At least Renji got a couple of new shirts out of all the trouble.
This show hasn’t been on my blog reel, but I couldn’t stop myself from not mentioning this particular episode. Ami and Mami finally get their time to shine together this week as opposed to solely being in their respective idol groups, and the results of their Pheonix Wright interrogations around the alleged pudding disappearance from the 765 Pro office refrigerator comes to a fantastic close.
(Spoilers after the jump, so don’t read this if you’re still looking forward to watching it!)
This week’s combination post of the two latest installments of Mawaru Penguindrum focuses on the drastic changes of Ringo’s destiny into what looks to be the climax of all of the things gone in the opposite direction. So what do you do when fate winds up never going your way and you’re forced to accept a harsher reality than planned?
What a week! As if the writers thought last week’s dualism was a great idea to execute, they do it once again this episode but with a strict focus on Masako. The story came together really well to weave her character into someone more emotionally complicated than her initial sweets-loving first appearance was made out to be. All that’s left is to see how long she can keep up with the choice she made and live with it.
We already know how ‘passionate’ Ringo is for sticking to destiny, but a huge curve ball in the story gets thrown when a mysteriously armed female with a memory-erasing slingshot happens to mention her intent at initiating the same collaboration that Ringo is ultimately after: Project M. Just how similar or dissimilar both instances of the project are is still up in the air, but at least we now have what seems like a solid antagonist and his/her pawn to make things worse for our beloved Takakura siblings.
Nakuru’s thumbs-up for Subaru’s Punyuru’s borrowed glasses look pretty much sums up this routine beach episode. At least Kanade had the actual decency to downplay Subaru’s gender properly by getting everyone to think it’s Subaru’s female cousin from a not too distant town just stopping by for the ocean breeze.
As Alice reveals, cash flow has an interesting way of revealing what one’s true intentions are. Money can be used for both good and bad things, to bring wealth to the less fortunate, or to cover up what the public shouldn’t know about. In the case of the two founders of the Hirasaka Group, money gets mixed with blood, which leads us further into a gang of a mess that only a mysterious money trail five years ago can now correct. And it could cost more than a few lives to resolve the situation.
After another one of Hellbrick’s mishaps from not being properly glued back together by Arma, Ruri takes it upon herself to seize the situation and take Arma with her to find the piece of stone necessary to fix Hellbrick once and for all. Little does Arma know of Ms. Aiba’s true intentions hidden behind that ominous, black ‘Aiba Foundation’ portfolio containing a written contract to bind the two’s efforts together by way of legalities. Necessary? Only because Ruri and Arma probably have the worst communication skills ever. And painfully enough, an entire episode was dedicated to highlighting exactly that. At least it’s not a magical girl contract.
I was either going to go with Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” or the Beatles’ “Carry That Weight” regarding Haruko’s introspection about her marriage and family. Looks like the infamous Cowboy Bebop reference won, along with that monstrous arm of strength Haruko displayed. If Daikichi lifts enough heavy boxes of garments and other textiles at work throughout the week, why did he struggle to lift a single purse?
