NANA 19

Im getting into a bit of a daft habit with this series. I know its rubbish but I always look forward to watching it and drinking a cold beer at the same time. Its a kind of pavlovian conditioning which I have accidently got stuck into by no fault but my own. Its soo nice to have a nicely chilled Taiwan beer in this smothering heat and it help me to forget that this series is actually a big bag of fluffy nonsense. This one brings us almost to the end of where the live action movie vuts off, as Ren and Nana are together and they Hachiko meets Takumi. It seems though that as this is folling the manga its going to be a very long time before it ends, 51 episodes at least if not continuous. Go on, have some kind of beverage, sit back and enjoy this weeks episode, just let your brain shut off completely, theres no need for such things here...

School Rumble 20 - 21

Whats happening to School Rumble, it seems they have really run out of plotlines and are stuck with these ridiculous side stories that go all over the shop. Not to say it isnt still really funny, but some of the references were so bizarre that I kind of felt left out of the loop. I hope there is some kind of series resolution after this, not that there is some giant arc which needs settling, but palming off content even for comedy effect is still palming off content. Most of the parodies are follow ups from the first series, such as the Magical Mai cartoon (a bit like sailor moon) and the Dojibiron series (like Magiranger). Neverthess I want to see normal episodes again!

EP 20 in 3 Parts







EP 21 in 3 Parts

School Rumble 19

This episode is bookended by the captain of the fishing boat which took in Harima during his apathetic withdrawal from society back in the first season. As the intertitiles explain it is Christmas now and the manga master sea dog hasnt forgotten about his young apprentice even now in his darkest hour. he calls out to harima "Boy!" "Master" Harima replys miles away spralled out on his carpet. And Harima finally gets his manga finished during this episode even if his persuit of Tenma means that he fails to hand it in on time.

Tenma is no more aware of his affections now than she was at the very start but his perseverance conitnues without wavering. Realising he has to make a choice between a future as an artist and his persuit of his true love he races to the publishers office throught the snow, and air, on a giant curry dish which Tenma had hand crafted for Kurasuma-Kun. When she catched up with him she Harima has smashed the plate to pieces. In a last desperate gesture of her affection Tenma places the curry on a broken shard of the huge plate and hands it to Kurasuma. She then runs away in tears. Having been rejected by his publisher Harima in full Santa outfit chases after Tenma out into the hall where she is sobbing in a closet. In an act of desperation Harima throws his arms around her and tells her sorry.For a moment it seems like this may be a turning point but she eventually realises what is happening and lets out a loud scream. In the end the status quo is returned as Tenma offers Harima her friendship once again which Harima accepts.

A good episode and as is seems to be the end of the story arc which has been running for a few episodes now, I expect madcap irrelavance next week.

Heres The Episode in three parts, enjoy!

Nana 17

These things are getting put out really slowly nowadays so I know Im behind. This episode brings us up to the point of the first Trapnest concert. A nice little flashback to the creation of the Black stones fills in some of the back story even if this series is beginning to look more and more like one big cigarette comericial.

Parts 1, 2 and 3 Courtesty of someone on Youtube

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi 11-14

I finally got around to finishing this series today just as I see there are plans for a second series in the pipeline. The last few episodes were brilliant, stylistically executed and entertaining all the way through. It really feels like the series never aimed for any particular goal but in the end I felt like they had said everything they had needed to say. The character design, the animation and humour of this series is consistantly exquisite and I would recomend it to anyone who enjoys FLCL or School Rumble or just really slick looking anime. I especially enjoyed the Battle of the Bands performance which Haruhi pulls off at the last minute whilst Kyon-kun watched in amazement, a great turning point in their relationship I felt. So if you get a chance get this downloaded, its only 14 episodes but a great achievment nonetheless.

Bleach 93

I harbour nothing but utter contempt for these filler episodes, this one overstepped the line of what constitutes an episode of Bleach. Rukia's head looks like a Halloween pumpkin now that the animation has reached an all time low. The whole episode was a shockingly irrelevant fight scene with no imagination or motivation. I hated it

Bleach 92

So the Bounto are in soul society and they are sucking up spirit energy and generally making a nuicance of themselves. This episode was filler with more pointless background characters not fighting real people but spherical floating objects again, just like the mosqitos from before but more pointless. Bah, whats the point.

School Rumble Ni Gakki 17

This episode picks up right where 16 left off with Harima and Eri-chan fleeing the persistatnt butler. When Harima's motorbike gets a flat tire the pair are forced to hide out in a mountain temple. At the same time, a case of mistaken identity leads to the kidnapping of Tenma which further inspires Harima to put a stop to the engaegment. For a school rumble episode this was more serious that usual and focused on Eri's family and her experiences of school life. Im not sure whether this is a good direction for the series to take but It was enjoyable nontheless. The best part of the episode for me came at the very end when they flashback to Hanai fighting one of Harima's pets, a six foot racoon in the temple. The racoon gives hanai a beating and then turns to him and says "kyuu", Hanai is blindsided and exclaims "lovely!" in English which gives the racoon the chance to perform the finishing blow.

Bleach 91

So Ishida is back into the fray in this episode. Ichigo goes Bankai after a little chat with his inner Zangetsu and has another in a long line of pointless fights with the Bounto. What ultimately becomes of the story is a shift back to soul society which to me reeks of non manga material. How many episodes are they going to make of this arc if they are taking it back to Soul Society again? It was nice to see the group back togther including Ishida who was one of my personal favourite charcters back when Bleach was good. His new outfit looks rubbish though, not a touch on his handmade cape and I dont like the way they cant decide whether or not Ishida has some/all or none of his powers back now. This plotline completely ruins Ishida's power regaining plotline from the manga, one which I was really looking forward to seeing on screen.

There is a funny bit in the episode where Ichigo is talking to himself about his sword and walking away from Kariya. Kariya overhears ichigo saying Zangetsu and he repeats it, something to the effect of "Zangetsu, so that's your swords name?". To which Ichigo keeps walking a few steps, pauses and grumbles, "Shut up". Its kind of how I felt about the Bounto too, just stop talking rubbish and get killed already.

So the end of this episode, no preview strangely, leaves us in Soul Society where the Bounto, now feeding off the abundant spirit energy crusie across the sky with the intention of doing something to someone and then.... oh who cares....