Mieruko-chan 11 gives us an unexpected twist. We see a flashback to Zen’s early life and his psychotic, controlling mother, and the point where it looks like he’s going to kill his first cat from all the guilt and pressure, then to now, where Miko is so desperate to get Zen out of the picture, mainly for Hana’s sake, that she follows Zen around, hoping to catch him abusing cats. In a confrontation Zen … risks his life to save a cat that Miko was trying to protect. Another flashback to young Zen secretly adopting a cat until it’s discovered and killed by his mother. And we begin to see who the big ghoul now haunting Zen actually is. So, Zen is actually a good guy who rescues cats and hands them over to Satorou, his good-hearted old friend, now a vet. It’s well done, allowing us eventually make a connection to the similarities between the bad mother and the ghoul. However, the blood on his hands that the landlady saw, what was that from? And what about the scary cat-lover? In the end Miko uses the final shrine-spirit favor to destroy the mother-ghoul, well-used. And I guess next week is a wrapping-up.
Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu 11 sends Lev up into space, and down safely. Unlike Irina’s flight, this one has camera crews all over, even though the news of the launch is hidden until he’s actually in space. And when he lands safely, he’s the new glory-boy of the empire. But we all figured this would happen. What concerns us is what will happen to Irina, now that she’s disposable. There’s a great scene where a cheering throng in the streets wakes her up. Anya breathless tells her the good news. She races to the roof, in blinded by broad daylight, and hears a report on Lev’s comments–they are all her comments to him, her reports of the earth in a blue veil, and then …
The private message sent, the celebrations continuing and Lev trying to write a speech, it’s time for reality to set in. Anya is being transferred out, Lyudmila reminds Lev that his new responsibilities mean discarding many things, it all sounds pretty bad for Irina. However, I have some hope. I don’t think whatever Lev is going to say in his speech is going to mean much–he may be a major now but he’s still at the whims of others. But Anya, lapsing into goofy anime character mode again, seems to have a scheme or two, and there’s the premier and Lyudmila, with Irina’s dossier on the desk, planning to shock the world. They can’t do that with a test subject who has been a secret up to now. I think the final episode is going to have a few surprises for us.
More catching up … Senpai ga Uzai 9 is your typical beach episode, and you can imagine the situations if you know the characters. Futaba gets jealous of Sakurai and Natsumi’s busts, the latter also distracting Kazama, to Sakurai’s annoyance. Yuta’s there too, bonding a little with Natsumi and developing his crush, though it’s more of a “big sister I never had” kind of thing, though come to think of it, he already has a big sister. Natsumi and Sakurai have fun teasing him. Takeda teaches Futaba how to swim, they bury Takeda in sand, set off fireworks, play volleyball, have a big dinner, etc etc. As for the romances, nothing much happens. Takeda considers Futaba his hardworking kouhai, and Sakurai and Kazama do a bit of flirting, but even an indirect kiss is too much, though Sakurai thinks Kazama’s refusal is cute. So, a pleasant episode but not much more than that.
I suppose the theme of ep10 is “diet and exercise.” Sakurai goes on a diet but doesn’t want Kazama to know. I don’t get it. Then a bunch get together to play basketball, Yuta wanting to improve. Again, you can imagine the situations, well, at least tiny Futaba trying to defend huge Takeda. Kazama and Natsumi have an intense duel. Takeda dunks, and Futaba and Yuta are not much help. My favorite bits, however, involve Sakurai’s cute grumps because she can’t have Kazama to herself. Really, this is the only romance in the series worth watching, an obvious couple who are still getting their nerves up. I just hope it gets a little further before the series ends. As for Futaba and Takeda, not going to happen. Oh, an amusing bit with Tsukishiro challenging Takeda to a steamed bun eating competition. Really, I’d like it if she was more involved in the series.
Takt op. Destiny ramps up to the big finale nicely, but it’s also absurd. We start with Lotte suggesting to Anna that they put Takt and Destiny into cryogenic sleep to keep them alive until she can find a cure, but Sagan, acting like he’s putting on a pot of coffee, impales his hand on a purple crystal, which starts to grow, and soon there are monsters all over the place. Takt and Destiny rush over to the Symphonia complex while the two women try to find a way out. There are little skirmishes, Titan shows up, and so does Walkure. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of her. Good, lots of allies!
But then, everyone reunited, Takt announces he and Destiny will take on Sagan alone. Not only that, Walkure is knocked unconscious because she’s yelling too much. C’mon, that’s what Walkure does! Anyway, the two walk off to face Sagan, leaving Titan and Walkure, two capable fighters who are still healthy, behind. Meanwhle Takt keeps collapsing. Oh, he gives a speech about preserving music and protecting those he loves, but it’s still no reason to go alone. The only response is a kiss from Anna (!). Well, off they go, soon confronted by Hell and Heaven, who skewer and melt themselves to become a super-musicart, I assume, called Orpheus. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. So we’ll have a raging battle of sorts next week, and maybe some answers that probably won’t make sense.
Shin no Nakama, however, makes the least sense. Most of the episode is people finding other people or searching for them. And we have two Danans. The real one, who hooks up with Red, had his hand bitten off by, er, Shisandan the demon, and the other, who is helping out Ares (who’s getting crazier and crazier) is Shisandan himself, who gained the power to mimic Danan when he ate the hand, the consequence being we have two of them and for a while I couldn’t figure out why Danan is with both Red and Ares. Then there’s Ruti’s drug-taking. At least that’s cleared up since Tisse does the sensible thing and tells Red and Rit about it. So they’re off to find Godwin for who knows what reason, while Ares and Shisandan/Danan are looking for Red. The other party members, Albert and Yarandrala are around too but they’re just eavesdropping for now. Oh, and let’s not forget Bui, who forms a team with Ares to find a relic of the First Hero after Ruti tells Ares, rather violently, to piss off. First Hero relic? I seriously think this show is just throwing stuff in to keep the story, whatever it is, moving along. Two episodes to clear this all up.
Too Old for Anime 