lathspel

I had forgotten that Susan thought Finn could breathe under water. Or, maybe she can hold her breath a long time? That doesn't require her to be a fish person ;) . In this ep., Susan and her compatriots made me think of Josie and the Pussycats. Probably it was the animal themed hats.

I really enjoyed this episode - call it "Chakra 201" (because we already had the 100 level classes). And even though there wasn't a lot of dramatic tension (by which I mean ominous music plus slow establishing shots or reaction shots of the faces of the Naruto crew), I thought it was watchable all the way through. Naruto must be pretty dense to not have noticed that he can remember what his shadow clones experience. Or maybe they have never gotten that far away from him before? I keep wondering if a shadow clone has any sense of self - do they care that they are about to go away? It doesn't seem like it.

Rossiu is all about risk mitigation (my usual point of view), while Bro, Simon, and apparently now Viral are maximizes (as I suspect LordGenome was). This show can layer on the awesome and improbable about as well as any show since FLCL - and now that I get to watch KLK the same night, it's like a double scoop.

The big reveal is that Susan appears to be human under her hat, unlike the other underground villagers. But she has some kind of skull plate / cyborg deal - maybe resulting in both her immense strength and halting speech? I like when Adventure Time explores the relics of the time before the Mushroom War. I wish so many episodes did not involve tearing them up. I guess the larger message is about the young not being shackled to the bad old ways, but it's sometimes laid on a little thick.

I haven't seen that they've mentioned the new lineup yet, sorry. I'm really liking Kill la Kill so far - enough that I watched a 15 minute video about how amazing just the first scene was. It's a bit formulaic but beautifully so. It's not a surprise that it's from the team behind Gurren Lagann, another straightforward 100% guilty pleasure.

I love the continued Usopp side gags: "Give us back our Usopp!" "What, you were just with him!" Also - looks like Lucci is angling for a rematch with Luffy, or else wants something to hold over Spandam's head.

I saw on Toonami's tumblr that Sword Art Online season two will start on March 21.

I wish I'd had a better look at the stuff on the ceiling. Lemon kingdom looked reasonably stable for a change, but Matthew's deal with the second Age of Terror seemed ominous.

Blonde kid and bunny are going to be our lucky mascots, I can see. I enjoyed Nami's "what, this key?" deal after escaping from hair-tentacle dude. This was our episode for veiled sexual metaphors, it seems.

So Sasuke just showed up to announce his motivation is (still) his brother, then flames away? Also - the fashions that Orochimaru prescribe to his minions make them look really bulgy around the middle - not what you'd expect for a snake guy. Only Kabuto looks like he could move fast if he wants to, and of course he's the brains so seldom should have to.

The comet storyline has been some pretty solid continuity for this show. I'm enjoying it more than the first part of the season.

I like that the hospital and the prison turrets both had a robot face thing going on. And we finish with Yoko and the best entrance line ever.

So why does Jabra's hair grow when he changes forms? I guess it's the same way that Kaku's clothes stretch. It's interesting that Devil Fruit animal powers can go "too far" - wonder if we're going to see more of those.

Needs more Shore Leave, and Pete White was sorely missed. But other than that, it was perfect.

So many great references - for example, the elephant at the end was a giant stone Tree Trunks. Maybe a clue that she's immune to the Ice King's powers somehow?

Tentacle LordGenome is appropriately creepy, while anti-spiral Nia no longer has cheerful pastel colored eyes. (She kind of had an anti-magical-girl transformation too.) I'm still really liking the design of season two. This episode crammed in a fair amount of exposition, really, without making it too obvious. Simon really should've kept an eye on Rossiu's brooding tendencies over the last seven years, but I suppose he's not that kind of boss. (And Rossiu was older to begin with, I guess.) A good reason not to keep the same leader in wartime and peace, maybe - the older guy who just had a baby might have been a better choice.

Exactly - if I were CP9, I'd be looking for leverage over Franky to get him to recreate the plans. I was surprised that somebody fast, like Kalifa, didn't try to grab them. Of course, Kaku had a chance to see about half.... I didn't mind the retcon as long as we're finally moving forward. Just don't milk the "Robin wants to live!" any more - with the constant repetition, we're moving well past pathos into near comedic waters.

If I were going to send out a ninja assassin, I probably would have them memorize the faces, rather than sending them off with a book. This particular plot device is so thin, I can read through it.

I like the post timeskip - everyone grew up kind of like I expected. Feels like a good second half to the show.

I don't mind the filler that much, since I didn't know a lot of the back story, but if I see that shot where Luffy jumps them all off the tower again, I'll scream. It's ok to just barely move the current timeline forward, but quit looping the same two minutes of it! (Next Saturday: sound of screaming.)

Kabuto's fight to kill all the wasps was quite entertaining (in fact, that whole sequence was beautifully done), but it made me think he's just really allergic and forgot his epi-pen. Or, they are Naraku's poisonous insects.... Naruto's cherry-picked flashbacks convinced me that he thinks he has a bond with Sasuke, at least. I suppose boundless optimism defines Naruto, after all.

I really thought it was that, for a minute.

Bah, clip show - but with a strange written narration factor? That's new. I have to say I skipped almost all of it. I resisted the temptation to look for the fan service, if it was in there.

...and we're back, with another fast paced episode. It feels like we're trying to fit two or three seasons of stuff into one last season here, and the writing (such as Inuyasha has) is suffering. For example, we hear a lot about Ryujin and his scales before we see him (as far as I can remember anyway). From my other nerd pastime, M:tG, I expected Ryujin to be a dragon.

I was assuming there was some bonding in the parts of Naruto that I haven't seen, but I guess not.