Well, as the title says I’m just about to head on vacation. In fact as I’m writing this, at 2am, I’m hours away from having to leave for the airport, having yet to pack anything. I’m going with my family to Washington D.C. for a whole week over the 4th of July. I have no idea what we’ll actually do other than just visit museums, but it at least should be a good change of pace from normal boring stuff that happens.

I plan to bring with me on my trip my small little Miyazaki Nodoka plush. That way I can take some pictures of her at some of the sights. Kind of like that one commercial with the gnome… Anyways, along with Nodoka I’m planning on bringing along my two Shugo Charas. Oh yes, I have my own Shugo Charas. No, I don’t mean pluses of existing Shugo Chara characters; I mean I made my own Shugo Charas, Xebek and Xeby. They’re coming along for the ride as well. Look forward to pictures of them at some of the sites as well. No…..I don’t think I’m crazy…

In order to prepare myself for the trip to D.C. I’ve been playing a lot of Fallout 3. My hotel is actually within the downtown D.C. area, just blocked by ruble so it’s not in the game, but by location it is. I’ve done this so that I can be prepared and know where the Super Mutants are going to ambush me as I’m walking around. Maybe if I crouch while walking no one will see me. Aside from that I hope playing has helped ingrain the area and dangers of the Capital Wasteland into my head. Let’s just hope my three followers, Nodoka and my Shugo Charas can make it though fine as well.

I will have another post upon my return. I have internet in my hotel so I may do an occasional post on some series running, like normal, but with more of a delay. Until then I’ll probably make updates frequently on my twitter, twitter name of course being: Xebek.

Hughes digs into the military and as a consequence must fight for his very life.

Impressions:

RIP Hughes. I knew this was coming from the first time around and yet it was still sad to see him go down here. He was up against monsters there is just no question about it. We’re talking about guys that could send Scar running. Hughes was a pretty amazing guy, but really without being an alchemist or something extraordinary he didn’t stand a chance here. That was a pretty good throw into Lust’s head and he could have gotten a shot at Envy if that mimic ability hadn’t been used. Have to give him credit for not quitting even though the odds were stacked against him. He was smart enough to figure some things out, but not powerful enough to endure.

Onto another subject. Just what the heck was that girl in the office thinking!? I mean she bloody sees Hughes walk in injured trailing blood behind him and she just sits there in shock? No calling for help or anything? Isn’t the first reaction of any person to tell someone? Security, medical crews, do something! That bloody woman should be fired. Who is she to be crying after the fact when being asked questions? It’s partly her fault that he died.

It was kind of strange to move to the Elric Brothers and Winry after seeing Hughes die like that. Of course maybe it was ended to be a strange feeling. The main characters are having a good time and don’t even know that someone they care about has been killed. It will definitely hurt when they get the news. Even if they were there it doesn’t mean the result would have been any different. In fact they all could have been killed.

I can’t wait to see Mustang go after those guys. The man is definitely pissed and will burn anyone who tries to stop him from finding out who killed his friend. It was a touching scene at the funeral with him crying and saying it was raining. There are probably only a few people that Mustang truly cares about in that world and one of them was just killed. Of course to find out who was behind this he’ll need to dig deep into things and will most likely draw fire onto himself.

In the end I feel bad for Elicia and her mother. It’s not a safe occupation but you can never be fully prepared to find out a loved one was gone. Seeing Elicia at the burial was a pretty heartbreaking thing to see. There will be vegence for that girl’s loss that’s for sure

Hanyuu’s past is revealed and Rika must choose the world that she desires.

Impressions:

Well I must say the ending of this arc wasn’t exactly what I had expected. After tossing Rika into that strange world they pretty much spent the first half of this episode dealing with Hanyuu’s past and emphasizing the importance of choices. The other half was Rika being back in the world we started this arc off in and seeing what Rika learned from the experience.

Oddly enough I was expecting to see Rika go after her mother if that ended up being her choice. Of course it’s much easier to accomplish than going after Shion was in one of the previous worlds. In this case could just kill the woman in her sleep and end it simply. But after finding out this was a dream shown by Hanyuu then I guess the important thing was the fact that Rika made a choice. No matter how good that world is for some people it can’t be the world she really wanted. Maybe Rena had it right in comparing it to flowers grown in a greenhouse to those in the wild. Rika was a wild flower and just couldn’t be fully satisfied living in that other world.

I agree that the world that they won would have the most worth for Rika. For a long time previously she had been waiting for that perfect world that would lead to a victory. But what they learned was the value of struggling and winning their own futures. Random chance wasn’t going to hand them the future, what was important was that they stood up and took hold of their own futures. Of course everyone is biased by their own experiences. They can see value in how they suffered through the dark points in their lives. While the Keiichi in that dream might have been happy the other Keiichi had endured the pain and grown in a different direction. Which one is better really can be left to personal opinion, but there is nothing wrong with how he turned out in the end. He became a key piece that could create miracles after all, haha.

It was interesting to learn about Hanyuu and her past. Her origins really hadn’t been something I thought much about. Since I was more focused on the characters surviving that can probably be forgiven. Dying and being killed by her daughter were things she did after careful consideration. Something to be learned from this is respecting that people make their own choices. While we may not agree with them, we can’t just say they made those choices lightly. All people can do is live and make the best choices they can.

Overall this was a pretty tough situation for Rika. Having to choose to abandon the world they fought so desperately for or to destroy that innocent world where her friends hadn’t suffered. I’m not sure what to think of Hanyuu even though I understand her thoughts. Rika had given up on her family and distanced herself from them. Her focus was on surviving and saving her firends. Her family were just seen as people who died and weren’t a focus to be saved. She went back to the point where they were alive many times and just somewhere along the way lost her bond to them.

I’m just not sure if it’s more comforting to know this event was a dream created by Hanyuu to teach Rika a lesson or not. If it was just a twist of fate there would be no blame, but instead the difficulties endured can be pointed at Hanyuu. In the end it worked out and Rika has grown as a result. She has accepted herself as part of that world and can remove herself as a being who can just restart when bad things happen. It’s her life now and she has to live it in that way. But it just makes me feel a little mixed that things were done in this way just to make Rika learn this. Maybe because the bond between Rika and Hanyuu is so tight they can accept what happened.

This was a pretty well done arc to add to the conclusion of Kai. The group have won their future and now have to live. Whatever happens their futures belong to them now. How long they live doesn’t matter. There will be no more chances to try again. I think this was a good addition and helped to develop Rika’s character further which is fine by me since I really liked her character.

The OVA isn’t quite over yet though. Looks like there will be another less serious episode like how Rei got started. Looking forward to it.

Kuro and Keita try and defeat Twinrova without the Mirror Shield.

Impressions:

I thought this fight was pretty good. I’m glad they managed to beat Twinrova without the Mirror Shield. I was actually a bit surprised, as I thought the whole thing would take more episodes to finish. I kept thinking throughout this one though that it’ll be pretty boring to stretch out this fight into any more episodes, and turns out they won’t

I’m really not sure what to expect from the next episode. I’m actually a bit worried. The ending to this episode, although it left some things up to the imagination like where certain relationships may be headed, like Akane and Keita, it was still a relatively good ending for the overall plot of the series. It wasn’t all happy-go-lucky, but it was kind of bittersweet. They defeated the bad guy but still had to make a sacrifice in the end of Kuro not being around her new found friends. I thought it was good. I’m not saying I would hate it if some things were slightly different but I think that it definitely has the potential to be a lot worse if they screw things up too much with this next episode. Throughout watching the whole thing I thought this would be the last one just because it seemed to be wrapping up, so again, I really don’t know what to expect from this next one.

Riannon is captured by Gaius when she is out picking flowers.

Impressions:

Disclaimer: I don’t feel like pretending I don’t know what is going to happen, and writing a section without spoilers and then one with them, as I’ve played the game. This post will contain massive spoilers to the whole plot. If you don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read on. I won’t spoil anything simply for the sake of spoiling it, no needless spoilers, but they will be there. Final warning.

Eh, this episode wasn’t horrible. It did after all have an interesting focus on Riannon’s views towards the empire, how she just treated them like people and believed in the power of hope, so on and so forth. However this episode really was mostly new content and I’m quite scared of any new content that wasn’t in the original game, because the original game was great and deviating from that could mess things up.

I’m also, again, worried about how they are handling Taliesin. They featured him in this episode, which may seem good since they are giving him attention, but since this episode is pretty much content that wasn’t in the original game, his presence means it’s possible for his story to get kind of skewed, and I definitely don’t want that. So far it hasn’t changed too much, as in the original game Taliesin originally forms an alliance with Gaius to avoid fighting for his people, which means he doesn’t help Arawn at first. I just hope things don’t change too much. It’s not looking horrible now, but it may turn out as such.

I felt that I just had to say something about the latest resurgence of Trap Hayate. Although obviously not the first appearance of him, it still is hilarious and just…interesting to watch when he makes an appearance like this. However not only did he just appear for five seconds or so like in previous episodes, this whole couple episode arc is focused on him and being in trap mode which is quite unexpected, but again very….interesting.

I think one of the best parts of Hayate going into trap mode is just the reactions for pretty much very character that sees him. Everyone pretty much seems to agree he look good like that and want him to stay that way. I loved the way Nagi was just shaking telling Maria to make sure she tells Hayate that she is fine with Hayate being dressed like that. And of course Maria who is usually quite reserved gets very flustered at the site of Trap Hayate, which is fun to see. I’m sure the same response wouldn’t be had with anyone who cross-dresses, but for Hayate’s character it seems to go perfectly. There have already been several quotes this season, “What are you, a girl?” from various characters regarding Hayate’s normal look and actions, so I guess Trap Hayate fits perfectly. In any event, it makes for a very interesting episode.

With the semi recent airing of the second new Haruhi episode I figured I would take a quick moment to address the order of the new episodes airing, as it can get confusing. I also want to just state how I will be titling the episodes that I do to avoid any confusion.

First off, I will be naming the episodes “Suzumiya Haruhi II - ## - (2009 - ##)

This simply means the first number there will be the airing order of new episodes; so far we only have 01 and 02. In parenthesis, I’ll have the 2009 collaboration season’s airing order. The first one was of course 08, and the more recent one was 12.

My reasoning behind this is that the new episodes can in a way be considered their own season, as they are after all the first new episodes in over several years. However they are also part of the grand collection of episodes, hence the 2009 listing. I hope this is clear to everyone.

I do want to share, as I found it useful, a list of all episodes in the 2009 run, credit to Sanaku Complex where I got the list, where it was taken from 2ch.

Air Date / Episode # / Name
04/02 第01話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱１ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1
04/09 第02話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱２ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2
04/16 第03話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱３ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3
04/23 第04話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱４ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4
04/30 第05話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱５ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5
05/07 第06話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱６ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 6
05/14 第07話 涼宮ハルヒの退屈 / The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
05/21 第08話 笹の葉ラプソディ　 新作 / Bamboo Rhapsody (NEW)
05/28 第09話 ミステリックサイン / Mystérique Sign
06/04 第10話 孤島症候群（前編）/　 Remote Island Syndrome (Part 1)
06/11 第11話 孤島症候群（後編） / Remote Island Syndrome (Part 2)
06/18 第12話 エンドレスエイト　新作 ←ここまで来た / Endless Eight (NEW)
06/25 第13話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息１　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (NEW)
07/02 第14話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息２　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (NEW)
07/09 第15話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息３　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (NEW)
07/16 第16話 朝比奈ミクルの冒険 Episode00 / The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
07/23 第17話 ライブアライブ / Live Alive
07/30 第18話 射手座の日 / The Day of Sagittarius
08/07 第19話 サムデイ イン ザ レイン / Someday in the Rain
08/14 第20話 涼宮ハルヒの消失１　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1 (NEW)
08/21 第21話 涼宮ハルヒの消失２　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2 (NEW)
08/28 第22話 涼宮ハルヒの消失３　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3 (NEW)
09/03 第23話 涼宮ハルヒの消失４　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4 (NEW)
09/10 第24話 ヒトメボレLOVERS　新作 / Charmed at First Sight Lover (NEW)
09/17 第25話 雪山症候群(前編)　新作 / Snowy Mountain Syndrome Part 1 (NEW)
09/24 第26話 雪山症候群(後編)　新作 / Snowy Mountain Syndrome Part 1 (NEW)
10/01 第27話 猫はどこにいった?　新作 / Where did the Cat Go? (NEW)
10/08 第28話 消失の後日　新作 / Another Day of the Disappearance (NEW)

This helps a little bit to understand how things are going to. This isn’t official, but seems to be a widely accepted likelihood. In this instance the (2009 - ##) part of my title would simply related to the position of the episode in that master list, while the first number listing relates to the position of the episode in only the episodes listed as NEW.

Because of her boredom, Haruhi drags the brigade around with her to do activity after activity during summer vacation.

Impressions:

This episode was just fantastic. There is just something about Haruhi that is just awesome. Now I know there are people out here who will that the show, but that’s because they are pathetic attention whores who will hate a popular show to get said attention, and I don’t really give a damn about them. I love it. There is just something about it, there is just an energy the show has and that Haruhi herself has that just makes this show fun to watch. I loved Yuki buying the alien mask. I thought that was hilarious and just the thing she would do.

From all of the lists out there online that are predicting the flow of episodes this season it seems like this is the start of a string of new episodes. With the one following this being part of an actual episode arc, with the same name for the episodes, The Sigh of Suzumiya Haruhi 1, 2, and 3. Though, those lists are largely guess work so it may not be that exactly, but it does seem we are in for some continuality between the episodes and not so much the episodic nature seen in previous episodes. I very much look forward to it.

Reishin fights against the newly resurrected Masagami.

Impressions:

I thought this episode was really very good. The fight was pretty interesting and I was surprised how many twists it had for just being one episode, Reishin was winning, then not, then he was, then Kuro awakened and he wasn’t, then everyone was screwed, then Keita save the day, then….blah blah. Seemed to be rather action packed and it was pretty interesting. However, despite how cool the fight may have been it does seem as it Reishin’s sacrifice was rather pointless, as is shown in the preview, the Masagami is still alive. They seem to have fused into one, without Kuro, doing a whole Twinrova thing with the fire and ice. If only Keita and Kuro had the mirror shield…

I am also curious about what kind of focus they are going to give to Akane. It seems to be more or less officially accepted by everyone that Reishin is a good guy but I would still think there could be a little bit of discussion over the whole Akane suddenly joining up with Reishin out of nowhere. I’m guessing it may not be the best thing as far as trust goes between Akane and Keita. Now, it seems that she did it for all the right reasons, to protect Keita and Kuro, however whether or not they delve into that is another matter.

When Lidia’s army approaches the castle, people begin to suspect Octavia’s motives

Impressions:

Disclaimer: I don’t feel like pretending I don’t know what is going to happen, and writing a section without spoilers and then one with them, as I’ve played the game. This post will contain massive spoilers to the whole plot. If you don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read on. I won’t spoil anything simply for the sake of spoiling it, no needless spoilers, but they will be there. Final warning.

Well it seems they are finally finished with the whole Lidia thing. I’m glad because despite how interesting it was I just couldn’t get over the fact it wasn’t part of the original game and didn’t belong in the anime. There were plenty of encounters in the actual game to make it interesting enough. Still, this wasn’t bad. It was actually very sad to see Octavia have to kill Lidia after they flashed all those shots of them growing up together and laughing and playing. I do have to give the show credit on that, pretty damn sad.

It does seem, from the preview for the next episode, that they are finally going to get the whole Gaius thing started. While the Lidia thing turned out to be fairly interesting, and wasn’t horrible, it was still nowhere near anything the original game had, and so I just really hope that it doesn’t impede the rest of the content the game actually does have. Although they are showing Gaius in the next episode, I’m still skeptical if they are going to be following the game. How it would go now would be they need to go into the forest and run into the gravitas, there Arwan’s true form is revealed and Arthur almost kills you-know-who. That’s when everyone gets all pissed off at each other and gets separated from each other and things pretty much go to hell. This is one of the best parts in the game, when everything is going to hell and everyone is scattered, however without that encounter in the forest BEFORE Gaius launches his full scale attack that can’t happen.