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The true origin of Barry Allen revealed.

What They Say:
The Scientist – Central City police scientists Barry Allan investigates a seemingly impossible robbery; Sin turns to Roy for help when a friend goes missing.

Content:
Though things have been changed in how The Flash will be drawn into a pilot episode for his own series, this episode and the next are still highly anticipated because it actually does draw in Barry Allen. And it did it well enough that the execs at CW decided that the character is definitely strong enough to be pushed into his own series with his own pilot. That keeps a lot of anticipation for this two part mid-season finale that’s going on here, which is on top of so many other storylines that are running throughout the show. Which is a lot considering that we’re only eight episodes in as of now and there’s a whole lot more to grow from with it. Particularly with some of the revelations that we’ve gotten recently with Merlyn, Thea and the League of Assassins.

With this episode, the main focus that will draw fans is the arrival of Barry Allen, a Central City CSI member who has come to check out a break-in at Queen Consolidated in one of its storage warehouses/facilities. That’s pretty awkward with what’s going on here since you have some wondering if there’s another earthquake machine in there. Barry is pretty much right on what’s going on here because it’s tied to things going on in Central City and it seems to be done with a lot of power by one man and he brings some good forensic approach to figuring out what’s going on here, which is definitely impressing Oliver. The small nods are great though, especially in noting that the centrifuge that’s likely been stolen is one from Kord Industries, which gives us another sweet smile.

The first introductions are all pretty amusing to watch as it unfolds, but in particular with the way that Barry is treated as being too young for what he does as he does look young, and how Felicity seems to be a bit taken by him. Not completely outwardly, but the way she interacts with him throughout the episode is definitely a whole lot of fun. And Oliver’s reaction is surprisingly defensive as he’s not quite keen on what he’s seeing and tries in his own way to put a little distance between everyone. Some of it you could attribute to him not wanting to add more people to his inner circle and their connections, but there’s also some nicely done jealousy. But there’s little time to really deal with it early on as through some good flashback moments to the island and some footage in the present of the theft, it becomes pretty clear that Slade has become more than he was and he’s now in Starling City.

Some of the smaller plot elements here are definitely intriguing to watch, though the Queen Consolidated material is all just building towards something else with the corporate politics and the like. The best moment is when Malcolm shows up again to talk with Moira and it reinforces their relationship in the past and how Thea was born from it. But it also is something that brings in more of what happened to Malcolm after that incident as he left and found his way to Nanda Parbat, which is where a lot of things obviously do happen in a mysterious corner of the world. Including his induction into the League of Shadows, which hints well at the Lazarus Pit as well since he’s come back to life. The expansive layering of what’s going on in this world through Arrow is definitely fantastic and seeing this brought in, named and more, adds well to it all and definitely allows for all sorts of spinoff material down the line.

The island arc is covered well in past and present as Oliver reveals the truth about the serum in the present and how Ivo and his plans for testing it on people was brought to a conclusion. That sort of cuts the arc down in a way since we get that reveal, but there’s also the potential for Oliver telling only so much of the truth with how he dealt with Ivo and all of those that he gave it to. The idea that someone survived is obvious, or found what Ivo was working on, and is using the centrifuge and other things to recreate the serum and create more people like himself for whatever purpose there is. It’s fairly standard material in a way, but the layered execution of it across a couple of place and stories is what works very, very well here.

Barry’s story is one that is well told here and I’ll admit that I’m quite surprised by how much they drew into things. When it’s discovered that he’s been lying about part of who he is and why he’s there, Oliver confronts him and he reveals his origin story in a way. Talking about how his mother was murdered when he was eleven, he delves into the mystery of the case where his father was convicted as the killer but Barry tells of something like a tornado that burst into the house, fought his father, flung Barry twenty blocks and then killed his mother. It’s a lot of what’s been revealed in the comics for quite a few years now with how that particular origin came about, but it’s definitely something that is far more detailed than I expected and indicates that the world will indeed become much larger as this gets explored likely in his own series. Everything we get with this show is being so inclusive that it’s almost scary.

In Summary:
With this being a two part piece, it does a solid job of setting up a lot of things that will culminate in the next episode – including Oliver getting a proper mask as we see from the preview. But even though it does a ton of setup, it also provides for a lot of revelations. Arrow is not a series that teases things along and then gives you small doses of meaty material. We get a lot of plots moving along here, several connected, and reveals in past and present that advances the larger storyline and gives Oliver one hell of a busy life. While I was initially concerned about the actor being brought in for Barry Allen because of his youthful look at that he doesn’t conform with what most feel Barry looks like, his role here was spot on and it made me want to see much more of him in his own series and adventures, especially if they get to pull off the effects and costuming right when that point in time comes. So much back story provided here, such a big picture view set up, that it’s easy to see how The Flash can be every bit as engaging as Arrow has been. A very strong episode that’s finally bringing some of the best of the flashback to the present.

Grade: A

It’s time to pretend what a marriage interview would be like!

What They Say:
Urawa no Usagi-chan is an original series centered around the daily lives of 8 girls in junior high school in Saitama prefecture’s Urawa district. Usagi, Tokiwa, Minami, Sakura, Midori, Kojika, Saiko, Misono – Enjoy watching their unique personalities play off against each other as their fun-filled school life unfolds.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As we move past the halfway mark for the series, I have to admit that it’s hard to remember anything from prior episodes because they’re so empty. Such is the case here as we get the girls hanging around at first talking about gift giving before moving on to the case of formal marriage interviews, as one of their teachers may be of the right age for it considering her lifestyle. That leads them into a discussion of wondering how such marriage interviews go, and they play them out with each other, stumbling and bumbling through it as best as they can. It does reveal a little bit about each of them, but it’s so light and ephemeral so as to not really mean anything.

In Summary:
And such continues to the case of the series in that it really doesn’t mean anything. Which is fine, but it doesn’t have anything else to hang its hat on as the humor is light and simple and the characters are shallow and without meaning themselves. There are cute moments, but it’s not actually tied to anything in particular, such as a character interaction or a personality quirk. The concept of the series is one that I do think can be fun, but it’s not one that’s being managed well to be engaging here in this time format of just three minutes.

Grade: D

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Things slow down a bit as Himea joins the school and realizes there may be a little competition for Taito.

What They Say:
Miyasaka High School’s student council president, Kurenai Gekkou, has named Taito and Himea as student council members. Soon after, Taito learns about how Gekkou and Mirai first met, as well as the military which is secretly behind Miyasaka High School. Meanwhile, Gekkou reminiscences about his younger twin brother, Hinata. The student council members believed that the battle was finally over, but then a sinister red rain began to fall.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an interesting first episode and a second episode that felt wildly disjointed and overpowered in a way, even with the explanation given for Taito’s skill, the series has left me in a place where I’m really not sure if it can pick up with what it’s done and pull it off. It has a lot of interesting ideas to it and some great animation and character designs to give it atmosphere, but the way it goes so big so quickly was rather off-putting. With it trying to get back into a school setting for the cast, it’s at least going to some familiar ground to work with and that’s a point in its favor, even if it is predictable to do so.

With Himea in school now alongside Taito and Hekkou there as well, there’s plenty of tension coming up with things, especially since Mirai is a problem in general and there’s Haruka, the girl that’s interested in Taito as well. That gives us the usual kinds of silly school stuff that’s familiar, especially with the lunch segment as both girls offer him up food, so there aren’t any surprises to be had as they try to blend it all together. In the midst of all of this, there’s plenty of small challenges to be faced on a supernatural level as well as we learn that there are various creatures making their push into this world. Gekkou has his moments of beating down a few and Taito is surprised by how twisted the school is starting to look with all of this happening as the rifts are growing and he’s now aware of it.

The show does provide for some mild action, but it comes in the form of a flashback where we see some of the reasons behind the fight going on between Gekkou and his twin brother. It’s all red hued which certainly gives it an interesting feeling and the action, though brief, is definitely nice and violent. It brings to the forefront that he hasn’t changed much in all these years though because he has the same childhood anger now as he did then and is just ready to below at anyone. Gekkou certainly provides for the serious character of the series, especially in contrast with Mirai, but seeing how the two came together from all of this and that she still manages to be upbeat, chipper and adorable in her own way is nicely handled. Though I would have preferred if they spent the exposition piece actually just talking about it rather than showing it, it does help toc lear up their relationship a bit.

In Summary:
What’s most memorable about this episode is some of the pool related material as we see Taito and a few of the girls hanging out there and the cuteness of Mirai having hers on under her school uniform. The show doesn’t really do a heck of a lot here outside of explaining a few things, which is a positive since Taito needs to be brought up to speed, until the end of the episode where Gekkou is threatened again. The relationship between Himea and Taito is what needed more exploration here though as she’s settled into school so quickly and easily that it feels pretty off. I continue to like Himea a lot though, but it’s largely because she is so undefined at this point and is just eye-candy with some mild emotions behind it. With this episode being a bit more relaxed and setting up the next one, it’s definitely the break we needed after the first two episodes.

Grade: B-

Simulcast By: Nico Nico

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Seven Seas Entertainment is making its plans for for the late summer and early fall of 2012 that will please fans who want more bang for their buck. With the August and October releases respectively, they’ll be going the omnibus first route for Girl Friends, which will hit in October 2012 and then the second installment in January 2013 for $17.99 each with just under 500 pages each. In addition to that, they’ll be releasing I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! in August 2012 for $16.99 in the 2-in-1 omnibus form as well. That manga just had a series at the beginning of 2011 in anime form that has not been licensed as of this time, though this may get people to take an additional eye at it now.

(LOS ANGELES, November 22, 2011) – Seven Seas Entertainment is pleased to announce that it has added two much-requested manga series to its 2012 line-up—Kusano Kouichi’s hilarious harem comedy I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! and Morinaga Milk’s highly praised yuri romance manga Girl Friends. Seven Seas will release both series in value-priced omnibus editions.

“Fans have been requesting we license these series for a long time now, and we have responded,” said Jason DeAngelis, publisher of Seven Seas Entertainment. “Our various omnibus editions have done quite well, so we decided to publish these series for the first time as multi-volume omnibuses to give people a lot of bang for their buck.”

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! is a popular harem comedy manga series that spawned a successful anime TV series which aired in Japan in spring 2011:

Junior High School student Takanashi Nao has a problem: she has a crush on her dreamy older brother, Shuusuke. Fortunately, when Nao discovers that she was adopted as a child and they’re not related by blood, it seems like the coast is clear—but Shuusuke just doesn’t see it that way. To make matters worse, Nao finds herself in direct competition against Shuusuke’s hot childhood friend, Iroha, not to mention class president Mayuka. As all three girls vie for Shuusuke’s attention, Nao soon learns that all is fair in love and war! I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! will be released in 2-in-1 omnibus editions for the low price of $16.99 starting in August 2012.

Girl Friends, a tale of forbidden love for fans of Strawberry Panic, is an all-new girls romance manga series by yuri icon Morinaga Milk:

When it comes to grades, bookish high school student Mariko Kumakura is at the top of her class. Socially, however, she is shy and lonely, typically eating lunch by herself. Enter the charismatic and beautiful Akko Oohashi, whose mission is to befriend Mariko and burst her out of her introverted shell. In the process of transforming Plain Jane Mariko into one of the cutest, most popular girls in school, deep feelings begin to emerge that suggest something deeper than friendship. Will these feelings destroy the budding relationship between Mariko and Akko, or will it turn into something else? Seven Seas will release the entire five-volume series in two affordable, 496-page omnibus editions ($17.99 each) with the first edition, Girl Friends: The Complete Collection I, on sale October 2012, and Girl Friends: The Complete Collection II on sale January 2013.

In a world of magic, one Japanese teenager finds himself bound to one of the most awkward mages-in-training there is.

What They Say:
Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere’s name is so long and her spell-casting skills are so poor that everyone at the Tristain Academy of Magic just calls her “Louise the Zero”. Louise’s humiliation only increases during an important second-year test, where the other students summon up dragons and other mythological creatures as their familiars, and she inexplicably summons Hiraga Saito, a totally normal teenager from Tokyo.

Now she’s stuck with him and Saito’s stuck with the lousy life of being a familiar. Except, maybe there’s more going on than meets the eye, because Saito’s not prepared to accept the social inequities that Louise and other aristocrats consider the status quo, and he may not be quite as normal as everyone thinks. And the reason Louise is so bad at magic might just be that she hasn’t figured out what she’s good at yet. In fact, they might even have the makings of a great team… if they can learn to stand each other first, that is!

Contains episodes 1-13.

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series is presented with its original Japanese language track and the previously created English language dub, both of which are encoded in the lossless DTS-HD Ma codec in stereo. The opening and closing songs are the strongest pieces in terms of overall presentation while dialogue and action effects are nicely placed throughout, but never all that heavily or distinctly. The action has a bit more oomph this time around compared to the previous DVD edition of course and there’s something of a louder presentation overall, but it’s one that works well in giving it a bit more impact. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and in listening to all thirteen episodes in Japanese, we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
Originally airing in 2006, the transfer for this thirteen episode TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The show is spread across two discs with nine on the first and four on the second. Animated by JC Staff, the show definitely looks better than I expected it to even though it’s just under ten years old as it has a slick and modern enough look overall. The transfer for the show definitely looks great here with lots of bold and bright colors that come across very solid in presentation and the darker areas hold up very well as well, with no noticeable breakup and nothing in terms of serious noise or problems. The show looks like it could fit in easily with the new season of series that are out there and that’s a big plus in its favor. While I had liked the show visually when I saw it before, it definitely feels like it’s more alive here in this incarnation.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release brings us a standard sized Blu-ray case that holds both discs against the interior walls. The front cover goes for a decent mix where there’s a good starry background with some dashes of red swirls throughout it that gives it a little more oomph. The foreground gives us several of the main characters with Louise in the front while surrounded by all the other mostly main characters of the series. It’s not a hugely bright and colorful piece, which is where I think it should have gone, but it looks decent and has that dash of magic about it. The back cover goes for a very dark background that doesn’t have anything to it but that works nicely with some of the framing aspects with its white aspects. The top gives us the basics with a season listing and a cute tagline while below it we get a lengthy premise summary. The episode and disc count is listed clearly as are the extras, which is just to the left of the shots from the show and some cute Louise artwork. The rest is rounded out with the usual production credits and the technical grid that lays it all out clearly. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.

Menu:
The menu design for this release works off of the color design of the front cover nicely as we get the navigation along the right with the same framing as the back cover but the front color covers of a black background with very appealing reds and blues with a dash of white for the selections themselves. It’s standard style design where we get the episodes by number and title and submenus for languages and extras as needed. The left of the screen is given over to character artwork, such as the first volume that lets Louise stand out in a great illustrated piece, and it keeps the logo along the lower left in a good way. It may not be the most engaging of menus but it fits very well with the theme of things and has a certain appealing quality in its little bits of detail and the illustration work itself.

Extras:
The extras for this release are pretty basic but are decent as we get the clean opening and closing sequences and the original promos for it. Add in the extended episode previews and it’s about what you’d expect from a show of this nature and the time it was produced.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4x6wGcHGJU?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on a series of ongoing light novels by Noboru Yamaguchi and illustrated by Eiji Usatsuka, Familiar of Zero is a thirteen episode series that really feels like it needs a whole lot more. In fact, it really feels like the first part of Kyo Kara Maoh in how you can really visualize a whole large epic of stories over time relating to these characters and this world. Which is why it’s a good thing there are three more seasons of this that followed over the years. The novels began publication back in 2004, so this series started off relatively early and the creators certainly went strong with it as there were twenty volumes published before the author’s untimely death in 2013.

The opening thirteen episodes of the series do a rather splendid job of introducing a fair number of characters, establishing some basic setups and running through a few plot points to hint at the larger world that’s inhabited here. Rather than spill all the beans at once, it’s a fairly good progression with the storyline that really only falters in the most traditional sense. And that’s in having the lead character actually not asking any questions which would illustrate just what kind of situation he’s in. That would make sense to do but unfortunately makes for boring entertainment. It’s far more entertaining to watch him stumble into situations without any knowledge of why it’s wrong and to see him flounder briefly about it or cause trouble for others.

The Familiar of Zero initially revolves around magic student Louise, a young noble as all mage users are who is attending the Tristien Institute of Magic. Louise is the third daughter of a well respected family of the country of Tristien and her elder siblings are all apparently pretty solid mages. The problem comes in that Louise, while having ability, doesn’t seem to have really mastered it. Nothing she does actually works well when it comes to magic and she’s earned the nickname of “Louie the Zero” because that’s how well she does with it all. She’s an earnest young student and wants to do well, but everything is working soundly against her for some unknown reason. When she shoots a fireball for instance, it’s little more than a little puff that you really can’t even seen.

So when the big day comes where each mage casts their spell that calls forth their familiar, Louise talks a big game but is completely unsure of what she’ll get. Familiars are key to every mage as they are a reflection of them in some way and they’re bound to them for life. So it’s only fitting that in this fantasy style world, Louise calls forth as her familiar a Tokyo high school boy that’s walking down the streets. Landing flat in the middle of the courtyard, young Saito finds himself in a strange world he doesn’t understand (for a little while, as magic eventually helps with the spoken language barrier) and with people whose customs are completely alien to his in many ways. To a native born urbanite from the 21st century, going to a world where there’s many small countries that revolve around magic – and floating nations at that – is something that’s hard to take in and adjust to.

Thankfully, Saito is an interesting leading male character and one that fits in well with Louise. Saito’s realization that he’s become her Familiar is amusing at first but with the knowledge that the world is in some ways dangerous and unknown, he keeps up with it for awhile as he tries to figure out how best to survive. His easy going nature as well as his sense of right and justice puts him in conflict with others that are used to only this class based society, and he often finds that his beliefs end up putting Louise into bad predicaments she has to help get him out of. Since he’s the familiar, what he gets into is something that she can be responsible for. And that ranges from challenging a fellow mage noble at the Institute to taking on the very power structure of the world itself.

While the main focus is on that of Saito and Louise as their pairing morphs throughout the show, it’s also accented by the other characters that come into play. With this being an Institute, there’s a fair variety of characters from other lands that helps to flesh things out nicely. The most amusing for me was Kirche “the Fever”, a talented mage noble from Germania who beds just about every guy she can because she can. She’s got reason for doing so, but it’s cute to see her so open about it and chasing after Saito in such a friendly and really non-threatening way. Balancing her is another really neat little character in Tabitha, a very powerful yet very reserved young woman who is studying intently for very personal reasons. She balances out Kirche very nicely and that the two of them end up together often really works out nicely.

The one character that I felt the best about though is that of Siesta, a peasant girl working in the Institute. Saito finds himself naturally drawn to her and she, like some of the other peasants after a certain incident, are very proud and helpful of Saito. Siesta is a little bit more than that as she has a crush on him and he ends up helping her out quite a lot. That only reinforces the feelings that she has for him which in turn causes some rifts between Saito and Louise. Her history is actually a bit more interesting as this season goes on, but it was watching the dynamic between her and Saito that really endeared me to her. She’s the kind of character that is helpful, a bit shy but also forthcoming enough to be close to brazen at times in a way that’s not outlandish or too blunt. If not for the fact that it’s obvious that Louise and Saito would be together, this would be my ideal pairing within this world.

The Familiar of Zero is a really well put together show. JC Staff has done a lot of really great shows over the years and even when they do a relatively simple show like this one, they go all out with some really strong quality animation. The character designs are all very much on model throughout and there is a great fluidity to the animation throughout. There are obvious moments where they go minimal, with just lips moving, but by and large this is a really fun and intriguing looking world that they’ve made here from the source material. The vibrancy of it, the blending of the backgrounds and foregrounds, and the overall presentation is very appealing. With the way the production of the show is put together, there’s really nothing to complain about here as it’s a really solid job.

In Summary:
The Familiar of Zero had a kind of unusual life about it as it came out after Geneon was shutting down and that put the series and future seasons in limbo for quite some time. With Sentai Filmworks picking up the fourth season first and then going back to get the rest, fans finally get it back in rotation in a great way since we get the high definition upgrade and more current authoring techniques. Quite simply, the show is a lot of fun and it feels more current than I expected. Even after all these years, it still reminds me of Kyo Kara Maoh in just how sprawling it could be but also a little of El Hazard in some of the playfulness of it. This season does have something of an overall plot to it that’s touched upon here and there, but overall it’s more of a primer for the larger series as a whole. It introduces us to a fun and engaging world with characters that you like, even when some of them are basic archetypes. It’s not too terribly deep but it has the kind of pacing to it that keeps you completely engaged and looking forward to the next episode. This is one of those series that really does make out well from marathoning and seeing it all quickly. This series has been in limbo for so long that it’s great to see it finally make its way out and to open up to the rest of it in the coming months. Definitely worth checking out.

Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Japanese Promos, Extended Previews

Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: April 8th, 2014
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 325 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Settling into school life, we see just what kind of person Harutora is. And we like him.

What They Say:
Harutora makes friends with his classmates after the battle of the familiars, which upsets Natsume. However, when Natsume is in danger, Harutora and his new friends fight to save her.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Harutora’s adjustment into school life in Tokyo, albeit at a special and unique academy, certainly made for osme fun material in the previous episode as it unfolded. We got a good feel for the place, some of the struggles that exist with the characters there as Natsume certainly rubs a few people the wrong way and we got a look at Harutora’s familiar. There was certainly a good and obvious break between what the first three episodes did in order to get Harutora to Tokyo along with Touji and what we got once there, so it definitely felt like those episodes served well as a prologue and motivator for him. Getting to know the cast he has to work with now proved to be well balanced, even if we do have some fairly standard types here. But when the familiar type in Kon that he has doesn’t bother you much, you know you’re on a decent track.

Harutora is doing his best to fit in with everyone, even with the kind of problems that comes from his relationship with Natsume, and because of his personality he’s able to overcome some of the obstacles that are there because of it. It’s good to see his personality can do that and he has the right approach to wanting to be friends without overdoing it, which could drive a further wedge in with some that have a chip on their shoulder with regards to Natsume. The one he has the most problems with though is Kyoko, and that’s largely because of the problems between her and Natsume, which goes back a number of years to when they were much younger. It turns out that Kyoko is actually a part of the larger family, which reinforces Harutora not wanting to have problems with her since family is important to him in a general and personal way. But Natsume has some real issues that need to be dealt with when it comes to her and that’s not easily done.

While a lot of the episode is focused on the whole character interaction side, to very good effect, we also get some good action as someone who takes on the title of Hishimaru has made an attack within the school to capture Natsume and be her protector. That leads to the aciton itself since everyone will naturally band together to stop an attack like this and it helps to bond them together in the heat of battle. With a giant ogre-like creature at his disposal to do his fighting for him, it’s filled with magic but has a good bit of physical impact as well that works out well. There’s a lot to like with it visually, much as we had in the opening arc, but at its core the action is just a setup for what’s to come later and for showing this group of kids that they do have something when they come together like this. It’s an easy bond to draw them in and to start easing some of the tensions.

In Summary:
Tokyo Ravens has another good episode here as it works through some familiar and expected material. It does it with some good polish, good acting and characters that are slowly drawing me in. While there are certainly plenty of things that are by the book here when it comes to just about everything, the show feels like it’s poised to move beyond that and become something more if really given the opportunity when it comes to story and characters. I like what’s here and it has a certain polish about it that gives it some additional weight. Now it just needs to step up and be something more, which it certainly has the potential to do. When a show can get me to like a character like Kon, that’s saying something considering how many sidekick characters like this I’ve seen over the years.

Grade: B

Streamed By: FUNimation

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Some animals just wouldn’t survive in the woods.

What They Say:
Let’s Go Camping! \ Rin Rin and the High School Girl

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With some good fun involving the humans recently and a look at Penguin’s problems that went to hilarious levels when it came to Penko, shifting gears is pretty much required here. Seeing how Grizzly handled things recently when he thought Polar Bear had died has helped to get him to want to reconnect with his friend a bit more so a camping trip is on the radar for them. And any time Grizzly shows up, it’s just awesome since he’s full of a particular sense of style. And his manner in dealing with others feels like it’s odd since he’s a bit gruff but friendly. Except when it comes to Penguin since he just tweaks him constantly, getting under his skin with ease in a way that just agitates Penguin all the more. Which, of course, is the goal.

Getting their camping on, having Penguin, Polar Bear, Grizzly and Pand out together in the woods at a campground is great fun. The experienced campers get into things easily enough with catching fish, getting the cooking on and generally having fun, though Polar Bear does got a little over the top at times. Amusingly, it turns out that Grizzly and Penguin are the most sane about things in a way as they go about doing what needs done, making them an unlikely pairing as we learn that Penguin has a lot of practical knowledge.

The second half goes in a very different direction where after it has the hilarious moment involving Panda complaining about how hard a two day work week is and that Penguin really ought to get a job himself, it shifts to Rintarou, aka Rin Rin. With his plan to continue to get close to the pandas, he employs a high school girl to go with him to visit them, leading the young woman to believe that he has an interest in her like she does in him. There’s some good confusion that comes along the way but the whole thing feels weak across the board. While I like the things that Rin Rin has gotten involved with before, especially when he ended up at Panda’s home, here he just comes across as disconnected from what his actions are all about and potentially a bit creepy in some really big ways.

In Summary:
Polar Bear Cafe has a strong first half with a lot of fun as Grizzly and Penguin manage to find some common ground. Even though it kind of doesn’t work out for Penguin, we get to see him being smart in how he deals with Grizzly and thankful that they did find this ground. The second half with Rin Rin is less amusing overall and borderline creepy if not for the fact that we know he’s really harmless (so far!) when it comes to the high school girl he deals with. The bookend material for the segment are the best as we see Panda and Penguin chatting it up and having fun together, but that’s a very minor part overall for the whole arc.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

We learned back in May that the upcoming series Lance N’Masques would be arriving this October, but it’s been quiet otherwise for the project. Now that we’re hitting the halfway point of the summer season, more news is starting to flow. The latest for this series is a 37 second promo from Pony Canyon that has now arrived, giving us our first look at the series in actual motion ahead of its October 1st, 2015 debut. Pony Canyon announced in the spring of 2014 that Studio Gokumi was taking on a new project, adapting the light novel series Lance N’Masques by Hideaki Koyasu. Pony Canyon USA announced in early April that they would be bringing the series over as well for localization.

This series marked the first light novel from the Pony Can imprint to get an anime adaptation and that means higher expectations are likely. The known cast includes:

Daiki Yamashita as Yōtarō Hanafusa
Ari Ozawa as Makio Kidōin
Manami Numakura as Yoriko Sudo
Suzuko Mimori as Alice Cleveland

Kyohei Ishiguro is set to direct the series for Studio Gokumi with original writer Hideaki Koyasu handling the series composition and scripts for the show. Koyasu is no stranger to head writer duties for an anime as he served in that role for Akikan!, GJ Club and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.

The light novel series is a recent one with the first volume having landed in December of 2013 and the fourth volume being released earlier this month.

Synopsis: The battle action novel series revolves around Youtarou Hanafusa, a young man who is part of the last remaining order of knights in the 21st century, “Knights of the World.” As he fights as the mysterious Knight Lancer, he must hide his identity behind a mask.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0AIAEDIrF8]

Anticipation is getting high for the upcoming release of the new Godzilla feature as Warner Bros. once hopes its found a way to make the classic property work in the modern day and draw in new and old fans. Warner has come out with a new poster for the film that’s definitely aimed more at the hardcore fans with a kind of throwback approach to it where it ties the creature and the logo together in a great way while also giving it a bit of a found footage feeling that works surprisingly well. It’s set to debut on May 16th, 2014 in the US.

Plot concept: An epic rebirth to Toho’s iconic Godzilla, this spectacular adventure pits the world’s most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.

Finally the tournament to decide who holds power in the next school year begins but the hidden war may be to determine the fate of so much more.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Oh!Great
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell

What They Say
The final matches of the Imperial Tournament are on and it’s time to throw down! Everyone with a stake in the outcome is ready to pursue their destiny. The Executive Council, the Takayanagi family, Sohaku and the Juken Club enter a swirl of traps and conspiracies. Aya finds herself facing the supernatural powers and experience of the 15th head of the Kabane family. Then the stage is set for a massive matchup two years in the making – an all-out battle between Mitsuomi and Bunshichi! It’s a supercharged smackdown between old friends that only one of them is going to walk away from!

Content: (please note that content portions of review may contain spoilers):
The battle for the reigns of the Executive Committee is finally under way but for the Juken Club the road to this moment has already taken a severe cost as they are absent their leader who is lying in a state where her body is alive but her soul may not be. To try to tip the scales even if only minutely in Maya’s favor Aya has given up the sword Reiki in the hopes that the connection it shares with her older sister can serve to bring her spirit back to the world but this desperate gamble brings a price with it as the lack of the sword will seriously limit Aya’s ability to use her Dragon Eyes, a decision which may come back to haunt her and the other members in the upcoming conflicts.

Much like the shadowy history that has lead to this showdown of fate however there are still many people with their own plots moving to try to accomplish their own goals, some of which may end the Juken Club’s chances before they begin and some of which may aid them but the most dangerous plot may actually destroy the balance of power throughout the entire tournament when one of the people with supernatural powers finally makes her move and brings her style of witchcraft to the front- a style which will feed off the strongest fighters in the tournament and use their own strengths to lead to their demise.

The only hope that the Juken Club has is to be found in the least likely source as the team’s only non-powered fighting member, the somewhat shifty and less than reliable Kagesada Sugano –or “Dirt Bag” as even some of his own teammates refer him in a less than complementary fashion- must decide if he is going to try to live up to the dream he had when he became one of the Juken Club’s founding members or if he is going to instead run from a situation that few, if any, would blame him from fleeing. And while he makes his decision Aya will be facing the puppet master behind this event but Aya may discover that she has bitten off more than she can chew when a new player with his own ties to the tragic fate of the past takes the field. With the tide seemingly going against them is the Juken Club going to be able to fight the force of destiny or will its powerful pull drag them under its mighty waves and force them into places to serve its purpose and that of the person who initiated this long and cruel path of destiny?

Since the beginning of the series Tengo Tenge has been building to this tournament but one could easily be forgiven for having forgotten that given some of the twists, turns and outright detours it seemed to make as the author suddenly dropped new plot points and a “destiny” theme that tied into the past which was probably intended to add scope and weight to the tale but the execution of which did more to muddle the plot that add gravitas to it. Fortunately the series has returned to the “present” and the launching of the Executive Council tournament allows for the events to become a bit more focused on the cast that the reader has (presumably) grown to care about over the course of the series run and perhaps even provide a surprise or two about a character they have come to maybe dislike more than a little along the way and it feels like the manga has finally returned to the path that was established with its earliest chapters that provided action and some special powers but which didn’t seem to be playing with trying to re-write history and create some conflict with implications for the whole world.

The return to the tournament setup isn’t perfect however as in order to introduce his new threat the author has to try to set them up at this late date but the lack of developing some of the characters that he is going to be using to do so leaves a couple of the chapters stretched rather thin early on in this volume as inserting a character that has the ability to shake everything up with little time or space to fully develop them or the others they will be controlling feels like a sudden inspiration by an author to play with an idea that serves almost as well to undercut the flow of events by adding the odd angle at this juncture. Oddly though this introduction, even when at its weakest, allows for one of the less focused on members of the Juken Club to shine and even if the mechanics are a bit less than ideal the opportunity pays off in spades with the depth the story is able to mine out of him as well as setting up Aya for a major encounter…though some of the time she gets to grow and expand her abilities does come at the expense of Sugano’s time to shine so there is some give and take even here as the author seems to be at war with just how to highlight which character and when.

Then again the idea of Oh!Great having issues with his characters and the proper developing and framing some of them isn’t really going to come as a shock to anyone still reading the manga at this point as Soichiro’s role continues to be one that is frustrating as the initial set up means that Aya is still obsessed with him but he has done almost nothing to appear as little more than a supporting cast member in some time and even the few moments he gets here don’t raise him back to the role of lead that it looked like the author originally intended for him. This is probably the hidden sore thumb that most impacts the overall presentation of things as the attempt to keep Soichiro involved and his hanging plot relevant is serving as a drag on time that could be spent on characters who have become more interesting in the vacuum that has been created since the start but given that this is nothing new the improvement that has come to the story with the return to the initial focus really succeeds in bringing the series back to a strong and rewarding level that it kind of had drifted away from for a time.

In Summary
The tournament to decide the next year’s Executive Council has begun and for the Juken Club the fight has more even meaning as they possess an idea of the scope of what is at stake which reaches far beyond their school and even Japan as centuries old machinations start to come into focus in addition to the personal motivations to match up with the current Executive Council. Unfortunately they are entering at about the worse position possible as their captain is hospitalized, their strongest current fighter is without the key to unlocking her power and the guy she loves has his own issues going on as his body isn’t entirely his own- and just for fun a screw up by one member means the Club’s most stable guy may not make the fight in time. All of this may just be another day for the Club but when a formidable user of special powers appears the table may be completely slanted against everyone unless the most ordinary member of the Juken Club can read the tide of the future and overcome his own feelings of cowardice and insecurity to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat…so no pressure or anything. With its return to a more modern setting the series manages to get its feet set back under it after a somewhat rocky previous couple of volumes and while the volume may not be perfect in fixing the flaws that have been showing up as the events raveled it certainly brings as much fight to the table as it ever did and does so in a rather spectacular fashion as the road to the future is going to paved with the sweat and blood of the youths giving their all.

Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B

Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 16th, 2012
MSRP: $17.99

A trip into a new town has Lion-O making more foolish mistakes that are needed in order for him to grow.

What They Say:
The Duelist and the Drifer- Lion-O loses the Sword of Omens to a Duelist.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the previous episode giving us a huge amount of information on how this varied world came to be with its inhabitants and showing off a lot of types that we haven’t seen, ThunderCats really did a fantastic job of world building in a straightforward way. Cementing the relationship that the Cats have with Mumm-ra from the past, what he was after and how he was betrayed worked very well and it covered a lot in a short space of time. So after going so big, the series is doing the natural and almost required thing by going to something smaller and quieter in a way. Or at least nowhere near as epic.

With the Cats separated a bit due to some mechanical failures, we see Lion-O and Snarf off on their journey to get the parts they need and that has them visiting a trading town. It offers up some fun right from the start with a curiously literal drifter and then Lion-O’s discovery that his coins from his kingdom now no longer have any value. What he can do though is participate in a sword challenge, which with his sword has him acting quite cocky. And while the competition goes completely in his favor, he’s easily goaded into an actual sword match with a mysterious man named the Duelist who has a lot of swords in his possession as it’s what he’s after in life. And naturally, the match has the owners weapons as their prize which makes it a dangerous game.

Of course, things aren’t going to go in an easy way for Lion-O and there is a certain amount of predictability when he does lose it in the match to the Duelist and his legendary status. What makes the episode work though is the use of the character of the Drifter. With his very laid back approach taken to an extreme but with the perfect voice attached to it. It feels like something out of 70′s animation in a way that really is quite haunting. With his story being told and seeing his redemption in all of this, it brings us something really special in the same way as the Petalars episode and even the world origin story one from the previous episode. It’s all in service of getting the Sword of Omens back but it’s what the characters learn and the way they do it that allows it work.

In Summary:
ThunderCats has a lot going for it at this point, especially after it went so big in the previous episode, but it manages to take that momentum and work it in a different way here. Some shows can’t do the smaller, quieter pieces like this well without seeming too forced and pointless, but this is another piece that shows Lion-O’s evolution as a character, some great action and a sense of fun and adventure about it that’s required. And some great Snarf sequences too. But it’s the character of the Drifter that really makes it special, from design to background to voice acting. The series has been strong with that across the board but this is just something more that feels really special. While not a huge episode like we had, it’s a significant one that helps to grow Lion-O in a beautiful way.

Grade: A-

It’s caption time again, but first things first is to reveal the winner for last week’s competition:

Some of this week’s entries were just as special as the idols as they were captioning, but this one was particularly special – in a good way. Thanks General Hentai for the best caption


Just like always, please post a caption to go with the following image. There is no prize, except the knowledge that you are better at putting words into the mouths of anime characters than your peers.

Here is this week’s image:

Also, as this week’s competition is the three-hundredth edition, a special second image featuring my namesake.

If you want to submit a caption this week, be sure to make it clear which image you want to use it on. If you don’t make it clear, I’ll assume that you want to caption the main image above.

The past comes back to haunt Oliver in a couple of very different ways.

What They Say:
Draw Back Your bow – Oliver tries to stop Arrow-obsessed serial killer Carrie Cutter, who is convinced Arrow is her one true love and will stop at nothing to get his attention. Unfortunately, her way of getting noticed is to kill people. Meanwhile, Ray asks Felicity to be his date for a work dinner with some important clients; and Thea auditions new DJs for Verdant and meets a brash DJ with whom she immediately clashes.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Arrow’s had some good episodes so far this season and the last time around we got an interesting exploration of what Roy was facing in thinking he was the one that shot Sara. Tying that back to the events of the previous season with what he did there when he was under the heavy influence of the mirakuru drug was definitely a nice moment in its own way since it allows what happened to still have ramifications. The subplot material recently involving Laurel is a bit dicier though since it’s still very hard to view her going into the mode they’re directing her, partially because of how she’s been presented so far and partially because I really, really liked what Sara brougrht to the table with it and the lengthy relationship that existed over the five years at different times.

With the cold open here, we go back to the big events with what Deathstroke orchestrated in the previous season with the powered drugged soldiers running about the city causing a whole lot of trouble. It’s an area where you can see how it could have influence on people, such as how we meet a young woman that Oliver saved along the way that has become quite infatuated with him. That woman is trying to get his attention in the present now as she’s grabbed Stanzler from the previous episode, shot him up good with her almost heart shaped arrows and dressed him up like the Arrow to leave a calling card for him. It’s definitely an interesting setup and we see how Quentin is kind of mystified by it all as well since it was a close case that got extra closed.

With the arrow in hand, there’s an amusing clue inside that leads Oliver and Diggle to check out an apartment that is completely disturbing on so many levels as it’s a fan that’s all about the fanatic. With a room dedicated to all of Oliver’s exploits, she’s been trying to draw him in because she wants to be a part of the team. But it’s all in service to Oliver that she wants to do all of this and to do it in a way that’s quite violent as she wants to end them. She’s got a kind of playful approach about it, but it’s one that’s tied with a very dark edge that definitely makes her incredibly dangerous.

Tracking her isn’t all too difficult overall, especially with Felicity helping before heading off to her own thing, but it gives us a great chase that leads them to the Sherwood Florist where our vixen, revealed to be Carrie Cutter, formerly of the SCPD and swat team, is getting certain things out of the way so she can spend her time with Oliver as a team. Carrie is definitely all manner of crazy as she orchestrates things for them to be together, but it’s not something that he wants so she decides to do a lot of things that she believes will draw him into her web. To deal with her, Oliver does some decent legwork in trying to understand her by going to the psychiatrist that evaluated her while she was on the force to get some clues about how to deal with it. Of course, he also gets a little free commentary from the psychiatrist as well, which is cute.

It takes a little bit of a circular approach in a way, but we do eventually get Oliver and Carrie going up against each other, though she plays it as a date so she can make it clear that the two of them truly belong together. Their meeting brings a lot of things back for Oliver as to when he did first meet her, which is good to bring it full circle. Carrie, on the other hand, continues to show that she’s definitely not altogether there as she’s been through a lot, and it’s something that Oliver gets to work with as he talks with her and essentially to Felicity at the same time to explain why they can’t be together. Oliver, as Diggle said, is not thetalking out his feelings type. But he’ll find a creative way to do it in order to express himself. With Carrier, it turns to beating her down a bit since she is pretty intense. Seeing just how far srhe’ll go is certainly illuminating, but her interpretation of him saving her from a murder/suicide is hilarious and scary at the same time.

Felicity’s story this time around is quite amusing right from the start since we see her getting Ray for a conference only to find him doing some physical training that’s just like Oliver does, reinforcing the idea that she really does have a type. Palmer is definitely hitting all the right buttons with her in a lot of ways, but he’s also working his larger goal of charing Starling City with how he wants to get as many people involved in it. With his renaming of Queen Consolidated to Palmer Technologies, it’s a very, big, public moment that makes it clear things are not what they were. Having Oliver seeing a lot of this, especially with Felicity there, just hits him pretty hard too. Which is good, since he had his chance and opted for a very different direction.

The flashback story gives us a bit more interesting material as we see, cutely enough, Tatsu giving Oliver a lot of grief about his inability to do laundry, but also seeing Maseo heading off for a meeting that should be quick but has him gone for more than half a day. And that finally has Oliver and Tatsu working together a bit, which thaws their relationship a touch. We don’t get a lot on Tatsu’s past here, but there’s a start that certainly helps to make her a little more accessible. What we do see, as they investigate further, is that Tatsu has some good skills with her sword, though the answers she get just makes it clear that Maseo is dead. Of course, there’s a little twist that comes into it, but the result we get is one that helps to really bring Tatsu and Oliver together in a way that wouldn’t happen otherwise.

In Summary:
Arrow works a pretty good episode here with what it wants to do while also seeding in a lot of smaller things. Having Oliver cope with a fanatic fan that has decided to make him hers is definitely something that is fun to watch since Carrie brings the crazy in a good way and with a good bit of style and scenery chewing. Oliver and Carrie’s story dominates, but there’s plenty more here. I really like what we got with the flashback piece, which is kept small, but works to get Tatsu fleshed out a bit more. The really good subplot involves Felicity and Ray though, as he draws her in to help with a deal he needs to get done and it slowly becomes something more. We know Ray’s destined for his own thing, but getting some tantalizing teases of what he’s going to become is exciting. Less interesting is Thea’s arc as the club opens and she deals with some drama there, but you are left wondering where they’re going to go with it. With the show having quite a good cast to it overall and a lot of moving parts, there’s good stuff all around here that nudges it all forward well.

Grade: B+

Warner Bros. Japan is handling the home video release for Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma on DVD and Blu-ray for its home territory the cover artwork and packaging design continues to roll out. As we’re a couple of weeks away from the release of the fourth volume we’ve now got a look at the full sized and detailed piece for it with all the materials included. The twenty-four episode series is getting spread across eight discs when it began its release on July 29th, 2015. Both formats are listed as limited editions for their first runs with the Blu-ray’s priced at 8,000 yen each and the DVDs at 6,800 yen each. Check out the details in the chart below for individual dates and known extras. We’ll be updating that as new cover art pieces come in.

Sentai Filmworks has already picked up the North America release rights for the series on home video.

Directed by Yoshitomo Yonetani, the series is being animated at JC Staff with Shogko Yasukawa handling the scripts and Tomoyuki Shitaya working on the character design adaptations. It’ll star Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Soma Yukihira, Risa Taneda as Erina Nakir, Minami Takahashi as Megumi Tadokoro, Ikumi Mito as Shizuka Ishigami, Maaya Uchida as Yūki Yoshino, Ai Kayano as Ryōko Sakaki, Taishi Murata as Shun Ibusaki, Yūsuke Kobayashi as Zenji Marui, Ai Kakuma as Mayumi Kurase, Rina Hidaka as Urara Kawashima, Banjo Ginga as Senzaemon Nakiri and Rikiya Koyama as Joichiro Yukihira.

The series is currently running in Weekly Shonen Jump by Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki with ten volumes to its name so far. Viz Media publishes the manga in North America digitally and in print form.

Plot concept: Soma Yukihira’s old man runs a small family restaurant in the less savory end of town. Aiming to one day surpass his father’s culinary prowess, Soma hones his skills day in and day out until one day, out of the blue, his father decides to enroll Soma in a classy culinary school!

Can Soma really cut it in a place that prides itself on a 10 percent graduation rate? And can he convince the beautiful, domineering heiress to the school that he belongs there at all?!

Volume	Date	Extras
1	07/29/15	Original Soundtrack 1, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Audio Commentary
2	08/26/15	Original Soundtrack 2, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Audio Commentary
3	09/30/15	Drama CD, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Audio Commentary
4	10/28/15	Drama CD, Mouse Pad, Audio Commentary, Live Action Bonus Materials
5	11/25/15
6	12/23/15
7	01/27/16
8	02/24/16

[Source: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma ]

While the movie plans for a remake faltered a few years ago, things shifted last year with a TV series once the property ended up in different hands. With Gaumant International working the property and having hired Niclas Refn to direct it and serve as one of the executive producers, the latest piece of the puzzle has been placed as the writers for the pilot have been brought on board. And surprisingly, it’s none other than the two men behind five of the James Bond movies, including Skyfall, with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. There’s still no firm plans for anything here at this stage in terms of casting, shooting or where it’ll go, but the project continues to progress.

Movie Concept: Barbarella is marked by the same audacity and originality, fantasy, humor, beauty and horror, cruelty and eroticism that make comic books such a favorite. The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella (Jane Fonda) makes a forced landing while traveling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure. Whether she is wrestling with Black Guards, the evil Queen, or the Angel Pygar, she just can’t seem to avoid losing at least a part of her skin-tight space suit!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7c6wKQ9fuU]