Monthly Archive for February, 2006

Basilisk #22

Published on February 28, 2006 in Basilisk (Complete). 11 Comments

Whatever feelings of lust I had for Tenzen completely vanished after watching this episode, and I can’t believe that I even felt anything for him. It’s unbelievable how despicable his character is, and I can’t wait until the day this vile monster ceases to exist.
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Basilisk #21

Published on February 27, 2006 in Basilisk (Complete). 7 Comments

Saemon’s ability to transform into his enemy has allowed him to eliminate nearly half of all the Iga, but it proves unsuccessful with Tenzen because of the mere fact that he cannot die. I think even Saemon knows that it’s over for him as soon as he realizes that Tenzen is indeed very much alive. It’s one thing to fight a normal human being, but Tenzen is not normal nor does he have any limitations short of beheading him or throwing him into a wall of flames. Tenzen does not forgive Saemon for imitating him and quickly kills him off by impaling him to death. Unfortunately, Saemon only has the ability transform his appearance into his enemy but is unable to duplicate their abilities and doesn’t last long enough to survive his injuries. It’s just too bad that the last person he sees is Tenzen standing before him with his creepy-crawlies running across his face.

No matter how much I long to see Gennosuke and Oboro together, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Gennosuke is no longer in love with Oboro, nor does he have any intention of yearning to be with her. Perhaps he’s come to the realization that their relationship is impossible to maintain, and he’s tired of fighting his fate. Just because they love each other doesn’t mean that they’ll end up with one another, and that’s probably how this series will end. Either Gennosuke is keeping his feelings to himself, or he’s really given up on Oboro altogether. His unemotional response to Kagero’s tale that she’s killed Oboro with her own hands appears to be a confirmation that he no longer has any feelings for his former flame, and it’s a sad realization that he really doesn’t love her anymore. Of course, Kagero uses this opportunity to win his heart and is so desperate to be with him that she’s willing to do anything to stay by his side. However, she doesn’t anticipate Tenzen to still be alive and willingly approaches him thinking that he’s Saemon in disguise. Being the horny bastard that he is, he takes advantage of the situation and enters her with the intention of planting his tainted seeds inside her. Instead of resistitng him, she decides to go along with it and imagines herself making love to Gennosuke, allowing her to respond excitedly to Tenzen’s fervor with her poisonous kiss. She doesn’t know that he’ll survive this as well, but for the time being she’s temporarily able to stop him. Oboro truly surprises me this time around when she is confronted by Kagero who thinks she’s able to break Oboro’s heart by boasting about Gennosuke’s lackluster response to the news that she’s been killed, but Oboro knows her lover all too well and correctly states his response. Instead of killing Kagero, she decides to use her as bait to lure Gennosuke to come to her in order to see him one last time…

What an emotional roller coaster this series has turned out to be. Tenzen certainly has his own agenda in mind, but it doesn’t include anyone else but himself. I think he’s a perfect match for Kagero since they’re both pretty skanky characters, but I don’t think they’ll end up together anytime soon. As for Oboro and Gennosuke…I think their relationship is doomed. I’ll probably regret having invested my time in watching this tragic tale of this forbidden love, but I’ve committed myself to watching it till the very end.

Basilisk #20

Published on February 25, 2006 in Basilisk (Complete). 0 Comments

Call me crazy, but I found Tenzen absolutely sizzling in this episode. Granted, I despised what he did to Oboro in the past, but I couldn’t help being aroused by his dark and sexy demeanor. I think I’ve been reading too much of Akuma na Eros among other smutty titles, and it’s been the source of my overactive hormones as of late. Either that or my mind’s been turning to mush because of it. Saemon is able to pull off his acting job as Tenzen and not only gains Akeginu’s trust, but he also convinces her into believing that Kagero is responsible for killing Koshiro with her poisonous and deadly kiss as well. She even allows Saemon (whom she thinks is Tenzen) to create doubt in her mind about Koshiro’s murderer and believes that she’s leaving Sunpu and Oboro with her comrade for a pristine opportunity to kill Kagero. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Unfortunately, it’s her undying love for Koshiro that causes her to put her guard down and ignore the warning signs in her head. Convinced that Tenzen has taken her to kill Kagero, she is the one who gets killed instead.

With another Iga eliminated, this allows the Kouga to gain easier access to Oboro since her subordinates have all been killed. Although I’m not very fond of Saemon’s character, I can’t deny the fact that his wicked ability to transform into his enemy has definitely been advantageous in eliminating many of their toughest opponents quickly and with ease, and I think it’s this ability that makes him one of the strongest characters overall. I still don’t care for his personality, but he’s a formidable opponent, and I think he certainly deserves the respect that he’s earned with his skill. I still think the strongest characters are Gennosuke with his Doujutsu and Tenzen’s ability to survive death, but we have yet to see their weaknesses. One would think that Gennosuke’s weakness would be his love for Oboro, but it’s now clear that he’s willing to kill her for the sake of his clan. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for Oboro to do the same, and that’s what makes her the weakest character in this show. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Gennosuke is a man willing to sacrifice the love of his life in order to maintain the survival of his own people. Or…maybe he never really loved her in the first place and only pretended to win her affection in order to gain information about the Iga. In any case, we learn from a flashback that Ogen was unable to kill Danjou with her own hands as well, and guess who’s by her side reprimanding her? Yes, it’s Tenzen with his controlled but frustrated tone reprimanding Ogen for allowing her useless love for Danjou to control her actions. With Oboro following in the same footsteps as her grandmother, I can see why Tenzen bears such frustration that both leaders have been unable to protect and defend their clan effectively because of their feelings. In fact, he believes that love is a stupid emotion since it has caused nothing but weakness in both leaders.

As a master of imitation, even Saemon cannot hide his surprise when he is questioned by Ofuku’s guards and is confronted by the REAL Tenzen. Oh my gosh…this is where my heart fluttered for our dark and scathing villain. His demeanor, his sexy smile, and his dark personality are all undeniably stimulating. Granted, he’s an asshole to the core, but man is he sexy. Saemon knows that his cover is blown when Tenzen informs him that he is an immortal ninja that can never die. We’re left wondering how this upcoming battle between Saemon and Tenzen will end, and I can’t wait to watch it. ;)

Eureka Seven #30

Published on February 23, 2006 in Eureka Seven. 50 Comments

I was hoping to find out what would happen to Dominic in this episode, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer for that. We do, however, learn more about Eureka’s past. It turns out that she was sent to the Tresor Technical Research Institute upon her “discovery” as a Coralian and had an immediate bond with the Nirvash. In fact, she was the only being capable of understanding the TypeZERO since she had the ability hear its voice and feelings. Holland, meanwhile, has regained his consciousness much to everyone’s surprise and is able to convince the engineers at Tresor to upgrade the Nirvash. There, he learns that the scientists and mechanics have been working tirelessly on a secret weapon specifically for the newly formed military unit known as the Ageha Squad, and it’s been designed to have the deepest and greatest possible impact on the Scab.

Renton has taken the responsibility of caring for Eureka very seriously and has even thought about running away with her in order to live out the rest of their lives peacefully, but he knows that that would be a very selfish decision and decides to stay by her side no matter where they are instead. He also learns from Talho that Holland’s angry fits stemmed from his resentment toward Diane. From what I gathered, it sounded like they were once lovers, but she had thrown their relationship away and he’s never forgiven her for breaking his heart. As a result, he’s been taking out his anger on her poor younger brother instead even though Renton had absolutely nothing to do with her decision to leave. He thinks very fondly of his sister, but he is definitely his own person and doesn’t ever want to be blamed for Diane’s faulty behavior. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, he also learns from watching an old tape of the Nirvash that his Grandpa had also worked on the TypeZERO as well, and it’s funny to see that he was still his old grumpy self even back then. Despite being fired from Tresor due to an argument with the higher-ups, he was asked to build the ref board for the Nirvash since he was the only person capable of building it.

Unlike previous episodes, Talho is very kind and loving to Holland, and it’s nice to see the softer side of her. However, I really don’t understand why she decides to revert back to her old self, and it’s quite a surprise (and rather disappointing) to see her looking so conservative. I’m glad that she’s comfortable enough to be her own person, but the look just doesn’t suit her personality at all. I think we’re so used to seeing her in that skimpy clothing that it’ll take a while to get used to this new fugly look of hers. Even Eureka seems a bit disappointed that she changes back to her old self, and I’m almost certain that Holland won’t be happy about it at all. She was definitely eye candy before her change, but now she’s practically dressed like a nun. The only reason I can think of Talho dressing the way she did with her skimpy clothing was perhaps to take Holland’s mind off of Diane, or maybe she was even trying to escape from her old self by dressing as wildly (and different) as possible, but she knew that she couldn’t continue running away from herself and decided to be her true self again. I don’t really know her reasoning for going back to her old ways, but it’s certainly a major change for her. Just imagine how the crew reacted when she changed into those skimpy clothes. I’m sure the guys had no complaints. :P

Eureka Seven #29

Published on February 21, 2006 in Eureka Seven. 16 Comments

While gathering information on Renton, Dominic lands in Renton’s hometown of Bellforest and finds himself in the company of Axel Thurston, just the person that can help him fill in on the details of Renton’s interests and hobbies. He poses as Renton’s friend while getting his bike repaired and tries his best to gather information without sounding suspicious, but it’s hard not to notice that he’s awfully curious about certain aspects of the Thurston family. Fortunately for him, nobody seems to notice (or at least react to) his inquiry about the similarity between Adrock and Axel Thurston and thinks he’s just a typical kid with a curious mind. Meanwhile, Renton has resumed his duties on the Gekko Go, but he’s still extremely upset by Ray and Charles’ death and has a hard time getting over it. Although nobody else has been affected by their deaths, Renton’s relationship with them was uniquely special (after all, they DID love him as their own child), and it’s been impossible for him to ignore the emptiness in his heart. However, he’ll never forget the unconditional love those two had for each other and is determined to replace that emptiness with the love that he has for Eureka. He even promises to stay with her as long as he’s alive now that she has chosen him as her favorite person over Holland.

Talho has taken over the responsibility of commanding the ship for the time being and explains to Renton about the truth behind why they are always at war. Back when his father Adrock was a military engineer, he’d realized that the Coralians were a sentient form of the land, the Scab Coral, but was having trouble trying to prove it to others. When human casualties occurred during the military expedition around the Great Wall, it was assumed that the Scab Coral was at fault and thus was set to be exterminated by the High Council. However, Adrock was highly against their decision and stuck to his belief that the Coralians were indeed sentient beings. What settled the dispute was the appearance of a Coralian in human form – Eureka – and proved that Coralians were indeed sentient beings. Recently, an anti-Coralian squad has been formed within the military, but their name or even their goals are still unknown. What is known, however, is that they’ve developed a weapon design to counter underground forces. Holland formed Gekko State to follow Adrock’s will and to protect Eureka, the only living being who can access the Coralians. This news is obviously shocking to Renton and the others as well, but he’s kept his promise to protect her even if means being an enemy of the world and assures her that his love for her will never change no matter who (or what) she is. Eureka is special to him, and nothing will ever change that. (Awww…I love Renton for his undying devotion to Eureka.)

I was quite surprised at Dominic’s reaction when Grandpa Thurston regarded him as family and offered to fix his bike any time in the future, and it’s apparent that he’s never been treated with such kindness before. I’m just wondering if this experience will cause him to leave the military altogether? I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he would join the Gekko Go, but that would be a very interesting scenario. I don’t think he’ll be a member of the military for much longer, though, as I think he’ll be forced out of it due to disobeying orders and failing to report his findings to the Colonel. It was nice to see Grandpa Thurston again, but quite a surprise to see him conversing with Dominic of all people. I’m glad that he’s still alive and kicking, although it’s obvious that he misses Renton immensely. As for Eureka, I can now see why her physical appearance is so different from everyone else’s, and this also explains Anemone’s physical attributes as well. I can’t wait to see what’ll happen in the next episode. Thank you so much for all the hard work you guys at Nanashi put into subbing this series! It’s greatly appreciated by this blogger. :)