Aria Manga #5

So after much waiting and anticipation the next volume of Aria is finally out! In it Akari helps out the mailman when his gondola needs repairs, we meet Alice’s trainer Athena who has a gorgeous voice but is even more of a klutz and spaced out than Akari, Akira puts the girls through tough training, Aika and Al (and Akari) find the perfect spot to see a meteor shower, and Akari finds and enjoys a new, unusual cafe.

This volume reminds me exactly why I love this series so much! The visuals are lovely as always, especially the backgrounds – which is a good thing since Aria itself is as much a character as anyone else! This is such an optimistic series, where the best is seen in everyone and in every situation. I love our main characters too. Please TokyoPop, don’t let the release of the next volume take quite so long, but whatever else you do, please don’t drop this series!

Hikaru no Go Manga #17

In this volume, Hikaru finally realizes that Sai still exists – through all of the Go moves Sai taught him. With this encouragement Hikaru jumps back into the Go world with a vengeance. Everyone is happy about this, especially Akira. Akira and Hikaru finally have their first complete match – no Sai involved at all. Izumi finally passes the pro exam:) With all these new players with potential the Go world in Japan is starting to look more interesting. They’re even talking about having a junior game with younger pros from Japan, China, and Korea. Toya Mejin (okay so he isn’t the Mejin anymore, but I doubt anyone will stop calling him that) has signed up with a Chinese league which is probably an interesting change for him.

One of the many things I really like about Hikaru no Go is at this point it’s been about two and a half years since Akira and Hikaru last played, and probably another year since the series started as far as the story goes. And it looks it. Akira, Hikaru, Akari, Toya Meijin, they are all looking older. And while I miss Sai, it is nice to see Hikaru standing completely on his own now. And just because he hosted Sai’s soul for a while and had the benefit of his teaching doesn’t mean that Hikaru doesn’t still have a lot to learn.

Kimi ni Todoke #5

First a quick note. I haven’t even seen raws up yet for Kobato episode 5 so that one will be up when it is up.

This week’s episode is: Determination.

Sadako is so sad about things at school Yano and Yoshida notice. And no wonder Sadako is sad. She fears her new friends are being hurt by the rumors going around. Fortunately, Kazehaya is quite a forthright person so he confronts Sadako on this and she can’t bring herself to say what she things she should. With his encouragement Sadako agrees she won’t hide from people who want to be her friend and she will straighten things out with Yano and Yoshida. Meanwhile, Yano and Yoshida are still worrying about what Sadako really thinks of them. It is Pin of all people who tells Yano some advice about not blaming others for her problems. Ryu tells Yoshida that it would be hard for Sadako to spread rumors considering how many (or rather how few) people talk with her. He also says if there is any question they should talk and clear everything. Yoshida and Yano meet that evening and agree to do just that. The next day before anyone can talk with anyone else, Sadako hears people saying the ugly rumors in the girls bathroom. She tries to straighten things out, but I’m not sure these girls want things straightened out.

Hikaru no Go #12

This week’s episode is: You Are The Third Board.

So Hikaru drags Mitani back to the Go club and give him his money back. Mitani is fine with playing there for now since he doesn’t feel he can go back to the Go salon but Tsutsui isn’t happy about this and Mitani shows little interest in playing in a tournament – until Tsutsui makes it sound like Mitani can’t stand against the Kaio Jr. High Go club. Mitani then agrees to go to the tournament, but Tsutsui still worries he will cheat again. Meanwhile at Kaio, the Mr. Yun (the teacher in charge of the club) tells Akira that Haze’s Go club has signed up for the tournament and Hikaru is third board. Akira wants to play third board so he can go against Hikaru, but the teacher says he’ll think about it. Usually the strongest player is first board. The president of the Go club plays Akira and Akira beats him without too much trouble. So the only one surprised that Akira is first board is Akira. Akira throws a bit of a tantrum. Actually, as his father tells Kuwabara, this is the first thing Akira has really gotten passionate about and the first real challenge. So Mr. Yun gives in. The day of the tournament arrives and Mitani actually shows up, though Tsutsui is still worried about him. Hikaru is startled when he finds out Akira is Kaio’s third board.

Daddy Long Legs #13

This week’s episode is: Sallie’s Courageous Challenge.

Well, school has started again and Judy is happy to be back. Julia has decided she wants to graduate top in her class and go to the university. Judy spots a short story contest with a cash prize and wonders if she can do it. Sally wants to be motivated like Julia and do something, but she doesn’t know what. This sort of gets decided for her. It is time to pick the class representative and Julia is an obvious choice, but Julia doesn’t want to diminish her study time so before anyone can speak she nominates Sally. Sally doesn’t want to do it, but agrees to it anyway. Judy offers to help, and she does, but Sally wants to do the main part herself and she does. Unfortunately, Sally is rather timid and isn’t the writer Judy is. Still, she keeps going back to the drawing board again with Judy’s encouragement. The night before their speeches Sally stays up all night to rework her speech. Too bad she faints! Judy gets up and says how she admires Sally for working so hard and trying even though this was not her choice. Sally ends up getting elected and this motivates Judy to enter the writing competition.

Sailor Moon R #19

This week’s episode is: Love Dispute! Minako and Makoto Square Off.

Maybe it’s the heat that is making Makoto and Minako a bit snappy because before Usagi arrives to join them they are going at each other about guys. Minako is still pining for Alan and Makoto is still pining for her sempai that spurned her. Things naturally escalate when Chibi-Usa (who Makoto and Minako saved earlier from some bullies) declares she is going to marry Mamoru. Usagi overhears and is not pleased. Well, this is pretty typical for Chibi-Usa and Usagi, but Minako and Makoto aren’t speaking. Usagi draws them into a shop that sells charms. Unfortunately, you guessed it, it is a crystal point and Perez and Calaveras are selling charms that in reality make you fall out of love. Usagi is interested in a love charm, and fate does lead Mamoru there, at which time Chibi-Usa also enters the shop. Mamoru makes a hasty retreat. At this point Minako and Makoto admit to each other they really wish the other the best in finding true love, even better than the love they lost. This sickens Perez and Calaveras and they attack along with a monster. Minako grabs a fire extinguisher which is enough for Minako and Makoto to transform while Usagi grabs Chibi-Usa to get her out of there. At first the two Sailors are caught. Fortunately Ami and Rei were coming to join them and Rei frees them as Sailor Mars. Then we see some new attacks. From Sailor Jupiter we get Sparkling Wide Pressure, and from Sailor Venus we get Venus Love Me Chain. This is enough to make Perez and Calaveras retreat, but they leave their rather sticky monster behind. By the time Usagi fins a place to stash Chibi-Usa, transforms, and gets back the others are all trapped but Usagi acts quickly and destroys the monster, freeing the others. So it’s back to normal with the Scouts, although Usagi is still trying to jug a huge thing of liquid to get Mamoru’s love back^^;

Konichiwa Anne #31

This week’s episode is: Only One Wish.

I made a mistake. Mr. Hammond’s name isn’t Scott, it is Kendick. No wonder I didn’t catch it, though I’m not sure where Scott came from . . .

Anyway, Charlotte takes Kendrick’s death about as well as Joanna took Bart’s death, which is to say not well at all in spite of the fact she must have known this was at least a possibility. The difference is that even when Anne tells her about Kendrick’s dream she takes no notice of Anne. No one does. Granted, Anne isn’t exactly family, but still. Even if Charlotte was taking things well, I don’t think even Anne could take care of all eight children while Charlotte worked all by herself, not with all of them being so young. I mean, Charlotte had trouble with this. That was the whole point, well besides feeling sorry for her, in Kendrick bringing Anne in home in the first place. Unfortunately, in this case none of the relatives is able to take the whole, rather large family. It is hard to describe how I felt watching the various children being divided up. Empty is as good a word as any. The children remember Anne (she must have made some sort of impression on them) and the adults do seem a bit embarrassed at having forgotten her, but no one seems to want to take her in. So it is off to the orphanage for Anne. At this, Anne’s heart breaks. This is probably the reason why Anne doesn’t want to remember her past when she gets to Green Gables. The nice teacher hears about Kendrick’s death and comes in time to say goodbye. He’s not in a position to take Anne in himself. The one thing he is able to do is give an unresponsive Anne pictures of Prince Edward’s Island that he talked about when Anne came to visit him in the summer. The poor children seem to be the only ones in the house who will miss Anne.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood #30

This week’s episode is: The Ishbal Annihilation Campaign.

So Dr. Marco tells Scar what happened during the Ishbal war. Ed basically gets the same story from Hawkeye. First, it seems Hawkeye’s father was Mustang teacher of alchemy, but he was not happy with Roy’s decision to become a state alchemist. Still when he died he asked Mustang to keep an eye on his daughter. It seems that his greatest work which he never really wanted to use or be used is contained in a tattoo on his daughter’s back. It is probably something similar to the tattoos Scar’s brother made. Then the Ishbal war started. We get some of the same events: the murder of and Ishbalan child by Envy disguised by a soldier. The war that turned into an annihilation campaign. Armstrong coming to hate what he was doing. Actually everyone did I think with very few exceptions, he’s just the one who was most visible and vocal about it. Kimberly is one of the few who enjoys what he is doing. Maybe that is why he got the prize Dr. Marco was working on: a philosopher’s stone made out of Ishbalans, though far fewer than an nation or even a city. I wonder what’s going on with that. Anyway, we then see the attack on Scar’s group by Kimberly. One nice thing about this episode is seeing Hughes again, even if it is not the happiest time of his life. And yeah at the time he was going gaga over Glacier the way he later did over his daughter. After the war Hawkeye decides to support Mustang in changing things which includes stopping Mustang by any means necessary if he ever goes down a wrong path. So after Scar gets Dr. Marco’s story he kills him. I don’t think Envy, the one who finds this, is pleased.

Kobato #4

This week’s episode is: …When the Green Leaves Flourish.

Ha! So that was Kohaku and Shuichiro from Wish there at the end last time! Kobato sees Kohaku crying over tree leaves and decides to figure what about them made Kohaku so upset. Later, she sees Kohaku with Shuichiro. When Kobato finally talks to Koahku about it, Kohaku says how she wishes she could spend more time with Shuichiro and show him such things as the leaves shining with dew in the morning. They have never even been on a date. So Kobato naturally decides to send them on a date. Since an amusement park was mentioned that is what Kobato decides on, but unfortunately she is broke. There is a raffle and one of the prizes is tickets to an amusement park. Miraculously, Kobato gets the ticket needed to take place in the raffle, but ends up with a huge stuffed alligator or crocodile (can’t tell the difference). She runs into Fujimoto, literally. He is always doing other jobs when not at the kindergarten. He does happen to have amusement park tickets and Kobato talks him into giving them to her. Kobato gives them to Kohaku who doesn’t want to accept them at first because she fears Shuichiro will never have the time to use them (he’s a doctor), but Shuichiro overhears this and agrees to go. They have a wonderful time, but there are no new pieces of candy in the jar because Kohaku was truly already happy. Ioryogi gets a message from a representative of heaven (the rabbit, believe it or not). Ioryogi has one year (four seasons) to get the jar full and grant Kobato’s wish. Otherwise Ioryogi is stuck in stuffed animal form for eternity and Kobato won’t get her wish fulfilled.

Kimi ni Todoke #4

This week’s episode is: Rumor.

Okay, so Pin is a nut^^; He makes Kazehaya late for class by relating his drunken vision of little men. Meanwhile, the rumors are spreading more. At first Yano and Yoshida don’t believe Sadako has anything to do with the rumors, but then they hear Sadako talking about them to someone else. Unfortunately, they are dragged away by Pin at the crucial moment and so they are unsure how Sadako really feels about them. They ask Sadako about it later, but Sadako is so hesitant and slow in answering they think that is the answer and she doesn’t really like them. Meanwhile, Sadako starts hearing rumors about how the rumors about Yano and Yoshida are because they have been hanging around her. Sadako thinks this is the reason behind the change she sees in them. So now she gets worried that people will start saying bad things about Kazehaya next so she starts avoiding him.