It’s time to announce the results of the second two of 8 groups in Round 4 – Groups C & D.

The songs which advanced to the Fifth Round are in bold. Also, see the full bracket.

Group C

“Player” by Origa – Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society vs.
“Presence” by The Indigo – Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~

“Promise” by Tia – Yakitate!! Japan vs.
“Going My Way” by Yozuca – Girls Bravo

“Noble Roar” by Yousei Teikoku – Innocent Venus vs.
“Tomorrow” by Mikuni Shimokawa – Full Metal Panic

“Colors of the Heart” by UVERworld – Blood+ vs.
“Dramatic” by Yuki – Honey & Clover

Group D

“Shizuku” by Miwako Okuda – Great Teacher Onizuka vs.
“Inner Universe” by Origa/Shanti Snyder – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

“Ameagari” by Moeko Matsushita – Angelic Layer vs.
“Yuukyuu no Tabibito ~Dear Boy~” by Snow* – Idolmaster Xenoglossia

“Kaze no Tadori Tsuku Basho” by Ayana – Kanon vs.
“Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” by Eiko Shimamiya – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

“Karenai Hana” by Mikuni Shimokawa – Full Metal Panic vs.
“Falco” by Hitomi Shimatani – The Law of Ueki

There were a pair of difficult choices this time. First was Presence vs. Player. I guess I just liked Presence better, but it was a close one. The second tough one was Colors of the Heart vs. Dramatic.

Group E/F match-ups for next week are listed after the jump…

Groups E/F

Next Sunday, I’ll announce the winners for Groups E & F, but in the meantime, here are what the match-ups for those groups:

Group E

“Hakanaku Tsuyoku” by Younha – Kiba vs.
“Yume no Naka e” by Atsuku Enomoto & Chihiro Suzuki – His and Her Circumstances

“Tattoo Kiss” by r.o.r/s – Kaleido Star vs.
“Hare Hare Yukai” by Aya Hirano, Minori Chiharai, & Yuko Gotou – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

“Congratulations” by Goddess Family Club – Oh! My Goddess vs.
“Zankoku na Tenshi no Teize” by Shiroh Sagisu – Neon Genesis Evangelion

“Second Flight” by Kotoko – Please Twins vs.
“Forever” by Savage Genius – Elemental Gelad

Group F

“Red Fraction” by Mell – Black Lagoon vs.
“Kirameku Namida wa Hoshi ni” by Sachi Tamura – Fate/Stay Night

“Farewell Song” by Lia – Air vs.
“Virgin’s High” by Mell – Sky Girls

“Takaramono” by Yoko Ishida – Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ vs.
“Naraku no Hana” by Eiko Shimamiya – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

“Duvet” by Boa – Serial Experiments Lain vs.
“XTC” by Psychic Lover – Witchblade

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The highlights of this episode:

• Margery Daw has a dream about the Denizen in silver against whom she is trying to get revenge, but suddenly wakes from it, and asks Marco if she said anything in her sleep.
• Meanwhile, Wilhelmina creates an image of the giant Rinne that Yuji first saw when he first became a torch. Yuji, startled by it, tries running away, but Shana yells out to him that “he can do it” and Yuji turns around and uses his power to destroy it while Satou jealously watches.
• Alastor and Shana decide that it’s time to take Yuji’s training to the next step: casting unrestricted methods, specifically a Fuzetsu – a crimson bubble.
• Wilhelmina researches the keeper that’s being kept on the Midnight Lost Child within Yuji, and stumbles upon a name – Pheles – and decides to leave town to investigate further.
• Satou, meanwhile, requests that Margery train him so that he can get strong enough to follow and help Margery. However, Margery merely remarks that it’s crazy and that Satou will get killed if he tried.
• Margery then begins to tell Satou a story from her past. It’s New York City apparently in the 1930s (despite Margery’s claim that it’s “soon after the great depression,” unless she means the start of it. Oh, and where’s the Chrysler Building?). A Denizen – the Cavern of Scrupulous Impaling, Annaberg – is hanging out on the Brooklyn Bridge and Margery casts a crimson bubble and attacks him. Margery believes she destroyed him, destroying the Brooklyn Bridge in the process.
• However, Thousand Change Sydonay shows up and attacks Margery, beating her up pretty badly. Sydonay wants to kill Margery, but Annaberg doesn’t want him too since it will take too much time, so Margery is spared. Annaberg then leaves, mentioning how he’s about to “accelerate civilization.”
• Margery, whose dress is now ruined, strips to get changed, and has Marcos clean her with his purifying flame. However, while this is going on, a boy shows up (this is still in the crimson bubble, mind you).
• After probably getting the crap beat out of him by Margery, the boy identifies himself as the Hauler of Prevailing Ghouls, Yuri Chvojka, a flame haze who has a contract with the Marshall of Diminutive Lizards, Valac, who exists in the form of what appears to be a machete. Margery tells him to scram, but Yuri ends up working for the person Margery is trying to meet.
• Margery ends up visiting the Outlaw of Eastedge, a large male Flame Haze who has a contract with the Summoner of the Milky Way. Margery relates to Eastedge that she doesn’t think Yuri is suited to be a Flame Haze since he doesn’t hate Crimson Denizens.
• Later, the boy explains how he became a Flame Haze, saying that a Crimson Denizen attacked the ship he was on, killing his family. In the middle of it, Valac found him and turned him into a Flame Haze. He states that he regrets not being able to protect anyone then, and hopes that he can protect people now that he’s a Flame Haze. However, both Margery and Valac get exasperated with him since, in their view, the purpose of a Flame Haze is to keep the balance of the world, not to protect humans per se. As a result, Margery goes off to find Annaberg and tells Yuri not to get in her way.
• Annaberg arrives at the Empire State Building and starts to do whatever he intends to do, but Margery shows up and casts a crimson bubble over the city…

Now this is what I’m talking about. Crimson Denizens showing up and fighting Flame Hazes. Famous bridges getting blown up. The Empire State Building being the center stage for a another Crimson Denizen plot. This is what I watch Shana for! Except poor New York City. First it had to deal with giant alien space ships and asteroids, and now it has to deal with Crimson Denizens. Such is the life of such a big city, I guess.

I’m not sure we’ve learned anything particularly new this episode, though obviously the story from Margery’s past will continue in the next episode, so we’ll get to see more of it and see what the moral of it apparently is, and why she thinks it shows that Satou would be of little help to her.

We now also have two additional developments. First, Wilhelmina has apparently found something about the keeper on the Midnight Lost Child that appears to have alarmed her to the extent that she feels she has to go somewhere else to investigate it. Second, Yuji will soon be learning how to cast unrestricted methods, so that should be pretty cool. Maybe he’ll come up with one to banish stupid angst-filled episodes from now on.

Go Straight to the Screenshots | Go Straight to the Review

The highlights of this episode:

• Sugawara-sensei asks Michiko how she’s doing writing the play, since the class will have to start preparing to present it soon. Michiko, who still hasn’t come up with an idea for the play, avoid the question. Mari sees this and catches up with Michiko later and asks her about it, and Michiko lies to her, telling her that the play is almost finished.
• Tsubael floats around the dorm and remarks how humans appear to be a “unreliable, lazy, and unstable” species. She also wonders if Hagino has started to be affected by them, especially after Hagino decides to let Azanael roam free on the ship (while the Blue’s computer monitors her, of course).
• Sugawara-sensei reviews records from the same time as the incident where Azanael showed up to take Mari away, noting that nothing shows up on radar records and ponders if it’s the work of aliens.
• Azanael wanders around the ship and eventually makes her way to Onomil’s room, and watches a recording of Onomil and Azanael together in the room.
• Meanwhile, Mari and Hagino go to the library to check on Michiko’s progress on the script and find that she hasn’t even started and has run away over being so distressed over it, and report this fact to Sugawara-sensei. Meanwhile, Mari goes out trying to look for Michiko
• Azanael continues her tour of the ship and reaches the engine room, and realizes that this is where Onomil was killed. Tsubael shows up and shows Azanael a holographic recording of the event – it shows Onomil trying to fix a problem with the Emil Force Drive while Hagino pleads for her to get out because it’s too dangerous. Unfortunately, the Force drive explodes, killing Onomil.
• While Hagino is getting a report from Azanael about the situation, Michiko suddenly returns to the dorm. Michiko tells Sugawara-sensei that she just can’t come up with an idea, but she really wants to write a script, but then collapses.
• Michiko regains consciousness in the infirmary and looks outside and sees Hagino, Mari, and….Tsubael (!) outside talking and apparently this triggers a great idea for a play and Michiko runs back to the library and starts to write. Tsubael drops in on Michiko and, after seeing what she’s writing, seems to have a face-in-palm moment and leaves. However, Michiko appears to sense when Tsubael leaves the room…

Well, we didn’t have a whole lot going on in this episode, though we did get more background infra on what exactly happened to the Blue when it’s Emul Force drive when kablooey and how Onomil ended up getting killed. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily make Azanael any happier, and she still seems to believe that Hagino intentionally killed the landing party and Onomil.

The other development appears to be the fact that Michiko appears to be able to sense, if not outright see Tsubael now. This opens up the question of what makes someone able to sense/see her? We seem to get the idea that Mari can either because of the accident, or perhaps what saved her in the accident and the reason she can see Tsubael are one and the same. I’m guessing we’ll find out soon. Also, it’s about time the alien fleet take action against the Blue again too, I think, though they may be hesitating since Azanael is being held prisoner.

Not much yuri in this episode, though, unless you count Hagino’s dormmates drooling over near-naked pictures of her. Maybe we’ll get some next episode though.

Sentiments like this:

I definitely won’t be paying for official subs/dubs.

and

I really hate licensing.

and

I hope fan subbing does continue because the licensed subs, and especially the dubs, are horrible!

and

im no buying it because it used to be free.

and

Sure the makers deserve money for what they’ve done, and they do, a bloodly lot [and thus, apparently, since they already get so much, they don't need any of mine]

Are large reasons why a good portion of the anime community deserves a large giant middle-finger stuck in their face, and why I wouldn’t be sad at all if they “couldn’t get their anime” if fansubs went away for one reason or another.

They’re bitching that they may not get to see Death Note because it got licensed, without thinking that they might not get anything later since they refuse to ever pay for any of it.

I also liked the little comment about “I thought it was OK to distribute anything over free-to-air TV” or whatever. First, there is no such thing in Japan.  Yes, there are broadcast stations, but every household is supposed to pay what amounts to a “TV tax” for every TV in the house, so there is no such thing as true “free” TV.  Second, even if there was such a thing in Japan, fansubs take the ads out, plus the very comment shows a horrible ignorance of intellectual property law.

I’m well aware that watching fansubs – even if I do buy the series that I like once they’re licensed – is treading on uncertain legal ground, and thus fansubs may feasibly get pulled from under me at any time.

Instead of bitching about not being able to do something which is arguably illegal anyway, I do it full well knowing the risks (though right now, the risk is basically zero, which is part of the problem.  Having no legal alternative is also a problem, though clearly the posters in the post I link to wouldn’t buy from a legal alternative even if it existed).  But bitching about how people may one day go after fansubs is kind of like complaining about the cops cracking down on speeding.

Go Straight to the Screenshots | Go Straight to the Review

The highlights of this episode:

• Shion and her foster parents get on the train to go to a hot springs. However, on the train, the two investigators stop by to ask Shion some questions. The detectives ask Shion if she remembers what the murderer of her parents looked like. However, Shion tells them that she doesn’t know, but but does say that he was wearing a tobaggan. The lead detective shows Shion the picture of the man using the fax from the security camera, asking if it was him, but Shion doesn’t know.
• During the questioning, Shion remembers backs and thinks that the murderer had “beautiful fingers,” but, recognizing that her foster-father also has what she thinks are “beautiful fingers,” she decides not to tell the detectives (I’m guessing she either thought it was irrelevant or wouldn’t be useful).
• On their way to the hot springs, Shion and her parents swing by the grave of “big brother Kyoutarou.” Kyoutarou was a Shogi player as well, and desired to train Shion in it (this is before Shion parent’s murders, so she is still speaking at this point). However, Kyoutarou gets sick, and in an attempt to defeat Hani for the title of Shogi Meijin, dies in the middle of the match.
• At Kyoutarou’s funeral, a disheveled Hani stumbles in, angrily throws a shogi king piece at his memorial, cracking a picture of Kyoutarou, and yells at his memorial over him dying before they could “take down” the old shogi association together.
• Meanwhile, Shion and her parents arrive at the hot springs hotel, where it’s operator obviously know the Yasuokas well, and decides to show Shion around the place. He shows Shion a room with shogi table in it and explains that six years prior, her foster-father played a match for the meijin title against Hani that room, but lost. The innkeeper continues to tell her that her foster-father has surprised many people by how well he has played so late into his career, and that he’ll never give up trying to gain the title of Meijin.
• That evening, Ayumi gets home from work to see his father stealing his shogi winnings. Ayumi tries to stop him, but his father is able to beat him back and tells him that since he’s the one who taught him Shogi, and thus his winnings should be treated as his “tuition.”
• The next day after school, Koybayashi, the bad guy with glasses shows up to pick Shion up in his car. He’s already picked up Saori, who encourages Shion to come along. In the car, Saori explains that one of Kobayashi’s acquaintances wants a shogi lesson from them.
• Once they arrive at their destination, they meet the blond haired man, who explains to them that his business is interested in sponsoring the women’s shogi league, but he wants to see a match first. He is also introduced as Satoru Hani, the little brother of Hani-meijin.
• Saori asks the two what exactly they want to sponsor, and they explain that they want to sponsor a special shogi tournament: one where anyone can participate – pros and amateurs, men and women alike, with a winning prize of 50 million yen (if my math is right, somewhere around $500,000 – man they dish out the money in shogi!).
• Saori, who is still skeptical about the prospects of such a tournament, still resists playing a match, but Shion goes for it right away, and Saori relents. The two decide to play by kiremake rules – which means they get 1 hour and 1 hour only to finish, with no extra time at the end. If a player expends their hour, they lose.
• As the two players prepare to play their first ever match against each other, Satoru goes outside and takes out his necklace – which has on it the same pendant that Shion carries from her parent’s murder…

OK, a hell of a lot happened in this episode. First, he continue the search for Shion’s parent’s murderer, but with no luck on the detective side, though this episode has a bit of a who-done-it feel.

First, we have Shion’s foster-father who apparently has “beautiful fingers” like the murderer, and is apparently very determined to become meijin. Perhaps so determined that he’d murder a possible obstacle to that goal (all we know is that Shion’s real father played Shogi, but we don’t know how good he was or anything). The problem with this is the murderer’s hair style – it is very different from her foster-father’s, though I guess he could have been wearing a whig (and thus the hat). Of course, taking in their daughter as his own would also immediately put him out of people’s mind as a possible suspect too.

Second, we have Hani-meijin. I wouldn’t see any real motive with him doing it, but he does seem to like to use the shogi king piece for various things – such as throwing it at Kyoutarou’s picture at the funeral. Remember that the shogi king piece was left by the murderer at the scene. He also has a hair style that is similar to the murderer’s and would seem to be about the right age.

Third, we have Satoru, Hani-meijin’s younger brother. He would appear to be the most obvious suspect. There is a short scene to suggest that he too has “beautiful” fingers, he certainly seems very slimy, he sort of looks like the murderer, and he has the same pendent that Shion has. My only concerns with this theory is that, like the theory about the kidnapper early in the series, it seems TOO obvious. Also, he looks like he might be too young.

And, of course, it could be “none of the above” still.

Beyond this, we’re introduce to Aymumi’s family problems. We already knew that his mother was in the hospital, and the question of why he’s the one who has to pay for it seems to be answered as his father is shown to be a drunken deadbeat (who steal’s his son’s money on top of it).

We also have this open tournament which I’m willing to bet will take the bulk of the of the rest of the series, especially now that we’ve hit the halfway point.