Oh boy, here we go. The last of the Clow Cards and the last, and arguably most powerful and dangerous of the elemental cards: The Earthy Card. Except this episode ends in a cliffhanger (the first of the series, I think) as we have to wait until next week to see how Sakura and Shaoran actually deal with Earthy. I’m sure Sakura wishes Glow was the last Clow Card, or something, though.

The reason Kero came along with Sakura, other than the fact that there was only one Clow Card left, is the fact that Sakura had her dream with, presumably, Yue in it. The only time Sakura has had a dream where someone new appeared is when she finally meets that person. If she’s now having a dream about Yue, Kero probably suspects that she will be meeting him very soon, and it doesn’t look like it’s a prospect he’s looking forward to.

Kero seemed to possibly suspect that Ms. Mizuki was Yue, but the fact that Yue appeared to be separate from Ms. Mizuki in Sakura’s dream, and she said she had “other duties,” seems to indicate that this probably isn’t the case.

It’s also curious about how Toya said that there are no coincidences, only necessity, especially after Yukito remarked that it was a coincidence that he was there working. That strongly suggests (if it wasn’t already somewhat clear) that Toya working wherever Sakura happens to be hanging out isn’t merely a wild set of coincidences.

Cards Captured: none
Card Count: 51

This episode really launches us into what appears to be the final and climatical arc of the show. We see the rest of Otonashi’s memories and, with information from Kanade, can pretty much conclude the following:

1) Suicide is, at the very least, not the exclusive way to appear in this place. When I saw that there was more to see about Otonashi, I thought we might find out that he either killed himself, or at least sacrificed himself. Neither really happened (at least directly), so that, along with Kanade’s comments that people are here because they had a “troubled youth” pretty much puts a dagger into the heart of the suicide theory. I still think some people might have done it, though it makes Yuri’s statement that no one committed suicide as being more plausible. Otonashi is the first person from whom we find out how they actually died, though.

2) I believe that they truly are dead. I think this episode effectively ended the “matrix theory.” While it was still plausible, even after we saw Otonashi die, since I’m sure someone would argue “but! They could have thrown him into the machine after that!,” I think the fact that Kanade assumed that Otonashi had donated his organs would highly suggest that he is, in fact, dead. (though I guess some people could argue that even she might be unaware that she’s plugged in, but I think Occam’s Razor is pretty much pointing to the “they’re dead, Jim” theory)

Of course, the third conclusion we can draw is that it was Kanade’s mission all along to try to help everyone to live without any regrets, though I think people had pretty much already figured that one out a while ago.

I was also right from my thoughts a couple episodes back that Otonashi would probably lose his regrets by helping the other members of the battlefront lose theirs, and now he’s basically acting as a double agent for Angel within the Battlefront. The problem Otonashi has is that Yuri isn’t stupid. She almost certainly knows that someone revealed their plot to frame Kanade, and she almost certainly has figured out that the one person with both the knowledge and motive is Otonashi.

As Otonashi stated at the end of the episode, he’s going to need to find out the pasts of the other Battlefront members to figure out the best way for them to lose their regrets. However, I think the toughest nut to crack is going to be Yuri. Otonashi may ultimately need to have Yuri believe that she is a successful leader and defender of the battlefront. That’s going to be hard to do if she starts having members disappear left and right. I think the logical step would be to try to get Yuri to disappear first, but I doubt that’s where the show is going to go. Maybe they can get some of the other members to disappear, and then have a “final battle” between Yuri and Kanade, where it appears Yuri has won (but which is actually staged by Kanade and Otonashi).

If there is one question that I’m still truly unsure of, it’s this: what, exactly, is Kanade? Originally we thought she was some Angel, then, during the exam episode, I was leaning towards believing that Kanade was a soul from a human who had died, like everyone else, but now I’m again unsure of that. Though I’m not sure what she really is if she’s not that. It could just be that she’s been there so long helping people that she’s figured everything out, or has been given knowledge about where they are by virtue of being the President. If she is a human soul like everyone else, what are the chances that she, and not Yuri, will end up having the worst memory of all?

This is rather unique in anime: a hot spring episode without a hot spring, and where they spend time actually building up characters rather than having everyone hang out naked all episode long.

Souta and Inami’s relationship is still, understandably, rather awkward, with Inami wanting to be treated as normal, but Souta not really being able to because of her condition, though he still tries his best. While neither of them would admit to it, I’d say that what they did in this episode would pretty much qualify as a date. I mean, who else is willing to put his face on the line to protect other innocent men from Inami?

And while Inami may still be punching Souta 3 or 4 times a day, I think it’s just from them being able to hang out closer than they used to. At the start of the series, if Souta was as close to Inami as he was for most of this episode, he probably wouldn’t have a bone that wasn’t broken in his body by the end of the episode.

There were a couple hints about the Jun/Yachiyo relationship, though they’re still kind of in the “too awkward to even hang out” phase. I’m amazed that Yachiyo was willing to go onto the hot springs while leaving Kyouko behind. Maybe this is the first sign of a break in Yachiyo’s absolute devotion to her?

I’d say that this episode was less funny and more plot, though there were still some funny moments. I had to laugh at Inami doing her best to not punch Jun, though it ended up being Yachiyo that caused them to nearly almost wreck. Then Souta caught Inami with his claw hand to keep her from taking out an innocent guy who accidentally bumped her.

Aoi, meanwhile, was just kind of annoying. It’s like they kept having her pop up to remind everyone that she was actually there. But I’m not sure she really did anything. Poplar didn’t do much either (once again) other than come up with the idea to go to the hot spring in the first place, but after that, she was kind of lost as is per the usual.

I still find it rather odd to have Poplar showcased as the lead female, only to have the shoe, effectively, be about someone else (Inami). I don’t think it makes the show bad, it’s just…odd.

P.S. Nazuna is quickly becoming one of my favoriate characters.

Aniblog Tournament | HTML Bracket

[Personal Comment]: Oh yeah, and don’t forget to vote for me in the AniBlog tournament.  Today is the last day to do so! [/Personal Comment]

This group of reviews might be kind of short, cause I don’t have much time to write them up. Sorry.

Round 2, Day 15

Vote Here

Match 29 – #6 blogSuki vs. #59 Unmei Kaihen

Design: I’m not really one for blogSuki’s design.  I think they pull off the one-post-per-page thing as well as anyone can hope to, but it’s annoying to have to click to see each and every article.  Also, no category list. Search is at the bottom.  It’s laid out nice, but there are just some other things about it I don’t like.  Unmei Kaihen is on wordpress, so I can’t say too much about it, but there is nothing particularly wrong about it.  I don’t think it’d be enough to keep me from voting for it, if it came down to it, but I just don’t like the one-post-per-page thing blogSuki does.  Winner: Unmei Kaihen

Post Style/Rate: Neither site has a problem with post rate.  I like how blogSuki does the full-width image thing, but they have some IPIP going on as well.  I think Unmei Kaihen paces out his images a lot better. Winner: Unmei Kaihen

Content: I think this is a close call.  They both write good entertaining posts.  I might give the slight edge to blogSuki, though. Winner: blogSuki

Overall: I think how blogSuki does their blog, some of the weaknesses pointed out in the design and post style sections are minimized to a great extent, and I kind of feel like just ignoring those two sections because of that, which would give it to blogSuki by a nose on content.

Winner: blogSuki

Match 30 – #27 Bokutachi no Blog vs. #38 The null set

Design: Both use wordpress, so there is only so much I can say.  I guess I thought that Bokutachi’s sidebar was a little less cluttered, so I’ll go with them.  Winner: Bokutachi no Blog

Post Style/Rate: Bokutachi doesn’t have a problem with post rate.  The null set, however, does seem to. They have 7 posts in May, but they only have 4 in April, none in March, and 4 in February.  Bokutachi has some IPIP going on, though.  I like The null set’s post style better, so I think that cancels out the post rate issue. Winner: Push

Content: Bokutachi seems to be all over the place as far as their posting style (even for the same author).  Sometimes it’s a long recap with a paragraph of review. Sometimes it’s seemingly all review. Sometimes it’s something else.  I just kind of think that The null set writes more per post, writes more consistent, and writes slightly better.  Winner: The null set

Overall: Since the first two categories were effectively equal, winner of content wins.

Winner: The null set

Round 2, Day 16

Vote Here

Match 31 – #22 Atarashii Prelude vs. #86 Desu ex Machina

Design: Atarashii Prelude has a pretty good design concept overall, I think, though I’m coming to dislike these “featured content” things at the top, just because they usually don’t actually say or do anything useful most of the time.  Also, category list is awfully low on the page. And can you have more ads, please?  Dexu ex Machina uses a somewhat common theme, however.  Despite that, while I think Atarashii definitely has the better design concept, I think some of the smaller things just started to add up.  Winner: Desu ex Machina

Post Style/Rate: Atarashii only has 6 posts since the start of April which is not very good.  Desu ex Machine doesn’t post a whole lot, but they at least posts more than Atarashii does.  Neither blog has any particular problem with post style, though Desu does seem to do some IPIP in their K-ON posts.    I’m not sure it’s enough to make up for the post rate, though.  Winner: Desu ex Machina

Content: While Atarashii Prelude doesn’t post much, what they do post seems pretty interesting for the most part.  Desu has some interesting stuff, though I think the post more non-anime related posts than I might be happy with.  I think on this one, I’ll give a slight edge to Atarashii. Winner: Atarashii Prelude

Overall: So this is another case of quality of content per post vs. post rate.  I think I liked Atarashii’s content more, and while Desu ex Machina posts more, I don’t know if they post that much more.

Winner: Atarashii Prelude

Match 32 – #11 Anime Diet vs. #75 Anime Princess

Design: Anime Diet definitely has a snazzy design, and unlike some of the other snazzy designs I’ve seen, this one is actually somewhat user friendly (though they do have one of those featured content things).  Anime Princess’s design is OK, but nowhere near Anime Diet’s.  Winner: Anime Diet

Post Style/Rate: Anime Diet has no problem with post rate, while Anime Princess does, posting, I think I counted 11 times since the start of April.  Anime Diet’s posts seem rather sparse on the images, but otherwise seem to be OK.  Anime Princess looks OK too in some posts, so they look like they do some IPIP in some others.  I think overall this section goes to Anime Diet as well.  Winner: Anime Diet

Content: Anime Diet seemed to be rather wordy in their posts, and both blogs seemed to have a somewhat similar level of quality, so I’ll throw this one to Anime Princess by a nose.  Winner: Anime Princess

Overall: I think the win by Anime Princess in content was very narrow, while I think Anime Diet’s win in the other categories were much bigger.  Probably enough to overcome the things I didn’t like about their content.

Winner: Anime Diet

So that wraps up Round 2!