There’s another week of Simulblast comin’ at ya! Who came out on top due to your votes? Who will you vote for this week? Will you give some love to the underdog or support a player in the lead in the comments below? Time to scout for your favorite entry!

Meganebu! (Episode Two)
Player: Kanashimi
Class: Boss

I’m surprisingly no stranger to watching anime with others, even if that usually ends up in ruined friendships when we disagree on petty plot points. The other problem when inviting people over to a final boss’ dungeon is everyone wants to sit on the rocks floating atop the lava instead of just chillin’ in the magma. That’s my very specific rock where I put my butt when I want to relax. My place. I call dibs. Just sayin’! The nerve of people to put their soda can on top of my floating rock instead of the floor… jeez.

My three friends that appeared were my cousin Cheshy, her husband Jordan, and our friend Becky. Their anime expertise can be summed up in some vague knowledge of Full Metal Alchemist and a few completed runs of Ouran High School Host Club. As for what else, I have no idea, so they obviously seemed like perfect specimens.

I gave them little to no context concerning what happened in the first episode besides the fact there’s a Glasses Club and the two shota characters had some sort of rivalry towards one another pertaining the president of the club. The problem was when the episode had no real plot to follow from the first, so their reactions were typical confusion, but I was also bewildered at how disjointed the episode seemed to be. It made me feel that each episode will be very one off with little story sub-sections littering the series to ensure you never get bored, but are never able to get grounded in a good, in-depth story.

The episode starts with Hayato, the shota that doesn’t need glasses, cleaning up their old clubroom. Regardless of how much he seems to tidy up it remains a mess full of debris and burnt walls. He discovers a photo album however and begins to think of all the memories the older club members had as well as when he joined said club. Ironically, there’s no pictures of Hayato and he convinces himself he’s a ghost.

They explore the pictures in a really neat way. They try and make some elements “float” off the screen and zoom past them. This was something pretty much everyone that was over mentioned: that Meganebu! has a very distinct style. The style is the only thing that enables the show to have such an off-the-wall and goofy story.

I’d like to explain what happened next, yet I feel even that’s beyond my capabilities. We get a flashback that’s obviously something that never happened. I can’t help to think that Akira never got a glasses shaped hover board that exploded in front of hundreds of stick figure classmates… but what do I know? Then there’s a reality show interview that Hayato does with himself. At least, I think that’s what happened. In addition, Hayato finds out there is a new club and no one told him because the one in charge of telling him specifically is his archrival, Mitsuki. Mitsuki then begins to ask why he’s in the club as he doesn’t need glasses, but apparently Hayato’s family is related to the first man to wear glasses in Japan. His bloodline ensures his addition to the club, which allows Hayato to believe he’s worth… something

It then suddenly derails into the cool character, Yukiya. He’s found in bed by their teacher taking his one hour nap. Then he begins to talk with said teacher and test the strength of some glasses frames. As he ventures home he falls flat into a muddy riverbed. He gets attacked by a crow among other things, which realistically shatters his composed personality type. It’s really an odd disjoint from what they’re trying to portray, but regardless they reinforce this character trait by showing a flashback of him having equally bad luck as a child. He runs all the way to Akira’s house since Akira was sick that day. They then begin to press glasses frames together in an effort to see who has the strongest ones, getting close enough to kiss.

The whole thing was entertaining, yes, but I’m still finding myself somewhat disappointed concerning the show. I suppose my type of husbando isn’t here yet or there hasn’t been anything of worth that allows me to feel really invested in a character yet. As a series for laughs it works fairly well! It left Cheshy with a big, one word reply, “Japan.” It makes sense from someone’s perspective that isn’t used to anime on a daily basis. The overall thought process is we all laughed so it succeeded in being entertaining, but personally it just feels empty to me.

Becky’s easy way to sum the show was probably one of my favorite quotes of the evening, “All of the context has been kinda stripped somewhat like you’d strip out the gradients of black, white, and gray. You’d end up with solely bright colors. It’s sort of like the Andy Warhol of anime.”

The biggest plus is I know that Jordan had to leave with the, “We are Meganebu!” jingle. That made the whole experience worth it.

Watch Meganebu! on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Galilei Donna (Episode Two)
Player: Christmas
Class: Guest Relations

Let’s get rolling with episode two of Galilei Donna! This is my second time watching the episode, since I watched it already with Scholar for this week’s challenge. We are in for a treat!

Picking right up where we left off, Hozuki tells us that she built the goldfish airship all by herself over the course of three years. Apparently a 13 year old can do anything with the right blueprints. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a descendant of Galileo. Seems like Hozuki was planning on running away to Japan, which is why she prepared it with weapons. While the OP plays again, I gotta say that it’s probably in the running for my favorite this season. Even against Spyair’s new song, it really stands out to me for some reason.

It’s a good thing both Kazuki and Hazuki think the goldfish design is silly, because I forgot which was which right now. Speaking of goldfish, we should probably see if the real goldfish is okay. It doesn’t look like the goldfish is doing too well, and neither is the rest of the Ferrari family. I’m sure if Elk were watching this series, he’d have something to say about police being corrupt pigs.

I guess Mom is being let out on good behavior, but everyone else has to stay here forever. This serious looking man is very good at folding origami cranes. I don’t really understand what purpose that serves now, but it must be some kind of symbolism. It looks like Anna, our mysterious savior, is a huge Galileo fan. Apparently there’s some secret Galileo hid and only his descendants know about it. Looks like Hozuki has seen something before that might be what we’re looking for. Whatever it is, it’s called the Galileo Tesoro. It looks like Anna is used to seeing sky pirates and the cops coming after the Tesoro, and Mom knows the leader of the group who’s kidnapped the Ferrari family. It seems that these people aren’t actually cops, they’re just working with them. Hazuki reminds me a little of Kana. Hunger doesn’t care about your situation, you need to answer the call of food whenever it strikes.

Our first order of business is to rescue the rest of the family. First we need to pack our essentials again, then find out way back to the goldfish ship. Anna doesn’t mess around, she’ll hit you with pepper spray and a blunt object. So apparently in addition to a giant flying mecha, Hozuki also has a robot walker. A robot walker that is immune to bullets (and even has some of its own) that doesn’t care how many people are shooting at it is the best kind. It even has a sword to cut the doors open.

Now that we have Hazuki and Kazuki, it’s time to break Dad out. The next step is to get to the roof and back to the ship, which we’re calling the Galileo now. The best plan is usually to split up, which is why Dad’s in the suit while the girls get away. Unfortunately, we’re cut off by the fat police chief. If you paid attention to the OP, you’d know that Kazuki is pretty good at martial arts, and she’s more than willing to demonstrate by flipping fatty and giving him a solid punch. My throat is a little sore after that punch, it looks like it hurt. Unfortunately he’s not the only one taking damage, since Dad’s been hit with a rocket launcher. I don’t know how well it can take that hit, and on top of that Mom’s been hit with something too. We’ll have to find out what happened next time; hopefully they’re okay.

Personally, I feel like this episode really kicked it up a notch and told us more of what we wanted to know and keep us hooked. I expect nothing less from a show airing on noitaminA, but this week’s challenge had me bring in Scholar for a second opinion.

Scholar: It seemed like an interesting anime that caught my attention. The idea of an unconventional mecha anime using fish instead of humanoid Gundams is pretty cool. I’m also a fan of the works of Galileo, so it’s interesting to me. The fish computer is also amusing. I think it’d be something that I’d pick up and recommend to a friend to check out just based on what I’ve seen.

Watch Galilei Donna on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Gundam Build Fighters (Episode Two)
Player: Elk
Class: DJ

So the second episode of Gundam Build Fighters has come and gone, and I along with my friend Barry the MegaTroll have watched it. This episode follows along with the introductory path as it sets up more of the general plot and cements everything, adding in some conflict.

As with the first episode, I greatly enjoyed this second episode, and I was happy to see that Ramba Ral wasn’t a one-off character, but he’ll be there to provide insight (hopefully) throughout the series. Barry hadn’t seen the original Gundam yet, but he plans to, and even without that foreknowledge, was pleased that there was a male character in the series, as he found himself constantly wondering whether or not characters were male or female as they are all so girlish. he did however note that the female characters would have certain accessories like hairbands or lipstick to differentiate them from the equally girly boys of the series.

However I’m getting ahead of myself. This episode starts off with Reiji being lazy, and refusing to continue to help Sei fight in the Gundam tournament that we’ve seen flashbacked and foreshadowed. Reiji feels his last fight paid him back for the drink and helping him out with the shop owner from last episode, and I have to agree. Did Sei think that because he bought this kid a drink he was entitled to indentured servitude for the length of an entire world tournament? Well, probably not. I assume his mental reasoning was Reiji will have so much fun and love Gundam so he’ll want to continue. Alas, this is not the case.

At school, the “dreamy, rich” school council president, who also happens to be the leader of the model building club, asks to talk to Sei after a class ends. After some praise, Sei cuts in and says he can’t join the model builders’ club because he has to work at the family store, to which the president corrects him by saying he wants to battle against his new model, since he heard about Sasaki’s defeat.

While all this is happening, Reiji just sleeps in. Because why not. However, when he gets bored he asks Rinko where Sei went, and follows him to the school. We’ve had a little foreshadowing of Reiji’s personality by now. So we know he can be unintentionally defensive and confrontational. When a gorilla-like student tells him to leave because he’s not a student he picks a fight with him, the resulting noise getting the attention of the kids in class. Due to the commotion, the girl who sits beside Sei goes to get him. Seeing the much smaller Reiji putting submission holds on the much larger gorilla-like (“Don’t call me a Gorilla!”) student, Sei goes down to make things right.

Of course, once everyone has arrived, we find the only way to settle this is with a Gundam Battle! Because like in any gimmick toy selling anime the obvious way to settle differences is with the toys being sold. Sadly for Barry, this, and everything else that has happened was very predictable. However I don’t care! It might be predictable, but it’s still fun. I don’t think everything needs to be full of twists and surprises, and this series for the most part doesn’t try to be.

So we get to the good part. Because the president is rich, he had his father donate tons of money to have a massive Gundam fighting simulator in the school, and the gorilla and Reiji get to battle. Reiji easily defeats the gorilla’s Gold Sumo with the Build Strike, but punctures the colony level in the process, creating strong gusts of wind. Ramba Ral goes on to explain how the simulators work to the main female schoolgirl who continually wonders to herself who he is and why he’s hanging around… Good question… After the first battle, however, the president, known as the Crimson Comet (yay references!), eager to face off against the Build Strike Gundam, launches in with his custom Char Zaku named the Zaku Amazing. Having made it far in the last tourney, he takes out Reiji with ease, giving him defeat as a motivator to enter the tournament with Sei for revenge.

And then it happened. Something Barry didn’t even see coming. Something I didn’t see coming, though I expected something was up. In a scene that can only remind me of Poochy the Dog from The Simpsons, Reiji has to go to his home planet. He just starts glowing, which freaks Sei out. When Sei calls him on it, he just casually teleports. End of episode.

So that was the episode. Afterwards I talked to Barry about how he felt about the episode and the series itself so far. He was quite disappointed. He felt it didn’t really try to fit into any one category where it could have excelled. If it wanted to be a mindless action series, it could have upped the battle animation production. I thought the battles have been great so far, but I can see where he’s coming from. On a series that focuses on battles, I’ve seen better animation quality and fight choreography elsewhere. As a story-driven anime, it doesn’t really want to be one and there really isn’t any story. The good Gundam series are known for their political intrigue, shades of grey, and a spread of likable characters on all sides of the conflict as well as monsters on all sides. This has none of that. It is purely a tournament series. Perhaps they’ll throw some story in as it progresses. How Reiji fits in as an alien I have no idea. And G Gundam managed to shoehorn in story between fights as well. Those aside though.

What I think this series is aiming to be, and successfully I might add, is the “Smash Bros” of Gundam anime. This series is purely about showing off Gunpla, as everything in the series you can or will be able to buy, and being a nostalgia trip and dream match series for older fans. Have you ever wanted to see Shining Gundam from G Gundam take on Deathscythe from Gundam W? That may be a possibility in this series. We’ve already seen a Gyan take on Wing, and the Build Strike custom Strike take on a Gyan, as well as a Gold Sumo and a custom Zaku. We also have Ramba Ral, a fan-favorite character, slightly OUT of character, helping us understand what’s going on, which I still think is my favorite part of the series. Not having seen a lot of Gundam yet, Barry, I think, doesn’t get that. So unless you have some Gundam experience, or are willing to look past some of the flaws and watch it for the cross-universe combat it’s bringing, this series might not be for you. But for any Gundam Fan, this is a dream come true.

The biggest compliment Barry had was that he was happy the main characters of Star Driver found work after their series ended.

Though he did also mention that the music wasn’t bad. What it came down to for him was everything that happened was so cliche, or had perfect circumstances that he couldn’t suspend disbelief. However he is willing to continue watching the series. Ultimately, this is a Gundam meant for kids. It’s to pump them up and get them interested in Gunpla, which is a hobby that is mainly reserved for the older Gundam fans. Of course, being about Gunpla it’ll also appeal to those older hobbyists, and to older fans who want to see different Gundams head to head.

Watch Gundam Build Fighters on Gundam.Info or talk about this episode on our forums.

Log Horizon (Episode Two)
Player: Siege
Class: Content Provider

So. Log Horizon. I don’t know how to feel anymore. I know what I expected and hoped for, but I’m not getting that thing.

I expected a nice mysterious story about a nation being thrust into the world of an MMO and trying to get out.

What I’m getting is a story about people in an MMO who don’t really seem to care that they’re never going to see their families again.

I watched episode two with a good friend of mine named Jay, and she gave me some great insights. Well, insights as great as “I connect with the elf lady on a personal level because she has big breasts and likes men.”

But aside from that, she agreed with me about my thoughts on the first episode. She mentioned that it was really jarring that no one seems to be trying to escape.

The second episode explores a couple things, mainly the things that happen when characters die and the ways that society is falling apart by being thrust into the world, but it’s all very minimal. No one’s trying to figure out why they’re stuck in the world. Jay mentioned that it just feels like a fantasy anime that just happens to be set in an MMO, and I feel like that’s a good way to think about it.

After some research, I found that the show was based on a light novel which was based on a story written on an internet forum. And I’m sincerely hoping that its roots are to blame for how bland and escapist it seems. It sounds like it was written by someone who thinks they’d be genuinely happier in an MMO world, and that doesn’t make for a good plot; instead it comes out sounding like a generic nerd fantasy. I zone out when people tell me about their dreams in real life, so I’m sure as hell not going to enjoy watching an anime series about one for 26 episodes or so.

As far as the episode goes, I don’t know what to say. They’ve started on a journey somewhere or something. I don’t really know because they failed to make any of it seem important. There’s also some cat guy saving people for some reason that no one knows. And the loli ninja kneed the knight guy in the face. Ha ha.

I sincerely hope this anime gets a little less shallow over the next few episodes. If it doesn’t, this is going to be a long season.

Watch Log Horizon on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Diabolik Lovers (Episode Two)
Player: Midnight
Class: DJ

Episode 2 of Diabolik Lovers shows no more promise than the first episode. The animation is still pretty, but the content is no better than before. Something new this episode was the anime’s opening sequence. The name of the song is Mr. Sadistic Night. The song is average at best, nothing that got my blood pumping and made me want to watch the show. It wasn’t so beautiful it made me really like it either. The visuals were about what you’d expect out of an opening to a show like this: lots of flower petals, character focus shots, and a thing near the end where all of the guys are descending on Yui.

At the start of the episode we find Yui waking up in a bed, changed into a nightgown, unsure of how she got changed. Because that’s not creepy or anything. Within the next few minutes we have our next (largely awkward) scene where two of the guys are in her bed trying to get at her neck. This is cut off by the announcement that she will now be attending night school. From this point on, Yui is forced into more awkward situations. The episode is largely Ayato based. It focuses quite a bit on him and Yui doing things like eating food, him throwing her into a pool in an attempt to drown her until she admits he’s the greatest, taking her blood multiple times without consent, and kissing her while she’s unconscious in the pool.

There is an attempt at one point to make Ayato look like a decent person when Yui is drowning; he has a flashback of sorts to what I believe may of been his mother ignoring him as he drowned. It was sort of vague and left me with no sympathy really. He did throw her into the pool in the first place.

The entire episode just made me feel sort of dirty and awkward. I watched it with a few of my friends, the common consensus was that nobody enjoyed it. The first reaction I got was that “No pun intended, it ‘sucked'”, though the best summery I could get from any of them was “Watching it is like watching a bad depiction of what women are taught to want in today’s society. Virginity is good, but women secretly want to be desired, so they created a story where a bunch of men all want a woman in every way. And it’s supposed to be erotic, but it’s mostly just creepy and giving distinct feeling of Stockholm syndrome.”

Watch Diabolik Lovers on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Beyond The Boundary (Episode Two)
Player: Zero Gravity
Class: DJ

An interesting start to the 2nd episode, foreshadowing, but to be more precise, it appears we start with a flash back involving Akihito, with an unknown corpse before him. Akihito’s sudden daydream is ripped back to reality as the chibi-mummy youmu attacks him only to be saved by Mirai. The youmu is not done yet, however, as Akihito reveals that the only way to kill it is to crush its eye, and that’s it’s cue to escape, Mirari and Akihito give chase, hijinks ensue.

The Opening plays and we’re brought to a moment I’ve been waiting for since episode 1 in this series, the graphics. It starts with the youmu constantly attacking Mirai, who beautifully is able to block, and counter all the attacks at a super high pace, creating wonderful, colorful spark effects with each strike from her blood sword. Akihito notes that this youmu is acting a bit more berserk than normal. After unsuccessfully being able to strike the eye, Mirai opts to let it go when the youmu tries to escape, to which Akihito reminds her that if she doesn’t kill it, she won’t earn any money from killing it, resulting in no groceries and no rent for her apartment. After chasing it on rooftops Mirai displays another ability using her blood. By removing a ring on her finger she’s able to shot her blood in a blast and leaves the youmu looking like swiss cheese, much like a shotgun.

Mirari begins to have flash backs of her own, causing her to hesitate killing the youmu, Akihito coerces her into finishing the job, and she does just that, resulting in Mirai’s first youmu kill. A stone is left behind from the youmu after it dies in the same way the previous youmu from earlier that day left one. Akihito learns that Mirai is anemic and using that shotgun attack left her very weak. After the battle, Akihito tries to recruit her into the Literary club, thinking that spending time with another Spirit Warrior might benefit her. Mirai promptly refuses.
Upon arriving home, Akihito receives a blank postcard, but arrives at Mirai’s the next morning to pick her up for school. He takes Mirai to a local shop where Mirai discovers that one of the workers, referred to as “Ai-chan” in the shop, is also a humanoid youmu. This is where Mirai (and the audience for that matter), learns that there are all kinds of youmu, and that certain youmu are recognized by Spirit Warriors, and live among humans free and peacefully. Mitsuki meets up with the others at the shop, and verbal teasing begins between Mitsuki and Akihito, to which Mirai appears to be either confused or envious.

On their way to school, Akihito asked Mitsuki and Ai if they’ve noticed youmu acting a little more aggressive than normal, which neither one notices. Afterward, Akihito tries again to recruit Mirai into the Literary club. The rest of the school day pertains to Akihito trying to convince Mirai to join the Literary club, to make matters worse, Mirai is now making a point to avoid him, going so far as to avoid even eye contact. After deciding to give it up for now, Akihito goes to the rooftop of the school to find Hiromi napping. Hiromi wakes only to remind him that his proper title is senpai, being older than him.

Akihito rips into Hiromi for not putting a cage around the school the day prior, causing him to call the Cleaners, which Hiromi reminds Akihito that he never promised to put a cage around the school daily, and that the campus’ safety is not his responsibility, proceeding to call him “Akkey”. Akihito then wants to ask if he knows why he doesn’t like seeing Hiromi face to face, Hiromi asks if it’s because Spirit Warriors and Youmu go together like oil and water, Akihito tells him because Akkey is the name of a weird, washed-up idol. When Akihito asks him about the aggressive youmu, Hiromi approaches Akihito reminding him that he wouldn’t raise a hand to Akihito, in exchange, Akihito isn’t supposed to give his support to anyone. When Akihito tells Hiromi that he came of his own accord to ask, Hiromi said that implies he’s less inclined to talk, and promptly leaves, not answering again after that.

After failing to find Mirai, Akihito heads to the Shindou Photo Studio, the shop from that morning. Discovering Mirai hadn’t arrived yet, when in actuality, she was lost. Giving Ayaka Shindou (the name isn’t revealed until later, but let’s roll with it), which I’m assuming at the time is the shop owner’s name, the blank postcard Akihito received reveals that it is a memory implanted one from his mother. Within the first three seconds of his mother projecting from the card in a cat-girl outfit, Akihito turns it off, stating that it was embarrassing that his mother acted like a child, constantly dressing up in costumes.

After Mitsuki and Mirai arrive, they restrain Akihito as they play the rest of the message. Other than reminding him to cook for himself and get good nutrients, she also wanted to warn Akihito of the Hallow Shadow heading their way. Akihito, being the only one who doesn’t know what a Hallow Shadow is, is informed that it’s a super powerful youmu with no physical body, and that it killed 5 A-Rank Spirit Warriors in mere minutes, so the best option is to let it pass. After selling the youmu fragment they received from the night prior, Mirari only makes 1,000 yen. Mistuki then extends an invitation to Mirai to join the club as well. Mirai offers to buy Akihito dinner for his help in killing the youmu, but then proclaims after that, he was no longer allowed to meddle in her affairs anymore, because she killed someone, someone dear to her. End Episode 2.

Watch Beyond The Boundary on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

I Couldn’t Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job (Episode Two)
Player: Bobby Henshin
Class: DJ

As we continue our journey into magical retail sales. Raul, our hero wannabe protagonist, is sweeping outside and is almost attacked by a giant bee. And by giant bee I mean the size of Scooby Doo. He begins to charge an attack to kill it when he starts to have flash backs about how, after The Demon King was slain, there was no place for him and his skills in the new world. The bee flies away as he is met by his former team mate and rival. She notices him right away and starts to yell at him about how he is working in a store instead of following his dream of being a hero. He keeps his head down and heads back to work.

He is now teaching the new employee, which we learned is named Phino Bloodstone, how to speak to customers. Like all retail sales, there are 7 basic phrases an employee must learn to satisfy the customer. “Thank you very much,” “Greetings customer,” “I am extremely sorry sir/madam,” “How may I help you today,” “Have a great day,” “Please come again,” and “Have a nice day.” Now, when trying to teach nice, complimentary phrases to the daughter of The Demon King, you can expect there to be…not so good results. All of the phrases get turned into your basic RPG responses of a final boss. In frustration, Raul decides to take a break and leaves her alone in the store.

In the 10 minutes of Raul’s break, a burglar comes in and tries to rob the store…with a golden axe and wearing a African tribal outfit and mask… okay then. Now Phino, The Demon King’s daughter, thinks that this man is another customer and thinks that they sell money. Raul comes back to find the man near unconscious on the floor with Phino holding the golden axe. After a tiny little freak out, Raul figures out that the man is a burglar and explains to Phino that he is a bad man. This give her the opportunity to unleash her true demon on this man.

After the day is over he comes back to the store to find Phino asleep on the couch in the break room. Next to her is a notebook where she was practicing the phrases that Raul has been teaching her. After a successful attempt, he pets her on the head for a job well done. The next day, Raul comes to work to find out that Phino is no longer there anymore. He yells at the manager asking why after she was working so hard. She tells him that she was just moving out of the break room and is moving to a new apartment: Next door to his.

Watch I Couldn’t Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Outbreak Company (Episode Two)
Player: Kayarath
Class: Content Provider

This week in Outbreak Company, Shin’ichi gets himself a big helping of life in the Eldant Empire and finds that it doesn’t agree with him completely. First off, he gets thrown into a meeting with the empress, Petralka. You expect that otaku plus head-of-state equals incident waiting to happen, and this was no exception. While having any prep time could have mitigated it, when the empress calls you, the empress calls you. No preparation time for you, Shin’ichi! After getting punched in the face and nearly stabbed with a sword, he secures permission to conduct his business.

In spreading Japanese culture to this new world, Shin’ichi is more or less given a free hand. Entrusting an otaku (no matter how great his knowledge is) to spearhead interdemensionary relationships doesn’t strike me as a brilliant idea. The Japanese government really isn’t good at this. While Shin’ichi is still base building, empress Petralka zerg rushes in demanding to see what exactly Japanese pop culture is all about. Myucel, the half-elf maid interrupts one too many times and ends up drawing Petralka’s wrath. Shin’ichi steps in, saves the day, and is given the task of helping Petralka learn to read Japanese. Cue ending theme.

In a surprise to me, the social structure of the Eldant Empire is the “character” given the most development. They say that the literacy rate is only twenty percent, which is stunning to a person coming from a country where everyone can read. We also see just how much social status matters and how often non humans get the short end of the stick on that. In order for a non human to be a citizen of the empire, they have to join the army, and begin training for it during childhood. Even Myucel had her term of service, and was great at attack magic to boot! It’s even normal to beat the servants, which was quite a shock. Honestly, the degree of inequality was uncomfortable to me.

I think it’s safe to say Shin’ichi will lead the effort to spread the power of reading throughout the land. Myucel will continue to learn Japanese and draw sympathy for having such a hard life. Empress Petralka will represent both the lolicon and tsundere ideals. Do social commentary, school scenes, and moe mix well? Will Shin’ichi go through an episode without getting surprised by something? Can you guess which anime will be referenced next? Find out in episode three!

Watch Outbreak Company on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Kill La Kill (Episode Two)
Player: Knightshade
Class: DJ

What be up my every one? I’m DJ Knightshade, and I’m here to tell you guys about the second episode of “Kill la Kill” (or at least try to; it’s REALLY random). Well, here we go! Ryuko is tired after her fight with Takaharu and retreats, eventually passing out and ending up with Mako and her family. That night, Ryuko recalls how she was introduced to the uniform, which she decides to call Senketsu, who was created by her father. The next day, Ryuko comes across the tennis club captain, Omiko Hakodate, who knocks her back when Senketsu doesn’t transform into the kinky sailor suit from hell. She is found by her teacher, Aikuro Mikisugi, who explains in a very creepy way that for Senketsu to work, it needs Kamui’s blood, providing her with a glove to help her in that regard.

Ryuko then goes to face Omiko (a.k.a the psycho tennis player) which, after some help from Mako, results in an over the top tennis match between them. Ryuko gets off to a rough start, losing badly at 3 rounds, but soon manages to make an amazing come back with her half-scissor blade. She is then able to destroy Omiko’s Goku Uniform, winning the match. Afterwards, Satsuki appears before Ryuko to challenge her to a fight, wielding a sword that can cut through Senketsu, prompting Ryuko to escape.

This episode was crazy awesome. By that I mean it’s crazy and it’s awesome. Awesome in the fact that this show is really going for no holds bar over the top action. They made a game of tennis into a crazy game of life and death. The tennis captain had this shark like mentality about her and had the features of a shark to boot. Also the animation continues to go off the deep end. It can look amazing when in the heat of battle and crude when it’s quite and mundane. Not crude in a bad way, but crude nonetheless.

The crazy parts are when I can’t fully understand what’s going on, which is most of the time. One minute I’m in this crazy family’s house, and the next I’m at school watching an army of tennis players beating the ever loving crap out Mako by hitting tennis balls at her face. The crazy just keeps piling on and on and on. However, I think it’s evident at the moment that this is a series where you should check your brain at the door, strap in and enjoy the ride, ’cause this is gonna get really good really fast. I’ll see where the story takes us, but at this point I’m going to stay for a great fights.

Watch Kill La Kill on Crunchyroll & Daisuki or talk about this episode on our forums.

Nagi No Asukara (Episode Two)
Player: MakiMaki
Class: Content Provider

This player did not turn in their episode summary for the week. As such, they will not be awarded 50 flat points or the additional 20 for doing a challenge. Maki is considered a no-show and as such has lost a dollar of his original bid. He has four more chances before he will be kicked out of the competition.

Watch Nagi No Asukara on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Week 002 Tally

1. Christmas: 260
2. Kanashimi: 260
3. Elk: 230
4. Siege: 170
5. Midnight: 140
6. Zero Gravity: 130
7. Bobby Henshin: 100
8. Kayarath: 100
9. Knightshade: 100
10. MakiMaki: 70

Next week’s challenge: Analyze your anime as if it was a video game. Talk about the graphics, gameplay, and more! Be as creative as you’d like.

Make sure to vote for your favorite review below! You can give your favorite an extra 30 points.