It’s four weeks of anime and we get to see the outcome of players using their powers! What will happen? Read more to find out!

This week’s challenge: Make sure to somehow tie your review with a convention in some form since it’s Youmacon week!

Meganebu! Galilei Donna (Episode Four)
Player: Kanashimi
Class: Boss

So this week I switched shows with Christmas. Half of it was to throw Christmas off and the other half was just to experience something new. I knew that Galilei Donna was a show that I hadn’t gotten a chance to really understand based on what little I had seen, but this week I jumped into episode four just to be adventurous!

The episode starts off with our holographic fish friend examining a sheet of music. From there, the girls decide they can find the very next sketch in their search for Galilei’s secret code. Hazuki and Hozuki seem to be getting along fine, but Kazuki just wants this whole adventure to be over with. I’m not sure if it’s just jealousy I sense or a distinct feeling of being left out.

They end up in a forest, but are searching for ruins and instead find a park. It’s only been around for five years, but it’s still a big dent in their plans. Kazuki declares she won’t be joining them and adamantly says that Hozuki is better at this sort of thing. Her and Hazuki argue and Kazuki runs off, assuring me that jealousy was indeed a factor for her earlier attitude.

Random homeless guy appears! I’m sorry, it would scare me so immensely to have someone grab my leg and not let go. We don’t get much time to think on it, however, as we enter the opening. I was able to see the opening in full at Youmacon during Christmas’ Merry Melodies panel. Since Christmas is more of a fan of rock music it was a nice contrast to the other anime intros he had with him. The colors are a great indication for a character’s alignment in the series itself. The song is also intensely relaxing regardless of the more action-filled sequences.

The girls decide to give the homeless man some food and leave Kazuki and Hozuki with him. That is the worst big sister in the world, I’m just sayin’. We found out that this homeless man had a daughter who liked science much like Hozuki. This man developed the micro doctor to save her, but the surgery was too late to save his precious kin.

I can’t help but to see Kazuki as a major jerk at this point. She’s been nothing but stand-offish and belittling. Regardless, Hozuki feels bad for the homeless man. Hazuki and Hozuki try to change the mood by going clothes shopping in… turbans? They have a long talk about the homeless man and how he reminds them of their father. Obviously, though, they’ve attracted attention from the Ganymede crew! One grabs onto Hazuki yet she’s able to slip away and Hozuki shoots one with a lightning dart of sorts. To distract the men, they throw their underwear bags at them, which actually proves to be a great way to slow them down.

Hazuki has a great idea of going into one elevator and pushing all the buttons before moving into the only other one and taking it to the top. That’s some amazing thinking! They jump from the top floor to the next just in time, but Hozoki takes a far tumble and crashed into the ground.

They’re able to bring her back to their base, but Hozoki isn’t looking good all things considered. Kazuki immediately makes her first good decision in the episode and remembers the homeless man and his micro doctor. As her feet carry her to Hans’s hut, she debates internally about her struggles to cope with this entire adventure. Kazuki admits many of her faults in an effort to beg this man for any help he is willing to provide. Realizing that they are family seems to strike a chord in Hans’s heart.

Black Ganymede finds their location as soon as they activate the goldfish; however. Kazuki, despite the fact she has no idea how, launches the ship in an effort to get away. The enemy is on their tail, but they’re unable to do anything to their sister to heal her due to all of the commotion. From this point on, there’s a battle of epic proportions, which is interrupted once our space pirate is told that Hozuki has literally fallen off of a building. That seemed to put his pride on the line, but it was still a nice turn of events.

From this point, the homeless man can give Hozoki a shot… to fix her broken bones? The wonders of fantasy technology! Oh, also, the old man had the sketch they were looking for. Talk about convenient. The episode ends with the obvious jerk character changing by doing something nice such as repairing some of the damaged goods from the shopping trip.

All in all, it was a pretty decent episode with a superior action sequence, but I can’t help to see a lot of tropes here or there. The show has some predictability that sort of deadens the appeal, if you’re looking for something a little more impactful. Either way, next week it’s back to Meganebu! for me, but this switch was a nice change!

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

Galilei Donna Meganebu! (Episode Four)
Player: Christmas
Class: Guest Relations

Christmas did submit an original draft for a review on Meganebu! episode four due to the fact Kana attacked him with Switch-A-Roo. However, afterwards Elk revealed what Bonus Stage power he got. Since Bonus Stage is a random draw of any power on the list, Elk used The Client Wants You To Redo It on Christmas. This ability forces a player to scrap their work and redo their episode summary. Their new summary is then sent through a plagiarism checker to ensure they’re over 50% unique content. This is to prevent people from cheating and reposting their previous draft.

Christmas’ second draft did not have 50% unique content, but it did have his challenge in each one. You can read his second entry by clicking here.

Since he was unable to clear all the requirements, Christmas will get points for his challenge, but you will be unable to vote for him this week. Instead you can show your support next week!

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

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

Elk here, with another episode of Gundam Build Fighters come and gone. This weeks challenge is quite hard for me compared to last weeks since I’ve never been to a convention, but living vicariously through fellow staff members, I think I can give it a whirl.

We’re given some good action to start off with. Between episodes, Sei and Reiji have won another Gunpla battle against another Red Zaku. It turns out to be a video that two scientists are looking over to study for the next fight. We’re also introduced to a pink haired J-pop idol named Kirara who sings about Gunpla.

Afterwards, Sei is asked to help a customer, a purple haired girl looking for a specific GM (The GM line is one of the grunt lines in the original Gundam universe.) which he gets for her, and they start talking about the “War in the Pocket” and the mechs from that era of the original universe. At the same time, Kousaka, the Accguy girl, is fantasizing about asking him for Gunpla help when he sees the conversation they’re having. She immediately gets depressed and leaves.

Later, the purple haired girl (who is and was always obviously Kirara) ambushes Sei after school and asks to see his Gunpla while offering him tea (spiked with a laxative). While he is away in the bathroom, Kousaka shows up, and they have a bit of a standoff until Sei shows up and everyone leaves.

Of course, Sei and Reiji’s next battle is against Kirara, who sabotaged the Build Strike while he was in the bathroom. Because of Reiji’s skills and the build Strikes transformable backpack, they still win. It turns out that Kirara doesn’t like Gundam or Gunpla at all. It was all her agency trying to get her to fill a niche and get popular with Gundam fans. The “scientists” from earlier were just Kirara otaku who made her Gunpla in exchange for signed photos. Afterwards, Kousaka reveals she was there watching the Gunpla battle where she gets up the courage to ask for help building it, tying up that little episodic plot point up with a tidy bow. I hope we get to see Bearguy soon (since I have a Bearguy on my shelf).

This episode, while it had more going on in it’s self contained story to me fell a little flat. The action segments were interesting, with the Build Strike falling apart due to sabotage, but that kind of plot wasn’t really as gripping as actual fair combat with talented opponents. It’ll be interesting to see if Kirara becomes more of a Gunpla fan after her defeat (though it doesn’t look like she will).

In terms of tying it in to conventions, the obvious is Gunpla and Idols. If any episode had to have this challenge, I’m glad it was this, because the concert came straight out of a convention. And I know for a fact staff members picked up some Gunpla (including a 1/100 Burning Gundam from G Gundam) at Youmacon. I’ve gotta say, though I’ve never been to a con, you can bet I’d be at every one if they had crazy VR Gunpla Battle setups like the anime.

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

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

Let me start this review by saying I am nowhere near drunk enough to review this episode. This has to be the most painful episode I’ve watched to date. Now that I’ve stated that much, let’s get this underway. We begin our episode with Yui at the school, going to the phone to make a phone call (presumably to her father to figure out how she ended up in this mess to begin with.)

She is intercepted by Kanato, the freaky little shouta boy and his equally-freaky sidekick, the eye-patched “Teddy.” They have a small conversation, in which Yui makes an attempt to not only talk to Kanato, but to Teddy, causing the small boy to scream at her not to address Teddy like her friend. He might believe the doll is alive; you know, it wouldn’t surprise me at this point. Kanato informs her that he’s thirsty and she runs off to get him a drink, coming back with a cup of coffee.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but if a vampire told me he was thirsty the first thing I’d think to get them would not be coffee! I mean, if I’m not willing to open up a vein to him, go grab someone who might be willing. Or maybe she could have asked what he was thirsty for, because, as we find out quickly, Kanato doesn’t like coffee. He knocks it to the ground and screams at her for not even having the foresight to bring him something he likes. In the last episode, they referred to Shu as spoiled; if you ask me, Kanato is the spoiled one. He went as far as to put her school bag up on the roof as “punishment.” If his childishness is supposed to be endearing, it’s falling pretty short. He also proceeds to mention that the phone she was attempting to use has been out of order for weeks. Well, so much for that plan.

She heads up to the roof to get her bag, overhearing another one of the vampire brothers, Raito, reciting something. Perhaps practicing lines for a play? Is he part of the drama club? Is it a hobby of his? Are they going to have him say what he was doing? Nope, let’s just move right into sexually harassing Yui again. How long did it take this time? Less then six minutes? How hard would it of been to have Yui question what he was doing and give us something like, “Oh, acting is my hobby,” or something along those lines? Give us something to know and care about with these characters past the tropes they are so obviously there to represent.

It’s too much to hope for I suppose. Raito explains to Yui that it seems like they get extra hungry on the full moon and moves in to bite her. He seems to notice something about her blood and pulls back. She takes this opportunity to throw him off and start running. She proceeds to run to a phone booth and make an attempt to call her father again.

I am no expert on how phones work, but I’m pretty sure that cell phones can’t intercept calls from pay phones. Did she dial the wrong number? Did he use magical vampire powers to redirect the phone call somehow? Is this show going to explain anything ever? No, once again I’m expecting too much. We stop again for some attempt for character depth but it’s too little far too late. We learn that his father is some politician and that he hates him but honestly who cares?

Yui passes out, and wakes up again at the manor. Seeing her cross, she gets up and attempts to flee the house. She goes to a church and begins praying, asking God if this is just another trial for her to face. Enter our master stalker of the episode, Raito. From here on out, this entire scene just becomes awkward to talk about. I’ll attempt to step on as few sensitive subjects here as I can, but the episode leaves me with no other choice.

Raito walks into the church and begins telling her that praying is useless, and that God won’t save her. Alright anime, you can start talking religion to me after you give me some character development. Until then, you are doing nothing but coming off as pretentious and preachy. They sit there and argue back and forth about if God exists, cares about us, or even if he’s ever saved anyone. Yui is steadfast in her belief and is intent on praying. Raito pins her down on the alter, which is covered in roses for some unexplained reason. I seriously thought it might have been a coffin for a second to explain the copious amount of roses. Is it trying to be poetic in some strange way? I don’t know.

He proceeds to ask where she’d like to be violated first. He starts moving down, biting on her inner leg, while shattering her reality, telling her that the church she believes in so much offered her up as a sacrifice. He then moves up to bite her neck. The episode fades out with a comment about dragging her down to hell, with him still pinning her down. What are we supposed to take from that? That he sucked her blood and brought her home, or that other more sinister things occurred there? This episode, literally made me sick to my stomach to watch. That ending, was so awkward and tactless that it was ridiculous. I said it once, I’ll say it again, I’m not drunk enough for this review.

He has less tact than a tentacle monster in a hentai. And trust me. I know my hentai. You can ask the other DJ’s I spent half my time at the last convention I went to at 18+ panels. Nothing in those panels could have prepared me for the rest of this episode, and I am unable to look at fancy feast after AAC’s hentai iron editor. But I assure you, it did not make me feel as awkward and dirty as this.

My overall thoughts on episode 4: I’ve said from the start that this show made me feel awkward and gross after watching it, but nothing like this. I took about three days to write this review, just because thinking about it made me upset. I want to keep these reviews as straight as I can, but this show offends me as a woman on so many base levels. Oh well, here’s to trucking to episode 5 next week.

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

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

Meanwhile, on the Horizon of a Log:

Actually, what does that name even mean? Is it like, logarithm? Logging in to something? A literal log? Whatever.

Watching the opening, I can’t help but notice how bland these costumes are. Well, maybe that’s not the right word for it. I guess they’re just unrecognizeable. If I saw anyone cosplaying any of these people at a con, I wouldn’t be able to recognize ANY of them. I guess it’s just not distinct enough.

We join our heroes standing on a rock talking about the same boring stuff they’ve been talking about. Really banal crap that doesn’t seem to matter at all. I know it seems like I’m phoning it in, but I find it entirely impossible to keep up with the plot here.

It’s worth noting that I’ve never watched an anime series subbed. The few I’ve seen have had the same problem. I couldn’t get in to Panty and Stocking either, partially because of the gross-out factor, but I can’t count out the effect of the subs. They just split my focus so much that I can’t focus on fine details.

The show likes to focus on the incredibly boring intricacies of the world. Stuff about death that we’ve covered in previous episodes. Do I really need to be reminded every episode that death isn’t permanent? It’s really annoying.

We are three minutes into this episode and I’ve already complained for five paragraphs. This is not going to be fun.

The group plans how they’re going to kidnap this mystery girl, explaining more stupid MMO stuff along the way.

We get to see more of mystery cat man. But the mystery is gone now. I won’t let it stop being a mystery. You can just watch it.

I don’t follow most of this show from this point on. There’s some mystery guy on a throne. The guy who apparently looting a bunch of people.

This town must be very dangerous. I can tell by the angry people. Apparently they’re all planning to kill the main characters. But of course that would be ridiculous.

Instead cat man decides to fight someone one-on-one. This is far too shonen for my tastes. A one-on-one fight ensues, things explode, people are hurt, people yell their moves, etc. I get the feeling that this is going to take up the rest of the episode, which is really disappointing.

This is really bogged down in the specifics of MMO gameplay. There’s a really disappointing and anti-climactic ending to the fight, which they spend the rest of the episode explaining because of how bogged down it is in MMO weirdness. Heroes win, blah blah blah.

Then they call in their griffins and fly away. Don’t act like this is spoilery. You knew it was gonna happen.

If you can’t tell, I’m very disappointed with this show as a whole. It’s combining a lot of things that I hate into one show. It’s also not prescribing itself to the average trapped-mmo-plot conventions.

I’m still holding out hope that things change because I was really excited about this anime. But I get the feeling it’s going to fleet from plot arc to plot arc, never really letting anything profound overarch the series. And that disappoints me.

Watch Log Horizon 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 Four)
Player: Bobby Henshin
Class: DJ

Welcome to episode 4 of I Couldn’t Become A Hero So I Reluctantly Got A Job.

In this episode, we learn some new things about our supporting cast, as well as something about a certain someone that might lead them to secretly being a demon! In this new episode, Fino is asked to help out at the next door mini mart due to them being low on staff. Fino is reluctant at first, but then agrees to it, seeing as it will only be for a day. There, she is taught how to package items and how to use magic appliances without them blowing up, thanks to the stores resident loli Ramudimia do Akusimemoru. Try saying that name 5 times fast.

This episode is pretty uneventful, but we do get to learn more about the characters, their backgrounds, and how they came to be where they are. We are also given a pretty strong hint that Ramudimia do Akusimemoru (You have to say the whole name like The Artist Formally Known as Prince or she’ll get mad) could actually be a demon herself, because she acts the same way Fino does!

Meanwhile, back at Leon. Raul is finally awakening to the fact that he is working with really attractive female coworkers. He may also be getting some feelings for his fellow clerk, Nova. But the assistant manager comes and tells him that, if he tries anything, he will be fired and the company would be sued for sexual harassment.

The episode ends with everyone sitting down and eating Udon made by Fino, which everyone finds surprisingly good. Raul, still blushing from before, might be having feelings for Fino as well! Like I said, not much happens in this episode. Hopefully we have more action and see Raul’s love life take a surprising turn next episode.

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 Four)
Player: Kayarath
Class: Content Provider

After the drama of last episode, Outbreak Company spends this week sowing future plots of conflict. Like last week, we are served an appetizer of otaku-based humor to ease into the show. While the different races have trouble sitting next to each other, they are learning Japanese. After a month of class, Shin’ichi begins to teach them the important things like zettai ryouiki. Minori feels the lessons are imbalanced and steps in. She then immediately goes into Yaoi 101 with passion equaling Shin’ichi. It seems besides being his bodyguard, Minori is also an over excited yaoi fangirl (like the ones you find at cons). She even goes as far as to ship Shin’ichi with Garius, an Eldant Empire warrior who rarely even interacts with Shin’ichi. Don’t you hate it when two characters with no relationship at all get shipped? Save it for the artist alley commissions!

Things get wild when Minori discovers Elbia Hernaiman, a young female furry who has good drawing skills but bad business sense, had been captured. Being sent on a spying mission without realizing it, she will receive a painful death. However, because she fulfills the show’s furry fetish, her fate is spared. Shin’ichi, taking an interest in her, plays lawyer in an attempt to save her life. After going through a dialogue dungeon full of espionage, accusations of harem building, tears, and yaoi shipping, he succeeds! We now have a new cast member!

This episode was no roller coaster ride, but it does foreshadow future plots. How will the Eldant Empire deal with it’s neighbors and their spies? How will Japan deal with the Eldant empire? Is Shin’ichi a pawn in some government scheme? What will he do if he is? And how about the whole “bring equality to another culture” thing? How will Empress Petralka deal with Shin’ichi having another large breasted woman in his house? Find out in the next episode of Outbreak Company!

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

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

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

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

Yo guys, Knightshade here to tell you all about the newest episode of Kill la Kill. We open with a nightmare of Senketsu being ripped to shreds by an unknown opponent. Ryuko is woken by violently because of this, and sees a bunch of sleeping bodies around her. As she is about to go back to sleep, a siren is whaling through the early morning. Mako wakes up in a panic, speaking nonsense. While that’s going on, Ryuko tries to find Senketsu, only to find that he’s being put through the laundry and hating it. Ryuko is forced to leave him behind as Mako drags Ryuko out in her pajamas, saying that they can’t be late for “No-Late Day”, a school event where students must navigate a trap-filled obstacle course and reach school on time or be expelled.

Ryuko and Mako make their way across the perilous horror show obstacle course, along with an injured girl named Maiko Ogure, a classmate we’ve not seen till now. Mako’s family attempts to deliver Senketsu to Ryuko, but, while trying to do so, Mako’s dad sees Ryuko’s panties and crashes the car, leaving him bloody and unable to go on, leaving Mataro and the family dog the task of delivering Senketsu to Ryuko. After hijacking a super powered armored bus, and hearing some comforting music, the girls manage to make it to the school grounds with 15 minutes to spare. However, Maiko is revealed to be a member of the disciplinary committee, who steals Senketsu and puts it on herself in an attempt to overthrow Satsuki. However, she is immobilized by the freshly washed Senketsu’s starchiness, allowing Ryuko to retrieve him. With five minutes remaining, Maiko sets off one more trap to send Ryuko and Mako back to the start of the course. The two fortunately reach class on time using an express cable car, crashing into the classroom, while Maiko is expelled for her plot.

All in all, another good episode. I have to say I’m getting addicted to this series and its colorful cast of characters. The drawing style is becoming hilarious to watch, but can still make your head spin if not prepared. Checking your brain at the door before watching is highly, I repeat, HIGHLY advised. Can’t wait until next week and another awesome episode!

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

Nagi No Asukara (Episode Four)
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 two 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 004 Tally

1. Kanashimi: 560
2. Christmas: 490
3. Elk: 440
4. Midnight: 360
5. Siege: 330
6. Bobby Henshin: 270
7. Kayarath: 230
8. Zero Gravity: 170
9. Knightshade: 150
10. MakiMaki: 70

Next week’s challenge: You must review a snack while you watch your episode! Don’t get too fat though…

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