Another week of pain and agony, er, we mean friendly competition! Who is on top and who is floating at the bottom? It’s time to find out!

This week’s challenge: You must review a snack while you watch your episode!

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

Before jumping into the fifth episode, I will say without a doubt that episode four had some amazing graphical qualities here or there. It threw the vector idea in at full blast and had a lot of fun with it, with everything from explosions with pink glitter to unique transitions. It really made me smile and look at how the show tries to set itself apart. In addition, we were introduced to Takuma’s older brothers. One is named Shinji, a famous model, and the other is Satoru, a famous designer. Obviously, they wear glasses!

Jumping into episode five, we find Akira screaming at the top of his lungs in terror. In the Glasses Club, the two shota are fighting over noise. How can the creepy shota with a love obsession hear the cries of Akira over the exercising of the fake glasses wearing shota? Important questions to be asked by all, obviously.

Akira is late for the club meeting, and we find that his yelp was caused by him running into a praying mantis. He then goes into a monologue about what he’ll be having for dinner in an effort to quell his fear of the insect. Apparently the bug just gives him the heebie-jeebies. We’re given a very creepy storybook-esque flash back about aliens (that look like praying mantes) being in Akira and his brother’s cotton candy. They had to catch all the “aliens” and stayed up all night to do so. Are you following this? Because I’m certainly not.

The club leader strikes a battle pose and stares intensely at the bug while everyone wonders where he is. The club decides to begin without him while Akira collects supplies to murder the insect. He decks himself out in a make-shift hazmat suit. I wish I was making this up. His weapon has a short cord, and, due to this, the bug takes his chance to leap around in an effort to get Akira hopelessly dizzy. Back at the club room, everyone is sorting screws. This is the life these fictional characters live, people.

Akira’s plan begins to fall apart as he begins to feel itchy. Anyone who isn’t fond of bugs knows this feeling, so I can relate here. He sheds his protective clothes and, before he can get them back, he realizes the bug is sitting on top of them. The insect flies into his face, pokes his glasses, and says “screw it” as he flies off. Akira successfully defeated the praying mantis terror by using glasses as armor.

Switching scenes, the new X-Ray glasses need power to work, so they borrow a bike and all begin to pedal; however, they go too fast and everything explodes. What a surprise! Takuma steals the bike, and everyone runs after him. Soon the group is pedaling to uncharted areas on their bike, because it’s not like anyone here has responsibilities or anything.

They find a glasses store that has a machine to clean their glasses; Hayato also uses it despite not having lenses. They talk about him angering the “Glasses God”. This point is further expanded on when the shota rivals find a clearing in the clouds above them that resembles the frames of glasses. The wrench-throwing shota pretends to be the Glasses God, and Hayato prances in the rain as if asking for forgiveness. Despite the set-back, their real struggle is getting past the rain. Here Yukiya introduces “wiper glasses” and yes, they’re exactly what you think. They’re little windshield wipers on glasses. This, like everything, fails on them, and the glasses explode.

In an effort to make this show adorable, Takuma’s two brothers find him stranded in the rain and take him home. Mitsuki’s dog Norio arrives with a jacket and two umbrellas. By the time everyone leaves, Hayato is stuck with the bike on his own. Perhaps the Glasses God really does despise him. The episode ends with him left alone with nothing but the clearing in the clouds.

I’m trying not to take this show as seriously as before, but even this episode was beyond the realms of reality for me. The second part was actually pretty cute and quirky, but Akira being afraid of a bug just seems so… uncharacteristic. The fact they pulled it back to glasses is even more of a wonder. Regardless, the show continues to have fun with itself and that’s all anyone can hope for at this point.

My only really regret was picking chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to eat while I watched (Baskin Robin approved!). It was gone by the first half, and I felt I should have saved it for the second. Even better, I should have gone the sugar cone route versus the bowl. I don’t know about you guys, but ice cream is so much better when watching a movie when it’s more hands-free. Though, if you’re worried about drips, I’d recommend a waffle cone instead dipped in beautiful hardened chocolate. Now I’m hungry again… curse you, Meganebu!

Kanashimi used 10% of her current tally to active Experience Boost! This means that all votes this week will be worth double the amount they usually are. The total points (56) will be deducted next week. Kanashimi also completed this week’s challenge and is rewarded an extra 20 points.

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

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

It’s so nice to be back to normal things again. Normal series, normal first draft, and a normal snack. I usually grab something to eat before watching something (especially when I watch Toriko), but I don’t usually put too much thought into what I want. Whatever is in the cabinet usually does it for me. However, since grabbing a snack is mandatory for this week’s challenge, I ran out to the store for some Pringles. I don’t care what your favorite kind of chips are, Pringles are far superior. The reason everyone complains about normal chips having too much air in the bag is because it’s needed to make sure you get a bag of chips, not a bag of crumbs, but Pringles have perfected the shape of both the chip and container. Some people may have a tough time reaching the chips at the bottom of the can, but my hands and wrists are thinner than most people so I can just reach right in all the way to the bottom. The other good thing about Pringles is that they are resealable, which is good because I only ever eat a few at a time, and I can make the can last for a few days if I want to.

But enough about snacks, let’s get back to mystery solving. I got caught up on the episode I switched out with Kana last wee,k and I’m ready for more, especially now that Kazuki seems to be less whiny. It looks like the Adni Moon company is still dealing with PR issues, while the three sisters are heading for the Netherlands. I hate to keep repeating about how good this opening is, but the full version for it came out this week and it sounds just as amazing as ever. Hopefully we can get it on the radio soon.

It looks like we’ve found some new friends, the Blue Hawk gang. I guess the Black Ganymede isn’t the only one attacking the energy companies. The Blue Hawk leader tells us all about what happens when your energy sources get cut off, which is why they’ve all banded together to attack Adni Moon. I wish this series did a better job of telling me people’s names. Speaking of characters that I probably won’t learn the name of, it seems Hozuki has made a little friend. It looks like he wants to build ships too, but, while I don’t know his name, it looks like the Blue Hawk leader is named Ludger.

I don’t want to spoil the whole search part of this episode for everyone, but I’m pretty sure the church we’re looking for is the building we’re in right now. And the main characters won’t figure it out until the very end of the episode. Speaking of super obvious plot points, this episode is clearly going to be about fixing the relationship of these two kids. Once you watch enough shows like this, you start to notice things.

Well, finding the church took less time than I thought. Clearly this show gets things moving whenever Hozuki is around because she is the cute one. Of course, that means that it’s time for the daily attack on the sisters. Oh never mind, they’re here for the Blue Hawk gang instead. Ludger has opted to run away, and something weird just happened with Hozuki’s necklace. It looked like absorbed the energy from that explosion somehow.

Since we’re getting close to the end of the episode, it’s time to wrap up the plot point with Theo and Karen. Wow, I was not expecting it to just end like that, though. I’m not gonna spoil anything; you’ll just need to watch for yourself. Just make sure you’re ready for what happens.

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

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

Yo, Elk here. This was pretty last second, but I’ll be damned if I don’t give you guys content to read regardless! This episode was actually pretty awesome. It was very different from the others, as this was more focused around Gunpla build quality.

Sei has learned from Ramba Ral that there is a master Gunpla builder, and spends half the episode researching on the internet, trying to find images of his builds or information on who he is. Meanwhile, a new character with the directional sense of Ryouga from Ranma 1/2 is looking for the Iori Gunpla store. He is also paying people with well built gunpla because he has no money. Coincedence? If you guessed “No, this is an anime, of course that’s the person Sei is looking for,” you’re right!

Regardless, he just happens to go to Kousaka’s father’s place to eat at the same time Kousaka brings him over to treat him with a meal on the house for helping her with her Gunpla building. Of course, this new mystery builder and Kousaka’s father are having a disagreement about proper methods of payment. Sei flips out over the quality of the Gunpla build, and Kousaka talks her dad into accepting the odd trade.

All three of the kids take their leave, and Mao says he’s looking for Iori Models. Sei of course is like “You mean my place?” This leads to an example of over the top awesome overdramatics from Mao, who considers Sei his eternal Gunpla building rival! His master, a stereotypical elderly dojo master, has told him that the son of Takeshi Iori is out there, and if he is anything like his father, he is one of the best Gunpla builders in the world. This is where the episode gets interesting. They don’t go to the Gunpla Battle station. They are both expert builders, so they can tell “which is better at a glance.” What they don’t mention is that the glance is actually a psychic imagination Gunpla battle, which is pretty awesome. And confusing for Kousaka and Rinko. Ramba Ral of course knows exactly what’s going on, and stops the battle before it can be completed, because he wants them to settle their match in the World Gunpla Tournament!

Definitely one of the better episodes so far, even if Ramba Ral’s part in it was rather small.

Elk was attacked! That means next week he will have to defeat his opponent by overcoming their power. If he fails, he will gain no points during next week’s Simulblast. Elk used 30% of his current tally to active Experience Boost! This means that all votes this week will be worth double the amount they usually are. The total points (132) will be deducted next week. Elk did not complete this week’s challenge and will not be rewarded an extra 20 points.

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

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

So today I’m reviewing (you guessed it!) Log Horizon. Episode 5, specifically.

I hate it.

Okay, that’s not fair, I haven’t even hit play on the episode. I am going to clear my mind and give this episode a legitimate chance.

The episode begins by explaining what non-player characters are to an audience that almost certainly knows what they are. So I can only assume that this episode is going to revolve around NPCs. Okay, this is what I wanted. I want some unexplored ethics around these NPCs converting into actually living people and what that means for the “players.” Maybe I’ll get the depth I wanted.

We cut to the little girl being adorable. No, not the loli girl, the girl they just saved from the mauraders last episode. I can only assume she will continue to be cute.

Look. She’s looking adorably at a deer. Which they then murder for food. Adorable.

Oh look, the deer is actually delicious unlike any other food in the world. There’s a reason for it which stems from differences between the game world and the real world. I won’t spoil it; I had it spoiled for me by browsing forums (which I have decided is always a bad idea, especially if there was already a light novel or manga of what you’re watching).

This sounds like a great time to digress into the delicious food I’m eating, which is Tyson chicken strips with Louisiana hot sauce on a sausage roll. While the sausage roll seems to clash with the flavor of the chicken, it’s still making for a very fulfilling food. I’ll probably make it again, but maybe with a different bread. I am compelled to mention that Louisiana Hot Sauce is my favorite hot sauce, and not for its heat. The flavor of it goes incredibly well with chicken and pizza.

But, back to the anime. What’s happening? Girl is cute again. That’s adorable, etc. It’s going to get old real quick. And the knight guy whose name I have neglected to learn is hitting on her. She looks like she’s twelve, you creep. But, I guess that’s not anywhere near as creepy as the anime Midnight has been forced to watch.

Afer some backstory about friendship and video games which explains things that anyone with common sense could have figured out about MMOs, it’s back to the air and back to murdering adorable animals for food.

Cute girl is cute and has a crush on cat guy. She thinks she’s fat, too. How adorable.

Loli ninja girl has an obvious crush on Shiroe. How adorable. But I don’t want adorable. I want introspection and ethics, dammit.

More camping and more flashbacks. Despite this kind of backstory being what I’ve wanted, it’s surprisingly annoying to me. Maybe because it’s still being bogged down in MMO stuff.

The knight is creepily asking how attractive children are. How adorable.

Wait, no.

Now we’re reaching some NPCs, or “People of the Land” as they’re called. Maybe we’ll get some intresting stuff here?

The NPC offers them a place to stay for the night, and some backstory comes repeats itself in the present in the form of the NPC’s grandchildren.

The ninja girl is afraid of children. How adorable.

Oh boy, the characters finally feel out of place for once! That’s WONDERFUL! But it’s short lived as we cut back to more of the same “look how this world is different from the normal MMO!” junk.

Now we have a scene where children are being led through the rain by a creepy man. I would love to be mortified, but the anime once again does its best to bog everything down in MMO logic so much that I fail to care. BUT the kids are revealed to have a relation to Shiroe in an unexpected way.

And so ends the episode. Even reading back through the summary, I can’t get any sort of concrete grasp on why this episode is supposed to matter. It seems like they’re still trying to establish rules for the world, rather than leaving some of it to the imagination. I can understand wanting to make sure viewers understand everything about your world, but if you’re still trying to pull that off in episode five, there’s something wrong.

But hey, at least I had some good chicken.

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

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

The episode opens with Yui picking roses in the garden. Wait, are we going to address the end of last episode at all? There’s a small flashback about what he said about the church. That’s the most we’re getting. No explanation on if anything happened, or if he just brought her home? Are we really leaving it at that?

Yes, alright. I guess we are. Kanato comes up to her and asks her to go somewhere with him. Seeing him again at the start of this episode has me asking a few questions. Mainly, why have we put so much focus on him? Is his the path they are trying to animate? What about Ayato? They spent so much time on him in the first three episodes just to drop him like a hot potato for episodes 4 and 5.

Kanato takes Yui to a graveyard, because he wasn’t creepy enough on his own, and we proceed to get some tiny bits of character development talking about Kanato’s mother, who he apparently killed. He’s still an awful brat, and he flips out on Yui for trying to leave before he wanted her to. He pins her down and does some freaky stuff. It’s sort of freaky when the shouta is the most considerate one of all of them, as he actually stops and talks to himself about how he needs to remember to make it good for the girl too. How does the shouta, above every other guy in this series, know how to make it feel good for the girl? I mean, it doesn’t excuse pinning a girl down against her will, but, you know, at least he’s thinking about her. That’s something. Now if only the rest of the episode was this promising; alas, I am having too much faith in this show again.

I think we have something that is a small attempt at the plot, involving the mysterious guy that’s been hanging around in the background of the last few episodes and one of the brothers whose name escapes me completely (because they haven’t had an episode that focuses on him yet). I couldn’t really bring myself to care about what was going on; if it had happened with anyone I knew the name of maybe I would have been able to focus on it.

Yui returns to the house and is on her way back to her room when she hears moaning coming from one of the vampires’ rooms and goes in to investigate. You know, I’d make a comment about how stupid this is, but I don’t feel like I need to spell it out for you. She moves into the room of Reiji, also known as generic glasses wearing butler guy. His room looks more like a mad scientist’s lab then a bedroom; whatever floats his boat I guess.

Yui proceeds to talk to him about his family, and it ends badly. I don’t think she’s gotten yet that this entire family hates each other. He spent a good minute of two episodes ripping his brother apart verbally before the dart match.

After a small altercation, Reiji serves her some tea. I’d bet 5 dollars that it’s drugged. Oh look, I was right. Oh, she dropped and shattered the cup. Bet she’s going to reach down and cut her hand and it’s gonna bleed and he’s going to go to feed on her. As if this isn’t the biggest cliche in vampire media or anything. Oh look, who was right? I was right. You know what might have gone good with that tea? Some Cheddar and Jalapeno Popcorn. That stuff is really good, I mean, I didn’t like it for the first few bites, but after that it just got really addicting, and the best part about it is that it isn’t too spicy. I wish I’d taken a bite into this anime, not liked it at first and have it grow on me, but it’s more like a rotten tomato: really bad from the first bite. Speaking of things that make my stomach upset, the next scene.

As I predicted, she starts bleeding and he jumps right on her. Pinning her against the book shelf and… alright you know what? I’m not going to go into it again; you get what goes on in this series by this point. There is some real creepy talk of cutting off her blood flow and people not being able to hear her scream. You know what? After this episode, I hate this character. He was pretty high up on the list of characters I could tolerate until this point because he hadn’t done anything really annoying.

Overall, if this episode done anything for me at all, it’s changed my perspective of some of the characters. I now hate Reiji, and Kanato has moved off my list of characters I dislike the most. I thought he was the creepiest of them all, but honestly at this point he’s coming off as the nicest. Otherwise, it’s a lot of the same things we’ve seen before: absolutely nothing to push these characters or the story really forward and things that are really awkward to watch.

Watch Diabolik Lovers 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 Five)
Player: Bobby Henshin
Class: DJ

In the world of magical home appliances, you are not the only store in the world. The employees of LEON learn this the hard way. A brand new store opens up down the road from LEON, and by new store I mean like the Walmart Super Center of magical stores. The Amada corporation is the leading name in home magical appliances with over 50 stores across the nation. LEON on the other hand only has twelve. With this new store opening, they may be going out of business.

With this threat to the store, Fino is frantic to find a way to keep all her new friends together; they hold a meeting to find a way to bring customers back to their store. Fino, without missing a beat, suggests making a sacrifice to the gods of evil. The manager asks if she can either sacrifice flowers or the assistant manager. We all have bosses we want to sacrifice to the gods of evil, right? So the manager decides to make Raul and Fino go undercover as boyfriend and girlfriend to scope out the store’s grand opening and see why they are getting all the business. Raul, at this point, is conflicted because he might be having feelings toward Fino, and having to pretend to be her boyfriend is asking a little too much.

They arrive at the grand opening, which is filled with fireworks, sexy bunny girls and reporters flying on dragons. I’m serious; they have reporters in the sky riding on dragons. “This is Marcus Gale with your Dragon 5 news report in the sky!” I think I would watch the news if more dragons were involved, wouldn’t you? We also learn that, during the opening, one of the sexy bunny girls is Raul’s old friend and rival, All A! Trying to keep Fino from giving them away and helping customers around, he realizes that LEON is better because their employees actually help their customers instead of just shouting out discounts and making sales.

Raul realizes now that he has fully become a store clerk. Fino , acting like a 5 year old child without knowing how humans work (let alone not knowing how the term girlfriend works), is now all over Raul making him freak out and bump into, you guessed it: All A in her sexy bunny outfit. I’ve seen enough anime to know where this is going.

I still do not know how I feel about this anime yet. The humor keeps me entertained, and it would be nice to see where the relationship with Fino and Raul goes. The world itself is also an interesting concept, being a magical/modern day world. Given what the title of the show is, I would like to see something happen that makes Raul a true hero, but that’s for the future to decide. Also, I enjoyed this episode with a bowl of Triple Brownie ice cream from my local Kroger grocery store. It has chocolate swirls and brownie bits in it that are not to big and not to small. The ice cream itself is chocolate, but more of a lighter chocolate: not too rich or overbearing with caramel topping and honey roasted almonds sprinkled on top. For a store brand ice cream, it’s really good. I give the episode a 3.5 out of 5 and I give my ice cream a 5 out of 5.

Bobby Henshin attacked a player this round and used a 50 points to activate Switch-A-Roo! For a week, switch your series with someone else! It might be fun or you might be forcing them to watch something they hate. The effects of said power, and the points deducted will be viewable next week. Bobby Henshin also completed this week’s challenge and is rewarded an extra 20 points.

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.

Beyond The Boundary (Episode Five)
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. Maki is considered a no-show and as such has lost a dollar of his original bid. He has three 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.

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

I don’t even know what to expect any more! Lectures on dating sims just make me uncomfortable. It’s just weird to see a guy teaching people about dating sims like a university professor. While I disagree with how he presents the subject matter, Shin’ichi is doing a smashing job of spreading otaku culture to the Eldant empire. Elves and Dwarves now argue about anime shows instead of racial differences. Pentralka literally goes tsundere, and Garius becomes a fan of the Boys Love genre! Minori is also having success spreading her favorite flavor of otaku culture around.

Of course the show does give us the familiar flavors of shipping Shin’ichi with Myucel. It’s a familiar, comforting relationship dynamic we’ve seen and enjoyed before. It’s like Proscuitto Panino, prosciutto wrapped mozzarellla cheese, which is basically a fancy Italian meat and cheese stick. While the outside wrapping suggest usual exotic flavors, you really have eaten it before. However, a basic dish done well is still quite enjoyable. While I find it quite cheesy and perhaps too familiar, I’ll still eat it up. I say that for both the Proscuitto Panino and the relationship.

While Shin’ichi slowly but surely sails his ship into Myucel’s port, he ponders both his effects on Eldant culture and the motives of Elbia Hernaiman. You know, that furry artist from the neighboring kingdom? She seems to have a thing for him, but that thing could be the “I want to kill you” thing, which is quite worrying. By the end of the episode, it’s revealed to not be that, but lunar cycle craziness instead. It looks like the moon tide may push Shin’ichi’s ship into Elbia’s port instead! Will Myucel engage in ship-to-ship combat? What anime concept will Pentralka try next? When will there be a Boys Love lecture? And how will that soccer game previewed for the next episode turn out? Find out next week in Outbreak Company!

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

Kill La Kill (Episode Five)
Player: Knightshade
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. Maki is considered a no-show and as such has lost a dollar of his original bid. He has three more chances before he will be kicked out of the competition.

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

Nagi No Asukara (Episode Five)
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 one 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 005 Tally

1. Kanashimi: 720
2. Christmas: 560
3. Elk: 520
4. Midnight: 460
5. Siege: 430
6. Bobby Henshin: 430
7. Kayarath: 300
8. Zero Gravity: 170
9. Knightshade: 150
10. MakiMaki: 70

Next week’s challenge: Write your review like a jaded or obsessed weeaboo!

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