It’s a literary smackdown on this week’s Simulblast! Who is well-read enough to come out on top!? And when will people start using items around here?

This week’s challenge: Compare your anime to a book you’ve read for 30 points. If you compare every character in the episode (every speaking character!) to character from that book, you’ll earn three tokens!

Chaika ~The Coffin Princess~ Avenging Battle (Episode Three)
Player: Kanashimi

Ugh, this challenge though… For those curious, the types of books I read are usually informational or Stephen King. Let’s just say a fantasy anime with gun magic isn’t really the closest thing to Pet Sematary. Regardless, I’m curious where this episode is going to go since we’re exploring the mythical island.

Thinking about it, no one said what type of book it had to be and I just got this Art Of Eorzea artbook. So let’s go with that, I don’t mind cheating once in a while, and I doubt me talking about the many sex scenes in It is gonna cut it. So let’s come up with a compromise!

Anyway, our three heroes reach the ocean where Chaika is playing, but Toru laughs as she trips and begins to splash him. It’s a rather cute scene until Akari joins in and makes it weird and about incest. There’s no doubt in my mind that Akari would be the Warrior in many of the Final Fantasy XIV art. Let’s see, Toru as a Monk and Chaika as a Black Mage? Ah, but she wears all white, and I do like the idea of her as a White Mage. Sadly, she’s never healed anyone in the show. She would also make an amazing Nanamo Ul Namo, but I wouldn’t make Toru her Raubahn. Those two are hired, so them as adventuring classes makes the most sense.

There is a technology parallel between Eorzea and whatever the world is that Chaika and co. are in. There’s magic, dragons, concoctions, sword duels… the only missing link is technically guns. However, featured in the artbook is Merlwyb—leader of The Maelstrom—holding several guns. In fact, there’s semantics on the pistol designs and they’re quite intricate. Can you actually perform magic with something as such? Well, that’s up for debate.

In addition, both worlds have sprawling ruins as well as a consistent war going on. I think it’s fair to say that the biggest difference is the lack of adventures in Chaika’s series. Our three main characters can be considered adventurers, but they’re hired mercenaries, which isn’t often talked about in Eorzea lore (though I’m sure they exist).

Anyway, enough about story comparisons; let’s go back to what’s happening in the story. We’re introduced to a man named Clay who enjoys having entertainers every day. He looks fat and upsets me, let’s see… Ah, yes, let’s make him an Amalj’aa. Fat Chocobo was an option, but I like those. Toru outright asks for the remains instead of money for their performance, which is a rather bold move. Clay reacts violently, stating that he saw Chaika killed, so how did she get there? Well, doesn’t matter since he runs away in a rush.

Fredrica appears to watch over Chaika, and jeez, is that a hard one. Ah! Let’s go with Gigi, the mammet of the Goldsmith’s Guild. Those two head to the beach with the vehicle while Toru and Akari search for Clay. Chaika is concerned with the island however and begins to look for a ship to use. At the same time, Toru runs into Clay hiding among the ships, but he is obviously traumatized by his experience at killing Emperor Gaz. Apparently he’s been summoning entertainers to make him forget about that day. Toru obviously isn’t fazed by his onslaught.

Chaika learns from some local fisherman that there is a location called the Evil Sea, but there is no island there, only ocean. She has other ideas, and has no idea of the battle going on between Toru and Clay. Akari bursts through the roof and disarms him; in that moment, Toru is able to ask him for the remains. They find Gaz’s ears in a well where Clay hid them. Guy appears to tell them where to go next, instructing him to head to the island.

Oh, by the way, Gaz is Gaius, and in other news, let’s get a flashback with Shin Acura, who can be… Thancred because I can’t tell what side he’s playing for (I meant who he’s fighting for, jeez!). He gives a report about the remains and where they will arrive. Sadly, these look like an extra organization that just wants to use the remains for their own good.

Toru discovers Chaika and reprimands her for going off on her own. She expresses her desire to go to the island, but Toru is against it. The information they have is far too vague, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the remains. Chaika claims she wants to know everything and that Toru can’t understand her feelings. They get in an argument, and, by doing so, Toru takes it that they’re fired. He begins to walk away, and Akari follows. Chaika claims that since Fredica can fly she can at least get to the island while Toru and Akari have a heart-to-heart of sorts. Akari explains that if her brother died and he hid his fortune on an island, she would do everything to get there because of how valuable it was. Toru finally gets it and decides to talk to Chaika, but obviously they’re flying away.

They’re too late and have to go to Clay to borrow his boat. He agrees so easily and they head off onto the ship as quickly as they can. Sadly, Red Chaika comes from nowhere and boards the ship so time to fight. Gonna call Red Chaika Alisaie because she’s generally somewhat angry, and I know little about her. Either way, as Chaika gets closer to the island, dragoon-like creatures emerge. On the flip side, they can’t battle on the boat as a kraken begins to wrap itself around the ship, breaking it in half. So while Toru and Akari are drowning, Chaika is falling to her death after the fake dragoon’s slash off the real dragoon’s wings. See ya next week!

Watch Chaika ~The Coffin Princess~ Avenging Battle on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Denki-Gai (Episode Three)
Player: Sho

Time for another incredibly funny and relatively adorable episode of Denki-gai! The episode for this week is called “Hio-tan, Go Home / Endless Carnival.” It seems to be an absurd Christmas special. The first part is about Hio-tan! Hio-tan is outside in the snow, helping advertise during the holidays. Hio-tan is easy to use, according to the director, who was having her out there in the first place. He convinced her that the game she was promoting was the sequel to something that came out a year before. With a little dramatic flare, he tells her that people have been waiting for a year to reunite with their girlfriends and now was the time for them to be together again during Christmas! How romantic! Right? They seem to have a nice relationship. And Hio-tan actually, quite obviously in fact, seems to like the Director quite a bit, reacting accordingly when he asks if she wants to go out shopping. They go out shopping and prepare a Christmas party for everyone.

At the party, they even make Sensei dress up! She’s quite adorable and Umio even notices this. He compliments her and they end up barraging her with compliments, making her run off into the Christmas tree. Poor little adorable girl. After a bit of time, it’s revealed that Umio actually has a girlfriend! But who is this girlfriend? None other than a girl from a video game! What a nerd. Poor sensei had gotten so worried when he told everyone he had a girlfriend. Then he proceeds to bore everyone with how he thinks the game is brilliant. Which, it might be, but that probably wasn’t a good call, Umio! After the party, Hio-tan hangs out at the Directors house for the rest of the day, and the Director doesn’t seem to enjoy it too much, but he’s too kind to have Hio-tan leave!

The very last part of the episode involves a big boom in customers during Comiket! It’s like with the previous episodes, but with a little extra with each of the characters, showing how the Director manages Hio-tan in particular and how Sommelier protects Fu girl! In the end, the Director has a heartfelt moment with everyone; he apologizes for working them so much, but they disagree and tell him that they love their job at Denki-gai and enjoy working there. This results in him giving them overtime the next day.

There’s a book I’ve read just recently called Germinal. It’s a very interesting novel that incorporates Marxist ideals but also values the concept of compassion in the working class. A fascinating read, right? Denki-gai is like the novel in that there are five people working under one person, the Director. He would definitely be the overbearing capitalist in this situation! Actually, each of the characters seem to play a role in the Director’s capitalistic scheme.

Director: He is the one that runs everything, the one who would be the capitalist Deneulin in Émile Zola’s novel. He creates a workplace for the characters to work in and extends their hours beyond what they need!

Umio: The main character and the newbie to the workplace. He would be like Étienne in this situation, immediately taking the job at Denki-gai!

Sensei: She would be like Catherine in this situation, being the potential lover to Umio!

Hio-tan: She could definitely be the Director’s wife in time. The person who supports Director, like Deneulin’s wife.

Sommelier: He is like Maheu in the sense that he is a learned veteran, probably not making any more than anyone else, but still wiser nonetheless and more well respected than most of the other cast.

Fu Girl: She could totally be Sommelier’s wife if she was older. La Mahuede in the story really loved her husband Maheu.

Kameko: The Zacharie of Denki-gai! A childish figure that is very responsible throughout the novel, even if she seems to have interesting motives that aren’t really revealed.

Watch Denki-Gai on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Gundam Build Fighters Try (Episode Three)
Player: Elk

It’s Simulblast time! It’s Simulblast time! Yay! It’s episode 3 of Gundam Build Fighters Try. Obviously the name is because this season features 3 on 3 battles (the assumption being that is 4 more toys you can market per fight…). It IS kind of weird though, as I’ve seen Try used for a 3rd season before and this is only the 2nd. Though I suppose it CAN be the 3rd if you count the 3 episode OVA featuring the Beginning Gundam.

We’re starting off with a narrated letter from Sekai to his master, who is training in Guiana, the same place Domon trained. He explains his living situation, and Gunpla Battle, and how he uses his martial arts to fight with Gunpla. Also, I just noticed his school logo is literally the Shining Finger hand pose.

OP Break, and looking at the OP, the silhouette of his master even looks like Domon. It also foreshadows Hoshino’s “Winning Gundam”, an SD Gundam she’ll use after she stops using the Cardigan.

For this challenge, I’mma use Harry Potter. So, off the bat, Sekai and Mirai are Ron and Ginny. Yuu is Harry, and Hoshino is Hermione. It fits so well it’s scary. Even the pairings people are thinking up match…

Yuu and Hoshino show up to walk to school with Sekai. Of course this is only because Yuuma wanted to walk with Mirai, which he plainly admits to Sekai. Sekai brings up his admission into the Gunpla Battle club, and Hoshino says he’s welcome any time.

They bring the matter to Miyaga, the president of the Plamo club and antagonist of the last two episodes, and seemingly this series’ Draco, and he has NO problem letting Yuu transfer. Which is surprising to Sekai and Hoshino. Miyaga seems to be in a lot better mood since Eri took her glasses off and became an instant bishoujo. Normally pairing with Draco would make her Pansy, but she doesn’t seem that evil, so I’ll say she’s Tracy.

Now that they have three members they talk to the supervising teacher (Lupin) about entering them into the championship. He entrusts them to Ral (Sirius) for training, who spouts of another classic Ral line with fire in the background. Ramba Ral is the best character. Now that that’s done, however, Yuu gets all sad and apologizes to Hoshino, who’s like “Whatev, we got a team.” She names the team “Team Try Fighters,” and Ramba Ral has them go through some vs. PC training maneuvers. Hoshino does some dodging and shooting, Yuu does long range target practice, and Sekai is trying to shoot targets from close range with a pistol, and missing by a WIDE margin, til he gets angry and punches a hole through the robot’s head. Yuu has to antagonize him because he’s a meanie, but he also has a point. Sekai is pretty dumb, and didn’t even know the name of his Gunpla. Ral breaks up the argument, and says he’ll be their opponent. Ral shows off his Gouf, and Hoshino and Yuu are starstruck. Sekai asks why it’s the Gouf R35, and Ral says it’s because he’s 35 years old. To be honest he looks pretty old for 35 (but it’s also been 35 years since his original appearance).

Instead, however, with another awesome Ral reference, the supervising teacher says he’s set up a fight for them to practice. It’s against an all girls school who is known for having a formidable team. But that’s later. For now we’re treated to Mirai doing some modelling with differently coloured Bearguys. She explains she’s not really too interested in Gunpla, but her brother really is.

Everyone in school is super excited about the Gunpla exhibition because the school is known for having cute girls. The team walks in, their uniforms having Zeon flair, and the leader of the team is “Gyanko”(This character I would have made Pansy, but my reasoning will become obvious later, so instead I’ll make her Lavender, which still isn’t fair for her, but it mateches up with the books a bit I guess.) and is Susumu’s little sister (the Gyan user form last season.) Her subordinates will be Parvati and Padma, because while not twins, their Gunpla have the same armaments.

The fight begins. Gyanko isn’t even using a Gyan, rather, a customized R-JyaJya, which is an upgraded version of the Gyan in spirit. The others are using a Nobel Gundam and a Rising Gundam. Hoshino tries to explain strategy to Sekai, but he is a dumb and doesn’t get it. Yuu falls back to snipe, and Hoshino tries to set up the field in their favour. Sekai blocks Yuu’s vision, and gets singled out to fall victim to a Jet Stream Attack, made famous in the original Gundam. Hoshino has to put up with some 3v1 action for a while, losing an arm before she tricks the enemy into place for Yuu to take one out. Sekai reveals he’s still in the game, surprising the enemy, allowing for Hoshino to take out the other subordinate. It’s now a 3v1.

We get some entertaining engrish as Gyanko attacks with her shield missile launchers. Sekai takes care of all the missiles with a super hurricane kick and then punches the Gyanko so hard it rips a hole in the colony they’re fighting in, sucking the R-GyaGya out. For some reason Sekai grabs Gyanko’s Gunpla and saves it from falling out the colony because she loves Gunpla. She asks for his name, and he gives it. She surrenders, and Team Try Fighters has it’s first win.

Gyanko’s subordinates are sad, but Gyanko is blushing and looking at Sekai longingly (Which is why I couldn’t make her Pansy).

ED Break! Too many EDs have that fairly static vertical scroll nowadays… Curse you Durarara for making it popular!

After the ED, a day has passed, and the Try Fighters and Sekai’s sister are all walking to school. Gyanko is waiting at the front of the school, which kind of shocks Hoshino. It turns out she has a bento she made for Sekai, which he happily accepts. Everyone is crestfallen because Sekai is a derp and doesn’t understand what getting a bento from a girl means. He’s just happy to have an extra lunch.

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

Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (Episode Three)
Player: Whiskahs

This episode jumps back and forth between characters a bit, so I’m going to break the summary down into three parts: Exposition, Amira & Favaro, and Kaiser.

There isn’t a ton of exposition in this episode, but we get to learn a bit about the ever so plot-relevant God Key and some related stuff about Amira. Throughout the episode we’re introduced to the idea that the God Key, stolen by Amira, simply by not residing in the gods’ realm, is starting to cause trouble not only there, but also in the world below. The God Key’s absence is apparently weakening the borders between the realms of gods, men, and demons, allowing for supernatural creatures and phenomena to bleed into the mortal realm, which would otherwise be impossible.

The other thing we learn about the key is that it isn’t physical. Amira actually absorbs the abstract “key” into herself to “steal” it, which pretty much guarantees that someone down the line is going to try and sacrifice her to awaken Bahamut, not unlike what happened to Deedlit and Neese in whichever Record of Lodoss War series you may have watched. It’s also revealed that this was only possible because she knew things which only a god could know, and that demons can’t actually exist in the god realm, further hinting that her demon form is either some sort of magic or that she is some sort of half god / half demon.

The bad guys manage to get a bit of exposition too. The Big Bad reveals through conversation that he is actually a fallen angel and not a demon, and also that his current objective and that of his lackeys isn’t to capture Amira and reclaim the key, but simply to figure out who she is trying to bring it to. The current impression is that this particular character isn’t working for some larger demon agenda as much as for some scheme of his own.

The Amira and Favaro side is the lightest of the three parts with the two mostly doing the “adventure” thing. Amira seems mostly set on marching directly to Helheim, but Favaro manages to turn her off the route for a moment in order for him to snag a bounty in order to get more cash for their travels. It’s possible that Amira doesn’t actually have to sleep and eat while Favaro does, or that she simply has more endurance, but regardless, she never seems too daunted by more travel.

The duo stop at a desert-like canyon, which seems completely out of place in the rather heavily forested setting they seem to be in originally, in order to get an herb for Favaro to make some sort of antidote. He correctly predicts that they will need it in order to confront their bounty, and in the process reveals that, despite having a devil-may-care attitude, he is not only incredibly competent in combat, but also knowledgeable in other areas as well. You kind of have to wonder how he managed to pick up so many skills while partying his way around the world…

After confronting a horde of zombies, Amira and Favaro manage to get the bounty, an enchanted necromancy book, and depart to turn it in. The guy who pays out the rewards for the bounties seems to either be following the duo around or is omnipresent as they manage to find him in what appears to be the span of a few hours. After Favaro gets his pay, the man lets him know that both he and Amira have bounties on their heads before parting ways with them. There is also a half-joke in there about how everyone in the world seems to have their lookalikes, which might be a slight in reference to the card game the show is on.

Kaisers story this episode is a bit melodramatic, but also just sort of dark. After falling down a chasm and being knocked unconscious while chasing after Amira and Favaro, Kaiser is dragged into the home of a young girl where his arm is put in a cast and he is offered food. The girl seems agitated at her situation in life, which Kaiser assumes is just teenage angst or something of the sort despite hints otherwise. He ends up telling the girl his story about how he acted similarly growing up and avoided his parents whenever he could, but how he ended up regretting it after losing his father to execution and his mother to suicide. The girl doesn’t seem particularly moved by this, which Kaiser seems to take as somewhat heartless.

A short time later the Rita’s (the girl) parents request for Kaiser to drive away some trolls that have been attacking the village. Kaiser, being the knightly fellow he is, agrees to help them and the following morning stands at the front of the line the villagers form to defend their homes. When the two trolls show up, Kaiser notices something is off, but it isn’t until an antidote covered rag is shoved in his face that he realizes that he was under a spell and that the two trolls were actually Amira and Favaro. And that the entire village population was zombies.

After dispatching some zombies in a quick action sequence, Kaiser goes straight for the zombified parents of Rita. Rita turns out to be the necromancer who raised her parents and the rest of the townsfolk, but she did it after all of them had been killed in a monster attack some two-hundred years ago. Despite the time and all of her angry rambling earlier, Rita steps in to protect her undead parents. This gives Kaiser pause, at least until Rita gets her neck bitten into by one of them. Kaiser quickly dispatches the two zombies upon seeing this and then we’re treated to a pretty cool black and white shot before Rita collapses.

At this point Favaro destroys the Black Bible, which she had been holding, and turns it into a bounty card before taking off with Amira. Kaiser stays to watch over Rita’s body despite Favaro saying to ignore it since she’ll just turn into a zombie anyways. Before a cutaway, we’re led to believe Kaiser is forced to kill the now undead Rita in self-defense.

Turns out he didn’t.

In the closing show Kaiser is on the tail of is quarries only to have the undead necromancer following behind him. Despite her having been animated as turning into a zombie, I think she had already been undead (given that she was around for 200 years old already) and the bite had no real affect on her. It isn’t really explained, but I’m not really sure it matters.

Rage of Bahamut: Genesis is very much a sword & sorcery story with a bit less chauvinism than is typically associated with the genre. Though Favaro and Kaiser remind me, to some degree, of Fritz Lieber’s characters the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd, I have to say the series overall seems like a slightly less depressing version of the Elric of Melnibone stories by Michael Moorecock.

In the Elric stories the titular character is the most recent incarnation of the Eternal Champion, an entity that generally aims to keep balance between the forces of Order and Chaos that war with one another for dominion of each universe within Moorecock’s multiverse. In Elric’s case, he has a slight affinity with the forces of Chaos in the beginning mostly due to being born into the royal family of Melnibone, which had long ago aligned itself with one of the most powerful gods of Chaos, Arioch, among many other supernatural beings. The stories follow him on his journey to try and be a better person and protect the people he loves while simultaneously trying to fight against his fate as the Eternal Champion. In the end things don’t turn out well for him… or the universe, but I wouldn’t want to spoil it anymore than that.

So who reminds me of what in the Elric universe?

Favaro, Amira, Kaiser, and Rita (or all the heroes, I suppose) combined sort of amalgamate into something that resembles Elric. With Favaro and Kaisers making up the martial skill, Rita the talent with the dark arts, and Amira with the connection to the forces of demons and gods. Amira’s ability to leverage her demonic heritage or whatever she draws her power from could also be loosely compared to the power that Elric’s cursed sword, Stormbringer, provides him though without quite as many of the drawbacks. You could also separate Favaro from the amalgamate as well and simply compare him to Elric’s occasional companion Rackhir the Red Archer though his personality doesn’t quite fit.

As far as the rest go, it’s mostly just guessing at this point. We haven’t really seen enough of the other characters or gotten enough background on them to make many assumptions about their future roles in the series. Bacchus and Hamsa I would likely associate with Staasha, the god of the sea, mostly because they seem like a sort of higher power keeping track of the heroes, at least at the moment, and providing aid via the disbursement of money for bounties. I would associate the Big Bad, at the moment, with Arioch, mostly because of his appearance and association with demons. And as for the god that keeps showing up to give exposition, I’d compare him to Donblas, the leader of the Lords of Law in the Elric universe, for being the one who seems mostly in charge of the forces of the gods at this point in the series.

I think that’s about it for characters in this episode. That said, you should give the Elric of Melnibone and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories a read if you have time are into sword and sorcery as a genre. A lot of their adventures along with the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard helped define a lot of the tropes present in fantasy today.

Watch Rage of Bahamut: Genesis on Funimation or talk about this episode on our forums.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince (Episode Three)
Player: Bobby Henshin

Love! Romance! Dogs! If you have come looking for these things then do I have a treat for you, my fine readers. If you fall in love easily, then you should take caution in this review for it will send your heart strings aflutter. Thus begins the continued struggle of Erika and Sata as Erika realizes her true feelings for Sata, The Black Prince.

We start out with the description of Okinawa, the beach resort town which is said to be one of the top places to visit when you go to Japan. At least that is what one of her friends say as she is sent a picture via her phone. San and Erika, San being her friend from the first episode, start talking about love and many other feelings that Erika might be feeling. Now I tried to think of characters that these two remind me of in a book, but you could compare them to any two girls that talk about romance in any book, and none come to mind for me. If I had to though, they do remind me of Courtney Catawig and Mark Diamond from the Pendragon series. Erika as Mark, being timid and shy, and San as Courtney, being the strong and somewhat tomboyish friend who tries to break them out of their shell. Well it turns out Erika is falling head over heels for Sata, but he only sees her as a pet. She decides that she needs to further look into this before deciding that it is love.

But Sata isn’t at school today. It looks like our cold-shouldered prince has a cold. See what I did there? He reminds me of Prince Rauda from the seventh book of the Pendragon series. A nice prince when n public, but with a cold dark side. Funny seeing how they are in the desert. San asks Erika if she could give the hangouts from class to him. She agrees and starts to tense about meeting his family. It looks like it’s only him. When he opens the door, he looks like Death himself, black smoke and all. She forces him into his bed. Minds out of the gutter, people. That’s for the later episodes. Just kidding! She decides to get a bunch of cold remedy medicine and make him some food.

He keeps pushing her away because he has the mindset that every female that tries to help him has an ulterior motive to their actions, so he is reluctant for help. She gives him two smacks of the cheeks, and she applies cooling pads to his face. She says that when someone is sick they need someone to take care of them even if they don’t want them to. She actually gets some good character development in this episode. I’m happy with the way they did it too. Even Sata feels her intentions are pure and actually thanks her. Which surprises her because she didn’t know he was capable of saying that.

As the days of her taking care of him pass, her feelings for him get stronger. We even get to see a flash back of Sata as a kid making two little snowmen. Sadly, though, one of them falls about and he has a horrified look on his face. His mom left them when he was little so that is what I believe lead him to his current state of mind towards woman. The next day comes and they are both back in school.

Things go back to normal as they walk home and a dog comes to play with Sata. Here, we see a smile from Sata we haven’t seen before. A genuine, happy smile. This just makes Erika’s feelings skyrocket as she now wants Sata to look like that at her. Now comes the time where and when will she tell him her true feelings. That’s when her mom shows up with some pear apples to give to San. She decides to give them to Sata instead.

She rings his doorbell as a female’s voice comes out of the door. A young female comes out of his apartment. From first look it might look like one of those anime tropes where there is a misunderstanding and it turns out to be his sister or something, but it turns out it is actually a woman that picked him up at the train station. And by pick up I mention for “fun times” pick up. Erika says that he shouldn’t be going between girl to girl. Sata says that he doesn’t care because they aren’t in a real relationship anyway. She said he should because she likes him. She came out and said it! Sata actually has a surprised look to his face, but ruins the moment when he said that she is hallucinating because she has never been on a date before and is feeling fake feelings.

Tears start to fall from her face as she shoves the pear apples into his arms and bolts off. Thus ends episode 3 of Wolf Girl and The Black Prince. Feelings are tested and hearts are broken. Oh the pain of it all! Tune in next week as we get to see a new character. A man with the knowledge of Sata’s true past. I see some Sata character development in the future.

Bobby paid 5 points to the editor for problems in his summary.

Watch Wolf Girl and Black Prince on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

World Trigger (Episode Three)
Player: Tyler

Alright, time for Episode 3! Before we start off I’m just going to come out and say it: I failed the challenge. No book I read or would read could probably be compared to this. I am ashamed; so much for a perfect streak, but hopefully you’l enjoy anyways.

So as we left off, Osamu is jumping into a fight with a couple Marmod Neighbors, despite Yuma insisting that he will die. In fact he says we would need 20 Osamus to even take on one, but regardless, Osamu is showing he has to do something and he jumps into the fray. We also keep getting glances back to the girl I mentioned before, named Chika, and apparently having a connection to Osamu. As well as why he is with Border.

Osamu manages to find the Marmods as they cornered some of his classmates. Now revealing he is with Border, he sends them up the stairs and faces one of them head on. It’s about to get totally hated as he holds up his sword, dives in, ANNNNNDDD loses his arm. Yup, sliced clean off. It’s gushing some green pixel stuff too. A cut to Yuma tells us this is Trion and he is losing too much, so Yuma decides to come help. As Osamu takes a blade straight to the chest, his body turns back to normal and his trigger falls to the floor. Inner monologue informs us that triggers work by replacing a normal body with a combat body, vastly increasing battle-necessary traits and allowing use of the weapons. So of course he’s now as normal and weak as the blades come crashing down. So he dies, the end!

Nah of course not, Yuma shows up and uses a shield to defend Osamu, then borrows his Trigger and activates it. It becomes a totally different sword, and Yuma can fight evenly with the Neighbor. However, the wear and tear on the sword cant so Yuma decides to get agro. As he jumps in Osamu informs him this is just a training trigger, but that means nothing as Yuma drops them both easily. Afterwards, Osamu asks how he could do that with a trigger meant for trainees, and in comes Replica. Replica explains Trion in depth, apparently next to the heart is a humans Trion Organ, which everyone has, and they operate differently. This means that even if it’s the same Trigger, Yuma and Osamu’s Trion flow are so vastly different that the Trigger wouldn’t appear similar at all.

Now of course, time for the aftermath. Osamu comes out carrying Yuma, and his classmates swarm and praise him, of course, with Yuma telling the “amazing story of his rescue” as Osamu just stands there stunned. Eventually, in come some other Border agents, A-Rank Arashiyama squad. Apparently, these are both some of the best and most famous agents, acting as celebs and the face of Border. Osamu tells them that he took them on and expects some serious discipline, only to find their leader named Jun Arashiyama thanking him for the work. And then immediately running off to hold and embarrass his younger siblings who go to school there. He remarks that some of the most elite members couldn’t have done such a job, and asks Kitora if she could, and after she slices up the remains she coldly insists that she could and to stop praising Osamu. In fact, he needs reprimanding. Yikes, Ice Queen of the series has appeared it seems. That’s all for this episode though, see you guys next time!

Watch World Trigger on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Your Lie In April (Episode Three)
Player: Kayarath

So Kousei and Kaori are hanging out in a cafe when all of a sudden, piano music breaks out. Some little kids are playing, and Kousei gets roped into joining them. He was doing great until he choked. Depression does that to you. That doesn’t stop Kaori from wanting to recruit her as her accompanist. Kousei is a super famous piano prodigy.

Kousei is having none of that, however. Kousei’s relationship with his mother and music is all messed up, leaving him a wreck. If he was like Duane from Duane’s Depressed (agreat book I recommend), he would eventually work through it through therapy, change, and self discovery. However, Kousei doesn’t have the emotional chops to go through that, so he just putters about in a dark sea of depression. It’s gonna take three friends high on life to pull him through this.

The first step is getting him to hit the stage again. Watari, Ryota, and Kaori conduct a campaign of persuasion, plastering his life with sheet music. That doesn’t work at all. It takes Kaori’s tears to convince him to play. He agrees, but how will they get to place on time? Ryota and Watari to the rescue! Kousei will hit the stage again, but how will he do? Tune in to find out!

Watch Your Lie In April on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Week 003 Tally

1. Kanashimi: 210
2. Sho: 210
3. Elk: 210
4. Whiskahs: 210
5. Bobby Henshin: 205
6. Tyler: 180
7. Kayarath: 180
8. The Editor: 5

Week 003 Token Counts

1. Kanashimi: 12 Tokens
2. Bobby Henshin: 6 Tokens
3. Elk: 12 Tokens
4. Kayarath: 3 Tokens
5. Sho: 9 Tokens
6. Tyler: 5 Tokens
7. Whiskahs: 8 Tokens
8. The Editor: 2 Tokens

Next week’s challenge: Art is born from restriction! So let’s limit you all! Make your summary as close to 500 words long as possible! Words are counted after your summary is edited, so make sure to write correctly! Whoever is furthest away earns no points for the week, while everyone else gets 30 bonus points. Anyone who writes exactly 500 words gets a free item, and if everyone writes exactly 500 words, you’ll all get 5 bonus tokens! So get writing~ Just not too much!

Make sure to vote for your favorite review below! You can give your favorite a Token!