Sink or swim! It’s time for week five of Simulblast!

This week’s challenge: Find an interesting fact about a voice actor in your show and incorporate it into your review!

Wake Up, Girls! (Episode Five)
Player: Kanashimi
Class: Boss

So, to prep for this episode, I began to look up the Japanese voice actresses. I had assumed they were the standard moe fare; I’m not usually one to keep track of Japanese actors. I was in for an utter shock when I realized that none of the seven girls actually a part of Wake Up, Girls! have ever acted before. I’m serious! For each of them, this is their first project and that boggles my mind. I understand wanting them to debut at the same time, but someone, somewhere, had this large leap of faith that their product was made of amazing quality and would attract fans naturally like a typical girl idol group. I’m not sure if it’s brilliant or reckless…

Anyway, back to the show. This girl from I-1 approaches Mayu and tells her how much she stands out in her new group of amateurs. The girl also explains that she’s only here to scout out the area before their theater is built and that if they don’t work hard they’ll be kicked out. Mayu simply stands there and wishes her good luck, which honestly would have been my reaction. The girl attempts to bother her more and gives a few more insulting snips before walking away.

Back at Green Leaves Entertainment the girls are getting a chance to sample their new song. Tange is confident in the girls’ skill and as such they’ll be performing on May 25th. Matsuda begins to freak and wonder if Tange will take off with all the money again. Matsude then promptly breaks out in hives, which I feel is appropriate all things considered. Stupidly enough, their concert is scheduled the exact same day as I-1’s theater opening because that wasn’t predictable or anything.

Tange isn’t really into advertising the Wake Up, Girls! as extensively as I-1 is (she’s also very much unable to). Tange’s character here, ironically, is the only one I’ve found is a veteran voice actor. I’ve noticed a trend that she oftentimes plays… aggressive women or mothers. Noriko Hidaka is known for Kikyo in Inuyasha, Akane in Ranma ½, and Near in Death Note. That’s two “aggressive” women and an emo woma–… I mean boy. Either way, her character Tange fits her style pretty well, but I still can’t really get behind the character due to her earlier travesties.

There’s some slight tension forming between Nanase and Mayu. After the comments from the last episode about Wake Up, Girls! only existing because Mayu is in it, it seems Nanase has formed a sense of competition. She obviously wants to be recognized for her own merits, not for Mayu’s. It’s nowhere near the stress of I-1. There’s literally five hundred something girls dancing and constantly being kicked out. It’s almost hilarious more than sympathetic. While Wake Up, Girls! are working hard and actually having some semblance of fun, their advertisement will be focused on avenues they have access to like news and radio.

Twinkle or Twilight or whoever produced their music comes by to watch them practice. They tell them they’re a mess and ask if they’re fighting enough. I don’t see how that’s going to help their dancing, but hey, if you wanna enter the anime just to cause drama then sure.

The girls are in the waiting room for their own concert, but obviously all they can do is talk about their poor turnout and how well I-1 is doing. Honestly, the fact that a handful of people paid money to watch them should be fine. Does it matter how I-1 is doing? They’re an established group; it’s gonna take a while to get anywhere close. In addition, their low spirits are really just making them mess up in front of the few fans they have. Curiously, in the crowd, I saw the president of the I-1…

The girls begin to reflect on all their mistakes instead of focusing on anything good that’s happened. Tange comes in and tells them how idiotic they are for believing they could compete with I-1. They should instead be celebrating instead of sighing into oblivion. As a punishment, if you will, Tange forces them to go to the I-1 theater and watch for themselves why they “lost”. They even stand through the handshake line, which is kinda just cause for problems I’m sure. Obviously Mayu runs into that girl from earlier that was being a total jerk and tells her the reason that she’s doing this is because she can finally like idols herself.

As per usual, the episode ends on a cliffhanger where Tange is talking to someone a from I-1’s company. Oh boy, I’m so happy for this turn out. This series just continues to frustrate me in a lot of ways, some episodes are so depressing, with only a glimmer of hope. It makes the entire thing heavy…

Watch Wake Up, Girls! on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Sakura Trick (Episode Five)
Player: Midnight
Class: DJ

Alright, here we are on Sakura Trick episode five. You know, something I haven’t talked about in this review is the voice acting. I haven’t really thought of it too much since everyone seems really spot on for their roles and they never sound bored with the dialogue they are presenting. I find it particularly interesting that our main female Haruka is voiced by a voice actress named Haruka, Haruka Tomatsu. Most people reading this might recognize her as Asuna from Sword Art Online; Bobby might know the name from her appearance as herself in the anime he was covering last season, “I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job.” Personally the role I recognize her as is Megumi Shimizu from Shiki.

This episode is set from the beginning to make me totally hungry with talk of amazing sweets. Kaede, Yuzu and Haruka take Mitsuki to a cafe and leave Yuu behind. As you can imagine she is completely upset that Haruka would forget about her. Shizuku and Katone decide they should all drop in on the meeting completely uninvited.

We end up at a parody of Starbucks named Tudar-Bucks. The parody was so blatant I almost smacked my face into my desk. So basically they asked Mitsuki to Tudar-Bucks to ask her to be in a play their class is putting on to make Yuu happy. They can’t get her to agree right off at all. The play happens to be Snow White, which we will come back to in the second part of the episode. Katone ruins any plans we have for asking again today and the group parts and begins heading home. Yuu admits she was upset, and her and Haruka kiss ending this part of the episode with pretty much standard fan-fare for this series.

You know, recently a lot of the episodes have focused a lot on Mitsuki. Mitsuki is voiced by Saki Fujita which I discovered just now is the base voice for the Hatsune Miku program. I totally didn’t even notice! She’s also been in her fair share of anime. The second part of the episode is about the play. Shizuku and Yuu both want to play the Evil Queen. They somehow completely trick Mitsuki into playing Snow White for their play. However, she would rather play the hunter. This ends up somehow being a fight between Haruka and Mitsuki on who will play the hunter and who will play Snow White. Mitsuki’s crush on Haruka is much more obvious than ever. Then Yuu gets jealous; somehow this couldn’t get any more awkward if it tried.

They inform the president that this is a speech-only play. Yuu and Haruka kiss and we end the episode with pretty much the funniest thing i’ve seen in a long time. We cut to a clip of Shizuku in the bath, and it starts out all sexy and detailed, then slowly goes to her as a chibi, cutting out the sexy music. She turns to the camera and goes “It’s fan-service.”

The preview shows us that next episode’s focus is going to be the culture festival and the play this episode spent building up to. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m totally ready for more wacky hijinks. See you next time on Sakura Trick episode 6, The series is halfway done!

Midnight was attacked! That means next week she will have to defeat her opponent by overcoming their power. If she fails, she will gain no points during next week’s Simulblast. Midnight did complete this week’s challenge and will be rewarded an extra 30 points.

Watch Sakura Trick on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

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

It’s that time again! Another episode of Gundam Build Fighters has come and gone, and this one is a bit different than usual. Instead of focusing on Sei and Reiji, this episode seems to focus more on Mao. It opens with a bit of back story about how he met his master (he was beating up a bunch of little kids in a Gunpla battle with a really cool special move).

OP Break!

And even though this episode is fairly Mao-centric it’s still going to feature all the other main characters. So, as China monologues, we get to see everyone in their morning routines, followed by Sei’s mom waking up Sei and Reiji, because they’re already late. Sei makes a funny newtype reference about controlling time which longtime fans of Gundam should enjoy as they rush to the stadium.

When they get to the stadium, they find out who their opponent for round 1 of the finals will be. Obviously it’s Mao. We then see Ricardo and Nils discussing the brackets. Nils is about to predict the victor of Mao vs Sei and Reiji when we transition.

Now we’re watching a battle in Mao’s mind. He’s playing back every possible opening move, and how he thinks Reiji will respond, and Mao keeps losing. After stressing himself out, he gets up and despairs about how he can’t think of any way to win.

Flashback again, Mao is trying to get his master to take him on as a student. The master refuses, but Mao brightens up when he’s offered food. We then see a montage of “training” showcasing the master student relationship they have. I have to admit, the master has some baller Miyagi style ways of training.

Ramba Ral is wishing Sei and Reiji luck in their battle tomorrow (Fun Fact: the voice actor for Mr. Ral is actually the original voice for Ramba Ral from the 1979 original Mobile Suit Gundam.) While this happens they see Mao rushing off.

He heads to his master’s place, and asks his master to teach him the secret of his master’s special move, even if it goes against the code of their school. The master says he will, and the training starts. They start actually fighting out on the front lawn, which results in Mao getting thrown to the ground repeatedly. Honestly this is a pretty manly scene. As it goes on, rain starts pouring down, but they still continue to spar.

Now we see Mao and his master discussing their favorite Gundam ladies in a flashback. Mao chooses Emma Sheen, and the master chooses Marrue Ramius, just because of her boobs, which he illustrates by holding oranges up to his chest and squeezing them with a perverted look on his face. It seems Master Roshi isn’t the only martial arts master more concerned with bust size than busting heads. The moral of the master’s choice is you don’t need a reason to like something. you simply like it.

When Mao wakes up, his master is gone, and he left a note saying he was tired, so he went home. He’s frustrated, but then he realizes the truth in liking what you like.

Now it’s game time, and China is heading to the stands, and finds the girl Mao likes who works at the inn they all stayed at (and defended from property sharks with the power of Gunpla). She’s come to cheer him on. Sei and Reiji are waiting, and Mao is late. However he comes running up tot he stage and the match begins.

And this is what we all came for. The imaginary fight that Ramba Ral broke up in episode 5 is finally happening. Mao opens up immediately with multiple mega shots from his satellite cannon. Caught by surprise, the Star Build’s shield is destroyed, and they break part of the satellite wing showing off solar panels, explaining the ability to fire the cannon multiple times. The battle music has VERY explicit lyrics; if it’s happened before, I hadn’t noticed it. I know Japan doesn’t really see an issue with using the F word for mundane things like sales (“BIG F***ING SALE!” and such), but for a children’s anime it was quite unexpected.

They continue to battle, and we cut to Ramba Ral speaking with Mao’s master. He explains the training was to take the anxiety of his enemies victory out of his mind to have him focus fully on the battle and not winning or losing. They continue to fight, and it’s pretty epic. Then Mao pulls out a gigantic beam sword. Reiji activates RG mode on Sei’s command and he straight up punches the beamsword, which overloads Mao’s energy system and actually breaks the gigantic sword…

Mao is shocked, and Reiji takes the opportunity to destroy the Gundam X Maoh. Afterwards, the girl from the inn meets up with Mao, but he continues walking, not being in the mood for talk. She tells him he was really cool in his fight and he leaves. His master finds him crying over his loss, and he tells Mao battles like that are why he can’t quit Gunpla. Mao states that he wants to build better Gunpla, with a look of determination.

ED Break!

The twins from Argentina destroy Luang Dallara, much to Sei and Reiji’s surprise. To MY surprise, they’re the ones with the GM Sniper K-9. I was sure when I saw the sneak peak of the actual model that it’d be a Tetsuya Yuuki model for later in the series.

Next episode, we actually get to see the K-9 in action vs. Yuuki’s Kampfer Amazing. something tells me that battle is going to be amazing.

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

Nobunagun (Episode Five)
Player: Bobby Henshin
Class: DJ

H! Darn you Siege! How dare you attack me on my moment of rest!? Fine then, but I will not be defeated! Welcome to episode 5, everybody. We kick off with Jack The Ripper and Sio in a briefing room where they are to be given new orders. Jack is ordered to return to his team, Team 2, whose real name is Adam. It makes Sio blush to learn his name. This is why I said I can see these two getting together in the last episode. The commander has also appointed Nobunagun to Team 2 as well. This team is composed of Jack The Ripper, Issac Newton, Gandhi, and now Oda Nobunaga. When arriving at the new floating base (by the way there are 3 floating bases surrounding the pacific ocean), they are greeted by Gandhi, who Sio decides to name “Barrier Guy”. Then Newton shows up to greet them as well, but her greeting is a bit…different. She walks up to Jack and starts making out with him. This confused me as much as it confused Sio. After her little makeout session, she begins to walk towards Sio. Now, what happened next really threw me for a loop, because Newton is now french kissing Sio. What really threw me is that… Sio is enjoying it a bit.

After the kiss she freaks out because she is wondering if this means she is cheating on Asao. This leads me to believe that our main character is actually bisexual. I have no problem with this, actually. It makes for funny moments and a character with much to offer the show. Gandhi decides to show Sio around the base. Once they reached the living quarters Gandhi decides to show his true colors by flirting with her. And I mean against the wall with arms on each side blocking her and making her blush so much that she passes out. We cut to Sio now in the library looking at records of the last mission. Trying to make sense of why she just suddenly started dancing and how she acts the way she does in combat, with some flirting words from Newton of course. The sirens sound and everyone is called in for a new mission. We are now introduced to four new E-Gene holders. We already met Galileo who is a petite, pink haired girl. A young, blonde-haired man who is the reincarnation of François Vidocq. François Vidocq, for those who don’t know, was a French criminal who gained fame in the works of many French others. He was also the creator of the first private detective agency and civil police, who is also voiced by the same voice actor as Chrono from Chrono Crusade, my first non-broadcasted anime I owned, who was named the most popular voice actor in 2004. Next a young man known as John Hunter. John Hunter was a Scottish surgeon regarded as one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. He also helped create the smallpox vaccine. This team is known as the Special Team. We still have one more character to introduce from Team 3. A large Chinese man who looks to be in his twenties called Dai Zong. Dai Zong is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The Water Margin describes Dai Zong having a broad face, a squarish mouth and a lean body. Dai Zong has a special magical ability which allows him to travel long distances at superhuman speed and stamina.

They were all gathered to fight 5 monsters on their way to Mexico. This mission is different though. When they kill the larger of the monsters, they will have Dai Zong race to retrieve a certain something from the monsters brain before it sinks and is lost. Vidocq’s theory is that there is something that is making the monsters learn and evolve to get an upper hand in the next fight. This large monster though is only weak in one spot which is a little spot right above the forehead. While the others take care of the 4 smaller monsters that have cannons for heads. Sio lines up the shot and delivers the final blow while riding a speedboat. As the monster explodes, Dai Zong rushes and grabs something from the debris of the dead creature before it hits the water. With some research we have learned that, when an invasionary object is destroyed, it expels tiny objects into the ocean that are eaten by fish and move up the food chain before evolving into a hideous monster. So the real objects are these tiny little weed fish looking things that burrow into the brain and turn fish into killing machines. With some new info on these creatures we end the episode. We now know of 4 new E-Gene holders and what these Invasionary Objects truly are. It was a pretty productive episode. Next week we meet the members of Team 1. Stay tuned viewers!

Bobby attacked a player this round and used a 100 points to activate Bonus Stage! This power enables him to possibly spend more or less for a random power on the list. He landed on Ambiance, which is an ability to force a player to extensively talk about the soundtrack and how it affects the overall tone of the episode. Bobby also completed this week’s challenge and is rewarded an extra 30 points.

This player has been docked 10 points for grammar problems in their summary.

Watch Nobunagun on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Log Horizon (Episode Seventeen)

Player: Siege

Class: Content Provider

The war rages on in episode 17 of Log Horizon. The children are determined to kill an army. Isn’t that just precious? The little girl that this show can’t seem to get enough of is spying on the Goblin army, using sight-giving eyedrops given to her by resident cat-man, Nyanta. Fun fact about Nyanta; his VA, Joji Nakata, also voiced Leonidas in the Japanese dub of 300.

But, anyway, let’s avoid old memes. I’m personally more worried about why the party of kids is so sure of themselves. Even with the adults and their extensive MMO experience, none of them have experience in actual war strategy. And yet, they’re entirely convinced that their plan is the best plan ever. Dumb luck is common to anime characters, though, so this isn’t a problem.

The NPCs, on the other hand, are pretty upset that the Adventurers didn’t keep the Goblins from attacking, attributing it to a plot by them. These NPCs are giving way too much credit to these Adventurers. Still, can’t blame them for being Xenophobic; their world has been invaded by nerds.

Back at the frontlines, Tohya, the young boy whose name I’m trying super hard to remember forever since he isn’t going anywhere, has led the goblins out into the open. And before I can even just sit back and relax to enjoy the action, we’re back to the planning by the adventurers. It’s probably just today, but I am in no mood for these people’s planning and glasses-pushing-upness. I just wanna watch kids beat up goblins for once.

The princess overhears that the People of the Land don’t trust Adventurers and somehow seems surprised that they’re lying to the unaware players. I’m not sure why she’s so shocked when she was just as afraid of them a few episodes ago.

Shiroe asks the NPCs for help from their armies, and it very quickly becomes apparent that they don’t have any army to give. So begins a back-and-forth of both sides asking for the other’s troops while trying to pretend they weren’t just trying to get the other side to send troops. It’s super tedious despite being what I said I loved about the show. I think it’s because we’ve stagnated again. There’s just not enough actually happening in such a short time.

The princess stands up and asks to go to Akhiabara to go raise an army after revealing that the NPCs actually have no army. She gives a big speech about freedom and stuff. I’m sure it’s supposed to be touching. So touching she fainted. It’s wasted on me, though.

The episode ends with a griffin ride to Akihabara. And freedom and stuff. If I have one regret for this episode, it’s that Naotsugu didn’t do anything important enough to compare him to “the bad boy he voiced in the superior Japanese dub of the classic iCarly episode ‘iDate a Bad Boy.'” Oh well; not every challenge can be a winner.

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

Engaged To Unidentified (Episode Five)
Player: Kayarath
Class: Content Provider

Did you know that Saki Fujita who did the student council secretary is also the voice of Hatsune Miku? Shocking, isn’t it? Well, it’s all shocking revelations this week on Engage The Unidentified! However, before we get to all that plot and stuff, let’s focus on what’s really important, moeh! Benio actually got Mashiro to wear cat pajamas! It’s made even cuter by the fact that Mashiro’s waving her arms around protesting the whole scenario while Benio tries to take pictures.

We then learn that a visitor is coming to check up on Hakuya and Mashiro. While Kobeni panics about preparing for a guest, Mashiro must face the music, or fermented soy beans to be precise. In a previous episode, she lied about liking them so now she’s cramming in preparation. Turns out the visitor is Hakuya and Mashiro’s mother, and she’s super moeh too! She’s a loli in a kimino who can’t resist sweets! She’s just so adorable I can cry! I can watch her eat creeps all day long!

She also takes a moment to drop major bombshells like the fact that her family is not human but more of a spirit or maybe oni. Mashiro’s not pleased since they haven’t told anyone yet. Hakuya is upset because he’s afraid his supernatural origins will alienate Kobeni. In fact, Kobeni so shocked she falls ill again. Benio is more or less fine with the whole thing though. We also learn important things, like that Hakuya has a dog-like form, he gave half of his power to Kobeni when she fell off that cliff, and it’s that power that causes Kobeni to get sick from time to time.

I honestly didn’t expect such plot twists so early! I’m sure the cast can handle it, though; they seem nice enough people. With such fallout happening, Hakuya’s mother decides it’s best to split. After saying good bye to Kobeni, she rooftop jumps away. It seems she has the mobility to back up her origin claims. Her dramatic exit is cut short by a van with a food sale. Watching her run after food is so cute!!!!

Watch Engaged To Unidentified on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

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

Denizens of the internet! It is I Knightshade, back again to review the show Kill la Kill episode 17! Well I’m just going to head right on in, won’t you all follow?

After the fight between Ryuko and Tsumugu is dissolved thanks to Mako being stupid and Senketsu, Aikuro explains to her how Tsumugu’s sister, Kinue, died in a Life Fiber experiment, going on to explain that Senketsu was made with Ryuko’s DNA, hence why only she can wear and communicate with him without a problem. Meanwhile, Honnouji Academy makes preparations for a Cultural and Sports Grand Festival to celebrate Ragyo (aka I crap rainbows) visiting the school.

Learning that this a cover up for a final experiment in which all of Honnouji City will be sacrificed to the Life Fibers, Ryuko and the others head for Honnouji, where the ceremony has begun. As Ragyo begins having the Life Fibers devouring everyone in the stadium, Ryuko and company arrive on the scene. Ragyo begins to make some big speech on how great she is and how this plan is for the greater good and all of that crap. Just then, Satsuki stabs Ragyo and announces her rebellion against her and the Life Fibers, revealing this to be the purpose she has built Honnouji Academy for.

Little fact about our leading lady Ami Koshimizu: she was in other anime such as School Rumble, Saki and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. That was something I was pleased to find out.

The episode in my opinion was a big old pressure cooker for me. All of these new revelations coming to light. The discipline squad has all new badass looking uniforms. The world shall be wrapped in clothing and the fabric shall inherit the earth. This is all topped off at the end of the episode with Ragyo being not only slain but quite literally crucified by her own daughter Satsuki. I guess when you molest your daughter payback truly sucks, doesn’t it? Even though I’m an action kind of person, this was so very satisfying, especially the ending, taking the term “No means no” to a whole new level. This episode gets 9 crucifixions out of 10. So happy… now show the next episode already!

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

Nisekoi (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 30 for doing a challenge. Zero 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 Nisekoi on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.

Week 005 Tally

1. Kanashimi: 2,257
2. Midnight: 1,971
3. Elk: 1,728
4. Bobby Henshin: 1,485
5. Siege: 1,230
6. Kayarath: 1,140
7. Knightshade: 1,110
8. Zero Gravity: 710

Next week’s challenge: Write your review like a stereotypical anime girl (your flavor of moe, tsundere, yandere, etc is up to you!).

Make sure to vote for your favorite review below! You can give your favorite an extra 20 points.