Due to me moving right now I won’t have time to update the site. I will also be spending a month in Japan where I will not be watching any anime, thus no reviews during that time either. I realize that is a bit ironic. Of course, I probably could watch some anime if I really wanted to, but I think there are much better ways to spend my time there. I won’t have computer or Internet access until mid-August so don’t expect any updates until then. Since I won’t be online during the summer, I won’t be able to answer any of your emails either. See you in August! (’◇’)ゞ

There is a combination of both humour and a feeling of apprehension in this episode. The dream sequence in the beginning of the episode was probably my favourite part. Tenma’s dream sequence isn’t all that funny by itself, but once you take into account just what type of character she really is then you can really appreciate the comedy. The second half of the episode wasn’t as good in terms of humour, but it was still entertaining nonetheless. I was wondering what Harima was going to do to get out of their financial situation at the restaurant until we heard Eri’s voice. I don’t think any Eri fan can watch the last minute or two without feeling somewhat sorry for her.

This episode should please any Athena or Alice fan. There was even more character development than episode 6 of this season. The episode adds a whole new dimension to Alice. We get to see a child-like side to Alice, which I think complements her character very well. I’m sure most of us can relate to her shadow-hopping game at some point during our childhood. When Athena suddenly rowed the gondola sideways it took everyone by surprise. I thought that was a pretty awesome maneuver. There may be a possibly we’ll get an episode dedicated to Athena, but I’m not counting on it. She was in this episode more than almost all the other episode she has been in. There’s just nothing like a fun-to-watch episode mixed with character development.

After last week’s bizarre episode I was expecting some riveting event to take place. This episode didn’t have anything like that, but in its place it’s full of laughs. I thought the previous episode was as much humour as we were going to get. To my surprise, this episode blew it right out of the water as far as comedy goes. We get to see how Rill spent her days while they were stuck waiting for the wind. There were lots of hilarious moments. We can always rely on Pino for a good laugh. Pino imitating Rill was just priceless. To top it all off, we got to see what was probably the most awkward, yet hilarious, moment in the series: Rill walking in on Vincent and Pino while he was playing with her makeup. I never expected to hear Rill laugh in this series. At the end of the episode she is finally able to start smiling while in their current situation. It may just be me, but I don’t see this lasting. My guess is she will revert back to the way she was in the next episode.

Although it was only a short scene, we get to see when Carl received Diva’s blood. I think Diva looked better back then than any other time we’ve seen her. It’s hard to imagine she went from her old appearance to a questionable Riku look-a-like. We learn from Amshel that Carl was never anything more than an experiment. I can’t say I feel sorry for Carl because of how crazy he seemed. I don’t think he has ever appeared to be sane for more than a minute. The remaining Sifu showed up to help out of nowhere. I guess they’re covertly following Saya around since they have the same goal. Without a doubt, the coolest part of this episode was when Saya finished off Carl by stabbing him along with herself. The scene pretty much builds up to allow you to expect something like that, but it still looked awesome regardless.

We finally get an episode with Urd as the main character. Unfortunately we also meet a new character, Troubadour, who turns out to be one of the least entertaining characters I’ve seen in the series. I found it to be pretty unbelievable that Urd would go out with someone like Troubadour. Even with such an unappealing character like Troubadour, getting to see Urd so much in this episode made up for it. There were a few parts in this episode which I thought were funny. One scene that comes to mind is the bath scene when Belldandy walked in on Keiichi and Urd. I didn’t expect Belldandy to say she would join him if he had asked. This episode starts a new ending song. As far as music for this series, this new ending song is possibly my favourite. The next episode looks like it will shift its focus on Skuld. There’s bound to be some character development so it should be entertaining to watch.

They currently have 6 pilots, which works out nicely. Although once Ryoko joins as a gunner things will become unbalanced once again. This episode does seem to hint at the idea that some of Kyo’s other friends may not be too far off from awakening. I liked this episode mainly for the scenes with Ryoko and Kyo. She realized the world she knew all along wasn’t real without anyone telling her. We see right away that she has potential when she helped her younger brother with the game. It seems unlikely that Shizuno will keep her feelings for Kyo to herself for that much longer. Sooner or later she will probably end up telling Kyo how she feels after she sees him spend more and more time with Ryoko. That should make for some interesting drama. I look forward to seeing how quickly Ryoko will adapt to the real world.

NSWF is trying to create a Clone Blade that is stronger than the real Witchblade. I’m in no position to say whether or not that should be possible, but if Masane doesn’t stand a chance against Norah right now then it seems pretty hopeless for her. As crazy as Maria is, even she wasn’t able to have her way with Norah around. During the scene where Masane was escaping from NSWF, we see her transform half-way and maintain it. I thought that looked pretty cool. Just when everything seemed to be back to normal, Masane and Rihoko are told they aren’t genetically related. It’s definately going to cause some problems at first, but in the end it will probably work out. At least I would want to see them end up staying together.

Upon popular request, I have included the length of all the series listed under my “Currently Watching” section. Many of the series have not announced a definitive length according to the source I use. These series will be either noted as “length unknown” or “at least X episodes”. The episode listings are not all in agreement with some English anime sites, but I find the Japanese source I use to be more accurate.

We see that Ovan is still held captive and his left arm has somehow become unlocked. What this all means remains a mystery. The episode title was certainly suitable for this episode. The tension among the guild members reached its peak, making Sakisaka quit the “Twilight Brigade”. Tabby soon follows Sakisaka after she gets in an argument with Haseo. Sino is determined to continue waiting for Ovan to return. It really looks like there’s some mutal interest between Sino and Haseo, but considering this is all inside a “game” I’m not sure how I feel about the whole situation. Sino wears a new outfit at the end of the episode. It would have been nice if it was a completely new outfit, but instead the outfit only changed from white to black. Without a goal for the guild along with conflict among its members Sino ends up disbanding the “Twilight Brigade”. Personally, I don’t think this will change all that much. If this is just a way to show us that they will start heading in a new direction then I’m all for it.