Clannad 11

“The day before yesterday, I saw a rabbit. Yesterday, it was a deer. Today, you.”
-Kotomi Ichinose

Kotomi wakes up the eternally slumbering Okazaki with her violin’s sweet lullaby. She plays the violing again and everyone inside the classroom falls down. Kyou, Ryou, and Nagisa come to the rescue. Kotomi tells them that the music room students lent her the violin.

Okazaki arrives at the Theater clubroom only to hear a badly recited joke from Kotomi. Apparently, Kyou’s teaching her so that she won’t have the time to use her violin. While the trio girls are checking their theater props, Kotomi picks out a magic wand. Ryou tells her how to use it, and to their surprise, Kotomi chants an incantation from De Vermis Mysteris. Okazaki even imagines Kyou doing a magical girl transformation with the wand – which makes him laugh so hard Kyou wants to kill him.

Kotomi plays the violin again, which prompts the group to act fast. Kyou announces that Kotomi will have a recital soon so she should practice outside. Ryou and Nagisa follow her.

Walking home, Kyou asks Okazaki if he’ll date a girl who loved him so much. Okazaki tells her that even if he did, he’s a delinquent bum. Kyou replies that even delinquents are well-liked sometimes. Okazaki mentions Sunohara, which only makes her laugh.

On his way to Sunohara’s place the next day, Okazaki hears a very deadly melody. He arrives in the Library to see Kotomi practicing with her violin. Kotomi practices her joking skills, which Okazaki comments as lame. He later finds out that Kotomi’s an honorary library attendant, which answers why she has the Library’s keys. Fortunately for Okazaki, Kotomi made a bento for two, hoping that he would drop by. He comments that the food is great. Kotomi then announces her infamous line: “The day before yesterday, I saw a rabbit. Yesterday, it was a deer. Today, you.”

After the snack, since they were the only ones inside the library, Kotomi asks him if he’d – read a book with her. Okazaki falls alseep as Kotomi reads to him a story. Okazaki wakes up from a nightmare. Before splitting up, Kotomi tells Okazaki that she’s happy he showed up.

The next day, the group discussed project Violin Recital. A lot of people came; lots of them were blackmailed by Kyou to come. Once Kotomi plays the violin. . .100% K.O.

Nagisa congratulates Kotomi on their way home. Okazaki asks why they’re working so hard for her. Suddenly, a mysterious old man arrives and the group shield Kotomi away from him. Kotomi calls him the bad guy.

****

I Lol at Okazaki’s hilarious mind. I can never do that. Moving on, the last bit in the end of the ep marks the start of the seriousness in Kotomi’s story arc.

Clannad 10

“. . .”
-Tomoyo Sakagami

The weird girl in the weird world brings the weird robot out into the fields. The doll/robot is wondering why there are beads of lights similar to fireflies floating up.

Okazaki bumps into Nagisa on his way to school. Kyou kills Tomoya with her motorbike; no, he’s still alive. Kyou points out that since the two are calling each other by first names, they could be dating. The lovebirds wonder when they’ve started calling each other by first names.

At school, Okazaki tricks Sunohara into meeting the genius girl, Kotomi. Sunohara got pissed since Kotomi completely ignored him. When Okazaki finally calls her as Kotomi-chan, she points out that he shouldn’t leave a mess, which Sunohara did earlier so she would notice him. Okazaki asks her if she’d join the Theater club.

Kotomi hides behind Okazaki as he introduces her to Nagisa. Apparently, she’s really shy and hates bullies. Okaazaki halts the two girls’ conversation since the two aren’t making any sense anymore. Okazaki accompanies Kotomi home, but they enter a bookshop first. He tells her off when she suddenly tries cutting a page with a pair of scissors.

The next day, he introduces Kotomi to the rest of his harem. Then end disastrously. Kotomi hugs Tomoyo, who’s in her bear costume, when Okazaki introduces her. Kotomi tells him she likes bears. Oh, and Sunohara gets kicked by the bear. Kawaii.

Kyou drops by and orders Okazaki to bring Kotomi and the gang to a nice place later. The group arrive at the theater club room. The four girls: Nagisa, Kyou, Ryou, and Kotomi introduce themselves. And Okazaki shows her the primary example of a jab, by making fun of Kyou’s speech.

Kotomi walks out of the room when she hears a music being played. She sees the violin and asks if she could play it. All the people go down.

****

This is a nice intro on Kotomi’s arc. I’d be wary of her violin powers though.

Code Geass R2 11

“Love is power! Falling in love with someone gives you great power! Thinking about that person every single day, writing poems, waking up early, making scarves for them, jumping into waterfalls and screaming that person’s name. . .”
-Shirley Fenette

In Ashford, the fake Lelouch tells everyone about Milly’s condition. He even hands out a handkerchief to cry-baby Shirley. Rolo lectures the fake Lelouch, adding that he’s outperforming the original. The duo drop by to the Intelligence HQ, down in Ashford and the fake Lulu reveals herself as Sayoko. I’m surprised she can hide her chest in that wimpy Lelouch disguise. Moving on, Villeta informs them of Zero’s impending doom.

The Chinese Federation and Britannia’ forces bombard Tiandi Bashiba Ling; they plan to bury the Black Knights under it. The High Eunuchs tell Xingke that they’ll discard the empress and find a new one to offer to Prince Odysseus. This pisses Xingke off, but he gets preoccupied with Tristan. Inside Ikaruga, C.C. tells Lelouch that she’ll pilot Akatsuki. This makes Lelouch worry, so he asks her to save herself if things look unfavorable.

The Black Knight’s Akatsukis and Zangetsu enter the fray and kick major Britannia and China ass. Shame. Suzaku’s Lancelot also shows up. Mordred blasts the Chinese rebels’ knightmares withot blinking. Obviously. No mecha can blink. Anya activates her shield, prompting Xingke to attack from above and make an opening himself. Gino hinders Xingke’s plan, again. Annoying bastard.

Nina comments on Mordred making a one-hit K.O. on the tomb but Llyod, Kanon, and Schniezel disagree; they’d be called the murderers of the empress then. Zero contacts the High Eunuchs. The latter think the former’s admitting defeat. How naive. Zero reasons that Tianzi will die if they continue. The eunuchs tell Zero that the Tianzi is merely a system and replacements are abundant; they’re already thinking of sacrificing Xiang-lin to become Prince Odysseus’ bride. All of a sudden, the eunuchs are telling Zero all their hidden agendas. Hell, they even insult Zero’s ideals. The eunuchs add that the people on earth are so many like the bugs they step on.

Tianzi escapes Kaguya and heads out of Ikaruga. Xingke comes to her aid but gets hit by Gino. The eunuchs order their forces to shoot Tianzi down, but Xingke’s Shen Hu shields her from the bullets. Xingke asks for help in saving Tianzi, and Zero finally shows up – in a new badass knightmare.

Not only does it save Tianzi from the heavy bombardment, but it’s shield also saves Xingke as well. Zero announces that he’s joing the frontlines, and to prove that, he destroys every Chinese Federation knightmares without even moving an inch. The Brits finally notice that Zero’s using Gawain’s druid system. Apparently, knightmare frame Shinkirou’s Absolute Protection Territory boasts the world’s defensive power.

Suddenly, a revolt takes place all over China. It appears that Zero’s dialogue with the Eunuch Generals was leaked. Now, all of China’s the Black Knights’ reinforcement. C.C. and Chiba try to break through Anya’s defensive shield, but a reaction of some sort happens between C.C. and their target. Anya loses her lovely concentration and Asahina manages to a cheap-shot on Mordred’s Float Unit. All of the Black Knights’ remaining knightmares finally come out of the open just as Schniezel orders the Avalon to leave. Since the Eunuchs lost the power of their people, they no longer have the standing to enter Britannian society. An angry Xingke slices the Eunuch Generals with his sword. Lelouch learns that Suzaku has Kallen as captive.

In some strange cave, the men who first built Jeremiah aka Orenji-kun, to be able recreate C.C.’s powers, are ordered by V.V. to finish their work. Peace now retains in China as Lelouch decides if Tianzi should marry a Japanese (due to Diethard’s suggestion). The Black Knight ladies reject the idea of using Tianzi’s marriage in political reasons. Tamaki even joins the fray by adding his own problems.

Lelouch calls Shirley and asks her about breakinging up a couple. Shirley deliberately tells him not to break them apart. Lelouch understands this and tells the Black Knights and the Chinese rebels that Tianzi’s future’s her own and that their source of power rings from their hearts. This particular statement confuses Diethard since he’s not a “heart” person. Back in Ashford, Sayoko (disguised as Lelouch) kisses Shirley(?) so that the latter won’t find out about the hidden passage to their HQ.

Lelouch tells C.C. that he’ll find the “Order” in China, before he goes back to Area 11. Back in Ashford, the next morning, he gets surprised to see a distressed Shirley. Also, to add to his confusion, Gino and Anya have signed up as students in his school.

****

This neatly wraps the Chinese Federation Rebellion arc up. According to my calculations, and forgive me if I’m wrong, there’s still 14 eps left for R2. And we can deduce from the preview that next episode’s gonna be a standard Ashford-comedy type. Don’t get me wrong – I’m quite okay with this. However, I would want the remaining eps to be full-blown battles and mindgames galore.

Moving on, I haven’t been able to update as much as I’d like to. This is one of those “I’m very busy in school” rants. So anyway, I’ll stop blogging Soul Eater for the moment to accommodate Clannad. Don’t worry; I’ll continue once I’m done every Clannad ep. I’ll still blog Code Geass R2 eps though.

Code Geass R2 10

“That long ago? He must be your destined one!”
-Kaguya Sumeragi

The episode begins where the last went off: the abduction of Empress Tianzi. Back in the Chinese rebels’ HQ, Xiang-lin recieves news of Zero’s monstrous act.

Inside the wedding hall, Zero pulls the empress in his escape, with the help of Toudou, piloting a new knightmare frame, Zangetsu. Suzaku, in his Lancelot, manages to hinder Zero’s plan of snatching Schniezel; he faces Toudou’s frame, which is almost at par with his own. Toudou destroys Lancelot’s float unit but loses Zangetsu’s left arm due to Spinzaku (Suzaku’s spin-kick of death). I’m still amazed he can do that with a mecha.

Moving on, the High Eunuchs capture their rebellious subordinates while Zero and Co. escape via a huge truck. Oh, C.C.’s on the wheels and she’s decorated her place with Pizza Hut’s Cheese-kun stuff. Zero tries reasoning with the empress about the United States Alliance, the new axis of power to counter Britannia but to no avail; the empress obviously isn’t the intellectual type and therefore not Zero’s type, which C.C. points out later. Kaguya asks Tianzi if Xingke is her destined one.

The truck stops before a gorge – dead end. The bridge is gone, and the chasers think they’ve caught Zero. ‘Lo and behold: a surprise attack begins as the hidden knightmares ambush the Chinese. Xingke tells the idiot Eunuchs Zero’s supposed escape plan. In return, the Eunuchs granted him the use of the new knightmare.

Now back in their movable base, Ikaruga, Zero frolicks. Joke. The bridge bunnies inform Zero that the knightmares in front of them have all been obliterated from the face of the earth. One of the most ugliest knightmare frame ever develop appears in front of them. Xingke, over the radio, orders the Black Knights to give the empress back.

Guren appears and battles Shen Hu equally. Apparently, Lakshata’s team developed Shen Hu at the same time they made Guren; the difference is that Shen Hu’s a more technologically advance model. Shen Hu’s Tian-e Ba Wang heavy particle cannon equals Guren’s radiation wave cannon. Zero gets pissed since India didn’t give him that knightmare. Diethard comments that India isn’t ideally unified.

During the heat of the battle, the Guren loses energy and gets captured in result. Lelouch tells her that he’ll save her and to not make any foolish moves. Diethard proposes to retreat; choosing Kallen over the safety of the whol organization is clearly not high on his list.

In Avalon, Anya shows her phone’s photos to Suzaku and Milly. Since she has Lelouch’s child pictures, I deduce that she’s been taking pictures at the same time she’s still trying to walk. No offense. I love this loli. Moving on, Zero decides otherwise and orders the Black Knights to rescue Kallen.

The battle wages as China and the Black Knights duel. Toudou takes on Xingke. Suddenly, as Zero’s forces move in for the kill, water from the canal reaches up to the knightmares’ knees. Lelouch believes he has this figured. Xingke points out that the land there’s weak, and soon enough, the Black Knights’ knightmares slowly collapse into the mud. Before Xingke can fire his whatzit-called heavy particle canon, Toudou hits Shen Hu and the beam loses its target. Zero decides to retreat, but before that, he fires Ikaruga’s (their main ship’s) hadron canons to decrease the opponents’ numbers.

That night, the Black Knights hide inside Tiandi Bashiba Ling, which is the tomb of all China’s emperors. The High Eunuchs back-stab Xingke as they decided to call the aid of Schniezel’s Avalon, and the two knightmare frames: Tristan and Mordred.

****

First off, I really have to apologize for not being able to blog very much. Heck, I didn’t know college can be this demanding. Also, I’ll update pics once the site’s fixed. Somehow, wordpress isn’t uploading the pics I need. Okay.This is a very kickass episode: Lancelot gets kicked out of the fight early on, and Zero finally meets his match in the form of Li Xingke. I don’t really like the new knightmare; it’s ugly. I’d pick a Sutherland anytime. Moreover, this episode will more likely begin the bigger stage, as Zero announces it.