This week's question asks "What is something that evokes feelings of spring coming?"
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): The time to celebrate Hinagiku's birthday.
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): Songs about Cherry blossoms start to play on TV.
Birdmen (Yellow Tanabe): The Pollen alerts. Though my allergies have yet to awaken...
Be Blues! (Motokyuki Tanaka) Pollen!
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): Afternoons brightened by sunlight.
Aozakura Bouei daigakkou monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): Hearing Christmas Songs in Summer and not being bothered by it.
Fire Rabbit (Aya Hirakawa): Not just Cherry Blossoms but when all sorts of flowers start to bloom.
Imouto Rireki (Kei Nishiyama): When my favorite bakery starts selling Cherry blossom mochi bread.
Detective Conan (Gosho Aoyama): The advanced screenings for the Conan movies. (lol).
Amano Megumi ha Suki darake! (Nekoguchi): When I start seeing brightly colored clothing.
Daiku no Hatou (Michiteru Kusaba): I just sorta have a feeling, I guess?
Komi-san ha Komyusho desu (Tomohito Oda): When the itching in my nose gradually gets worse~
Undine ha Kyou mo Koi wo suru ka? (Shinya Misu): The water that comes from melted snow, the edible fuki plants, the energetic moss growing, and allergies.
RYOKO (Kaito Mitsuhashi): When I can really feel the difference between the outside and inside temperature I start thinking "It's about that time"...
Anonatsu 1959 (Ashibi Fukui): Cypress allergens. Can't have spring without sneezing and nose running.
Maoujo de oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): I think it's spring when the pollen starts attacking your nose.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Teppei Sugiyama): When Nature is at it's finest.
switch (Atsushi Namikiri): The weather makes it apparent.
Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): It's like...the scent, y'know? When the wind blows it's like...the scent of spring.
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina): When my cat starts shedding.
Chrono Magia -Infinity Gear (Takeshi Azuma): Spring is the windiest time of year! It hurts my eyes!
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): When the various symptoms of allergies start, and talks of Bananaman's lunches begin.
Gofun go no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): It's always Spring before I realize it. (Lol)
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): When fragrant winds blow from a distant place...
Hatsukoi Zombie (Ryou Minenami): I'm surrounded by allergy sufferers, but I have yet to show symptoms.
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): Spring leaks from my nose.
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): Tenpura made from edible fuki plants, and dandelions.
An almost united front against allergies here, haha. Not that it's surprising, those are the worst. For the record (Not that you care or have to care) I suffer from allergies basically all year long. So these artists should be honored they only have to deal with it once a year!
Not much happened this week in RYOKO, but I'm fine with this --maybe then Mitsuhashi isn't being made to rush through the series (for now?) Granted we'll really be in the clear around volume 6 or so. It's always nerve-wracking to like a series that's not popular enough to have an assured future, but also isn't on the verge of collapse either --especially when I don't think it's an overstatement to say that Sunday needs RYOKO. Okay, maybe it is a little since Sunday is doing fine with it's bumper crop of not quite a single genre series, but I think this one in particular could be something that stands out with enough time. --If only it's hiatus hadn't tripped it up majorly...for the chapter itself, Ryoko and Rere are in the seducing woods to find Zen and Ryosuke in one of the best gender benders shounen has had in a while (in my less than humble opinion.) I'm going to keep marveling over how we have a rescue arc that's not the normal "guy saves girl", but is "girl(s)" save guy(s)!
The woods are alive! Litterally! There's a giant dragon feasting of it's own kind as Rere and Ryoko are completely bewildered. Meanwhile the resident badlady from the last chapter has granted Zen an audience, and the end of chapter text (even if it isn't exactly the most trustworthy source of info), suggests that his fate is in question. On that note, we still don't know why the foodstuffs want Zen --the obvious answer would be to prevent his powers from being used on them, but if that were the case, I'd think Kogarashi would have killed him immediately...the mysteries and the forest are deep, dark, and vast...
Speaking of Mysteries, this arc of Xeno is over, and the ending is quite a surprising one. Not only that but we're headed right into the next arc without much of a break. Not sure what this says for Xeno the series, but it's a surprising move for a work who's main theme of sorts doesn't have much left to it. We're on the fifth door out of seven, and while I can imagine that Nanatsuki and Sugiyama planned for the series to be a shorter run, I can't help but think that Xeno's struggle to sell has more to do with this sudden brisk pace than anything. So what happens in the case? I'm glad you asked. Our culprit went through all the trouble of putting on a mask to hide his identity, but the AI system has other means of determining a person besides their face.....and in this case it's the ear! Baron is already assured Xeno will save him --and hey he's not wrong to believe. Though gloating at his captor is a whole different matter. He's already "appraised" Takashi Taniguchi as a criminal coordinator, and...allows him to escape?! ...not only that he has a virus that will corrupt the city's AI. In a moving moment, the computer has enough self awareness to ask Aya to shut it down permanently to keep the virus from spreading, and tearfully she does seemingly bringing this case to a confusing and somewhat anticlimactic close....
Until Taniguchi turns up later and he no longer has a good or bad head on his sholders. Considering Baron is the one who let him go and told him where to go, it's certain one of his accomplices is the one to end one Takashi Taniguchi's life. Not only that, but the stadium where Taniguchi's body is found is one of Kai's constructions --a play hou--stadium where the fifth murder room, or to be precise the fifth murder is going to happen. I'm a week behind so I already know how this case starts (and soon I'll catch up so you do too) and it feels even more like Xeno's moving along to a conclusion in the near future. Still, it's been a ride and hopefully if the ending is coming up it can live up to the story that came before it.
Sakamaki's house is one that won't be brought down so easily. Fujita has kept his abilities as an enigmatic secret so far, but in true shounen fashion just when things were looking hopeful he expertly dashes them with a show of power. Makoto reveals that the sphere that he has in his hand is truly the people who were all absorbed by the souboutei, and everyone is back at square one. Or are they? With her powers, Makoto is able to show the way to Sakamaki---
And now the confrontation seems to be set. Even Shino who's been admittedly patient until now eggs Sakamaki on asking what he intends to do now --after all killing a bunch of guys and reducing them to a sphere while effective in scaring some folks away is bound to attract even more attention. Really the whole chapter feels like a call to arms. Sakamaki and Shino know now that the army isn't going to sit quietly and let the Souboutei make it's own neighborhood, while Takoha's group is heading up to bring the fight to him.
Oh and let's not forget of the invaders from the hospital. They've got a guard detail, but things quickly get hairy when those guys are possessed and their body guards become enemies. Souboutei is now picking up speed, and while I still think it's far from anything resembling a finale, it does feel like the series is making strides to something huge.
Evans and Pheebs are do gooders...as long as there's some benefit for them! The two have been trying to get their hands on the love potion despite knowing it's part of a con, because hey it never hurts to give stuff like this a try right? Evans and Pheebs down the elixir, and that's when things get awkward. I've been kind of iffy on the comparisons between this and the currently animated (and much more popular) Kaguya sama: Love is war, but this chapter does feel like something that series would have a blast with. I guess for me Evans feels more....for lack of a better word: manipulative than Kaguya? They both share a basic premise, sure, but between Evans willing to take any girl who gives him a second glance, and Pheebs willing to do anything it takes (including endangering others) to land her man Evans has a much different feel --aside from the setting of course.
In any case, Pheebs seems to believe that the love potion is real, but before they can confirm anything, the swindler calls for backup and our heroes are surrounded. Is the potion the real deal? Or is Pheebs after something else? We'll have to find out in the next issue!
This week's Youkai Giga features the Boroboroton (lit: Tattered Futon) which typically is a dangerous youkai that humans should stay away from. It usually acts as a normal futon till night time where it comes to life and tries to strangle it's owner to death out of frustration. In Youkai Giga however, this old bed is a young lady's best friend and as it regales her with a story of a little girl that dragged it around with her everywhere, the young lady tries her best to fix it up. She finally does and the two share a happy embrace that....feels kind of familiar. Could it be....? I like that this chapter leaves off on that note despite the "catch" being fairly obvious. That sort of trail-off ending is one I personally enjoy, and I think Satou really did a great job with the chapter overall --not that the others aren't as good, but this week especially really utilizes it's page count to tell a full but concise story.
And that's it for issue #15! I'm really sorry this one is late, but what started out as an excused absence with Google being down, just turned to a week of laziness. The next editorial will be on time-ish, I swear, so look out for it! Until then, have a good Sunday --and rest of the week!
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