Anime REvisited

CHADtaro Strikes Back

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RJ Writing Ink’s Recap of Season 1 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Pt 2

Welcome back to our three-part recapping of the first season of 100 Girlfriends. In the first part, we met our protagonist, Rentaro Aijo, a boy who just wants to find love only to be rejected over 100 times. It’s then that he learns that he’s destined to meet 100 soulmates in high school, only to learn that if he doesn’t date them all, they will die. Thus, he doesn’t hesitate to make them all his girlfriends and ensure they’re all happy. He currently has three girlfriends: Hakari, the first girl who acts sweet but is a massive pervert. Karane, the insecure tsundere who acts as the group’s straight man. Lastly, there’s Shizuka, the natural-born smol floof who communicates using books and a text-to-speech app due to her shyness. But there are still 97 girlfriends left for Renataro to find and make happy as the story continues.

Girlfriend #4-The Kuudere

The school exam results are being posted, with everyone being eager to see how they did. The one who ends up taking the top spot, though, is Nano Eiai, a kuudere who lives up to her surname by eschewing emotion in favor of logic and efficiency. Unfortunately for her, she winds up being the next of Rentaro’s soulmates, something she tries to reject since she thinks love is meaningless. So Rentaro asks her to go on one date to prove her wrong, with the two heading to an amusement park. Despite Nano not seeing the point behind the rides, the two do end up bonding, and Nano does admit that she had fun.

However, when she still sees the whole thing as meaningless, Rentaro activates his CHADtaro powers. By threatening to burn the photos he took of their date, he makes Nano stop him, proving that, contrary to her beliefs, Nano does care about love and bonds.

Having come to realize how much she has to learn about being human, Nano surrenders to her feelings and becomes Rentaro’s fourth girlfriend.

Water Park Antics

To celebrate their growing group, Hakari suggests they all head to a water park that just opened to get closer with each other. However, things don’t go the way they planned at first. Karane begins getting cold feet due to feeling insecure about her body after seeing how developed Hakari and Nano are. Shizuka gets swept away by the lazy river and winds up stranded on an island when her inner tube breaks. When Nano and Hakari try to get Rentaro to choose who has the best body, he passes out from blood loss.

And when the two try to find a lifeguard, theyre accosted by a trio of gawkers who try hitting on them.

Thankfully, when Karane sees what’s going on, she looks for Rentaro, finds him half-dead, and revives him by mentioning how Hakari and Nani are in trouble.

After the two girls prove they’re both dating the man, the unwanted men back down to Rentaro’s CHADness. After that, Rentaro rescues Shizuka, helps Karane stop feeling insecure about herself, and the group finally enjoys their day out in peace.

Girlfriend #5-The Child(?) Prodigy

At a later date, the group is headed to enjoy a special event in the lunchroom when they pass by a lab. There, Rentaro locks eyes with a beautiful red-head in a lab coat, and gets the familiar zing. However, when he returns the next day, the only person present is a little girl named Kusuri Yakuzen. Kusuri is an example of the child prodigy archetype. She is to chemistry what Tony Stark is to engineering, being an unparalleled genius able to create drugs that defy common sense, like a drug that can magnetize the iron in one’s blood. She also wears diapers since she doesn’t want to be bothered going to the bathroom during an experiment…and gives Rentaro a love potion because she’s in love with him.

Rentaro winds up overdosing on the love potion, though, forcing Kusuri to force-feed him the antidote via mouth-to-mouth. That’s when Rentaro learns that Kusuri is actually the woman he saw yesterday, his senior at age 18, and the chem club’s president/only member. The reason why she looks like she’s 8 is because she was trying to create a drug that could grant immortality, only for it to leave stuck as a kid unless she takes a neutralizer. And contrary to most child prodigies, she’s very friendly, but her eagerness to let others use her drugs made all the other chem members leave. Rentaro, though, doesn’t hesitate to make her his fifth girlfriend and introduce her to the growing family.

It doesn’t take long for Kusuri to accidentally cause chaos, though. Not learning her lesson, she tries again to give Rentaro a love potion, only for the girls to drink it instead. As a result, their minds become focused on kissing Rentaro and they become kiss zombies.

With the drug in danger of permanently destroying their personalities, Rentaro and Kusuri race against time to reverse the effects, leading to even more comedic moments. Thankfully, they manage to cure the others in the nick of time, and everyone happily forgives Kusuri, who finally finds acceptance.

Wait, What Just Happened?

For their next outing, the group goes to this flower park for this event involving a bouquet toss. Whoever catches the bouquet will receive a special prize: a couple’s photoshoot surrounded by the park’s finest flowers! Unfortunately, they face stiff competition in the form of the Gorilla Alliance, whose leader wants the bouquet for herself and her boyfriend. While Karane winds up going toe-to-toe with the leader, Shizuka gets blown into the sky where she manages to catch the bouquet…only to fall back to the ground.

Rentaro catches her in time, though, Karane befriends the leader, and Hakari winds up winning the honor of getting the wedding photoshoot. All seems right with the world…until Hakari drops a bombshell by asking Rentaro to break up with her.

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As it turns out, Hakari’s mother learned that her daughter, an extremely wealthy CEO, was dating a guy who was five-timing on her. Since she’s a good mom, she told her daughter to break up with Rentaro and planned to have her transfer to another school. However, since their situation isn’t typical, and because the whole “the girls will die if they don’t date Rentaro” issue remains in effect, Rentaro and the others cannot allow this to happen. Despite how many resources Hakari’s mom has at her disposal, they all agree to get Hakari back by breaking into the mansion and rescuing her.

And that is where we will be ending part two of this recap. Tune for part three as we see how things turn out as Rentaro meets his sixth soulmate.

Yes, 100 Girlfriends Just Went There

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RJ Writing Ink’s Recap of Season 1 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Pt 3

Last time on 100 Girlfriends, Rentaro continued to meet more soulmates and grow his family of lovers. First, there was Nano Eiai, the kuudere who values logic and efficiency only to discover the value of bonds and emotions. Then, there was Kusuri Yakuzen, the genius chemistry girl who looks young most of the time, but was actually this beautiful 18-year old! Just as the Rentaro Family was enjoying their growing bonds, Hakari asked Rentaro to break up with her. Having learned her daughter was dating a five-timer, her mother decided to forcibly separate the two. Not wanting this to happen, the Rentaro family mounts a daring rescue mission straight out of Mission Impossible, complete with similar music and everything!

Mission: Girlfriend Impossible

As the group arrives at the Hanazono family mansion, they work together to overcome the security and make it inside. Shizuka offers herself up as bait to distract the guard dog, quoting Gandalf in the process. Thankfully, her natural smolness means the dog refuses to harm her, licking her instead. Next, they must get past a hallway with infrared sensors, prompting Kusuri to use a drug that lets someone see in infrared (and only infrared). She was going to use it to apply for a big pharma company, but this was more important. With Rentaro and Karane working together Tom Cruise style, they get past the sensors with minimal issues!

Sadly, as soon as they reach Hakari  they get caught by her mother’s security guards. After that, they are forced to meet face-to-face with Hahari Hanazono, Hakari’s mother at 29 years old.

Hahari’s age is important because it doesn’t just make her an example of the absurdly youthful mother. Hakari is 16 years old, meaning that Hahari had her daughter at the tender age of 13, which in and of itself is terrifying. The reason why is just as tragic, though. When she was 13 and fell in love with Hakari’s father (who was the same age), he was dying from a terminal illness. She was so desperate to have something to remember him by that she used her family’s wealth to artifically inseminate herself with his DNA. Tragically, he died before Hakari was born, leaving Hahari to raise her daughter alone. Which she could do since she was super rich. But she could never replace her deceased lover, and she knew how much Hakari was like her, so she didn’t want her daughter to fall in love with someone who would take advantage of her.

To put it simply, Hahari is being a good parent and trying to look out for her daughter’s well-being. Rentaro is reduced to tears, washing out the eyedrops and letting him see again. And the second he and Hahari’s eyes meet…ZING!

Girlfriend #6-The Absurdly Youthful Mother

Yes, the sixth of Rentaro’s soulmates is the mother of another one of his soulmates. And by this point, it becomes obvious that 100 Girlfriends is different from other harem anime. It’s not afraid to do things that others would find controversial, like pairing up the underage protagonist with an actual mother. As for Hahari, how does she respond to this new feeling?

She was blinded again by love. It takes Karane’s straight-man routine to bring the two to their senses, at which point Hahari still refuses to let Rentaro date her daughter. To prove his sincerity, she forces him to take a lie detector test, even using Karane as a guinea pig to prove its validity. After Karane embarrasses herself at the others expense, Rentaro passes the test so easily that the anime decides to abridge it. However, things grow dire when word reaches them that Hakari is threatening to throw herself out the window!

Karane restrains Hahari so Rentaro can make it in time, and he manages to convince her that ending her life not going to solve anything, only create more misery. Unfortunately, Hakari winds up slipping and falling out anyway. But thanks to Rentaro diving after her and using his CHADtaro powers, he protects her from the impact and manages to land them both in a fountain below, saving their lives.

Seeing him save her daughters life, Hahari is now convinced that Rentaro’s feelings for her daughter are real. Thus, she gives him her blessing to date Hakari. Rentaro, in turn, sees how good of a mom that Hahari is, and vows to make them both happy.  Which means that Hahari now joins the Rentaro Family as girlfriend #6, much to Hakari’s utter exasperation. She now has to share her boyfriend with her own mother! A literal mommy-daughter double whopper!

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And to make it even crazier, the episode she starts dating Rentaro has a special ending dedicated entirely to her and how much she loves Rentaro-Chan! Complete and utter chaos!

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Well, this is Happening Now

Hahari wastes no time in joining in on the family’s antics, allowing them to stay the night so they can bond. And she proves to be as perverted as her daughter is, as she uses the night to try and get closer to her new boyfriend. She dresses up all the girls in pajamas and costumes she has, and then makes Rentaro dress like a girl for her own enjoyment! He winds up fainting from embarassment, and has to be woken up by Nano dressed as a prince like a reverse Sleeping Beauty!

Then, Hahari and Hakari convince all the girls to try and peep on Rentaro while he’s bathing, with Shizuka being the only one who refuses. Both their attempts fail miserably, though, but because she was trying to stop it, Shizuka winds up being the only one who sees by complete accident.

Her lack of emotional maturity aside, though, Hahari is shown to have been deeply scarred by the loss of her first love. It gets to the point where Rentaro has to reassure her it’s not wrong for her to find happiness with someone else, which leads to their first kiss. Get used to it; this is how things will be.

Oh, and Rentaro meets the ghost of Hakari’s father, who’s been watching over the two girls all this time. Having seen how Rentaro has saved them both, Hakari’s father thanks him before finally moving on to the afterlife.

The day after the ordeal, everyone leaves the Hanazono mansion to head to school, with life returning to normal…is what you’d think would happen. Not wanting to be apart from Rentaro, Hahari used her money to buy their entire school, becoming its new chairwoman. All of this just so she can see Rentaro more!!

And with that, we reach the end of the first season of the peak of harem anime, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. It’s uncertain whether or not we will cover the next season on here. However, if you haven’t watched this anime yet, I recommend you do. Even if you think that harem anime are trash, the great thing about this series is that it knows it’s trash and embraces it. Every girl in this series is going to be best girl, and you can’t help but admire how absurdly dedicated he is to making his girlfriends happy. If the world had more people willing to do that much for their lovers, there would be no such thing as incels anymore.

And yes, I like this anime. It’s funny.

100 Reasons Why I’m Obssessed with CHADtaro

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RJ Writing Ink’s Recap of Season 1 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Pt 1

It’s a new year, and with that, comes new anime and returning anime with new seasons. And one of the anime that I’m most eager to see return also happens to be the pinnacle of the often-maligned harem genre. The reason why it’s the pinnacle is because it goes out of its way to avoid many of the pitfalls of that genre while also fleshing out the girls involved so that they are not cookie-cutter, one-note individuals. I’m talking about The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You.

I’m RJ Writing Ink, and welcome to my hilarious recapping of the first season of 100 Girlfriends to get you primed for the upcoming season. There will be major spoilers ahead, so either keep reading or go watch it on Crunchyroll.

Why Can’t Rentaro Get a Girlfriend? Because a god Messed Up

Rentaro Aijo is a boy who only wants to find love and get a girlfriend, and he’s spent his entire life bettering himself towards that goal. Unfortunately, despite being the ideal that every boyfriend should strive for, the poor boy keeps getting rejected. It’s gotten to the point that by the time he leaves junior high, his rejection streak has hit 100! Out of options, Rentaro goes to a local shrine to pray for love. Miraculously, he gets some divine intervention in the form of the shrine’s Love God. Said deity explains that he’s not destined to meet his soulmate in high school. He’s destined to meet 100 soulmates! He will know who they are because when they eyes meet, they’ll get that zing of love.

Rentaro then threatens to burn the shrine down if the Love God is lying (No cap)

Girlfriends 1 & 2: the Love Freak and Tsundere

Sure enough, on Rentaro’s first day of high school, he literally walks into his first two soulmates, Hakari Hanazono and Karane Inda. This is also when the story starts demonstrating how each girl serves as a deconstruction of their archetype. In this case, Hakari acts sweet and cute, but she’s really a girl whose very aggressive in her affections and willing to take things to the next level. In contrast, Karane is a tsundere, but that’s because she’s very shy and insecure about her feelings. That doesn’t stop her from acting as the straight woman to Hakari and the other characters craziness, though.

By the end of the day, the two girls wind up confessing their love for Rentaro and beg him to go out with one of them. At a loss, Rentaro goes back to the Love God for advice, only to learn something horrible. Getting a soulmate uses up all of a person’s luck, and if they reject them, that person will die. And the reason why Rentaro has 100 soulmates is because the Love God was distracted with his paperwork the day he was born watching a Miyazaki film. In other words, the Love God has put the lives of 100 people in danger!

Rightly horrified, Rentaro doesn’t know what to do. At first, he considers dating the two and any future soulmates behind their backs…but he punches himself for even considering that. In the first of many examples of why he’s CHADtaro, Rentaro understands how scary it is to confess your love to someone and fade reflection. Rather than let them experience that and face death, he makes the only move available to him: he will date them all.

Rentaro Aijo manages to prove himself a step above almost all other harem protagonists. He will not only date all 100 women, but will love them equally and make them all happy! And to prove his sincerity, he gives Hakari and Karane two pink four-leafed clovers that are said to make a love confession succeed. The two girls are so in love with him, they wind up agreeing to this insane proposal.

And with that, girlfriends one and two are secured. The next step is deciding who will get to kiss him first.

The Perfect First Kiss

Since the two are his first girlfriends, Rentaro has yet to receive his first kiss. At first, the girls try to fight each other over the right to claim his lips first, but being the savvy man he is, Rentaro figures out what’s happening. Thus, he comes up with this convoluted scheme involving blindfolds and earbuds to make sure no one knows who kissed him first. It doesn’t go so well, and when the two start fighting again, he gets so upset he runs through the hallway to attract the inhuman vice-principal and recieve her unholy kiss of death. Thankfully, the girls threaten to get her fired, saving the day. After that, they just agree to kiss each other at once, and all is right with the world.

Girlfriend 3-The Mute Bookworm

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But then, they head to the library, and Rentaro gets another zing, heralding the arrival of the next soulmate. Meet Shizuka Yoshimoto, the shy, quiet, and sweet cinnamon bun girl who loves books. However, her quietness not by choice. She has a hard time speaking, so she communicates using phrases from her books. All that does is weird people out, including her own mother, making her even more isolated and insecure than she already is. So what does Rentaro do to help her? He commits his next action as CHADtaro: he takes her favorite book, transcribes it all onto a text-to-speech app by hand, and then has her download the app onto her phone, allowing her to finally speak with others! Once she confesses her love, Rentaro happily accepts.

And with that, girlfriend #3 has been secured.

The Harem Grows

After Rentaro introduces Shizuka to his other two girlfriends, their reactions are mixed. Hakari’s overjoyed to see how much love Rentaro has for all of them and thinks Shizuka is the cutest thing in the world. Karane gets mad at first but rolls with it because she loves Rentaro so much. The problem is that Shizuka remains uncomfortable around the other girls, so to break the ice, he has them all play old maid with the winner getting to tickle the loser.

Rentaro proceeds to win the first three rounds and tickles each girl, with comedic results. When Shizuka wins, though, she holds back, greatly irritating Karane. When Rentaro senses things are going wrong, he steps out, allowing the three girls to speak honestly. Karane tells Shizuka off for holding back her true feelings, and Shizuka tells them how insecure she feels to each of them for their beauty and confidence. The three talk their feelings out, and when Rentaro re-enters, Shizuka gains enough confidence to ask him for her first kiss.

Peace is restored!

And this is where we will end part one, as this is too long for us to cover in a single post. Part two will continue things as we head to girlfriends numbers 4 and 5.

Naruto is What the World Needs Right Now

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Remember Naruto 10 Years After his Series Ended

November 10th, 2014 was an important day in my life. Not because I hit an important milestone or something good happened, but because a story that I had been following for the last nine years had ended. On that day, Naruto, one of the greatest Shonen manga of all time, came to an end as we saw that our guy, Naruto Uzumaki, had finally achieved his dream of becoming Hokage.

I learned about Naruto in 2005 when the English Dub made its way onto Toonami in the Fall. And while I thought the series was pretty interesting, it still took me a while to get into it. It didn’t help that I kept missing a few episodes or that more than half of the original series was filler. It wasn’t until I was in Middle School or High School that I became a hardcore fan, watching most of the episodes and reading the manga weekly. It became one of my favorite things when I went to lunch. I would go to the library, find a computer, and just read the newest chapter on whatever website I could find. And I’m pretty sure I almost cried on the day that the last chapter came out. These characters, who started no older than me, were now all grown-up and living their best lives, raising their own families and everything. And I went to my journal (I wrote in a journal then) and just poured out all my thoughts and feelings about the ending.

Growing Up in Unprecedented Times

I think the reason that I grew to like Naruto so much was not just because of the story or the flashy moves, but because of the message that I felt that it was trying to teach us. When we’re kids, we tend to see things as pretty black-and-white, good and bad, that sort of thing. As we get older, most of us tend to realize that things aren’t often as simple as they appear to be. Good people like Itachi can be forced to do terrible things to prevent something worse. Those with the best intentions can wind up being broken by the pain and suffering we all experience through life, just like Obito and Nagato. And some people just wind up being hated and spat on for reasons that they simply don’t understand, just like Naruto. The boy was born the son of the Hokage, but not only did he lose his parents within hours of his birth, but he didn’t even know they were his parents until he was in his teens. And everyone treated him like trash for something that, as the Third Hokage pointed out, should’ve been seen as a hero for. The world wasn’t always fair like that!

Such Pointless Hatred

I didn’t start getting full-time into Naruto until my teens, but I found it at the right time in my life. Because that was around the time when I began to realize just how bad the world could be for some people. I was reading up all these history books talking about atrocities like the Holocaust and all this other stuff, and I couldn’t understand why these people were being treated so harshly for, what I saw, the most trivial of reasons. And this wasn’t just an issue of the past, either. It was something that was affecting our world in the present day. Flash forward to a few years after the end of Naruto, and it seems like people are more divided than ever! People are being divided on all sorts of lines! And for my life, I still don’t get why everyone is making such a big deal about it. I understand rationally why there’s so much hate and discord. People are afraid of that which they don’t understand. We’re so scared of losing the things that we have because someone else is going to come and take them. We’re afraid that that new neighbor who moved here from another country will hurt us or our loved ones. And sometimes that does happen, causing that fear and pain to morph into hate. And that hatred leads us to continue the cycle of pain and hurt others in the process.  

I understand that, but I don’t accept it.

Naruto himself would learn that all too well when he lost his master and father-figure, Jiraya. He was motivated to avenge his master, especially when he realized that his killer was once Jiraya’s own student. And that need for revenge almost made him succumb to his dark side until the fail-safe his Dad left brought him to his senses. Afterwards, instead of just killing Pain, he chose to hear out how his life fell apart and what made him the way he was. And while he understood why Pain became the way he did, and still wanted to make him pay for hurting his loved ones, he chose not to. He decided to spare Pain’s life, and that mercy and empathy led Pain to undo everything he did, albeit at the cost of his own life.

We All Need to be Nicer to Each Other

Naruto had always been a person who was capable of great empathy, because he knew what it’s like to be treated like garbage. But this was the moment when he really started working towards finding a way to end the hate that seemed to plague his world. He didn’t know how he would do it, but he knew he had to do it. Granted, many people have complained about his “Talk no Jutsu” over the years and called it a cop-out. And it can be a bit of a cop-out at times. The way I see it, though, Naruto is just really good at trying to find the good in other people, no matter who they are.

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I know that Naruto isn’t always the most realistic of characters because of how he views the world, but then I remember just what his world is like, and what our world is like. More and more people are living in fear and hatred of each other, and given current events, it might even feel like there’s no hope for the world. As bad as things are, and I know that they can get worse, I don’t want to give up hope that they can get better. When enough people realize that’s it better to love each other rather than hate each other, then we can change the world for the better. I know that many people may feel like they don’t have a place in this world, but they can’t let themselves think like that. They need to keep working towards making things better. And maybe, when enough of us come together to do so, we can end up changing things for the better.

Just look at what Naruto was able to do by the end of his series. He had managed to unite the majority of his world together through his empathy and kindness. Through his sheer tenacity, he managed to slap some sense into Sasuke and made him turn his life around. And it looked like the world was on the way to becoming a better place.

Choose to Follow Naruto’s Example

Granted, Boruto has shown that that’s not the case, and many people hate the series for that. But no matter how great you are, you can’t expect to solve all the world’s problems in your lifetime. But if you manage to pass on your ideals to the next generation, they can continue what you started. And right now, our generation is in the position to do just that.

Our generation came of age in very uncertain times, and it feels like things have only gotten worse. But, as bad as things are, I still hear stories about people going out and doing things to try and make the world a better place. It may not seem like much, but all those small acts of love and kindness can add up to something greater. And right now, the world needs more love and compassion.

So, as we celebrate ten years since the end of Naruto, I’ve gone back and reflected on the message behind the entire series. What Masashi Kishimoto was trying to do was teach kids the importance of hard work and never giving up on our dreams. That we should not hate each other, but learn to understand one another. And from that understanding, we can work together to build something more significant than we ever could on our own. With how the world is right now, heaven knows we need to remember that kind of message. This world needs more people like Naruto in it!

Happy belated birthday to Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. It was an honor to get to see you at NYCC in 2015, even if I never got to speak to you!

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Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 8!

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Hey, it’s time for another episode review from our Anime REvisited pick that you already know as, Samurai Bride! With less than a week before the battle against the Dark Samurai happens, Muneakira and the others come up against a new threat…

Sometime during the night Sanada and Matabei we’re returning from the secret area where the beach episode from season one took place, where they got some books on how to become a Samurai Bride. It seemed like a nice quite walk home until a dark spirit appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Sanada asking for something called the Chingo Stone (whatever that is). Its Ki was very different from the Dark Samurai’s, and speaking of which Inshun appeared and took away the power of the shadowy beast; telling it that she just wants to be normal.

Once they got back to the dojo Sanada gave the others the rundown of what happened, as Muneakira and Sen heard reports about people not being able to move upon coming into contact with this creature. Around that same token Jubei decided to do a little training of her own in order to prepare herself for the arrival of the Dark Samurai. She along with Sasuke (again, not the one you’re thinking of) went to the waterfall to do some more Ki training, until Sasuke noticed that several crows have been following her; causing her to dash off in hopes of eluding them. Jubei went after her only to run into Inshun, who can’t seem to remember her name but remembers her face.

Midway throughout the episode Jubei takes Inshun on a bit of a fun adventure where they do various activities along with Sasuke. By sunset Inshun tells Jubei that they will be fighting one another soon, but Jubei assures that even though she’s aware of it, she hopes that afterwards the two of them can become friends. Jubei bids Inshun farewell as she looks at the little fortune tag that says “Good Relationship”. Back at the dojo Muneakira and the others break off into groups of two in order to defeat the dark shadow spirit that’s still lurking around the academy. Sen was the first to spot it as she tried to take the creature on by herself, but Hanzo rushed to her aid after discovering that Sen couldn’t do it alone. Suddenly just like last time Inshun appeared and took the creature’s Ki away, but from the way things looked…it appeared that the true culprit behind the mysterious shadow creature was actually her. This is pretty much a “To Be Continued” moment as this won’t be the last time we see Inshun before the final battle.

That will do it for number eight, but there is more content to come! 😉

Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 7!

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So we have arrived at another episode review of our Anime REvisited pick; Samurai Bride! The real Jubei Yagyu is back, but there’s a problem. To make matters worse, Musashi’s getting a lil’ antsy about waiting until the one-month deadline. Wanna know what happens? We’re gonna tell ya!

Kaeji throws a party to try and get Jubei to relax her Ki (at least that was her intent) but that method only annoys her as she makes her way out to the courtyard to be alone. Afterwards she tells Muneakira, Sanada, and Sen to check out the video feed from her video camera; which explains that subconsciously they were using their Ki the whole time – just in smaller increments. With this slice of info Kaeji thought it was time for some more Ki training in order to help Jubei change back, but Kanetsugu (not wanting to be left out of the series) decided to seek attention in the most comedic way possible.

After Kanetsugu’s shenanigans Kaeji thinks that it might be time for Jubei to transform back into her previous form. Though she tries to at first…it backfires horribly. Muneakira and the others are then told that Jubei’s Ki is still running on high, and that he’ll need to pour some of his Ki into her as a stop gap; seeing as though he’s her General. While this is taking place Kaeji senses the Dark Samurai approaching after discovering that the ‘real’ Jubei has returned. Yep, their timing couldn’t have been more terrible. At this moment she notices Muneakira struggling a bit and decides to jump in, although at the cost of all of her Ki causing her hair to turn white.

On top of that; Kaeji stalls the Dark Samurai in order to buy Muneakira and the others some time, and took one hell of an ass-kicking from them in the process. With the last of his life force Muneakira was able to help Jubei transform back into who she once was; her bubbly and slightly dumb self. Realizing that the ‘real’ Jubei disappeared Musashi high-tailed it to the dojo and demanded that she come out, however Muneakira and the others told her and the other Dark Samurai that though she’s back, she’s not nearly as strong as she was when she faced Amakusa. Tapping into her honorable side Musashi decided to wait until the deadline, but warned the others not to have any more setbacks the next time they come back. By the end of the episode Kaeji decides that her time at the dojo is done…for now.

So, that of course will do it for this review. This past week has been quite a crazy one, but there’s more content to come. Until next post, stay nerdy my friends! 😉 

Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 6!

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We have returned with another episode review from our Anime REvisited pick; Samurai Bride! Guess what? Another new character joins that party, so let’s get it started!

Right now the Dark Samurai are fighting someone who appears to possess the same type of Ki that Jubei did, but there’s something about her that kinda rubbed them the wrong way. Once the mysterious person’s antics got under their skin, especially Musashi’s, it was time for the mysterious pink haired woman to hightail it outta there before things got any worse.

Meanwhile back at the dojo Muneakira put up a sign saying that the True Shadow is closing for good, but for some reason Kanetsugu didn’t get the message…or did she? During a couple of the flashbacks (with Kanetsugu) the others took a look at the video from the Grand Prix, as well as the Ki that came from the Dark Samurai. They knew that time was of the essence so they thought it was time to train. During their training sessions the girls and Muneakira were interrupted by Kanetsugu’s antics which caused them to be distracted, but it appeared as though Jubei was the only one not bothered by it. They then left the dojo in hopes of getting some peaceful meditation underneath the waterfall. Welp, that didn’t last long, as Kanetsugu caused a ruckus and threw giant logs from atop the falls while (again) Jubei wasn’t bothered by it.

Afterwards they return to the dojo where Muneakira apologized about not letting Kanetsugu know about the closing of the maid café. Jubei thought it would be a good idea to enter into the dojo with Muneakira, so the two went inside to look for Kanetsugu. They found her as she stated that she wasn’t having fun anymore, and that Jubei was the only one who understood the Ki training. The others confronted Kanetsugu, but…something was off about her; as if she wasn’t herself. Matabei noticed it too, which didn’t take the others long to put two-and-two together, and discover that Kanetsugu was in fact the mysterious woman known as the Ki Master; Kaeji Maeda.

By the end of the episode (and after Jubei got her Master Samurai powers back), Kaeji stuck around to help the girls master their Ki in order to be ready for their meeting with the Dark Samurai. Although, Jubei can’t turn back to her original form…which we hope can be solved in the next episode.

That’s it for this review, so until next time stay nerdy! 😉

Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 5!

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It’s time! Well…for another episode review of our Anime REvisited pick known as Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride. We’ve hit another swimsuit beach episode, but this time we get to see the Dark Samurai in their swimsuits; not that we’re “those” kind of guys. Anyhoo, let’s get it!

So during this episode there a special event called the M-1 Grand Prix, and upon hearing it we immediately thought this was a drag racing episode. That wasn’t true; but we did get another swimsuit episode where the final two teams consisting of the True Shadow maidens, and the Dark Samurai (who secretly formed their own maid café and people have no idea where the hell they’re located). There’s not too much going on in this episode so this review will be pretty brief.

After a few scenes of what both teams were doing prior to the event, Hanzo introduces the final four events of the competition; complete with Kanetsugu making an ass outta herself on an intrusively comedic scale several times through the competition. After all of the shenanigans played out (including Gisen trying to give Muneakira a ‘Happy Ending’) it was time for the final event; Fair and Square Sword Fighting featuring Jubei and Musashi. The two were set to battle each other but (again) Kanetsugu got in the way and triggered several booby traps placed on the battlefield. Fed up with all of the foolishness only found in ecchi harem anime, Musashi’s power level jumped to OVER 9000!!! (I don’t care how much you’re tired of THAT reference, I’m gonna throw it in my reviews every chance I get!)

Muneakira saw what was about to happen and darted straight for Musashi. Welp, that wasn’t a smart move, cuz’ homegirl launched him about 50 feet in the air and told him that she’d take him out first. Jubei wasn’t having it and charged forward towards Musashi with her Kaioken-looking Ki (I told you I wasn’t done) and proved to her that she was the real deal. Now understanding where she’d coming from, Musashi exited the competition with the other three girls and told Jubei she’d better be at full power once the one-month deadline was up. Long-story-short; Jubei and her team won the Grand Prix with no audience (not cuz’ of Covid, but probably all of their shenanigans drove them away), and Musashi got what she wanted. The end!

That’s it! That’s the review. Until next time guys, stay nerdy! 😉 

Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 4!

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Hey-hey! We have reappeared with another episode review from our Anime REvisited pick known as Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride! Someone from the past has returned, but who is it? Let’s find out!

The episode opens up with Musashi leaving the dojo (True Shadow) while Sasaki looks on in pure jealousy; although the results of that will be revealed near the end of the episode. While inside Sanada reveals that the maid café is making a killing in the profits department, but believes that they might need another maid to help eliminate their debt completely. Suddenly a silver-haired female shows up with a bag over her face who looks mysteriously like…Gisen?! (She’s baaaaaaack!)

As if Muneakira and the girls didn’t have enough to deal with regarding the Dark Samurai, now the main antagonist from the first season has been resurrected as well; which isn’t surprising to Sanada, because Jubei was resurrected after the first season’s end. While tied up Gisen talks about the power of the samurai bride and how the general ultimately makes that decision when the time comes, as for Muneakira; upon remembering everything Gisen did last season, he doesn’t trust her as far as he can throw her. Realizing she’s not wanted Gisen up and leaves the dojo but not before she’s glomped by the rest of the cast. She then ends up locked in a special house outside the dojo to make sure she doesn’t cause any more trouble, but if Gisen can’t do it physically, she’ll do it mentally.

What happens within the next 5-7 minutes of the episode is pure ecchi hilarity; Sanada downs carton after carton of milk in hopes Muneakira will see her as a woman, Sen gets help from her hyper masochistic right hand woman; Hanzo, to help her be more of a lady and less of a spoiled princess. Kanaetsugu think about what will happen if she does more than kiss Muneakira; which is pretty much sex, and thus she freaks out! The results of Gisen’s lil’ charade plays out near the end of the episode; which may signal that she’s back to her old ways at least in the viewer’s eyes since she’s ‘killing time’ until Amakusa’s resurrection. Meanwhile Jubei’s in the forest training until she’s approached by Sasaki, who then uses her power to compel Jubei to kill herself by falling down the stairs.

Gisen sees this from a distance as she rushes in to save her, and then glares at Sasaki realizing that she tried to murder her big sister. Not having it Gisen prepares to use her ‘evil eye’ against Sasaki, but Muneakira and the others showed up so there was no reason for her to fight since she was clearly outnumbered. Sasaki disappeared but not before letting Gisen know that she’d love to go one-on-one with her one day. By the end of the episode Gisen apologizes for her shenanigans and says it’s not a good idea for her to stay in the dojo, but Jubei begs to differ, and tells her that she’ll find some maid café clothes for her to try on. Gisen’s back, so let the real party begin!

That’ll do it for this review, but there’s more content on the way! Until next post, stay nerdy! 😉

Anime REvisited: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Bride – Samurai Girls S2 Episode 3!

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Hey! Welcome back! It’s time for another review from our pick that is the continuation of our previous pick; Samurai Girls! This one’s all about one character in particular; Kanetsugu! Let’s jump into this thing and see what’s up, shall we?

As the main cast continues to operate the dojo under its maid café name ‘True Shadow’; Kanetsugu thought it would be a good idea for some healthy competition between her and the other girls. (And so she can get rid of Sasuke.) Seems great in theory but when it was time to execute the plan it backfired hard! Should one of the maids come in last place that maid would be kicked out of the dojo, and it looks like Kanetsugu’s gonna be the one voted off the island. To prevent that she would have to step up her maid game, and one way she thought she could do it is to become a master samurai – in her mind.

That evening Muneakira, Sen, and Sanada were talking about the deficit that they were making from today; and that Kanetsugu’s mess-ups were a part of it. Muneakira tried defending Kanetsugu’s actions but he was also aware of her screw-ups, so he left the decision in the hands of Sen and Sanada. The two caught on to what Kanetsugu was trying to do, and told her that not only will she not become a master samurai, but she’s also the reason for the café’s deficit. Heartbroken she packs up her stuff and leaves the dojo unknown the others. When they finally realize that she’s gone, Kanetsugu finds herself in an eerie part of town reminiscent to where Muneakira first met Jubei. Sasuke follows her much to her dismay, as the two of them run into one of the dark samurai; who happens to be possessed by an evil spirit.

Sasuke transforms into her master samurai form and fights against the possessed Araki, but as Kanetsugu watches she realizes that Sasuke is trying to protect her; and that she should do the same. As Kanetsugu enters the fray she’s out powered and outclassed by Araki, as Sasuke runs off to find help; which would come in the form of Muneakira and Jubei. After Araki defeated Kanetsugu she threw her into the water, and Muneakira went after her. The situation looked really bleak as it looked like Kanetsugu wasn’t gonna make it, until Muneakira kissed her and she became a master samurai. After powering up Kanetsugu went after Araki and managed to knock her back into her normal state of mind; to which she replied that she wouldn’t, like, kill her today.

With things looking like they’re back to normal, Muneakira told Kanetsugu that she can stay and help them with the profits of the ‘True Shadow’; now as a full-fledged master samurai!

This episode had a good bit of action to it, and even showed that although she may be the most annoying, Kanetsugu somewhat of as asset to the dojo…in more ways than one! XP

That will do it for this episode review, so until next time, stay nerdy! 😉