No Game No Life - ep08

This episode was a bit of a disappointment because they didn't even begin the game with the warbeast. That it was just a setting up the situation that would force them to accept their terms. However it was interesting to see how Sora provoked them, things get start by messing with the overprotective grandfather of Hatsuse Izuna by starting a game over her panties. This leads into Sora revealing the truth about the warbeast mind reading ability. It just that with their enhanced sense that have a nature lie detector, but as with our world a lie detector can be fooled.

Then in going further with this Sora raises the question on why did the elf stop challenging them and how it is directly connected to the need to wipe their opponents minds. Is because of their recent development of technology leading the the creation of video games, and with these games they can cheat all they want without the need for magic. However the elfs couldn't figure this out nor could the even remember the game. Which lead them to believe it was unwinable, but for Kuuhaku coming for a world where video games are common it doesn't matter if the warbeast cheat. Then in going a step further to force them in a position where they can't retreat Sora wagers their race piece. Which no-one has ever wagered before.

The reason that the race piece has never been wagered is because it's too much of a risk because if you lose it you lose everything. This is beneficial for Sora because it forces the warbeast the wager their race as well. However it is problematic because if they don't accept his bet it is likely that Sora will tell the elves the secret to their game which they can't afford. This event is also what has lead to Sora disappearance. It is likely that the elfes have stepped in on Kurami's behalf in attempt to stop the game by forcing him into a game before his game with the warbeast could begin or it could be something else entirely. This means that they might not even be getting to the game with the warbeast next episode but dealing with Sora's disappearance.

Nobunaga the Fool - ep20

Now things are progressing toward a final conclusion. First of all while they were visiting the dragon last time, it seems that Alexander wasn't being idol. That in their return reports have come in that Alexander has placed four of the five pillars. However Nobunaga confirms that the fifth one is place because of his connection to the dragon. That it doesn't take much time to get confirmation because everything within the pentagram of the five pillars loses it connection to the dragon hence the loses of power. This leads to them having to set sail to the dragons shrine to confront Alexander directly, the irony of this is that if they waited for Alexander there they could have confronted him away from the shrine.

This leads to Alexander and Nobunaga having their rematch this time in the flesh. This time Nobunaga is more of a match for Alexander. Things are more in favor of Nobunaga this time because he manage to break his sword as well as wound him. In the end they are faced with another loss when Alexander throws his broken sword at the shrine breaking it seal leading to the joining of the east and west stars. Then thing go from bad to worse with the arrival of Caesar but his return is not something to celebrate because he rams Excalibur in the center of the shrine summoning King Aruthers castle. Now things have reached the end game. Although there are some interesting question that are raised what is the difference between Savior-King and Destruction-King. Now with Jeanne latest vision it declared Nobunaga as the Destruction-King. However you have King Arther which is a man without a face, can you say a person with an identity is truly worthy of trust and is the Destruction-King such a bad thing. Which brings us back to DaVinci question what is difference between the two.

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - ep08

Things start out a bit light heart with Miyuki practicing for the magical high school competition with Tatsuya and Kokonoe's help. This is when Tatsuya detects Ono Haruka, and she reveals her true purpose for being at the school. That she is keeping an eye on the school at the governments behalf, that in return for keeping her secret she will inform Tatsuya of any potential plots like what happen with Blanche. Then from her they introduce a new character Yoshida Mikihiko, who was the one that left early at the beginning of the year. That also it seems that he's been avoiding Erika and Mizuki for some reason since he is an old childhood friend of theirs. This raise the question on what role he will end up playing in things to come.

Now for Tatsuya's involvement in the coming arc, has interesting parallels to the previous arc in how he join the moral committee. It seems that Mayumi is having trouble gathering together engineers for the High School Battle. The reason being is that the third years are more orientated towards practical magic and then a lot of the seconds years do not have the experience to be useful. Also it seem that they haven't thought about recruiting Tatsuya because how he resolved things with Blanche. Then in seeing the direction the conversation is going he tries to escape before he get involved, but that draws their attention to him causing them to remember that he is the one that tunes Miyuki CAD also there is the fact that he is aspiring to be an engineer. However he is against the idea because he has been drawing too much attention to himself. There is also the fact that there has never been a first year on the engineering staff let alone a course 2 student. Although Mayumi feels these matter are unimportant.

This leads to a meeting to appoint Tatsuya as a engineer, although as he expected there is resistance but some do approve of his selection. However things get down to once again testing Tatsuya skills, that he will have to adjust someones CAD. The question become who's first Juumonji volunteers, the Mayumi steps that it should be her since she is the one that selected Tatsuya. Things end with Kirihara stepping forward, and with him selected they see the how capable Tatsuya is by him tuning the competition class CAD to a level that Kirihara can't tell the difference from his high spec personal CAD. Although there are still some complaints but that is resolved by Hattori stepping forward that they shouldn't be concerned about precedent with their schools pride on the line.

Things end with a look into Tatsuya living his double life as a military contractor. That with a call from his superior telling him about his next project. Then while he is at it, he also informs him of the “No-Head Dragon” crime syndicate that it is likely that they will try something at the Magical High School battle. Which raise the question was his appoint so coincidental or was his subtle action plan to have Mayumi appoint him so that he could remain close to Miyuki. Then we also see Tatsuya completing a general purpose flying spell, which seem to implies that Tatsuya is Tarus Sliver. This also cause him to be a target again because Blanche Target for his anti-magic spell. Now this Crime Syndicate might just target him for his flying spell.

Date A Live II - ep07

Now with the end of the contest, we will now learn the results. Then as is expected Miku won the contest while Shiori came in second, this leads to Miku gloating over Shiori about her victory. However it seems that Miku forgot the terms of the bet because it wasn't over who won the contest but who can in first overall. That this is where Shiori won with the help of everyone running their booth. Then in the end Miku can't accept anything not going her way, this leads to Shiori trying to use this to show her that she needs to start reaching out to others. Although it has the opposite effect which leads her to taking what she wants by force in using her angle to get her way by using it to brainwash everyone. That her goal in doing this is taking away everything that Shiori values away from her, now with Shiori under her control she shoves it in her face which leads to Miku learning Shiori's secert.

Now that Shido is revealed Miku goes about trying to kill him using the spirits that she captured. However Touka is the only that manage to escape because she had ear piece plugging both ears. What makes things worse is that Kotori is effect as well and has prepare the Ratatoskr to wipe out Shido along with everything else inside the building. Then at this point Mana re-enters the story when she knock Kotori out as she leave to aid Origami in dealing with the DEM. This leads to the conclusion of the aerial battle when Mana effortlessly takes out the DEM's commander Jessica Bailey. This adds another two people that are immune to Miku's powers. Although they don't go to aid Shido.

Then as things are wrapping up above Shido and Touka need to retreat for now. This is problematic since he can't rely on Kotori. Things become much worse when Ellen makes her return while they are still dealing with Miku. This force Touka to make the only decision that she can by sacrificing herself so that Shido can escape from both Ellen and Miku. Although he manage to escape, it doesn't change the fact that for the first time since all this started he is on his own. However ironically his salvation come in the form of an old enemy. What is interesting is that Kurumi is willing to help also it seem like she has been keeping an eye on him since the last time that they met.

What is more interesting then her desire to help Shido is the way she goes about helping him. That instead of going strait after the DEM to rescue Touka as Shido wish to do before resolving the situation with Miku. It seems that Kurumi finds it more ideal to deal with Miku first. Then towards this end they goes to her home, and there it is revealed that Izayoi Miku is assuming the identity of Yoimachi Tsukino. It seems that Kurumi already knew all of this but just didn't want to directly come out and say it. This raise the question of who Miku really is and why did she just take Tsukino's appearance instead of both appearance as well as her name. Now with Shido knowing a bit more about Miku the question is how will the rematch between Shido and Miku go. There is also the question if Mana and Origami will come to his aid. The final there is the issue of what DEM is doing to Touka. Although it going to be interesting to see how Kurumi and Shido will work together.

No Game No Life - ep07

Now with the defeat of Jibril, things proceed onto a transitional episode to define Kuuhaku's next target as well as integrating Jibril into their little group. Initially there was a expectation that they would play around with Jibril like they did with Steph but this time around it was more business. They get down to learning about their next target the beast-people the Juujin. However as thing turn out Flugels nor the elfs have ever won against them and anyone that lose get their memory erased so there is no information on them. What is worse is that the only one to play a game with them in the last decade was the foolish king. That result in him losing half his lands to them over the course of eight games. Then in Sora frustration he takes out his irritation on Steph by insulting her grandfather for his stupidity.

Although once Sora regret what he has done and has had some time to cool down. He starts to think on why did Steph's grandfather keep challenging them when most everyone else gave up after their first loss. This leads to Sora going over what the king bet, it turns out most of the lands wagered were useless to Inmanity because they didn't have the resources to mine the materials. Although the only one that had value what the last one, this leads Sora to believe that they didn't erase the kings memories because they wanted him to keep challenge them because he had what they wanted. Then in overhearing this Steph gives Sora the key that the king entrusted to her.

This leads them to the secret room where he put down his encounters with the Juujin in a dairy. That he may have been prevent of speaking their secrets while he was living but once he is dead the pledge would no-longer have any hold over him. That now Sora has the information that he needs to challenging the Juujin, because it is not just the key to beat them but also the perfect bait. The reason being is that after all this time hiding the nature of their game, they wouldn't want it to be public. Then for this reason their secret is the best bait. Then as this is going on Kurami believes that Sora's backer is the Juujin, that with his interest in them as well as his defeat of both the Elfs and Flugels who have both lost to them before. The question is what will she think when Kuuhaku challenges them, and is this the prelude to a rematch between Kuuhaku and Kurami where the next target being the Elfs once the Juujins are defeated.

Nobunaga the Fool - ep19

This episode is your classic power-up episode, that they are force to obtain a greater power to defeat a difficult foe. Also what was very fitting for this episode was Kenshin drawing the wheel of fortune, because it represents the willingness to accept your fate regardless of what it is even if that fate is death. In the end Jeanne, Nobunaga, and Kenshin travel to face themselves to gain strength from the dragon. The towards the this end it seem that only Nobunaga and Kenshin is accept while Jeanne is left behind. However later we see that you don't have to pass through the gate to be tested since Jeanne is being tested without passing the gate. Then you have Mitsuhide is being test even though he stayed behind in Owari.

What is interesting is how they are creating a connection to Christianity, in-particular the last supper. That initially the reference to savior-king was seen as nothing more that the construction of the plot nothing more. However it a veiled reference to Jesus Christ and then the 12 Shinki users is in reference Jesus Christ apostles. That the truth that Da Vinci is seeking is the picture of the last supper. Although we are still starting to get a glimpse into who is going to play which parts. There is Akechi Mitsuhide which is cast into the role of Judas the betrayer. Then there is Jeanne who is place in the role of Mary, if Jeanne is Mary that it is most likely that Nobunaga is Jesus Christ but from an historical perspective that would be strange. Which is going to be interesting how the rest is going to play out and how they will work the last supper into the rest of the story.    

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - ep07

Now after seven episodes the introduction finally come to a close. In the battle itself the action was more focus on Tatsuya and to an extent Miyuki because she was with him. First you have them breaking up into three groups, Leo and Erika wait outside to prevent anyone for escaping but in the end they are glorified tag along. Then you have Kirihara and Jyumonji bring up the rear while Kirahara is venting his anger on anyone he come across. Lastly you have Tatsuya and Miyuki leading the charge. Although when they finally encounter Tsukasa Hajime the leader of blanche he nothing more than a wind-bag compared to Tatsuya. That during their confrontation Tatsuya declares that the act on the school was merely an attempt to obtain his cast-jamming magic.

This leads to Hajime trying to hypnotize Tatsuya by using evil eye spell to get Tatsuya cast-jamming from the source. However it seems that Tatsuya is able to rewrite any spell as long as he see the activation sequence. Now with Hajime's failure he is force to strike directly at Tatsuya with his armed guards but that doesn't go so well when their guns just fall apart. Although the anime doesn't go into how, Tatsuya has a special spell that only he can use call decomposition which allow him to breakdown anything on the atomic level. That means he can destroy anything without using a spell to direct change it. The power of his special spell is truly seen when Hajime's soldiers use antinite rings in an attempt to stop Tatsuya's magic. However this fails because Tatsuya can just have his magic pass through the waves that the cast-jamming creates. Things come to an end when Kirihara catches up to them, and cuts of Hajime's arm but is prevent from killing him by Jyumonji.

Now with the situation resolved, all that is left to do is fix the mental damage that Hajime's evil eye has created not just for Mibu but for everyone else in the kendo club. Things end on a warm note when Mibu is finally released in may. It seems that in the many month that past since her release and the assault on Blanche Kirihara and Mibu have got much closer since he has been visiting her everyday. This results in Erika teasing him over it and question Saya on why she gave up on Tatsuya even-though she was in love with him. In the end it seem that Saya felt that Tatsuya would always be beyond her reach, however with Kirihara while they might fight she would never be felt left behind as she would with Tatsuya. Then as things end we get a bit of glimpse into what lays ahead, it seem that the Yotsuba clan believes that Tatsuya will betray them. Although his current loyalty only remains because of Miyuki. Then there is the issue of the next arc and what role Misaki will play in it, from first appearance it doesn't look like it will be pleasant.

Date A Live II - ep06

Now with the declaration of war between Shiori and Miku, it comes down to how shido will fight back. First Shiori gets help from the nameless trio to form a band, then of course Touka and Origami want to join in. They give Touka a tambourine just to have her do something because the drums are already taken. Then it seems that Origami is a skill singer so she will do the vocals while Shiori will play they guitar. Now with everything decided this leads to the day of the festival where it been decide that they will do a maid cafe, and it is here where Kaguya and Yuzuru make their return appearance.

Although even before things begin problems are already cropping up. First you have the absents of Origami however we know what she is doing because of her meeting with her captain indirectly informing her about the operation to target Touka and Shido. Which means she is laying in wait to interfere with Jessica Bailey plan. Then you have Shido catching a brief glimpse of Kurumi which raise the question will so make an appearance in the conclusion of this arc or is it foreshadowing of the next arc. All this aside Miku comes by later to ask Shiori out on a date.

Then once again Shido is becoming irritated by Miku personality of disregarding those around her. This begins by her causal dismissal of her followers, this gets on Shido nerves but is willing to over look it for now. However when later they come across a ring toss game and Miku tries to win a prize for Shiori and fails. Miku uses her powers to force them to give her wants she wants, this act cross the line for Shido. In truth it express Miku's views on humanity that they are her playthings, and they should be glad to be a uses to her. This belief cause Shido to pity her since she doesn't have a single bond with another person. That he is even more driven to beat her, so that she will be force to interact with other and not just play the role of queen bee.

This conflict cause Miku to strike back at Shiori by give the nameless trio the order not to participate. Although Yuzuru and Kaguya take their place, though Shido question if they will be able to pull this off since Origami is still missing. This brings us to Origami part in all this since DEM's attack is taking place during the contest between Shiori and Miku. That the challenge is only able to happen because of Origami. Brings us back to the contest Shido is discourage after seeing Miku perform. Things get worse since Shido will be unable to lip-sink, however thing are alright since Touka sings in his place. The question is how will things turn out, that despite everything that happen will Shido be able to come out on top. Then there is the issue of Origami that she has reached her operational limit, and Jessica Bailey is not the forgiving type. The question is what will be Origami's fate and if Shido is the winner will Miku keep her word.

No Game No Life - ep06

It was interesting that they had a little fun with the Flugel Jibril instead of just jumping strait into the game. First point that was that she didn't believe that they were from another world like Steph did, Jibril was proof. Although Sora believes that his tablet that has more than 40,000 book on is proof enough that they are not from here. However it also interesting on why she doesn't believe them because to keep something here from another world that not inorganic would take someone of incredible power. In the end because there is suppose to be no language that she can't read but she can't read the tablet.

Now that the value of the tablet is proven to Jibril they will be playing for the library. Although it appears that when kuuhaku wins they will not just get the library but Jibril herself because to her the Library has the same value as her life. However she doesn't believe that she will lose. This leads us to the game, this time it is Shiritori. Which when you think about it is very sensible for a race that covets knowledge above all else. This game of Shiritori is different because it summons or erases the substance depending on whether the object being said was originally there or not. This leads to Sora starting the game off with a bang by summoning a Hydrogen bomb, proving that the words are not limited to things in this world.

Now with this first move we don't know it yet but Sora has already won, that with the long game of Shiritori it is difficult to keep track of what there and what isn't especially with words you don't know. That throughout the game he is hiding what he is doing by messing with Steph while moving towards his end game. That he is slowly erasing layers of the planet except for the out most layer and the core. Then when he does erase the last outer layer he will be on the high ground while Jibril is forced to fall. Then gets rid of the oxygen but Jibril tries to restore it but doesn't know the difference between air and oxygen. Which result in creating a vacuum, she still tries to win by using the word that Sora taught her “empty-headed” but from that he creates a supernova which kills them both however Jibril loses because she die one second sooner. Now with her loss Sora reveals everything to Jibril as well as who summoned him. That with this she willing pledges her life to serve the siblings because they came here to challenge god.

Nobunaga the Fool - ep18

Now as the invasion begins it heralds then end for the east. That the first member of the rounds that is laying waste to Oda's forces is Chandra Gupta. Although as strong as he might think he is he ultimately is nothing before the might of Uesugi Kenshin. This leads to a show down between Kenshin and Alexander the great. Which ends in Kenshin defeat but Alexander lets him live to fight another day because of his promise to make Alexander feel the fear of death, that in which he has never felt once in his life and Kenshin pitys him for it. That in this battle there was a spectator to this battle the returning Mitsuhide, as he was searching for Ichihime. It turns out that from witnessing this battle he feels he must warn Nobunaga of this approaching threat.

Then in continuing the emphases on Alexander they define his objective on the eastern star. It is to drive in the five pillars into the earth, supposedly when the last one is drive in it will reveal the holy grail. Also what seem to be implied is that the eastern star will be sacrificed for King Arthur's will. It some way it make sense if the western star is dying then to only way to save is by consuming the life of the eastern star. That means that failure will not lead to subjugation of the east but total annihilation. Then to further emphases Alexanders importance Nobunaga draws the emperor card, which leads to Da Vinci to talk about if one man of the rounds was fit to be emperor than it would be Alexander.

This leads to Alexander appearance on the battlefield, and in Nobunaga's recklessness go to face him alone even-though he knows that Kenshin has already lost to him. That even before the cross swords Nobunaga it terrified of his presence alone, but he force himself to attack despite his fears. However everything proves futile, even the borrowing of the wind and earth Shinki. Although once his is possession of the four shinki he does achieve results but it drove him mad. That he only came back to his sense once Alexander's hammer was destroyed, but the aftermath of their battle destroyed the land. This result in them retreating and Alexander allowing them to do this because Nobunaga was able to achieve some result against him, but this small victory cost them Hideyoshi's wargiant. The question is how will they defeat someone that has never lost, that without beating Alexander there is no hope to in saving their star.