Bleach Ep. 12: A Gentle Right Arm

While featuring the duel between Ishida and Ichigo, the real stars of this episode are Chad and Karin when a plague of Hollows attack Karakura Town.

After revealing himself to be a Quincy, an extinct race of supernaturally gifted humans, Uryu Ishida challenged Ichigo to a duel at the end of the previous episode. Insulting the carrot topped team worked like a charm and with his temper rising, he agreed. If there is one thing Kurosaki can be counted on to do, it has to be rushing headlong into things without thinking.

Condescending and acid tongued like a proper villain should be, Ishida explains the rules of the duel. The one who kills the most Hollows in 24 hours is the winner and proves his superiority. Quickly he initiates the summoning of the monsters and makes some pointed remarks about Hollows being drawn to humans with spiritual abilities that set Ichigo off running. But not is all it seems, as Kurosaki has misunderstood what the Quincy was hinting at.

Determined to protect his sisters at any cost, the substitute Soul Reaper has failed to notice that his closest friends have all begun to spiritually awaken too. For instance, poor Tatsuki now sees ghosts the way Ichigo did in the beginning and it is annoying her to distraction. But the boy is clueless to all this going on around him.

It is Karin that Ichigo is most worried about and sure enough she can sense something is wrong while playing soccer with a group of boys. Though it is more accurate to say she is intimidating them more than playing with them. It is clear she will be playing a big part in the episode, which is a welcome thing. Karin is one of the better characters in the series and isn’t seen nearly enough.

Her older brother slaughters Hollows on the way to her regular hangouts. One of the better Hollow battles to this point is a highlight of this episode, with Ichigo taking on three at once in a very fluid piece of choreography. While he is occupied slashing his way through Karakura Town, Rukia is still trying to get more information out of Urahara at his store. But her cellphone/Hollow detector won’t stop going off and its display is starting to look like an old video game…

With methodical precision, Ishida destroys Hollow after Hollow for a count far beyond his rival’s. There is more to his story and it appears that will be revealed soon. While scores of monsters rain down upon the town, Chad finds himself seeing something in the sky. This idling in the street irritates his starving musician companions for a comic break in the action.

But that rift in the sky is all he can focus on and when a Hollow drops from the sky his priorities change. Just one little problem – he cannot fully see the monster! Showing discretion, the large teen leads the creature away from the crowded shopping district.

That would have been brilliant, except he leads the Hollow straight to the playground where Karin is! Surprisingly, the two work well as a team when he tries to protect her, but a mere human can’t expect to take on a Hollow. Even a human as impossibly tough as Chad.

Another glimpse into the half-Mexican’s childhood shows how much he took his grandfather’s lessons to heart and in true shonen style it fuels his resolve to protect his friend’s little sister. A punch, a flash of light, and an explosion of energy follow as the gentle giant finds his own supernatural power. When the smoke clears, his right arm has undertaken a mysterious metamorphosis.

The battle continues and Chad shows how cool he is, though not everyone is positive about him being cool. It is a highly amusing moment and shows why Karin gets some of the best lines in the series.

But the danger continues for Ichigo’s family and friends as the Hollows continue to rampage.

Thoughts

This episode is a deft blend of comedy and action while throwing in some character development for Chad, Karin, and Ishida. Finally all the images from the opening sequence are explained and one would guess that all the main characters have been introduced. That person would be in error.

Things are only just beginning to get rolling, I am pleased to say.

A Gentle Right Arm is a good example of Bleach’s ability to blend action, drama, mystery, and comedy into a satisfying whole.

Odd and Ends

After having to come up with new titles to posts all the time, I decided to reuse this particular title for my more trivial posts. Recycling is good, or so they say.

Raccoons are nasty, vicious, and unsanitary critters despite the washing food thing they do. We have been afflicted with a rarity around here, a stealthy raccoon. Multiple times I have entered the bathroom to see its tail in the cat door as it silently escapes after raiding the cat food in the kitchen. Hopefully, the new smaller cat door will keep it out. It is also elusive once outside and hunting it down has been a futile quest.

What does the English custom of tea have to do with computer history? More than one would think as this article on LEO, the first business computer, shows. I would have thought a bank would have built the first one, but reality is wonderfully stranger than fiction.

After becoming dissatisfied with the quality of screen captures from VLC, I have switched back to WMP12 for the time being. I probably need to do more research into setting on VLC, but so far I have been unable to get it to use the ATI videocard’s built in deinterlacing that is superior to the software options. At least the Bleach screen captures will look better from now on.

With Call of Duty: MW3 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim coming out in the same week I am very grateful not to be a hard core gamer. Game prices are ludicrously high at release these days and often you are paying so that the bugs will be fixed for the bargain hunters later on. Class me as one of the bargain hunters. Only Mass Effect 3 has me tempted that way and it isn’t due to March. More time to build up resistance, right?

Watched Will Penny thanks to Netflix last night. What a great movie. I think it is one of the few to really portray what it was like to be a cowboy and that ending was perfect. Anybody who thinks Chuck Heston couldn’t act needs to watch this film.

Is Episode 4 of Squid Girl season 2 the funniest of the entire show? It has to be of the second season so far. The first part focusing on learning English is hilarious, but the other two segments are top notch too.

For those who have given up on Bleach, now is the time to try it out again. The current arc is worth checking out and Episode 342 is where to begin. Even if you have read the current arc in the manga, a lot of fleshing out and expansion is being done, apparently with the creator’s involvement.

I am hoping to take advantage of the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts to theaters in the near future. Unfortunately, I was not able to go see Siegfried from the Ring Cycle when it ran last week. Faust is the next one up that interests me, so we will see.

This archive has some stupendous photos from the heady days of high performance flight including shots of the A-12, YF-12, SR-71, XB-70, and X-15 among others. Man, the Valkyrie was a beautiful aircraft.

Squid Girl Episode 5, Season 1

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Another identity crisis due to mistaken identity, the perils of inkvading high school, and a surprising final segment start off the second disc of set one. The usual laughs and insane situations are there, but don’t be surprised if you come away with a tear in your eye rather than a smile after watching this episode.

Are You from Planet Calamari?

Proving that the previous episode’s mild fan service was no fluke, the first third starts off when an impossibly proportioned blond in a bikini enters the Lemon Beach House. We can tell she is a great beauty because all sorts of sparkles emanate from her hair as it waves in slow motion in the sea breeze. Well, that and the male customers completely lose their cool at the sight of her.

Immediately sizing her up as a foreigner, Eiko panics. Once again showing her sadistic streak, Chizuru forces the teen to wait on the newcomer. It soon turns out that Eiko’s command of the English language leaves much to be desired.

Luckily for her, the blond is fluent in Japanese and is here for a very specific reason. It seems there are rumors of an alien having been sighted at this location. Now who could that be?

And so Cindy Campbell, M.I.T. graduate and alien hunter extraordinaire joins the cast of loonies. Squid Girl is understandably rather upset with being called an alien and even more so with Cindy’s nearly Sanae like desire to haul her off to a laboratory. Not only does the American look good in swimwear, she is a true mad scientist – and mad scientists don’t take no for answer.

Is our tentacled protagonist really a Squiddian invader from outer space?  Can Squid Girl find her way back to normalcy? And just what is normalcy for her anyway?

Want to Join a New School of Fish?

One of my favorite things about Squid Girl is how everyday events become  epic adventures for our blue tressed heroine. If you were wondering if her adoptive family had lives outside the beach, wonder no more. Summer vacation is over and Eiko proudly dresses in her school uniform. After some confusion over cosplay, Squid Girl demands to come along. Rebuffed, she sneaks into school anyway to do some reconnaissance like a proper inkvader.

Exploring all the empty rooms she can get into, it becomes clear to Ika that this is a military training facility. Why they even have a place to take care of the wounded. It is a perfect base to stage her takeover of the surface world from! Or at least that is how she sees things.

Violence, hostage taking, and PA announcements lead to a potentially deadly situation. Can this be peaceably resolved or will the inkvasion finally begin in earnest?

Who’d Like a Pet Squid?

The final segment is a big change of pace and is original to the anime. I do not want to give too much away, but the nearly dialogue free story shows a deft touch while tugging at the audience’s heartstrings. It all begins with Eiko finding a mini Squid Girl in a jar on the beach one rainy day.

What follows will be familiar to anyone who has raised a pet, especially if they have wooed a feral kitten.

This story shows what heights the animators are capable of rising to as what should be a simple overdose of cute becomes something deeply touching instead. It was so popular that two shorts were done starring Mini Squid Girl for the Blu-ray release in Japan along with figurines.

Thoughts

Squid Girl is a light hearted series that occasionally will surprise with sharp insights or genuinely sweet moments. It is the latter that you will remember from this episode. It is something of a sucker punch and all the more effective for it.

I have to praise the English language voice cast again. They have done a bang up job and I also have to give the dub writers a hand for how they rewrote the scene between Eiko and Cindy. It was cleverly handled.

This and Episode Six are the only episodes on disc 2 and for some reason the same extras from the first disc were repeated. I have hopes that the second set coming out later this month will have the Mini Ika Musame shorts on them as they are very cute.

Taking Care of Business

Today was all about the title and it went well for a change. There is nothing like clearing out unexpected bills and realizing you will have more money than you expected left over. In this case it was a dental bill that hit me out of the blue and had me worried.

It has been an interesting several days. Rampant silliness during Saturday night’s gaming session seems to have been a good beginning to it all. We were dangerously close to “shoe drop” territory all night so much fun was had.

Sunday was quite the day at church. When I arrived a tad late due to a combination of starting out slowly and then being in slow traffic (harvest and hunting season at the same time), I found myself in the overflow section. Which promptly overflowed and required more folding chairs brought in! It has been a long time since I’ve seen that.

Fast and testimony sacrament meetings are always different and once again I felt prodded to go up and give my testimony. Unusually, the Spirit had me scripture diving beforehand and had a very direct push for me to talk about fear. Specifically, how we are to fear not despite all that is going on. Since my fears are on the selfish side I did not go into them, but it is clear I need to work on that.

I can say that I transitioned to fight mode from self pity mode while driving to church, so something is up. Don’t know what and probably don’t want to know what.

Anyway, I was called and set apart to be an Elders Quorum instructor in addition to staying as a ward missionary. In fact, my first lesson to teach is this coming Sunday. It might be a good idea to find out which lesson we are on since I confuse chapter places with Gospel Essentials class. Having taught every lesson out of the Gospel Principles manual, I could probably do it in my sleep. However, one needs to prepare no matter how versed they are.

This morning, I ran into a deal at Amazon for The Greatest Video Game Music album by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a whopping $2.99. There were multiple tracks I wanted so I got the whole deal and it is well worth it. Standouts for me are Mass Effect: Suicide Mission, Bioshock: The World On His Shoulders, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and Modern Warfare 2: Theme. Others will delight in the full orchestral versions of classic console games such as Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. It was a nice way to start the day off.

Time to up how much H2O2 I take in daily. Another attempt to taper off has resulted in negative consequences. It appears I can’t get below two dosages a day without things going backwards. Ah well.

At least I was able to be out and about three days in a row again.

The Effectiveness of Circular Firing Squads

One amazing thing to me is how the Republican Party manages to destroy itself via internal warfare on a nearly constant basis in recent years. The current race to be the presidential nominee is a textbook example of this foolishness. Campaigns cannot wait to tear each other down and provide ammo to the opposition in 2012 with the conservative side of the party being the worst offenders.

Furthermore, we have candidates who are even more adept at shooting themselves in the foot than their opponents. One thing for sure is that none of them can shoot straight and stay on target. So the end result will be having a moderate to liberal candidate again, just like in 2008. In this case it will be Mitt Romney, who by a small degree was just to the right of McCain.

I have not enjoyed watching conservative candidate after candidate implode. Yes, the media is working against them, but far too many “own goals” have been kicked into the nets.

The latest is Herman Cain and his sexual harassment scandal just got a lot worse. If he is innocent, his campaign has handled this the worst possible way. If you are Machiavellian about it and he is guilty, they still have handled it the worst possible way. This goes well beyond inexperience and most likely is the beginning of the end for him.

Perry is going nowhere due to his abysmal debate performances and the fact he is not that conservative in the first place. But it is the debate performances that have killed him. Supporters claim that debates do not matter, but that is where the voters usually make up their minds. Most people do not follow things until the last minute and only pay attention to the flashiest of events.

Bachman is done. Her lack of wit and inability to go past talking points sank her like a rock. Big fish in a small pond syndrome is what happened here and she has yet to realize it. She better before it damages her back at home in Minnesota.

Santorum simply does not have the personality needed to make it on the national stage.  In the days before television, he would have done much better. But appearances and performances are everything today.

Newt is unelectable. He is the prototype for what was done to Palin and is still toxic all these years later, despite having some good ideas and excellent debates. But he is not that conservative and some of us have long memories. He is good VP material at best.

Ron Paul is unelectable in every possible way. There is no way the country will hand over the keys to the crazy uncle who has been drinking too much from the conspiracy punch bowl.

Huntsman would make a good challenger to Obama – in the Democratic Party primaries. ‘Nuff said.

Which leaves us with the establishment’s choice, Romney. He carries a lot of political and social baggage. Just a few months ago, I talked to activists that sat out the last election due to McCain being too liberal and they said they would vote for anyone, even Romney, over Obama. I do not know what changed, but the atmosphere is slowly becoming one of sitting out again.

That does not necessarily mean Romney will lose. I also have talked to Democrats who would cross over to vote for him and he will get most of the crucial independents. It will be an ugly race though, with many evangelical Christians opposing him due to his being a Latter-day Saint. Having to deal with that prejudice on a regular basis myself, I can say it will be a factor.

Meanwhile, supporters of various candidates are busy vilifying other candidates in blind hero worship. This voluntary fanaticism is just as dangerous as any demagoguery can be from a politician. The passions being shown are more akin to what we used to see in party versus party elections.

It is that kind of internal strife and failure to unite against a common foe that has damaged the GOP greatly in recent times. You would think with things as bad as they are that the factions would come together. But I am not seeing it and in fact it is getting more fractious with the consequence of reasonable activists becoming burning out due to it.

Why all this division?

Perhaps that desire to deny how bad things really are getting is clouding minds. We are about to enter a time of widespread economic and social chaos around the globe. There will be wars of all kinds breaking out in the next decade.  Those of us who can see it are alarmed, but unable to affect events. The inertia of the masses is too great, the power of denial too strong, and the maintainers of the status quo too entrenched.

It is said there is a flee or fight reaction when confronted with a physical threat. What goes unmentioned is the third reaction which is paralysis. Perhaps that is the biggest problem of them all – that there are too many people who act like deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi.

Whatever the cause may be for all the internecine warfare on the political right it does not matter. I am sick of it and the unwillingness of people to deal with what is happening. I am also sick of watching the entire system self destruct.

Boy am I glad I live in the countryside watching the way the world is going.

Bleach Ep. 11: The Legendary Quincy

After an episode of nonstop comedy, an air of menace slowly comes back into the series when a mysterious stalker with an axe to grind appears. But comedy is still the main focus at this point.

Bleach can be very predictable at times, but only within its own strange rules. New viewers will find themselves surprised often in the early going before it settles into its normal pattern of weirdness, especially in the “canon” storyline. That is to say, the non-filler main storyline.  Filler is the dreaded way of keeping an anime adaptation of a manga going while waiting for the original author to produce new content.

While the previous installment of Bleach introduced what seemed to be a filler character, Don Kanonji, it turns out there is fallout from the epically silly events. Very silly fallout, of course.

Teenagers fear being summoned to the principle’s office and the entire group finds themselves there.  Being lectured to by the gym teacher who appears to be in a steroid induced rage, they are in it deep. You see, due to Ichigo and Rukia being seen on national TV causing trouble the school has been embarrassed.

Showing there are limits to friendship, everyone correctly dumps the blame on Ichigo. Attempts to get out of being lumped into the punishment are played strictly for laughs with Rukia being particularly amusing. Her ploy works all too well and there is an impression she has done this kind of thing before.

What would Bleach be without random Hollow problems? When the latest alert goes off, the group take notice of Rukia and Ichigo running off. Orihime is watching very closely and speculates about their relationship to the ire of the boys. But someone else is watching too as the sinister music plays…

There are a lot of good character moments in episode 11 and Rukia gets the best ones. From being bad cop/bad cop all by herself (wait, shouldn’t good cop be in there?) to her rant against her cellphone, the diminutive Soul Reaper is a bundle of annoyed energy. Those bits and the fake sob story she employed earlier are great fun.

I do believe I wrote that an air of menace is to be found and so it arrives. Though our hero’s do not know it, they have been followed all episode by a strange figure wearing a long jacket and glasses. Finally catching Ichigo and Rukia by themselves, he emerges from the night to reveal himself.

He is Uryu Ishida and has supernatural powers himself. They are nearly as impressive as his acid dripping condescension which is most impressive. His mockery culminates in a statement of hatred towards the substitute Soul Reaper. Just like that, Ichigo has a new menace to deal with and it turns out to be a classmate – though he doesn’t remember him. And just what is a Quincy – what Ishida calls himself?

For once, Ichigo decides to check things out before going into conflict. Just one little problem: he has already forgotten Ishida’s name. Fortunately for him, Orihime knows Ishida, since they are in the same handcrafts club. Handcrafts club?! I am not sure if that is more or less menacing to know.

The scene that follows is a hilarious spoof of fighting animes, when we are shown Ishida’s fearsome sewing skills. Like every other character in the series, there is something off kilter about the boy. But you have to admit, he is good with a needle and thread.

After school, Ichigo and Rukia split up to pursue different leads on the new threat because we all know it is better to divide your forces when confronting an enemy. Ichigo counter stalks Ishida and Rukia heads to Uruhara’s for intel. Veering off into slapstick comedy to break the mood, we are presented with Jinto bullying Ururu again. It isn’t very funny, in my opinion.

This short sequence is, however. But then again, I like utterly random silliness when it is played straight. That is probably a result of watching too many Pink Panther movies growing up.

As the mystery of the Quincies begins to unfold, it looks like Ichigo and Rukia will have their hands full…

Thoughts

The Legendary Quincy is a classic setup episode without any real action in it. That said, it is still a lot of fun as the sense of mystery is back after the previous story. Here is where Bleach’s universe begins to open up more with hints of being more complicated than previously shown.

Ishida is an interesting character, a calm and collected nerd who is incredibly arrogant. His powers are an interesting contrast to that of the Soul Reapers and he is positioned to be Ichigo’s perfect foe.

The voice work on the English dub rings wrong once again, with Ishida’s voice sounding too old and too monotone. Despite his air of maturity, the character is still young and the Japanese voice actor nails that perfectly. I will concede he is a complex character and difficult to portray.

2011 Come Back Here!

So it is November already. This year has flown by with most goals I had set out for the new year unmet and quite a few not started. Oddly, I am not alone in this and almost everyone I know have experienced the same thing. There is a modicum of comfort knowing that.

After a lousy week with health problems, this one is a bit better. Still not where I need to be, but I did survive an active weekend including a Halloween party. So far I have not escaped the need to nap in the afternoon, but I have hope that will change shortly.

I had the cheapest Halloween costume yet. It consisted of a ratty long sleeve T-shirt, jeans, and an empty box of Trix that I ran through multiple times with a kitchen knife. Yes, I was a cereal killer. I actually had something else planned but had a last minute flash of inspiration while talking to a Kwik Trip clerk.

Odd place to get an idea, but I’ll take ‘em where I can get ‘em.

The Trix rabbit’s eyes still haunt me, though.