Otogi Juushi Akazukin 4
We left off last time with Val-sama sensing a presence even stronger than a nightmarian at the school... and at school it's study hall for Souta and Ringo's class. But Shirayuki then comes in, saying that she's teaching the class. Huh? Akazukin, hanging upside down just outside the classroom window, opens the window and asks what the heck Shirayuki's doing. Well, this way Shirayuki can keep an eye on Souta. Akazukin, of course, doesn't approve of that. Shirayuki shuts the window and Akazukin drops to the flower bed below, though this time managing to not land on flowers. Val-sama praises her.. for that? (^^;;) He says to leave this to Shirayuki for now.. he's got something else on his mind to check out.
Shirayuki-sensei writes themes for a paper on the board -- What clothes would look well on her?, What accessories would look good on her?, etc, etc. Probably one of those assignments where you have to suck up, otherwise you get a bad grade (^^;;) Shirayuki seems to have her eye on Erika.. Erika looks at some clock-like item and then asks if she can go to the nurses' office since she's feeling bad. Shirayuki says no, but Ringo and Souta say they'll go with her there. Meanwhile... Val-sama's found what he was looking for -- yup, the room where food is stored for lunch. Akazukin and Val-sama start devouring bentou box lunches. Nothing but food inside their heads, is there...
Erika looks at her clock thing, seemingly waiting for something to happen.. but nothing happens, so she runs outside. There, Shirayuki is waiting for her. Shirayuki pulls out a mirror in the same shape as Erika's clock. The mirrors would be used to create an akuukan (spelling?) -- think fuuzetsu from Shana. Erika is an enemy, not a friend, but Ringo and Souta don't want to believe that... Erika says it herself -- she's Gretel. She transforms into her evil form... I'm sorry, but it's hard not to see that outfit as anything other than a hadaka apron (^^;;) And she's got a Buster Sword huge sword, too. Shirayuki casts a protection spell on Souta and Ringo, but she's soon sent outside the barrier by Gretel's attacks...
Souta and Ringo run through the school -- everyone inside is floating in mid-air, not moving at all... Gretel reports to her onii-sama, Hansel. She hasn't been able to get the key yet since one of the Three Muskeeters interfered, but another one of the Three Musketeers is pretty much out of it -- Akazukin and Val-sama are floating in the air just like everyone else. Ringo and Souta eventually run into Gretel, and...
...with absolutely perfect timing, Akazukin shows up. She wasn't affected by Gretel's magic at all!.. she was sleeping. Why did Gretel's magic not work? Akazukin says she wouldn't know... Nice tsukkomis by Ringo-chan here ;) After a screwed up attempt by Akazukin and Val-sama to attack together inside, the fight goes outside.
Souta still believes that Gretel really isn't evil, that she really meant it when she said she liked fairy tales... of course it was all a lie. You shouldn't believe people that much.. Ringo stands up for Souta -- what's wrong about that? Souta'll believe anything, but that's not bad at all. Ringo could use some of that since she didn't believe Shirayuki at first... Souta says that doesn't matter at all. Akazukin asks the two of them to believe in her for a bit, and they go up to the roof of the school.
After a bit more fighting with Gretel, Akazukin mounts Val-sama and jumps up to the barrier, cutting through it. Shirayuki managed to keep just enough of a crack open in it to break it... Gretel attacks once again, but she's stopped in her tracks by an ice spell cast by Shirayuki. It's time for Gretel to pull back for now, Hansel says, but she'll be back...
Akazukin and the others go back to Souta's house. Ringo apologizes to Shirayuki, but the moment's ruined thanks to Akazukin saying that she's hungry... I swear, nothing but thoughts of food in her head (^^;;) Anyways, Shirayuki's hungry, too, so it's time for Ringo to cook... Val-sama wants some more of that potato stew of hers..
Nothing but food for those two.. yeeesh.. and sleeping on the job isn't exactly smart, either, but that's why I like 'em. Akazukin and Val-sama make a hilarious combo, and Ringo's nice tsukkomi added makes it all the better. One of the big reasons I'm continuing to watch, aside from Ringo and Akazukin being cute and all ;)
Anyways, things are moving rather quickly with Gretel revealing herself only one episode after posing as Erika. Makes me wonder where we're going to go after this since the show is planned to run for 39 episodes, but perhaps this means she'll join Souta's harem earlier rather than later ;)
I'd rather the show focus less on the battling and more on other things that are more entertaining if the battles are going to continue to be like this. The bank was trimmed down a bit this time, but it still interrupts things too much. It didn't help that the 作画 sakuga quality fell this time, either. This episode turned out to be ○投げ marunage -- "throwing" all of the animation work (作監 sakkan, 原画 genga, and 動画 douga) over to Korea. Madhouse has been doing that a lot recently, and while not all work done there is bad by any means, I hope they'll give enough time to keep decent quality. I'm not expecting every episode to be perfect since this is a Saturday morning show and it's running for a while, and so long as the characters are cute, it's okay with me.... but once you lose that it's over (^^;;)
I really wonder why they decided to go Saturday morning instead of late night for Akazukin. If they're thinking they're going to make a ton of money off goods, given the competition it'll be tough.... the overall style of show suits the late night slot better in the first place. 9am is too early for silly harem antics, hadaka apron, and much too early to be showing commercials for Galaxy Angel 2 and Punie and Black Lagoon, and a Yukarin PV advertising the OP single. Really, what audience are y'all aiming for here? Well... Futago Hime aims for two audiences at once, too, so Akazukin isn't the only one ;)
Anyways, next time:
みゆきちｸﾙ━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━ ！！！
Miyukichi kuru----!!
Miyukichi's (Aruru@Utawarerumono, Serizawa@Paniponi, etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.) character, Ibara-hime, is finally coming next time. Looks like she'll be another rather... interesting one here. Looking forward to it ;)
Except for those ears Ibara-hime reminds me a lot of Tsukasa from Sasami - Mahou Shoujo Club. ^_^