Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

This always happens—I wait too long after watching something and forget everything when I finally get down to blogging it. I thought I ought to finish this up before the second season starts shortly, which I will be following subbed, not raw (I learnt my lesson already ^^;;). Anyway, I do remember a lot of action and bloodshed; the entire episode was simply mayhem…but in a very good way! The action is the main thing that makes this show great, while the plot is ok, though not intricate enough and the characters aren’t developed enough. I also like to think of this episode as the last of the season, since I have no idea what the f**k happened to episode 14.

Rating: 9.6/10

Impressions:

Ok for those of you who still don’t know, Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho ends at episode 14. However, not too sure about this, but it seems there will be more arcs to come in the form of sequels. Surely the show can’t just end at episode 14, where still nothing is resolved (well, nothing in terms of what is introduced in the upcoming episodes). I’m somewhat glad that this show is ending soon (for the subs I mean), since then I will have one less anime I have to keep up with, which I find very hard to do. I still haven’t caught up with everything after coming back from Japan. Once I do, posts should become longer and there should be more screencaps as well.

This episode essentially sets everything up for the next episode, which is full of action. Even with subs, I really have no idea what’s going on through the flashbacks. They make no sense at all to me, and the only thing I can assume is that they are quite tragic pasts for Kodzune and his connection with Hiyuu. The episode is still very enjoyable though. It’s mainly the fast pace and fantastic use of music to complement the high quality. I said above that I’d be relieved with the ending of this show for relief of workload, but honestly I really don’t want to see this show take a break…it’s too good.

Rating: 9.9/10

Impressions:

So the subs have caught up a bit, which means I will probably follow them now, instead of raws. Anyway, this episode is quite an informative episode, though scattered with action as well. We now know that Hiyuu and Kozunu have a connection from their ancestors, so I guess this makes Hiyuu the main guy (probably also means he is stronger than Kyouichi as well). I was quite saddened when Sayo is revealed to be dead. I was not sure what it meant when her hand was ‘dead’ in the photo, so this revelation was pretty shocking. She was my favourite female character as well, managing to grow on me in a few episodes.

The thing which I find lacking is character development, but not on the social side. I’d like to see them develop their powers and grow stronger, though you can argue that such actions would make the show more ’shounen’. The animation quality is still quite high, though I here it changes in a few episodes. I also wonder whether there will be a new OP or ED soon (if so, it should be halfway through the series). It would be nice if more characters are implemented into the story as well. It would be a nice touch if a new OP features new characters, as then there would be anticipation for such characters to appear (one that doesn’t die so quickly).

Edit: Ok…I just realised the number of episodes is only 14…but then the rest of the story should finish off at a later date…

Rating: 9.9/10

Impressions:

The quality of this episode is quite higher compared to the last few episodes. The faces are all proportionate, and the fighting scenes are nicely animated and fast paced. As always, sound accompaniment is great and greatly excites in all the right times. It seems that Aoi will remain as the focus for some time, as this episode reveals that she possesses a special demonic power called the Eye of Bosatsu. Although I’m not sure what it does, it does mean she is a threat to humans and must be killed…oh shit what? Aoi needs to be killed? Noooo! Well, this will probably be good news for Aoi-haters, though I doubt she’s really gonna die.

So apparently Tatsuma has a girlfriend now? She’s called Sayo I think, and she’s from the crow incident a few episodes ago. I have no idea who she really is and what she has to do with anything, though she has managed to drag Tatsuma away from the rest of the group. She’s actually pretty cute so I don’t really mind, although it doesn’t seem like she has any powers. And if she does, I imagine she’d be an oni or something. It seems like everyone has at least some involvement with the plot, and in order to do so, having a power may be necessary (hmm, I wonder about Toono…nah…)

Anyway, this episode once again revolves around Aoi and her troubles. She’s still feeling depressed over not being able to save the girls life from last episode, and so her general mood is pretty bleak. The gang have their usual meetings here and there, but Tatsuma becomes increasingly absent, while Aoi is just plain sad. It turns out that Tatsuma is actually spending his time with another girl called Sayo from the crow incident, as reported by Toono. Kyouichi thinks she’s his girlfriend, though personally, I think she is or ill turn evil. Maybe I just think that because it would be more interesting that way…

Aoi’s right eye begins hurting, and soon she’s seeing disturbing things, such as people with rotten legs in pictures (hmm, looks like some sort of power is surfacing). Kozunu confronts her and tries to get her to come to his side, but obviously refuses. He leaves, probably knowing that she will inevitably come to him. Kyouichi notices that something is wrong and goes to consult Kisaragi, though he tells him that Aoi has inherited some ghastly power and needs to be killed. Hearing this, Kyouichi becomes furious and the two start fighting. Aoi overhears and runs away, as she believes everything is her fault. She tries to commit suicide, but is saved and retrieved by Kozunu.

With the nice little action sequence between Kyouichi and Kisaragi near the end, as well as the eventful cliff hanger, I am just dying to see the next episode. The fight also proves that Kyouichi is similar in strength compared to Kisaragi, and therefore Kisaragi must be similar to Tatsuma as well. However, it seems like Tatsuma is the main character, so something’s gotta be there to tell him apart from the less important characters. For now though, it seems to be all about Kozunu and Aoi…and not in that way either. Anyway, I’m looking forward to where Aoi goes from here, and if there’s a chance of her turning evil…

Rating: 9.7/10

Impressions:

Once again, I am seriously confused about the timeline of this show, now that I’ve found I have no idea where to slot this episode chronologically. It should go after the last episode, though apparently Komaki loses her powers, and is in the process of regaining them. However, she never loses her powers in any previous episode that I remember, which brings about my confusion. If anyone who can understand Japanese better, or just more analytical and can help me out on this, it would be much appreciated. Nevertheless, 9 is a high quality and wonderful episode once again.

Is it just me or is Aoi getting most of the screen time? That’s a good thing since she’s my favourite character, though it would be nice if the other characters are developed. Aoi seems to be getting all the attention on-screen; getting saved by Kyouichi, sharing some private moments with Tatsuma, having flashbacks involving her and Kisaragi…and of course her relationship with Komaki and Toono. Her powers have really grown as well (though they were probably this powerful some time ago anyway), as she is able to deflect attacks presented in this episode with such ease and efficiency. I wouldn’t say she does it effortlessly, though she makes it look easy.

Basically what happens this episode is that, as I said before, Komaki loses her powers. Or at least her ability to aim properly, not sure, as the episode is really about her recovery. Tatsuma gets acknowledge by some random girl as well, which I really don’t understand (unless she appeared in an earlier episode). But that’s not important. Oni are attacking once again, and this time high school students are getting their bodies ripped apart by the oni (which is still unknown at the moment). While patrolling the streets though, Aoi saves a girl from some punk, but it turns out this girl is the oni and she starts attacking her, as well as Kyouichi and Tatsuma.

They manage to get out alive and escape, but with nothing accomplished, it would be inevitable that they and the oni meet again. Meanwhile, Komaki is spewing all over the place and going psycho over her inability to shoot an arrow. Daigo tries to cheer her up with a bento but fails miserably. Kyouichi then provokes her and discriminates her for being a girl, which in turn makes her increase her self-confidence (which was his objective). Daigo also makes some sort of promise to protect Komaki/confession, and then everyone except Komaki goes off to face the oni. And who comes to save the day? Komaki of course, and she can aim/use her powers again!

Throughout the episode, we get a few flashbacks of Tatsuma being rejected by his social group, so he ends up being a loner (this is about when he is 5 or so I guess). Aoi also shows Tatsuma the scar on her back from when she was trapped in a fire and failed to save her friend (and I thought she was stripping when she lowered her kimono xD). Another thing relevant to her though, is that Kozuzu seems to have found something important in Aoi, so we’ll probably get more on her next time. Also, ANN has stated that Tokyo Majin is 25 episodes, which is really good as I’m loving this anime so far. (P.S, no I don’t give long and detailed summaries…)

Rating: 9.7/10

Impressions:

The quality is quite inconsistent this episode, though most of it is animated well (especially during the action scenes). Speaking of which, there’s quite a bit of action this time round thankfully, though still no real full on battles. Knowing these types of shows, there probably won’t be a real battle until the last few episodes, where the climax of the show is in need of some serious beefing up. Anyway, I’m not exactly sure but it seems like we are finally getting to Tatsuma’s side of the story. Quite a bit of this episode focuses on him, as well his unknown identity and background.

As the main character, it seems like Tatsuma is the most special out of the taskforce, and will probably have the main and most important roles of the series. At the moment, he appears to be at an equal fighting level to Kyouichi, though I believe he may rise in power in order to fulfil whatever roles he will obtain in the future, or whatever family name he has to live up to etc. The number of episodes this show has is still in question, but it does seem like it’s reaching a climax with the current enemy. Hopefully though, the show will be of two seasons length in order to develop the characters more, and to extrapolate the world of Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpoucho.

This episode is a pretty good indicator of how much closer everyone is. Kyouichi decides to train Aoi this time round, instead of neglecting her and claiming she is of no use on the battlefield. Daigo is still as infatuated with Komaki as earlier, though his relationship and tolerance of Kyouichi and Tatsuma seems to have improved. Komaki is overall a friendlier person now, while Toono appears to have lowered the priority of finding scoop, and is now close friends with everyone. And if there’s ever any love in this show, we now have a perfect pairing system, consisting of Komaki and Daigo, Kyouichi and Aoi, as well as Tatsuma and Toono.

I really love the red sunset lighting effects of certain scenes which this show employs. A great example is the end of this episode, where the simultaneous fights occur. There is some great cinematography; clever use of angles and slow/quick motion. This is what makes the fighting scenes exciting and suspenseful to watch. Once again, I must commend the animators for knowing how to create gruesome monsters. With all the bursting limbs, bloody corpses and the horrific oni-fied former archery club member of Komaki’s, the impressiveness of the show becomes almost epic.

Anyway, this episode is essentially about Komaki’s archery club friend, who has become an oni to locate and take Komaki’s shooting arm. In doing so, she kills masses of people with insects, which we see inhabit her own body. With some training and nice bonding moments between the oni-fighting team thrown in as well (complemented with some Tatsuma mystery), the show comes to a climax where the oni attacks Komaki at the same time Kozunu attacks Tatsuma. In the end, the oni is reverted back to a human, and the now grieving former friend of Komaki’s commits suicide by falling off the top of a building. Kozunu’s fight with Tatsuma fails to finish as he disappears again.

Rating: 9.8/10

Impressions:

The timeline really confuses me here. I definitely need subs (I’m up to episode 4 with Shinsen), and I can’t make sense of in what order the episodes are. In the first episode, Toono describes that Tatsuma has been getting into fights alongside Kyouichi for two months, so I assume two months ago from the first episode is when episode 2 occurs. And from what I can tell, episode three occurs a while after episode 2. If episodes 3 to 7 follow one after another, then they should occur about one month after the events in episode 1 (or three months after episode 2). However, I am still very unsure about this and need to wait for the subs…

Anyway, this means that the anime has progressed a lot deeper into the plot than I originally thought, so now I’m once again pondering about how many episodes this will be. So far, AnimeNewsNetwork has 14 episode titles, so if a 15th one is revealed, I guess it’s safe to say that the show will be two or more seasons in length. The quality is still pretty strong, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to crash badly any time soon. Hopefully that will never happen, as there should be a lot more action coming up. This episode gives us another taste of that, so I’m wishing for some more serious battles to come.

Rating: 9.7/10

Impressions:

I get more and more excited every time I watch this show. The fact that the series is still in a semi-eposodic format, with the main plot stil seemingly untouched, tells me that this series will be at least a double season show (eg. 24 or 26 episodes). And seeing as how these action-less episodes are still impressing me, when it gets to main storyline and everything starts coming together with monstrously large battles (hopefully), I will be stoked! The first episode seems pretty far into the story, though the ambiguous guy remains the main threat in that episode and seems untouched, therefore indicating it is not too far into the plot.

I really love how this episode is executed, with the nicely done flashbacks in dark and raspy ochres, as well as the awesome accompaniment music during scenes with little progression. The music greatly emphasizes the nie paciong of the show, whereas without the tunes, it would be long pauses and the pace would seemingly be a lot slower. Overall, the quality is still looking good, and the little snippet fight at the end (with the awesome jumps and such) show that there is plenty of goodness to come. I just hope now that we get a little less story and some more ass-kicking.

If this is indeed a 24 or 26 episodes series, the first half of the show should be episodic and used to develop characters. So far, Tokyo Majin is doing a great job of introducing characters, and not in the generic way of focusing on one character each episode. I’m glad that everyone is involved, and if the producers are smart, they will switch to episodes where everyone is split up and forced to do their own thing. Variation is gold in media! And when the fighters (eg Tatsuma) start getting their focus, I will be expecting a lot of action! Though in this case, a lot of the budget will probably be saved for the latter half of the series, where the real fun begins!

Plot Outline:

(Please don’t trust me fully on this, I watch these raw (and check up on the subs when they come out) so there will be heaps of mistakes…but I do my best to get the basic point of the episode across!)

- At home, Toono is still thinking about the recent incident of Aoi fainting at the pool, and how she was powerless to do anything
- As Aoi is getting treatment in the hosptial, Kisaragi is still wandering around looking at shrines
- Through various flashbacks, we discover that the person who has forced Aoi under his hypnosis is an acquaitance of her’s, who used to get bullied severely, before a dog he adored was killed
- This had caused him to slip away from reality and allowed him to turn into an oni(?) of sorts, and start attacking people

- Toono figures out the identity of the insane guy and informs Tatsuma and company
- The insane guy (have no idea what his name is) attacks the hosptial where Aoi is but comes up against a strong barrier
- While his familiar continues attacking, the insane guy goes off to seek Tatsuma and the others
- He finds them and captures them in his dream world, where he calls upon all his stuffed animal minions to attack them
- Tatsuma and co. manage to defeat the insane guy’s puppets, while the nurse at the hospital manages to calm the familiar
- Aoi then calms the insane guy down, reverting him back into a mere depressed person
- Elsewhere, Kisaragai has been defeated by the ambiguous guy, but his life is spared!

Rating: 9.7/10 (you can tell I really love this show!)

Impressions and Short Summary:

So, Tatsuma and Kyouichi are gay now? Apparently, Kyouichi says this to Tatsuma as a greeting one morning: ‘Yo, genkinee na, kareshi?’ which I think means ‘Hey, ya ain’t feelin’ well huh, boyfriend?’ Yeah…pretty surprising lol, though there’s probably a load more of uses for kareshi than boyfriend…I think. Anyway, this episode continues from the same time period as the past 3 episodes. It should be expected for it to stay this way until at least when everyone gets their special powers. So far, I believe only Aoi has revealed hers. And in other news, the quality is not as high as the first episode, with a few not so well drawn faces, though nothing to complain about.

There is no action this episode, but a nice set up episode for a nice battle episode, if it comes to that. I can’t make any sense of the single, still-shot preview though, so I really have no idea. Essentially, this episode is once again about Aoi, and this time, she’s trying to make friends with Toono (dai sukuupu girl), which leads to a fight between her and Komaki. At the same time, more oni are appearing, and this time their more likely demihuman, and not like those from last episode. What I love about this show is the gruesomeness; to show the appearance of the onis, we get people dying on the street with seriously screwed up faces…awesome! xD

Anyway, to expand on the summary, Aoi resolves to fight the demons with everyone else, except Komaki, who thinks they will probably die if they get involved. Due to this disagreement, they start ignoring each other (I think it’s just Komaki ignoring Aoi though lol). Aoi also goes to apologise to Toono for the events last episode, and tries to get along better with her (seems like Aoi was a key subject of Toono’s past newspapers). Kisaragi also goes to investigate various shrines, which are all destroyed. At the pool, when Komaki notices Aoi being friendly with Toono, goes spastic, but before she can do anything, Aoi…faints? It seems like someone’s been looking for her.

Another nice thing about this show is the cinematography, which usually results in random shots of random things that don’t make sense but obviously has something to do with the main plot, acting as a hint or similar. The way Aoi is depicted after fainting, is a land with ferries wheels, distorted colouring, and people with their heads in stuffed animals. Yeah…pretty whacky if you ask me. And on the edge of this land, Aoi is laying on a couch, unconscious. In front of her seems to be the person who entranced her, the guy who has been seeking her since the start of the episode. And at the very end, Tatsuma and co. bring Aoi to a hospital, with a frighteningly obese doctor…

Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

Ah, so the emo guitarist isn’t the guy who attacks Kyouichi and the others last episode. He ends up being the oni, and is actually a past close friend to the guy who attacks out heroes from last episode. This whole episode simply focuses on the confrontation between the two close friends, with Tatsuma and company on the sidelines, getting involved only somewhat. And I think Kyouichi’s mended his friendship with Aoi…aww how sweet! Daigo doesn’t seem to be irritated by Tatsuma’s presence, as he does look rather angry some time ago when he picks a fight with him. And so with this, it seems like the common shounen (genre) team has been formed!

Around this time, it seems like Tatsuma and everyone else are only just awakening their hidden powers. It looks to me like their demonic in some form, especially with the angry red markings. It almost seems like a hidden evil, which would be really cool if it is. It would be boring as hell if everyone is purely good with the same idiotic supporting of justice…well, in my opinion of course. The first episode takes place two months after these past episodes I believe (Tatsuma seems to be able to predict the future…), so perhaps quite a bit of the series will be based on how the group of school kids get to the stage they are at in episode one.

I hope this doesn’t take long though, and only be used for character development. I was rather disappointed with Aoi’s lack of involvement, as she seemed to be the candidate for this episode’s fight. But anyway, with this, it becomes more conclusive that ambiguous man and psycho girl are pretty high up enemies. The fact that they stay alive until two months later means that they definitely aren’t another grunt for the students to defeat as an appetiser. I especially want to see them fight again. The girl especially has some cool moves and a nasty attitude. Her psycho face is priceless! xD

I’m surprised Toono has such an unusually large roll for a character with no abilities, clueless about everything, and just another fun side character to lighten things up. I doubt she actually holds much importance, though the show is even getting into how she finds out about Tatsuma, Kyouichi and the other’s escapades. I wouldn’t really mind if she becomes a main character, even though I doubt it. She’s pretty likeable, though only in comedic situations. You wouldn’t want her getting in the way of some major fight and cause the enemy to succeed. I would instantly hate her if that happens, though it would probably only last for a single episode (the hate I mean).

The quality this episode dips a bit unfortunately, though the fighting is still pretty awesome, with the nice usage of camera shots. The only real problems are a few not-so-well drawn faces. I especially noticed a few in Aoi’s case, though that’s because I tend to focus on her more (she IS my favourite character!) Sure, she might just be your average female shounen sidekick with supportive abilities, but she’s incredibly cute, and that’s all I’m going on at the moment! I hope there will be more day-based episodes soon, as the contrast is just too poor during the night. I tend to like brighter settings anyway, as the colouring is a lot better.