Let’s Look:Isuca Episode 9: Sakuya’s Grandma Can’t Be This Cute

One more episode until the finale…although I’m writing this after I’ve seen the finale so it’s kinda of a moot point. No hype is left…

Side Note: Like the Oreimo reference

So we open up with Isuca in some type of tank getting healed. You remember those tanks from Dragonball Z where if you just sat in them for some time you’d be alright it’s probably like that.

So Isuca’s ticked off that she lost to Sakuya and she swears to kill her.

So after the opening we have this.

Alright who brought the marshmellows? Nobody? Selfish?

So we go to the group back at Sakuya’s house and Nadeshiko explains that four churches have been burned down over the last few nights but that’s the biggest problem.

Meaning that whoever did this trying to weaken the city spiritually so something can be done. Is it Isuca? Nah it’s that guy that was healing.

Whatever it is that they said, it ticks Sakuya off. She’s probably suspecting what I’m thinking. That Isuca is her sister!

Cue Dramatic music

After all the odds of someone having the same true name as you is low as throwing a rock off a bridge and having it land in a cup in a boat. It’s technically possible but highly unlikely.

Or for an analogy that others can understand. It’s the same thing has being able to get a 5 IV Shiny Latias with Hidden Power Fire. It’s technically possibility but so rare it’s impossible without help.

So Sakuya leaves and goes to the archery range to practice. Of course Shin goes to see what’s up and gets this for his trouble.

That’s why you don’t mess with someone that’s using a bow.

So Shin’s wondering if Isuca’s having an effect on Sakuya. Will she release the seal on the bow again to beat her?

We don’t know yet. So we go to the next day and Shin meets up with Suseri and goes up with her.

And while they walk home, Shin asks Suseri about the true name thing and the odds that someone can have the same true name as another person.

But the odds that two people will connect to the same name are odd.

So we get back home and everyone’s getting ready to defend the last church. If this one falls Yokohama is going to be spiritually defenseless. Who know what will happen? Evil monsters getting through? Magic beyond limits being cast?

So we need all hands on deck…except Sakuya. She’s on back up. She’s too emotionally involved in this to make a good decision plus her Spirit Bow is out of the game.

So Tamako will take the raid position while Suseri and Shin are on offense. Let’s hope that they can get a win.

But Sakuya’s against it. Mostly because she’s scared that he’ll die. She definitely felt how mortal he was back in the subway with the smoke spirit. But Shin manages to reassure her.

So we move to the church where we get Isuca and we see that her arm’s back.

The team tries to beat Isuca but no dice. Isuca gets the drop on Shin and gives him a bite while the church is burned down.

Now Yokohama is wide open for attack. Who’s going to make their move?

So the next day we get this little girl at the door.

Aw ain’t she cute? I can just fold her up in my pocket and keep her there.

Eh? EEEEH? How?! She looks like she’s in middle school at the latest?! How damn it! How!?

So why is she here other than to troll the crap out of everyone that doesn’t know about this?

Oh that’s easy.

But at least she understands why she acted the way she did since they’re facing the Asahina.

Asahina…Suzuka? They’re fighting the characters from the Suzuka manga? Yeah…I know bad joke. Let’s get back to it then.

But the main reason why Sakuya’s so troubled…the Asahina are her father’s family.

So after Nami the Grandma Loli the group throws around the idea that Isuca isn’t a human but a homoculus. It’s a type of human made by alchemy and it’s the speciality of the Asahina family.

Apparently everyone was thinking that just because Sakuya’s father married in Shimazu things would be all cool and nice. Wrong. He just was bidding his time…for pure evil!

Anyway it gets to the point that Sakuya wants to know about her parents. The truth is too much for Sakuya to know.

But Sakuya’s grandma takes Shin to talk about things. They talk about if Shin is willing to stick with Sakuya even though it’d hard and getting harder every day. Of course he says yeah.

Aw this sounds like a grandma talking to her future grandson in law.

We need some excitment.

Killed the Loli! You bastards!

Damn it Shin! Can’t do anything right! Protect the Loli at all costs!

So now Isuca’s killed Nami it’s time to do a summoning.

Well…that’s a big snake.

Looks like they destroyed all the churchs in Yokohama just so Isuca could summon this thing.

Now it’s getting serious and the battle against the snake ain’t going good for Nadeshiko, Suseri, Matsuri, and Tamako.

At the same time, it’s Sakuya vs. Isuca!

Apparently Nami’s alive. That loli body is just a puppet body. Thank God the Loli’s safe!

But now it’s the final battle between Sakuya and Isuca and things aren’t going well for Sakuya.

And the episode ends with this.

Well yeah…I wouldn’t say I lost interest but I’m not that motivated. I’m more eager for the Spring Season to start but I’ll stick to the end of this series and deliver the final review.

So until the next review,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

Why? Because they sell Google Play and iTunes cards! If you’re playing Love Live and buying your Love Gems, you can get your Google Play and iTunes credit here:

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Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 8: Date A Suseri!

I couldn’t think of a title for this one that wasn’t a direct spoiler. I’m struggling to hold it in until the end of the review…

So we come back after last week’s episode and Sakuya’s in coma after using the final technique of the Shimazu.

After taking the seal off her bow, she got her spiritual energy drained down to nothing. But no worries since a kiss from Shin will get her off her bench.

I’m not fond of this. If you were going to have her use this legendary technique that will kill her then the fix shouldn’t be so easy.

So after the opening, we have a Shimazu family meeting where it’s shown that Sakuya’s not going to be banished despite having her true name revealed.

This is Suseri’s mom so I guess that makes her Sakuya’s aunt. Anyway she’s all against Sakuya still being in the running for the head of the family. Sad mom just sad. Suseri can’t win any other way?

She also makes excuses for her like saying that Suseri wasn’t at her best last episode when she fought Isuca. All she did was run a bit and use two summons then she proceeded to get wrecked. Why? Because she fought alone.

Anyway Suseri then asks to do this thing called the Ritual of Exorcism. What ever it is sounds bad and sounds like the plot of our episode!

So next we see Shin walking to the market but then meets up with Suseri. She asks to go with him and he lets her.

And the whole thing turns into a psuedo date. He takes her out for ice cream, he takes her shopping, they talk. It’s all really nice.

Shin has a good time but it looks like Suseri is basically along for the ride.

It’s revealed that she, despite her talent and good looks, is very dependant on her mother and others to make decisions for her. She couldn’t pick out clothes at the store. She didn’t even know that she liked ice cream.

Why doesn’t she know this stuff? Mostly its on her mother. That old witch trained and trained Suseri all the time to become the head of the family.

Childhood? Playtime? That’s for fools like Sakuya apparently. And that lead to a lot of resentment on Suseri’s side because from her side it looked like Sakuya was going to be head of the family with little to no work while she busted her butt everyday nonstop.

So after their date, Suseri goes to a field with Matsuri(her handmaiden who’s name I couldn’t remember) and Nadeshiko and this guy shows up…

Wait isn’t that the lightning beast that Sakuya sealed in the first episode?

So a scene later we get this.

Wow that was fast.

So after that Nadeshiko explains that the Ritual of Exorcism is a battle with a Yokai to try and make it your Shikigami like the Kamatachi that Suseri uses.

…

She was trying to tame that huge thing? Let’s start with something smaller first like a squirrel or something.

So since Suseri insists on going back to fight it again Shin decides to go with her.

However he isn’t much help.

Yet his presence does make Suseri change. Well not just his presence at the fight. That entire day changed her. Now she wants to think and act for herself. And she even admits that she cares about and looks up to Sakuya. How can you tell?

And what’s Suseri’s true name. Sakuya. That’s right in the feels man.

And with that Suseri kisses Shin and uses a bit of his power to defeat the lightning beasts. Granted she didn’t defeat him with power. She beat him with her determination and that’s a better victory than just overpowering something.

So when Shin wakes up, the lightning beast is already tamed and needs a name.

Must hold it in…failing to hold it in…

Rejoice Emiya Shiro!

Now that felt good. With this episode I think that I can like Suseri more than just a sexy fanservice girl without a personality.

And with that the episode ends.

We’re at the final two episodes. I’m curious how things are going to end with Isuca. Originally I thought that Isuca was going to suck but it has a certain appeal to it.

So until the next episode,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

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Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 5: From Tsun to Dere: The Story of Sakuya Shimazu

Slow it down, Sakuya! You can’t just change it up all quick like this. You’ll give the viewer a wicked case of whiplash.

So we start off the episode with Shin just casually walking home when Sakuya turns up. Apparently she was waiting for him…in the most tsundere way possible.

After that we see that Suseri and her handmaiden whose name I can’t remember are watching.

So once the opening is over, we get this.

Ah she’s naked…this is getting too common.

So when Shin says that she put on some underwear she shows that she has been trying…with Sakuya’s underwear.

Now you all know that Tamako’s stacked and Sakuya’s not. That’s be the same thing as trying to stick a watermelon in one of those small produce bags they have at supermarkets. It’s just not possible. Although the attempt is funny.

So Sakuya tries to go for a classic tsundere slap but Shin’s got those instincts. He dodges like a hero but then he falls on top of her.

After that we see Shin cooking and then Sakuya comes in. Shin tries to apologize but Sakuya won’t take it.

They’re mine. Granted I haven’t had a date in a while. Dry spells are painful.

So Shin has enough of it and closes her in to talk.

Looks like he was about to say that he loves her and kiss her but Nadeshiko comes up and ruins the moment. So close.

So turns out that Shin’s getting a weapon to fight the Yokai. Finally he ain’t going to get owned all the time.

So the next day Shin and his friend are checking out the girls’ kendo team. Shin must be there to check out sword techniques…the other guy must be there for bouncing boobs. I’m more on the other guy’s side in this one.

So after school, Sakuya waits for Shin but she gets Suseri instead.

They have the conversation that now that Shin has a weapon he’ll be in the line of fire more than ever. The fact that Suseri is bringing this up means that she might have real feelings for Shin.

So we go to the subway and we see this.

Who’s that Pokemon?

Seven episode and it takes me this long to do that joke? What is wrong with me?

So our group goes down to the subway but it’s dark so it’s hard to see. Wait Tamako’s a cat so she can see in the dark.

Fail at being a cat…

So they reach the stopped train find that everyone’s unconscious. What happened?

So it’s our friend here, the smoke spirit.

Oh this is going to be interesting.

Seriously you’re trying to cut the air. It’s like trying to attack a ghost with a stick or going against a tank with a Nerf gun. It just doesn’t work and you look dumb doing it.

So the only logical move is to run!

But this spirit’s smarter than the average one. It cuts them off at the pass. So the only way to get out is to the vents to get suck out the smoke. Shin goes for it and get some respect from me. Not Arata or Minato from Sekirei level respect but something I can say he’s a C-level Harem Protagonist.

He goes right at the Smoke Spirit and turns on the ventilation system to get rid of the Smoke Spirit. Unfortunately he stops breathing. Come on bro don’t die after finally getting some awesome points.

Sakuya and the handmaiden’s who’s name can’t be remembered start giving some CPR while Suseri goes outside.

She sees the smoke spirit with that girl that’s been troubling us for the entire anime. You know what she does? She kills the smoke spirit and goes at the girl.

So after Shin’s back on her feet they go outside we see this.

See reckless. Even though she did it for a good reason it’s still reckless.

And with the girl with the stick says what her name is…

As in Sakuya’s true name?

And that’s enough to pull Sakuya to the limit and use the Final Sealing Technique of the Shimazu. It takes off Isuca’s arm but it looks like Sakuya passed out too.

Looks like we’ve moved into the final parts of this anime. I can’t wait until we reach the ending. Now things are getting interesting.

So until the next episode,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

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Google Play

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Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 6: Why Isn’t A Cat Fine Too, Shin?

I have to know damnit! Why don’t you choose Tamako?! A Cat is fine too, Shin!!!

Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyone? Laugh in the comments if you get the reference.

So in this episode we finally get the truth of the Shimazu family as well as the reason that Sakuya didn’t want Shin to find out her true name.

So during the episode while at school, Nadeshiko explains that Sakuya runs the possibility of losing her shot at being the heir because remember when you learn someone’s true name and say it they are under your command. That just doesn’t work for someone that’s the leader of a family of Yokai hunters.

Rejoice Shinchiro! You screwed up Sakuya’s one chance at happiness.

So after school this is one thing that gets me.

There’s no subtext. She ran right at him naked. And…I can’t even call him my man because he can’t even come close to Arata from Trinity Seven! He isn’t worthy to be in the same room. Still an okay guy just not as good as Arata.

Still why can’t he like Tamako? A cat’s fine too!

So the next day Shin talks with Suseri about the situation and she basically says the following “Forget my sister and give me all your power”

As a harem protagonist he’s borderline legally bound to say no but still…working with Suseri would be better for him on his side. She’s hot, physically…attractive(she’s freaking stacked for someone’s that’s only around 15 or 16), and she’s relatively calm. If you cut out that, reckless streak she’d be perfect. However I like the fact that Shin’s sticking with Sakuya despite all the benefits he could get from Suseri.

So after school Shin and Sakuya go home but she gets frustrated with him following her but finally decides to accept the current events.

She explains her past about her family. Turns out that she’s kid of a Western Mage and a woman from the Shimazu. The Shimazu to make sure that they keep getting more powerful in their magic and techniques…they keep in it the family.

Yes I mean it like that.

It’s probably more like 2nd and 3rd cousins marrying so it’s nothing extreme like that.

So once they get home, they get this cool mirror. Wait a second…how did Tamako sign for it? She doesn’t have a last name!

Sakuya and Shin get pulled in and have to fight against the darkness inside Sakuya’s heart. Sakuya has just had it rough. Hated by her family, her parents missing, no one will tell her what happened. She’s always been alone…

This is actually a pretty good fight. It actually shows a lot of Sakuya’s power and her real feelings. It’s definitely an internal battle. The actual attacks mean very little. This battle is more so Sakuya can accept the hatred she has in her heart for the head family as well as admit to herself that she’s alone.

Sakuya manages to win the fight by Shin kissing Dark Sakuya and finding out the Spirit’s true name.

After that they get kicked out of the mirror and walk home. Shin swears that he’ll help Sakuya find her parents. Nice of him. And the big part is that Sakuya starts allowing Shin to call her by first name. That’s a big step in friendships in Japan.

I think that we have something here. Not a legendary harem anime but something that has its own niche. Not super good but something deserves at least one view.

So we’ve got something good out of this episode. Let’s hope that we stay on this road.

So until the next episode,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

Why? Because they sell Google Play and iTunes cards! If you’re playing Love Live and buying your Love Gems, you can get your Google Play and iTunes credit here:

Google Play

Google Play Card (US$10 / for US accounts only)

Google Play Card (US$25 / for US accounts only)

iTunes

iTunes Card (US$ 10 / for US accounts only)

iTunes Card (US$ 15 / for US accounts only)

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Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 5: I’m Getting Into It

Compared to this week, Fairy Tail episode, Isuca is way better. And now we know why the name is Isuca

So we start off the episode by Nadeshiko explaining that’s Shin’s got this ability called the Eye of Truth.

So all he needs is a kiss or for someone to kiss him? How did he find out the sword’s name? Oh he had it in his mouth. He’s like a baby. He learns about the world by putting stuff in his mouth. There are so many more jokes that I do but they might be dirty.

So after school we go to Sakuya’s house and while Shin’s making dinner Sakuya gets angry because using the same dishes will be a indirect kiss. Sweetie it doesn’t work like that.

So the next day we find out that Suseri brought in a lot of folks from the Shimazu family to check some stuff out the school but Sakuya ain’t liking it. But her grandma says get over it basically.

Then when we finally get into the action that mage from the last few episodes calls up a wall monster and uses some of the Shimazu folk as hostages.

It takes some time to talk her into it but finally Sakuya beats the monster but unfortunately all the Shimazu people died in the walls. And then that mage mocks her for it. Now that’s just cruel.

So going off without thinking Sakuya and the others run into a trap and get caught by a Spider or rather a Jorogumo. She and Shin get caught up with it and the only way out is for Shin to give her a boost but she doesn’t want him to find out her True Name. So with their lives on the line, Shin forces the kiss on her and Sakuya gets powerful enough to beat the Jorogumo and he learns Sakuya’s true name is Isuca just like the anime.

So with that the episode ends. I just got to wonder why doesn’t want her true name being known. It’s obvious that she’s half Japanese and half something else. I guess we’ll find out in the next episode.

Until then,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

Why? Because they sell Google Play and iTunes cards! If you’re playing Love Live and buying your Love Gems, you can get your Google Play and iTunes credit here:

Google Play

Google Play Card (US$10 / for US accounts only)

Google Play Card (US$25 / for US accounts only)

iTunes

iTunes Card (US$ 10 / for US accounts only)

iTunes Card (US$ 15 / for US accounts only)

Feel free to buy here or not. Just know that you’ll be supporting AnimeThief a little bit and getting those Super Rare and Ultra Rare cards!

Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 3:Nozomi Transferred?

So Nozomi-sama got transfered to a different temple and ended up being part of Isuca? What’s up with that?

So this episode of Isuca starts off with Shin(yeah Shinichiro is too long to write so we’re just going to call him Shin) finally finishing cleaning up Sakuya’s dirty as I don’t know what house. But he’s still got some work to do like…

Putting together his room…what happened?

Turns out that Nadeshiko moved all his stuff over to Sakuya’s place without telling him. Of course Sakuya gets made as a tsundere would, saying that a girl living with a guy he might try and hurt her.

He says it with that I’m not into you type of sound. And just to make sure that everyone stays unmolested Tamako’s going to be staying too.

I don’t think it’s safe with him. Maybe he can do like a lot of people and forget she’s a cat. He might wanna…I need a cat pun that relates to the situation … I can’t think of anything.

So we just flash to school where all that is explained through a flashback then it’s afterschool and Sakuya, Shin, and Tamako get into a fight with a tree spirit.

You know I have a cure for tree spirits. It’s called fire. It works 100% of the time and it also works on a variety of matters.

But good old Mother Nature’s not all bark and no brains and takes a hostage. Oh no a hostage. I guess you better put down your bow, Sakuya. You know what they say ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’ If using hostages is all it takes to put her out of the game then she needs to get a new playbook.

Aw it’s cute.

Looks like Temari, the ninja lumberjack lost her weasel. Come on that’s a good Naruto joke.

Anyway we see that the person firing off weasels is actually Suseri, Sakuya’s younger sister. Well less younger sister and more younger cousin.

Oh gosh she’s hot! And she looks like Nozomi. Shoot. Put her hair in some twintails and give her some green eyes and they could be twins.

Side Note: Aina Kusada cut her hair.

She still looks cute as a button but now she can’t do the Nozomi twintails during lives now. I like her new look but can she grow out her hair in time for the next live?)

So they head back to Sakuya’s house where Suseri explains that she wants Shin to come back to Kamakura with her. Then Nadeshiko explains that Sakuya is the technical head of their family and won’t be the true leader until she and Suseri become adults. However there are a lot of people that are on Suseri’s side so she’s not very popular. Tough.

Hmmm I’d choose Suseri. She’s hotter and she’s not a tsundere with more tsun than dere.

As to why he’s got to choose…because Shin’s got a massive amount of Life Force and can recover fast he’s a good source of Life force these girls. So when confronted with a choice, he takes a book out of Kodaka Hasegawa’s book and runs away to the bath.

Poor boy doesn’t even know this is a harem anime. They don’t have any qualms about going into the bath with you. Look.

He goes from poor boy to lucky boy! I assume he must be suffering right now, beautiful girl with large boobs naked in the bath with him.

Poor guy must be losing his mind right now. Then something happens. I can’t really understand it because the censor is white and things are hazy because of the steam….wait a second I get it now. Come on Arms. You threw his face down below the belt again! Where’s the subtlety!?

And apparently she knocked him out…I want to believe it’s because he hit his head on the bathroom floor because the alternative is too perverted even for me to say.

So the next thing we know he’s in the car and they’re driving back to Kamakura. He’s got clothes on that means she must have dressed him… this girl…

So she kidnaps him and then she says that if he basically becomes her mana battery, she do anything he wants starting with finishing up with what they did in the bath.

Hmm this actually requires some thought. On one hand, she’s hot and no tsundere, on the other hand she’s so emotionless and clinical you probably feel like you’re with a doll.

So it doesn’t take long for something to go wrong in this case they get trapped in what looks like a bridge but it’s a loop so they can’t get away.

And with today’s gas prices they’ll always be ready for a fight! Gas is really low in my area. It’s only $2.39. Really cheap.

So the driver tries to fight back and I’ll let you guess what happened:

1. The driver wins

2. Because he has no name he dies.

If you think two then you’re right in this show’s demographic!

And he gets eaten Attack on Titan style. Suseri tries to beat it but only after two shots she’s asking for power from Shin.

Slow down girl. You only fired two shots off. Let’s wait a bit before we start the lip locking.

So turns out that Sakuya and the others managed to figure out what was going on and came to help out. Sakuya shot an arrow at the car’s heart and it looks like it killed it.

Side Note: I love the fact that no one has mentioned that the driver just died like ten seconds ago. No name no love, right?

So right when they think they think that they’ve gotten away, a fire starts and the car comes back to life and traps them.

Of course this is a harem anime so something perverted has to happen. It’s like the rules.

Come on Arms. How many times is that going to be shoved his face?

So with their lives in danger and the fact that he can’t turn around or reach anyone else, Shin kisses Sakuya to give her a boost in power.

And with that Shin gets another burst of memories. I’m starting to think every time he gets kissed he gets memories for humans and true names for the Yokai. Just a thought.

So after the battle Suseri leaves back for Kamakura but it’s easy to see that she’ll be back. After all she’s a part of the harem now.

I’m slowly getting into this anime. It’s not the best harem anime mostly because it does what all standard harems do. It’s relying on the female cast but at least Tamako, Suseri, and even Nadeshiko are more interesting than Sakuya’s too tsundereness.

I’ve got one more episode to decide if I’m going to stick with one until the end of the season. Based on this episode it’s tied. Episode 1 was horrible and Episode 2 was pretty good since it was more focused on Tamako. This episode was half and half.

Anyway next week’s episode will be the decider. Let’s hope that it comes through for me.

Until next week,
Later Days

Let’s Look:Isuca Episode 2: Ouch Right Into Original Material

Now there’s an art to female characters in a harem since the guy is so bland. Make those girls shine! They’re the reason we came here!

So before I get started I want to say that I read the first two chapters of the Isuca manga. It was really good. Little fanservice, Sakuya didn’t wail on Shinichiro every ten seconds. And our cute little Nekomata was actually the villain. I’m guess Arms is going for either the compression or the completely different way route for this adapation.

Anyway I like this episode better so it gets a normal review.

So after the events last week’s episode, Sakuya pulls back her bow, ready to shoot a red haired kitty even though she helped them last week. No sense of gratitude in this girl.

So what are you going to Ms. Kitty?

That works…

So the Nekomata says she’ll send Shinichiro’s head flying if she doesn’t put down the bow. However looks like Sakuya doesn’t even care. She sticks to the job!

Now the next part is equal parts Japanese humor and Sakuya calling Shinichiro stupid. She makes the pun, calling the Nekomata a stupid cat ‘Baka Neko’ and then the Nekomata counters by saying she’s a monster cat ‘Bake Neko’.

It’s a Japanese word play thing. They’d see it as funny. I disagree. Anyway despite that Sakuya puts down her bow and says she wishes she knew the cat’s True Name.

After that we go to the opening song, I’m not particularly fond it but if that’s your thing I’ll put up a link for it once I can find one.

So after the opening Sakuya explains about True Names. If you got a Yokai’s True Name then you can control them.

So the Nekomata thanks Shinichiro for basically being dumb enough to get caught and kisses him on the cheek.

I’d be blushing if I was him. Cute girl with cat ears and a nice body. I’d try to repress that fact that she used to be a cat. But hey some people are into that, look at the furry community.

So once she kisses him, Shinichiro gets a whole bunch of memories.

And then Shinchiro says one thing, Tama, which turns out to be the Nekomata’s true name. What’s up with that.

Now for selfless self promotion and information giving, I’m going to link you to my old blog, Thief Fantasy and Other Mystical Happenings. You can read my article about BakeNeko and then come back.

It’s okay. I’ll wait for you to come back…
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Are you back? Okay back to the review.

So now that Sakuya knows her True Name, she’s about to go in on Tama.

So cute.

However that doesn’t get Sakuya off her case. What does is this.

Ah the one weakness of a harem tsundere.

So after Shinichiro goes on Tama’s behalf, Sakuya lets her off the hook for the moment.

Tama gets so happy she does the following.

Well he didn’t get a hand full more like a face full.

So we head back to Sakuya’s place and Minori Chihara!

I don’t use the Lord’s name in vain so I use something else.

Gosh this is just disgusting. How does a girl live in this? I thought girls were clean.

So after Tama and Sakuya get into an argument, Nadeshiko(the teacher with the boobs from the first episode) breaks it up.

Then Nadeshiko explains Sakuya’s circumstances. Her family is a side family of the main Shimazu family and she lives completely alone.

Where are her parents or we’re going with the classic dead parents stuff right?

So after Sakuya returns from getting dressed Nadeshiko says that Shinichiro is the new maid.

She doesn’t really want him around but look at the place. I’d take any help I could get.

After that Shinichiro and Tama get the place cleaned up and we flash to the next day at school.

Those two girls that Shinchiro helped thank him but then Sakuya comes into Shinchiro’s class. She’s acting all nice and stuff but we all know that she’s going to go off him.

So after the hallways clear Sakuya tells the reason for this little conversation.

Hmm and what is a gate? Turns out that a gate is one of those fancy doors to another world where Yokai like Tama come through.

That’s right bro. You just the maid.

But Sakuya ain’t going to let him slide…mostly because he took her first kiss. Aww quit the whining. You’re in a harem manga. Things happen like this.

So after Sakuya manhandles we switch over to three girls in the locker room where we see some rats staring at them.

Then we switch over again to Sakuya and Shinchiro going to Nadeshiko’s office where this happens.

Where’d she come from?

So then Nadeshiko explains that she couldn’t let her run wild around with Kamikura being so near. One of the other mystics would find her. Sakuya tries to order back to the house but then Tama reminds her that Shinchiro’s her master because he said her name first.

Then after a quick explanation by Nadeshiko and Sakuya trying to get rid of Tama, we get this.

Looks like he got a look at her panties.

0_0

Does that mean…no they can’t have implied that…aw who we kidding. She just flashed her lower parts right in his face. I think I just found my favorite.

So after Sakuya goes all standard tsundere on him we switch to those girls in their underwear. Only this time they’re getting attacked by rats.

Someone hasn’t hired the exterminator in a while…

So the group runs to the locker room where they find:

1. A sick scene of a blood covered floor with the bodies of young girls

2. High school girls half naked on the ground, moaning like they just got happy

If you chose the second one you are squarely in this show’s demographic and you’re one for one.

Turns out that they’re having their life force being stolen by those rats. Sakuya do something!

…

You live in a dump and you’re afraid of rats and roaches?

Anyway the rats pull together and become this thing…

So he jumps out of the window and Tama goes after him. Now check this out.

Looks like she’s got a black hole under that skirt. That’s the joke that’s going around now a days since Arms decided to censor everything.

So once they catch up to Tama, we see that she’s got a whole bunch of rats to deal with…what is a group of rats called?

Anyway Tama’s doing pretty good until she runs out of Life Force. Turns out that’s she’s never done it before and if she doesn’t fill up soon she’s going to disappear.

So Shinchiro comes up with the idea but it’s risky. She’ll just keep coming back for more and soon she’ll suck him dry.

But before they can go and talk about some more stuff the ground breaks and they fall into some type of underground cavern.

Of course this is a harem series so they land like this.

You can’t get stuff like this in a shojo manga!

So now the fight starts up and Sakuya can’t even get a shot off because the rats just steal the arrows right out of the air. After that the rats get in her face and then Sakuya’s out of the game.

Tama tries to go in but she gets owned to.

Seeing that there’s no way out, Shinchiro asks Tama to take his life force…and well…

And tongue kissed him and can you see that spit trail. As if it wasn’t obvious that there was some tongue action going on.

So Tama goes over 9000(I had to do it) and runs right through the Rat Spirit.

After that Shinichiro goes to sleep and once he wakes up, he asks if Tama’s okay.

She’s fine.

Aw that’s nice of her. It’s a thing that cats do when they go hunting. They’ll give the catch to their owner.

So they head back to Sakuya’s house and Nadeshiko explains that Shinchiro’s life force has already returned. So basically he can top off her tank as much and as how often he wants and he can even give Sakuya a boost.

So before the end of the episode, Shinchiro gives Tama another name and calls her Tamako so she can hide her true name from other people.

And with that the episode ends but not before we see this girl.

She reminds me of Nozomi, big boobs, purple hair, and a shrine maiden…

Anyway. Like I said at the beginning, right in the original material. The anime is okay but it’s nothing like the original. I think that the original a bit better but I’ve only read two chapters so I can’t really make a claim.

We’ll only see if this is better with time. And until that time, we’ve got to wait and watch to see if Arms isn’t going to drop the ball.

We’re sitting back and wait for Arms to fail.
So until then,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Let’s Look: Harem Genre

Okay we’re here and this is my talk about Harem Genre.

Okay this post came from me watching the first episode of the anime Isuca. I’m not knocking the anime in any way but I do want to talk about some stuff about the harem genre. That being standards.

Standardized harems are basically what I call pulling together archetypes girl characters, a boring and bland male main character throwing them into a setting and letting it go.

That’s not good. Any anime or manga that you just slap on the butt and send out into the world isn’t very good.

Generally and this is with any type of writing, relying on an archetype is in general a bad thing. Yet at the same time archtypes are the building blocks of characters. So then why are they bad? Because everyone seen that before.

For example, Maki Nishikino of Love Live fame.

 

Her archtype is of the tsundere girl that hides her feelings. Standard as the day is long. Right?

The archtype is standard but Maki herself isn’t. She’s her own play on the classic archetype. She’s far more dere than tsun and she’s shown to care a lot about her friends in Muse. Combine that with the fact that she’s a redhead voiced by Pile she’s easily one of the most popular members of Muse.

So Maki is an example of archetype done well.

However as for archtypes done wrong…you can look anywhere for those. Here’s a hint to find them. If a character after you get their backstory or some major arc is still the same that’s an archetype gone bad.

So let’s apply this to the harem genre.

Classically a harem genre character at least the main male protagonist is supposed to be wish fulfillment. That’s right you can just slip yourself right into their shoes and have all these hot girls.

Unfortunately to do this the main character has to be boring and bland which is boring if you’re either looking at the show critically or want something more than just one guy getting three or four girls.

Now that’s sad and boring and the harem genre would be nothing but, no offense, guys just staring at hot girls on tv.

Now there are some good harem shows. The ones that start off with a bland main male protagonist and he grows to be something good. I’m going to give you a list of the ones that I’ve seen and my experiences with them.

1. Rosario Vampire

So Rosario Vampire isn’t the first harem I watched. Just the first one I remember. Tsukune Aono is the standard harem protagonist but he grows to have more personality and actually sticks to his decision to only be with Moka, the female protagonist. He actually gets into fights and protects his friends. That gets him a mention on my list.

2. Sekirei

Now on Mangafox I’m known as Shadowkeep12 and I…well used to be a consistent force in the Sekirei forums. That’s how I got into the Sekirei anime along with the Funimation dub of it. Minato Sahashi grows from the standard harem main character to someone that can legitimately emotionally support and be there for his girls and his friends. It’s a good thing to see since he was a wimp back in the beginning of the manga.

3. Trinity Seven

Now if I had to guess this anime/manga is the main reason why I reacted so big to Isuca being so standard. Trinity Seven has non-standard main character in Arata and actually wants a harem! Arata’s the guy that’s already a good harem main character and gets better. All the girls are deeper than they look on the surface and that’s interesting too.

4. Sora no Otoshimono

Very similar to Trinity Seven. While Tomoki doesn’t know that he’s got a harem that doesn’t stop him from indulging his perversions with the girls in it. However that doesn’t mean that’s he’s just a old pervert. No one cares more about people than Tomoki Sakurai.

And that’s it in terms of my favorite harems.

Like I said in my Isuca review, I’m going to stay on it until the 3rd episode. If it’s not good by then, I’m dropping it.

So until the next review,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Let’s Look: Isuca Episode 1: Eh Not Good, Not Bad

Hmm the title says it all. Not bad but not good either. Maybe the legendary Arata from last season set the bar too high.

So here we go! The classic of each season. You’ve got to have that classic harem anime with the ecchi in there.

….

EEEEH? How? Why? Arms! It’s the first freaking 10 seconds of the anime and you start with this! Work your way up to full out nudity!

So…

Inner Writer:Stopppu!

Deven: What?

Inner Writer: We’re doing a Super Mini Review version of this post.

Deven: Why?

Inner Writer: You know why. You’re tired of standard stupid fanservicey harem anime. Let’s say something about it!

Deven: Yeah!

So I just talked myself into it. So this review is going to be a Super Mini Review. I know it’s bad for a season premiere review to be a Super Mini Review but hey the animators didn’t care about premieres since it was last anime to come out this season.

So at the end of this review I’ll be talking about harem anime and why they have a somewhat bad reputation.

So let’s continue. So it looks like the centipede lady is going to eat our rather bland protagonist but looks like it gets shot by an arrow to the forehead.

It used to be a hero but then it took an arrow to the knee. That’s for the Skyrim fans.

Anyway we flash to the next day where our MC Shinichiro is talking his best friend about the girls and about how his parents functionally abandoned him when our female main character Sakuya makes her appearance and when she appears she does the classic, kicking the main character.

So after that Shinichiro goes to the nurse’s office and she’s got…Lilith like endowments… She patches him up and when he says that he needs a job to keep up the rent she tricks him into cleaning the Chemistry lab.

After doing that he finds a cute girl with red hair and a kimono stuck on a tree. After pulling her loose, she turns out to be a Nekomata or a two tailed cat. Sakuya comes by and berates him for letting her go but then another Yokai shows up. This one plays with lightning instead of fire.

So Shinichiro, Sakuya, and the Nekomata fight against the other Yokai. Things happen, Sakuya gets stripped down to her panties, Shinichiro gets slapped and the day manages to get saved somewhere in-between all of that.

And with that is the end of episode 1. I’m going to be straight with you. I’m not fond of this one. It seems really standard harem with a tsundere. I’m fond of tsunderes but not this type. My kind of tsunderes are more dere than tsun like Maki or Tsukiumi from Sekirei.

Anyway as an Anime blogger, my drop policy is that I can only drop an anime after it is a 1/3 of the way finished. So since Isuca is a ten episode anime and ten is unfortunately not divisible by 3, I’ll be passing judgement on this anime after the 4th episode.

So Isuca had a bad start. Maybe it can get its head together on the second episode,

Until then,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!