天下制覇

Expose yourself to martial arts.

Impressions:

Eh, an alright episode I suppose, but easily the weakest so far. It probably would have been a little more interesting if… oh… I don’t know… not for the ED showing them happily chatting. It’s rare that the ED spoils things, but it’s not like the plot is the big driving force of this show. Let’s keep that particular triangle to Ibuki and Ayame for minimal annoyance. I just don’t like Angela or Tsubasa all that much and I was tired of hearing Angie say "Tsubame Banten" about 5 minutes into the episode. Get shorter names, you damn crazy martial arts styles.

I am happy that neither Tsubasa nor Angela fell for Yoichi, though I question Washizu as a romantic interest. I think Ayame would have made a much better crush for Tsubasa-vision. We could go into some true Utena-esque scenes there. Shaggy shoujo Washizu just looks like he escaped from a poodle grooming with his hair half done. It does look like we’re pretty much done with the new characters for at least a week or two, and I’m fully expecting this mysterious person out to crush Yoichi to be his father. How is Yoichi supposed to even have enemies? I don’t think anybody else even knew he was alive until he left the mountains a week ago.

Edit:
Oh right, Black God. Watched it hours ago. It had a lot more action than last week, but it was mostly pretty embarassingly bad. I’ll probably give it one more episode, but it was the usual massive ball of detestable angst plus some action, albeit mostly painfully lame, plus one naked powerup scene. Oh boy.

Two girls walk through a hallway. They emerge into the sunlight and Tsubasa starts gushing over all the couples and all the delicious foods etc etc. The other (Angela) is fine with that, but they must defeat the inheritor of the Ukiha style first, Karasuma Yoichi. It should be fun. She looks down, but Tsubasa has run off, leaving a teddy bear in her place.

At the dojo, the crew is in the middle of cleaning. Ibuki and Yoichi poke fun at Ayame as they do it. Ayame flashes back to the other two sisters telling Ayame that she needs to get along with Yoichi and Ibuki, and Ayame agrees without really thinking.

Back in the present, Ayame glances over at Yoichi. He asks her what’s up, and sends her into tsundere catalytic shock. She runs off. Yoichi’s declares that he won’t lose. Ibuki’s a bit more intelligently curious.

At school, there’s a new transfer student. Tsubasa shyly enters to the cheers of the male students. Even Yoichi thinks that she’s cute, earning him a beating. From outside the window, Angie watches.

Flashback to Tsubasa begging to be allowed to go to school. Angie misunderstands and thinks that it’s some kind of plan, and Tsubasa doesn’t correct her.

Back to reality, the attendant is so happy about Tsubasa stepping forward and mentally tells Yoichi that he’s screwed. Inside, Tsubasa identifies Yoichi. Angie thinks that Tsubasa will defintely beat her. Tsubasa thinks to herself that she absolutely will not. She doesn’t want that.

Later, the bell rings. Tsubasa quietly and shyly sits there as other students come up to her. She immediately feels relieved, she can be a normal girl with a normal life. The students start asking her all about her former school and the past, but she was raised in the mountains and ABSOLUTELY can’t tell them anything like that. In her panic, she completely freezes up.

The interrogation continues, about her favorite TV show (TV confiscated),  favorite song (CDs confiscated), favorite etc etc. Tsubasa completely shuts down.

Elsewhere in the classroom, Ibuki yells at two guys for playing with a soccer ball. He slips up and heads it straight at Tsubasa, but without even noticing it, she slashes the ball in half with her hand. She sees what she’s done with surprise and starts to panic. Her normal life is lost.

Yoichi decalres her amazing and starts talking to her about much fun school is. Ibuki steps in to chastise him a little bit and apologize for the others harassing her. She and Yoichi introduce themselves. Angie calls it amazing, and just as expected of Tsubasa.

Class continues, on to lunch, and on and on with Angie waiting for Tsubasa to strike. School ends, and they all say their good byes.

Tsubasa happily walks home after her fun day. She runs headlong into Washizu’s pair. Lackey yells at her about her rudeness and demand she apologize. Washizu holds up his hand to have him stop. He recognizes her as the transfer student and tells her to be more careful before walking off. Tsubasa goes into delusion mode and pictures Washizu as a glorious bastard.

Angie hops out of the bushes to confront her. Tsubasa tries to tell her that the chance never came, but Angie accuses her of not accepting her responsibilities. They were hired to assassinate Yoichi, and for the honor of their clan, they have to accomplish their mission. Tsubasa, on the other hand, has replaced herself with a teddy bear again. 

 As she runs away in tears, she thinks to herself that this is the first time she’s had friends and freedom. She runs into Yoichi and Ibuki. Angie rushes forward and tears Tsubasa’s clothes off, revealing a leather ensemble.

Angie says that it had to come to this and introduces her clan/tells Yoichi to prepare himself. Yoichi’s temporarily stunned with a nosebleed. Ibuki goes to help Tsubasa back into her clothes, but when she picks them up, realizes that there’s something strange about them. She looks over to Tsubasa, but she’s already attacking Yoichi.

He blocks the first couple attacks, but is kicked away by her third. Her eyes are totally lifeless. Yoichi tries to figure out what’s going on while the other males gawk. Angie explains that this is Tsubasa’s ability. She’s naturally a very shy girl, and there’s no way around that. Therefore Angie used that and systematically exposed her repeatedly to train her to become an emotionless killing weapon when sufficently embarassed.

Yoichi yells at Tsubasa to stop, but she attacks again. As she goes to backhand him, Washizu steps in, asking what’s up and she completely stops. Washizu’s delusions kick in and he imagines Tsubasa as another one of Yoichi’s conquests. He gets increasingly pissed and declares Yoichi to be horrible. He puts his jacket around Tsubasa and tells her to leave it to him.

Now clothed, Tsubasa’s eyes return to normal and she leaps away in tears. Angie is amazed and tells Yoichi that the fight isn’t over yet before following Tsubasa. 

On a bench, Tsubasa tells Angie how cruel she was for doing that to her, especially with that wonderful man around. Tsubasa cries that she wants to just be a normal girl and she hates Angie as she continues to pour her eyes out. Angie disappears, leaving Tsubasa alone.

Back at the homefront, Chihaya and Kagome wonder what Yoichi’s up to.

Yoichi’s out front, waiting for his fight. Angie appears and Yoichi demands to know her name. He asks her what she’s done with Tsubasa, but she says that that’s none of his business. Angie pulls out blades and attacks. Yoichi pulls his sword and the two clash. Yoichi’s scarf falls, slashed, but then Angie’s clothes fall apart. 

The family runs out to see Angie in full dominatrix gear. Angie prepares to keep fighting, but Yoichi’s panicking and wants her to put clothes on. She tells him to bring it on, but Yoichi’s stunned by the bouncing boobs. Ibuki demands to know why they’re targetting Yoichi. Angie says there’s no particular reason, it’s just what they were hired to do. She doesn’t even know who hired them, but they will defeat Yoichi.

She attacks again and stabs into Yoichi’s neck. Or so it seems. Yoichi stopped all of her finger blades between his own fingers and shouts out his defiance. He tells Angie to get her priorities in order, and to figure out which is more important, Tsubasa, or the school. Angie looks surprised for a moment, but then smiles at him and leaps away.

Tsubasa and Angela meet in the street. Tsubasa hugs Angie and cries her eyes out again, apologizing for everything. Angie hugs Tsubasa and starts crying herself, mentally apologizing for everything and mentally affirming herself as Tsubasa’s servant.

The next day, Yoichi and Ibuki wonder what happened to the two. Ibuki tells him that what he said yesterday about her and their own school made her happy, but Yoichi’s sort of clueless, and Ibuki refuses to clarify.

There’s a crash and Tsubasa falls onto the scene. She’s got a part time job delivering food. It’s a normal job, so she’s happy. 

Angie’s working there too, using her assassin techniques to slice spring onions. Angie thanks Yoichi for reminding her what was important to her. Yoichi happily accepts it.

Washizu trots up, and Tsubasa shyly tries to return his jacket. Washizu tells her that she can keep it, thinking she’s poor and walks off. Yoichi and Ibuki happily smile.

Elsewhere, a mysterious man is pissed off about the failure to take out Yoichi. 

Preview:

Ibuki and Yoichi fight, and Boku-dono gets some quality time with Yoichi.