Josh Tolentino

Bleach Episode 267

Just as we've finished with the filler arc and are proceeding along the manga's footsteps we get....a filler fight! Chad and Renji get their first airtime of the season wasted on a piss-easy duel with a random Hollow from the beginning of the Hueco Mundo arc. It teaches the two valuable life lessons about working together. Poor bastards.

In the meantime Ichigo finally lands a hit on Ulquiorra, which triggers about three minutes of trash-talking and Ulquiorra getting mad over being called human-ish. Rukia gets ready to fight Rudobone, who's about to turn into a tree of some sort. Also, Yammy finishes lunch.

Given the way things have been proceeding, I wouldn't be surprised to see the anime fill in some of the fights and duels that went passed over in the manga, if solely to pad out the timing.

Ben Huber

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episodes 53 and 54

Why am I doing two episodes? Because I can, and so it doesn't seem so late like usual. These two episode of FMA are part of a larger scene anyway, so it works out to cover them both. The real highlight is Mustang. Just like the amazing episode in which he roasts Lust alive, we see his obsession and flames of revenge. Surprisingly, this is actually the first time Envy and Mustang meet, and after a half-hearted confession to killing Hughes, Roy decides to settle the score. Thus begins an awesomely animated sequence of Mustang chasing down and burning Envy alive. From lighting the liquid in Envy's eyes on fire, to pretty much burning his whole body to a crisp, every moment is packed with BONES goodness.

I won't spoil the result of the fight, but people who haven't read the manga are in for an interesting end. Once we wrap up that arc, though, we're quickly tossed back into the fight against Sloth. While Olivier holds off the zombies, Alex takes on Sloth directly. He even fixes his dislocated shoulder by deliberately taking a precise hit from Sloth, allowing Alex to retaliate and begin a flurry of punches. And last but not least, we're shown the progress of the Briggs soldiers and Izumi returns as well! With pretty much all of the main cast gathering in central, it's pretty much full-throttle until the end now. Lucky for us BONES isn't cutting any corners.

Durarara!! Episode 15

Another Shizuo centric episode? Except he doesn't show up that much, until the final third. Instead, we follow around Niekawa Shuuji, who is investigating for a tabloid article about the strongest man in Ikebukuro. Of course he would go looking for Shizuo! Unfortunately, he becomes possessed by the Slasher, and becomes a manic, knife-wielding psycho. His obsession with Shizuo remains, however, and he begins to roam Ikebukuro, eventually following Anri around. As he's about to attack her, our favorite otaku duo, Dotachin, and Togusa race in to save her. Moments later, Shizuo and Celty show up as backup. Niekawa goes berserk and rushes in, flailing his knife about, so Shizuo makes an instant shield out of the van door. I'm hoping for a good fight next week, but it looks like we're going to get more backstory and development on the Saika demon blade. The show is almost done establishing it's three parties in the fight, so Izaya's plan isn't far off now.

And a Yotsuba reference in my Durarara!!? AMAZING.

Senko no Night Raid Episode 3

I'm still not particularly enjoying this show. The setup is as such: Yukina receives a letter from her brother, but instead of meeting up, she and the rest of the crew begin working on a new task. They were tipped off to bombs being placed in the Big Four, four large department stores in Shanghai. However, the person setting up said bombs also tipped Yukina off to their locations, giving them a chance to disarm them. Instead of a tense search, they almost seem lackadaisical in their looking. The final fight against a esper got close to being interesting, especially with the idea of trying to trick someone who can read minds, but in the end I was struggling to care. I'm trying not to be overly critical of the art, but there were a lot of weird facial expressions, oddly-shaped hats, and drawings that clearly looked rushed.

In the end, Night Raid continues to have unique ideas, but squander them in execution. This seems to be an odd theme in this Power of Anime segment, doesn't it? Wasted potential?

Arakawa Under the Bridge Episode 3

This was the funniest episode yet, and most of that was because of the wonderful scene featuring Hoshi grilling Riku over Nino's sleepovers. The whole bit was well-orchestrated, and the actors really got into it, giving it that extra punch. The second half in which Riku tries to ask Nino out on a date was a little less funny as I began to expect her answers, but the ending made up for that, and keeps hinting at a stronger thread of romance that'll tie this series together. The short skit at the end was also great -- I'm hoping we get more like this, as it's a perfect "padding" segment to divide up the large scenes. So far, each episode has been better than the last, even with the sometimes formulaic comedy, so I'm eagerly awaiting episode 4.

Heroman Episode 4

Heroman! Go!

This time around, Heroman is trying to screw up the Skruggs impromptu game of pinball. While Joey sends Spike Spiegel to evacuate the school, the Professor and the Heroman duo stand on the front lines, trying to figure out a way to stop a large, impervious, metallic ball from steamrolling their town. By the end of the episode, they have only slowed it barely, and it has destroyed their school anyway. Then, several other identical giant menacing orbs roll out, much to their dismay. I'm not sure where they're going with this, as it took all of Heroman's energy to even slow the orb, so what "win" button can they use next? Perhaps the Professor has an invention he can use. Meanwhile, Will and his sidekick are captured while infiltrating the alien base, which is no surprise. I'm betting they'll become aliens or something similar in the next couple episodes, as if the opening didn't make it obvious enough. Stan Lee didn't have enough coffee this episode, though.