Tightly hugged by Sakura, Natsuru can’t believe his eyes she leans in to kiss him, but his joy quickly becomes terror when Sakura suddenly turns into Sangou who announces with a sly voice she shall continue on that kiss.

Waking up with a start, Natsuru realizes it was all but a dream. Smelling the telltale fragrance of curry, Natsuru wonders where the spicy odor could be coming from.

Hearing a knock on his door, Natsuru is shocked to see his childhood friend Mikoto barge into the bedroom holding a plate of steaming curry while wearing nothing but a frilly apron. Barely able to overcome his surprise, Natsuru pleads with the girl to put on some clothes but Mikoto misses no opportunity to tease Natsuru.

Waiting for the school bus to arrive, Mikoto tells Natsuru how happy she is to have finally returned to Japan and she’s looking forward to spend more time with him.

Seeing an unknown girl at Natsuru’s side, an insanely jealous Akane nearly crushes the concrete pillar she’s hidden herself behind.
Noticing an odd bespectacled girl is walking towards them, Mikoto ultimately recognizes Akane, who was a friend of hers many years ago when they lived near each other.

Inquiring about Natsuru and Mikoto’s relationship, Akane goes from shock straight into depression when she hears the energetic girl is not only Natsuru’s childhood friend but has also prepared him breakfast. Visibly downcast, the bespectacled girl dejectedly heads back home, feeling queasy.

Unsure what to think of Akane’s reaction, Mikoto asks if she might perhaps be Natsuru’s girlfriend. Denying vehemently, Natsuru soon finds himself cornered by the girl’s barrage of questions about his crush on Sakura and the tabloid article she read in the school newspaper about a female beauty also named Natsuru that is rumored of being his girlfriend.

His bracelet suddenly glowing after Mikoto touched him, Natsuru makes a quick escape, realizing a transformation into his Kämpfer alter ego is imminent.

Heading along to school, Natsuru is quickly intercepted by the class representative and her minions who drag the blue haired Kämpfer off to take part in the second day of Seitetsu Gakuin High’s school festival.
Their class having a pseudo maid cafe, Natsuru discovers she’s being put forth as the star maid who is being made to wear a lovely yet quite short skirted and revealing maid outfit, much to her own embarrassment.

When Natsuru’s first customer turns out to be Higashida, the Kämpfer is worried she might be found out and desperately tries to get away from him when he persistently holds onto her, trying to get her to agree to a photo session.
Swiftly intervening to protect their star maid, the class representative’s minions chase off the rowdy boy by spiking his coffee.

Sent to welcome and tend to their most esteemed customer, Natsuru wonders who it could be and is surprised to see Sangou appear, the student council president having paid a hefty sum to get Natsuru’s exclusive maid service.
Not enthused, Natsuru half-heartedly serves Sangou, asking why the student council president is even interested in joining such silly antics.

Disappointed in Natsuru’s lack of enthusiasm, Sangou changes the subject to her suspicions that a new Kämpfer will appear soon, for the disemboweled stuffed animals that Sakura gives out all become Messengers. Wondering how exactly Sakura may be involved, Sangou says she wants to get to the bottom of things.

Joining Sangou at the maid cafe, Sakura admires Natsuru’s daring maid outfit and can’t help but praise Natsuru for being such a beautiful and talented girl, her loving admiration for the blue haired Kämpfer plainly visible.

Somewhat uncomfortable, Natsuru is at a loss when Sangou starts to talk about the disemboweled stuffed animals and how it would be interesting to see Natsuru as some sort of magician capable of manipulating fire. Her intent clearly being on soliciting a reaction from Sakura, the student council president seems disappointed when the girl only has a light-hearted bubbly reaction.

Changing the subject, Sangou suggests that Sakura has Natsuru service her since they paid for her time as their maid anyway. Unsure what to ask for, Sakura quickly takes a liking to Sangou’s suggestion she asks for a kiss, much to Natsuru’s shock.
Feeling too embarrassed to kiss Sakura in front of everyone, Natsuru pleads with Sakura to have her do something else, anything.

Asking Natsuru to spend the rest of the day together at the festival with her, their own private date, Sakura is ecstatic and takes Natsuru around the entire school, visiting exhibits, enjoying food and other candy together.

Visiting the haunted house that Sakura’s class is holding, Natsuru quickly shifts her attention away from Sakura when a few sharp objects are thrown at them from behind the curtains in the pitch black room. Suspecting the new Kämpfer may be behind these attacks, Natsuru soon retaliates and spots a red bracelet wearing girl make a run for it.

Pursuing the girl outside, Natsuru soon comes face to face with the new Kämpfer, a spunky Schwert user who swiftly proceeds to try and decapitate Natsuru.
Fiercely attacking Natsuru with vicious slashes of her katana, the white haired Kämpfer is none other than Mikoto, who sees the female Natsuru as a threat to her own childhood friend. Little does Mikoto know that the male and female Natsuru are one and the same person.

Cornered, Natsuru escapes a lethal strike from Mikoto’s blade only because she’s saved in the nick of time by Akane. Not intent on letting her comrade be killed, Akane berates the Schwert Kämpfer and rains down a barrage of gunfire on the white haired girl who responds in kind with swift slashes of her sword.

Begging the two girls to stop fighting because she realized the new Kämpfer is actually Mikoto, Natsuru’s please go unheard until Sangou appears and captures Mikoto using her chains.
At a loss why a fellow red bracelet wearing Kämpfer is stopping her from killing their enemy, Mikoto doesn’t know what to think when Akane and Natsuru both transform back into their normal selves, she even faints from the sheer shock.

Going over how she just became a Kämpfer the day before after finding the disemboweled stuffed animal, Mikoto can’t believe her two friends Akane and Natsuru would be Kämpfers as well, though she misses no chance to berate Natsuru for having such perverted interests that he became a busty female as Kämpfer.

Wondering what to do since they are technically enemies, Mikoto and the others hear Sangou affirm she plans on keeping their current truce for she first wants to further investigate something.

Having forgotten all about Sakura, Natsuru transforms back to her female self and finds the poor girl all alone on the school rooftop.
Crying because she had been lonely since Natsuru just ran off on her before without so much as an explanation, Sakura asks the blue haired girl to spend the night at her house.

Overall a nice episode, liked how they introduced both the normal Mikoto as well as her Kämpfer alter ego. Kind of suspected beforehand that they would make Mikoto an ally of Sangou, since it allows them to keep the truce between the red and blue Kämpfers and focus on other plots.

Judging by Sangou’s comments, she too is starting to suspect something doesn’t add up with all the disemboweled stuffed animals that Sakura gives out turning into Messengers and their new owners into Kämpfers.
Looks like next week’s episode may play into that plot as well, curious to see what they’ll make of it and if they’ll use it to have an original ending to the anime series where Sakura is (knowingly or not) at the center of things.

Fellow otaku Watanuki observed this week’s episode seemed to suffer from visibly less well polished animation and upon going through the still screen captures noticed that was a correct assessment.

While not very obvious when watching the episode if you don’t especially pay attention to it, looking closer at some scenes and some facial close ups, they were indeed not as well done as in previous episodes.
Hopefully this is but a temporary dip and next week we’ll see spotless animation again.

From Mikoto’s naked apron to Natsuru’s mini skirted maid appearance, this episode was rife with explosive bloodnose inducing scenes. Though Akane’s still the best character to me, her reactions when seeing Natsuru with Mikoto were priceless.

Next week yuri shenanigans at Sakura’s place? I can hardly wait!

Lured into a match against Listy in a cave filled with giant crystals, Irma realizes too late she’s fallen right into queen Aldra’s trap and she soon finds herself battered under the powerful blows of Listy’s heavy spiked mace.

Watching the battle being broadcast, Echidna remembers teaching young Irma and how even back then she couldn’t convince the girl to drop her quest to take queen Aldra’s life, though it had never the wild elf’s intent to teach Irma assassination techniques so she could enact revenge on the queen.

Injured, Irma knows she will have no second chances to strike while slowly creeping up behind Listy. Seeing her own reflection in the crystals, Listy has an episode, her brainwashed mind trying to break free while she grabs her head in agony.

Using this mere instant to launch a desperate strike, Irma lunges her blades straight for her opponent’s heart but her attack misses and the girl is violently crushed underneath Listy’s mace. Coughing up blood, Irma’s lifeless body slumps to the floor and as her consciousness ebbs away, the last thing she sees is Echidna’s image and she desperately cries out the wild elf’s name.

Witnessing the battle’s outcome on the broadcast, Airi reflects how Listy is the worst possible opponent to have since she’s possessed by an evil spirit.

Asking Rana why he helped her back when they faced queen Aldra who had then just petrified his mother, Airi blushes when the young boy tightly embraces her, calling her onee-chan. Not having fed of anyone’s life force for some time, Airi has trouble keeping her maid clothes from disappearing, much to her own embarrassment.

Finding Irma’s body in a grim back alley where it was dumped by queen Aldra’s servants who had left the girl for dead, Echidna picks her up for she still barely clings to life.

Facing Elina on a dark, icy plain in the midst of heavy snowfall, Tomoe’s resolve seems for naught when Elina exploits the miko’s most obvious weakness, her gentle nature.

Berating Tomoe, Elina’s psychological attacks soon have effect as she’s able to unsettle the miko and unexpectedly strike at her. Hesitant to counterattack because Elina is Reina’s sister, Tomoe feels her bond with Reina doesn’t permit her from going all out against her opponent.

Hearing Tomoe is acquainted with Reina, Elina gets the wrong idea about their relationship and soon descends into a sheer frenzy spawned from unhealthy jealousy. Mercilessly attacking the miko, Elina soon has Tomoe down on the ground and she lunges in to deliver the final blow.

Taking the initiative back at the very last instant with a formidable counterattack, Tomoe’s advanced martial techniques disable Elina with a bone wrecking strike that twists the girl’s spine.

At the church, Nanael laments her empty stomach while she’s forced to join Melfa in a training session of empowering poses which more than anything, turn out to be embarrassing poses.
Seeing one of queen Aldra’s minions appear before them, Nanael rejoices at finally getting to fight her first battle.

Scooping up the last of his food, Rana sees one of queen Aldra’s minions has come to take Airi to her next match.
Visibly worried her chances of winning are slim to none if she cannot suck enough life force from her opponent, Airi nonetheless tells Rana to stay behind when the young boy clings to the maid, saying he will accompany her.

Finding themselves in queen Aldra’s palace, Nanael and Airi both lament their empty stomachs before they come face to face with each other and the queen.
Realizing Aldra is surely up to no good, Airi fruitlessly tries to warn Nanael that the queen intends to petrify them but the cheeky angel has gone off into a self-advertising solo about her own grandeur, leaving the maid to sigh in despair.

Returning after her own battle, Tomoe finds Shizuka has left, leaving behind only a note telling the miko where to find her.
Joining the sly kunoichi, Tomoe is utterly shocked when Shizuka asks if the miko really thinks she stuck with her for that long out of any sense of honor, friendship or even their supposed goal to save their country.

Unsure what to think of Shizuka’s maniacal laughter, Tomoe cannot believe her eyes when the kunoichi dons the emblem of her ninja assassination clan once again, intent on taking the miko’s life.

Unable to believe the one she thought of as her dearest friend would take up the bloodstained path of her assassin’s clan again, Tomoe hesitates to fight all out, even though Shizuka doesn’t hold back.

Saying Tomoe will be unable to win any further battles in the tournament, become the new queen and save their country if she doesn’t stand firm and show resolve, Shizuka clashes blades with the miko until she sees that Tomoe finally has the resolve needed to win.

Realizing Tomoe would else only end up losing her life in upcoming battles, Shizuka chose to seriously fight the miko, even sacrificing her own life in battle against her beloved friend, knowing that such a drastic measure was necessary to get Tomoe to attain the necessary mental plain she’d need to win the tournament.

Clashing blades one last time, Shizuka drops to the ground, thinking how much she loves Tomoe and with her final breath, she tells her beloved friend not to cry. Reading the kunoichi’s parting message hidden on her headband, Tomoe endlessly cries over the body of her treasured friend.

The previous episodes already surprised me by being better than anticipated and taking “Queen’s Blade” overall level up a notch but if they keep on track like this week’s episode, “Queen’s Blade” may have an unexpectedly good second half and finale.

Quite surprising for them to have Shizuka sacrifice herself in a mortal battle with Tomoe, all to take Tomoe to the next level she needed to achieve if she would have any chance at all in winning the tournament.
The entire scene was well played out and Shizuka’s sacrifice was well done, Tomoe not hesitating to slay her dear friend and crying her heart out once she read Shizuka’s parting words.

Airi continues to raise in my esteem, loved the scenes of her with Rana. Though am curious to see how her fight with Nanael will turn out, will it be one big comic relief event as both Nanael and Airi have been known to be used as comic relief characters or will we once again have more daring plot choices?

The unexpected twists in this episode make me regret they put in so much typical fanservice with explicit bare bosoms, because an episode like this shows “Queen’s Blade” has tremendous potential to be a serious martial combat series with heart wrenching scenes such as Shizuka’s death.
Would have been even more powerful if Irma would have perished as well since the blow to the spine she received should have been lethal or at least crippling. But gather killing off two characters in one episode would have been a bit much.

Still, respect and like such bold decisions to kill off a character to enhance the storytelling and development. Will miss Shizuka but will be interesting to see how Tomoe evolves from now on.

Now how will Airi and Nanael fare being stuck in queen Aldra’s lair?

Walking along windings paths through the woods even when the sun is already setting, Kan’u seems to think they might have chosen the wrong way to travel across this forest. Falling behind, Chouhi complains of stomach ache and soon collapses while holding her abdomen in pain.

Spotting a plume of smoke rising to the skies deeper along the path, Ryuubi urges everyone on and they soon come to a small clearing where a lone man sits near a burning camp fire. Carrying Chouhi on her back, Kan’u asks the man if they can rest there, explaining one of her companions is struck with sudden illness.

Veering up as soon as he hears the girl is ill, the man explains he’s a doctor and asks if they’ll allow him to have a look at her. Soon pinpointing the cause of Chouhi’s illness, he plants two acupuncture needles on her body with an elaborate show, instantly curing the girl.

Profoundly thanking him for his help, Kan’u hears him respond he feels it only natural for his goal as a doctor is to cure illness. When he introduces himself as Kada, a simple traveling doctor, Koumei recognizes him as the famed ゴットウェイド.

Startled when Kada suddenly rebukes Koumei, the girls look unsure what to think when Kada sets his spirit ablaze and loudly screams ゴットウェイド while making an over the top pose not unlike that of heroes from shounen series.
Running with the joke, Kan’u, Koumei, Ryuubi and Chouhi all continue on to call him ゴットウェイド in the same exagerrated manner, leaving Chou’un to ponder what has gotten into them.

Talking over the camp fire, Kada learns the girls are on their way to Sousou and asks to accompany them for he desires to meet with Sousou regarding an important matter.

Continuing their journey the next morning, Kada observes that Chouhi’s mother must feel relieved when he sees the girl energetically singing along with Ryuubi.
Realizing Kada is mistaking her to be Chouhi’s mother, an embarrassed Kan’u goes through great lengths to explain she is not Chouhi’s mother.

Letting out a shriek, Ryuubi hesitantly points to the side of the road where a bespectacled girl lies lifelessly on the ground, in the middle of a pool of blood. Inquiring about her condition when Kada examines the girl, Kan’u and her friends are shocked to hear there’s nothing wrong with the bespectacled girl.

Asking about the pool of blood, Kan’u and her friends look up when another girl appears, saying they mustn’t worry for it was merely a nosebleed. Coming to, the bespectacled girl soon introduces herself as Kakuka, her blonde companion being called Teiiku.

Explaining they were on their way to join Sousou’s army, Kakuka soon gets lost in her own ecchi fantasies when Teiiku observes Kakuka’s crush on Sousou is the real reason she’s looking to join her army. Soon unable to resist her own perverted thoughts, Kakuka again has an explosive bloodnose, much to everyone’s surprise.

Hearing Kan’u and her party are on their way to Sousou too, Kakuka and Teiiku join them on their journey. Once they arrive at the city where Sousou currently resides, Kada heads on to meet with the lord right away while Kan’u and her friends set off to have a meal first.

Enjoying delicious food at a nearby restaurant, Chouhi says she’ll just get the old man to cure her with his needles when Kan’u scolds the girl for gorging herself on copious amounts of meat. Observing that Kada probably wouldn’t like being called an old man, little does Koumei realize that far off Kada loudly sneezes as Chouhi uttered those very words.

Having granted Kada an audience, Sousou says she’s surprised hearing his reason for appearing before her and says she’ll give up on her goal. Since Kada is a doctor anyway, Sousou asks him what to do about a slight problem she’s been having with ‘that’.

Misunderstanding what Sousou is referring to, Kada asks her to explain and soon loudly bursts out about her being constipated when she explains her concern is about bowel movements. Getting into a fight with Kada about his advice for her constipation, an infuriated Sousou soon chases the poor doctor off, threatening him with her scythe.

Hearing from her aides that Kan’u has arrived requesting an audience, Sousou’s face brightens when she thinks of a convenient scheme and soon instructs her aide to guide Kan’u and her party to the baths.

Meeting with Kan’u, Kakuka and Teiiku in the baths, Sousou tells them they must not only join her in the water but undo themselves of the towels they are wearing for else she can not hear their plight. Feasting her eyes on Kan’u and the girls, Sousou soon inches closer.

Respectively hearing Teiiku and Kakuka’s reasons for wanting to join her army, Shousou’s attention is soon diverted to a blade reflecting light from the wooden beams high above. Dodging a masked attacker intent on robbing her of her life, Sousou instinctively moves to shield Kakuka while Kan’u prepares to fight of the attacker.

With Sousou’s bare bosom pressed tightly against her, Kakuka is unable to contain herself and her ensuing explosive bloodnose completely blinds the attacker who had lunged towards them. Quickly using this chance to counterattack, Kan’u easily defeats the would-be assassin.

Later thanking Kan’u for saving her once again, Sousou gladly accepts Teiiku and Kakuka in her army, much to the girls’ joy.

Overall liked this episode better than the previous ones. While it felt more like another transition episode that introduced new characters and didn’t move the main plot of Ryuubi’s voyage to recover her sword and honor along, do prefer the atmosphere and overall pace of this week’s episode compared to the previous two which were a bit too silly for my taste. Luckily looks like it’ll pick up a bit again.

Sousou was portrayed somewhat differently this time round compared to the original “Koihime†Musou”, great expressions and she felt a bit more spunky.
Of course liked the bath scene with Kakuka passing out from an explosive bloodnose due to Sousou’s bosom being pressed against her, classic but priceless. Kakuka’s perversion and explosive bloodnoses were highly entertaining.

Wonder if we’ll see Kada again in future episodes, he was a hilarious character and Nobuyuki Hiyama’s voice work perfectly fit the over the top acting of burning with fiery manliness, reminiscent of his performances as Ikkaku Madarame from “Bleach” or Viral from “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann”.

Looks like we’ll still be with Sousou and her minions next week, can’t wait to see what antics the girls will be up to!

While I looked forward to receiving the Saber Lily and Yoko Littner figures, was more anxious for Good Smile Company’s release of Kanade and Yukino from “Candy☆Boy”.

Although their initial release date was planned for September, it got pushed back to late October and today they finally arrived on my doorstep after Hobby Link Japan shipped them out to me last week.

Compared to Saber Lily or Yoko these 1/8 scale figures seem smaller for they are more modest, less elaborate, no doubt because the lovely Sakurai sisters are sculpted in their school uniforms, exactly how they appeared in the anime.

Of course, as always with Good Smile Company the sculpt, painting and finishing is absolutely perfect with great attention for all the small details in the girls’ uniforms, hairpins, jewelry. Kanade’s watch even has the display image printed on.

Sold separately, the Sakurai sisters can be individually displayed or you can choose to install the alternate arms provided for Kanade and Yukino each and pose the twins together with their hands joined.

One word of advice I shall give anyone getting these figures, be careful when putting them on their base! Unexpected for figures from Good Smile Company, the hollow bases are rather thin so if you push the figure on with force, there is a risk part of the plastic base might crack, this happened for my Kanade figure’s base. Luckily it didn’t crack all the way through and isn’t very visible or bothersome.

As it is, that’s the only element I could fault these figures for, besides that they’re perfect, no seams, terrific facial expressions and painting. Absolutely adored the “Candy☆Boy” series and am glad the Sakurai twins got a figure release and from a great figure maker to boot!

Will do a full review and decent photoshoot with better lighting soon (my office just doesn’t have decent enough lights for nighttime photography of this kind).

Now that the fall 2009 anime season is well under way, thought to take a brief look at which series I ended up watching, as well as those that I like so far. Although as the season progresses, personal preference for a series may increase or decrease, depending on how those shows evolve.

From the episode reviews on this blog it’s obvious I’m watching “Kämpfer”, “Shin Koihime†Musou” and “Queen’s Blade ~Gyokuza No Tsugumono~”. Out of those three “Kämpfer” is definitely the best, a truly excellent series.

A series I hadn’t planned to watch but sampled upon recommendation of many fellow otaku and which is my favourite series so far this season is the really awesome “To Aru Kagaku No Railgun”.

A terrific action comedy, not unlike “Kämpfer” in terms of genre and elements for it has plenty of action, humor and yuri tinted scenes and is filled with great characters. Adore the lead character Misaka Mikoto, quite the tsundere that does her nickname biribiri justice, though do have a slight preference for Saten Ruiko, she’s irresistibly cute.

A spin-off from “To Aru Majutsu No Index”, was reluctant at first to give this show a go since I thought it required you to have watched “To Aru Majutsu No Index” which I haven’t watched.
Luckily this is not the case, am perfectly able to follow everything in “To Aru Kagaku No Railgun” which while it takes place in the same universe and shares characters, doesn’t really require any prior knowledge of “To Aru Majutsu No Index”.

“Sasameki Koto” has been quite intriguing as it gave me the wrong impression during the first episode which was rather dark, gloomy and near downright depressing. Diving straight into the core of the story about Sumika Murasame’s unrequited love for her best friend Ushio Kazama, it showed the emotional pain and psychological impact of being stuck on such a hopeless love.

The following episodes veer straight off into comedy, even featuring chibi character renderings. Last week’s episode was more balanced between comedy and drama, but this series really swings from one end of the spectrum to the other in an instant, which can be disconcerting.

Where “Sasameki Koto” quite enjoyably side-swiped me is with Akemi Yamasaki , the very cute and lovely model Ushio spots in a magazine and later meets.
Akemi is such a cutie, more moe than Ushio… but soon turned out to be a trap! Laughs guaranteed with such a trap on board and I hope there’s more scenes coming up for Masaki’s traptastic alter ego Akemi in future episodes too.

Quite pleased so far with “The Sacred Blacksmith” too, a nice medieval magic action series with a cute trio of girls, namely Cecily, Aria and Lisa.
Especially Cecily’s shapely bosom has been the object of much otaku fascination across the Internet already, one can understand why Aria finds such a comfortable pillow in them. Though Aria is quite well endowed herself, which leaves Lisa to cater to the tastes of fans not much into oppai.

Ah, there’s also plenty of action involving clashing swords with ghouls created from evil magic,l yet somehow was rather focused on the girls when watching the episodes.

Do like the verbal banter between Cecily and Luke, though this season doesn’t have much pairings with great chemistry like say Senjougahara and Araragi from “Bakemonogatari”.

Still a bit unsure what to think of “Kiddy Girl-and”, there have been only a few episodes but it hasn’t captured me like its predecessor “Kiddy Grade” had.
Then again, gather that “Kiddy Girl-and” is no doubt much like the original “Kiddy Girl” or like “Sora O Kakeru Shoujo”, all about pure crazy fun in a sci-fi space age setting but it does lack an overarching plot.

Everything has been episodic so far, showing us the silly antics of Ascoeur and Q-feuille as ES trainees. It has already provided ample laughs and the colorful animation and character styling of Ascoeur and Q-feuille is excellent.

Of course am watching “Darker Than Black: Ryuusei No Gemini” which has me on the edge of my seat every single episode.
Was wondering how they would be able to have a compelling and original sequel after the ending of the first season but so far they’ve succeeded, the series still has that raw, lethal edge and is filled with mysteries and intrigues, the most brain wrecking question being what happened between Hei and Yin?

As far as opening and ending sequences go, my favourite out of those this season is definitely “Only my Railgun” by fripSide, the opening song to “To Aru Kagaku No Railgun”, an energetic track with a terrific beat.

Quite do like the “Dear my friend -Mada Minu Mirai he-” ending song by Elisa and animation sequence used for the series too.

“The Sacred Blacksmith”, “Darker Than Black: Ryuusei No Gemini” and “Kämpfer” have solid opening and ending themes too, while “Sasameki Koto” enjoys an uncommonly mellow, soft opening track.

What have you been watching so far this fall and which series do you like?