Touhou - A Summer Day’s Dream Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets targeted by a mysterious thief. Chance of me Blogging: 10% (Very slim) First of all, since this is a series that’s purely created by amateurs, I must praise the creators for doing an actually pretty good job at it. The character art is a bit crude [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

[ Episode 8: Tranquility ] What an oddly titled episode. Wow. I can honestly say I didn’t see what happened in this episode coming at all. Isaki got snuffed out by the punks he roughed up in the previous episode which in turn caused Minai go from a Shikabane Hime to just a normal Shikabane. It was [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

[ Episode 7: The False Soul of Language ] Makina kicks ass even with ONE arm. This was yet another great episode. If there’s one thing Shikabane Hime excels in it is definitely action. This episode re-introduces Minai and Isaki who have taken over the duties of Makina and Keisei since they’re still out of action. Well, [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

[ Episode 6: The End of the Rampage ] Dual Shikabane Hime Beam! Best episode yet! Also, best fight yet! Makina really had a tough time with that Corpse-car and even lost an arm to it. Thanks to Keishi though, she was able to finish it off. The best stuff though was when everyone confronted Akasha. Itsuki [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Shikabane Hime: Aka ended last week, and Shikabane Hime: Kuro continues the story this week, but it would be hard to tell the difference just by watching the opening credits. The sequence is virtually the same except for the last shot showing the title of the series, with Aka replaced by Kuro. And [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

[ Episode 5: Betrayer Priest ] Er, shouldn’t that be Traitor Priest? A corpse-car/van/SUV? Haha, that’s hilarious and yet terrifying. The new Shikabane Hime is pretty interesting though I don’t understand her reasoning for luring Oori into that car as yet. Does she already know of what was discussed earlier in the episode about Oori being eliminated? [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

[ Episode 4: The Cruel Hymn ] Talk about singing your heart out. This episode’s Shikabane was a former idol by the name of Osaki Kun. Of course, her will that kept her alive was that of wanting to sing. Her song was both beautiful and sad once you get a better understanding of the lyrics and [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Last episode we were introduced to Shichisei, an organised group of Corpses looking to team up with the betrayer priest we saw earlier in the series with a view to destroying the Shikabane Hime (and, of course, the Kougon cult with it). Circular as these things are, we also come to the realisation that Shichisei were responsible for the death of Makina's family, and the reason for her becoming a
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

It may have happened a couple of episodes ago now, but Minai's "death" (I'm not sure if you can say that someone who is already dead has died, but never mind) still reverberates around this episode. In particular, Keisei seems Hell-bent on finding out how she was disposed of despite Ouri putting her into hiding, a line of enquiry that exposes the exact nature of the people Ouri has been working
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Episode 13 of Shikabane Hime: Aka, “Agenda for the Contract Monk’s Funeral”, is half recap and half interlude. While Keisei’s public funeral is scheduled for the night, Kougonshuu monks are holding their own ceremony for the departed monk during the day. Ouri notes a number of girls waiting outside, some of whom we [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Gainax’ latest series: Shikabane Hime. The first thing that you need to know before watching this is the following: Shikabane Hime is NOT the next Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. While it still has a lot of very stylish action, this series is much more than a simple brainless action series, and definitely not the place [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Short Synopsis: Recap Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 (Enjoyable) So yeah, it’s Chrismas evening, so it was something to expect. Nevertheless, for a recap it was a good one: it came at the right time and it felt like it made sense: Keisei has just kicked the bucket, so of course Ouri is going to remember the times [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

After seemingly starting out as something of a pure horror/action series, Shikabane Hime: Aka has gained a surprising amount of emotional depth in recent episodes, and largely speaking this continues to some degree into episode nine. Before all that though, we do get a decent chunk of that horror/action hybrid, with Makina gatecrashing on a bunch of students wandering around a supposedly
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Episode 12 of Shikabane Hime: Aka, “Dawn”, starts off from where the previous episode ended with the stabbing of Keisei by a possessed Ouri. However, Keisei quickly realizes what has happened and exorcises Ena’s control from Ouri. Too bad for Ouri that it wasn’t a dream, though, as he was aware what was [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Short Synopsis: “It” has happened. I’m not going to spoil here what exactly “it” is, but you can pretty much guess. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10 (Awesome) After the previous episode, I already had some suspicion that this episode would be awesome, and indeed it did deliver wonderfully. This episode formed an amazing climax of the first season, [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Short Synopsis: Keisei’s background gets revealed while the seven enemies finally attack. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent) Holy crap! I knew it. I freakin’ knew it! The series had already been hinting at it with the Minai-arc, and the ED really confirmed it as we see Ouri standing next to Makina with Keisei’s staff. What I didn’t [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

The last episode of Shikabane Hime: Aka left us in kind of an odd place, seemingly so close to the climax of its particular story arc without delivering the finishing blow. Thus, the opening to episode eight of the series sees the Corpse being battled last time around finally finished off by Minai, with more than a little help from Ouri (who finally manages to make himself useful in such
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

In case you’re in the United States impatiently waiting for the release of Shikabane Hime: Aka, you might be interested to know that FUNimation, the company licensed to release the anime in the US, has been offering subtitled broadcasts through YouTube for some time now.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Episode 11 of Shikabane Hime: Aka, “One Night”, starts off with the boss Takamine and Rika talking about the Seven Stars, along with their shikabane hime Kamika and Saki. And as always, Saki is taking full advantage of being biologically dead by eating as many snacks as she wants without having to worry about [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Episode 10 of Shikabane Hime: Aka, “Star on Earth”, starts off with Ouri’s miserable attempt to cook, humorous but pointless except to obliquely show how much Keisei cares for him. Meanwhile, Keisei is pissed about being cooped in the hospital, and he also wants to know how Minai ended up being caught by the [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta