April 23, Newsletter 163

Mai Otome
Tenchi Muyo GxP
009-1
Claymore
Fate/Stay Night
Darker than Black
Black Cat

Mai Otome 9- The Otomes go on a field, as Arika gets all fired up while everyone else groan. The reason, as Arika learns the hard way, is ‘field trip’ is just the sugar-coated way of saying ‘survival training’. So, as the staff sits back and relaxes, the otomes are more or less stranded out in the wilderness. Forming into groups, each goes their own way around this; Arika and her partner decide to try and follow the coastline. Fast forward a few hours, and each group must both make camp and dinner; one group ends up eating ‘shrooms, while Shiho finds out that targeting Arika was probably a mistake. Arika’s group must still find shelter as a storm start brewing, and on top of traveling around, her partner is bitten by a snake, as rain begins to pour down. With her partner now running a fever from the bite, and their retrieval devices no longer working, Arika goes in search of help… only to run into the enemy, and get shot off a cliff.

GxP 22- Due to Seito’s scheming, Seiro believes he has been challenged to a duel by Seina… something he certainly can’t back down from. Everything gets prepared for this, as Seito wants to make this a grand event (then again, Jurains aren’t known for subtlety). Of course, this is all to draw Seiro out, and it’s believed that Seina has absolutely no chance, with Seiro and his good luck. Seiro wishes to actually kill Seina, but since the weapons are merely stun baton-like devices, he figures he’ll just give Seina a good thrashing. So when the moment of truth comes… well Seiro first acts like his usual pompous self, while Seina talks to a few members of the audience. When they final do battle, As Seiro goes in for the attack, Seina slips and cuts the belt to his pants… giving Seina the win. However, with his win, it seems some darker things are stirring.

009-1 6 – 9-1 visits her mentor out in the countryside, and we’re shown some of her past with him. After plenty of reminiscing, we learn the reason behind her visit: apparently her mentor obtained a drug the government wants, and she’s there to get it. However, because they both know what the drug does, it turns out that her mentor has already disposed of it. 9-1 also tries to convince him to go back to the agency, but he says he fails as a spy, since on the latest mission he got emotional after seeing children’s pieces of art. So, with spies on their tails, her mentor tells 9-1 to go and say the password to a bomb when she’s far away, and he’ll use it to take care of the pests. Thus, he carries out his last mission… and when 9-1 stops by later, we see that a piece of art he’d been working on before is now complete, and also seems alive.

Claymore 16- As Clare enters the lair, she runs into a huge Awakened Being, and she runs into immense difficulty as her attacks have no effect on him other than to piss him off. However, another Claymore shows p, and now even the little girl from before is interested. This new Claymore, Galatea, soon demonstrates that she can beat this Awakened Being (Dolf)… and the little girl yel;ls at him, as he tries to defend his case. When he’s told to concentrate, now even galatea has to actually dodge things, and she soon loses her advantage. It turns out that she has the power to control slight amounts of opponent’s yoki aura, but when Dolf concentrates, Galatea is unable to control it. The little girl, Riful, is also revealed to be something even worse than an Awakened Being; one of three number 1 claymores that Awakened, and are known as Creatures of the Abyss (Abyssal Ones). The three had been dormant, but Riful says that ever since the man in the north got a girl, he’s been gathering up an army, and Riful is just experimenting in order to build up an army herself. It’s also quite possible that the girl that the one to the north got is Priscilla, and this causes Clare to lose self-control, and Galatea ends up having to bring her back from the brink. She also says the only way they’re getting out of this alive is if while Galatea holds off these two, Clare runs down and gets the Claymore who is nearly Awakened.

F/S N 13- After having used the powerful attack to kill Rider, Saber must now pay the price, as she goes into a coma. It turns out using that power used up a ton of mana, which the Servants need in order to stay on the world. The problem is, there’s only two ways to refill mana: either Shirou must be capable of doing it himself, or he must order Saber to attack people to replenish her supply. Since neither of these options work for Shirou, he is left in a huge dilemma, and therefore goes out in order to calm his mind. The only problem: he runs into Illya, and although she smiles sweetly, she asks that Shirou becomes her Servant… and when he refuses, she kidnaps him. It turns out she’s determined to make Shirou her Servant, who refuses to do so because of Saber. Since he isn’t cooperating, Illya decides that she’ll just go and kill off his friends, until he changes his mind. Shirou works on escaping, as Rin and Archer go and look for him.

DTB 4- As Mai’s power unleashes itself, it turns out there are big problem: she’s become something far worse than a contractor, a being called a moratorium. They have no price to pay, but they also have no control. As she runs around, causing accidental explosions and even kills her friend, she’s being tracked down by quite a few people. The ones trying to drag her father back are among them, and Li goes to talk with her father, who reveals quite a few things, such as his discovery in the Gate, and how he tried to suppress Mai’s power as a contractor. A call is eventually received, and it turns out that the company has managed to get Mai, who’s in s slightly more stable state. Li shows up and fights against another Contractor. As Mai’s father gets her back, she causes another fire; however, the other Contractor puts a knife in his back, and Mai is snapped back to sanity by her father’s words and action, as Li then takes out the Contractor. Things end with Mai burning the other man, and she’s somehow reverted to being a Contractor.

Black Cat 2- The Black Cat continues his meeting with the one in a kimono, Saya. Meanwhile Sven ends up being drawn in by a blonde woman, who wants to get her sister back from a very powerful man by the name of Torneo, though there’s a hint that not all is as it seems with this case. Also, there’s a very high bounty on a man who secretes corrive acid from his fingers, and all are afraid to take him out… except for Saya, and she tells her mission to the Black cat, who has also received a job. The bounty has killed quite a few women already, and he intends to make Saya his next victim; it turns out that the Black Cat was also assigned to this bounty, but his bullets merely dissolve in his arms; Saya uses this distraction to drop a block from the ceiling on top of him. With him captured, Black Cat is now reprimanded by the Organization for letting this one go; this will be the only one they overlook.

Rollcall:
Jeff
Tom
Erin
Nick
Andy
Dave