MSR March 2024

 

 

 

MSR March 2024

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy this monthly blog, I also put out bi-weekly animated film reviews among other content. Check out my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/kyoukasuigetsu) and Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/kyoukasuigetsu) to support my endeavors. Any contribution is appreciated, even sharing to friends.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Scanlations and official sources both have a place in the community, but buy official manga volumes to support the author. If you can, also subscribe to Crunchyroll and/or Shonen Jump through Viz Media to read chapters nearly simultaneous with Japan. Most, if not all, of the series covered can be found through legal means, so please encourage the industry that gives us what we love

 

While I was never as dedicated as others were to his works, Akira Toriyama’s influence on anime worldwide cannot be understated. Dragon Ball Super will be on hiatus, the future of Daima and the continuation of Super’s anime are unclear.

 

But a little recommendation from yours truly: Sandland, a 1 volume work by Toriyama in 2000, had a movie last year, but if you want a more extended and bingeable version, the anime series is on Netflix, though only the first 7 episodes, the remaining 6 will come out later.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Anemone 3-7

 

Hachiue manages to utilize some of Anemone’s power, striking at the core of what is a giant basket star to save the others. But when they arrive at the laboratory’s ruins, they find stairs to a basement, something ambushing them from behind.

 

The attacker is a honey badger humanoid. It explains how it killed most of the team, Hachiue’s friend potentially still alive. But after Hachiue attacks, finding the honey badger skin too tough, something else kills it and is chastised by a woman who recognizes Anemone

 

While Minazuki, another person involved in the mission, shows they’re willing to let Hachiue deal with dangers so they can get the data, we shift over to Hachiue, seen as not human by the mysterious woman, named Lobelia (another flower!). She wants to experiment on Hachiue, their compatibility something intriguing to her researcher tendencies. But Anemone says they regard Lobelia poorly and it seems there may be a fight

 

Lobelia and Anemone clash as we see Lobelia was involved with a professor who was noticing changes on the island 50 years ago, the explosion possibly part of his ongoing research. Lobelia was the first to be created, but seen as a failure, Anemone made 40 years later and regarded as a success, which explains the present hostility, even malevolence according to Lobelia

 

We see Lobelia does resent Anemone, a contrast to the general idea that plants don’t feel emotion, not even possessing a central nervous system. As that fight continues, we see Minazuki and Kurokawa fight the mantis monster sent by Lobelia, Minazuki revealing they were already melded with monster cells, transforming as we shift to one of the humans killed early on, now alive, having adapted as well

 

 

 

Shadow Eliminators 12-16

 

We learn the drug Rindo used is made from mixing brain matter from failed Kasane and Thread essence. Aoba’s brother, Zen, mocks Aoba for using a weaker version of the Unmasking Jutsu he has inscribed on his body, Aoba’s concentrated into earrings. Asakaze is wounded badly, Togami telling Nagito. The chain is broken on Aoba’s Kasane and Zen’s plan to overlap the two worlds is made clear. The trio unleashes their own Kasane forms, while Aoba appears to go berserk. A group of Eliminators arrive to provide support

 

 

 

The group is called the Shadow Servants and one of Zen’s helpers explains that anyone who has been killed and come back to life has a link to the otherworld and formed a natural Kasane. Aoba’s granny intervenes to help Asakaze, also saying she’ll reveal the secrets behind the Kuromori siblings (Aoba and Zen) to the Shadow Servants. The battle is resolved offscreen, Zen’s group, dubbed the Outsiders, having escaped and Aoba captured. Asakaze wakes up after 3 days of recovery and asks Aoba to tell him his story

 

Aoba tells of how he and Zen were taken in as children to a cult that worshipped the Otherworld. Their caretaker, Seri, helps encourage Aoba in spite of his ineptness in training. We learn she’s working with the Shadow Servants as an undercover agent. Zen discovers the skull, which has been communicating in some way, Agami, the cult leader, wanting to discern its secrets to achieve the power from the Otherworld. Aoba and Zen are descendants of the skull’s body before it expired and the brothers are linked to the Otherworld, forcibly made Kasane, the power enchanting Zen, who then killed Seri

 

 

Zen explains how the Unmasking Jutsu allows them to turn their bodies into Kasane, viewing the religion they were raised in as true in saying how weak humans are. Aoba was then isolated by his own choice for 5 years and then eventually started to train as an Eliminator. Asakaze refuses to let Aoba hide himself away and Aoba’s master appears, saying they need to start training

 

Aoba’s kindness is said to be a weakness by his master; that he has to learn to save himself instead of only thinking about others. We see the Outsiders unleash Kasane seeds, forcibly transforming people in Moribe, starting the plan to merge the Otherworld and human world. The Shadow Servants manage to intervene, facing off against Zen and his forces, while Aoba trains

 

 

 

 

 

Nue’s Exorcist 40-44

 

Gakuro and Shitotsu finish off the Level 3 and regroup with Kazusa and Shiroha, who direct them to help Kyokotsu fight the 3 supporters of the Level 4. The master, Yagyo, appears and defeats Kyokotsu’s clone, though Kyokotsu manages to bind the 3 girls serving Yagyo and Gakuro is left to face Yagyo himself

 

 

 

Yagyo explains that the Level 3 that Gakuro killed was named Tsucchi, seeing him as an important ally. But as Gakuro stands off against Yagyo, Karasu Tengu is turned to Yagyo’s side somehow. Kazusa tries to help in spite of Gakuro warning her to leave with the others and she’s injured, Gakuro going into a sort of rage. And Nue breaks into the barrier, having regained her strength

 

Gakuro is unable to keep fighting, but Igari, a captain, manages to occupy Yagyo, Nue telling her contractor he needs to rest for now, horribly injured from the battle. He still insists on going to fight Yagyo anyway, slashing the item he was giving to an ally that opened up a portal for escape, promising that he’ll take Yagyo down, the Level 4 accepting as we learn they also had a Hollow Weapon

 

In the aftermath, Gakuro learns Shitotsu has transferred into his class, meeting up with Igari after school at Takuro’s grave. He’s chastised for still blaming himself and thinking he’s automatically on the level of a Captain with his accomplishments. But when he says he will persevere, Igari acknowledges his potential and Gakuro tells Shitotsu the same afterwards

 

 

 

Yagyo meets a group of Level 4 Spirits, plotting to stop Nue and release the other Hyo. Meanwhile Shitotsu is making friends easily, but at home she’s trying to connect with Gakuro, apologizing for how distant she was, blaming herself for their separation. Gakuro promises to be stronger and we see Nue plans to train Gakuro harder to deal with the Level 4s

 

 

 

4 Knights of the Apocalypse 141-143

 

Mertyl stands off against Kilbeggan, a mage serving Arthur. Sixtus, the 2nd oldest, intervenes, sending the mage into retreat. He tells Mertyl they were looking for the Drug of Yore, only King able to acquire it. Nasiens talks to Percival’s sleeping body, King approaching him with a subtle line suggesting that Nasiens is the lost 1st child. He explains the nature of spirits and how the Tunnel of Whispers allows people to hear the voices clearly. And while Percival may be able to hear Nasiens, King says he has a gift for Nasiens later

 

 

 

Diane and Tioreh discuss whether Nasiens could be the long lost child, Tioreh worried it means Mertyl isn’t really her brother anymore and runs away crying. Mertyl misunderstands King giving Nasiens the Drug of Yore to help Percival as a betrayal. Nasiens tells King he can’t take it and that Mertyl should get it instead, while Mertyl, upset, is targeted by Kilbeggan to be manipulated

 

Mertyl is offered help by Killbeggan, revealing himself to be a lizard man, a failed creation of a mage (from Belialuin?). The shared struggle and deceptive presentation about Arthur’s kingdom convinces Mertyl. Meanwhile, King and Diane discuss Nasiens and the other kids learn he is their brother, Sextus noting King offering the Drug of Yore to Nasiens. And Tioreh is attacked by Mertyl, now consumed by jealousy

 

 

 

 

My Hero Academia 416-418

 

Eri is told by Ectoplasm they can’t evacuate until the system is repaired and Kota assures her that Deku has inspired many people, including himself. And others speak on the situation, Uraraka’s condition critical. Deku manages to pierce into Shigaraki’s consciousness, likely dealing with his trauma at the family house directly

 

 

Deku and the other vestiges, minus Nana, confront Shigaraki, in the form of a dark Deku phantasm. Nana manages to get in and sees how she hurt her son, Shigaraki’s father, embracing him as Deku tries to stop Shigaraki, in the form of a child himself

 

Deku appears to break past Shigaraki’s defenses slightly, but the memories start to become more fragmented and confused, including Tenko’s father as what appears to be All For One trying to take back Shigaraki’s body