1. Pizza Hut's new meat pasta is pretty good. I'll be eating it for another two days, since they only deliver a family-size portion with breadsticks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
2. I always thought the name "Rune Soldier" was an invention of the team who translated the anime for the US market, since "Magic Soldier Louie" sounded too similar to "Magic Knight Rayearth" and similar series. Nope, page six of the first novel glosses 魔法戦士 as ルーンソルジャー. Pity, really, since the change ruined a decent joke in episode 18.
3. Constructs of the form AたるB, where both A and B are nouns, are a bit of grammar that's hard to find a good explanation for in English. Historically, there were three different conjugations for adjectives, but for the most part only the -i and -na types still exist; there are only a handful of true -taru adjectives in modern Japanese. This does not stop people from occasionally attaching -taru to a noun to make an "A-looking B" or "A-like B" expression.
4. Speaking of -taru adjectives, I find this one charming: 死屍累々. Shishiruirui, it's like the "que sera sera" of carnage. I don't think I'll ever be able to sing the correct lyrics to that song again.
5. Speaking of songs we'll never be able to sing correctly again...
6. Nobody ever told me that Pixel Maritan had a webcomic.
7. On a vaguely related note, the trading figures for Moe yo! Tank School are, um, interesting.
8. And while we're following dirty links at Amazon Japan, I can see where the artist was going with this covergirl from MC Akushizu ("the hyper bishoujo military magazine"), but, anatomically speaking, he made a wrong turn.

[Update: holy crap, they’re doing a second season. WTF?

… Okay, having followed the scavenger-hunt instructions on ANN, the only verifiable fact in their story is this line on the next-to-last page of the just-released chapter of the manga: 「ＴＶアニメ第２Ｓ制作決定!!」, which does in fact say “tv anime #2S production decision!!”. Their “announcement” link just goes to the publisher’s flash-based home page, which doesn’t seem to mention this. I’m wondering if it’s just obsolete news based on the publishing cycle of a monthly magazine.]

[Update: nothing on the anime’s staff blog, but there’s a similar one-liner on their news page. Also, a lot more merchandise, including an original novel, a school uniform, and a special edition of the DS game that comes with an original comic. Again, WTF?]

Out of morbid curiosity, I downloaded episode 13. Pretty thorough spoilers follow:

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The phrase “voted best punk band by Shoujo Beat” pretty much sums up this song by Ketchup Mania. I think it’s a bad sign when you can listen to punk rock and visualize the anime series that it would make a good opening-credits song for.

[Update: animated music video for another Ketchup Mania song.]

[Update: I just skimmed through the raw of episode 10 on youtube. They found an unanticipated way to trim Rubi’s story, and solved the continuity problem by quickly moving on to the next scene. The fight apparently used up the last of their budget, however. Wow, I’ve never seen character art and animation go downhill that fast. I notice that they worked Rubi’s song into it successfully, though.]

Continuing from where I left off, the last three episode titles have been revealed. It looks like:

• 11: New school term: chapter 8
• 12: Public Safety Commission: chapter 9
• 13: Tsukune: chapter 10

So, 3.5 chapters of Rubi’s story will get crammed into episode 10, and whatever doesn’t fit will spill over into 11 along with however they resolve the continuity break at the end of episode 9. They’ll swipe the ending from chapter 19 to bring Rubi back in at the end of episode 13, which will put them on track to start a second series at episode 20 or 29.

ANN has reported that Sekirei will be animated this summer.

By coincidence, volume 1 of the manga arrived at my house a few days ago. I was putting in a large order with Amazon Japan, it popped up as a recommendation, and looked like an amusing ecchi fan-service comic, so I threw it in. Sadly, it’s aimed at a slightly older audience than usual, so there’s no furigana, which will significantly slow down my reading.

So, bearing in mind that I can’t just skim through it and get the gist of the plot, I would describe it as “the bastard child of DearS and Ikkitousen”. I’m not sure which parent it got the brains from, though.

Note: the heroine is Rushuna-scaled, enjoys bathing, and repels fog and other obscuring effects.

There are five Kiki novels? Thanks to Amazon’s sudden shift to Miyazaki-related recommendations, I just found out about the translated edition of the first one. The cover has that accurate-but-hideous look common to children’s books (completely different from the pen-and-ink interior illustrations), but the translation is apparently decent.

Not something I’d buy, but still interesting.

[Update: No, I can’t figure it all out. The onomatopoeia is common in Japanese web pages, but not in anything I’ve got, and I basically gave up on the “mean-spirited trick” line. I got the gist of the “sinful whisper” verse, at least. Also, is there a word for a 1.5-entendre? Kurumu’s not exactly being subtle, here. No wonder they call it a “character song”: prehensile breasts, mesmerizing gaze, aggressive affection; yup, that’s our succubust!]

Feel free to sing along…

あなたが好きと　ときめくフルーツが
ビキニから　はちきれそう
ぷるん　ぷるん　ぽろん
 
あなたのハート　ひとり占めしたくて
気づかないフルで　チラリと きわどいポーズ
なのに…
 
こっちを見ないシャイネスボーイ
決めました　強引にいっちゃう!
 
やっふ　やふふーっ
SUN　SUN　SUN　パラソルの下で　髪の
星のリボンをほどいて　刺激的な　秘密あげる
NON　NON　NON　はずかしいけれど　いいの
あなたをトリコにしちゃう　ちゃんと　瞳を見て
恋してる　私　渚のデカメロン
 
とくべつ甘い　真夏のスイーツは
いかがでしょ　抱きついたの
ぷにん ぷにん むぎゅん
 
あわてた顔が　なんだか憎らしい
もうすこしワルイ　いじわる 仕掛けちゃうから
だって…
 
恋人ライン　越せずに
好きなのに　くちびるが遠いよ
 
やっふ　やふふーっ
SUN　SUN　SUN　わざとケンカして　逃げる
波打ち際で もつれて　濡れた素肌　つかまえてね
NON　NON　NON　ふるえているけど　平気
あなたの自由にしてと　そっと　吐息でいう
耳元で　罪な　おしゃべりデカメロン
 
やっふ　やふふーっ
SUN　SUN　SUN　パラソルの下で　髪の
星のリボンをほどいて　刺激的な　秘密あげる
NON　NON　NON　はずかしいけれど　いいの
あなたをトリコにしちゃう　ちゃんと　瞳を見て
恋してる　私　渚のデカメロン

Many fans of the Rosario+Vampire manga really hate the anime series. Gonzo is adapting it rather freely, emphasizing the series’ light, fluffy side at the expense of the manga’s occasional plot. Episode 7 did the most serious continuity damage so far, bringing one of the girls into the story long before she should appear, in a way that would make it difficult to get back on track.

If, that is, they have any interest in using the slow-developing, dark and bloody manga plot. I don’t think they do. Here’s my evidence:

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