‘It’s amazing that Yuuji hasn’t throttled Dan out of jealousy.’ Amen, Kabitzin, a~MEEEN!!!
The karaoke battle reminded me a bit of how Nagi crushed the Hamster. The True Rival, Rin Suzuki, has appeared as Tama-chan tastes the bitter taste of defeato! Great heroes need great rivals - but as Rin isn’t a main chara, we don’t get the sophisticated feedback loop that we see in Hikaru no Go: Hikaru and Akira constantly push each other to new heights of excellence without even being conscious of it most of the time.
I say that Saya should just jump Kirino already. :3 Yuri (no strikethrough!) vibes FTW!!!
Tama-chan’s ‘nande?’ just sent me into peals of laughter. Her twintails as cute as always. And while I’m glad that Stripey has been convinced to watch Bamboo Blade, it’s somewhat disconcerting to hear the drip-drip drooling sound of a certain tanuki’s lolicon motivation. orz
Sleeping With The Enemy.
Nemesis. They’ve been setting this up for ages. Wonderful stuff. There might be a closer bond formed between Miya Miya and Tama; the former almost always lost but continues to struggle while the latter has been winning repeatedly but now both have hit their wall. At least Miya Miya didn’t see Reimi otherwise the loss wouldn’t have the same impact.
So Tama-chan’s been built up and now pulled down. But the signs have been there right from the first episode when she used the tsuki, then her vulnerability to the ascension stance, her inability to understand what can be gained by losing, great way how the Blade Braver show interweaves both literally and metaphorically - I don’t think I’ve seen a show within a show have this kind of effect on a main chara since Martian Successor Nadesico /Gekiganger.
But again, I argue that Hikaru no Go sets the standard for the defeat / rise from the ashes dynamic because Hikaru faces numerous challenges over the 70 episode run or 23 volumes of the manga and doesn’t have any quick resolution to his major challenges: e.g. overtaking Akira or even Morishita-sensei, living up to Sai’s legacy etc etc. If Tama-chan completes her transition from She The Kendo Team Ultimate Weapon to someone more self-aware, that’ll make her striving all the more meaningful.
Can’t wait to see how things will develop from here.
Then again, Dan the Man has a most formidable deterrent protecting his person - the inevitable fury of Darth Miya. No sane man who knows better willingly brings that down on his head… :|
To paraphrase the immortal words of Calvin & Hobbes, “do you think the townsfolk will ever find Hamster Huey’s head?”
LOL Hamster Huey.
And the first rule of C&H is that we do NOT talk about the spaghetti incident. Whatever GnR might sing. ;)