Empress : Kaiserin

Tactics 12

Oooh, I love tonight's. Finally something eye-catching after the two-parter arc of the Suzakuins. The intro of the episode made me fell from the sofa for real - knees first. Ouch! I thought it was rare that Tactics opens with Kantarou awesomely chanting his nine-word spells, till you realised he didn't catch the little youkai at all. With the cute little monster floating behind him, Kantarou was making the (=_=;);; face. His total failure after trying to look cool. Lol, lovely!

Shigoto, shigoto! Kan-chan scheming again...! Love him that way. I think you can notice the transition in my posts - I am writing more about Kan-chan now (Pandora must be glad - his spell is working on me). Seems that Haruka understands Kantarou the most. He already knew that Kan-chan is into Sakurazawa's money, and is also scheming on making his poor demons do all the housework at the mansion. Naughty. Kantarou is getting more charming within all his schemings :P

After recent episodes, one can judge that Haruka actually has a kinder heart that Kantarou. Yet, he's still a tengu and doesn't know about the ways of the humans. It was funny how Kan-chan is seemingly trying to get into Sakurazawa's good books - and tries to teach Haruka mannerism: "You should knock before entering a lady's room, Haruka!". Right. Kan-chan's reaction is sooooo amusing.

Another paradox about marriage is brought up here. Haruka marries Sakurazawa?! It's just like Kantarou x Kyoko in the previous episode. Nnnngh... Oi... Enough is enough. The animators seem to be enjoying throwing explicit issues into the anime. I have to bear with the scene where Haruka got molested by Sakurazawa. o_O This is such a feminist episode, lol. Later in the episode Haruka was asked to lick the water spilled on Sakurazawa's lower thighs... Double o_O Of course Haruka didn't do it - this is NOT a hentai anime after all. But those scenes were unbearable... I know Haruka is supposedly an attractive character, but his existence is not to serve such purpose in the story. HE IS A TENGU, EVERYONE. Back to the issue of marriage, Youko seems to be the brightest of the lot. She was the first to spot Kantarou trying to charm the widow Kyoko by flattery (in the previous episode) and tonight she showed that she was as sensitive as a woman to spot Sakurazawa being attracted to Haruka. Haha, Youko is beginning to rock - *kills herself for saying that*

Mu and Sugino finally appeared (for less than a minute) after their absence for two episodes. Mu's appearance is sooo entertaining. He reminds me of an instant Kazaana, lol. Begone, Miroku! Mu wins you by folds! Lol... Poor Mu... He didn't know what he ate/sucked (little youkais actually), and Sugino (in western clothes and two ponytails *aaaah... my eyes burn* *flees from the scene*) was crying "Aaah, you can't eat those, Muuuu~~~". Guess youkais are like "stale food" for Mu - perhaps worms are indeed better for cute green creatures than youkais will be, lol. Sugino tried to make Mu spit everything out so that he'll feel better, but it was hilarious to see Kantarou and Youko rushing to stop Mu from doing that (coz the youkais will gush out to flood the room again). Aaaaah... That's being cruel to animals, you two!

Humour aside, there are serious issues touched upon too. In a quiet moment together, Haruka and Kantarou talk about the relationship between human and demons. Kantarou was lightly teasing Haruka about him falling in love with a human, but Haruka said it isn't possible - because he doesn't believe in equality between human and demons. I thought Haruka was a little insensitive here - it may be his own opinion about it, but he should understand that Kantarou constantly hopes there is a bridge between the two kinds ever since he was young. Haruka later flew away and left Kantarou alone at the balcony, and Kantarou whispered those words: "Haruka, anata wa... watashi no yuuki..." [Haruka, you are... my hope...] Sigh... Kantarou-san...

The fight against Ibaragi and her partner was simply too exciting. I was sitting at the edge of my seat - with all the mess of the flowers and the helplessness of everyone (Kantarou, Haruka and Youko all held captive) is pure serious tension. The flowers appear lovely (my favourite colour some more) at first...until they became hostile and floods the battle scenes... It just heightens the tension (and excitement for the viewers) even more. It's hard to comment on the battle scenes, but I would like to say, I just loved Kantarou's entrance! And perhaps Haruka was right - he has become too dependent on Kantarou. However, dear Haruka, dependence comes from trust. Shinjiteiru... It is alright to depend on Kantarou... Dakedo, kare wa... Kantarou wa zettai ni tsuyoku desu! And this time around (finally!), the baddies got to hang around (not for good though)! I sense the main plot approaching...! *shiny eyes* These two youkais (Ibaragi and her other partner) are suspicious characters, and the plot decide to exploit them a little more. Good. So for tomorrow, we will be presented with a new mystery, but the two youkais will revisit the screen again. Lastly, to clear the unwanted tension here, just wanna put a note to this: My wish came true after nine episodes! Haruka, suffering from a hangover (from the flowers) the next day, is out of his suit and adorned in kimono again. Bravo!

Haha, I hope you can see how excited I was watching tonight's episode, coz I admit this post is chotto long. And plenty of crossovers too!
1. the act of stealing art - D.N. Angel
2. "red tea" (lit.) served by Youko - Akira from CLAMP Gakuen Tantei Dan
3. the Sakurazawa mansion - Monster
4. Mu sucking the little youkai - vacuum cleaner from ?!&%$ Miroku from Inuyasha
5. Youko struggling to open the storage room's door - Ahiru from Princess Tutu
6. the flowers, and later, Haruka - Delphine and Alex scenes from Last Exile

posted by empress @ 7:21 PM