What I’m Watching 12

Only two episodes this time round. I’m not sure what happened to the time.

Negima!? 15

Now that everyone in the class (sans Eva because she’s a vampire and Chachamaru because she’s a robot) has partnered with Negi, the first order of business for this alternate magic world replica of the real Earth (only without people apparently) is to figure out how to get out. With Takahata-sensei observing, the class debates on what to do. Takahata-sensei, Eva, and Chachamaru go off where Chachamaru prepares ramen while the class divides itself into three groups.

The first group is the Exploration Group lead by Asuna. The second is the Research Group lead by Ayaka. The third group is the Caretaker Group lead by Satsuki (basically, they feed the troops). Negi is depressed by the situation, but is encouraged by Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka. Each group sets out to do its thing and the Research Group studies a Star Crystal. During this research, Ayaka accidentally sends it into a pillar, causing Negi to use Sayo’s powers to retrieve it (leading Asuna to wonder if Sayo’s really a ghost).

Thoughts: A case study on how to waste time in an episode. Boring, not funny, and no plot advancement of any kind to say nothing of any character development.

Pumpkin Scissors 14

An injured soldier and his companion are in the sewers. The non-injured soldier promises his injured companion that he’ll get him to the doctor. Unfortunately, a person dressed in something looking like an old diving costume arrives with a flamethrower. The non-injured soldier empties a gun at the armored flamethrower person, but to no avail. The flamethrower person speaks of being cold before incinerating the two soldiers from Section I.

Meanwhile, Pumpkin Scissors have come to the sewers where a large refugee population now resides. With the government having opened up some farms for people to work, Pumpkin Scissors now has to evacuate the refugees to a new home. When they arrive, they find some employees of Waterworks (who owns the sewer system) attempting to extort sexual favors from an attractive woman as “rent.” Ored puts a stop to it as Alice informs the people of the new farms. Strangely, some don’t want to leave and when the dog Mer-kun leaps on the employee Metz, some packets of drugs (like cocaine) drop out of his pocket. Alice immediately has him arrested and performs the interrogation.

The president of the company, Albert Mione, soon arrives and has Metz released. The head of Section I comes and protests to Captain Hunks because Waterworks provides a lot of funding to the army. Hunks gives Alice a way to keep arresting Metz and his goons legally since Section III cannot investigate normal crimes. As such, Albert continues to have to pay to get his thugs out of prison and with sales of the drugs going down, he’s not happy.

He provides his men with the latest rifles so that they can kill the members of Pumpkin Scissors. In addition, he dispatches Hans, the flamethrower person. The thugs ambush the Section III members but their inexperience prevents them from hitting anything. Oland briefly activates his lamp and nearly succumbs to the German voice that says to kill. The group flees the scene of the ambush and Alice gets a bad feeling. She has Machs stop the vehicle for a bit, before continuing into the sewer, only to find Hans waiting for them with his flamethrower.

Thoughts: The episode was interesting enough, though there’s not a lot to say about it. More corruption in the Empire, more forbidden weapons projects (the 908HTT flamethrower dude), and more downtrodden people. Oland suddenly having an issue with using his lamp seemed out of the blue, especially since he hasn’t had a problem with it lately.