Sorry about being MIA. Lots of stuff going on including a trip to Starfest 2007 and job changes. I blog about both on my other blog.

Lupin III Part III 02 — Zenigata comes up with a plan with his ICPO supervisor to use 6-tons of gold to lure Lupin into a trap to steal it. Lupin steals the gold, only to find they’ve stolen a 6-ton gold-colored cement ball. Realizing he and Zenigata have been set up, Lupin gets the inspector on the case, discovering that his supervisor, with the help of Fujiko, stole the gold. Unfortunately, Zenigata is unable to prove this, forcing Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon to find the real gold and allow Zenigata to take the credit.

Thoughts: This episode was pretty simplistic. The moment the gold Lupin stole was shown to be fake, I already knew the supervisor stole it and since Fujiko wasn’t around, it was likely she was involved somehow. I can’t say I was bored, but I can say that this is something I’d never watch again.

Hayate no Gotoku! 03 — Hayate goes to wake Nagi only to find a giant white tiger with her on the bed. Nagi is unconcerned about it and Head Butler Klaus decides that “White Tiger Cat Tama” and Hayate should go outside to “play”. Unfortunately, play leads to a defeat for Hayate and a destruction of Maria-san’s flower bed. When Maria-san discovers this, even the fearsome Tama is afraid. Klaus still is unconvinced that Hayate is the man for the job of butler so he comes up with the robot “Eight” to compete with Hayate in being a butler. Unfortunately, the robot gets a bit angry and it turns into a real battle between robot and Hayate with Hayate winning. Upon keeping his job, Hayate and Nagi are seen together with the mecha unit from the beginning of episode 1, it complaining about having to wait three episodes to continue their fight.

Thoughts: Oh yeah, the wacky humor is good stuff. I love surprises. Tama wasn’t so much of a surprise until the end and I won’t even spoil that for you. Suffice to say, I found it amusing. The unexpected return of the mecha unit from the beginning of episode 1 was laugh-out-loud funny to me and completely unexpected (as was the complaining). In many ways, the humor here reminds me of classic Tex Avery stuff (his Daffy Duck was best) and I love it.

Hayate no Gotoku! 04 — After a conversation with Tama, Hayate goes to take Nagi’s forgotten bento to her school. He’s met at the gate by KATSURA Yukiji-sensei, who after a brief battle is bested by Hayate who makes it onto the school grounds. This is seen by female students HANABISHI Miki, SEGAWA Izumi, and ASAKAZE Risa, who make some introductions and comments to the real-life viewing audience. Hayate attempts to get the bento to Nagi and ends up under a tree where KATSURA Hinagiku, younger sister of Yukiji-sensei, is. She rescued a baby bird, and Hayate has to save it from a crow. As a reward, Hina-chan takes him to the clock tower where Yukiji-sensei finds them. She’s determined to make Hayate pay, but when Hina intervenes, a battle ensues and the bento gets ruined. Fortunately, Nagi was able to figure it all out, much to the relief of Hayate.

Thoughts: Tama telling Hayate he didn’t want to be a Pikachu-type character was just a hoot, more so because part of the name was bleeped out. That happens a lot when the series talks about other anime titles or people. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to identify about a third of these (like the Pocket Monster reference and an easy Gundam reference). There’s a lot of parody in this anime which is also a lot of fun.