Shikabane Hime: Aka 01




Summary:
It’s late at night at the orphanage, and Kagami Ouri wakes up to find a talking ghost-cat telling him to go over to the temple. Cats love to bring their owners presents, and Ouri is surprised to find a dead chick, Hoshimura Makina. However, a sudden noise causes Ouri to hide behind the Buddha statue and watch as his “brother” Tagami Keisei cradles the body and brings Makina back to life. It seems that the En was almost severed, but the other monks (Shirai-san and Honda-san) are not that concerned.

Ouri decides it’s time to move out, but at the same time some fake-vampire is setting his harem ladies against each other and leaving the dead bodies in his closet. Although the fake-vampire jumped to his death, his strong will allowed him to become a shikabane with bat powers. Makina has a little trouble at first, but Ouri knows that hugs heal everything and is able to refill Makina’s HP bar. Makina does a quick-save and then takes down the fake-vampire by shooting it in the brain.

Reaction:
Although the idea of schoolgirls running around and killing zombies is silly, I liked how Makina was portrayed. All those other monks were hating on her, and looking at her like a vile tool. I guess only Keisei and Ouri are able to look past her zombie exterior to see the inner beauty. The first episode definitely got me curious about Makina’s past and what the deal is with scaredy-cat Makina in the tiny hell closet.

With the money that he spent on those magazines, Keisei probably could have hooked Ouri up with a rental car or something to help him move. I guess Keisei is too busy hanging out with Makina to help his bro out. Anyway, the first enemy was hilarious. I loved how the harem had a genki girl, a mature-looking girl, and even a maid. I bet the fake-vampire told the women that Makina was a childhood friend, causing all the jealous ladies to attack. Why aren’t there more deathmatch-harem series?

11 Comments

  1. Leon (29)
    Posted 10/10/2008 at 8:05 am | Permalink

    LOL. The comment for the last screenshot is priceless. =D

    I wonder what’s up with that cat though?

  2. Chris (589)
    Posted 10/10/2008 at 12:53 pm | Permalink

    Maybe I’m going blind but I my eyes can hardly decipher what’s going on on some of the caps.

  3. Martin (21)
    Posted 10/10/2008 at 1:28 pm | Permalink

    For someone who’s clinically dead, Makina really knows how to handle a pair of machine guns! I’ve seen the action scenes described as a bit Gurren Lagann-esque, which I think isn’t far off the mark. A good thing, by the way.

    It’s actually quite different from what Gainax have done in the past, so there’s not telling where things could go from here. Right now I’m happy to see it as a show where you can pop open a beer, sit back and be entertained without thinking too hard.

  4. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 10/10/2008 at 1:47 pm | Permalink

    Leon: No clue, but Ouri didn’t seem too surprised by anything so perhaps he can see spiritual things normally.

    Chris: Everything was very brightly colored and over-saturated. Plus the funky Gainax angles made some scenes harder to follow. Here’s what’s happening:

    1. Hopes and dreams
    2. Lost my brother, will probably try to date him
    3. V8
    4. Batplane
    5. Shounen speech
    6. Buffet

    Martin: I think the choreography and angles used are a bit TTGL-esque, although the similarities seem to end there. It was mostly mindless action towards the end, but I get the feeling we are building up for some good mystery and character development.

  5. Shin (82)
    Posted 10/13/2008 at 11:54 am | Permalink

    I’m sold on the concept alone, but to be honest I was hoping this would be Rosario+Vampire with guns, though that would probably ruin this show. Wonder when Makina’s long lost cyborg brother is going to make an appearance.

  6. Watchman (40)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 2:47 pm | Permalink

    Given how bleh gun it by all accounts was and is, the Ingram MAC-10 seems strangely loved by animanga authors… Then again, I’ve read there was a joke going around at Ingram that most of their production went to Hollywood.

  7. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 3:25 pm | Permalink

    I’m surprised Makina didn’t whip out P90s in that respect.

  8. Chris (589)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    A Walter P-38 would have more style and be easier to throw at your target.

  9. Watchman (40)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 4:35 pm | Permalink

    The P-38 also has a lousy 9-shot capacity, which doesn’t really mesh with Makina’s “More Dakka” approach to firefights methinks…
    Also a WW2 antique. A Glock would be much better bet, what with the large clip capacity and availability also in some rather powerful calibers (eg. .45 ACP, .40, 10mm Auto…) IMO.

    The FN P90’s really a bit on the big and clunky side (for akimbo-ing anyway) if you ask me, plus I’d imagine those little 5.7mm high-velocity rounds designed against body armour weren’t really the thing for zombie hunting. Not enuff raw tissue trauma. (The more compact H&K MP7, at 4.6mm, would have the same shortcoming.)

    Some 9mm Steyr TMPs loaded with some kind of expanding bullet ought to do good, however. Downright tiny (for an SMG), very light, able to take good-sized clips, decent-sized round, easy on the recoil…

  10. Chris (589)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 5:23 pm | Permalink

    I guess something like this would be most suitable for hunting zombies.

  11. Watchman (40)
    Posted 10/15/2008 at 6:02 pm | Permalink

    Huh, they’ve got that critter scheduled for field testing already ? Guess the H&K folks weren’t just twiddling their thumbs with the silly OICW project.

    In this case though you’d probably get about the same mileage out of grabbing a good combat shotgun and loading it with something suitably nasty (like, say, those micro-grenades someone once tested; bet you they could be delay-fused so they go off *inside* the target real easy…) - not that a good old high-velocity 18mm slug was anything to scoff at either when it comes to making big chunky holes in stuff. They hunt deer and elk with those things after all, and those critters are a fair bit more resilient than us embarassingly squishy humans…

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