A Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King

 A Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King (姫騎士は蛮族の嫁,) is a  12 episode romantic comedy/fantasy series based on the manga of The Barbarians Bride by Kotoba Noriaki.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2026.

     Serafina de Lavillant is a princes and knight of the kingdom of Illdoren.  While leading a military expedition into the eastern frontier lands she is defeated by a barbarian and taken as a prisoner.  Her captor is a barbarian prince named Veor who has decided that he will make her his bride.  At first she fears that the lawless brutes will do anything they want with her, much to their amusement.  Soon it becomes clear that her people concept of their enemies is far from the truth.

    Veor does everything he can to convince the captured princess that his people and their way of life will suit her better.  He never pressures her into being his wife.  He slowly introduces her to his homeland, a land of bounty and danger.  Dragons prowl the skies and forests but that only weeds out the weak and makes the people appreciate the things they have.  His people are also part of an age old communion of other beings in the area. Elves, dwarves and fairies, who work in tandem to protect and appreciate the bounty they have.  This comes in stark contrast to the brutal and barren lands of her home county, a medieval style society of honor and peasantry that is struggling to provide sustenance for its people.  This has led them to attempt expansion into the wilderness on their border a land protected by the so called barbarians.  As the spends more time in this lawless area he comes to realize that they may have a better way of living than she was used to.

     While the series is more heartwarming comedy than action adventure or wank material, it does dip into all of those territories with frequency.  The strongest portion of the story is the world building it does.  The artwork is shoddy and the character designs don't inspire much.  It does do a good job of laying out the underlying principle of what its trying to say but ultimately goes no where with that.  I suspect there is greater depth in the manga.  The final episode hints at a grander narrative suggesting a possible ending to the story over all.  I suspect we will never see that animated, I do not think this series was well received...at least not enough to garner more money being poured into it.

    Then there is the entire underlying catalyst of the story being centered around forced marriage and coercion.  The barbarians are presented as easy going and well meaning people who also just happen to stick with one really problematic habit of kidnapping defeated warrior women to be the champions bride.  Yes...given the two nations great conflict...mostly predicated by the more civilized one, these people would not otherwise meet in idea situations.  No Tinder to swipe through.   And yes, there is the overly hand waving justification of it being done to help ensure maintain a diverse blood line, given the barbarians smaller population and problems with inbreeding.  It still doesn't mean the practice should continue or be shrugged off.  But maybe that's a good goal for a unified or pacified relation between both sides...establishing relations that don't result in blood shed and opening up the ability of cross exchanges of culture and peoples.  Yet...the civilized nation has the more primitive and conflicted mindset, largely based around greed, so...who knows!  I didn't care enough about the story to pick up the manga to find out.

The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll.

Rooster Fighter

 Rooster Fighter (ニワトリ・ファイター) is a 12 episode shonen action anime based on the manga of the same name by Sakuratani Shu.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2026.

    Keiji is a rooster out for revenge.  After his home was destroyed and his sister captured by a powerful demon something unlocked within him, giving hm a fearsome power.  He has now taken to wandering Japan in search of this demon, fighting any of them that he comes across.  Demon's have been occurring randomly, reeking havoc on civilian populations, causing mayhem and destruction.  No one knows where they come from but they seem to be manifested from humans who find themselves in great anguish or peril.  While Keiji destroys every demon he comes across he is not beholden to any sense of justice.  They just happen to be in his way as he searches for his sister and her captor.

     Along the way he gains two chicken companions, a baby chick named Piyoko and a hen he encountered earlier named Elizabeth.   The three of them continue their journey, fighting off any demon they encounter.  But they being to notice that some demons are not agents of destruction.  This gives them hope tha not all is dire.  Unfortunately their positivity is soon dashed as they learn there exists a more powerful and dangerous element, Devils, who appear to be manipulating some of the demon population to an unknown goal.  Keiji's half brother arrives to fill in some of the details and the hero rooster learns that he comes from a long line of chickens who have great ability and power...a thing the devils are trying to eradicate.

 

 

    If it wasn't for David picking this as his choice for the 2026 Spring edition of the podcast I would never have watched this.  By the end of the series David regretted his choice.  Rooster Fighter is the first anime that was given a failing grade by both of us at the end of the show.  It started out promising as a satire of the standard shonen battle story, akin to what One Punch Man started out as.  It was amusing and irreverent at first so we over looked its rote story and terribly enacted animation.  By the it became the thing it was making fun of and did it in a unoriginal and banal manner.  The last few episodes were little more than a low budget remake of Dragon Ball Z with chicken actors.

     To highlight the uselessness of this anime, by the end it became quite clear this was nothing short of a marking venture for the manga.  The final episode ends as the actual plot becomes clear with no apparent effort to continue the anime.  This was a massive waste of time and effort and puts a highlight on avoiding anything co-developed by Cartoon Network.  Do not watch this anime...probably don't even read the manga, its a waste of time.  Go back and redo DBZ instead.

The series was simulcast on Hulu.

Ranma 1/2 Remake - Season 2

 Ranma 1/2 (らんま⁠1/2) season 2 of the remake is continuing with the manga by Takahashi Rumiko.  Season 2 initially aired during the Fall of 2025.

      The second season kicks off with the introduction of a character who barely made an appearance in the original anime adaptation, Gosunkugi Hikaru.  Gosunkugi is a loner occult otaku who is obsessed with Akane.  He decides to use his dark arts knowledge to remove Ranma from the picture.  In the process he discovers Ranma's one weakness, cats, and attempts to use that to destroy him.  Instead he unleashes a secret power that is the result of Ranma's cat trauma, the cat fist technique.  Unfortunately for Ranma he struggles to stay away from the felines, especially one in particular that is revealed to be Shampoo.  The amazon has returned, with her grandmother, and reveals that she was forced to endure training at Jusenkyo.  She was unlucky enough to fall into the spring of drowned cat.

    In addition to the two women, a man from their village, Mousse, has come to Japan as well.  He believes he is the true suitor for Shampoo and decides to use Akane as a foil in his efforts to defeat Ranma, hoping to use that victory to win Shampoos hand.  Too compound matters more, a friend from childhood shows up as another fiance, the feisty okinomiyaki chef, Ukyo.  She realizes how much Ryoga likes Akane and uses this as a way to get her out of the way so she can take Ranma for her self.  With all this insanity and scheming how will Ranma ever get the training in to return to being a full boy...especially when the master of anything goes martial arts begins to cause a problem in the city.

     The second season of the remake is a welcome continuation of MAPPA's fantastic vision for Ranma.  This season is packed with introducing all of the characters that will become permanent players for the rest of the story...however long they decide to keep it going.  But...from here on out things can tend to take on a repetitive position.  From the knowledge of the original anime adaptation, there is really no more important characters introduced and it becomes a series of similar plot lines revolving around martial arts competitions and schemes.  This season however, we are eating good!

     MAPPA continues to do fantastic work in breathing new life into this story, with high quality animation and well placed comedy.  Its great that almost all of the original cast has returned to do this series, some of who got their start with the original.  The third season was announced after season two ended and they chose an interesting way of promoting it.  It looks like we will be kicking off with the breaking point technique.  The trailer goes hard to present Ranma as a serious and dramatic story...but we all know its slap stick comedy, so it will be fun to see how they actually translate this story and how far the next season brings us into the manga.

This season and the first are available on Netflix. 

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend - Light Novel

 Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend (青春ブタ野郎はディアフレンドの夢を見ない) is the fifteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keji.  The fifteenth and final volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2026. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first fourteen novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Fourteen: Rascal Does Not Dream of His Girlfriend here! 

    Sakuta does the only thing he can think of to cure Mai from thinking she's Kirishma Touko...have Miori Mito take her place during the debut concert in Yokohama.  Even though she believes in her heart she is Kirishima, Mai agrees to the plan and Miori takes her place on stage, singing the final song that Touko ever penned.  But this time instead of allowing it to fade off after the well known lyrics, the song continues and reverses course, giving a new, hopeful meaning to the lyrics.  With this new material unleashed on the world, the spell if broken and Mai realizes that she is truly just herself.  But Sakuta can't breathe a sigh of relief just yet.  Mai appears to be the only one back to normal.  Ikumi from the other world contacts him and has him meet with a strange person dressing in a large bunny costume...hm from the other world.  They warn him that everything is his fault, that Miori's adolescent syndrome was something different.  He, Sakuta, is the reason everyone around him appears to be having his idealized versions of their lives, including both versions of Kaede.  He is the observer, causing these oddities to linger and exist.  He needs to change his perspective in order to correct the world and return those misplaced to their right realities.

    The following day, his twentieth birthday, he and Mai travel to school together.  As the head towards their classes he spots Miori...all by herself.  This strikes him as off, given how quickly her identity was revealed from the footage of her performing as Kirishia Touka the previous night.  As he approaches her, his fears are confirmed when she expresses gratitude over being seen.  She is suffering from the same thing Mai did when he first met her.  Mai doesn't see Miori and bluntly tells Sakuta that he needs to solve his issues because she wants them to both be able to see the same thing.  She wants him to grown up and leave adolescent syndrome behind.  Desperate to keep Mai and the world he knows he struggles with how to undo the damage he has done.  He understands he is no longer a child and needs to leave childish things behind but the idea that much of what he's experienced in the past three of four years, even going as far back as middle school, not being real....scares him.   He knows he needs to face the reality of an adult and move beyond adolescent syndrome but he doesn't want to lose the people he has and the memories he's built with them to evaporate in the process.  As he is officially an adult now he needs to face the adult world and take the mistakes and regrets with him if he is ever to find peace.

    I wasn't sure how this final chapter in Sakuta's story would resolve or what road it would take.  The story does kind of end on a quiet not though, which is a bit of a let down, given how intense some moments in the story have been.  But it isn't bad, just maybe not what I was hoping for.  But I also am not sure what I expected.  I really enjoyed the extensive afterwards that showed the life Sakuta was living about a month after resolving everything.  I feel if that was absent the story might have been disappointing.  Instead it helped frame the entire series into a nice package.  Sakuta, and those around him, those he touched, will go on living their lives to the best they can, leaving behind the world of the child and embracing adulthood.  There is contentment in knowing that everyone will continue their lives, even if they may grow apart as the years roll by.  Whats important is that Sakuta himself found the truths he needed to find to move on with his life and truly enjoy himself.

    I am sad to see it end, but not disappointed.  I can't wait to see the anime adaptation coming later this year in Japan and there is the side story that's pending English release as well!  Farewell friends.
 

Witch Watch - season 1

 Witch Watch (ウィッチウォッチ) is a supernatural comedy based on the manga of the same name by Shinohara Kenta.  The first season aired 25 episodes over the Spring and Summer of 2025.

     Otogi Morihito comes from a long line of witches familiars.  The Otogi family carries ogre blood within them and use their supernatural strength to protect members of the Wakatsuki clan.  When they were young Morihito did everything he could to protect Wakatsuki Nico, even before he understood his familial obligations.  As he enters high school he learns that Nico, who he has not seen in years, is returning and will be living with him to complete her training as a witch.  Nico has incredible potential but her abilities are unrefined and potentially dangerous.  She moved away at a young age to a refine her abilities and has now returned in order to grow as a magic user.  Morihito's father instructs him about the situation and lets him now that it is his responsibility to act as her familiar and protect her with everything he has.

     Nico has always been a bit oblivious to a lot of the thing around her and approaches to using magic.  She often times uses it without understanding or thinking about the adverse reactions to the spells.  Morihito has lived his life seriously and regimented and the return of his childhood friend injects a heavy dose of chaos into his otherwise organized life.  While his exterior is controlled and lacking of humor, he is glad to have his old friend back, even if he has to act as her guardian and protector.  Nico on the other hand is excited beyond words to be back with the person she has the strongest connection with, she only hopes that she can break through his stony demeanor and make him fall for her as much as she has fallen for him.  Their time together won't be fun and games however as Nico's mother begins to send prophetic warnings to Morihito, alerting him to threats against Nico.

    Right out of the gate Witch Watch sets its self up as a series that is more goofy than anything else.  The interactions between Morihito and Nico are pretty much manzai skits.  Look it up on Wikipedia if you're unfamiliar with the term.  At almost every instance Nico's magic is the set up for a series of punchlines that deliver most of the time.  Many of the episodes are split into smaller vignettes, sometimes focusing on auxiliary characters, which works well to fend of stagnation in the plot.  There isn't really any over arching plot beyond wondering is Nico will ever be able to express her feelings to Morihito.  They encounter conflicts randomly, sometimes spread across multiples episodes, overcome the conflicts and gather more weirdo's to their friend group.

    There are small amounts of action and combat and threat, but the vast majority of the series focuses on slice of life, romance and absurd comedy.  It felt weird that it got a two cour run and even weirder that it got green lit for another run in the future.  By the time i wrapped up episode 25 I was eager to go through more antics with these lovable idiots...and idiots they most certainly are.  The humor is continuously fresh as it doesn't rely much on jokes that have already been used.  There continue to be more ridiculous ideas and situations, sometimes building on the established lore of the characters and their antics, but you really don't see anything repeated....mostly.  A lot of the joy is seeing what type of stupid the characters get into through, mostly negligence, and then how it effects things around them.  I ended up enjoying this way more than I expected and grew to enjoy it as it went on....with the exception of the segments showing the shonen TV series that two characters are absolutely obsessed with.  Those segments put a roadblock on the fun I feel. 

The series is available on Crunchyroll.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - anime

 Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus (青春ブタ野郎はサンタクロースの夢を見ない) is a 13 episode continuation of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novel series by .  The series covers light novels volume 9 through 13 and aired during the Summer of 2025.

    Azusagawa Sakuta has begun his perfect college life with his older girlfriend Sakurajima Mai, one of Japans most beloved actors.  As they enter into adulthood they struggle to escape the complicated world of adolescence.   Right away strange things begin to occur around him, evidence of people he meets suffering from adolescent syndrome, a supernatural manifestation of internal stresses around growing up.  Unlike the issues he dealt with in high school, the new problems he works to solve seem to be centering around a strange woman dressed in a mini skirt Santa outfit calling herself Kirishima Touko.  In the past year, Kirishima has been uploading haunting songs on the internet that have been gaining traction.  Sakuta is the only one who can see the mini skirt Santa, a form of adolescent syndrome he suspects is similar to what Mai went through when they first met.  She tells him that she is handing out presents to everyone around him, various forms of adolescence syndrome, that deeply concern the compassionate Sakuta.

    As Sakuta works through the new cases of stress and uncertainty around the new people he comes into contact with, elements from his past return to warn him of a threat to the most important thing in his life, Mai.   A version of him from a more idyllic reality, warns him that unless he is able to stop Kirishima, Mai is in danger.  As he helps resolve each related adolescent syndrome he digs deeper into the psyche of the mysterious woman who threatens his love and happiness.  Could the unidentifiable songstress have a strong enough jealousy over Mai that she is able to super charge the stresses of those she comes into contact with?  An internet phenomenon around prophetic dreams begins to reveal to extent of the threat to Mai and other around him as he tries to get Kirishima to open up to him about her motivations.

    The 'long awaited' continuation of the Rascal Doesn't Dream franchise does not disappoint.  With the exception of one thing...the bungled release in North America.  The original 12 episode series was followed by three theatrical releases, all of which cover the first eight light novels.  The story is progressive and interconnected and the second and third movies were not available legally for English speaking audiences until a few episodes into the broadcast of the second series.  This means that most audiences, who missed the opportunity over a two day period over a year earlier to see those movies in the theater, were missing vital contextual information.  Events specifically in the third movie directly relate to a lot of the central plot of the Santa Claus series, particularly the existence and Sakuta's interaction with the other version of his world.  Fortunately, those movies were eventually made available for streaming, so people who had not seen them before nor read the light novels, could catch up with what was going on.

     The mistake and issues for English speaking audiences aside, this series does exactly what we should expect.   With out a change to the aesthetics or delivery it flawlessly continues the story of Sakuta and his efforts to help those around him overcome their misgiving and hesitations.  The story does a good job of translating what appears in the light novels, as it has done in the previous adaptations.  The only real complaint is...were not done.  There are still two light novels that needs to be animated and Santa Claus ends in a bit of a cliff hanger.  As we have seen in the past, it will probably be a while for those to more than likely be turned into at least one movie...and then become available for English speaking audiences.  The only resolution is for everyone to at least jump into the light novel series for those last two parts of the story.  Though...its a great idea for fans of the anime to read all of the light novels as there are aspects of the story that are interesting that they had to omit from the anime, for understandable reasons.  For more details on that, check out the series of review on the Rascal Doesn't Dream light novels.  Either way, I am very pleased with the results so far and eagerly await the finale of this story being animated!

The series is available on Crunchyroll. 

The Summer Hikaru Died - Season 1

 The Summer Hikaru Died (光が死んだ夏) is a 13 episode adaptation of the manga of the same name by Mokumokuren.  The series originally aired during the Summer of 2025. 

 

    During the winter Indo Hikaru becomes lost on a sacred mountain outside of his village.  The men of the village search for him, with no luck but the boy returns to town a few days later, as if nothing wrong occurred.  His best friend, Tsujinaka Yoshiki knows something is off and brooches the subject at the beginning of summer.  He outright ask him if he's not the real Hikaru.  In a moment of panic the thing that is pretending to be the teenage boy begins to unleash its supernatural essence, threatening to take over Yoshiki but pulls back before any harm can be done.  Thus begins the strange relationship between an eldritch being posed as a boy that was lost in a dreary winter night on a sacred mountain and his best friend in the entire world.

     Yoshiki struggles with the truth of his friends death but isn't ready to let go and tries to maintain the status quo with the thing puppeting Hikaru.  It has the majority of the boys memories and has an understand of his mannerisms and countenance, but it is noticeably different.  This version is filled with a greater sense of wonder and excitement as its experiencing things for the first time, things it knows Hikaru had experienced countless times in his own life.  Yoshiki appears to be the only one that notices the difference but the village senses something if out of place.  The thing that is Hikaru lacks any understanding of life and the consequences of death and when it feels threatened by an elderly woman who believes the boy is a manifestation of an ancient god Nonuki he murders her in cold blood.  Her death sets off a series of events by the towns elders, fearing an ancient curse come to reclaim its price.  Out of desperation they begin working with a strange man who specializes in exorcisms.  Hikaru and Yoshiki try to understand the things nature, as Hikaru has no recollection of its existence prior to taking over the boys body.  The longer he stays among the human population, the more they understand that his presence brings danger to those around them. 

     I picked up the first volume of the manga shortly after it came out due to the hype around it.  I enjoyed it and continued to pick the other volumes out as they became available.  Once I learned that it was getting an anime adaption I stopped reading the manga so I could have it as one of the shows on The Otaku Network Podcast.  That time has now come and gone and I can finally return to the source material.  I enjoyed this slow burning mystery.  Its hard for anime and manga to be scary and this one was no exception but I feel that wasn't it's purpose.  It told a story that we have seen again and again but this time it added a complicated human side to it.  The medium is full of tales about the dark things people do in remote locations that pop up unexpectedly later on, causing...concern.  In this case the manifestation of that shameful legacy decides to pretend to be human for a while.  In doing so that human it emulates comes with more baggage than it bargained for and it has a yearning for acceptance and continuation in the process.

    There is just one thing I feel the anime was lacking and that was truly knowing the characters.  Outside of some exposition conversations and indirect hints, we honestly didn't get a lot of information about them.  We don't really understand what the real Hikaru was like.  We don't know what Yoshiki's goals in life are outside of removing the stressors around himself.   Tanaka may have the deepest mysteries and it may be interesting to see a spin off series about him.  In reality the most fleshed out character was the town itself, which was central to the neurosis' of the towns folks in relation to what was pretending to be Hikaru.  But even then we really didn't get an explanation for what he was and why he was, left to accept that at some point it changed and the towns attitude towards it changed and things began to become twisted and dark.  Regardless of the lightness in the depth of story telling it was still an interesting tale and a refreshing spin on the premises we have seen countless times before.  Fortunately, we will be getting a second season and hopefully more depth will be expounded upon!  Only time will tell and my manga volumes might stay lonely for the time being.

The series is available on Netflix. 

Dan Da Dan - season 2

 Dan Da Dan season 2 (ダンダダン) is the continuation of the super natural comedy romance series based on the manga of the same name by Tatsu Yukinobu.  This season ran for 12 episodes over the Summer of 2025.

    The story picks up right were season one left off...so if you need to, you might want to check that out before cotinuing.  Momo and Okarun have been tasked to investigate what's going on with Jiji and his parents by Momo's grandmother.  The small village where he's currently living has a dark secret perpetrated by a creepy family.   The house Jiji is staying at is the sight of a centuries long sacrificial ceremony perpetrated by the Kito family.  They have been sacrificing people to an underground worm god they believe is keeping the volcano outside of the village dormant.  Their plan backfires when they attempt to sacrifice Jiji and his friends and everyone falls into the cavernous recesses below the house.  They find a history of their crimes in sunken homes that span the decades and their god...a mythical UMA that has gone crazy with its thirst and size.

    There is something lurking below however that is a problem, a long forgotten darkness built upon pain and neglect of a tortured child from centuries ago.  That pain manifested into a powerful spirit known as Evil Eye and before they can stop him, Jiji merges with the being.Jiji's incredible physical strength and spiritual energy allows Evil Eye to have a powerful vessel for enacting his revenge on the world at large.  Momo, Okarun and Turbo Granny struggle to defend themselves and the ensuing battle leads to the eruption of the volcano.  As their demise seems to be guaranteed, Momo's grandmother arrives with the cavalry to contain the problem.  Evil Eye is contained but Jiji is still possessed so they bring him back to their home to keep and eye on him while they figure out how to proceed...concerned that if it comes out again they wont be able to contain it, let alone defeat it.  The series wraps up with a prolonged introduction to the cliffhanger to make everyone thirsty for season 3!

     The first season was a tour de force by Science Saru that also came with a concerning amount of fetishization of teenage girls bodies.  It ended with what appeared to be an attempted sexual assault on Momo, so those that had only watched the anime were very concerned for how season two would start out and what kind of tone it would set for the continuation of this fantastic series.  Those fears were quickly squashed and we were treated to a single episode that has more story, emotion and bad ass fight choreography than some other shows are ever able to squeeze out in 13 episodes.  The first half of the story goes hard as our beloved awkward heroes battle for their lives.  Then it shifts back to their version of the mundane and we see further development between Momo and Okarun and it was way to cute to handle!

    This season was fantastic even though it contained a more connected story that thread through the entire run, as opposed to the first season that seemed more episodic.   As with the first, the artwork is top tier with fantastic directing and choreography.  But there is something more important and that's heart.  These characters are all just normal teenagers, dealing with normal teenage problems who also happen to have to devote way too much of their energy correcting super natural messes they get dragged into.  But at the end of the day, they just want to be seen and be loved like everyone else.  This season was better than the first with the exception of episode 8, where I feel the story stalls and spends way too much time dealing with a pointless conflict with terrible character designs for the antagonists.  Other then that...one of the best anime of the year!

The series is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix. 

Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Girlfriend - light novel

      Rascal Does Not Dream Of His Girlfriend (青春ブタ野郎はガールフレンドの夢を見ない) is the fourteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji.  The fourteenth volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2025. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first thirteen novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Thirteen: Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus here!

    Sakuta finds himself in the throng of people heading to the concert in Yokohama that, according to the Dreaming Hashtag, Mai will reveal that she is Kirishima Touko.  While heading to the venue he notices the knapsack version of Mai flitting through the crows and chases after, failing to catch up with her.  Giving up, he heads to the venue, diverting his course to the backstage area where a chance encounter with Mai's manager allows him access to her trailer.  He does his best to ensure that Mai won't do what everyone is expecting her to do.  She assures him its not going to happen and ushers him out so she can finish preparing.  Once out of the backstage area he reconnects with Akagi and they join the massive crown for the performance.  Everything plays out as he dreamed and the bottom falls out from his stomach when Mai takes the stage and performs the Kirishima song.  Against his wishes, Mai goes along with the script and tells the audience that she is the mysterious YouTube singer, completing the Dreaming Hashtag and sending Sakuta into a spiral of confusion and betrayal.

    After the concert he again approaches Mai in her trailer to find out whats going on.  She tells him that everything was a secret from her agency and she is sorry she couldn't tell him sooner.  He leaves, stunned, unwilling to believe it, understanding it to be a lie.  He was unable to stop it from happening and according to the message from the other reality, he fears the worse for his girlfriend.  Returning home, numb, he encounters something even more confusing when the Kaede that greets him is the Kaede from her period of memory loss.  He calls his parents house and when the real Kaede answers real confusion set in for Sakuta.  Both versions of his sister currently exist.

    In the morning, after trying to clear his head, he rushes off to his parents to see for himself is Kaede is there.  On his way to the train station he runs into Nodok and Uzuki who are frustrated by Mai's announcement undercutting their group set to perform at the Budokan.  He doesn't argue too much with this drastic change in their fortunes and heads off.  Once he does, he uses the excuse of having to cover a shift to leave again and heads back to his neighborhood.   At work a conversation with Koga confirms that every aspect of his life has been altered as she talks about going to his college instead of the all girls school she was recommended for.  He knew he needed to track down the real Kirishima Touko before things got too far out of hand.  As if he willed into existence a friend from the past makes a sudden appearance, Shouko, wearing the same high school uniform he first saw her in years earlier.  This was the real Shouko, who is about to begin her high school life.  But she was supposed to be in Okinawa?  

    She informs him that she is healthy enough to move back, as she really wanted to attend the same high school he did.  But she came for a more important matter...she wants to take him to meet Kirishima Touko.  Much to his disappointment, he has to spoil his first trip driving on Shouko instead of Mai as they head on a trip to Touko's home.  After a while Shouko felt compelled to find and connect with the family of the person who's heart was inside of her.  Much to her surprise that person was the Kirishima Touko, meaning that the woman Sakuta has been chasing after this entire time has been dead.  The visit with her mother is tense and somber.  But in the course of looking at her preserved bedroom Sakuta learns a very important clue to understanding what is going on...Touko's best friend has been the one uploading all of her songs online and is closer to him than either of them could ever imagine, now its a matter of confronting them and putting a stop to all of the madness before his future slips away from him.

     The second to last entry into the Rascal Does Not Dream series starts to pull everything together, at least in regards to the college arc and everything revolving around Kirishima Touko.  I keep repeating myself with each volume...but it just gets better with each new one.  SO in theory, the final volume should be the best of the series.  Thats a hell of a task to accomplish.  Anyways, this volume is significant and impactful, echoing across all of the story that has preceded it.  I read this about halfway through the broadcast of the second TV series, Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus.  The series covers light novels 9 through 13 and the story took on a very different tone when with the information learned in volume 14.  In reality not a lot occurs in this volume when it comes to a complex story.  This is all set up for the final show down in the next volume and we get a lot of details out of the way, very important details.  In reality only three things happen.  Mai's announcement, Shokou's confrontation with the Kirishima family and Sakuta's confrontation with the person upholding Touko's memory.

    Volume fifteen has a hige task ahead of its self and I am eager to read it.  I wonder if the story will dive back into unresolved things from the high school arc as it wraps up the college arc.  What sort of release can we expect?  How does the essence of Kirishima Touko play into widespread adolescent syndrome?  The obvious conclusion is the disjointed reality that Sakuta encounters in this volume will become resolved when he tackles the problem at the root, but what will that mean to his world as it comes to its narrative conclusion?  I really love this series, it has grown into a passion of mine and has supplanted some legacy titles for me in importance.  It is what got me to finally dive into light novels and has made me rethink the quality of my beloved Haruhi series.  The emotions have been intense over its course and I may be setting myself up for disappointment if the conclusion does not blow me away.  But...a few months from this writing, I will have my answer.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

 My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (ヴィジランテ -僕のヒーローアカデミア ILLEGALS-) is a 13 episode super hero series based on the manga of the same name by Furuhashi Hideyuki.  The first season aired during the Spring of 2025.

    Himawari Koichi is a college student in the city of Naruhata who wishes his quirk was good enough to be selected to be a hero.  His ability allows him to glide across surfaces when making three points of contact.  Due to his own internal limitations, he is only able to do the speed of a brisk walk while using his quirk.  Not willing to let his dream of helping others go to waste, he moonlights some nights as Nice Guy, going around the neighborhood being helpful.  Giving people directions, picking up trash, taking photos for tourists, etc.  One night he encounters a girl who performs as a street idol being harassed by three delinquents.  Koichi tries to intervene but the boys relentlessly beat him.  Before they assault the girl, Pop Step, a man falls from a building into a pile of garbage and begins to beat the delinquents.  The man...a masked and muscle bound bruiser, calling himself Knuckle Duster, acts as a vigilante.  He sees promise in Koichi and makes him his apprentice.

     Knuckleduster begins to give the young man lessons on fighting and street smarts, all the while scoffing as the hero association and their lack of attention to the crimes that happen all of the place.  Knuckleduster is the rare person who doesn't gave a quirk, instead he uses brute force and tenacity to enact his own brand of justice.  Pop Step, intrigued by the two vigilantes, begins to participate and hang out as well.  The three of them get dragged into a conspiracy by unknown villains to spread a drug that rapidly enhances the users quirk as well as enhancing any latent rage, leading to instant villains with devastating effect.  

    I have never been a fan of the original My Hero Academia, from the character design to the fact it is 'just' another massive shonen action series that's probably way to long for its own good.  But that's unfair as I have never watched it and understand very little of its world.  Something about the trailer for Vigilantes spoke to me in a way that MHA never did.  It made me think of the comic books of my adolescence, the early 90's 'golden' age of American super hero comics.   These days calling me a fan of super heroes would be a blatant lie.  Its just not my thing.  I did X-Men back in the early 90's due to the cartoon.  That lead me into the underbelly that was Image comics.  Beyond that...I could really care less for super heroes.  Never liked Batman, but I have watched almost all of the movies.  Ive watched all of the MCU out of...curiosity...a desire to be informed when hating on it?  So with that entrenched negative reaction to super heroes, I really did enjoy this first season and am happy to see it get a second one.

    This story works really well isolated from any knowledge of MHA in general.  The small cast is well developed to be the thing that carries the story.  There is a story, largely a lose association of events that not all of the cast is aware of.  Out of the new characters for the story, Knuckle Duster is the only one that knows the full extent of how everything is connecting.  The story is well put together, with nothing really being pointless, all culminating into a climax as the season reaches its head...a climax that two of the three characters had no idea was even occurring.  The series was fantastic, but in no way has convinced me to dive into the original.  I do eagerly await the second season in 2026!!

The series is available on  Crunchyroll. 

The Fire Hunter

The Fire Hunter (火狩りの王) is a 20 episode post apocalyptic fantasy anime based on the novel of the same name, written by Hinata Rieko.  The first season aired in the Spring of 2023 and the second season aired in the Winter of 2024.

 

    Far into the future of humankind, many centuries or millennia after the modern age, humans live in a state of fear.  In the unremembered past, a change was effected in humans that caused them to burst into flame and burn to death when near natural flame.  At the same time a twisting of beasts in the wilderness caused them to take on monstrous appetites and spread fear into the surviving humans who cowered in the darkness.  Wilderness reclaimed the land and humanity was almost eliminated from the face of the planet.  Humans, with god like abilities, were able to fight against the natural horrors.  A weapon was crafted that would allow a brave warrior to kill one of the changed beasts, revealing that its blood was replaced with a liquid that could be used to create artificial fire, a fire that would not cause humans to self immolate.  With this discovery and guidance of the god clans, humans began to carve out safe spaces for themselves in the wilds.  The warriors who were granted the means to fight the beasts and collect their blood are known as Fire Hunters and are humanities best chance at reclaiming any sense of safety and society, along with their highly trained hunting dogs.

    Touko is a young orphan, who lives in a remote village that is known for its exquisite paper production.  Her parents has died in a natural fire accident, leading to the partial blinding of her aunt and caretaker.  Out of desperation, Touko ventures beyond the protective barrier of her village one day, in search of a strange race of forest people, hoping to receive medicine from them to help her aunt.  Instead she is attacked by one of the fire beasts, as the monstrous creatures are called, only to be saved by a wandering Fire Hunter.  The man defeats the beast but is given a mortal wound in the process, with his dying words he tells Touko the name of his dog, Kanata and unknowingly yokes the young girl with a dangerous responsibility.  Based on customs and honor, Touko's aunt instructs her that she must travel to the capital city to return the dead Fire Hunters belongs and dog to his family, to atone for the man dying to save her.  She is entrusted with a few pages of the villages most valuable paper, an item reserved for the Gods, and is given passage on the next transport vessel back to the capital.

    The transport vessels are used to ferry goods from the scattered settlements in the wilderness to the capital, delivering much needed fire beast blood.  The trip is long and dangerous, given that its path takes it through the wilds of the land, only finding refuge in the scattered villages, each protected by local deities and wandering Fire Hunters.  Touko finds herself in the company of three woman, of varying ages, who have all been offered up as brides by their families to other villages, in order to rid them of perceived curses.  The three women take a liking to the girl and try to help her on her long trip.  The men who run the vehicle that plows through the wilderness, powered by the blood of fire beasts, are less than enthused with this new passenger and her unruly canine companion.  Touko is tasked with assisting one of the ships engineers, Shouzou, to do the mundane jobs he would rather not do.  A Fire Hunter is accompanying the vessel and commandeers Kanata to join him on a hunt for more fire.  The woman realize that the youngest of the brides, Kaho, has run away.  Desperate to find her, they notices that the beast the Fire Hunter is facing off has her in its clutches.  Touko runs to try and rescue her, putting herself directly in danger, only to be saved by the Fire Hunter and the two hunter dogs.  The badly wounded, but safe Kaho is returned to recover in her quarters, but the captain tells Touko that she will be kicked off at the next village, still far from the capital.

    Before that can happen, the transports are attacked by an enraged beast, one that resembles the guardian deity of Kaho's village.  Unable to deal with its incredibly strength, the transports are destroyed, its crew scattered or killed.  Touko, the remaining brides and Shouzou run into the forest, trying to distance themselves from the enraged creature, hoping to make it to the safety of a village.  Their dangerous journey is assisted by a band of forest people, who shield them from belligerent forces that may otherwise over power them, leading them to a nearby village and leaving them to their own designs.  There in the village they encounter a Fire Hunter named Akira and her diminutive hunting dog.  Akira is on her way back to the capital and offers to protect them on their journey, offering them the ability to make the trip faster and safer by way of the sea on a Fire Hunter ship.  Before they can make it to their destination they begin to unravel a plan by a rebel deity clan that threatens to shake up the order of humanity and might possibly destroy it for good.  The group, known as 'spiders' are gathering to attack the other deities that run things from the capital and are willing to use natural fire to achieve their goals.  Touko, desperate to deliver the dead Fire Hunters possessions to his family, wants nothing more than to complete her task and return to the quiet safety of her home, but she finds herself in the center of events that may spell the end of humankind.

    I was clued into the existence of this series while looking into the series airing for the 2024 Winter season.  I was drawn in by the artwork in the original trailer and dove into it, to catch up before the second part premiered in January.  The preview was a partial lie though as the artwork has frequent issues.  The series is full cg and the characters are done in a natural style, with an attention to the natural world that acts as the silent character in the series.  But over the course of the series the consistency in quality and proper physics continuously breaks down.  This is particularly noticeable in the battles between Fire Hunters an the flame beasts as the motion of the participants becomes detached from the background and odd camera pans.  There are ever present continuity issues in the artwork as well when characters move in the background of a shot.  The quality of the art and animation is only apparent in close ups and scenes of mostly dialogue.  The designs of the fire beasts as well is less than inspiring.  They are dark and have bodies that seem more like undulating fluids and or flesh and bone, but this could be a stylistic choice?  Hard to tell honestly, but its not good.  In all, the animation is abysmal more than it is enjoyable.

    The real strength of the show is the world and story its self.  The terrible animation choices are overshadowed by the unique tale.  My initial thoughts before starting the series and with little knowledge, was to think of the amazing Shin Sekai Yori, which is not as far off as I thought.  The journey of Touko is only part of the enjoyment, the unveiling of the worlds story and its workings are the strongest parts of the anime and original work.  This is a fascinatingly creative fantasy world, with darkness and horror at its edges, just outside of view.  Running parallel to Touko's journey is the story of her dead saviors oldest child, the studious Koushi and is increasing involvement in the growing unrest against the god like powers that control the countries fragile society.  A powerful merchant is manipulating him into a plot to weaken the rulers and the rebel spiders in hopes of building a new future, with he at the helm.  The characters are interesting and multi faceted, building upon a rich world and history.  I need to track down the original material and see how much was left out of this poorly executed but still enjoyable anime adaptation.

The series was simulcast and is still available on Crunchyroll.

To Your Eternity - Season Two

  To Your Eternity (不滅のあなたへ) is an adventure anime based on the manga of the same name by Oima Yoshitoki.  The second season aired between the Fall of 2022 and the Winter of 2023.

    After decades of isolation, the outside world finally tracks down Fushi.   He is visited by a young girl named Hisame.  She is the grand daughter of his nemesis, Hayase and contains the nokker that her grandmother had joined with in her left arm.  He decides to travel with the young girl, to see what is happening in the world around him.  He ends up in a village were he encounters and aged Tonari as she nears death.  After her death, Hisame tells Fushi about her desire to have his child.  Neither of them understand what that means and afterwards He returns to isolation.

    More time passes and he is again visited by other descendants of Hayase, each wanting to have his child.  After successive generations, a male decendent arrives named Kahaku.  He who ensures him he is not his father.  His desire to be with Fushi has not changed with his gender and he convinces him to assume the form of Parona.  Kahaku tells him about a village that worships him and have been battling the nokkers.  On their journey to this village they gain a companion in the eccentric Prince Bon.  Bon has the ability to see spirits of the dead and is enamored with Fushi's mysterious abilities.

     Before leaving Bon's kingdom of Uralis, trouble follows Fushi in the form of the Church of Bennett.  They have been spreading their message of hatred and distrust towards the immortal being, labeling him as a harbinger of doom and destruction.  In order to prevent nokkers from attacking he doesn't stay in one place for long.  With Bon and Kahaku, they travel the land, warning people of the danger they may find themselves in.  Before long they attract the attention of the Church of Bennett and all of them are imprisoned.  The church puts Fushi, Bon and Bons manservant Todo to death.  Todo and Bon are left to die of starvation while Fushi is imprisoned in a sphere that they pore metal into.  Through his inability to actually perish he persists and succeeds in breaking out of his hellish prison, astonishing everyone.  He rushes off to rescue his friends at which point Bon learns that his closest servant is actually a woman who has been in love with him for a long time. 

    The church still desires to make an example out of the prince and sentences him to death for his alliance with the Devil.  A plan is concocted and his execution is faked.  Upon returning home he understands he can never attain his wish to sit on the throne, especially with him officially being executed.  He changes his mannerism and leaves his home, searching for Fushi.

    It doesn't matter if Fushi continues to move around, the nokkers are attacking more regularly, targeting both him and places of larger population to draw him into their traps.  The Black Man warns him that a major attack is going to happen in a city Renril and he must make a choice about fighting them or ignoring the threat they pose.  Driven by his attachment to humanity he decides to do everything he can to make this the final confrontation with his persistent enemy.   He struggles to bring hope to the residents of the city and is rejected by its rulers after he pleas with them to work together.

    He leaves the city and begins to formulate a plan to help them without their authorization, leaning into his ability to recreate anything that he has come into contact with.  In the course of his training, Kohaku and Bon find him, amazed at what he has been able to accomplish.  Fushi has also gained a new ally in a strange mute girl named Eko.  The allies return to Renril in order to attempt to convince the Princess to let them help.  Bon gathers three new allies to the cause, people he claims can be very useful to Fushi.  He also convinces the Princess to give them an audience to discuss their plan to protect the city from the nokker threat.  She again rejects their offer but Fushi is not disuaded.  He is determined to help protect the city with or without its rulers permission.  His training ith recreating things has giving him a tactic to fight the threat.

    If he can sense the nokkers before they are able to attack, he can fight them before anyone is killed.  In order to do this he needs to make himself part of the fabric of the city and the land around it.  He begins a campaign of rebuilding as much of the city he can with his own ability, connecting them to himself.  Slowly he builds a network of himself through the city, attracting some skeptical attention.  Soon it becomes hard to hide whats going on and he explains what he is doing and why.  Eventually he has to return to the Princess to convince her to let him do the same to the palace and other military targets.  By the end she relents and the vast majority of the city is, in reality, Fushi.

    As soon as that task is done and a plan is put into place with the soldiers, the nokkers make their move.  According to the Black Man, all of the nokkers that exist have gathered for what may be the final stand.   Fushi is taking responsibility to handle killing the nokkers on himself as everyone nervously waits.  As the first day turns to night, the strain of controlling the entire city, killing as many nokkers as he can find, rebuilding damage and further extending his influence underground, takes its tole and Fushi passes out.  He awakes in the morning to find the city in the midst of furious battle and the three new allies all dead.

     Feeling that victory is slipping from his hands Fushi learns at a moment that almost lead to his defeat that the three recently deceased allies have been restored to life.  Copies of them he created in his misery, revived once they were cut from being connected to him.  He now had three soldiers that were immortal as well and the efforts were redoubled to fend off the threat.  Day after day they continued to fight but it was a progressively losing battle.  The nokkers were invading the city and killing citizens, reanimating their corpses to further the attack.  with each new strategy employed by Fushi and his allies, the nokkers adapted to new attacks.  It was at this point that the nokker inside of Kahaku began to act on its own, forcing Fushi to make a choice.

    He confronts Bon regarding the three allies ability to return to life again and again.  Fushi tries to reanimate March but is unsuccessful.  Unknown to him, a copy of her he had stored in a different part of the city had already been restored to life after it slipped out of the bonds connecting it to him.  She was searching desperately for Fushi.  When she finally locates him he is being horribly attacked by the nokker in Kahakus arm.  Reducing him to his original orb status, successfully stealing all of the people he had memorized.  Kahaku, regretting the episode, tries to cut it out of him only for it to flee into the city.  Marsh finds Bon and brings him back to where Fushi was reduced to almost nothing and the search is on for the nokker that stole all of his memories.

    In a desperate attempt to save him, Bon kills himself over Fushi, which means that Fushi will take on his body and abilities.  As he wakes he discovers the fate of his friend and sees his spirit, who fills in the gaps.   For the first time he sees the spirits of his long lost companions.  Bon explains to him that at the time a person dies they make a choice to remain on as a wandering spirit or move on to another plane.  All of his friends who remained have the ability to inhabit the facsimiles he makes of them.  They renew the attack on the nokkers, finally eliminating all of them with the exception of the one that had resided in the decedents of his old rival, Hayase.

The story continues in Part Three.

To Your Eternity - Season One

To Your Eternity (不滅のあなたへ) is an adventure anime based on the manga of the same name by Oima Yoshitoki.  The first season aired between the Spring and Summer of 2021.

    In an unknown time and an unknown place a mysterious orb comes into contact with a dying wolf.  The orb transforms into the wold following its passing and begins a journey that will take it to lands and times far away from its place of origin.  The recreated wolf's first contact with humanity is a boy who has been abandoned by his tribe, left on his own in the arctic wastes, the sole resident of his village.  The boy does not know the wolf before him is a replication of his pet and companion and welcomes him back with love and warmth.  The boy soon desires to reconnect with his people and sets out across the ice shelves.  AN accident proves fatal for the boy and he returns to his home to die.  After his passing the recreated wolf realizes it can assume the boys body now as well.  It transforms into this new shape, one that has had an impact on it, and resumes the boys trek across the barren landscape.  The journey proves perilous and difficult, but the transformed boy learns that it can not be stopped by death or damage to its form.  After a short period it will restore its self to the previous form, allowing it to continues on its course.

    After an unknown amount of time the transformed boy succeeds in leaving the arctic region, finding its self in a lush forest.  In the forest he comes across a young and wild spirited girl named March.  Marsh's small tribe are forced to offer up their children to be used by a stronger neighboring peoples as sacrifices to a massive bear they consider a god.  Marsh, with the help of an older girl from her village, Parona, has succeeded in escaping the Yanome people as she was about to be few to the bear, Oniguma.  The transformed boy helps her to escape the pursuers.  Even though he is older than her, March realizes the boy before her struggles with basic functions and helps him find food among the trees.  AS she rests with the boy, she realizes that her baby sister will most likely be sacrificed in her place and decides to return to the Yanome.

    The woman, Hayase, leading the small band of Yanome warriors finds her first, drugging Marsh and bringing both of them back to the sacrificial altar.  With everything back in place they prepare to leave until Parona returns, attempting to rescue the young girl again.  This time the bear has arrived as well and Hayase stays to watch the spectacle.  In the ensuing battle, the boy is killed, returns to live, transforms back into the wolf and succeeds in dealing a fatal injury to the bear.  Hayase decides to bring the three captives back to the capital of her land, with unknown intentions.  On the long journey Marsh gives the boy the name Fushi and continues to teach him as if he were her new born child.  In the city, Hayase treats the three to wonders they had never before experienced, ultimately drugging them during a meal.  The three awake to find themselves imprisoned, Marsh and Parona in one cell and Fushi alone.

    Curious about the nature of Fushi, Hayase begins to experiment on him, having him killed multiple times, trying to understand the nature of his apparent immortality.  Fushi makes a new friend, in an elderly woman named Pioran who joins him when Parona attempts an escape.  The bear god has died while in the care of the Yanome and Parona believes that if she returns with a piece of it to their village, they will be able to stop the sacrifices from continuing.  As they make their escape, Marsh shields Parona from a volley of arrows, sacrificing her short life for the older girl.  In rage and fury, Fushi realizes he is able to transform into the now dead bear god and ravages the pursuing forces, allowing them to escape.  They make the somber journey back the village, where Parona tells Marsh's parents about what happened and her death. 

    Suspecting the return to their village, Hayase has taken a group of soldiers to the village to ambush them and capture Fushi.  The trap is sprung but Parona in turn sacrifices herself to allow Fushi to escape into the woods.  As he travels, alone again, he encounters the old woman Pioran again and the two continue on together.  As they journey together, she teaches Fushi how to speak, as he only learned a few words during the events with the Yanome.  Pioran wants to return to her homeland, an area called Takanuha, which is currently at war with the Yanome.  As they reach their destination, Fushi is attacked in the night by a strange orb like creature, which steals his memories and ability to transform.  At this point the being who created Fushi long ago appears to him.  He tells him that the creature he faces is his enemy and the enemy of all life, a being known as a knocker.  Each time the nokker succeeds in killing Fushi it will steal the memories of the form Fushi had taken at the time of the death, stealing it from him.  Fushi creator tells him that his purpose for existing was to preserve the world and the things with in it but if the knockers steal all of her memories they will win.

    After defeating the knocker and retrieving the memories it stole, they arrive and Pioran's hometown and find her old boyfriend, known only as Booze Man.  Booze Man allows them to live in his house and help out with his business making and selling alcohol.  A young boy named Gugu helps the old man out as well after he was saved from death by him.  Gugu has grown up on the streets, living hand to mouth, doing whatever work he can with his older brother.  His older brother though has abandoned him and life has been rough for the young boy.  He fell in love with the daughter of a rich merchant in town but has never been confident enough to really approach her.  To make things worse, Gugu was almost killed in an accident, crushed under a massive log.  He survived it, but was horrifically mutilated.  Booze Man helped nurse him back to health and provided him with mask to hide his disfigured head from the public.  The rich girl, Rean, frequently comes to the Booze Man's shop, but does not know the boy in the mask is the same street urchin she has encountered before.

    Fushi and Pioran settle into a carefree life with Booze Man and Gugu, a number of years pass and both boys have grown in body and spirit.  Fushi has adapted well to living as a human and has learned to speak and act quite naturally.  Tensions grow between Gugu and him when Rean begins to show signs of affection for Fushi.  A group of men attempt to kidnap Gugu, only to be rescued by Fushi, who transforms into the bear god.  With his secret revealed, the two discuss Fushi's nature as an undying being meant to preserve the memories of the world around him.  In time, Fushi has grown to understand some of the aspects of his ability and how he is able to replicate things he is close to at the time of their death or destruction.  He promises that he will preserve Gugu in the same way, ensuring he is never forgotten.  That chance comes sooner than either would like when the village is attacked by a group of nokkers.

    In the battle Fushi is killed and discovers that when he restores himself back to the shape of the boy from the arctic village, he is restored back to its younger form when he died.  Gugu is killed in the battle, protecting Rean.  In order to protect the girl, Fushi takes Gugu's form and lies to her, saying he needs to go on a long journey.  Realizing that the nokkers are drawn to him, Fushi decides to leave the town and head away from large groups of people.  Against his wishes, Pioran join him as he travels to new lands.  In the next village they are immediately captured and sent away to an island populated only by prisoners.  Fushi is distraught when he becomes separated from the old woman, fearing for her safety as the grim reality of his new home sets in.

    The island is a land ruled by the strong, where the weak are exploited for anything of value.  He is determined to rescue Pioran once he learns that she is being help captive on the island.  He encounters a band of children lead by a girl named Tonari.  He is not confident that he can trust her, especially after he reveals his immortality during a gladiatorial competition.  The competition is help to determine who will be making decisions for the island as a whole and Fushi see's this as a way to rescue Pioran.  During one of the bouts he unconsciously turns into Parona, informing him that she has died.  Fushi is reluctant to continue killing combatants, causing the audience to revolt.  During the melee nokkers attack the island, leading Fushi to shift into protection mode as he once again battles his persistent enemy.

    In the final gladitorial battle he faces none other than Hayase, who is trying to recapture Fushi for her own mechinations.  In the form of Parona, he allows himself to be defeated by Hayase.  She in turn spins a story about how she brought the immortal being into sentience and crowns Tonari as the leader of the island.  Fushi agrees to go along with Hayase's plans in exchange for all of the children to be removed from the island, Tonari included.  Hayase wants to carry Fushi's child, believing that it will allow her to create a lineage of immortals.

    All of the children are drugged as their ship sets sail but Tonari is able to overcome its effects.  She heads back to the island, attempting to rescue Fushi.  Her efforts are cut short when the nokkers return again and begin taking over the dead.  In the end all of Tonari's friends fall prey to the attack, becoming reanimated corpses themselves.  Fushi rescues both Tonari and Hayase from their own death, concocting a plan to defeat the nokkers.  Fushi leaves the island with Hayase, once again leaving Tonari in charge.  On the way back to the mainland she pledges her undying love to him.  This angers him and he leaves her to her own designs.

    Reconnecting with Pioran, Fushi and the old woman head off into the wilderness, settling down on a remote tropical beach.  Pioran is suffering from dementia and soon she passes but not before she is visited by the Black Man.   She asks him to allow her to be useful to Fushi after her death.  Fushi morns the loss of his companion and settles into a decades long isolation until a nokker finds him, which he destroys easily.  It appears his sanctuary is compromised after decades of isolation.

The story continues with Season Two.