After weeks of endless teasing about the fact that the gems, the Lunarians, and the sea creatures are all different parts of the same human being, we finally get our first real challenge. The Lunarians, up till now, have taken on a hindi aspect in form and music, the same is true of the massive Lunarian from episode 10 and what it splits into. However now, once they get it down enough, it turns into a million little dogs with all sorts of eye configurations. Adorable and cute, I have to admit I want two.

However, after the gems have gathered up all of them and put them in a cage, they reform into the original giant Lunarian. Once it attacks them though, a simple dog command from sensei turns it into an obedient Lunarian??? What??? And a dog at that??

It then cuddles sensei, the gems fall asleep in it, and then we learn that the gems never have asked sensei what he is. In exchange for everything, they give him obedience and unquestioning loyalty. There is already something funky going on with sensei since he can smash himself into pillars of their home and not break himself, but it is clear that he is not a reformed human, so it begets the question, “Just what is he?” It really makes no sense, but is incredibly interesting at the same time. Either way, Houseki no Kuni is an incredibly fascinating show even if there is nothing too… heart-stopping about it. By keeping all of the minor information withheld, the viewer must tune in each week to learn a little bit more about the distant future Earth of Houseki no Kuni.

I think one of the most underrated anime this season has to be Konohana Kitan. I cannot recall anyone who is really watching it, but it’s been one of the cute slice of life anime that I look forward to watching. It’s the type of anime that you relax to. This week’s episode was so great as it really touched me and grabbed a bit of that Christmas spirit.

The moment I am talking about is when Lily decides to go back after coming to terms with how broken and worn she is. She is worn out because she was once loved by a child, unlike the other doll who is still so “beautiful”. Instead of running away with her freedom, Lily decides to go back to the pile of garbage that was thrown out with. There, her owner is frantically searching through the trash and elated that she found Lily again. It is this moment that reminds us of how precious our childhood memories are, even when it comes to toys we had that may not have been physically able to entertain, but they were our best friends. Lily is that toy that we used to love, that we used to take with us everywhere. Lily is that old best friend of ours before friends were real. And it is that moment that really touched me because Lily’s owner held such great memories of Lily and wanted to continue to cherish them just as we would an old toy. I think it was a sweet moment that reminded me a lot of Toy Story 3. Call me sappy.

Blend S is not our regular love comedy, and this eleventh episode did it’s best to remind us about that. Yes, it had coherence and all, but if you analyze this it’s just like 4 different short episodes put together. Watching Maika and Dino go out on a date is cute; watching Maika and Dino do the kabedon is cute… but forget about them, the best thing in this episode were the dogs and the support characters.

At the park, Owner the dog met a cute female that instantly stole his heart, but looks like this poor boy have already copied the worst from his owners. At first he was as shy as Dino so Owner just froze before his love interest… but the funny part is when Maika tries to greet the friendly female dog and involuntarily unleashes his deadly stare, with Owner doing the same. I have no doubt about Dino and Maika falling in love, so I just wish they move together with Owner, because they’re already a family. But even if Maika and Dino will be together, I’m shipping Kaho-san and Akizuki-kun. They’re so adorable together! In a tsundere way, mind you. They both are gamers with certain problems to show their feelings, but it looks like they already fell for each other and it’s just a matter of time before they realize. With only one episode left, all I want is for anyone to confess and at least go for a kiss. Please don't fail me like Net-juu no Susume!

The first scene in this week’s episode of Juuni Taisen gives an ending and closure to Tora and Ushi’s fateful encounter.
As Tora’s lifeless body leans against a tree after Ushi honorably put her out of her misery, Ushi can’t help but feel sentimental and he wonders if it’s because she reminds her of “that girl he met once on the battlefield”. That’s moving moment number one. Tora would never have imagined that that warrior she admired all these years still remembered her. But he does. Fondly.

He then goes on to say that it would be offensive to compare a peerless warrior like Tora to a naive little girl and how, though he doesn’t drink, he would have loved to have a drink with her.

When he utters those words, we can’t help but feel that Tora would be more than pleased, and in fact, she probably would feel like her life goal was achieved by gaining the recognition of a warrior she has admired and tried to emulate for years. It’s just too bad they couldn’t spend more time together catching up. This made for a great opening scene and definitely the best moment of the week for this otaku.