Summary

This Chibi Devi begins with Mao being cute as usual and Sawada wondering why he can breath fire. Sawada decides to call her friend Kyou for some advice to find out how. While doing that Sawada is being watched by some Mao’s parents who seem to live in another realm.

Drop off our child with a middle school girl who lives alone... seems like a good idea?

The parents then debate on whether Sawada is fit to be a good mother or not then eventually decide she’s the best they can find for the time being. Sawada then introduces her childhood friend Kyou but Kyou decided to bring his loud angry friend Shin. Since he’s so angry and yelling most of the time Sawada doesn’t feel too comfortable with him around.

Shin has a way with the ladies

Well Sawada tries to explain that Mao suddenly appeared in her room and that he can breath fire but Shin keeps interrupting with random angry outbursts. Eventually Mao thinking Sawada is being threatened by Shin breathes fire on Shin.

Kyou and Shin finally understand what Sawada’s trying to say so they decide to see Mao’s wings on his head and take a look at his tail. Shin pulls Mao’s wings thinking they’re fake and Mao starts crying…

Shin's also really good with kids!

Kyou suddenly comes to a revelation shortly after that he’s missing one of his anime so he jolts out the room.

It's sad when I can relate to characters like this >_>

As soon as Kyou runs out Honoka and Shin try to chase after him. Unfortunately they forgot to close the door while chasing after Kyou. Mao crawled out into the city streets then Honoka and Shin run back to find he isn’t where they left him.

So ends episode 2 of Chibi Devi!

Thoughts

Hmm… This kinda felt like a filler episode because of the random antics that were going on. Still there were two I’m guessing important characters introduced (Kyou and Shin) and the ending made the whole episode really. There was an important moment that introduced the parents too.

I would call it uneventful but it wasn’t. I suppose this episode’s only purpose was to establish a foundation for things it’s going to build on. Particularly the relationship that’s going to build between Shin and Honoka is going to be interesting, I mean they wouldn’t waste a whole introduction on him for him to be an insignificant friend character.

Mao is cute as usual but him wondering around on the street probably isn’t good. Despite him being a devil child and all I’m pretty sure there are a lot of dangers that can hurt him.

Overall I think this episode was just a ground laying for future events. There’s only so much you can fit into five-minutes of show time I suppose!

Summary

This episode starts off with a guy in the middle of a deli floor, beaten up and bleeding; all he says is “Where’s my bento?” then there’s a sudden camera jump to some girl’s legs. Hmm I like this already. After that the guy who got beaten up tells how normal his past was in a series of flashbacks, he gets up from the floor and starts walking out of the grocery store while seeing the grocery store’s shelves are empty.

Looks like the grocery store on the week of thanksgiving...

Eventually he sees some girl with silver hair who mouths something to him from outside the grocery store glass. While walking out he faints after thinking some perverted thoughts. A great way to go out if you ask me!

The ambulance picks him up then it comes to a scene of him walking to school. Turns out this was the before his first day of high school, I know right? Wish my first day was that interesting. Well while walking from the hospital to school some meganekko hiding behind a light pole reveals our protagonist’s name is Satou.

Making a long story short his meganekko knows Satou through the grocery store (which he doesn’t remember much of). Unfortunately Satou doesn’t remember her so she starts crying but then she says “So you’re a man without a past?!” and instantly gets super excited. Yeah <_< so much going on…

The meganekko and Satou get to school then Satou sees the silver haired girl who mouthed something to him earlier carrying some garbage. Satou eventually remembers then the meganekko gets stolen by some girl with long black hair.

Welp there she goes... she gonna get raped.

The silver haired girl then recognizes him and asks him for help through putting one of the trash bags in his face, even though there’s trash in his face Satou agrees. While walking to the trash bins Satou deduces through the silver haired girl’s uniform scarf that she’s a year above him. It’s also revealed that she’s part of a club which one though isn’t shown.

When Satou brings up seeing her on the other side of the grocery store’s window then she tells him to never go there again. Ominous huh?

Bringing it back to the black haired girl that stole the meganekko it turns out she’s the president of Satou’s class and her name is Shiraume. During the first day of class she volunteered to be the president of the class and won by default I suppose.

It looks like Shiraume has the hots for the meganekko whose name turns out to be Hana Oshiori. I say has the hots for because when Satou accidentally implies he and Oshiori did something together he gets a big smack across the face.

For being so oblivious... he deserved it.

The scene then transitions to Satou explaining that he goes to a private high school, so he lives within the high school’s dorm rooms. The dorms only serve breakfast but not lunch and dinner so the students have to scavenge for their own food. Since Satou is just a high school student buying his own food is pretty difficult for him.

Well Satou then decides to go contrary to the silver haired girl’s advice and comes back to the grocery store. Oshiori seems excited to see what’s going to happen next. Yeah… this can’t end well. So the silver haired girl passes him and tells him, “You shouldn’t have come here” while Satou stands by.

Looks like Satou is gonna get another ass beating!

After that ominous encounter Satou becomes overjoyed by the half-off price on the bento some employee put out. He jumps for it then gets his ass beaten down again… You think he’d learn. He again faints only to see the silver haired girl’s legs. I guess she was the one that knocked him out from the beginning. Some other dude whose fainting along with Satou calls her “The Ice Witch.”

That's one tasty Ice Witch...

After getting knocked in the head Satou remembers what happened last time he was at the grocery store, he got his ass beat by The Ice Witch. Then he’s awaken by the buff store employee that explains everything to Satou. Turns out why everyone’s fighting for is some half priced bento.

I suppose the best way to explain it is that it’s a fighting tournament and the prize is some half priced bento. It also turns out that The Ice Witch owns that “territory” the grocery store is in which is why Satou keeps getting beaten up by her. Hearing this Satou but he just accepts the madness and goes home with Oshiori.

The next scene then shows Satou in class, he’s confronted by Shiraume and asked what his relationship with Oshiori is. Satou is confused by her question and tells her so. He then gets slapped continuously…

I'm kinda jelly of Satou. Looks like it hurts soooo goooooooood.

Then some weirdo otaku looking nerd puts his hand on Satou and gives him a nod of approval. Dammit a character I can relate to. Afterwards Satou decides to go to the same grocery store he got his ass beaten in not once but twice with Oshiori. What is wrong with you Satou?!?!

Well it turns out Satou goes there simply to see what’s going on there, so rather than running towards the bento he studies what’s happening. The employee eventually comes out to put some half price stickers on the bento then leaves, everyone then goes berserk.

Now this is some Extreme Couponing!

Satou at first is shocked while Oishiori admires everyone else beating the crap out of each other. Overwhelmed by hunger Satou decides to go for the bento but he almost gets defeated by some other guys when the Ice Witch comes in to save him. Well sorta, after she gets the guys who were attacking Satou down she and some others totally kick his ass.

The Ice Witch makes sure not to leave before telling Satou he’s weak and if he expects to get some half off bento he should visit her club. Worth it? Well just to get close to her I think so! After credits Satou does visit the club which is named Half-Priced Food Lovers Club. The Ice Witch then introduces herself as Sen Yarizui.

So ends episode 1 of Ben-to!

 Thoughts

This episode of Ben-to made a very good first impression on me. At first I was curious to see how this sort of ridiculousness would play out since I knew tidbits of the storyline such as Satou getting beaten down by a mob for some lunch. So far I think it’s playing out very well.

Satou is funny since he has very little perception and is pretty perverted, this leaves a lot of room for character growth. The meganekko Oshiori seems normal enough but she loves to see men fight although isn’t much of a fighter herself, she’s also viciously protected by Shiraume. Shiraume has the same aura of the Ice Witch Yarizui, she’s in control and protects only what she wants (Oshiori lol), everything else seems irrelevant to her. Then last but certainly not least Sen Yarizui or the Ice Witch, elegant but deadly, she is the strong Japanese woman who fights for half-priced bento not for the half-priced bento itself but for the glory of battle! Or maybe… it is for the bento.

These characters are all unique in their own way and have a lot of dynamic to them. It’s going to be very interesting to see how they interact with each other through out the series. So character wise so far I give this a top grade!

As for the storyline thus far it seems really questionable but then again Ben-to doesn’t take itself seriously so it’s oddly acceptable. Seeing a whole mob of people battling it out for some half-priced lunch seems ridiculous but after some explanations it becomes understandable. Either that or I’m just charmed by the thought of people battling it out in the middle of a grocery store. Still if that charm exists this anime shouldn’t be too bad.

I think there are many laughs to be had in Ben-to, as for whether or not I should (or it wants me to) take it seriously is another question. Within the first episodes so many questions arose and a couple of them were answered. Still there’s the question of why does everyone decide bento is the thing to be fighting for rather than anything else? Also how will Satou’s training from Yarizui The Ice Witch go? Will we see some awesome yuri from Shiraume and Oshiori?

I guess we’ll have to find out later! Till then I’ll just get started watching some of the other seven animes I’ve been working on ^^

Random picture in the middle of post! This was during the Touhou shoot in case that wasn't obvious.

This year Youmacon was held in the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, a huge and very nice looking hotel. My group was on the 44th floor, the view would have been awesome if a building wasn’t blocking half of the view. Anyway enough rants how was Youmacon itself you ask? Well it was awesome!

Being my third con I was figured out what I needed to plan on doing. Arcade comes first just because I’m a crazy Pump it Up fan and I need to get my fix, second comes vendor rooms to scope out what figures, doujin and hats (lol) are being sold, afterwards I get to any panels I’m interested.

So this years panels I attended was “A History of Sailor Moon Hentai” (just as the title states), “Mario Party” (IRL Mario Party, awesome), “Pokemon Quiz” (it had to be done!) “Cancer Killing Your Fandom” (I didn’t like this panel too much but meh), and finally a Touhou panel that I can’t remember the name of (totally worth missing Read Hentai Aloud).

The arcade was freaking awesome. First off as a PIU and DDR dancer I had to say Youmacon’s free to play on the machines was awesome, all the arcade machines in Youmacon were actually free to play (except for the mini-crane game they had). It was also counsel galore, Xbox 360s, PS3s, Wiis, Playstations, N64s, and a whole bunch of others. There were also tournaments but I didn’t participate in any. I should have tried out the DDR and Smash Bros tourney but I was running around the con way too much to have time.

As for the cosplay Youmacon wasn’t exactly Acen level but there were some great ones I saw around. Unfortunately I’m poor so I didn’t have a camera on me but my friend Bryce took plenty of pictures. So these are some of the pictures he took, all credit goes to Bryce Bandelgar.

This one was awesome, although I'm not sure it's cosplay exactly. Everyone should know Blinky from Pacman!

Kamina and Yoko in the Youmacon arcade. Then some innocent bystander that didn't know she'd be uploaded to the internets.

I'm not too sure whose she supposed to be. The cosplay is awesome none the less, this was taken at Youmacon's vendor room. Also dat pose.

An excellent Jade cosplayer! Oh yes... an excellent one indeed.

One of my favorite pictures! This Cirno cosplayer was ridiculously cute.

Mario is shocked and appalled.

We saw these three waiting in line for the "History of Sailor Moon Hentai" panel.

Then there was the Touhou shooting. We took a lot of pictures but only a couple came out good. Oh well can’t win them all… but still here are some of the pictures we took.

Haha Marisa and Reimu, main character love! Haters gonna hate!

All of them grouped in for this one!

This had to be done! This by far is my favorite picture in the whole con. Also whenever I see this I always think of Kero ⑨ Destiny.

Yeah, I know, I fanboyed out on the Cirno cosplayer but hey she was totally into character (baka! baka!).

Youmacon was overall a great experience. After going to two raves back to back, dancing in the arcade free of charge, buying some Touhou doujin with a couple of hats, seeing a load of great cosplay then going to some awesome panels and meeting people with the same interests as me. This was a great con.

I will definitely be coming back to Youmacon for another go. With that said it’s time for me to either wait for Acen 2012 or just randomly go to another con. Till then time to watch more anime!

Summary

In episode 1 of this series we’re introduced to Yachi Haruaki, a normal guy who keeps getting weird crap from his dad Honatsu. Well this time dad decided to ship a strange cube that is really a tsundere girl named “Fear.”

The typical reaction to a tsun tsun insult. Funny because she was just in cube form at the time.

Haruaki finds out the cube is in fact a person when he decides to go to bed while Fear decides to go into his kitchen for a midnight snack. Hearing crunching noises wakes him so he investigates in the kitchen to see what’s up. Then he sees a naked girl in his kitchen eating his rice crackers.

Find her eating your rice crackers, in the nude and during the middle of the night... what do?

Haruaki accepts this immediately, clothes Fear then gives her tea with her rice crackers. Fear being the tsundere character she is gives her a good smack or two for Haruaki asking some basic questions about who she is. Basically Fear is cursed and is reacts very badly to human sin. So Haruaki is apparently resistant to such curses which is why good ol’ Honatsu decided to make Fear his problem.

Having a girl that's the embodiment of sin that might threaten my way of life and has a horrible dark past? If she looks like this, worth it.

Since at this point it’s early morning Haruaki’s childhood friend Konoha comes over so they can go to school together. Konoha is basically a meganekko (glasses girl) who has big boobs! I know generic but who doesn’t love them?!

Fear and Konoha are introduced they instantly don’t like each other, Konoha is sexually threatened by Fear and Fear is just a tsundere character that is at this point all tsun tsun. So Konoha and Haruaki get going to school while Fear watches some TV. Eventually the show she was watching ends and she becomes lonely.

Haha, she's even tsun when alone!

Fear decides to go outside for some entertainment. While wondering around some nice people from the town decide to talk to Fear thinking that she’s lost. Of course Fear denies it only to realize that she actually might be. Well she runs after having a look of realization that she’s surrounded by people which may reference to a past not yet know.

So she goes back to Haruaki’s place then decides to clean up to kill her boredom. She does a terrible, terrible job…

Yeah if you seem someone dancing around with a vacuum in hand they're most likely not cleaning that or they're doing it very wrong.

So Fear totally messes up the place, Haruaki gets mad and yells at Fear then she starts pouting on her futon. Konoha being the good wife like character she is tells Haruaki he should apologize then tells him to just tell Fear the truth about how he feels toward what happened.

Haruaki being the good willed guy he is makes a sincere apology and she forgives him for yelling at her as he forgives her for messing everything in his living room up. They then start dinner, Fear asks Haruaki if he thinks she can undo her curse, Haruaki response of course then gives her some of the food he was making. She blushes looking satisfied.

Really showing your dere side on episode 1? Fear you have too little resistance, too little resistance I say!

Konoha in the end hears the whole thing and looks satisfied. Thus ending episode 1 of C3.

Thoughts

So what are my impressions so far? The characters have a generic feel to them, Konoha is your typical meganekko who acts like a good future wife to Haruaki. Haruaki is your typical normal nice that’s put in the middle of these two girls and I can bet there’s going to be another female character that could be a love interest thus starting off the harem. Finally there’s Fear whose your typical tsundere character that definitively has a dark past behind her.

Despite this I think there’s an interesting dynamic to C3. Fear’s past is something that I’m definitely looking forward to seeing as well as a full explanation on what it is the curse she has does to herself and others. I believe that the situations that’s been placed due to Fear’s situation will show some interesting sides to Konoha’s and Haruaki’s character.

Then there are questions that loom around in this anime. What is Honatsu (Haruaki’s dad) plan within this whole curse being eliminated? Why is Fear’s name Fear, is it because she is to be feared or simply because people fear her? How is it that Haruaki is resistant to all curses?

I suspect there’s going to be a couple of fights in this anime and we’re going to see sides of Fear that are unexpected and unnatural. Perhaps a little reminiscent of Lucy from Elfen Leid. There’s a lot of potential in C3 I really hope that what I think might happen will. I will be looking forward to what happens next and will surely write about it.

Poor Sawada...

In despair over her loneliness she prays for God to help her while she cries herself to sleep. God (or whoever else) then decides to drop a baby on her bed while she’s sleeping. How does that help any situation? I don’t know… So Sawada wakes up to find a baby under her sheets that has demon wings on its head and a demon tail.

Believe me, it's cuter than it sounds. Look for yourself.

She begins with the normal response, which is to freak out but she quickly gets over this when the baby starts crying. Her mother’s instinct kicks in and she tries to make it laugh through making some silly faces. Eventually he starts laughing then it poops itself on her bed. I know right, babies have no manners.

Sawada finds out the baby is actually a baby boy (since she needed to change him) and that his name is Mao through the baby bib that came with him. Mao becomes hungry after a while of shenanigans, so he starts crying. Sawada then puts a baby dinosaur costume she has for no apparent reason on him (but who cares he looks cute in it!) then begins the journey to the store for some milk with Mao.

While on her way she runs into the two girls who were bullying her in the beginning of the episode. They confront Sawada telling her that school is going on and that she’s ditching. One of the girls then threatens to tell the teacher Sawada’s gone if she doesn’t do her and the other bully’s cleaning duties for a month.

Sawada at first refuses but then the girls intimidate her. She then starts crying which gets Mao mad so he then charges his lazer to fire at the two!

No really... see, he's chargin' his lazer!

Yeah then he breathes fire on the both of them. The girls are shocked and so is Sawada but Mao just giggles at the whole situation. So ends the first episode of Chibi Devil!

So what did I think of it? Well there are a couple of glaring questions in the story, such as: why does Sawada live alone? How does she pay for her apartment? Why did God (or whoever) decide that a 14 year old girl whose lonely would do better with a little devil baby in her life? Why did Sawada have a baby sized dinosaur costume?

I’m sure that some of these questions won’t be answered but that’s okay because this is just a shojo. Also Sawada and Mao’s cuteness outweighs some of the story’s strangeness so far. I’ll keep my eye on this anime that’s for sure!

At first I didn’t see any cosplayers but while walking further out of the station I saw a crap load! The first one I say was a lovely Faye Valentine cosplayer. Oh did that bring me joy ^_~

So after walking through the crowd of cosplayers both amazed and dazed I met my friend in front of the Hyatt (the hotel that Acen is held) she gave me and my girlfriend badges then made me told me go where ever. I happily obliged. The vendor area was huge! Cosplayers running around left and right grabbing all the doujin, manga, anime DVDs, plushs, hats and candy they could find. I on the other hand was too overwhelmed by the vendors and cosplayers just ran around looking at things.

These are some pictures I picked up from the interwebs in the vendor area and artist alley. I honestly don’t know who took them nor do I know which site they were taken off of but these pictures are not mine. I actually grabbed them off /cgl/ a few days ago so who knows where they got it them from.

Yup one of the vendors at the Artist Alley.

These were pretty awesome... too bad I was pretty broke.

Ah hats! Damn you TF2 for creating my unhealthy obsession! Damn you!

Then there is the cosplay! There were some bad ones but loads of great ones! I saw a great Lust cosplayer but then I was with my girlfriend during the time… dammit. Still there were a whole bunch of great cosplayers running around! Here are some of my favorites. Again these pictures  weren’t taken by me.

A Flandre Scarlet cosplayer ^^ I can't help myself around Touhou cosplay.

A Yoko cosplayer. Ah yes by far one of the best ones I saw around.

LMAO! Dat Dr. Venture! This was the perfect cosplay.

Haha! Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch! They're both perfect in this picture but we both know what we're interested in! ^_~

My girlfriend and I were behind her. I said, "I'm team rocket and this shiny Pikachu I must capture!" then she hit me. <_<

Panties & Stocking with Garter Belt cosplayers. These three look awesome in together... Wish I could see a transformation scene from Panties & Stocking though. ^_~

There is a lot more to tell but I don’t want to give a long rant on what happened. The next con I’m going to will be Ramencon 2011 in Indiana! This con is going to be small compared to Acen’s 25,000 attendance but I’m sure it’s going to be just as fun!