When Hajime and Arashi go back in time to save someone, do the people who are saved just suddenly pop into existence in the present or did they exist even before anyone went back in time?

In the anime, Hajime comes up with several theories. One of which is that time travelling isn’t actually time travelling but moving to a different dimension. Another possibility is that a new world is created when you time travel and the old one is destroyed.

I don’t think anyone will ever be able to find out what really happens when you time travel (if it’s even possible in the first place), but the way the anime explained it (in ep. 10), the people that Hajime and Arashi saved in the past already existed in the present before they went into the past. This of course would make Arashi happy since the people that would’ve existed since someone else didn’t wouldn’t just disappear, but to me it seems like Hajime and Arashi didn’t travel back in time at all. If the people they save already exist, that means they already saved them before they went back in time, but that creates a big problem: how do you save someone from dying if you’ve already saved them?

The only way they could save someone that they’ve already saved is to stop themselves from saving that person. So when they go back in time, they “erase” themselves that already saved the person, but then that means the person ended up dying in the first place and shouldn’t exist in the present…

Well, this time travel stuff is really confusing me, I guess that’s why they call it a paradox. Anyways, it’d be interesting to see if they do any more explainations on time travel in the coming episodes.

And I just thought I’d point out a couple of cameos that appeared in this ep:

I’m sure many of you have heard of the workout anime Training With Hinako.

If you look closely at this screenshot, you’ll see some familiar characters from moeblob anime K-ON.

Time for a look at another volume of Megami Magazine. This issue has a lot of goodies in terms of posters, and some very very nice extras which you will find near the bottom of this post.

Haven’t seen one of these larger posters in a while. The front features Kyou and Ryou Fujibayashi from Clannad.

On the reverse side are the girls from everyone’s favourite anime this season, K-ON. After seeing Mugi-chan in a nurse costume and here in a maid costume, I have concluded that she should be a professional cosplayer. Poor Mio looks so embarrassed.

I wonder how Nodoka is able to keep that towel around herself.

I finally have the Taiga nopan poster ^.^

Queen’s Blade is too much ecchi and not enough story for my tastes.

I watched the first episode of Asura Cryin and it just looked like an amalgamation of every anime genre possible: supernatural, magic, mystery, adventure, mecha, ninjas, etc.

Nice poster of the girls from Tayutama.

Not sure which anime this is from, but I like the girl on the left (pink hair is always a plus).

The K-ON girls in swimsuits ^.^

I thought this was a very nice poster of Fate and Teana. I think Teana looks better with her hair down.

I was too busy looking at the girl to notice the huge number of cats in the background at first.

Currently enjoying Natsu no Arashi, but I wish the animation was a bit better.

Yoko’s right oppai looks really deformed with the strap like that…

It looks like Ein doesn’t go anywhere without her gun.

Second episode of Kissxsis comes out on May 22.

I really like this Higurashi poster. I wish the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei OVA episodes would be released sooner.

*smoooch*

One more Nagi poster for all the Kannagi fans.

I liked the variety of posters that they had this time around. Only K-ON had more than one poster so there’s sure to be something for everyone in this volume. I also liked how they included past, current, and upcoming series this time. On to more of the magazine itself:

Looking forward to To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. More Mikoto and Kuroko ftw (though I actually like Kuroko more than Mikoto).

Can’t wait for the new Nanoha movie to come out.

I just love Fate’s pose on this page.

I read the Hatsukoi Limited manga, and although it was easy to get lost in all the characters, it was still enjoyable. I would have to say my favourite character is Koyoi.

I did not know that the school swimsuit mecha nurse girl nana figure was cast-offable >.>

Episode 3 of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei is almost out, only 1 more week! The 3rd and 4th episodes will be released on June 24 and August 21 respectively.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this volume came with some very nice extras, and here they are:

First is a Nanoha pencil board, with Nanoha on one side

and Fate on the other. I really love Fate’s pose, hope they make a poster of it in the future.

The other extra that came with this volume is Megami Magazine’s volume 1.5 of the Nanoha Visual Collection. Since it’s volume 1.5, there aren’t as many pics as a full volume, but they’re still really nice. Resized scans are below, the originals were too huge, but if enough people want them then I might post them somewhere.

This is definitely one of the better Megami Magazines I’ve seen (maybe even the best). Lots of variety to appeal to a larger audience, and although there was no large poster this time, I thought the Nanoha goodies more than made up for that. If you’re planning on buying a Megami Magazine, I would recommend volume 109.

–>Subscribe to Megami Magazine

In this episode we find out that Jun is actually a girl. It’s never actually stated, but there’s so many hints that you’d have to be blind to miss them.

Screenshot from ep 4

For the first 4 episodes I just thought Jun was just a really girly guy, but now that I know she’s a girl, everything makes sense now. It explains how Jun faked that scream in episode 1 and how she doesn’t even give Arashi a second glance when Hajime was talking about her. Anyways, I’m really tired right now so I’ll make this post short and just post some screenshots of some cross-cross-dressing and fail censoring (though there isn’t really anything to censor, it’s just a line):

fail censoring

a bit better

The story focuses on 13-year-old Hajime Yasaka who is staying with his grandfather for summer vacation. Hajime then meets a pretty 16-year-old called Sayoko Arashiyama or just plain Arashi. When Hajime and Arashi hold hands they are able to travel through time due to Arashi being a ghost and having supernatural powers. This of course allows for some pretty entertaining series of events.

Kaya and Jun can also travel through time.

The first episode was exactly what you would expect from a Jin Kobayashi work. Hajime creates these “strawberry bombs” which contain a deadly mixture of spices and wasabi and whatnot and places one on a strawberry shortcake. Originally intending to serve the shortcake to a certain target, he ends up serving the wrong one, meaning that Kaya (not really sure who she is) has saved the one with the bomb. The strange thing is that she hasn’t eaten it and it seems to be missing, so she goes back in time (she’s a ghost too) with Jun’s help (a part-time worker) to find out who took her strawberry shortcake. Hajime and Arashi follow her back to the past to try to prevent her from taking it because of the bomb, but it’s already gone. As you can imagine, more time travelling back and forth happens, and the hilarious thing is that you can’t be near yourself in the current time or else you’ll cease to exist, so it’s like a giant time maze. I won’t tell you what happens since it’ll ruin the comedy factor, but you can watch it for free here.

The Strawberry Bomb!

In the first two episodes there were also appearances by a giant Reimu head and Harima and Tenma from School Rumble. Personally I would have liked another Harima-like character, but I guess you can’t get everything you want.

Overall I thought the comedy factor in Natsu no Arashi was great, as expected from Jin Kobayashi, but everything else seems lacking. There hasn’t been a real plot introduced yet and considering this is a 13 episode anime, there probably won’t be a very deep plot. This might just be as well considering how terrible the School Rumble ending was. The animation for Natsu no Arashi is also sub-standard with characters that look like they’re from the 80′s and lots of reused background images. Natsu no Arashi is certainly worth the watch for the laughs, but if you’re looking for something more, then it might be better to look elsewhere.

As you can see from the list of all the new anime airing this season, there’s quite a few to watch. After reading dozens of plot summaries and looking at the trailers, I’ve narrowed down my watchlist to what I think might turn out well:

Pandora Hearts

I think this one looks the most promising anime this season. Pandora Hearts looks like it’s going to be a mystery/magic/action/adventure type anime and I haven’t seen one of those in a while. I guess what also got me interested in this title was the music in the trailer, it’s really good. If you look for Pandora Hearts on youtube, you should be able to find the trialer.

Phantom – Requiem for the Phantom

I saw guns, knives, and explosions in the trailer so this is definitely on my watchlist. Not to mention that the animation looks pretty good, and the storyline seems really serious, all things that I like to see in my anime :)

Natsu no Arashi

School Rumble was my favourite anime when it was airing, except when I saw the ending and had the same reaction as everyone else. However, I believe people deserve a second chance, so I’ve decided to give Natsu no Arashi (written by the author of School Rumble) a shot. The girl in all the advertisements for this anime reminds me of Yakumo.

Hayate no Gotoku 2

I’m actually still watching season 1 and with my current schedule I probably won’t finish before season 2 airs, but I’ll get around to watching season 2 eventually.

Saki

It’s amazing how the Japanese can make everyday normal things into awesome anime, just think about Prince of Tennis (Tennis), Hikaru no Go (Go), and Yakitate Japan (Bread). Saki just so happens to be about mahjong, and if it’s like any of the three anime I just mentioned, then it’s going to be great.

Some of the other anime that I may consider watching this season (depending on how they turn out) are: Tears to Tiara, Full Metal Alchemist, 07 Ghost, K-On, Shangri-La, and Asura Cryin’.