The whole plot in this one was forced. They just had to make up just enough things so that they can get Oujirou as Misaki’s second to throw some drama into the (completely ignored until now) love “square” and get Icchan as her opponent’s second to finally reveal who Icchan really is to Misaki. It was an unbelievable way of doing things but I suppose I can justify it. Since everything revolves around the Angelic Fight, anything significant should occur during it.

With that aside, Hikaru’s finishing move was cool. Too bad it wasn’t a clothesline… heh, I brought that up randomly but it’s still the coolest finishing move EVAR.

The drama in this ep was too forced. Bringing in a brand new face this late into the series and trying to make their story dramatic doesn’t work. Eh, the fight was solid though. Due to the type of layer, Hikaru had some cool acrobatics. I’m not even gonna begin to figure out what the hell that reverse hexagon was about. I’ll leave out my opinions on how unrealistic that move was.

Both battles this time around ended devastatingly. Shirahime’s fight was so-so and animation was on par with the majority of the series but man, her finishing move was crazy. A face smash into the ground isn’t anything creative but they made it look severely painful. Too bad the match wasn’t more fun to watch.

Athena’s fight was awesome. I’m sure the other Angel wasn’t weak but they really made Athena look unbelievably strong. The scene when Athena was pushing her opponent back while dodging all the opponents attacks was freaky. It made this “White Angel” look more like a demon, heh. Oh, and that finishing move was brutal. That across-the-shoulders back breaker was just plain mean.

A nice lil ep before the nationals are kicked off. No real point to it except to tell us the change (again) to the tournament system as well as showing who Misaki chose as her second (as if that wasn’t obvious).

EDIT: What a pointless entry.

Ahhhh, I suck. So they do mention Hikaru’s weak point. For some silly reason, I was thinking all kinds of different things and not something as simple as Hikaru being a light-type fighter. That was lame. Well, I set myself up for something much grander so it came off as lame. Beh, I still think Misaki has some significant weaknesses that could’ve been fleshed out but… beh.

This battle was weak. The animation and such were fine but the overall fight itself was weaksauce. Shirahime should’ve been stronger and the fight should’ve been dramatized more. The ending, especially, was lame. I don’t even know how Hikaru won. The last time they showed the health bars, Shirahime was near full health. Then they go battle in the ocean and somehow, Hikaru kicks ass… it was suggested that Hikaru had the advantage but why not just show it all? Plus, this means the only reason Hikaru won was cuz there *was* water. On pure dry land, it would’ve been a whole diff ball game. This was the least interesting match-up and it’s a shame it happened so late in the series during a match-up that could’ve been spectacular.

I obviously can’t rely on my memory anymore but I’ll still go out on a limb and say that the remaining battles are good fights. Maybe it was a good thing I watched this series again. My apparent conceptions of certain events were highly erroneous.

EDIT: Hahaha, and how long will it take for me to forget what Hikaru’s weak point was again. I give it one month.