Wednesday, July 29, 2015

CosmicSparky Reviews Johnny Tellez Unboxing CosmicSparky


My god is that title ever an eye-crosser. Don't worry regular readership, it'll all make sense soon. Of course if you've been directed here for the first time thanks to the video below then this is old news and you've more than likely moved on to something shiny. 



Writing anything about the happenings on youtube isn't exactly what you'd call a common occurrence around here. In all honesty there are very few channels I check on a regular basis. Most of those are either for finding more strange 80's or at least 80's sounding music and the others are for researching boardgames. When it comes to regular vloggers and such hardly anyone catches my interest. That changed a few months back while I was researching the width of subscription boxes and came across a lad named Johnny Tellez. Odd that I call him a lad despite me being his junior by like a year and a half. Still; in the vast swarm of what I view as mostly half-hearted unboxing videos and dull vlogs here was a remarkably entertaining and upbeat guy. I became a fan right quick and have kept up on his work ever since.
I'm peppering this with clickbait pet pictures.
I will admit an additional interest in that I find us to be like the two sides of a coin. Here's a guy with a vast amount of similarities to me. I mean he's an admitted mama's boy (totally in that club myself) who collects horror movies, adores pop culture, toys, and even has an affinity for small troublesome dogs. Even our tastes are very close with just the occasional alteration such as his love for Dr. Who. God help me, I do not understand that show. Sure, I've come across other folks who share these things in common just never this much, but then there's the big difference.
Johnny's a very upbeat, cheerful, bright-side kinda guy. Not to mention that he's quite the helpful type as well. He's always giving shout outs to his fellow vloggers, and talking up the benefits of treating people well. While I share the helpful stance, kinda have to in my line of work, I'm not so much in the upbeat attitude. It's not like I'm some insufferable turd, but I definitely lean more towards the crude and nasty side of life. In movie terms, if this was Twins, I'd be the DeVito half. As a student of psychology I can't help but wonder what leads to that split. Is it the difference in families, or environment? He's apparently spent most of his life in warm & sunny places while my life is all in the frosty north. There's probably some philosophical equation presented by this sort of phenomenon but lord knows I ain't the one to calculate it. Whatever the case, it's always a comfort to know there are others out in the world like oneself.

When I started tying out different mystery boxes, the idea struck me that is must be massive fun to create one. This manifested first in my new practice of birthday boxes for friends & family and a lingering urge to do something a little bit bigger. Thous formed the idea of promoting the site with a special box. I actually thought of a few potential targets for this project and Johnny was naturally at the top of the list. Even now, I can hardly believe he agreed to do it. A few weeks of hunting and gathering commenced with plans for crafting as well. Sadly, my current focus on cleaning out this house amongst other things leaves very little time to make stuff. You better believe that's driving me crazy. Eventually I ended up with something I could feel mostly proud of and so it was time to ship it out.

On Saturday morning I mailed out the package and faced a few close calls as hungover drivers nearly plowed into my scooter. After screaming obscenities at one of them, I was almost tempted to follow him. Anyone who drives that poorly deserves a punch to the back of their head.
Next up was the waiting game. Ohhh how I hate that game. More so when the tracking info says your box went to Texas and back to Michigan within an hour. On Tuesday night after napping for a spell (apparently Italian seasoned ground turkey doesn't agree with me) I awoke to my phone telling me that I'd been added to someone's circle. In my still hazy thought patterns this could only mean one thing. I hopped onto youtube to see the fruits of my labor. Believe me, my heart was pounding with an odd mixture of excitement and worry. There was always a chance that I'd grossly miscalculated this whole project. Then I got to see it and my god it was awesome.

Imagine the feeling of giving a really good Christmas gift, only there's no holiday and you hardly know this person from Adam. It's really outstanding. I took that vibe with me and went for a quiet 1 A.M. walk. The world doesn't seem quite as lonely when you're thinking of how somebody on the opposite border of the country is gonna enjoy the super Nintendo game or weird show you sent em. I've been a giver for years with things like toys for tots and Thrifty Secret Santa last year, but actually getting to watch the person open those items on the spot makes for something special.

Really that's the thing to take away from this. Let's say this project fails as an attempt to grow my audience. I still had the joy of watching a goofy guy, not unlike meself have a lot of fun unboxing some goodie crate I threw together. I love collecting experiences and the quality of this one is gonna stick around for a while. If you ever get a chance to do something similar, maybe you've got a buddie with a youtube channel or something, try it. Kinda gives you a high. Like nobody's gonna knock me down for at least a few days. Here's a visualization for you.

So for anywhere from the tenth to twentieth time, I'd like to thank Johnny for agreeing to this little idea of mine. In my experience it's not something many people would do for a stranger. Hell, I've met some that wouldn't do something like this for their friends (Don't much care for those people). Wish him all the best of luck with moving, his channel, and whatever projects he gets wrapped up in. He's a decent guy, he's earned it. Since he's got me considering some youtube content once I finally have a filming space maybe there's a chance of doing this again sometime. Until then, I'll continue to be a regular viewer of his work and of course keep up my duties right here. And I still gotta find a second job, finish writing a novel, and get my video and board game ideas off the ground. Oh the troubles of those who dream too much.


For anyone who came here from Johnny's channel, I hope you'll stick around for a while. The next entry should be an unboxing...or maybe something about ninjas. That's all up to the mailman.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate vs. Samurai Warriors 4

Darby makes all my games fight to the death.

For the past few months I've been on quite a kick of gaming due largely in part to my still fresh ownership of a PS4. One of the big questions I had when getting games for the beast was which Warriors game to get? I've been a fan of the series for a long time whether it be in Dynasty, Samurai, Orochi, or one of the many other varieties. When I bought the PS4 there was no doubt that either Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate or Samurai Warriors 4 would come home with me. Problem was, I couldn't find any articles comparing the two titles for someone like me with somewhat limited funds. Clearly the only answer was to get both. Now I'd say it's time to remedy the failings of the internet and answer the question for all you fine folks out there, especially since I thoroughly believe you should own at least one of these games as well. Let's attack this issue in categories.
Orochi 3 Ultimate

Gameplay and Difficulty
If you've never played a warriors title before, the general flow of gameplay involves running around a battlefield, slaughtering minions by the hundreds (if not thousands) while ensuring sub-missions and events are successfully completed in order to win the battle. This involves a lot of button mashing but by god is it ever satisfying to wipe out an entire battalion of troops to turn the tide of battle in your favor.
Both games have their own version of the fighting system. Orochi 3 offers the fullest variety of old-school warriors fighting wherein you use light attacks to set up combos with power attacks serving as different finishers. Also there are character specific special moves that drain your musou bar, and the musou attack itself which is a screen clearing monstrosity.
The Samurai style is similar except power attacks have been changed to hyper moves that are great at clearing crowds of grunts but terrible against stronger generals. This offers two main lines of potential combos to work with. Not to mention special moves no longer drain your power and there are two levels of musou along with deeper features to break an enemies guard.
Another difference between the games is the usage of teams. Orochi allows the use of a three-person team that stays together while you switch between them for best results. Samurai lowers it down to only two characters who can act independently of each other on the map.
There's also separate systems for weapon upgrades, item usage, and the sub-missions that effect battles. Samurai is infinitely better at alerting you to changes in the fight by actually pausing the action and showing you what's going on and how best to deal with it. Orochi doesn't offer that kind of hand holding which is part of the reason for its higher difficulty. Consider it more a master class for the franchise with some stages that have a good chance of beating your ass. Chances are, you'll lose a stage or two in Samurai as well, just nowhere near as often. That one also provides you with prizes from a lost fight, rather than spitting you back onto the main menu.
Samurai Warriors 4

Story and Content
Storytelling has never been a hallmark of this franchise but both these games take strides towards remedying that situation with more cut scenes and dialog to help flesh out the characters.
A large part of which story is better depends on what kind of tales you enjoy. Orochi is a big chunk of fan-fiction where folks from different eras and game series all join together in order to defeat a world-ending hydra followed by a fox demon.
Samurai showcases a more realistic historical tale of the warring states period. There's still plenty of dramatization and silliness but you get a pretty fair outline of how this point in history played out.
Naturally the story influences the amount of game you're getting. Thankfully both games provide plentiful amounts of playtime. Orochi almost gives you too much bang for you buck. Either way, you won't get cheated on content.
Orochi 3 Ultimate

Visuals and Music
Samurai almost completely steals the show in the looks and sound department thanks in part to it's new game engine. It's not something you'd use to show off your new system but it's still a looker. The music is a mix of techno and classic Japanese tunes though there aren't quite enough tracks, so get ready for some repeats.
Orochi 3 has a bit more music though it's more of a techno/rock mixture that can go a little overboard. Visuals are weaker but that should be expected as it's an updated port of a PS3 title. Still; there have been some improvements to things like lighting and draw distance to help it out.
Samurai Warriors 4

Extra Modes
Both games offer multiplayer along with free mode which allows you to use any character you like in any stage, regardless of their affiliation.
Orochi 3 has two unique modes on tap. Duel turns the game into a of sort tag team arena fighter with a side of card combat. It's an ok diversion but nothing Earth-shattering. Gauntlet mode has much more to offer by giving you a team of five people with customizable battle formations fighting through randomized areas. Think of it as a dungeon crawl along the lines of Diablo. A lot of players have raved about this mode. Personally, I don't quite get it. Chalk that up to personal preference.
Samurai 4 doesn't have as many extra modes available but it makes up for that with the inclusion of conquest mode. This could be an entire game in itself. You create your own character and travel across Japan, fighting small battles and befriending the warriors of the age. Along the way you develop proficiencies with different weapons, collect pieces of armor, change your life goals, etc. It reminds me a little of the master mode from SoulCalibur only without the constant frustration.

and the winner is.....

The real winner of this contest comes down to what kind of gamer you are. If you're a complete novice to this series or just someone with very little experience, go with Samurai Warriors 4. It's easier to learn and play, offers plenty of content, and looks very nice on your shiny system.
If you're more of a warriors veteran, I'd dare say you'd be safe picking up both titles. There's enough difference between them and both are great fun. However; if you've played a previous version of Orochi 3 then the choice of upgrading depends on whether the new modes, graphical upgrades, and four new chapters of storyline are worth the cost of admission.

Of course all of this could be tossed out the window in a few months as three more warriors titles are coming our way such as One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, Dragon Quest Heroes, and the upgraded Samurai Warriors 4-II. There's also a new Nobunaga's Ambition coming our way if you feel the need for a completely strategic gaming experience. Who woulda thought buying a PS4 would result in giving all my money to Koei?


Keep a close eye on the site this week everyone. There should be a really special article coming up, maybe more if the mail yields something good. See you soon.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger Episodes 16 and 17


Sorry if it's been too long since the last post. Perhaps I should make that a question. Has it been too long since the last post? July hasn't provided much breathing room for blogging I'm afraid. This is in no small part due to me taking on several different projects like cleaning out the basement, getting back to exorcising. Lots of fun stuff, not to mention cleaning out my boardgame collection which involves playing a crapload of them to see if they're any good. What does any of this have to do with superpowered ninja exactly? Glad you asked. All this sorting and cleaning has led to an alteration of sorts. From now on, ninninger recaps will all be two episode affairs in order to make room for some other types of articles. Don't view this as a bad thing, dear reader. I'm not giving up on the show. Merely making space for a wider variety of items. Now let's get on with the show.

I'll be very upfront about episode 16. It's a big heaping hunk of cheese. Not a rancid cheese like limburger, more of an underwhelming one like brie. It's all about Takaharu and Fuuka's dad who actually has a name though I can't remember it for...(just remembered I'm on the internet) Tsumuji! that's his name! Anyway, it's fathers day and the old boy's feeling down. The baddies are trying to find the location of the family dojo and resort to almost tricking him into showing them the way. He reveals to his kids that back in the day he was a real ninja badass with a tornado technique that was second to none. One day his powers went belly up and that was it. His ninja career was over. After some silly antics were the team tries to trick the monsters into believing Tsumuji's still an asscracker the usual battle scenes kick in along with the cheese. The kids are just getting their assess beat this time and it's up to the old boy to summon up his strength and save the day with one well placed tornado. Yeah it's all equivalent to a mother lifting a Volkswagen off her baby, only this time it's a demonic umbrella off some ninja.

It may sound like I'm being cruel about this one but it was really corny. Sorry for changing foods on ya but I've already got a massive craving for cheddar. Sure the sentiment behind it all is nice enough but we've seen this kind of thing before. Not to mention an episode like this brings up some questions about the extended family. I mean it's father's day so where's grampa? Also I keep wondering...Tsumuji's wife is dead, right? And his mom, she's dead too? Who are his other siblings by the way? I mean they're also decedents of the last ninja so aren't they in the running to replace him?. We've met Yakumo's mom (where's his dad? Don't tell me he's dead too!) but Kasumi and Nagi are mysteries. For a show about family we either have a very unsocial group or one with a large investment in gravestones.

In total it's not the worst tale this series has given us but if you felt the need to shave an episode off for time, this would make a strong candidate.

Episode 17

Getting back to the main plot, this one's all about Kinji's deadline to defeat the team in order to become gramps student. We find he's down to the wire and the pressure’s really starting to get to him. Guy even accidentally leaves his family photo at the dojo, which didn't do much more than give Nagi a reason for listening in on Kinji's personal ramblings. Later that night, Kyuuemon shows up to check on his/her offer of a team up. Kinji pushes the offer back for a few more hours in case he can actually manage to take out the kids in time.
The next morning, all the team has prepared challenge letters so they can give old Kin his best shot. As you might expect, an evil inflatable raft with control over fear dimensions shows up just in time to screw everything up. Oh...you didn't expect that? I thought fear rafts were in all the shows these days. Thanks to our baddie we get to visit Kinji's past where his dad and brother are killed by some kinda coyote monster. The team arrives in time to help, after they learn of Takaharu's fear of peppers. Peppers...really? Sure they taste like hot garbage, but something to be afraid of? Let's chalk that up to different strokes.

So the kids let Kinji know that he's just as good a competitor for last ninja as they all are, so he should stick around and do his best to beat them. First they need to kill the monster of the week which involves some decent action scenes and a new robot that grants the team surfing powers.

After the battle, Taka and Kinji commence their duel when grandpa steps in to announce the time limit is up. Turns out Kin had his calendar still set for U.S date and time, ouch. Poor kid sets off towards home in the new surfer bot (he's not gone for long, trust me) while Gramps reveals his relationship with Kyuuemon to the team. They all look pretty disappointed with how everything turned out but nobody has the stone to tell the old man he's a busted cunt. I nearly forgot, we also learned the purpose of the end shuriken as well. Turns out it's one of those classic items that wipes out the current world allowing it's user to create a new one of their own design. Sounds spiffy.

Overall a decent episode but it seemed like their was something missing throughout. Best I can figure is the flashbacks to Kinji's past trauma could have been given much more love & care instead of goofy raft monster antics.


That's all from ninja town for now. Stay tuned for...well I honestly don't know. There's several items waiting to be written about already and lord knows I might find something silly while cleaning out the basement. Or get crushed under a mound of avon boxes. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Birthday Haul 2015


The 4th of July 2015 was a momentous occasion in American history! Why's that? Because I turned thirty. Oh and there was some tiny celebration with fireworks I'd never heard of before, must be a regional thing. So how's thirty living up to my expectations? well I never imagined I'd be a blogger who worked for non-profit organizations to pay for my horror movie, board game, and various other addictions. As a child; I probably envisioned myself as a ninja master who lived on the moon and was married to at least 2 or 3 girls from Power Rangers. Such is life, eh? Still; there's always presents, let's talk about those.

Horror movies ahoy!
My brother grabbed a copy of Fortress which is an Aussie title from the 80's where a country classroom is kidnapped by guys in masks only to eventually escape and turn savage on their pursuers. It turned out to be more of a thriller than full on horror but it's short and breezy entertainment. Be forewarned that if you hate the sound of Australian children, you've be clawing at your face about 15 minutes into the film.
As most of my gifts arrived several days after the main event, my mother was nice enough to make sure I had one new item for the night in the form of The Revenge of Frankenstein. Sadly, by the time I got around to watching it, sleep was firmly taking hold so I lost several chunks of story. Probably have to revisit it come Halloween time.
A return trip to the same store we got Frankenstein from yielded a variety of old midnight movie double features for 4 bucks a pop. Technically I bought these myself but it was with a bit of birthday money so let's just chalk em up to my mom again. Only had a chance to watch 2 of flicks so far. The Vampire was a surprisingly unique take on bloodsuckers mixed with drug addiction. Not exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from the 50's. The Earth Dies Screaming was entertaining enough but at a run time of only 62 minutes, it really doesn't have the room to accomplish very much.
Also on the movie front was a blu-ray of Knightriders from my sister and brother-in-law. This was the first George Romero movie I ever liked, mainly because it serves as an endurance test for anyone with good taste. It's about a loony dude named Billy (Ed Harris) who leads a traveling band of motorcycle jousters in the hopes of creating a better community free of many modern problems or as he puts it, he's “Fighting the Dragon!” It's two and a half hours of hippies, biker culture, magic Indians, and impromptu blues harp solos.

They aforementioned group also got me a little Lo Pan Funko Pop. For the longest time I'd ignored these figures because a lot of them just seemed so dumb looking. Recently I learned that there are actually a few badass ones out there. The trick is to avoid the ones that just look like plain old people. Seriously go look at ones based on monsters & ghosts if you don't believe me. Just have your wallet ready when you do.

Going back to gifts from mom, there's my pour over coffee maker. I'd been investigating these for a couple months now as the k-cup machine is just getting tiresome. Currently I'm still experimenting with the proper ratios of water to bean but I must say it's a nice item to have. Yes it takes forever and a day to make a cup of joe this way but it's strong, smooth, and remarkably clean stuff that's damn good at keeping you up. If you ever get your hands on one, do be careful as it is fully possible to brew up a glass of concentrated madness.

Unexploded cow
Somehow I forgot to get this one in the group photo but my sister and brother-in-law got this for me the night before my birthday. I'd heard of it before but never paid much attention to it. Good thing they remedied that mistake cause this is a really solid and fun game. It's silly enough that you can take it to a party but there's still just enough intelligent design to keep everyone interested. This one will probably get a full scale entry sometime soon.

The miscellaneous pile
There's always a few more fleeting items to any birthday. This year that list started with an heaping helping of Indian food. Not such a bad idea to start off a new decade of existence with spicy chicken and goat with plentiful amounts of Naan. It's the healthy half of a day that also included plenty of vodka, bear, and some kinda fruity drink called a lavender collins which in theory was delicious though in practice.....not so much. I blame the bar in question. A hipster hole in downtown Lansing known as the Tavern & Tap which is a confounding name for a joint. I mean you wouldn't call a down home country cooking joint The Kitchen & Stove would ya? Didn't care for the place. Service was slow, drinks poorly mixed, bad pricing, lame music. Pretty much the embodiment of why I drink at home.

Oh but then there's the gift that the whole country give me every year; fireworks! The whole reason we were in Lansing to begin with was the fireworks show that's actually been fairly good for the past few years. Not amazing, but good enough to leave you feeling satisfied. Thanks nation!

Friday, July 10, 2015

The Doll by Rex Sparger


If you're a regular visitor to the page then it's likely that you've seen my nightstand/lamp on several occasions. Between stashing keys, receipts, toys, mail, and providing a good spot for ebay and blog photos along with lighting, the lil beast serves as a fine definition of multifunctionality, which my word processor tells me isn't a real thing. Anyway; something you probably haven't seen is the bottom section which is a metal barred basket which stores a heaping helping of books I nab from library sales, thrift stores, etc. In essence it's book jail, If a member of book jail's population proves worthy, they may join the shelf. Today's inmate is not so lucky. Now this isn't the crazy book I mentioned a few posts back as that review requires a little more work.

The Doll is something I picked up from a local thrift store solely on the merit of it's cover art. Yes I've heard the sayings about books and covers. I'm shallow, deal with it. I was also a little intrigued by the Dark Forces logo along the top. A wee bit of study revealed these as an 80's horror series for teens much like Fear Street or the more popular and younger geared Goosebumps. Further queries led me to think there might have been an extra motive in this series to serve as a sort of Christian scare tactic. Now I have no proof of this mind you, but as I looked up more entries in the franchise, I came across bits about kids selling their souls to become rock stars, or table top gamers sacrificing animals, that sort of thing. Also; there were repeated mentions of pastors or ministers trying to save kids from such folly. Normally I might be driven off by such tidbits but the book was short enough and my curiosity over how Christy it could get was high enough that I decided to dive in.

We kick things off by meeting our heroine, Cassie. She's.......well....she's not really much of anything actually. I mean personality isn't exactly her strong suite. She's pretty, nice, collects dolls, and her mom's dead (a fact that oddly doesn't effect her very much). Within the first few pages she gets a call from her boyfriend, Jack. He's a responsible, superbuff, football playing cowboy. And that's a good thing case a girl like Cassie wouldn't been seen with one of those lazy soccer playing townies! Our kids are working on a somewhat long distance relationship as they live like 90 miles from each other. This week is different though. It's county fair time and everyone's spending the whole week their. Cassie has her prize winning doll collection to show off, her dad is a fair judge, and Jack & his lil brother Nate have a horse entered in competition, Before long, everyone's settled in at the fair and our couple manage to meet a friendly fortune teller. Wonder if she'll factor into the story later.

As the kids wander around the fair, Cassie spots a doll (cue creepy music) she must have for her collection. Sure enough, Jack wins it for her the next day by playing a perfect game of...what's the one where you pop balloons with darts? Anywho, Jack continues to be all that is man though he's concerned as he believes Cassie tossed a dart into the guy ahead of them to thwart his attempt at winning the same prize. There's no time for worries though as they have to watch his little brother perform in the horse show. Apparently the kids trained the best damn herding horse the world has ever known, earns himself a standing ovation even. That's when things turn south.

What fallows for the next however many chapters is a cluster of accidents. The prize winning horse is spooked by the doll and breaks its leg which earns it a shot to the head. Cassie gains a personality, albeit an awfully combative one. Fires are set, innocent doll collections are destroyed. Oh, and did I mention the doll starts to grow and become more organic? Once it starts to kill nearby plant life and set Jack on fire, he finally decides to do something about it with the aid of our aforementioned fortune teller, Maria.

Now it's time for our journey into Christianity. You see, Maria was brought up by her adoptive father who is in fact a minister who's battled Satan multiple times over the years. She takes the kids to his church. Now I was hoping for some drama here as I imagined that Maria's career as a mystic would clash with her upbringing and lead to disapproval from her dad. Nothing of the sort happens however as we're told that she can deal with the mystical arts without worry because she's a good Christian......huh? What transpires next is a graveyard battle with the possessed doll and Satan (who summons up a tornado by the way) while Cassie sings Jesus Loves me over and over again.

When all is said and done, the old man dies from the strain of fighting the devil for the third time in his life and the kids return to the fair to continue dating. Is this a happy ending? Maybe if you're really into getting teenagers to stop collecting toys and start going to church.

As you can probably tell I'm not a huge fan of this book. It's not horribly written or anything, and the religious stuff isn't too problematic. If I were a kid (not a teen) it woulda had a good chance of scaring me even. The problem is all the wasted potential. You've got a sound concept of a life-sucking devil doll terrorizing kids at a county fair. There's a lot you could do with just those elements. Not to mention the potential drama I proposed for Maria and her father. Even side characters like Jack's younger brother fail to serve much purpose as he goes home after his horse dies. I was teased with the idea of a week at the fair with an evil toy come to life. What I got was two days of escalating incidents and a trip to church.


While my better judgment tells me to advise you against picking up a Dark Force book, I still say give it a go if you come across one. Seeing as they're written by different authors there's a chance you might stumble upon a decent read. If not, you could donate it to a priest who's trying to convince kids that hobbies are the devil's work.  

Friday, July 3, 2015

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger Episode 15


I approached this week's Ninninger adventure with some trepidation. As you all may recall, my opinion on Kasumi has been less than favorable with her previous focus episode being the absolute low point of the series. Generally I've either found her to be dull or just awful. Along with the show's improvement, she's gotten a little better but how would she handle another shot in the spotlight? Only one way to find out.

Just another day for our ninja crew. Some are studying while others go out in search of the flying ninja ally. Meanwhile the villains evil scheme of the week involves a two-mouthed negotiator who they hope will usurp control of the ninja allies and eventually the whole team by having them sign contracts. She soon takes control of rodeomaru by convincing him that he needs representation since he's always being sent into dangerous battle without consent. Considering this is the second time robot emotions have been used against the team, maybe they should have left the A.I. Portion out of their designs. Just saying.

After setting rodeomaru and one of those big skeletons loose on Tokyo, mouth lady tries to make Kinji sign a contract that she claims will stop the robot but place Kinji under her control. That's when Kasumi steps in to help out with some counter-negotiations. We get several scenes them trying to work out this situation until Kinji signs his contract which puts him under control. Kasumi finally works it out by convincing mouth lady that she's the best monster they've ever faced. She should have all the respect her organization can give and deserves to have all her hearts desires as both a demon and a woman. Eventually this sends the evil wench into revolt as she tears up all the contracts. And that's the story of how Kasumi finally got her proper place in this show. She's still a silver-tongued, conniving person, but that's what allows her to outsmart the opposition.

During all the negaotions were multiple fights between giant robots and monsters where we once again find Fuuka to be the team heavyweight as her and Nagi duplicate themselves in order to fully man shurikenjin in battle. How are these two not the team leaders?

After all is said and done, demons big and small are slain and the teams plans to call it a night. Kinji encounters Kyuuemon who proposes they team up in order to take the end shuriken Kinji so desperately needs (cue mysterious music) from the old fart.


I don't know about you folks but I've gotta get my butt away from the computer and enjoy an extended birthday weekend. Hope yall have a good time and eat plenty of animals. I'll see ya in my thirties.