Wednesday, July 19, 2006

   Strawberry Panic! Ep16
[Posted @ 8:02 PM]
Some family problems happened today [Although everything is alright now], I¡¯m still having this huge, major headache, think I¡¯m getting sick, so I don¡¯t think I could summarize anything right now. [I will seriously screw up everything and I don¡¯t want to, because this episode¡¯s one of the best.]

I¡¯ll do the summary later, I¡¯ll post up the screenshots for now and some notes I managed to type just now, need to go study stupid basic theory book for basic theory test tomorrow. Gotta pass it, if not I¡¯ll have to freaking wait till August for re-test, NUTS! Sigh.

[Posted @ 8:20 PM]
Hallo all, thanks for your concern, I¡¯m okay now, I reckon. I passed my basic theory test XD so I booked the final theory and practical lessons for the next few weeks ¡­ hopefully I¡¯ll be able to get my driver¡¯s license by the end of this year. For the first time in my life, I regretted, regretted not getting my driver¡¯s license when I was 18 ¡­ sigh, I just hope this kinda stuff doesn¡¯t happen any time soon haha.

Alright anyways, the subs for StoPani Ep16 is out [Holy crap, they¡¯re getting faster and faster haha] =).


Chikaru opened episode 16 as she talked about the huge Astraea Cultural Day play, ¡®Carmen¡¯ and although she¡¯s busy with the costumes and her own rehearsal of lines, she¡¯s really looking forward to it. We were showed around along with Rokujou, Nagisa and Tamao, the preparations of the props, costumes, light and background settings for the play. A while later, Hitomi knocked the door and told Rokujou-kaichou that the cast were waiting for her for rehearsal. Rokujou rushed to the theater and apologized for being late as she was making some checks on the props. Kaname took this chance to spite Rokujou and Chikaru by saying, that the play¡¯s tomorrow and the lead¡¯s actually playing late. Momomi added, don¡¯t you feel anxious at all? Rokujou actually looked helpless as our Evil Lesbians™ smugly find troubles with the St Miator students. In particular, where Zuniga [Kaname] and Don Jose [Shizuma] were practicing this sword fighting scene, Kaname¡¯s sword actually broke LOL [It was freaking random, everything was so serious then suddenly it just ¡­ snapped? LOL] Pissed, Kaname started yelling out to Chihaya who was responsible for the airing the bell sound for Kaname to leave the stage. The rest looked on, scared but don¡¯t dare to speak up. Kaname turned her attention to Nagisa and told her to get a usable sword for her. Nagisa brought the broken sword to Mizuho who commented that Kaname could had been more careful with the props ¡­ [No doubt she spent a lot of time on making it] The next moment, Nagisa had shoved a broom in front of Kaname and asked her to use it for the time being as the sword¡¯s being fixed [LOL!]. Pissed, Kaname snatched the broom from Nagisa, point it at her and told her to get her another substitute.

Looking at the running Nagisa, Kaname¡¯s mumbed, what the heck, she¡¯s making a fool outta me. All this was witnessed by Shizuma as the scene focus at her shooting deadly glares/swords at Kaname lol. At the next scene, Shizuma, Momomi and Chikaru were practicing the scene where Don Jose left with his fianc¨¦e, Micaela [Momomi] but swearing to Carmen that he will not give up on her and will be back. After Don Jose left, Carmen snorted in a haughtily way and said ¡®What is this.¡¯ [Whoa, Chikaru¡¯s way cool in doing the badddd girl here lol] As Rokujou explaining to Noriko to shine the spotlight on Chikaru when she said the ¡®What is this.¡¯ line, Momomi suddenly snapped, putting her anger on Chihaya and Noriko again and left the stage. In the resting room, Momomi picked on Nagisa and told her to get her milk tea as she didn¡¯t like the bottle of tea Nagisa just gave to her. Tamao couldn¡¯t stand it but Nagisa said it¡¯s okay and left, even normally composed Rokujou couldn¡¯t take it and told Kaname and Momomi to take it easy on the girls. [Kaname and Momomi were saying that the St Miator girls were not being serious in their work.] By the time, Nagisa came back, both Kaname and Momomi were throwing tantrums and planning to walk away from the play. As Rokujou tried to stop them, Nagisa told them to wait and asked them to finish the rehearsal with everyone. Nagisa continued that everyone working so hard for the past few weeks and it¡¯s not good to back out now since the rest of the school was looking forward to the performance. That¡¯s why we should work even harder to give it to them.


Kaname replied that she doesn¡¯t give a hoot, Momomi threatened that they would really leave the cast if Nagisa continued to bother them and moreover, it¡¯s impossible to find replacements in this time constraint. Momomi noticed Nagisa¡¯s intense/determined [I¡¯m not sure] glare, got pissed and pushed her, Nagisa lost her balance and fell against the background prop. The background prop loosen and started to fall forward and Nagisa was right under it. The girls gasped as the big background prop inched down and Nagisa seemed too stunned to move out of the way. Super Shizuma to the rescue! As she moved with super inhuman lightning speed to grab Nagisa outta the way. Sadly, the background prop the girls took 2 weeks to make was destroyed, Nagisa took the blame on herself and said she will fix it by tomorrow no matter what it takes. Kaname poured cold water on them as she said that it¡¯s impossible for them to finish fixing it by tomorrow, everything¡¯s over now. Momomi added that it¡¯s the end of the traditional Ichigo-sha play. Shizuma interrupted, coolly stared at the both of them and said no matter what, they¡¯re going to continue the play as long as they have the determination. Shizuma asked Tamao to shorten the scenes of Micaela [Momomi] and Zuniga [Kaname] or if there¡¯s a need, she could even cut them out LOL. Kaname and Momomi were like wtf?!

Amane decided to help fix up the background prop and the St Miator girls were united as they exchanged nods. Chikaru offered to help too, even Shion couldn¡¯t take it any longer as she ordered Kaname and Momomi as the President of St Spica to help out too. [LOL, it¡¯s funny to see Kaname and Momomi helplessly accepting the brooms from Shion to help out XD] Afterwards, the girls all worked overnight on it and it¡¯s finally completed. Rokujou got the girls attention, smiled innocently and said well then, let¡¯s rehearse for the last time then =). Haha. Everyone went ¡®Ehhhhh!~¡¯ It¡¯s the start of the Astraea Cultural Day as students and others flocked Astraea Hill, like a school festival =) with the booths and all. We get to see a little extracted scene from the junior high school¡¯s Romeo and Juliet play, surprisingly didn¡¯t turn into a comedy lol and it¡¯s actually quite serious, Kagome seemed to be treating her teddy bear, Ashibaru as Juliet though rather than Tsubomi lol. [Whoa, Tsubomi looks so cute as Juliet XD that innocent expression.] Backstage, Hikari was commenting how cute Kagome was, Yaya was like, huh, really. While Chiyo wished she¡¯s in the play too. Meanwhile, the high school¡¯s play, ¡®Carmen¡¯, response was well as the seats were full.


The time has finally arrived, Rokujou, Nagisa, Tamao and other in the backstage were looking serious. The curtain was drawn open, Chikaru slowly walked up the stage and suddenly the spotlight was shone on her. Everyone gasped at the beautiful, serious and a little bit devilish side oozing out of Chikaru. [Kyaaahhh Chikaru-sama~~] Even the students backstage were mesmerized by Chikaru¡¯s beauty XD. Not to mention, Don Jose [Shizuma] who was next up, picking up a red rose as he said that he had fallen in love with someone ¡­ Carmen. [If you read the story, Carmen from Wikipedia, in Act I, when asked to choose a lover, Carmen had threw a red rose in front of Don Jose. That time, Don Jose fell in love with Carmen.] Ironically, Nagisa who was behind the curtains, staring at the expressive face on Shizuma, blushed and whispered, ¡®Etoile-sama¡¯ [I think Nagisa fell in love with Shizuma all over again lol], while Tamao looked pretty apprehensive.

After that, we moved on to the fight scene between Don Jose and his lieutenant, Zuniga, a while later, the fire bell sounds calling Zuniga back to barracks was heard and Zuniga left. [From Act II, a little different from the story, probably Tamao changed it, remembered what Shizuma said to shorten Kaname and Momomi¡¯s scenes? Here you have it LOL, not that I¡¯m complaining.] That moment, Carmen entered and asked why Don Jose doesn¡¯t go back too. Don Jose replied why should he? He had already betrayed his superior to protect Carmen and decided to live with her. Backstage, Momomi praised Kaname for doing a good job and they intertwined both their hands together just like what Shizuma and Chikaru were doing on stage. [That scene actually looked very loving XD] From Act III, Don Jose¡¯s fiancee, Micaela [Momomi] told Don Jose that his mother¡¯s dying and asked him to go back with her. While the voices from Act III were airing, Amane¡¯s backstage doing some last touches on her costume and we foresee the troubles ahead with Amane¡¯s shoes. Back to the stage, Don Jose told Carmen that he would not give up on her and left with Micaela. The stage darkened but suddenly the spotlight shone on Carmen as she snorted haughtily and said, ¡®What is this.¡¯ [Oooohh Evil~~~]


From Act IV, Escamillo [Amane] a bullfighter showed his stuff in a bullfight [The bull¡¯s Shion LOL!]. Backstage, Hikari was like ¡®Amane-senpai~~¡¯ while Yaya was like fuming away hahaha. Our Evil Lesbians™ act lovey-dovey again but behind that, they were expecting something surprising to happen to Amane. Amane stabbed the bull and picked up the ribbon from the bull and threw it straight for the audience. A hand captured the ribbon, the spotlight shone at the spot and she¡¯s none other than Carmen [Chikaru] who was hidden among the audience, the crowd went wild. Even the students backstage couldn¡¯t contain their joy =), Tamao was like ¡®Omg, Chikaru¡¯s perfect as Carmen¡¯ lol. Back to the stage, Escamillo promised Carmen that he will be victorious in the bullfight later that day for the sake of her. Carmen swooned and leaned forward to hug Escamillo. Suddenly, Amane¡¯s shoe heel snapped and both of them lost their balance. [No doubt it was done by the Evil Lesbians™ as they were smirking.] The strong-willed Chikaru apparently would not let such a thing happen as she grinded her teeth and positioned her leg in such a way to try to salvage the situation but in the end she twisted it and both of them fell on the floor. [But at least she helped cusioned Amane¡¯s impact by a bit by holding Amane¡¯s back, if not she could had hurt her head.] The girls backstage were shocked at the turn of events.

Chikaru picked up from before by telling Amane that she twisted her leg and couldn¡¯t stand up, Amane took this chance by continuing, ah you poor thing, carried Chikaru in bridal style and walked backstage. Truly, Chikaru had twisted her leg and seemingly couldn¡¯t continue the play any more. Amane suggested to Shizuma to waste time by having a battle between them. On stage, Shizuma pointed her sword at Nagisa while wondering why Shizuma¡¯s doing so, Tamao remembered that Nagisa had practiced with Shizuma the lines of Carmen before. [The shadow looking at Shizuma and Nagisa from the rooms in episode 15 was indeed Tamao.] Tamao then asked Nagisa to take Chikaru¡¯s place as Carmen. The battle scene between Escamillo and Don Jose dragged for a pretty long time and the audience was getting restless. Nagisa appeared on stage as Carmen this time and asked the both of them to stop. Shizuma smirked and glad to see Nagisa really into the role of Carmen. Carmen then asked Escamillo to leave for his bullfight as he¡¯s the hero of Seville and couldn¡¯t afford to miss his bullfight later. Escamillo left the stage after giving Jon Dose a warning. Meanwhile, Momomi said that it¡¯s a pity that they managed to salvage everything. Kaname agreed and replied that Aoi Nagisa ¡­ not as easy as she seemed.


Don Jose confessed his love for Carmen but was rejected by Carmen [Shizuma smirked at the change in Nagisa as she allowed herself into the role which was indeed a far cry from the Nagisa who was practicing with her in episode 15.], Don Jose wouldn¡¯t give up, moved forward and told Carmen to elope with him. Carmen shook herself out of Don Jose¡¯s clasp and threw the ring he gave to her. Suddenly, there was a loud cheer at the bullfight arena, Escamillo had won the bullfight. Carmen said that she has to go to Escamillo¡¯s side and ran off. Deeply heartbroken and later turned to anger, Don Jose took out his sword and stabbed Carmen. Realizing what he had done, Don Jose fell on his knees, cradling Carmen to his chest, chanting Carmen¡¯s name before he roared out the name in rage, despair and regret. The spotlight dimmed down and it marked the end of the play. [Whoa I love the raging, rapid play of the background piano piece at the end ¡­ so ¡­ whoa.] The crowd went wild, the play was a great success! XD. Backstage, the other girls were congratulating Shizuma and Nagisa, it really looked as if Shizuma and Nagisa were a real couple lol. At the end of the day, the girls were standing around a beautiful bonfire to probably conclude the end of the successful Astraea Cultural Day.

One particular scene I would like to highlight, Hikari and Amane were chatting happily away while the ¡®abandoned¡¯ Yaya was a few meters away from them looking lonely and depressed. [Pretty heart-wrenching.] Tamao was looking pretty lonely too as Nagisa was nowhere to be seen. Nagisa¡¯s actually with Shizuma in the greenhouse. Shizuma praised Nagisa for doing a good job in the play, Nagisa replied that she¡¯s happy she could act in the play with Shizuma. Touched beyond words, Shizuma¡¯s eyes were sparkling and shimmering as she murmured Nagisa¡¯s name. The two then intertwined both their hands together, staring longingly at each other before the episode slowly faded. - END ¨C [Sooo sweet~ ah what¡¯s with the intertwining hands scenes in the episode lol, Shizuma and Chikaru did it, Kaname and Momomi did it too, now Shizuma and Nagisa did it for real XD.] I don¡¯t know where to start ¡­ Chikaru rocked!!! I really like how the producers ¡®changed¡¯ the eye expressions of Chikaru and Nagisa when they were in the Carmen role. Kinda reminded me of Yaya¡¯s style of eye, you know a little impish, devilish, sexy and wholly innocent at the same time lol. I wonder why girls in red dresses are so hot lol. Oh I really like the way Shion ¡®abused¡¯ her authority on the Evil Lesbians™, perhaps it¡¯s time for her to sack them XD, but then again, we wouldn¡¯t get to see those evil deeds come in play ¡­ heh heh heh. Yaya¡¯s a poor thing in the episode, although they made up, Hikari¡¯s still in her ¡®Amane-senpai¡¯ love-love mode, which should make me happy as I¡¯m a AmanexHikari fan ¡­ but ¡­. I don¡¯t know haha. Annnyways, it¡¯s good to see Hikari chatting with Amane casually in the end.


Ok, I wanna say something about the preview lol, it¡¯s sooo misleading!! I seriously have no idea why Shizuma¡¯s undressing Miyuki [Rokujou] ¡­ doesn¡¯t seem to be a flashback and apparently, Shizuma ClOSED her eyes before undressing Miyuki. Miyuki looked like some wounded animal as her eyes had no expression ¡­ why? Hm, my evil, dirty mind could only think of this scenario, ¡­. Miyuki¡¯s parents told her that she¡¯s getting married to a guy sooner than expected, Miyuki doesn¡¯t want her first time to be given to that guy and asked Shizuma to take her. Shizuma gladly complied. LOL. But then again, Carrie from the tag board mentioned that the scenes might had been swapped, well I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s a key pendent, is it some way to unlock Miyuki¡¯s heart?

Ahh! I thought of another wacky scenario, Shizuma¡¯s sapphire pendent was confiscated by Miyuki and she had locked the sapphire pendent in some safe deposit box. To open that box, Shizuma had to get the key pendent from Miyuki and apparently, Miyuki had hidden the key pendent in some parts of her body. That leaves Shizuma with no choice but to undress Miyuki to search for the key pendent ¡­ LOL okay, well, better wait for episode 17 ¡­ my imagination¡¯s running way too wild XD.

Art: 7.5/10 [Loved the close up scenes and the play]
Story: 8.5/10 [Love the play XD]
Characters: 8/10 [Chikaru~~~!!]
Overall: 8.5/10

A bonus for Chikaru fans XD, click here.

I¡¯m officially a fanatic Chikaru worshipper lol. Thanks for the tags, I¡¯ve never seen the tagboard so active before lol, not that I¡¯m complaining XD.

I¡¯ll see you guys maybe a few days later, need to visit the hospital and stuff. Hope everyone¡¯s in good health =).

[Signing off @ 11:00 PM]
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