Right In Two

What's your rush now?

Casually reading Dies Irae again because I can't wait for 相州戦神館學園 八命陣 to be released sometime this year. My body will not be ready for these stylish uniforms. It's going to be interesting to see how Masada handles writing a story that takes place between modern-day Japan and a dream world called Canaan (probably something to do with it being the "Promised Land"), which is made up of eight levels with the last four set in the Meiji and Taishou periods. Personally I would have preferred it to be just set in the past, but I guess I'll be quite happy as long as I can have my Rinko. I need my fix of high-spec ojou-sama right now.

So apparently Date A Live is getting a second season. Considering that it is and has been one of Fujimi Fantasia Bunko's best sellers, another season being green-lit isn't exactly unexpected. To celebrate this monumental moment, you should've already heard this before, have some clean scans of the Volume 5 and 6 illustrations.

Nothing that you haven't seen before but hopefully the more consistent quality with fewer compression artefacts is enough to leave you satisfied. You've got the two bustiest Spirits right there.

While we are at it, this might be a good opportunity to touch on a couple of things regarding Date A Live. Specifically, I'd like to talk a little bit about Miku's abilities and then about the spin-off manga Date AST Like (or Date A Strike, whichever you prefer), which follows the (mis)adventures of Mikie Okamine whose unlikely friendship with Tohka goes largely ignored in the main series.

Spoilers ahead. Read at your own discretion.

Miku has demonstrated three different applications of her Army Breaker Diva so far - March which enhances the listeners' physical strength; Rondo which is Miku's primary method of defence, but the sound pressure that it generates can be used to restrain others as well (which ultimately failed against Black!Tohka); and of course Solo which brainwashes the listeners. One thing about Solo is that unlike a good deal of brainwashing powers, it does not appear to be capable of altering people's memories. While there's no doubt that it can mess with its victims' perception of Miku and make them extremely devoted to her, it doesn't seem to affect their existing views on other people in any way. Even under Miku's control, the Spirits still thought very favourably of Shidou. But of course as long as they stay brainwashed, they'll prioritize their actions according to Miku's orders and well-being.

Being sound-based, Miku's power works just as effectively through speakers. Broadcasting her concert live was how she managed to put almost the entire city under her spell in Volume 7. But it's nothing that a pair of ear plugs can't block out anyway.

Now onto Date AST Like. The main point of interest here is definitely the latest CR-Unit series - the Ashcroft, developed by Okamine Heavy Industries. Ryouko says that the Ashcroft series is designed to equip Wizards with enough power to fight against Spirits alone, but it seems to me that the units are made to combat other CR-Units instead.

Five Ashcroft units were developed in advance and three of them have already been hijacked by a trio of former SSS (Special Sorcery Service. The British AST basically) members. The series gets its name from Artemisia B Ashcroft, one of the world's top (five) Wizards, who left the SSS and joined the more technically advanced DEM to bring about world peace, but ended up brain dead after her memories were stolen and used as the core for the Ashcroft units.

Mikie has had a surprisingly hard life

Unlike other CR-Units, an Ashcroft is bound to a person once equipped and cannot be operated by anyone else unless a special release key is used. Each of the five units is designed to excel in a particular area and is named after a character from the stories of Lewis Carroll - Unit No.1 Alice, worn by Origami, protects its user from other Wizards' Territory; Unit No.2 Jabberwock, hijacked by Cecil, is capable of generating anti-Territory fields; Unit No.3 Lion, stolen by Leo, specializes in long range bombardment; Unit No.4 Unicorn, taken by Ashley, excels at melee combat; and Unit No.5 Cheshire Cat, used by Mikie, is fitted with an onboard AI navigation system called Bell (who is hinted to be Ashley's old friend. Probably Artemisia's middle name), a self-healing function and a pair of armour-piercing Kitty Fang.

Because of their specialized nature, the Ashcroft units aren't as adaptive and well-balanced as other CR-Units. Having said that, units like the Alice and the Jabberwock really do show their edge when used against Wizards. After all, Wizards are pretty useless without their Territory. I mean, most of them are already quite useless. As to the reason why these newly developed units that were supposed to help fight back Spirits carry abilities that are clearly designed as countermeasures against Wizards, no one knows yet. It could be many things, though humans do have the strange tendency to plot against each other even as the entire humanity is on the brink of annihilation by aliens.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey.

An adult Kotori? And Rinne tied up like Nepgear? What is even going on anymore.