As you may have guessed from my second-to-last entry, Saiyuki Reload 7 is totally awesome. Kazuya Minekura had said that volume 6 was like the calm before the storm, and man she was not kidding.
There was a lot of squealing. A lot of squealing. The squealing didn't last very long once we got back to translating, though, because the story got to be very intense, and even scary. Once everything calmed down (or did it?), we had to take a break to get our own heart rates back to normal. I definitely want to see this animated.
How cool is it that the first time we actually get to see full-youkai Hakkai in action it's in a face-off against psycho Goku? How cool is that!? We were both very happy. It was kind of confusing, though, because each time one of them did something, I'm like, "That's! so! COOL!!!" even when it was psycho Goku and it was really actually very scary. And Hakkai has one of the coolest powers ever. I mean seriously. And I like how he was completely sane most of the time he was fighting. I mean, I knew he would be, but it's so rare that someone gets such an awesome power-up and gets to keep their sanity. Okay, so maybe it's not, but it's still awesome.
But then Goku was killing Hakkai and Hakkai was killing Goku and Gojyo was like, "Hey stop being crazy!" and we're like, "Aaaaaahhhh!" It was pretty stressful. But freakin' awesome. Kazuya Minekura is good to her fans after all; just sometimes she makes them wait. But then she rewards them with pretty pictures, like the one under the slipcover. Apparently they're giving away an alternate cover; I think I know what the picture is. If it is, then I want to see it, because we want to know what color Hakkai's youkai marking really are, since we don't trust the Reload anime.
And then they got separated. And they stayed separated. And it just doesn't feel right. And it's not like Goku and Hakkai were in the gourd and Sanzo and Gojyo were out trying to save them, and it's not even like when Gojyo left and everyone was so irritable. They're just... apart. It's really weird.
And then they started going into what it's like for all the youkai who have been brainwashed, and that was creepy. I mean, it's bad enough to mess with people's heads enough to brainwash them, but this is just ew. It's messed up. I hate it when they alter people's brains like that. That's part of why Return of the Joker was a little too much for me. It is an interesting insight, but it's still way messed up. Ew.
Goku's new outfit is cute though. And the filler pictures with everyone using each other's weapons! Goku's is the cutest ever. I want to make wallpapers or something with them.
And I guess that's all I have to say, except that man, if Hakkai was awesome before, he's like off the charts awesome now.
Today I'm thankful for being able to go grocery shopping, adorable pictures of tigers with their heads tilted like they're trying to look at something, the most adorable filler pictures ever in Saiyuki Reload 7, Reload and Gunlock theme song CD singles, and juice mix.