Utawarerumono 6 and 7

Ep. 6
The episode starts of with Nuwangi badmouthing Benawi to Kurou's face, who is infuriated. Benawi tells Kurou to let Nuwangi go. Then Nuwangi threatens to tell on them to the Emperor.
More and more settlements join Hakuoro's rebellion thanks to the destroyed village incident. Later in the day, a weird guy is caught by Eruru trying to scale the walls. Everyone is suspicious, but he claims he is just a merchant, selling all sorts of things from toys, jewelry, medicine, and what can only be described as a phallic-looking energy supplement "that gives your partner enough stamina to last all night long." Hakuoro leads the man out of the gate, but he pulls a knife out on him. The merchant (btw his name is Shikinaro) was just putting on an act and leaves.
Benawi and Kurou are assigned to defend an important gate. They find someone trying to get to the other side, but Benawi lets the messenger go. In the shadows lurks Shikinaro, who was in fact a spy. Benawi pays him off.
The messenger runs to Hakuoro's fortress and tells him that the settlements on the other side also wish to revolt. Earlier Hakuoro and company planned on capturing the gate to reestablish communication between settlements.
Night falls and Hakuoro, Teoro, Oboro and all their assembled forces lay siege to the gate. Benawi and Kurou fight Hakuoro and Oboro again. Once again, Benawi beats Hakuoro, but before he could finish them off, villagers from the other side of the gate smash it open and outflank Benawi's forces. This was all thanks to Dorii and Gura, who scouted through the forest to get to the other side.
Inkara is enraged that Benawi failed to protect the gate. He also tells him that Nuwangi razed a village not involved in the rebellion. For Benawi, this is the last straw. He openly criticizes Inkara's actions. But Nuwangi steps in and has Benawi thrown in jail.

Ep. 7
Hakuoro and the peasants gain momentum and defeat one Imperial army after another. Even more and more villagers are emboldened to rebel and join Hakuoro.
Nuwangi is destroying yet another village, but before they can kill the remaining villagers, he is caught off guard by a surprise attack from Hakuoro. His men flee and Hakuoro's forces capture him.
All of Hakuoro's followers wish to execute Nuwangi--even Nuwangi dares them to execute him. However, Hakuoro lets Eruru make the decision. She wishes to let him go. She very coldly tells him "farewell" and Nuwangi leaves without a word.
After a series of stunning victories, Hakuoro's forces are now poised to attack Inkara's castle. Inkara himself is oblivious to Nuwangi's defeat and doesn't seem to mind that he is surrounded on all sides.
Meanwhile, Kurou frees Benawi from jail and he prepares for what may be his last battle. He still is the country's samurai leader. Hakuoro and Oboro rush to Inkara's throne room only to be stopped by Benawi and Kurou. Hakuoro duels with Benawi while Oboro and Kurou prevent the other side's forces from advancing further. Though Kurou manages to hold off the villagers with just his fists, eventually they come in overwhelming numbers prompting Benawi to run for Inkara's chambers. Kurou now fights Hakuoro, but Oboro fights Kurou so Hakuoro can follow.
Benawi delivers news of the imminent defeat to Inkara, who just now realizes what deep shit he is in. There is nowhere to flee and he is most likely going to be crucified by the rebels. Benawi suggests committing suicide, but Inkara is too gutless to do so. However, Benawi happily "assists" him. Hakuoro comes right as Inkara dies, and sees Benawi try to cut himself (like a good captain, I suppose a Samurai leader must go down with his country). Hakuoro stops him and tells him he must see the country through to the very end.
The battle ends when Hakuoro and Benawi walk out of the castle together and announce Inkara's death.
Some time after the victory, a far off country of winged people hear of the new country named "Tusukuru" which surprises what looks like the king or lord there. A princess (Urutori) volunteers to go on a diplomatic mission to the new country. In the background, a girl with black wings chuckles to herself.

Utawarerumono ep. 1-5

This is not a bona fide animeblog like so many others, yet I would like to take a stab at summarizing the first seven episodes for myself.

Ep. 1
We see someone's vision of a fierce beast. Soon, a man wakes up and is greeted by a girl (Eruru). She informs him that he was rescued from the forest. The man is injured, has no memory of his past and has a weird-looking mask that he cannot remove.
The next morning, he is introduced to the old woman that found him (Tusukuru, a famous medicine woman) who is Eruru's grandmother. He also sees Aruru, Eruru's sister who ducks out of the way whenever he looks at her.
The man familiarizes himself with the rest of the town. Eventually, some dude called Nuwangi enters town with soldiers to collect taxes. He acts like an imperial ass even though he's several degrees separated from any royalty. He tries to make Eruru come with him (they used to be friends) but Eruru refuses him. Nuwangi is enraged that the masked dude is living with Eruru. Eventually the masked man is sick and tired of Nuwangi's shit and humiliates him.
Nuwangi is so infuriated that he desecrates a local shrine. This upsets a mighty tiger goddess (?), Mutikapa.

Ep. 2
Mutikapa vents her anger on a nearby village by devouring everyone there. News of the ruined shrine reach Tusukuru's village and all the villagers are scared shitless. They attempt to rebuild the shrine in order to appease Mutikapa. The masked dude finds some silver and black fur.
Their plan fails, as Mutikapa comes to the village and destroys a house and the family inside. The masked man runs outside to check things out, but Eruru is afraid for him. He finds Mutikapa and attacks her, but his weapon breaks on her like a twig and Mutikapa bats him around. Just as it looks like things bad for the dude, the rain begins to fall and Mutikapa leaves.
The dude quickly figures out that Mutikapa's weakness is water, and demonstrates that her fur becomes weaker when wet. He hatches a plan to stop Mutikapa and volunteers himself as bait. Eruru is worried, but he tells her that they are family and family protect each other.
The dude and Teoro (from the previous episode, apparently some woodsman who likes to laugh hard) come to Mutikapa's lair and draw her out. Teoro's axe is useless against Mutikapa and they give chase. Mutikapa attacks the dude again but he defends himself with a metal fan Tusukuru gave him. Eventually they reach the trap and Mutikapa is soaked. The villagers all attack her at once and the dude gives the killing blow.
They return triumphant, but Aruru is missing! Eruru finds her pretending to be pregnant (I'm serious) and discover that Aruru smuggled Mutikapa's baby. The villagers are worried, but the dude says that since the baby didn't do anything wrong, Aruru gets to keep it.
The dude is now a hero in town. They light a bonfire for Mutikapa's passing. Aruru now considers him as a father-figure. Tusukuru declares the dude's name as Hakuoro, the same name as Eruru's and Aruru's father.

Ep. 3
Eruru explains that she and Aruru were named after sister flowers. The elder was given to the forest and the younger waited in the forest for the elder's return.
Later that night, Eruru tells Hakuoro that her grandmother is missing. He goes out of town to investigate. Suddenly he is ambushed by a ninja. They fight, but are interrupted by Tusukuru, who scolds the ninja. He says his name is Oboro.
Apparently, Tusukuru has secretly been going to Oboro's (stronghold?) to check up on his blind sister (Yuzuha) who has heart problems. Oboro is quite the doting elder brother. When Hakuoro is introduced to Yuzuha, she immediately likes him.
Some days later, Oboro's androgynous (heeheehee) archers alert Tusukuru that Yuzuha is having a heart attack (Has she been eating deep fried food? lol). Tusukuru tells Oboro that the only treatment for Yuzuha's condition is an extremely rare medicine called muiko. Oboro vows to find a way to cure his sister.
He tries to steal some of that medicine from the lord's fortress, but is caught and flees. He runs into the samurai leader Benawi, who easily counterattacks him. Benawi lets him escape.
The next day, the lord (Sasante), Nuwangi and an entourage barge into Tusukuru's village.

Ep. 4
Sasante and Nuwangi accuse the village of aiding and abetting the man who attacked them. They act all big, mean and scary, but Aruru sends her pet tiger cub (Mukuru) to attack Sasante. The big fat coward is scared shitless, but this only angers son Nuwangi who sends a soldier to attack Aruru. Tusukuru takes the blow and falls. Nuwangi, ever the slimeball, blames Aruru.
Eruru desperately tries to make medicine for her grandmother, but Tusukuru knows she is going to die. She has some heart rendering last words for her granddaughters and entrusts everything to Hakuoro. Then she dies.
Hakuoro tells Oboro the bad news. Oboro considered Tusukuru as a mother and tells Hakuoro to look after Yuzuha. Oboro flies into a rage and attacks Sasante's fortress all by himself. He has some limited success, but the soldiers eventually overpower him.
Dorii and Gura tell Hakuoro that Oboro has been captured and ask him to (1). rescue him and (2) attack Sasante for the memory of Tusukuru. Now that Hakuoro is the leader of the village, he leads the villagers to Sasante's fortress to attack it.
During the siege, Benawi tells Oboro in jail that the villagers came to rescue him. He sets him free and leaves along with his swordsman, Kurou.
Oboro joins Hakuoro's forces and eventually breakthru and corner Sasante. Hakuoro finishes him off. Nuwangi escapes.
Hakuoro is exhausted by the attack and Eruru cradles him in his lap and sings to him.

Ep. 5
The emperor is enraged at the death of his brother. This emperor is Inkara, who looks like Sasante but sport a big afro. He orders Benawi to raze some villages to set an example for would-be rebels. Benawi would rather negotiate with the rebels but Inkara gets pissed off and says that "the people are for the country, and the country is ME!"
Hakuoro and the villagers are building some frontier defenses (I think) to prepare for another attack. The villagers are also training in combat. Eruru and Aruru are helping out too and Mukuru is growing rapidly. Mukuru has a big appetite and attempts to suckle from Eruru's teat. She "feels sorry" for Eruru, who is more than a little ticked off.
Oboro and his followers pledge their support to Hakuoro. Oboro now calls Hakuoro "brother" for saving his life multiple times.
Hakuoro notices that the inventory doesn't quite match the supplies availabe so he and Eruru investigate. Aruru blocks the entrance to the storehouse but Eruru forces her way in. Apparently Aruru has been helping Mukuru steal food (who, by the way, is now HUGE). Hakuoro lets this one go but Eruru is mad that he is being too lenient.
Hakuoro wishes to enlist more villages to their insurrection, so he and Oboro personally visit a neighboring village. Unfortunately, the village has been completely destroyed. Benawi and Kurou are there. Hakuoro fights Benawi and Oboro fights Kurou but Benawi and Kurou quickly gain the upper hand. Before all seems lost, some of Benawi's men a trashed by Mukuru, with Aruru riding on top, ordering her to attack Benawi. (Kurou calls having a giant white tiger "cheating," lol). They retreat.
Hakuoro wished to make the destroyed village strengthen his bargaining position, but is worried about the ethics of his actions. Oboro scolds him for being so fickle. Hakuoro finally scolds Aruru for not staying put. Obviously, he's getting better and better at this "dad" thing.
Inkara is displeased at Benawi's performance and informs him he has made Nuwangi the new samurai leader.

What kind of f_____ up person am I?

Robot You are 57% Rational, 0% Extroverted, 42% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.

You are the Robot! You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very humble and don't bother thinking of your own interests, you are very gentle and lack emotion, and you are also very introverted and introspective. You may have noticed that these traits are just as applicable to your laptop as they are to a human being. You are not like the robots they show in the movies. Movie robots are make-believe, because they always get all personable and likeable after being struck by lightning, or they are cold, cruel killing machines. In all reality, though, you are much more boring than all that. Real robots just sit there, doing their stupid jobs, and doing little else. If you get struck by lightning, you won't develop a winning personality and heart of gold. (Robots don't have hearts, silly, and if they did, they would probably be made of steel, not gold.) You also won't be likely to terrorize humanity by becoming an ultra-violent killing machine sent into the past to kill the mother of a child who will lead a rebellion against machines, because that movie was dumb as hell, and because real robots don't kill--they horribly maim at best, and they don't even do that on purpose. Real robots are boringly kind and all too rarely try to kill people. In all my years, my laptop has only attacked me once, and that was only because my brother threw it at me. In short, your personality defect is that you don't really HAVE a personality. You are one of those annoying, super-logical people that never gets upset or flustered. Unless, of course, you short circuit. Or if someone throws a pie at you. Pies sure are delicious. To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Class Clown. Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Hand-Raiser, the Emo Kid, and the Haughty Intellectual. * * If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits. The other personality types: The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant. Be sure to take my Sublime Philosophical Crap Test if you are interested in taking a slightly more intellectual test that has just as many insane ramblings as this one does!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Rationality You scored higher than 99% on Extroversion You scored higher than 99% on Brutality You scored higher than 99% on Arrogance

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

End of Quarter Angst

All the semester-system people are off of school now.

Shit.

At least we start school LATE. At any rate, I am vainly attempting to study for my Immunology and/or BIPN 100 midterms.

I'm pretty sure I won't do HORRIBLE, but in case I do, there's always the final.

My aunt is on the verge of death, but...

I'm going to New York as soon as my finals are over. Tita Yves is at the hospital and the prognosis doesn't look good.

I've prayed that she gets better. I thought for a while that the cancer went away, but somehow the docs missed some cancer that got into the bones. I fucking hate doctors.

I'm not too enthusiastic about the New York trip. All I plan to do is stay at the hospital for as long as visting hours permits, and I think two days, maybe three should do it. But I have to be there for FOUR FUCKING FULL DAYS (minus travel time). I generally don't like New York or any city outside of California during the summertime. I wish Dad would have consulted me before paying for the motherfucking tickets, but I've got no choice. I'm already desperate for cash and he's ruining my possibilities for getting a job by placing a clamp on my prospects.

Right now I am so pissed off that I can punch a hole in the wall.

I am sick and tired of living at home and being jobless. Something's gotta give. If I have to live in my car for a few months, then so be it. I won't be baby-sat anymore.

End of School Angst

Not quite there yet, really. This must be the third summer in a row to scramble for a job before I pass through the summer jobless and lazy. Let's check my history:

2004: I applied at stores and fast food joints everywhere with no success. The week before school I was hired for a graveyard shift at Vons. Didn't last a week.

2005: Applied to MANY lab positions at school, all with no success. McDonald's hired me (but those idiots will hire anyone). It wasn't walking distance, but I couldn't complain. I think they must hate me for working there less than three whole months.

2006: Applied to TSA and failed. Currently applying to UPS. Applying to EVEN MORE GODDAMN LAB POSITIONS via Port Triton. Why do I keep using Port Triton? That fucking website is as useful as a third nipple on a man.

I don't want to do Med/Dent/Doctor school because of the debt I will inevitably occur. If X more years of school means desperately trying to find low-paying jobs and shove them into an unrealistic schedule, I want no damn part in it.

Utawarerumono OP