Gen X Otaku 1971: the OG blog

Finished Clannad Boxed Set.

I finally finished the Box Set of Clannad a few weeks ago.  Of course, it was really, really good:

Clannad: Complete Collection (4pc) (Dub Sub)

I think my favorite episodes are the basketball episode, where Nagisa, Tomoya, Kyou Fujibayashi (藤林 杏 Fujibayashi Kyō^?) and Youhei Sunohara (春原 陽平 Sunohara Yōhei^?) take on the High School freshman basketball team...they start to win, so the seniors substitute in and soon they are squaring off against the full Varsity team, which Tomoya would have been on save for his arm injury.  It's an episode that will make you stand up and cheer for the underdogs.

I also really enjoyed the episode where Kyou and Tomoya get locked in the P.E. supply shed together for a few hours.  It was really hilarious and also deeply revealing of Kyou's actual feelings for Tomoya.  Tomoya strips off his shirt as part of a prayer ritual, which Kyou mis-reads...she collapses back onto some gymnastics practice mats and says with emotion and trepidation, her heart racing:  "it's my first time..."; I laughed out loud at this.  Kyou is otherwise such a tomboy and on the surface shows little interest in Tomoya for herself, as she's otherwise always the scheming matchmaker, trying to set up Tomoya with her younger sister Ryou Fujibayashi (藤林 椋 Fujibayashi Ryō^?).  To see her act suddenly feminine and aroused by Tomoya is nearly comical. 

Tomoya, oblivious to Kyou's aroused reactions, finishes the "spell" and someone has finally come to unlock the shed and let them out.  Tomoya picked her to be locked in the shed with (also a spell/fortune telling event) because Nagisa was absent that day due to illness and he figured he would be okay being trapped briefly with his friend Kyou.  If Nagisa had been at school that day, Tomoya would obviously have chosen her.  

 There is also later scene between the two sisters that is emotionally stirring, when Tomoya is very protective of Nagisa at a school Tennis match.  Nagisa is hit by a stray ball and injured, and Tomoya helps her hobble off to the nurse's office.  Ryou and Kyou look at each other and realize Tomoya will always be in love with Nagisa.  Kyou starts to cry for her little sister, and the Ryou bursts into tears...her heart is broken but she also realizes that Tomoya and Nagisa are simply meant for each other and it's wrong for her to keep trying to insert herself between them.  She tries to reassure her sister through her tears that she accepts this fate and appreciates all Kyou has done for her over the past year to try and set her up with Tomoya.  They have a good cry together and hold each other.  It's a very touching scene.

Since the Clannad story began actually as a dating simulation game, there is one final "alternate ending" episode that shows what would have happened in Tomoya's life if he had pursued Tomoyo Sakagami (坂上 智代 Sakagami Tomoyo^?) instead of Nagisa.  We find his life would have been no less difficult than it was falling in love with Nagisa.

I have found subsequently that the Clannad story doesn't end with this box set, but continues with Clannad: The After Story, and that it is one of those rare sequels that surpasses the original and puts the viewer through an even tougher emotional wringer than Clannad.  I do want to see it, but I imagine that parts of it will be hard to watch, and will probably drive me to tears.  But emotional catharsis can be a good thing, but it's also why I typically watch such anime alone and after dark, late at night, after my parents have gone to bed.  I did check to see if Clannad: The After Story is available on Netflix rental.  Alas, it is broken up into two parts, and only part 2 is available on Netflix disc rental.  Which is clearly unacceptable, which means I'll either have to buy the whole boxed set of Clannad: The After Story or I'll have to buy at least the first part and watch it so I can safely rent part 2 via Netflix...but I love this series so much I'd probably just buy the whole thing to own.  Which reminds me, I also want/need to buy the complete Burst Angel, which I'm stuck in the middle of and haven't had a chance to finish yet.  Ditto Baccano! which I've yet to view the fourth and final volume of yet.  So many loose threads, so little time.  I am glad I finished the original Clannad story, however.  It was quite good; comparable in emotional impact to the latter episodes of Shuffle! and even at some points rising to the levels of Rumbling Hearts.  It's a great series, and the English dub is most excellent.

Popotan: a childish anime that's not for kids.

I just finished watching the entire series Popotan via Netflix streaming last night.  It's a good show, all in all, but it takes awhile to into.  The first few episodes are mostly goofy slapstick, lots of gratuitous nudity, etc.  But for the nudity, it would be a kids' show...and for all I know about Japanese society and culture, it may well have been.  The story focuses on three sisters with magical powers who are on a strange, ill-defined quest.  The oldest sister is the very busty Ai, probably in her mid-to-late twenties.  The middle sister is Mai, the angsty teen girl (and feisty red-head), and the youngest sister is Mii, the plucky "tween" girl.  They are watched over by their cyborg maid Mea, also a red head and with an even smaller bust than Mai.  The nudity is mostly coincidental and completely not sexualized, except perhaps for the gentle ribbing that the teen girl Mai receives from her younger sister Mii about not having "puffies" (boobs) as big as Ai's.  In fairness to Mai, she's really adequately proportioned for her age, but that doesn't stop her from being self-conscious.  With a sister like Ai, who's a double-D freak of nature, who wouldn't be?

Popotan - Complete Collection

The story is a little hard to follow at first, and the time-traveling aspect of it is not immediately obvious, not even to the main characters.  They live in a large mansion that is a magical house that, Tardis-like, seems to teleport every few months to a new location.  Like the Doctor's Tardis, it moves not only through space but also forward in time.  The girls never age while inside the house.  They stay in one location long enough to settle into a routine, the youngest two enroll in school for a semester, make friends...and then their lives are uprooted by the spacetime-traveling mansion and their ill-defined, mysterious magic quest.  The constant moves are hardest on Mai, who begins to withdraw and tries to avoid making friends she'll only end up missing horribly after the next move.  Lucky for Mai, she meets a girl named Konami who doesn't give up and wins Mai's heart and friendship.  The most tender episode of the series is when Mai meets Konami's daughter Mai (her namesake!) who looks exactly like her mother at her age....it is 40 years later and Konami has succumbed to a tragic illness only a year before.  The daughter is resentful because she feels like her mother's friend abandoned her, and she doesn't want to go through what her mother went through.  The older Mai is briefly consumed by guilt, and is taunted by the evil Keith, who serves as a guide to the magical sisters.  The roles are reversed and our heroine Mai has to reach out to Konami's daughter.  The younger Mai resists at first but the elder Mai is persistent.  When the elder Mai is forced to leave, the younger Mai realizes that she has befriended her mother's original friend Mai, whom she was named for...digging back through her mother's old school photo albums, she realizes that it is, improbably, the same Mai...who hasn't aged a day.

In an earlier episode, Mai and Mea get left behind and Ai and Mii jump 5 years into the future.  When we catch up with Mai, she is a college freshman with long red hair.  Mii and Ai don't recognize her at first.  Mea has cared for Mai in the five year absence of the other two sisters.  Mai has finally gotten to fully experience High School and is enjoying college.  However, the long red hair she is sporting is just a wig.  Mai has learned the secret that she isn't ever going to age physically...a fact she has tried to hide from her friends.  She also hasn't aged emotionally, which her college friends have begun to notice.

I won't give away the ending, but it is emotionally satisfying.  However, the dilemma set up by the series is a bit of a false dichotomy. I think the sisters could have agreed to end their quest and return to the same period in history together.  Ai and Mii are fairly happy-go-lucky and would have fit in just fine in any period, it was only Mai who had the deepest commitment to her friend Konami, for deeply personal reasons.  Mai is more emotional and sensitive than her two sisters:

MaiPopotan1

You could argue that she's more selfish, too, but I don't necessarily buy that.  Mai seeks to do right by Konami's daughter, and their hard-won friendship is something to cheer for.  When Mai is later (er, later in the story's narrative, but earlier in the timeline) reunited with Konami, they are happy at first, but Mai realizes she misses her sister, and Konami's constant reminders of their past relationship only serve to remind Mai of the sisters she's been forced to leave behind.  Konami also has fond memories of their final parting, when, according to Konami, Mai hugged her so hard it was like a boy's embrace...Konami smiles and blushes.  Mai is my favorite character of the three sisters, and after Mai, the cyborg maid Mea is my favorite character.  She plays the "straight man" to the inherent goofiness of the three sisters, and is always good for some deadpan humor, and surprisingly kick-ass fighting abilities.  She is the Jeeves to the sisters' Wooster.

Keith is a mysterious character...somewhat Villainous, but basically he just has a job to do.  He does end up seducing Ai at one point...kissing her then later sleeping with her (this is not directly shown but implied).

There is a mysterious Goddess that Keith serves and is the object of the girl's quest; This goddess presents the sisters with their final dilemma and then also serves (literally) as a Deus Ex Machina plot device to resolve the series as well.

This series is worth watching via Netflix streaming (while time lasts) or disc rental.  However, only disc 1 is available through Netflix at this time.  Don't miss it!

Finished Shuffle! (and Vol.6 is a tear-jerker until the end)

Finally finished the series Shuffle!  Be warned that Volume 6 is *almost* (but not quite) as hard to watch as Volume 5 was...

Shuffle, Vol. 6 with Ender Box

We know by this Volume that Rin has fallen for Asa completely, and Kaede has suffered a mental breakdown.  When the story opens Kaede remains in a deep depression, locked in her room with the lights off.  Rin has decided to move out, for the sake of everyone.  He feels as though he's come to take Kaede for granted, and moreover that he put Kaede in an impossible situation. 

Kaede leaves the house without Primula seeing her.  Lucky for her, Asa finds her ominously standing on a bridge over raging waters.  Asa's lucky appearance has prevented Kaede from committing suicide.  They have a heart to heart talk; Asa affirms she loves Rin but begs Kaede's forgiveness because Asa realizes that Kaede has been in love with Rin the longest of all of them.  Kaede admits her breakdown happened in part because she lacked courage and failed to be honest with herself about her deepest feelings.

Kaede walks back to her home in the rain and runs into Rin.  Rin demands that she listen to him; He tells her that he loves Asa but that Kaede is still precious to him.  Kaede doesn't want to hear this at first but then bursts into tears and confesses her love to Rin, and spends a long time crying, her face buried in his chest.

One thing I do commend this series for is that it takes the emotions of the characters seriously and portrays them realistically.  All the competing desires were bound to lead to suffering so that two could be happy in the end.  Asa admits Rin took her by surprise, but that she has fallen in love with him.  I still think it's a little funny that Rin ended up with the first girl he got to see the panties of, up close and personal...i.e. when Asa shoves his head between her legs, under her skirt, to hide him under her table, in volume 1.  It doesn't happen often, but it is a nice thing when a good platonic friend of the opposite sex can make that transition to romantic partner.

In Volume 6 we learn the origin of Asa's frail health, which is revealed in a shocking revelation about Asa's mother.  SPOILERS FOLLOW:  Asa's mother is actually from the world of the demons.  While Asa was born fully human, she did inherit her mother's magical abilities, which are too powerful for her human body and are the root cause of her blackouts and frail health.  The only time Asa ever saw her mother cry was when her mother confessed the truth to her when Asa was sick in bed and cursing her mother as a child.  Asa remains resistant to use her magical abilities, feeling that to do so would be an offense to her mother.  But Asa is dying, and the only way to save her is to use up all of her magic so that it leaves her body permanently.  Rin convinces Asa that if she won't use it for herself, he will make her use it for him, and slits his wrist.  He says he can't bear to watch Asa suffer, and if she dies, he can't bear to live in a world without her.  Asa rushes to his side...her first impulse is to treat him by normal means but she realizes in desperation there is no time.  Not unlike with El Cazador de la Bruja's Ellis, in this moment of extreme stress and emotion, Asa's powers are unlocked and she casts a massive healing spell on Rin that lights up the night sky.  The massive outpouring of magic also makes Asa's hair grow quite long.

The epilogue is pleasant and nice, and the end credits are amusing, with Sia helping Kaede with a makeover.  They somehow stumble and fall, and Kaede ends up kissing Sia on the lips.  Asa has her mom cut her hair back to its normal length and style as seen throughout the series.  Rin has settled into his new apartment, and another year at school has begun.  Rin is studying harder than ever so that he can get into the same university as Asa someday.

Shuffle! is an odd show, but like a lot of anime, it lures you in with the frothy, light fun of the first 4 volumes, making you care about each of the characters; then it lets bad things happen to them in the last 2 volumes in ways that tug at your heart.  Volume 6 is even more of a tear-jerker than Volume 5, though Volume 5 is hardest to watch of all the discs.  This is a mature show and probably not suited for anyone younger than a teen audience.

Le Portrait de Petite Cossette; C'est magnifique!

Last night I finished watching Le Portrait de Pettite Cossette via Netflix streaming video.  It's a short OVA, 3 episodes long.  It's very beautiful to look at, but it's incredibly weird and only begins to make some sense by the third and final episode.

Le Portrait De Petite Cossette: Complete Collect

It is a story about a long dead 18th century French girl, the Italian artist who painted portraits of her, and a 21st century Japanese young man who is an antique collector and aspiring artist himself.  The lead hero is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch (of Bleach and Eureka Seven fame as Ichigo and Renton, respectively), while I'm pretty sure Cossette is voiced by Michelle Ruff (who plays Rukia in Bleach though here she sounds more reminiscent of Eugiene from Gankutsou).

The short OVA is a meditation on the nature of art, of beauty, and what it means to be an artist.  How much of what happens is genuinely supernatural, how much of it is in Eiri's head?  It's difficult to say.  It is also a tale of obsession, jealousy, murder, and insanity...told against stunningly beautiful backdrops.  The story is vaguely Kafka-esque in the beginning but at least the conclusion is emotionally satisfying.  The action in episodes 1-2 are somewhat repetitive, at least with respect to what happens to Eiri, the young Japanese man.  The mystery revolves around the portrait of young Cossette painted by Marcelo, her fiancee and murderer.  Marcelo murdered Cossette so she would never grow old and would (in his deranged mind) remain eternally beautiful.  The story relies in part on the native Japanese belief that all objects possess spirits or souls.  Cossette's personal effects are thus animated, and are outraged by her savage murder.  The mystery is, is Eiri really communing with the soul of Cossette or the spirit inhabiting her portrait, as a physical object, as a work of art?  You have to watch carefully to find out.  I won't give away the ending, but as I said, I did find it very emotionally satisfying.

Shuffle! Vol.5, Heartbreak warfare

Up until this volume, Shuffle! is a light romantic comedy harem-anime.  Unlike other harem-anime, however, which keep things light on the romance, heavy on comedy, Shuffle! is the reverse.  Despite the fantasy elements of the two goddesses, Sia and Nerine, from the World of the Gods and the World of the Demons respectively, the story plays out with stark realism with respect to the emotions of the characters, and all these competing desires that are in conflict with one another.  SPOILER ALERT here because there's no way to adequately discuss this volume without delving into its details.  Suffice it to say for now that things take a darkly tragic turn, almost Rumbling Hearts levels of tragic.

Shuffle, Vol. 5

I have no idea why the teacher (voiced by Luci Christian) appears on the cover of this volume, unless it's supposed to actually be Kaede's mom, who was killed in a tragic auto accident (as we learn in flashbacks).

The first episode starts with Sia's split personality becoming manifest.  Not unlike Nerine, who had a clone who sacrificed herself so that Nerine could live (see vol.4), we have in Sia two persons sharing one body...Sia had a twin sister that died in the womb but before she did, Sia welcomed that sister's soul into her body.  Sia's sister is far more passionate, sensual, and jealously possessive than Sia herself.  She's tired of watching Sia pussy-foot around with Rin and decides to take over and be more aggressive in Sia's pursuit of Rin.  She overplays her hand, however.

Honestly, though; the supernatural explanation is largely unnecessary.  Girls do this enough in real life, and there was a hint of it in the earlier volumes, where Sia was on her first date with Rin and made him buy matching his and her shirts.  Sia becomes more decidedly a wild, "bad" girl...she makes Rin skip school with her, demands he pay attention to her exclusively, and makes repeatedly strong sexual advances to Rin.  A weaker man would probably have crumbled, but Rin maintains his dignity and resolve.  He knows this is going too fast, and that Sia is being selfish, controlling and insincere.  She completely blows the early lead she had, when she had Rin eating out of his hand and she was head over heels in love and professing her desire to have babies with him (i.e. when they got lost at sea/on the deserted beach).  Primula's crisis interrupted all of that, but I think Sia could've gained Rin back without overplaying her hand in the way she does...but I've known girls who've gone a little crazy like Sia does, too.  It's hard when a bad girl feels so good to be with.  Sia later explains to Rin her supernatural split personality problem, and Rin politely break things off with Sia, which she accepts.  Later, the heartbroken Nerine and Sia are trying to figure out who Rin actually does like (and who likes him) and they see him with his sempai, the tomboyish Asa (voiced by Monica Rial, whose bubbly laugh just makes me melt).  Rin, Sia, with the "help" of Rin's human classmates Itsuki Midoriba (緑葉樹 Midoriba Itsuki^?) and small-chested Mayumi Thyme (麻弓＝タイム Mayumi Taimu^?), help the clueless Rin plan his first real date with his "just friends" sempai, Asa.  Asa we know actually has feelings and longing for Rin, but has admired him from afar for some time.  She shows feelings of genuine pain seeing him and Sia together earlier in the series.  They also nearly kissed once, but were interrupted by Asa's mom.  Asa has fun hanging out with Rin in any case and isn't in any particular rush to push things to a romantic level.  She has a good friend in Rin, but she would respond to romantic advances from Rin.  She even playfully flirts with him from time to time, to egg him on. Anyway, Rin screws up the courage to ask Asa out.  He takes her to an over-the-top "romantic" theme park with all manner of suggestive rides, etc.  But he feels off kilter when Asa ignores his plans and goes to run off and do what she  wants, dragging the increasingly nervous Rin along for the ride.  Asa has a genuinely good time and Rin tries to share in her enjoyment but he is so lacking in confidence and spontaneity that Asa feels hurt that Rin doesn't seem to be enjoying himself in her company.  They do ride the Ferris Wheel at the end of the day (which is a well known cultural signifier for romantic confessions in Japan)...and Asa flirts with him, but Rin is just too nervous.  Asa reveals that she's baked some cookies for him and offers to feed him one...say "ahh!"; When Rin hesitates, Asa says "ok, let's try it this  way.", puts the cookie in her own mouth, closes her eyes, and proffers it to him.  Rin begins to build up his courage and lean towards Asa, knowing he has to end up kissing her...when the wheel reaches the bottom and the ride attendants thank them for their patronage.  Asa spits the cookie out, laughs, and says "you had your chance!"

Asa knows that all of their friends have been following them around the park and calls them out; they guiltily come out of hiding.  Asa demands to know if Rin asked her out because he wanted to or because his friends put him up to it.  Rin tries to explain but only ends up digging a deeper hole and making Asa very upset.  She storms off.  It's assumed that Rin has dinner with his friends, because when he reaches home he admonishes Kaede for having prepared him a meal, telling her he already ate and she shouldn't have done that, he told her not to before. She apologizes and throws out the food.

The volume goes from sad to tragic at this point, as we get the fuller back story of Kaede and Rin...Kaede and Rin, who have known each other for longer than any of the other girls.  Kaede and Rin who have lived together almost like brother and sister since childhood.  Kaede has, by her teen years, fallen deeply in love with Rin but for some reason can't bring herself to express her true feelings.  But we learn partly why in this volume.  The reason Kaede and Rin have lived together for so long is because Rin's parents were killed in an auto accident; We learn also that Kaede's mother was best friends with Rin's mom and had joined them on their vacation road trip, leaving Kaede's father behind. Kaede fell deeply ill and her mother, worried about her, persuaded Rin's parents to cut the trip short and return home.  It was in making this early return that their car was struck and all passengers and the driver were killed.  Kaede, already in frail health, collapses and is hospitalized.  She remains in hospital for weeks.  The doctors say it's as if she's lost the will to live.  Rin doesn't want to see Kaede waste away, and tells a lie...because he knows even if it's a bad reason, hate and spite will keep you alive and give you a will to live.  He tells Kaede that he had been weak and missed his parents and begged them to come back ahead of schedule and that is why Kaede's mom and his parents were killed.  Kaede becomes enraged and tries to strangle Rin.  There is a cut scene and Kaede's father is grateful to have his little girl recovered.  But Kaede remains filled with hatred and disgust for Rin, tells him she wishes he would die and torments him without mercy for years.  In their early teens Kaede discovers the last postcard from her mom in Rin's possessions, where she learns the awful truth...it wasn't Rin who called his parents and convinced them to come back, it was Kaede's own ill health that caused her mom to cut the trip short.  Kaede concludes that she, not Rin, is was responsible for her own mother's death and goes running out into the rain and is nearly killed by a passing truck herself but saved by Rin at the last moment.  Kaede is also overwhelmed by guilt at having tortured Rin as a scapegoat for no good reason, for a lie; Kaede forgives him and becomes his most devoted friend.  She dotes on him endlessly by way of repentance.  Seeking to atone for her sins.  She denies herself the right to be deserving of Rin's love, however, for all the years of torment she inflicted on him.  She falls in love with Rin but keeps her feelings buried. She represses her jealousy at the other girls, she just keeps doing her daily routines, and goes on keeping her feelings for Rin bottled up.  As we know from Freud, there will one day be a return of the repressed.  Kaede eventually has a psychotic breakdown and physically assaults Asa, demanding she "give him (Rin) back to her" and to get the hell out of her house.  She tells both Asa and Rin to "just die!", like she did when she was a little girl.

Kaede is a deeply tragic character, completely torn apart emotionally in this volume.  She's racked by guilt and jealousy and desire.  At her most desperate, she takes a bath, towels off, then climbs into Rin's bed naked to finally confess her love to him and ask him to have his way with her.  She wants to give herself to him body and soul.  Rin is understandably creeped out by Kaede's sudden erratic behavior, and this incident is really the last straw.  Carrie Savage does an excellent job voice acting Kaede's pathos and tragedy here...Kaede spends half of this volume crying with her heart shattered in a thousand pieces.

Desire leads to Suffering.  Shuffle! doesn't shy away from the obvious truth that all of these competing desires can't exist in harmony...Many people are going to have to suffer and get their heart broken so that only two people can find happiness.  In truth, Asa could have lived with Rin as "just friends" if Kaede had made her move after Rin dumped Sia, but she held back, was held back by her own inner sense of guilt and feelings of unworthiness.  Primula tries to help Kaede be honest with her feelings about Rin, but it's too little, too late, and Primula is too shy and inarticulate to be effective.  Primula bears witness to Kaede's increasing pain, frustration, and repressed jealousy...she tries to convince Kaede to make her move with Rin, to confess to him that she's not ok with his dating Asa because she loves him herself, etc.  Kaede could also have made a move after Rin's disastrous first date with Asa; If she'd jumped then, before Asa had time to forgive him and give Rin a second chance with her, Kaede could have seized the lead.  But Kaede is too lacking in self confidence, too wracked by guilt, too timid and too repressed.  Her neurosis boils over into repeated psychotic episodes...and Rin realizes that living together with Kaede in this state is no longer tenable.  The volume concludes with Rin telling Kaede he's decided he has to move out.

I really feel badly for Kaede, and had been rooting for her the whole volume...but I also can't blame Asa, whom I've always liked as a character.  And I can't blame Rin's decision to move out either.  Kaede has just become unhinged, and in many ways, a lot of it is of her own doing.  Kaede is not blameless in this.  Her stripping down naked to lie down with Rin is pathetic, sad and tragic but also tragically beautiful.  Kaede is a beautiful girl and she did genuinely love Rin but she let things go too long...she took Rin for granted and assumed he'd always be with her.  Primula also is correct in assessing that the reason Kaede stays devoted to Rin has more to do with assuaging her own guilt than anything else...Rin played the scapegoat to her for so many years.  That too a perverse act of genuine love and self-sacrifice.  Perhaps their past is too messed up for them ever to have a happy, successful relationship...but after the more recent past, and Kaede's repeated psychotic episodes, I don't see how they will ever be able to patch things up. I think Rin and Asa will be happy together, but Asa's fragile health remains a deep concern.  I would not be surprised if this series takes an even darker turn and has Asa die in hospital, though I hope this doesn't happen.  I feel deeply for Kaede and am so sad to see her fall to pieces like this.  But if Asa recovers, I can definitely see bright things ahead for Rin and Asa.  Platonic friends who gradually became lovers.  There's no going back, once the romantic road gets chosen.

This anime story began as a computer dating sim, and the anime series pays some homage to that origin.  It makes you want to be able to play the game, to see just how things really would turn out with Sia, with Nerine, with Kaede, and with Asa, or, slightly perversely, with Primula.  But in the anime the path is chosen, and we just have to watch how things play out.  Volume 5 is very hard to watch and will take an emotional toll on you, since we've learned to care deeply for all of the characters throughout Volumes 1-4.  I'm eager to see how things are resolved (or not) in Volume 6, the last volume.