Angelic Layer Episode 22! I’ve already watched this series plenty of times, so there will be no surprises for me, but this will be my first time reviewing the whole series episode by episode. And I’m sure there will be some fine details that I’ve forgotten or never noticed in the first place. It has been a few years since I’ve seen this anime, so maybe it will be a little different from what I remember. A quick run down of the series. This is a slightly futuristic anime by Clamp, the creators of Card Captor Sakura, XXXHolic, and Magic Knight Ray Earth. The story begins with a country bumpkin moving to the big city to go to middle school. The main character sees a robot fight on TV and immediately becomes a fan and buys her own robot to join the battle competitions too. So, this is a fighting robot anime like Metabots or Gundam Build Fighters, only with a Clamp flare. Last Time on Angelic Layer!Last time on Angelic Layer things get a little awkward between friends, chance encounters try relationships, and budding lovey dovey feelings could get crushed under the boot of competition! After the dramatic beach episode, things are a little awkward between Tamayo and Kotaro. They end up getting stuck in the same broken elevator and forced to talk it out, but Kotaro actually manages to make it worse when he tells Tamayo that he never saw her as a girl. Misaki spends the day hanging out with Ojiro, only to find out that she reminds him of his first crush who he still has feelings for, and he probably just sees her as a little sister. With both girls striking out in the love department, things are looking pretty bleak. Then we get a big twist when Kotaro begrudgingly says he’s willing to try dating Tamayo, while Misaki’s next opponent is none other than Ojiro! Episode 22!In this episode we start off with a little scene of when Ojiro was young and first meets Shuko/Misaki’s mom. He was delivering some important files to his new big brother Mr. Ichon and wandered into the research lab. Shuko was there and invites Ojiro to try out playing Angelic Layer. Ojiro loved it and instantly got a crush on Shuko. In the next scene Misaki and Ojiro’s match is still raging on. Ojiro’s Angel Wizard seems to have an unbeatable shield called magic guard that keeps deflecting Hikaru. No matter how or where Hikaru tries to attack, she still gets bounced off. After round one, things are looking pretty bleak. Misaki can’t think of a single way to get through the shield, and if she can’t land a blow, she’s not going to win. Even Hatoko, who has a lot more experience, is completely baffled. Misaki started doubting herself and wonders if she should just step out, but then she remembers all the promises she’s given to people, saying that she would always try her best. And she remembers what got her into Angelic Layer in the first place. Athena, the white Angel! Her goal has always been to meet and defeat Athena. Little does she know that Athena is her mom’s Angel or that her mom was in the observation center rooting for her. Getting her spirit back, Misaki jumps into the fight with more vigor. She decides the best way to find a weakness is to watch Wizard carefully. She quickly notices that every time she attacks Wizard there’s a flash and a few electric sparks. She has Hikaru remove a guard cap from one of her costume wires to use as a grounding wire and attacks Wizard again. And this time she breaks through Magic Guard! After that the fight gets even more intense. Neither side wants to back down, and though for the first half of the fight Wizard was hiding behind his magic guard, he clearly didn’t need to. He’s more than a good enough fighter to take on most opponents. The two fighters blast through round two and are eager for round three. As the match pounds on, who is going to win becomes more and more uncertain. Then at last, in one final blow, with a kick to Wizard and a punch to Hikaru, Wizard falls and Hikaru wins! This was probably one of the most battle centric episodes so far. It really was intense with Misaki throwing out all the different moves she’s learned from other opponents along the way to get to this point in the competition. It was very impressive. At the very end of the episode, after Misaki is declared the winner and she goes over to thank Ojiro for the good fight. Ojiro replies by asking her out on a date and confesses that he just fell in love with her. Umm, he fell for Misaki’s mom Shuko because he could never beat her in a match and now he has doki doki feelings for Misaki because she beat him. He certainly has at type! #angelicLayer #anime #clampAnime #episodeReview #Japan #JapaneseCulture #robotAnime #sciFiAnime