Nice little 1 1/2 minute short of how Shizuru loves Natsuki. Cute and sweet.
I think the screencaps speak for themselves, but if anyone is interested in what Shizuru says, just leave a comment and I’ll take a shot at translating it. I think I understood most of it, and if not, maybe one of the more language knowledgeable posters can translate instead 
Excellent episode that has currently tied in rank as my favorite Mai-HiME episode to date. Since the japanese was pretty difficult for me, I won’t be writing any review of the sort this time. Of course, here are some other anime blogs that do a much better job than me reviewing and are definitely worth checking out: Mentar, Momotato, athena, fencedude, stripey, Kabitzin, and Matthew.
I’ll present, as usual, my kamikaze amount of screencaps with my sometimes-witty, sometimes-lame, and sometimes-pitiful captions. Enjoy them now as with only about five episodes left, it’ll be a slow painful death to see how things will end for our lovable Mai-HiME cast. Though between Mai-HiME and AIR, the wait will be too horrible to bare!
Why I haven’t blogged recently.
Hopefully I’ll get back to anime blogging later tonight or sometime tomorrow. Not like anyone really reads what I have to say anyway. 
For another take on Tactics 18, don’t forget to head over to Tensai11’s blog. Anyway, after watching episode 18 I take back everything I said about hating Tactics’ filler episodes; this one had me laughing throughout the whole time!
The storyline this time centers around Hatsumi’s “Mystery Society” which tries to debunk any strange incidents being an spirit’s fault as there has to be an scientific reason for everything. Kantarou heads butt with Hatsumi once again as throughout the whole episode the two go on various “cases”, where Hatsumi reasons out logical explanations of what could have happened while Kantarou actually finds the spirits causing the trouble. Along for the ride is Ayame, one of Hatsumi’s student who believes in spirits and is an avid reader of Kantarou’s works. Watching the three at work is pure comedy gold as Ayame always interrupts Hatsumi’s speech, taking away his grand-standing when describing which monster / spirit is at fault. Meanwhile, we have Kantarou doing the actual work scolding the minor spirits and telling them to stop. And then Hatsumi and Kantarou each thinking they solved the problem… lol, just hilarious watching them go at it!
The last “case” involves the Keukegen (some spirit dealing with hair) when a troubled family comes to the “Mystery Society” asking for help with each of them sporting some crazy hairstyle. Around this time Kantarou finds out why Ayame decided to be Hatsumi’s student; she used to be able to see spirits too but now she can’t, so only way to remember the fun she used to have seeing them is being an folkist like Kantarou and Hatsumi. Kantarou reassures her that she’ll be able to see spirits again and will make an great friend for them, even going so far as to use her as bait to draw out Keukegen (since even normal people can see it). Unfortunately Ayame isn’t having any luck, even though the Keukegen favors long hair and Kantarou wonders if there’s someone “better.” In comes Sugino… with the Keukegen right atop of his head! Kantarou tries to stop it but instead gives Sugino a slight bald spot. The two go after it, running into Muu-chan and Hatsumi both “possessed” with the Keukegen. Muu-chan’s dance is just hilarious with the Keukegen (basically an afro) on her while Hatsumi is great running away all SD-like thinking Kantarou and Sugino were after him instead! Just when Hatsumi thinks it’s last, Ayame comes in and saves the day by taking off the “wig” but realizes it is the Keukegen, freaks and tosses it to the sky. Case “solved.” Plus now Ayame knows she can see spirits again, which makes her very happy (kawaii~!). Hatsumi still denies the whole bit about spirits, even with Muu-chan right there that the two can see, him going so far as to say she’s an foreigner! LOL
I forgot to mention, but Youko, Suzu, and Haruka chill at the “Mystery Society” HQ with Rosalie. A lot of funny scenes with Haruka destroying Youko at badminton and Rosalie wrecking Suzu at the same. Poor Suzu thinks Rosalie doesn’t like her at all since Rosalie isn’t exactly friendly. They go off to play some boardgame where the loser has to eat Youko’s extra spicy steamed buns… and guess who the loser is? Suzu! Rosalie actually goes out of her way to show some kindness but goes back to being her usual self calling Suzu an loser. Everyone shares a good laugh together as Rosalie has finally broken the ice and become “friendly.”
The next morning, Youko and Haruka wake up with some very crazy hairdos. The Keukegen must be nearby but before anything goes further, Kantarou comes in half-awake asking what’s going on. Haruka and Youko just look at Kantarou in pure horror… the camera never showed Kantarou’s hair… so we can only guess how indescribable it must look. 
This was actually a good filler episode for some reason. I guess it was just so light-hearted that one could not do much but sit back and enjoy the comedy. I hope this will be the last filler episode as I’m dying to get back to the “real” bad guys and see what their plans are to beat Kantarou and the crew… should make a for a good battle.
Enjoyable episode thanks to the antics of Silk and UFO-Man.
Silk is quietly packing trying not to wake the sleeping UFO-Man as she gets ready for her class’ field trip. A bit later on, Silk, Vivi, and Tsubomi are riding on the bus withe their class heading off to where-ever their trip is with Tsubomi doing some karaoking to liven things up (some UFO-Man song). Silk is slightly worried that she left UFO-Man alone, sneaking away without telling him; what should happen if an monster appears? Tsubomi and Vivi calm Silk’s fears and basically say they should enjoy their school trip.
Meanwhile Makoto and the News TV crew are heading roughly in the same direction as the girls’ bus (not exactly sure why) when the newest monster appears! Somehow it creates soundwaves that put everyone to sleep (yet they all stop safely while driving before sleeping.. what the..). Silk and the other two eventually wake up hours later thanks to UFO-Man, who has caught up with them somehow; Silk initially apologizing for leaving him behind etc etc etc. UFO-Man has no time for that! The girls have to defeat the monster-of-the-week! So where is the monster? Sleeping nearby comfortably…
… which the girls point out and ask what’s the point of fighting if its sleeping. UFO-Man is shocked and tries to give the whole “have to save the earth” speech even though the girls aren’t really buying it. UFO-Man wants Silk to go into battle but as usual, she doesn’t so UFO-Man starts to lay it thick on how she abandoned him before One transformation later and Ultimate Little Boobies is “quietly” (as quiet as a gaint person can that is) sneaking up to the monster to defeat it before it wakes up. Unfortunately Silk’s attack is pretty girly and only wakes the monster up instead! The monster pretty much has the advantage as its attacks (basically touching and whipping with an conductor’s stick) has Silk at an embarrassing disadvantage; to make matters worse, the monster uses its soundwave attack again to wake everyone up. Oh no! The bus leaves without Silk and the News crew wakes up in time to get the tail end of Silk’s battle! Silk is pretty much on her rope’s end as the attacks are too much for her and the monster is about to finish her off. Meanwhile during the fight, UFO-Man comments how strong this monster is and whatnot… but at the same time it has helped set up Silk’s last attack: MOE-power embarrassed energy beam! The monster is almost defeated and an tired Silk is about to rest, when UFO-Man tells her she must defeat/touch the core.. blah blah blah… Ultimate Little Boobies wins again!
Silk is walking alone with UFO-Man on the highway as she has been left behind. UFO-Man off-handily remarks now she knows how he felt when she did the same to him but what’s this… Makoto to the rescue! He just happened to be passing by and gives an ride to Silk, much to her utter surprise and enjoyment. Silk is enjoying the warm sensation of Makoto’s back when UFO-Man does the same to Silk… feeling up her breast too! Silk reacts and elbows UFO-Man off of her, leaving him to try to catch up to the two.
UFO-Man’s usual antics and Silk’s battle definitely made the whole episode. Surprisingly there wasn’t much fanservice out of the par for Ultimate Girls, yet it was still fun to watch. I think m.o.e. studios needs to have more episodes like these where the characters can actually carry the weight of the show, without the need to rely on fanservice too much. Fanservice can get old and tiresome, believe it or not…