Jingai-san no Yome
Oh, dear. We are not off to a good start. Well, just for formality's sake, time for the episode summary. Hinowa learns that his classmate Hirukawa is in the same situation as he is, having been married off to a small pink blob that is jealous of those with hair and can curse people to lose hair if it gets angry. Hirukawa then brags about how close he is to his ugly pink husband.
I tried. I really really tried. As this is Studio Saetta's first ever anime, I wanted to see them succeed. And to their credit, these last two episodes are better shorts than the first one, using the run time more efficiently and developing the story and characters over time, and the animation is decent enough for what this show wants to be. But we're three episodes in and only two of the four couples shown off in the OP have been introduced. NOTHING is happening in this story, the jokes are either falling flat or just plain non-existent, and the "cute" mascot characters aren't even that cute to me. I simply cannot justify wasting my time every week watching this, even if it is only three minutes, and I have to drop this show. I'm hoping that this is just a case of bad source material holding the quality back, and maybe next time Saetta tries to make an anime they'll have something better to work with, because it's impossible to tell if the studio is any good with such a bland story to work with.
Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-san
From one short to another. In episode 2, Honda and his many many coworkers struggle to keep the shelves stocked as more and more new volumes are delivered throughout the day. Later, when Bag Head returns from vacation, she is distraught to learn that no new books for her section were delivered while she was away, only for them all to come in when she comes back to work. Honda -- the writer of the manga the show is based on -- introduces the audience to his editor, represented here as a seal.
There aren't any great jokes this week, but the experience of scrambling to keep the store stocked and the customers happy is something that I have experience with, so I was able to empathize with Honda's struggle and chuckle nostalgically at his situation. Just like Honda, I've been in that position at a retail store where I had to constantly bounce back and forth to help my coworkers, only to have my own work fall by the wayside as a result. I just wish that that segment wasn't 8 minutes long, because the other two segments had more potential to be truly funny and had no time to actually build up to a substantial punchline. Still, regardless of it's faults, this is charming enough that I'm willing to keep watching for now.
Run with the Wind
Moving right along, in episode 3 of Running Bros: the Animation, Haiji starts training the Kansei Track and Field Team with daily 10 kilometer runs, resistance be damned. Though the runners' times are slow at first, they start to improve dramatically when Haiji unleashes his secret weapon: a high school girl named Hanako. With Hanako following them on her bike, the power of boners has been unleashed and almost all of the runners start pushing themselves farther than they thought were even possible. Still, Kakeru voices his opinion that they are wasting their time, since they are still a long way from even being eligible for the qualifying race for the Hakone Ekiden. The episode ends when a boy from Kakeru's past approaches him during his morning run.
I'm running out of nice things to say about Gotta Go Fast: University Edition. The show continues to be a solid character-driven narrative with pretty visuals and relaxing music. It feels less like a show and more like 20 minutes of hanging out with your friends every week. Not a lot may have happened in this episode as far as advancing the overall plot, but there are so many little character moments that it still feels like I'm not wasting my time. Nico might have difficulty running since he is a smoker, but he clearly wants to run deep down and doesn't even complain when Haiji takes his cigarette out of his hand. Yuki doesn't seem like the kind of guy who cares much about girls on the outside, but when you learn that he uses his lawyer knowledge to pick up girls at the club, it makes perfect sense for his character. The twins may only be motivated by the chance to get popular with the ladies, but seeing them argue about who finished the run first shows that they have a bit of a competitive rivalry between them, which only makes sense since they'd probably fight over the same girl if they ever got any meaningful female attention. All in all, the characters feel less like anime characters with exaggerated traits and more like real people, and that's not an easy thing to pull off. Admittedly, I am a little creeped out at the fact that all of these college-aged men are interested in a high-school girl, but since the show hasn't gone out of its way to fetishize her, I don't think it's a real issue yet. Please let it stay that way.
Hinomaru's Sumo
I don't have any funny titles for Hinomaru yet. Sorry. In episode 3, Kirihito arranges a practice match with the elite Oiga High School. Yuma, Ozeki, and Mitsuashi (the shrimpy kid) are all easily defeated by their opponents, but Chihiro manages to pull off a win with his wrestling skills. Hinomaru is surprised to see his old rivals from his elementary school days as members of the Oiga sumo club and is pit against fellow undersized sumo wrestler Shun. After narrowly winning against Shun, Hinomaru challenges his old rival Kuze. Kuze had faced Hinomaru before, but after accidentally breaking Hinomaru's shoulder, his legendary pro father forbade him from participating in any more matches while still at school, so as to keep other students safe. Regardless, Kuze accepts Hinomaru's challenge, but their match is interrupted before it can reach a conclusion.
I really like this show, but I have to be honest with it. And honestly, this episode wasn't quite as good as the previous ones. I'm glad that we're hyping up rival schools, they're usually a big part of what makes a sports anime great, but it's hard for me to root for our heroes when I barely know them. Kirihito keeps talking a big game about how he's gonna take the team to nationals, but I don't really see much of a plan yet, and all I know about Mitsuashi is that he's never participated in any kind of athletic event before in his life. Hinomaru, Ozeki, and Chihiro are all quite likable though, and Yuma is starting to grow on me, especially when he tells Reina to shut up and stop giving everyone a hard time. Kuze and Shun are interesting characters, and each shows potential to grow into excellent rival characters and unique foils to Hinomaru and each other. But the biggest problem here is that it feels like the show is on fast forward. So many good ideas are being introduced one after the other that I just want to stop and explore a few of them before the next match. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun with this breakneck pace, but I feel like we can have something really special if the show pumped the brakes just a little.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
I was dreading this, but it's time to rip that band-aid off. In episode 3 of My Isekai Adventure Can't Possibly Be This Disappointing, Rimuru kills the alpha of the direwolf pack with next to no effort whatsoever and forces the pack to submit to him. Under his leadership, the goblins and the direwolves unite to form a new tribe and begin rebuilding the village. Rimuru names his new subordinates, but because he's never read a good fantasy novel before, he is unaware that naming them imbues them with magic power, and they evolve into the stronger Hobgoblins and Tempest Wolves. When the tribe struggles to build new houses and clothes, Goblin Lord Rigurd suggests trading with the nearby dwarf clan. Rimuru agrees and leaves with a small group of goblins and wolves to go meet the dwarves.
I think I figured out why this show bothers me so much. It wants to be Overlord. Think about it. Both shows focus on an extremely powerful visitor from another world that takes on the form of an inhuman monster and the way his arrival changes the political landscape of their world. Both shows start with a self-contained story as the new arrival learns what he is capable of before moving on to protect a small village from a larger invading force, turning that village into a formidable political force in its own right in the process. Both stories even introduce friendly goblins in this early point in the story! The only difference is that in Overlord I actually care about the characters. Momonga doesn't know how he got transported into his new world, and his campaign to increase his power and influence is all in service of his true goal of learning if anyone else from Earth got sent there as well and if it's possible to go back, only to slowly lose his humanity over time and truly become the persona of Sorcerer King Ains Ooal Gown the merciless Overlord. Rimuru knows exactly how he got to his fantasy world, he knows that he can't go back, and he knows that Otherworlders have come to this world in the past. He's moving without any true motivation of his own, just hearing the problems of those he meets and helping them because he doesn't know what else to do. And that would be fine if that's just the way that he is -- there are plenty of real people who value helping others and make that their life goal -- but his internal monologue suggests that he'd rather not be in this situation, like he's just here because he has no other choice. And we have no idea if this is how he was when he was human because we only got to see him as a human for at most ten minutes, and the only thing we learned from that is that he has some weird porn on his hard drive. None of the goblins or wolves are interesting either. They all have the exact same personality: they worship Rimuru blindly. And while they may have worshipped Ains blindly, at least the Floor Guardians in Overlord had their own clashing personalities to flesh them out.
The only unique thing that this show has going for it is the gimmick that Rimuru is, in fact, a slime. And that's just not going to cut it, especially when they undermine that feeling of vulnerability with his powers to absorb literally anyone and take on their powers. If I wanted to watch a Kirby anime, I'd just rewatch the Kirby anime! It's not like there's anything especially awful about this show -- aside from all the stuff about Veldora not making sense -- but I just don't care anymore. I will not be tuning in next week.
Goblin Slayer
Well, that got a little rant-y just now. Let's cool off with something good, shall we? In episode 3 of Dungeons and Dragons: The Animation, three adventurers -- Elf Archer, Dwarf Fighter, and Lizardman Shaman -- have come to hire Goblin Slayer to assist them. As representatives of their three races are meeting with human leadership to form an alliance against the newly resurrected Demon King, goblins have taken advantage of the situation and begun carving out a foothold in elven territory. Goblin Slayer and Priestess travel to the goblin nest with the three newcomers, and they begin their assault.
Remember last week when I said things were starting to feel stale with just Goblin Slayer and Priestess? Throw all that out the window. Adding these new dynamic characters to the party has not only given me three new characters to love, but also has brought out new depth from both Goblin Slayer and Priestess. Hearing Goblin Slayer talk about his older sister and how she was never wrong was actually kind of endearing and almost made me care about his boring backstory. And while seeing Dwarf and Elf bicker was consistently funny, the comedic highlight of this episode for me was seeing the otherwise serious Lizardman taste cheese for the first time and pronounce it nectar of the gods. The whole campfire scene was fantastic, but that in particular stood out. Conversely, the scenes at the guild were pretty boring. I like the design of the Sorceress character, but I cannot stand her voice or the way she takes unnecessarily long pauses in her sentences like she's channeling Captain Kirk or something. And I really wish there was more to her character than just a gossipy bitch who exists only to plant doubts about Goblin Slayer in Priestess's mind. Still, this is definitely an improvement over last week and I can't wait to see this full party kick some goblin ass next week.
Zombie Land Saga
On episode 3 of Love Live as directed by George Romero, Kotaro schedules a surprise concert for the girls, giving them only one night to prepare, but the only two girls who were idols in their past lives, Ai and Junko, aren't on board with this plan. The concert itself goes well at first, only for mistakes in the choreography and Sakura forgetting the lyrics to lead to most of the audience leaving them behind. Ai and Junko rush on stage to help salvage the perfomance, and the new idol group Franchouchou is born with one little girl watching them to the end and loving every second of it.
I feel conflicted about this episode. On the one hand, the scenes at the zombie house with the different girls interacting with each other are better than ever, with a lot of personalities being developed and bouncing off each other. For the first time, I feel like I have a handle on who most of the girls are as people. Ai and Junko still seem interchangeable as characters, and it might have been better if there was only one of them, but future development can fix this redundancy issue. On the other hand, this was the most boring concert scene yet. Using a traditional idol pop song instead of metal or rap or some other new genre is a weird choice. After the series has gone so far to establish an anarchic tone, it feels wrong to go back to something so standard. And while the song itself is fine, the CG used for the dancing isn't very good and it consistently took away from the story. It wasn't a terrible show (aside from the mistakes that were part of the story anyway), but it wasn't very exciting either. And why weren't the metal fans from the last two episodes here to cheer them on!? Worst episode ever!
All kidding aside, this show does have enough good will built up for me to forgive the weaker performance this week and give it another chance. And it is a funny detail that we have now officially confirmed that the Legendary Yamada Tae (the one who still can't speak properly) is voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi, aka Sailor freaking Moon!
Double Decker
Let's keep this meh train going, shall we? In episode 4 of Rush Hour: Anime Edition, Derick reveals his decision to not return to police work after all, opening a bar instead. The narrator then insists that the preview from last week was a fake out and the story is going to be about the four female officers in SEVEN-O instead. Kay and her partner Deana are sent on an undercover investigation, but when their mark is revealed to not be selling Anthem, the two argue about whether they should arrest him anyway, allowing him to escape. Wanting to make up for her error, Kay goes to her mentor Gary in the narcotics department, but he turns out to be selling illegal stimulants disguised as Anthem with her original mark, and holds her, Kirill, and Yuri hostage. Gary tries to use Kay as bait to kill Deana and get a sample of the anti-Anthem bullets, but Deana is aware of the set up and arrests him, while Yuri and her partner Maxine arrest the other members of the situation. When Kirill asks Doug why he didn't help with the operation, Doug dodges the question while the narrator reveals that Doug is "a bit of an asshole."
This episode was just not good. It wasn't awful by any stretch, and focusing on side characters isn't a bad idea either. But the good cop, bad cop rivalry between Kay and Deana is just not interesting. It's not even that it's an unoriginal dynamic that bothers me -- sometimes the classics are what's best -- but there's no real nuance to their characters specifically and nothing changes when all is said and done. Yuri and Maxine are more interesting, but they only amount to being some additional muscle during the raid, and from what the previews are showing, they're not about to get any more development any time soon. And the reveal that Yuri is really a robot doesn't count as development when it's the first time we've seen her do anything so far. All in all, this episode proves that Double Decker doesn't have much going for it other than its art style, its music, and its two main characters. I'm still having fun though, and I'm looking forward to what's coming next now that the narrator assures me that the main plot will start next episode now that we're fully acquainted with the members of SEVEN-O.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl-Senpai
We've got three episodes left to talk about. Two of them were equally great! One of them was the worst episode of the week. So we're gonna make this into a sandwich: a great show first, then the bad show, and then my favorite show of the week to wrap everything up.
So, in episode 3 of Why Does This Good Show Have to Have a Stupid Title!?, Sakuta learns from his friend Futaba the Science Gal that people at school are forgetting about Mai overnight as they sleep. Futaba theorizes that the slow disappearance of Mai is due to the social isolation that she was experiencing at school, suggesting that Adolescent Syndrome really is an extreme actualization of teenage angst. Desperate not to forget about Mai, Sakuta goes several days without sleep, chugging energy drinks and writing a record of their time together. But when she sees Sakuta hurting himself for her, Mai slips him some sleeping pills. Sakuta temporarily forgets about her the next day, but Mai's hints and his overwhelming feelings for her cause him to remember. Knowing that he needed a grand gesture to shift the social paradigm and bring Mai back for everyone, Sakuta loudly proclaims his love for her in front of the entire school.
This was the best episode of this already really good series yet. Just the scenes of Sakuta pushing himself to stay awake were enough to make this a winner in my book, but this show isn't content with doing a bare minimum. It might have been more effective to stretch out the time Sakuta hadn't remembered Mai for at least another episode, but the way his memories returned were set up so effectively by her kanji lesson that I couldn't bring myself to care. And seeing Mai get acknowledged by the other students was cathartic enough for me to forgive the pacing issues. And to hear a love confession in the third episode? One that Mai has all but openly admitted to reciprocating in her own way? I imagined that that would have been the end of the series! I have no idea where the story is going for the 10 remaining episodes, but I cannot wait to find out!
Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary
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| Don't let her smile fool you. This was not a happy experience. |
If you thought I hated the new episode of Slime, you are not prepared for this. In episode 3 of Regretting Your Life Choices: The Animation, Slave Boy makes his first new invention as Chief Engineer: a dopey looking construct that seems to use a lawn mower as its primary weapon. But it is still somehow stronger than all the constructs designed by its predecessor. Former chief engineer is asked by the rebels to build constructs for them, but he refuses because he somehow didn't know that the deadly weapons he was designing would be used to kill people and he feels like he needs to atone. Summon Girl gives Little Sister new prosthetic arms with blade attachments, which come in real handy (dammit, that was a pun...) when the empire attacks the village where the sisters were performing back in episode 1. After defeating the constructs (including the new one built by Slave Boy) with little effort, Older Sister refuses to kill the enemy general, only for Little Sister to do so as she declares her hatred for the empire.
Why didn't I drop this back in episode 1? How did I get 3 episodes into this mess? Why does every character have so little impact that I forget their names seconds after looking them up and I make up nicknames just to keep track of what's going on? Why do I always get a migraine when I watch this garbage?
This wasn't as unfocused as episode 1, but episode 3 was even worse in every other possible way. I swear, there were even moments when the lip flaps didn't even match up to the dialogue. I have never seen that problem in any modern anime before, not even in Island. The background art is either flat and lifeless or so bizarrely colored that it hurts my eyes. Not a single voice actor seems to care one bit about their performance, especially the two sisters who are supposed to be our protagonists, who react to a massacre with as much emotion as you would if you spilled coffee on a picture your least favorite nephew drew for you. Older Sister's monologue about how the empire's expansionist mindset doesn't make any sense should be striking a chord with me, but instead all I'm wondering is if she even cares herself. The action scene had no flair to its choreography and no motivation for the characters beyond "You killed people who were kind of nice to me once and that makes me feel angry." Instead of excitement, tension, or any kind of emotion at the climax of this episode, all I can think about is how ugly that green glow around the magic sword is.
But worst of all is the former engineer talking about his constructs. Apparently, he spent his entire life building and that's all he ever did until he was old and grey. And he never got the desire to see his creations, which he describes as his children, in action before this? And he's surprised that machines with blades all over them are killing people? What did he think they were for? Food prep? Hedge trimming? Haircuts? I had thought that he defected for more personal reasons, like the empire killed his brother or something. If he simply objected to their militarism and was willing to just leave as soon as he knew they were the bad guys, why didn't he do so sooner? And you really expect me to believe that this old fart didn't leave the palace once in his entire life, when he's older than every other living character we've seen so far? That's just stupid. I cannot give this show any more slack just because I like the designs of the constructs or it had some good character writing one time in a flashback. This is horrible and I'm never watching it again.
SSSS.Gridman
After all that negativity, I need a pick me up. So let's end things on a high note. On episode 3 of Trigger Hype: Tokusatsu Edition, Akane creates a new kaiju with limited intelligence and a human form named Anti. When Anti speaks during his fight with Gridman, Yuta is taken aback and his hesitation leads to Gridman's defeat. Rikka and Shou assume that Yuta and Calibur died as a result, but their grieving is interrupted when three mysterious strangers who know Calibur arrive at the junk shop. They help the Gridman Alliance contact Yuta and it's revealed that Calibur was hiding Gridman in cyberspace for repairs and was preparing an ambush for when Anti returned. At the strangers' insistence, Gridman returns to the open, drawing Anti out for a rematch. One of the strangers, named Max, combines with Gridman, and the new form helps Gridman fight Anti to a stand still, which causes both of them to simultaneously disappear.
Imagine, if you will, watching this episode at 1:30 in the morning and trying to keep your voice down while you're freaking out at an amazing fight scene. That was my struggle. My inner 8-year-old was jumping up and down like a madman during the entire Gridman-Anti rematch. Everything about that sequence, from the choreography to the animation to the sound, hit all the right buttons and I couldn't have asked for anything more. Even better, the rest of the episode was excellent as well! Anti is a fun new rival character for Gridman, and if there's one thing I love, it's a rival character. His feral, childlike nature bounces off of Akane's spoiled brat persona really well, and it looks like it might be setting up a conflict between them in the future, especially if Akane keeps mistreating Anti whenever he fails like at the end of this episode. Just like Bunny Girl, I feel like that there is a missed opportunity to drag out the suspense of whether or not Yuta is actually dead, but the emotional payoff of the rematch was so good that it really doesn't matter.
And something I've noticed this episode that really helps the show work is the sheer contrast in sound design between the mundane scenes and the battle scenes. Mundane, ordinary life scenes have almost no background music, minimal use of sound effects, and very natural, almost anti-anime voice acting. This creates an effective contrast with the battle scenes, which go all out with high-energy music, over the top voice acting, and an abundance of sound effects happening all at once, creating a chaotic atmosphere that serve to make the battles even more exciting by contrast. It's an effective trick and it's probably a big factor in why I'm liking this show as much as I am. That, and giant monsters are cool.
That wraps up week 3, everybody! We've gone from 11 shows down to 8! I might have been overly ruthless this week, but with my new job taking up a lot of my time now, I want to make sure I'm spending my anime time on stuff I care about and make this weekly recap enjoyable for all of us. Unless you like seeing me break down at bad anime. In which case, shame on you. Either way, I'll leave you with these wise words from Zombie Land Saga.
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