Bunny Girl Senpai
On the seventh episode of We Swear This Isn't a Harem Anime, Honest!, the young Shoko seems to have no connection to the older girl with the same name that Sakuta met back in middle school. But there's no time to worry about that, because Futaba somehow has a clone of herself running around and is left homeless as a result! Sakuta and Kaede take her in and let her stay at their house while Sakuta investigates the situation. Mai gets a mysterious phone call from her manager and Sakuta finds lewd pictures of the normally modest Futaba on social media.
Futaba's arc already looks like it's going to be more interesting than Koga's. As effective as that time loop story was, it got annoying to see the same scenes play out over and over in succession after a while. But having two Futabas, each showing enough personality and memory to pass as the "real" Futaba? That's super interesting, and I think I have a theory as to why Adolescent Syndrome has manifested in this way for her. It's been shown time and again that Futaba has a thing for Sakuta's supposedly only male friend Kunimi, even though she keeps it a secret due to Kunimi already being a relationship with the rudest girl I've ever seen in anime. I think that the stress of keeping her true feelings hidden has resulted in a split personality, creating a new Futaba who is willing to be a little more adventurous with her body. Also, I appreciate that the new Futaba has immediately changed her hairstyle and taken off her glasses. It's an effective way to show that she's doing things differently this time and a handy way to tell the two Futabas apart, which is super helpful for stupid people like me.
Hinomaru Sumo
Up next we have episode 7 of Effort: At Least You Tried. The preliminaries for the national sumo tournament have begun, and Dachi High and Ishigami High make it to the finals effortlessly. Mitsuashi is the only won without a win up to this point, but it turns out that he had been throwing his bouts on purpose in order to pull a surprise maneuver on Mamiya. Unfortunately, Mamiya's captain figures out this strategy and Mitsuashi is overwhelmed without the element of surprise. Araki taunts Mitsuashi after his defeat, which enrages Chihiro and inspires him to defeat Araki in the next bout. With the score currently at 1 win apiece, each team needs only two more wins to advance to the national tournament.
At last, the tournament begins! Hallelujah! And if you thought the pacing was quick before, well, this is just something else. Most sports anime would have split Mitsuashi and Chihiro's bouts into two separate episodes, but Hinomaru Sumo recognizes how Mitsuashi's struggle serves to inform Chihiro's character development in his bout against Araki, and thus makes the wise decision to structure the episode the way it did. Given how much the show has been playing up the traditional sports anime cliches up to this point, I was actually taken in by Mitsuashi's trickery and I genuinely thought he was going to pull out a win here. That was an impressive bait and switch, and it made his loss that much more heartbreaking, especially since he had chosen to compromise his preferred style of sumo in order to give his team a better chance at victory.
Mitsuashi may have been the MVP of this episode, and is now challenging Hinomaru and Kirihito for the coveted spot of best character, but Chihiro's moment should not be ignored. Here we have someone who looked down on sumo and team sports in general, who only joined the team with the goal of strengthening his combat repertoire in preparation for a professional MMA career, witnessing someone who threw everything he had into his passion being mocked and insulted for failure. At this moment, for the first time, he doesn't care about his own goals anymore. His teammate's honor has been attacked, and he must defend it. It's so freaking cheesy and I love it. This is hands down the best episode yet, and I'm so glad that the tournament has finally started.
Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san
In episode 6 of The Relatable Retail Rollercoaster, a new employee joins the team at Honda's store. The staff works on promotional displays for various works with upcoming adaptations.
This episode is everything I like about Honda-san. It's understated and minimalistic, but comes from a place of genuine understanding and love for its topic. I especially loved the promo sketch, where everyone is going all out in their relative sections, only for Honda, who doesn't have any new big name titles to make a display for, to make a modest "Staff Picks" shelf. It was genuinely touching and made me think nostalgically of the small bookstores I used to frequent when I lived in the city. The new employee Kendo is fine, I guess, but there isn't really much to him other than being really naive about retail and being super strong since he used to work in the warehouse. I hope the show doesn't try to push him as a major character, but based on how much time he got this week, I'm not particularly worried about that possibility either.
SSSS.Gridman
Next up, we have episode 7 of What the Hell is Even Going On? Yuta tells the others what he's learned about Akane, but none of them believe his story. Akane surprises Yuta in his home, offers an alliance with him and Gridman, and introduces him to Alexis. Their conversation is interrupted by a kaiju created by Anti and Alexis behind Akane's back, which is used by Anti as bait to lure Gridman into an ambush. The fight goes up above the clouds, where Gridman finds a barrier preventing them from leaving the city's airspace, proving once and for all that Yuta's information about Akane is true. Gridman manages to defeat Anti and his kaiju, though Anti escapes once again, and the Gridman Alliance is left to consider their next move in light of their new understanding of the current situation. Meanwhile, it's implied that Anti's eyes were cut out by Alexis as punishment for his failure.
Holy. Crap. Last week's episode might have been all about the huge reveals, but this week was all about creating tension. From Anti showing up at Yuta's school out of nowhere to Yuta finding Akane sitting on his bed and saying "Welcome home, Mr. Gridman" to Alexis actually showing up in person, the stakes just kept getting raised and I found myself getting more and more anxious as a result. And when Yuta refused to work with Akane, I was convinced that she was going to try to kill him right then and there, but for some reason she seems content to let him live for now. And considering that this is the same girl who was willing to murder her teacher just for bumping into her in the hallway, that's surprising. Though now that we have confirmation that she targeted the girl in the first episode because she accidentally crushed the sandwich she was trying to give Yuta, it's clear that she has some interest in keeping him alive and happy, even before learning that he is connected to Gridman. Does she have some connection to his missing memories? Were they on the same side before his amnesia? I have no clue, but I can't wait to find out.
It was also very interesting to see how different a kaiju designed by Anti is compared to Akane's usual designs. Even though Anti started out with no greater strategy than just flat out charging Gridman at every opportunity, much like Akane's usual monsters, this time he built a kaiju that worked into a strategy based around deception, wearing Gridman down and leading him upward, weakened and isolated from his support team. It would have worked if it weren't for the fact that Vit operates independently and can detach himself from Gridman at will. Anti's character development from mindless extension of Akane's will to his own thinking being is one of the best parts of the show, and this evolution of tactics is another fascinating new development in his story. His reaction to being severely injured at the hands of those who created him is definitely what I'm looking forward to seeing the most next week.
Zombie Land Saga
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| I will make it my mission to document every time you guys make an appearance from now on. May you never disappear for several episodes at a time again. |
In episode 7 of The Grateful Walking Dead, the Saga Rock Festival has arrived, and Kotaro manages to convince Junko to stay with the group just in time. Sakura begins to regain her memories of being alive after hearing Ai's former group perform. When Franchouchou takes the stage, a lightning storm begins, and Ai temporarily freezes before Junko takes over her part and helps her get over her nerves. When the girls get struck by lightning, their undead nature gives them autotuned voices and the ability to fire lasers from their fingers instead of the severe burns and death that typically come with lightning strikes. These new (albeit probably temporary) powers make them the undisputed highlight of the festival and begins the legend of Franchouchou on the national stage.
As the metal fans said, this was some good stuff. I got a little annoyed with how much time they gave Junko's story since all it took for her to snap out of her funk was a quick speech from Kotaro. I mean, why build it up so much when the issue is resolved so easily? Thankfully, Ai's story was great all the way through, and hearing her voice break down as she tries to sing without crying with the thunder in the background was genuinely captivating. And the return of the crappy idol song from episode 3, but this time sung with pretty good autotunes and no mistakes? Actually quite satisfying. I almost like that song now. Almost.
Run With the Wind
Finally, we have episode 7 of Kakeru is a Sore Loser. The Tokyo University track meet is upon us. Kakeru and Haiji are able to get qualifying times for the Hakone qualifying race, but the rest of the track club falls short of their goal. Kakeru meets Fujioka, a top runner from a rival university who seems to know Haiji and one of only two runners at the meet to beat Kakeru's time.
After six episodes of buildup, we finally have our first official race of the series. And I was not disappointed. Seeing Kakeru challenging top athletes like Fujioka and Manas was incredibly exciting, and the fact that he lost because he got impatient and cocky and tried to pull ahead too early and ran out of energy before them is a great character moment. Though he is often understated and quiet next to the more boisterous members of the team, Kakeru is quite prideful, and if his and Sakaki's flashbacks are anything to go by, he's not used to being anything but the undisputed best in his sport. The sheer amount of frustration that is evident on his face and in his body language, combined with Fujioka's kind words afterward doubtlessly striking him as patronizing, makes his later frustration with his team all the more understandable: he's not actually mad at them anymore. He's only mad at himself for losing.
As for Haiji, we have a little more insight into his character. It seems that he was seriously injured in the past before transferring to Kansei University. My guess is that the rehabilitation after his injury took too long and he was ruled ineligible for his old school's team for the Hakone Ekiden, so now he's trying everything he can to make it happen with Kansei. Does that excuse his actions? Not in the least, but we still don't know the whole story yet. The fact that we're starting to get even a piece of the bigger picture though is super satisfying, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
So, here we are. For the first time since the roundup's inception at the start of this Fall season, we've had two consecutive weeks without a single show being cut. Have we finally reached the promised land of only good shows, and will have an enjoyable experience for the last six weeks of the season? Will Anti betray Akane? Will Franchouchou's status as zombies be revealed? Will Futaba's clones reconcile and become one? Will I ever shut up about anime? Find out the answers to some of these questions, maybe, next time on Patrick's Weekly Roundup!
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