Magical Girl Asuka
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| I would if the background wasn't so distractingly static! |
First off we have The Cure for Insomnia. In episode 6, as Asuka and her friends attend a local festival, Mia travels to Japan to continue her investigation of the strange magical killings she first witnessed in Tijuana. As she investigates the penthouse apartment of a murdered business tycoon, her team is ambushed by a Colombian mercenary named Sandino, who is attacking soldiers and magical girls in a vengeful crusade after her family died as collateral damage in the war against the Disas. Though Mia kills Sandino, she is concerned by the bloody message she found in the apartment's bathroom: a phrase that only the surviving members of the Magical Five should know...
Asuka, what the hell happened? You were doing so well last week, and then you crashed and burned this week. I know you never had the best animation, what with the abundance of still frames in each fight scene, but your constantly building forward momentum and commitment to the horrors of war kept things from falling apart. But while Mia's storyline was good, the bulk of this episode was focused on the most BORING festival scene I have ever seen in anime (and that's saying something, since they're always boring). Asuka is an official member of M Squad now, so you don't have to focus on her enjoying civilian life and reaffirming her commitment to protect people anymore! This whole thing was redundant. But that would have been bearable if you didn't have force me to endure such characteristically unfunny antics and long panning shots across background characters who never moved once! I am willing to accept the limitations of a low budget show like this, but there is no excuse for a 22 minute episode to lose nothing of substance if I took 17 minutes out. You're lucky you've earned such goodwill with me, Asuka, because you're on notice!
Hinomaru Sumo
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| Seriously, Crunchyroll, use spellcheck once in a while. |
Up next we have episode 18 of Why the Referees Suck. The semifinal round of the Inter High Team Tournament has arrived, and Dachi High is facing off against Hakuro, which is Tennoji's school. The Hakuro team is fired up about the chance to give Tennoji a rematch against Kuze in the finals, and that enthusiasm leads the aikido expert Enoki to victory against Ozeki in the first round. Mitsuhashi uses unconventional tactics against the giant Shutou and manages to push him outside the ring. However, though Dachi High is initially declared the winner, the officials then rule that the competitors landed simultaneously and the bout needs to be restarted. With the element of surprise now gone, Mitsuhashi stands no chance against Shutou and is quickly defeated. With two losses right out of the gate, things look bad for Dachi High, as Chihiro enters the ring to face off against the national treasure Kano, said to be second only to Tennoji in prowess.
Two things. First, this episode was so frustrating to watch as a Mitsuhashi fan that I got Yu Yu Hakusho flashbacks. At least this time the competition isn't rigged against our heroes...probably...
Second, this is SO much better than the last few episodes were! It's amazing what this show can do when it actually focuses on one thing at a time without cutting away to some random nonsense. The flashbacks for Enoki and Mitsuhashi were used perfectly, never overstaying their welcome and giving a strong insight into their characters and motivations, and each of their fights was something to behold. Mitsuhashi in particular had an incredibly strong showing, and I really feel like he deserves a win at some point. There's not much more to say this week, with no deeper meaning or interesting tidbits to talk about. It's just a solid episode of Hinomaru Sumo, the little shonen that could, and I hope that this momentum continues in the future.
Domestic Girlfriend
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| Uh...I need an adult... |
Next up we have Doki Doki Incest Club. In episode 6, Rui is getting used to her new school, and so she asks Natsuo to show her the different clubs at school so she could make some more of her own friends. When they find an empty room for the literature club, Natsuo gets really excited upon seeing a rare book that he always wanted to read and decides to "borrow" it. When he tries to secretly return the book the next day, he gets caught by the faculty adviser Kiriya and the club president (and only member) Miu, at which point he is forced to join the club if he doesn't want to be expelled for theft of school property. During a club meeting, upon learning that both Natsuo and Miu are aspiring romance authors, Kiriya suggests that they kiss right then and there in order to get more experience with romance. Miu reluctantly agrees, but Natsuo refuses when he sees just how uncomfortable she is with the idea, and Kiriya shrugs it off and says that he understands them both a little better now. Upon seeing Natsuo in the literature club, Rui and Momo decide to join as well, and it is revealed that Momo is among the top ten highest scoring students in the school. That weekend, Rui goes to the cafe for advice on what to do about her growing jealousy, and Hina invites Natsuo to go out with her sometime.
We finally have all four girls from the opening introduced, and Miu is just as much of a delight as the other three. Being a nerd who is super passionate about stories and has about three or four unfinished manuscripts lying around at any given time, I am instantly a Miu fan and would probably join her club if I was in her school. Kiriya is a bit...unusual, to say the least. I can't be the only one who is worried that he may turn out to be a sexual predator based on his dialogue, right? I mean, any other show and he'd just be a weird eccentric character because this is anime, but based on how Domestic Girlfriend's been handling its characters up to this point, I can't shake the feeling that there is something more sinister planned for Kiriya. None of that matters, though, because we got the cafe owner's AMAZING backstory of being a former yakuza lieutenant who fell in love with a lieutenant from a rival family! Why can't we watch that anime!? That's the single best thing I've seen all season! Oh, and the episode was pretty good, too, I guess.
The Promised Neverland
In episode 6 of Death Note: Kidz Bop Edition. Don and Gilda manage to avoid detection in Mama's office thanks to the lucky intervention of their younger brothers Phil and Eugene, and sneak into the secret room. There they discover the old toys that belonged to the children who were shipped out, and realize that Norman was lying to them when he said there was a chance that they were still alive. Meanwhile, Emma shows Ray and Norman a series of coded messages left in their library books by a man named William Minerva, warning the children of the demons and the true nature of Grace Field House. Later that night, Don and Gilda confront the other three, demanding to know the truth, to which Emma agrees. As the five of them reaffirm their commitment to escape together, the children begin to plan their next move: scouting the area outside the House. While Ray stalls Mama with a false report that Norman plans to poison her, the other four are approached by Sister Krone, who reveals that she was listening in on their conversation the previous night. Surprisingly, instead of capturing them to be shipped out, she offers an alliance instead.
This is another great episode that gives us a lot of new information to chew on. The introduction of a person on the outside who knows about the existence of the farm and is opposed to it is a huge boon to the children, but the fact that he can only resort to coded messages tells us that he is in great danger simply by opposing the demons. The implications of that are not promising, to say the least. Is the society outside entirely controlled by the demons? Is Minerva actually a demon who simply recognizes that the fact that humans are sentient means that they deserve equal treatment and should not be treated as livestock? Is Minerva even from the outside, or was he a child of Grace Field House from long ago who was trying to pass a warning on to future children? Are the messages a genuine warning, or is this a trap laid by Mama in order to catch the children? All of these thoughts raced through my head as I read the manga for the first time, desperately searching for more information about this fascinating character.
Simply revealing the existence of Minerva and having Don and Gilda learn the truth would have been enough to make this a good episode, but Promised Neverland isn't satisfied with just being good. It adds new layers to the story as Emma tells Norman a secret plan to help with the escape, Mama tells Ray that all shipments are being stopped until January (it's currently October in universe), which is his 12th birthday, AND Sister Krone offers to work with the children against Mama. Every one of these new elements has an air of uncertainty, as you're not sure if anyone is actually telling the truth (aside from Emma, obviously). Is Norman going to tell Ray about Emma's plan? Is Mama lying to Ray even while Ray lies to her? Is Krone genuinely planning to work with the children to take down Mama, or is it a trap to get them to confess? And if the children refuse her, will Krone just take them in anyway and tell the higher-ups that she heard them plotting to escape? At this point in the game, it seems that Krone has pulled ahead, but will it stay that way in the future? It's the sign of a really good story that all of these possibilities are exciting and only make things more interesting, and it made the next chapter impossible to resist as I read the manga. Things don't match up perfectly -- in fact, there have been quite a few changes -- but the anime does a very good job of translating the character dynamics and atmosphere to the screen, and that's the sign of a strong adaptation.
Dororo
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| I can think of at least three anime moms that don't love their children off the top of my head. |
I want to keep the good vibes going, so what's next? Making Me Cry: Samurai Edition? Oh... In episode 6, Hyakkimaru rests and recovers from losing his leg at the temple, carving a prosthetic leg out of wood and planning to fight against the demon again, though Mio and Dororo struggle to keep him still so he can actually recover. Dororo tells Mio that he knows what she is doing and does not hold it against her in the slightest, as he understands how difficult it is to survive. Tahomaru begs his father Daigo to allow him to ride to war against the Sakai clan, but Daigo refuses due to Tahomaru's cavalier attitude about war. As Mio continues to sell her body to the soldiers in both camps, Hyakkimaru sneaks away to battle the demon, actually winning this time and getting his leg back as a result. But when he and Dororo return to the temple, they find it set ablaze by Daigo's men, who have murdered Mio and the other children, suspecting that they are spies working for Lord Sakai. Hyakkimaru goes on a rampage and slaughters the soldiers, and it is only thanks to Dororo's intervention that one of them manages to escape. With heavy hearts, Hyakkimaru and Dororo bury Mio and the children and continue on their journey.
Some might say that the ending of this story was a little obvious. Of course doing work for two opposing sides in a war was going to look suspicious and attract unwanted attention. The soldiers aren't going to believe that you're just being an opportunistic businesswoman, and even if they did, they can't take the chance that you let something slip to the enemy during your pillow talk. This was the only real ending this story could have had. Not to mention how heavily Mio's death was foreshadowed in the opening. But in my mind, the anime knows that you know what's going to happen, and it takes advantage of that fact in this episode. Every scene with Mio is used to remind you of how great she is and build dread because you know she isn't getting out of this alive. It starts to play tricks on you because surely it can't be that obvious, right? And as soon as that thought crosses your mind, you see Hyakkimaru kill the demon and you start thinking that maybe everything will work out after all and Mio will only get grievously injured or ill. Once you feel that hope, though, the rug gets pulled out from under you and the deaths of Mio and the children hit you that much harder. At least, that's what it was like for me. This episode wasn't as good as the last two, but it was still good and I especially loved seeing Hyakkimaru's rampage. Tahomaru's scene felt like it should have been in a different episode, though, and really broke the flow of Mio's story. I get that he is going to be important later, being Hyakkimaru's brother and all, so we need to lay the groundwork for him, but I feel like this scene should have been in last week's episode, maybe at the beginning before Hyakkimaru and Mio meet. Still, this is a strong series where even the missteps are fun to watch, so it's not even a major complaint at this point.
Boogiepop and Others
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| Right there with you, buddy. |
Only 4 shows left, so let's keep the good vibes rolling with The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. I swear I have no better joke name right now. In episode 7, following Spooky E's orders, Aya convinces Masaki to pose as Boogiepop and fight criminals in an attempt to lure the real Boogiepop into an ambush. When that doesn't work, Spooky remembers that Boogiepop said that they are hunting for the Imaginator when they last met, and decides to hunt for the Imaginator himself. To that end, he possesses Kotoe, the daughter of a wealthy CEO and Asukai's cousin, and begins gathering information about the Imaginator's powers and activity, as well as hiring mercenaries to eliminate both the Imaginator and Boogiepop. Fearful for Masaki's safety, Aya begs him to stop posing as Boogiepop, but Masaki, knowing that she is hiding something from him, refuses and vows to keep acting on his own until he can figure out what the hell is going on.
It seems like my prayers from the last roundup were answered because we started to get a clearer picture of what is actually going on this week! I mean, we still don't know the actual endgame of either the Towa Organization or Asukai and the Imaginator, but we did get confirmation that whatever Asukai is doing to these people has some sort of brainwashing effect and leaves them feeling really happy, so my previous theory from last week may not be that far off. And knowing that Aya wasn't speaking metaphorically when she asked Masaki to be her Boogiepop and is actually being forced to put her boyfriend at risk in order to lure Boogiepop into a trap is a bit of a relief, since I was worried that the show was getting a bit too pretentious last week.
This show is almost impossible to talk about on a weekly basis since it's built around drip feeding you information out of order and is thus better suited to marathon viewing, but at least the pacing and structure of the reveals is back on track after last week's mishap. I get the feeling that this arc is almost at its climax and that we are going to either learn in either the next episode or the one after that that Boogiepop and the Imaginator have been battling it out at the same time as all this Towa Organization stuff has been going on, leading to a three-way battle where the Imaginator is defeated, Aya and Masaki get a happy ending, Asukai dies but the show pretends he is redeemed somehow, and the Towa Organization looms in the background as a continued threat in future stories.
Price of Smiles
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| Oh, thank God, he's actually dead. |
In episode 6 of Mixed Bag: The Animation, the Empire has broken through Soleil's defensive line, and are bearing down on the capital city of Hariant. As the city is evacuated, the families of the soldiers refuse to leave, and are thus sheltered in the royal palace as the last of Soleil's forces prepare to fight. As Yuki watches in horror, Harold himself leads a vanguard on a suicide mission to keep the Imperial forces trapped between two minefields. Upon seeing Stella leap from her mech in order to rescue her comrade, Yuki refuses to witness any more bloodshed, orders a retreat, and triggers the remaining mines in such a way so as to collapse the ground and create a large crevasse, separating the two armies. As both sides regroup, Yuki orders Izana to prepare a peace treaty with the Empire with herself as a hostage, but her advisers disobey her orders and spirit her and the rest of the evacuees away from Hariant as Izana stays behind to lead a resistance. As the Imperial generals spread propaganda about Yuki's "cowardly abandonment of her people", the occupation of Hariant begins.
I said last week that I get frustrated with the characters from Soleil because they feel less human, and it seems that Tatsunoko heard my complaints and attempted to address them. We got to see Izana interact with his family, we got confirmation that Yuni WAS the lone unit from last week and not Joshua (thank God) and that she is being so reckless that it's causing her brother Lune to fear for her life, and we got to see Harold be a badass, which is always appreciated. I really like this show's ambition and it does a good enough job to stay on my good side week after week, but let me tell you, the weak production values really held this episode's battle back from being truly great. I'm not an animation snob in the slightest -- usually the characters and context are enough to keep me invested in an action scene -- but when I've seen so many other anime do these big war scenes better AND I've seen better animation in earlier episodes in this very series, then I start to lose my engagement. Not to mention that, aside from Yuki and Joshua (and to a lesser extent, Yuni Vanquish), none of the characters from Soleil have really endeared themselves to me like Stella's squad did, so I feel less worry about them surviving.
But, well...it was nice to see Yuki's character development start to kick in, and I was ready to see her turn herself over to the Empire, since the show has been teasing her meeting Stella this whole time. At first, I was angry at seeing her advisers go against her wishes like this, and I still dislike them for lying to Yuki this whole time and then thrusting her into a war that's supposedly been going on for her entire life, but I understand their motivation. If Yuki surrenders herself, there is no guarantee that her life isn't in danger (and Yuki knows this), nor is it guaranteed that the people of Soleil will be treated well. It's a hard choice, but it's not unreasonable for them to decide that it's preferable to fall back and prepare a counterattack to liberate Soleil once and for all. I'm not sure if I agree with that decision, but I understand it. And if nothing else, I'm okay with this episode since it means that Stella may potentially learn that her mother is still alive.
Run With the Wind
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| Damn right, it is. |
Next up we have Pretentious Metaphors: Track and Field Edition. In episode 17, the twins confront Haiji, demanding to know why he recruited them for the Ekiden if he knows that it's impossible to win. When Haiji answers honestly and says that he knows it's impossible to win but that running the race has a personal significance to him, they storm out of the dorm and stop coming to practice. After Kakeru tracks them down and forces them to come see the actual Ekiden course with the rest of the team, Sakaki bumps into them during their scouting trip. Sakaki taunts the Kansei team, asking why they even bother running if they are going to lose members to graduation next year. Though none of the Kansei runners respond to his jeering, none of them can get his words out of their heads. But with the encouragement of both Haiji and Hana, the twins decide to finish what they started. Later, Fujioka approaches Kakeru in the market and Haiji has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.
First of all, this episode was gorgeous. That screenshot I have up there took my breath away, and it's not even the best looking shot in the episode. Yes, I have talked about how good looking Run With the Wind is before, and yes, I don't have the highest standards when it comes to visuals, but still, this episode felt, to me, to be on the same level as Violet Evergarden! And lest we forget, Violet Evergarden was the best looking anime of 2018! Story-wise, I don't know what else to say. It's a typical Run With the Wind setup episode. We saw the characters banter and it's nice to see character development for Joji and Jota (see, I know the twins' names!) and all, but ultimately it felt like jogging in place for me (oh dangit, that was a pun...). I mean, even for the twins, I highly doubt anybody at Kansei should have actually believed it was possible to win the Ekiden, so I had a hard time investing in their story this time. I guess they just got caught up in the hype? And honestly, I get that Haiji is going through a bit of a midlife crisis following his injury and is basically going for the Ekiden in order to prove something to himself, but I'm not impressed by his essential non-answer of why he is running. But either way, all complaints aside, I still really liked this episode, and I might be a bit of a pushover for this show at this point, but as long as the plot moves forward, the visuals continue to impress, and the character interactions stay entertaining, then I'm happy. Plus, I get the feeling that the actual Ekiden starts next week, so you know I can't cut this yet!
Shield Hero
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| Me this entire episode. |
Last, and honestly, least, we have Isekai, Spice and Raccoon. In episode 6, Filo's sudden transformation has thrown Naofumi's life into disarray. He can't afford to keep buying new clothes for her that get destroyed every time she transforms, and so he plans to buy magical clothes that can survive transformation. But in order to get the magical clothes, he needs magical thread, and in order to make magical thread, he needs to find a rare and expensive gemstone. With that in mind, Naofumi starts a new life as a traveling trader, selling various goods, including self-manufactured jewelry and medicine, until he learns of an ancient temple where the rare gem is said to lie. After a thrilling battle with the chimera that has taken up residence in the temple, Naofumi retrieves the gemstone and solves the problem of Filo's never-ending wardrobe malfunction.
Uggggggghhhhhh......
This episode is not bad, objectively speaking, but it's appealing to a desire to see cute girls doing cute things and, as has been well-documented on this blog, that just doesn't interest me at all. Filo's antics are more annoying than endearing to me, and I cannot stand her voice at all. Natrually, then, seeing her derail the dark story and tone of the show with her presence alone leaves me less than happy about the last two episodes. And even worse, Raphtalia is starting to get ruined as a result as well! The Raphtalia I like is someone who is cool under pressure and responds to the worst sides of humanity by covering up her righteous anger and killing them with kindness. She is a heroic and mature character who understands that being consumed by rage will be the end of her and Naofumi, and approaches situations with care because of that.
So why is she just a grumpy, jealous child now that Filo is here? I get that new circumstances in life will bring out a new side to your character, but Raphtalia is now suddenly unappealing to me. And while I'm sure that seeing the show take on a slice of life atmosphere, focusing on Naofumi the traveling merchant, is something that some will enjoy, I find myself getting more and more bored these last few weeks. I'll never say that Shield Hero is a bad show, because it isn't, but I don't think that it's for me, and I'm sure that seeing me complain week after week will be less than enjoyable for you, the reader. So, Shield Hero, consider yourself dropped. Goodnight, sweet isekai, and may a thousand bird-lolis sing thee to they rest.
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| Me, realizing that I dropped the most popular anime of the season after worrying that I was becoming pretentious |
And that wraps up this episode of the Weekly Roundup! What will happen next week? Will Chihiro defeat Kano? Will Mia discover a traitor in the Magical Five? Will Yuki run away from her advisers? Will Haiji be medically barred from the Ekiden? Will Boogiepop capture the Imaginator? Will Hina make a move on Natsuo? Will Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru meet? Will Emma and the others accept Sister Krone's offer? Find out all this and more, or something else entirely, next week! Until then, my name is Patrick, and somehow after cutting 5 shows this season I'm still currently watching a total of 14 different anime!
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| Me after posting each week's roundup. |
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