Domestic Girlfriend
First up this week we have Statutory Rape: the Animation. In episode 7, Hina and Natsuo go to the beach, where she tells him about the way she fell in love with Shu, who was her teacher back in high school and a source of comfort from gossiping bullies. Natsuo confesses his feelings to Hina, but when she explains that the two of them being together would inevitably result in social ostracization, even from their family, he decides not to pursue it. That night, Rui comes in to Natsuo's bedroom and convinces him to kiss her, for the sake of experiencing a kiss for the first time, though Natsuo feels guilty as he was only doing it to spit Hina. As Natsuo stays up late preparing for his final exams and working on a short story for an anthology to be published by the literature club for the school culture festival, he decides to confront Hina about his lingering feelings for her. However, before he gets the chance, he overhears her pleasuring herself while moaning Shu's name.
I never thought I would have to discuss masturbation in a serious context when I first envisioned the weekly roundup, but here we are. We got to really get to know Hina in depth as a character instead of a target for Natsuo's lust for the first time in the series, and her story turns out to be a tragic one. The way she was take advantage of by a teacher, someone in a position of authority, is a bit ambiguous. She says that nothing happened while she was actually Shu's student in high school, and it was only after she bumped into him a few years later after graduation -- at which point he was already married -- did they actually start dating (and presumably sleeping together). And while it makes sense for her, as a teenage girl, to be infatuated with an older man in a position of power who was there for her in a time of need, the question remains: when was Shu interested? Is he the kind of guy to approach a child in trouble because it's the right thing to do, or was he already interested in her sexually? Did he initiate the affair because he was unhappy with his marriage, or was he interested in playing with two girls at once? We may never know the answer, since Shu isn't a very important character in the long run, but the ambiguity is still interesting.
Not to mention that Hina's relationship with Shu serves as a dark warning of what a relationship between Hina and Natsuo would be: an adult taking advantage of a child's infatuation, and puts Hina in a very interesting position. She is a potential stepping stone in the cycle of abuse, both a victim and a potential abuser. I'm surprised that a show with such a fetishistic premise would be so honest about how such a relationship would actually be psychologically damaging without condemning any of those involved as anything more than unfortunate victims of circumstance and passion. Even if this show is weird and cringe-y, there is real heart and depth here and I am genuinely enraptured. Though, let's be honest, I also kinda like Citrus, so it's probably because I'm trash.
Dororo
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| I ask myself this every day before I go to work. |
Next up we have The Why Boner. In episode 7, on their travels, Hyakkimaru and Dororo clash with a parasitic monster spider. Hyakkimaru wounds the spider, but the beast escapes and takes on the form of a human woman. She is found by a miner (whose name is so generic that I forgot it mere seconds after the episode ended) who names her Ohagi and takes her in. Though she originally plans to suck his life force and leave him for dead, Ohagi is surprised by the miner's kindness and vows to keep him alive. Meanwhile, the village's residents are being kidnapped, and Dororo and Hyakkimaru think that the spider is responsible. However, it turns out that the miner is the kidnapper, who has been struggling the residents out of the tyrannical control of the local lord one by one. However, he is discovered when he tries to smuggle Ohagi out of the village. Ohagi kills the soldiers, but then Hyakkimaru subdues Ohagi. Before he could kill her, though, the miner and Ohagi vow to live together in symbiotic-parasitic harmony, where Ohagi will feed on the miner's life force, but not enough to ever kill him, and Hyakkimaru agrees to spare their lives.
I never thought I would sympathize with a parasitic monster spider lady, but that's the power of anime, I guess. This is honestly the weakest episode of Dororo so far, with a lot of the episode being a whole lot of nothing. But the final scene was still quite good, and I appreciate the attempt to create moral ambiguity in a show about demon slaying. And honestly, after the two part story of Mio, any episode would pale in comparison. Either way, the visuals were still quite nice, and I'm fairly confident that this was just a minor bump in the road and things will improve next week. And besides, the weakest episode of Dororo is still better than the strongest episode of Shield Hero when I was covering it!
Hinomaru Sumo
In episode 19 of Falling From Grace, if Dachi High loses one more bout, then they are out of the tournament. With this in mind, Chihiro faces off against Kano of Hakuro. When his usual penchant for flashy takedowns nearly leads to defeat, Chihiro decides to swallow his pride, take a page from Mitsuhashi's book, and just do whatever it takes to win, using a simple push to force Kano out of the ring. Yuma steps into the ring next to take on the Mongolian exchange student Batbayar, and he is terrified of losing and letting Ozeki down when he is responsible for Ozeki's stagnant development as a sumo wrestler. But with some words of encouragement from Hinomaru, Yuma calms himself and faces Batbayar, and though he is forced to use every trick at his disposal, he manages to pull out with a win. Now, with the score tied, everything lies on the upcoming bout between Hinomaru and Tennoji.
You know, I like Chihiro, but it's a little ridiculous that the only fighter he has lost to so far is Hinomaru himself back in the preliminaries. And honestly, his bout with Kano, while demonstrably showing character growth, which was kind of boring to watch, though I think that's more to do with Kano being a boring character than anything else. Then again, aside from Tennoji, everyone from Hakuro has been pretty boring so far, so I guess it's not that much of a surprise. Batbayar is somehow even more boring than Kano, just talking on and on about how he is struggling as an exchange student in a culture as insular as Japanese sumo without ever actually exploring that idea in any depth. I bet there's more to it in the manga, but here it's like if a Naruto villain quickly sped through a speech about his tragic backstory right as he was being hit with the final Rasengan. It's almost pointless to even bring up at this point. At least this fight was more interesting to watch, with Yuma and Batyabar engaging in mind games with each other and consistently switching up their strategies.
I don't know if I'm just getting a bit bored with this show overall or if the quality is actually decreasing, but somehow the semifinals of the national tournament have been less engaging than the preliminaries. It's mostly due to the character writing for the rival teams being a bit weak and the matches being over a bit too fast to even give them a chance to develop. I mean, sure, sumo matches are inherently shorter than more traditional subjects for sports anime like baseball or soccer, but that is something that you have to work around. Look at Hajime no Ippo or Megalo Box, two stories about boxing, which is a similarly short combat sport. They take their time and let us get to know the protagonists and the opponents as characters in depth, building anticipation to the climactic end of their character arcs before the starting bell can even go off. But Hinomaru can't do that to the same degree of effectiveness because it hamstrings itself with the team tournament setup. While it has its benefits like the power of friendship and the strategy of setting up a team's lineup and match order and such, it leaves the cast feeling bloated and one-dimensional. And due to that, Hakuro doesn't even have a chance to make an impact because they try to force an entire character arc in only fifteen minutes. Even though it should be huge that Dachi High is hanging in there against the top ranked team in Japan, I feel nothing. If it weren't for the show being eliminated this week, I would cut Hinomaru right here.
The Promised Neverland
Up next is Keeping Secrets from the Audience: The Animation. In episode 7, with no other choice, the children accept Sister Krone's offer of an alliance. However, each of them know that while she claims that she would let them escape in order to take Mama down, she would be held equally responsible for such a security breach and thus CANNOT let them escape, and thus she is only pretending to be their ally as she tries to get them to slip up and lead her to physical evidence of their escape to present to headquarters behind Mama's back. Emma and Norman use this tenuous relationship to pump Krone for information about headquarters and the world outside, and they learn that Krone was once a cattle child who was offered a chance to become a staff member in exchange for her life. However, Krone notices through their reactions to her revelations that the children already knew the location of the tracking devices and had a workaround planned for them. She later finds evidence of a secret about Mama in Ray's room (which he had planted for her to find), but before she could attempt to use it against her, Mama approaches Krone with a special message from headquarters...
You know, when I was reading the manga, I didn't like Krone very much at first. I appreciated why she was there, as another player in this life or death game, but she didn't seem as impressive as anyone else to me at the time and I didn't like her design. But this moment where she turns everything around on Emma and Norman just by observing their reactions was what actually made me like her as a character and respect her intelligence. Her more animated qualities have been exaggerated greatly in this adaptation, but at the very least her intelligence hasn't taken a hit because of it. If anything, I get the feeling that she was handled this way in order to make her more off-putting for the audience, and I wouldn't be surprised if the director believes that she uses this persona to put others off their game and/or is genuinely a little unhinged after all she has been through as a cattle child.
Also, her reveal that there are humans that have equal standing to the demons in the world outside is another huge reveal, and it just raises so many questions about the existence of these farms. Why would humans allow human children to be treated as food? Are the cattle children viewed as sub-human? Are they descendants of dissidents or some kind of racial minority or lower class? How are the food supplies kept self-sustaining? Does slavery exist in this universe? And what was in those notes? What is the secret that Ray knows about Mama that, according to Krone, neither of them should know? Is it even genuine, or did Ray make it up? And what does headquarters want with Krone? Is she leaving Grace Field House? Do they know she's plotting against Mama? I mean, obviously, I know the answers to these questions since I've read ahead in the manga, but the fact that any of these scenarios are plausible based on what has been shown so far is a sign of a strong story, especially when it's one based around intrigue like this one is.
The Price of Smiles
In episode 7 of Obvious Surprises that Patrick Doesn't See Coming, one month has passed since the Empire began its occupation of Hariant. Izana is a hostage, forced to send requests for surrender to the remaining pockets of resistance. Pierce is being discharged from the army due to his injury, and Stella and the rest of his squad come together to throw a farewell party for him. As he tells them of how his family looked down on him for being a burden and another mouth to feed, Stella remembers her similar childhood experience with her adoptive family (which led her to smile constantly in order to defend herself from reprisals), and Owens offers Pierce a job at the orphanage he runs. After a bonding experience of breaking into the palace to see the garden with Lily and Stella, Pierce agrees to take the job, but his transport is attacked by the Soleil resistance, and there are no survivors.
In retrospect, I should have seen Pierce's death coming. But I had no idea it was happening, and seeing him die was a genuine shock to me. And upon seeing Stella's reaction to the news, I almost was ready to call this a great episode. But that was only the last 3 minutes, where the 17 minutes before that were only just....okay. It's a good thing I like these characters, because otherwise having an episode with all banter and shenanigans in a war story would have been awful. As it stands, I do like the characters, so all in all, I'm happy, even if it means that there isn't really anything to talk about this week. Next week, we'll probably see Yuki again, and I'm so interested to see what her life in exile is like.
Boogiepop
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| I'm so glad I find a screenshot of someone being confused so consistently often. |
Up next is Dawning Comprehension. In episode 8, Suema confronts Asukai about his plans and informs him that Kotoe has been acting unusual lately, prompting Asukai to go after the Towa Organization. Masaki fights off an ambush led by Kotoe and tries to interrogate her at gunpoint, but is stopped by Nagi, who refuses to let him become a murderer. Masaki runs off and Nagi chases after him, but before Kotoe can pursue, Asukai arrives and frees her from Spooky E's control. Later, Asukai meets Spooky and reveals his plan: he wants to use his powers granted to him by the Imaginator to create a hive mind and end division across the world. To that end, Asukai offers an alliance with Spooky to overthrow the Towa Organization, but Spooky kills himself instead. Asukai finds Aya tied up in Spooky's office, but refuses to release her as he wants to use her as a sacrifice.
FINALLY, SOME ANSWERS! It turns out I wasn't far off in my prediction that Asukai has been removing people's inhibitions a few weeks ago. I was just off in the sheer scale of his powers. Instead of rewriting information in someone's brain like Spooky E does, Asukai can rewrite a person's soul and personality. His goal isn't to free people of their inhibitions, thus encouraging them to live freely; instead, it's to free people of their desires, thus encouraging them to live without regrets and be happy with what they have. In retrospect, that conclusion should have been obvious when you think about his dialogue up to this point, but regardless, the implications are massive. If nobody had any desires, then there would be no war, as nations wouldn't compete for resources or for the sake of a madman's ambition. There would be no poverty, as nobody would have the desire to hoard and accumulate wealth needlessly. It's a powerful dream, but it has an obvious counterargument in that the world Asukai would bring about would be a perpetually stagnant one. If everyone lived content with the way things are, progress could never be achieved and individuality would be lost. It's a fascinating paradox, and I can't wait to see it explored further next time. But even then, the episode isn't content with just giving us an explanation as to what the hell Asukai is doing. We also learned that the Imaginator has been inside Asukai this entire time, being a spirit that merged with him way back in episode 4, AND we got to see Masaki and Nagi be badasses. It's about time she took an active role in the story again. Though I still wonder what Boogiepop has been up to, it is implied this week that they have been hanging back and observing Suema and Masaki's movements and planning the perfect moment to strike. I get the feeling that that will happen next week, since with Spooky E dead, only Asukai and the Imaginator remain as an antagonist.
Run With the Wind
Two shows left! In episode 18 of Understated Hype, the Hakone Ekiden is just around the corner, and Fujioka has visited the Kansei University team's dorm to visit Haiji and wish them luck. When Haiji is not there, he tells Kakeru about how he and Haiji used to run on the same track team in high school before Haiji's injury. Kakeru's history as a high school athlete who assaulted his coach is revealed in a scandalous magazine article, but Haiji and the coach manage to secure his place in the Ekiden regardless. Later, the day of the Ekiden arrives and Prince is chosen to run the first leg of the race. But even as the starting gun is fired, Shindo seems to have fallen ill.
This was a great setup episode, and fortunately, it seems to be the last setup episode. The moment we've been waiting for is here, the Ekiden is about to begin, and we have learned all that we need to understand who our characters are and what drives them to run in the first place. Seeing Haiji explain his strategy of which runners run which legs of the race was awesome, as each explanation about how each runner is suited to their particular leg made perfect sense to me and was informed by their personalities and strengths that we as viewers got to see develop over the course of the series. All that being said, I have some concerns. Firstly, is it impossible to end an episode without a sadistic cliffhanger anymore? And secondly, even with an event as momentous and built up as the Hakone Ekiden, are you really going to be able to fill 5 episodes worth of content with it alone, or is there more story that will take place afterward? Either way, this show has more than earned my trust and I believe that this finale will be something special.
Magical Girl Asuka
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| Someone's never watched Gate... |
And so, to wrap this up, we have Anime Military History 101: A Powerpoint. In episode 7, Asuka's first mission as a member of M Squad is to intercept a trade in Hokkaido between the Russian mafia and a slave trader from the Disas world. Though they arrive too late to stop the deal from taking place, M Squad slaughters the mafia, seizes the magical contraband they got in exchange for the humans they sold, and takes the magical mercenary psycho loli in for interrogation. None of them notice the leader of the mafia use a teleportation drug to escape the battlefield with a powerful magic item in tow, but he is intercepted by Tamara, a former member of the Magical Five on a top secret mission for the Russian Federation, who kills him and steals the briefcase with the magic item. Meanwhile, the Babel Brigade sends orders to a mysterious assassin.
I really wanted Asuka to be good. It's a show with fun ideas and a willingness to commit to its bit that you don't see a lot in anime. It takes the metaphor of magical girls as child soldiers that has only been played with in shows like Madoka Magica and brings it to its logical extreme, it has a strong main character, and its world, while not exactly original, is fleshed out and has quite a bit of imagination behind it. And even better, its unbelievably cheesy aesthetic of corrupted innocence played for shock value mixed with just the right amount of heart is right up my alley. And you know what, the first five episodes were pretty damn good. I was enjoying myself quite a bit right up until last week. But between then and now, it seems that all of the ambition behind Asuka has gone up in smoke, and what remains is just an animation staff going through the motions. This is the laziest animation in a fight scene I've seen in a long time, and I've been binging Black Clover lately. Every shot is a still frame, and every frame is repeated multiple times. I know I've said before that animation is the least important part of anime to me, and I stand by that, but it still matters, and at this point I would be getting more out of reading the manga. And I might still do that, since there is narrative potential and I enjoy a lot of these characters, but I've honestly been so bored with this show the last two weeks even as the show promises to shift to a more action-heavy focus. I know that LIDENFILMS doesn't have the biggest budget in the world, but if you're gonna make a balls to the wall action story, at least make it fun to watch. You made Killing Bites last year, for crying out loud, you should know how to work around limited animation to at least keep the audience engaged with the crazy stories you license! Or are you just not as interested in this story because the girls aren't furries this time around? You know what, that's fair enough. But if the staff doesn't want to be here, then neither do I. Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, consider yourself dropped.
And that wraps up this week's roundup! What will happen next week? Will Hinomaru defeat Tennoji? Will Shindo be able to run in the Ekiden? Will Yuki run away from her advisers and surrender herself to the Empire? Will Hina try to rekindle her relationship with Shu? Will Mama learn the secret that Krone discovered? Will Hyakkimaru regain his sight next? Will Boogiepop actually make an appearance in a story named after them? Will any of these shows overtake Mob Psycho 100 Season 2 as anime of the season? Probably not, but wouldn't that be something?
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