Weekly Roundup Winter 2019 Week 8

We are now officially two thirds of the way through the weekly roundup, and 6 shows have fallen into the trap of not being good enough to continue, leaving only 7 shows still living in fear of my judgment. Boogiepop got so nervous that it released 5 episodes at once, but those episodes were so good that it managed to please me and was allowed to move on. Now, the other 6 shows are nervously wondering if they can keep up as they cautiously approach my throne with their latest offerings, except Run With the Wind, which is so cocky about its continued survival that it moon-walked right up to me and taught me a secret handshake because it finally decided I was cool enough to be its friend. What am I even talking about? I have no idea! Let's get on with the roundup!

Dororo

First up we have Technically Filler But Not Really. In episode 8, a dark cloud settles over the next village that Hyakkimaru and Dororo visit, and that can only mean one thing: the demon known as Nokosaregumo has returned. The villagers appease Nokosaregumo by offering a girl as a sacrifice, but this latest sacrifice has an adopted brother named Saru, and he will not let her die without a fight. Dororo and Hyakkimaru follow Saru to the sacrificial altar, but Saru's sister (who is never named) refuses to leave, having volunteered to be the sacrifice and protect her home. Nokosaregumo arrives to claim its latest victim, and it is revealed to be a giant flying centipede. Hyakkimaru attempts to fight it, but cannot sense its energy as the cloud surrounding it clouds Hyakkimaru's "sight". When the centipede returns the next day, Dororo and Saru lay a trap for it, but their plan to dispel the cloud is foiled when Nokosaregumo turns out to be able to generate more. Realizing that Hyakkimaru could locate the demon with sound, Dororo climbs atop its head and calls out its position to Hyakkimaru, allowing him to locate the demon and win the battle. With Nokosaregumo defeated, Hyakkimaru regains his sense of smell and calls Dororo by name for the first time.

Another week, another good episode of Dororo. There isn't really anything new to say here since the monster of the week story structure means that there is no real advancement in the overall narrative. Saru and his sister are kinda meh characters to me, functional and inoffensive, but with personalities that don't go beyond "brash kid" and "self-sacrificing angel", but in a few years, I don't think I'll remember anything about this episode beyond the fight scene and Dororo the character's excellent voice acting. But what a GOOD fight scene it was! There was some really good teamwork between Hyakkimaru and the two boys, and it was really cool to see Dororo finally take an active role in the story. And let me just say, Nokosaregumo is my favorite looking demon yet. I always found bugs to be really cool -- I blame Pokemon -- and the whole head on both ends thing gives the centipede a really creepy vibe that I just love. The worst episode of Dororo is still better than most other anime airing this season, and the episodic nature of the series means that several adventures are very accessible to casual audiences, which is really nice.

Domestic Girlfriend

Meh, I couldn't think of anything better to use as this week's image. Here's some light incest.

Next up we have A Sister's All You Need. In episode 8, Natsuo meets an exchange student from America named Alex, and the two of them bond through accidentally stumbling upon a local underwear thief, captruing him, and bringing him to justice. When Rui arrives at the police station as one of the people whose underwear was stolen, Alex is smitten and asks Natsuo to set him up with her. Natsuo attempts to broach the subject, not understanding Rui's feelings for him, and Rui angrily storms off without asking. When Natsuo tries to apologize, Rui kisses him. Hina walks in on the two of them kissing, and the shock of how jealous she feels overwhelms her and she announces that she is going to move out and live on her own the next day. Understandably upset and guilty, Natsuo confronts Hina (with the help of the amazing cafe manager) during a family outing at a local festival, and she finally breaks down and admits she's moving out because she's scared of her growing feelings for her underage step-brother.

You would think such a dramatic episode that actually forces the trio to acknowledge the existence of their little love triangle would leave a greater impression on me. I mean, the episode is good, don't get me wrong, but it just feels like any other episode of Domestic Girlfriend for me, even if this is supposed to be the explosive payoff of everything that has been built up so far between Natsuo, Hina, and Rui. Maybe it's because of the sense of inevitability these events had. Knowing what we know about these three characters, this was the only possible outcome that could happen going into this episode, outside of the polyamorous route that would only exist in hentai. Rui is the kind of person who goes after what she wants, consequences be damned, Hina has been bottling up her true feelings for so long that it was only a matter of time before she self-destructs, Natsuo is stuck in the middle as someone who is attracted to both of them but doesn't know how to sort out his own confused feelings, and they all live in the same house. Of course conflict was going to happen. Again, this episode was quite good -- the reactions of the characters were believable and well-written enough that I felt for each of them and the voice actors put on a hell of a performance -- but because it played out more or less exactly like I thought it would, I'm left feeling less emotional about it than I thought I would. Though seriously, Natsuo, stop stringing Rui along. I know you don't mean to and you're mostly overwhelmed by the fact that a cute girl is throwing herself at you while you're simmering in sexual frustration thinking about Hina, but due, it's not cool. She deserves better and I know you agree, so stop it.

The Price of Smiles

Character development!

At the halfway point for our roundup, we have The Most Volatile Anime of the Season: Seriously, It Goes Back and Forth Between Good and Bad. In episode 8, in the two months that have passed since fleeing the palace, Yuki has taken command of the army in the southern region of Soleil. Using an array of hit and run tactics, the Knights of Soleil have been able to stymie the Empire's advance and draw out the conflict. Layla shows Yuki a recording of the incident that led to her parent's deaths, and explains that the terrorists were representatives of a dying nation named Verde that protested the construction of the chrars based on their research. Upon  hearing reports that the Empire is moving to take a nearby city in forces that greatly outnumber her own, Yuki orders an evacuation to try to protect the people. However, Chief of Staff Eine Fleet anticipated this move, and ambushes the evacuation team, slaughtering soldiers and civilians alike. Meanwhile, Izana breaks into a records room in the palace and finds the Verde research data that started the whole war in the first place. As he transmits this information to Yuki, he is discovered and gunned down. And so, Izana dies on the same day that his new son is born.

Holy quality, Batman! This came out of nowhere and is challenging episodes 3 and 5 as my favorite episode of the series. Granted, I did manage to catch the glaringly obvious death flags this time around after I embarrassingly missed them all last week, but I didn't predict the ambush during the evacuation or the new information about Verde. And honestly, sometimes a story doesn't need to surprise you. Execution matters as well, and the structure, dialogue, and delivery of the narrative this week were the best that we've had in the series so far. And on top of all that, the character writing for Yuki, Harold, and Izana were all quite excellent, and I'm glad that Izana got a chance to go out in a blaze of glory and really endear himself to me at the last minute. The episode wasn't perfect -- it still had a lot of the weird animation errors that have been plaguing the series since day one -- but if the last four episodes planned for this series are consistently at this quality, then we are in good hands. As for what information is in that research data for the chrars, my guess is that it has some sort of toxic byproduct that would contaminate the food supply if left unchecked. I'm basing this guess on absolutely nothing, but that's my gut feeling.

Run With the Wind

OH MY GOD! HE ACTUALLY APOLOGIZED!!

In episode 19 of Character Growth: The Animation, the Hakone Ekiden has officially begun, and Prince runs the first 20 kilometer section. Following Haiji's advice, he maintains a steady pace even when the runners around him speed up near the end of their leg, and thus is one of the last runners to make it to the finish line. After Prince comes Musa, who starts out running too quickly and risks burnout, but manages to slow his pace to a manageable amount and takes advantage of other racers losing their momentum to pass seven other schools and make it to 14th place overall. Musa passes his sash to Jota, who contemplates on how much more enthusiastic Joji is about running than he is, and starts wondering whether he should take a step back from running and let him and his brother have their own separate pursuits for once. As he contemplates this, he sees Hana cheering for him in the crowd and, thinking that she might have a thing for him, is inspired to push himself harder than ever before and wins his section as he passes the sash to Joji.

I don't know about you, but I'd say that the Ekiden is really living up to all the buildup that we've had across the entire series. Each runner's section is acting as the culmination of character arcs we've seen begin in episode 1. Prince has grown into a more confident person and actively admits that he would be lost in self-loathing if not for running. He also gets a moment where he lists like every major shonen sports manga protagonist since the late 70s in a speech and it's just the best. I mean, there was an Eyeshield 21 reference! I never thought I'd see anything reference Eyeshield 21 of all things! Musa also grows more confident but in a different way. He found a place where he belongs and he seems more comfortable as an exchange student in Japan than he did at the beginning. And Jota...I'll be honest, the twins didn't really have much development to build on so this whole thing about him and Joji having different attitudes toward running sorta came out of nowhere, but it's still better than nothing. But I gotta say, I'm really worried about this race. Shindo looks like a mess, and his leg in the race isn't that far away. I'm actually dreading the next episode because I don't want to see the poor guy suffer when he's poured more effort into making the Ekiden dream happen than anyone on the team not named Haiji.

The Promised Neverland

In episode 8 of From Bad to Worse, the letter Sister Krone received from Mama is a notice from Headquarters: Krone will be the new Mama of a sister plantation. Angry that she is losing her chance to get the cushy job at Grace Field House, Krone plants information she literally risked her life to obtain during her training in Ray and Norman's room. As she makes her way to leave Grace Field, Krone meets with Grandmother, hands her the note she found in Ray's room, and reveals that the kids are planning to escape. But Grandmother says that she trusts Mama's judgment, and Krone is murdered and eaten by one of her demon associates. Later, Ray begins his plan to distract Mama while Emma and Norman investigate the world outside the walls. But Mama catches Ray off guard by casually revealing that Krone is dead, and then declares that she no longer needs him to spy on the others and locks him in Krone's old room as she goes to confront Emma and Norman. Don eventually frees Ray, but they are too late to stop Mama from reaching Emma and Norman. Mama asks the the children to give up and just live the rest of their lives in blissful ignorance and security rather than take their chances with the dangers of the world outside. When they refuse and Emma rushes Mama in desperation, Mama breaks her leg and reveals to the would-be escapees that the situation has changed: the next child will be shipped out tomorrow, and the one on the menu is Norman.

Hell. Yes. Aside from the reveal of the demons in the first episode, that final moment was the most important part from the manga's opening arc for this adaptation to get right. And boy did Cloverworks get it right! I don't even know where to start with this episode, everything was just so good! I mean, any other anime would end an episode with the death of a major character, but Krone's death was before the halfway point. And while this may be a controversial opinion, I think that the anime handled the reveal of Krone's backstory better than the manga did. Cutting out Krone's monologue about how her only choices were either to be eaten or to become a Mama made the actual impact of each image that much more powerful. Without words, you see Krone being confronted with the truth of the demons, selected as a candidate to become a Mama, fall into despair, steel herself, and work her way up to the position she was in when we first met her: a hyper-competent individual who bought into her own hype a bit too much and got too ambitious for her own survival. In the manga, Krone's monologue only served to repeat ideas that were already touched on earlier, and thus the actual montage of her childhood -- which turns her from an over the top villain whose only saving grace is how entertaining she is to watch into a tragic character with real emotional depth -- ended up feeling as unimportant filler to me simply because it was juxtaposed with themes that I already understood quite well. As such, I don't think I truly understood the intention behind Krone's character: a tragic figure who sells out her own kind for the sake of survival, feels elation at being good at something, gets in over her head, and then decides to do something positive during her last moments, not because she is now redeemed or was always a good person, but as one last action of spite against a world that had wronged her from the very beginning. She's like the better version of Severus Snape.

But enough about Krone, let's talk about the real star of this week's episode: Mama Isabella, a villain so good that the only reason she wasn't on my honorable mentions list is because I felt that I had to put a cap somewhere. We learn that she was once in Emma's position, having learned the truth about the demons and planning her escape before being discovered by Grandmother. Since she was alone, young Isabella had no choice but to surrender, and she leveraged her vast intelligence to get to where she is today. She is simultaneously a foil to every other major character we've met so far: her struggle is similar to Krone's, the genuine love she feels for her children mirrors Emma's love for her siblings, and her penchant for mind games and manipulation is exactly like Ray and Norman. 

Seeing all of this character development for a character who was previously just a menacing and mysterious godlike figure is the moment that made me understand what the Promised Neverland is at its core: it's a metaphor for children losing their innocence and learning more about what the world is. The world is a big scary place with forces beyond our comprehension conspiring to put us down and keep us in our place until we have outlived our usefulness and are ready to be devoured by those in charge. People who once seemed untouchable and on top of things are revealed to be just as terrified as you would be upon learning this all for the first time, simply content with just doing the best they can to live as close to a happy life as possible against such insurmountable odds. Learning that the world is run by demons who have been raising you for slaughter your entire life is the equivalent to learning that what we call civilized society is a parasitic monster that sucks out the lifeblood of the common man without even giving him so much as a passing thought when he inevitably breaks down under all the physical and mental stress. I can go on and on about how this theme works so damn well and is a core part of what makes it so appealing and relatable to its target audience of teenagers and young adults, but I fear that I might spoil the manga if I get too excited, so I'll just leave it at that.

Hinomaru Sumo

Finally, we have episode 20 of Hinomaru Gets His Groove Back. The final bout of the semi finals has arrived, and it's Hinomaru versus Tennoji. The two of them are hungry for a win after losing their most recent matches, and the two of them have researched each other intensively, especially Tennoji. It gets to the point where even when Hinomaru plans counters for Tennoji's attack, Tennoji has already anticipated these counters and has his own counters planned for them. Knowing he needs to mix things up, Hinomaru begins adopting the different styles of his teammates, momentarily throwing Tennoji off balance. But even though Tennoji recovers quickly and nearly comes away with the win, Hinomaru manages to throw the once undisputed best high school sumo wrestler in Japan onto his back, allowing Dachi High to advance to the finals for a rematch with Eiga.

I'll admit, I've been down on Hinomaru Sumo these past few weeks, only allowing it to survive because there was always something worse that needed to be cut immediately.  And honestly, this episode is arguably the weakest one we've covered this week. But you know what? It was still good! This is the kind of thing I love about Hinomaru Sumo! The constant mind games, the misdirection, the focus on a single bout that consumes the entire episode...this is what the entire show should have been! I haven't had this much fun with the series since the preliminary match against Sada. See, unlike the rest of Hakuro's team, we've had plenty of chances to get to know Tennoji's character, and everything about him is great. He is a massive figure who intimidates everyone around him, but he's genuinely friendly, supportive of his teammates, and incredibly enthusiastic about sumo. He is the only character who seems to be having even more fun with sumo than Hinomaru, and that attitude makes his earlier boast that nobody loves sumo more than he does actually seem believable. Honestly, with as much as I enjoyed this episode, you'd think I have more to say about it, but no. This was just incredibly solid, and I'm so glad that nothing is getting cut this week!

And that wraps up this week's roundup! For the first time since week 1, we've made it to a point where no shows are getting cut! Will this keep up? What will happen next week? Will Dororo have a backstory explored? Will Natsuo manage to win Hina over? Will Shindo make it through the Ekiden? Will Norman escape being shipped out to the demons? Will Yuki decode the Verde research data? Will Mitsuhashi recover from his injuries in time for the final match against Eiga High? Will Boogiepop's next story arc be confusing as hell? Find out the answer to all these questions and more, or possibly none of them, next week on the roundup! Until next time, here's an out of context screenshot from Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

Seriously, watch this show.