Anyway, enough shameless plugs. You're here for the roundup, and a roundup you will get. Six anime remain for our viewing pleasure, and six anime will be discussed. And guess what? None of them sucked enough to cut! That's the first time this has happened all season! Huzzah!
Sounds of Life
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| They actually acknowledged it! |
Starting things off is Jogging in Place: The Animation. In episode 8, despite Takinami's less than encouraging advice to give up their unrealistic dreams of a national championship, the ktoo club is inspired by Hozuki's playing and redoubles their efforts to find their own unique sound. At the urging of his friends and his aunt, Kudo plays his grandfather's koto for the first time, and the resulting sound brings everyone around him to tears. Later, upon hearing that the Satowa Hozuki is playing at Tokise High School, two representatives from Himesaka Girls Academy named Kazusa and Fumi come to the club room to ask Hozuki to join a school more suited to her talents. Hozuki refuses, and Kazusa is so upset that her idol has been corrupted by the "barbaric" boys that she invites them to a joint practice session at the elite Meiryo High School in order to win her over with playing. Takezo is hesitant to accept, as he seems to have some bad memories associated with Meiryo, which is also his brother Takeru's school of choice, but agrees for the sake of the club, and before long, the day of the joint practice finally arrives.
This episode started out kinda slow. I mean, there's only so many times I can hear variations on Kudo saying he doesn't feel worthy of his grandfather's legacy and blah blah blah before it gets annoying, you know? That's not to say those scenes were bad per se, but they felt unnecessary. Things don't really pick up until the Himesaka girls are introduced halfway through the episode. Now that we have gathered the club together and everyone is fully committed to the koto, this is the perfect time to start introducing rival characters and getting us ready for the inevitable musical tournament arc. Hints at a deeper backstory for Takezo are definitely appreciated as well, as it looks like he was accepted into Meiryo but chose not to attend for some reason. All in all, this was a setup episode that was content with only being good enough, which is disappointing after the standout episode from last week. Here's hoping the show will bounce back next week.
Fruits Basket
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| Stop being so pretty, my eyes were not meant to gaze upon such beauty! |
Up next is Warm and Fuzzy Feelings. In episode 8, New Year's Eve is approaching, and the Soma Clan's annual celebration is a very important family event that everyone is expected to attend. But Yuki and Kyo both refuse to attend the banquet, as they want to avoid spending time with Akito and Kagura, respectively. The boys ignore Shirgure's pleas to respect the family traditions, but upon hearing Tohru's point that their parents may be missing them (as she has none, lest we forget), they reluctantly agree to go on without her. As they make their way to the Soma estate, the boys run into Hana, who tells them that Tohru refused the offer to spend New Year's with her and Uo, and now that she sent the Somas away too and her grandfather's family left for Hawaii, she is well and truly alone. Upon hearing this, Yuki and Kyo once again refuse to attend the banquet and run home to spend the night with Tohru, and the three watch the sun rise on a new year together.
This is a much more lighthearted and fluffy episode compared to last week, and I'd say that that's exactly what we needed. This gives us a chance to catch our breath and decompress after the emotionally heavy moments of Hatori's backstory, and I'm definitely glad that Fruits Basket is back to making me cry happy tears instead of sad ones. But while I definitely enjoyed seeing my girl Tohru get recognized for being a literal saint who is too god for this world, nothing in her and the boys' story really advances either. The episode is mostly a breather, a feel good moment first and a chance to advance the story second. Still, though, the scenes at the Soma banquet proper hint that the boys' choice to skip the celebration will have consequences, and we have a new Soma introduced! I don't know his name yet, as Shigure only refers to him as "Haa-kun", but he's got a cool design and a supposedly stoic personality, and I'm guessing that he transforms into the ox.
Demon Slayer
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| Fruits Basket launches a pretty picture barrage and Demon Slayer fires right back! |
Next up is episode 8 of The Doctor's Disease (guess the reference and you win a no prize). When Muzan Kibutsuji transforms a passerby into a demon in broad daylight, Tanjiro is forced to allow Muzan to escape while he restrains the demon. Tanjiro's declaration of revenge against Muzan attracts the attention of the police, who try to separate him from the demon, thinking that he is assaulting an innocent. Not wanting to let things get out of hand, a demonic doctor intervenes with her illusion magic, and convinces Tanjiro to allow her to take him and his wife into treatment, as she is dedicated to stopping Muzan's scheming. After picking up Nezuko and returning to her house, the doctor introduces herself as Tamayo and her assistant as Yashiro, and explains that she has been studying demon physiology since her transformation, and has learned how to suppress demons' desire for flesh through the consumption of blood voluntarily given by human donors. With a shared goal of creating a permanent cure for their demonic nature, she asks Tanjiro to allow her to study Nezuko's blood and to collect blood samples from powerful demons close to Muzan's level in strength. Immediately after Tanjiro agrees, the house is attacked by two demons sent by Muzan to assassinate Tanjiro.
Big surprise, I liked this episode. Even if it was light on action, a lot of new details came to light and raised even more questions as a result. The idea of a faction of pacifistic demons who oppose the horrific actions of Muzan and his ilk is a great way to add some depth to the setting, as is the confirmation that demons and the Demon Slayer Corps are not common knowledge even among worldly cities like Asakusa. I had previously thought that Tanjiro's ignorance was due to his isolated rural upbringing, but if the reactions of the crowd during the first demon's incident are anything to go by, the existence of demons is virtually unknown among the populace. Is there some sort of masquerade or cover up happening? If so, why? What would the Demon Slayers have to gain by keeping the existence of demons a secret?
Also, why is Muzan so infuriated by Tanjiro's earrings? His dialogue implies that he knew a demon slayer with the hanafuda style earrings in the past, but is it the same pair of earrings? Was Tanjiro's father a demon slayer? Would that make the attack on his family an act of revenge rather than a random act of violence? After all, if Muzan is posing a random civilian with a family in the big city, why would he go so far out of his way to target the Kamado family if his motivation wasn't personal? And what did Muzan mean when he declared himself as close to perfection as possible? Did he start out as human once and gain his demonic nature through some sort of ritual in pursuit of immortality? That's my best guess based on what we know so far. I haven't asked this many hypothetical questions in a roundup since Gridman was airing, and I love it! Can't wait for next week!
RobiHachi
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| Mech battles? In RobiHachi? It's more likely than you think. |
In episode 8 of Hizakuriger on the Verdurous Planet, instead of the human controlled planet of Mulberry 7, the gang accidentally lands on the robot controlled planet of Mulberry 8, and Robby and Hatchi are forced to hide inside of Hizakuriger in order to blend in. Not to be outdone, Yang forges his own mech in the span of like an hour in order to continue his hunt for Robby. Yang and Hizakuriger are each recruited by mechanical lords on opposite sides of annual mock wars that are at the center of the political struggle for control of the planet. Because the mock battles do not allow for fatal blows (for robots anyway) and modern weaponry, both Yang and Hizakuriger distinguish themselves in the battle, but Yang's smaller mech has an advantage in mobility, which allows him to take the upper hand and pin Hizakuriger. Just before he could capture Robby, though, the human slaves who Robby and Hatchi had befriended earlier attack everyone involved in a bid for revolution. The gang inside Hizakuriger take advantage of the confusion to escape the planet and Yang stays behind to fight alongside the human rebels for the sake of revenge against the robots who mistreated him.
This is going to sound more negative than it actually is, but nothing in this episode made me laugh. In fact, I don't think there were any real jokes in the episode at all. Which, admittedly, is not good for a comedy series like this. But still, I don't think this was a terrible episode or anything. It showed us a unique world, explored the relationship between Ikku and the others (albeit in a very shallow way), and had some decent action scenes. It wasn't particularly good, but overall? This episode was just okay. In any case, it definitely wasn't boring like episode 5 was, so it still survives, but still. One of the weaker episodes here.
We Never Learn
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| I have no clever comments. This is just adorable. |
Next up is Fanservice Ruins Everything. In episode 8, Nariyuki's mother wins a smart phone in a contest, and he is excited by the possibilities of using study apps. However, his complete incompetence with using the phone leads to a series of mishaps as he studies in the bath, from accidentally texting Fumino to calling Rizu and Takemoto (which gets even more ridiculous when Takemoto accidentally starts a video chat with him while they're both bathing). After all of the obligatory hijinx are out of the way, Takemoto collapses from pushing herself too hard with both her studying and her training for the upcoming swim tournament. As Nariyuki takes her to the infirmary, he overhears her teammates talking about how he is the one that she has feelings for. Embarrassed and awkward, especially after Takemoto takes him out for ramen as a thank you for helping her, as he struggles to keep his cool as he starts seeing her in a more sexual light. When Takemoto asks is if he has a girlfriend, he says, without thinking, that he has no time for girls until after entrance exams for university are over. He then asks her if she likes him, which he denies out of a combination of a fear of rejection and a fear that she would hold him back from the academic success that he craves. Of course, being the idiot that he is, Nariyuki accepts that answer without question.
I was so mad at the first half of this episode. The nonsense about Nariyuki not being able to use his phone leading to all sorts of weird sexual antics just felt forced and out of place with the rest of the narrative. It's almost as if it's something that the powers that be told the creative team had to be there, so they just forced it in without thinking about how it could serve the rest of the show. It's not even that any of the jokes were particularly horrible either. They were fine and they made me chuckle, but when we are at episode 8 of 13, the time for pointless fluff has passed. You can have funny moments that still inform character and narrative development. And if you want proof of that, you need only look at the second half of the episode. Nariyuki panicking at simple things like Takemoto's arm bumping against his or her saying that she needs to "make it up to him" is not only funny, it's a sign that he is acknowledging that she is a woman who may be attracted to him, and he doesn't know how to handle that because this situation has never happened to him before. And while the way things ultimately ended this episode may have been unsatisfying since it draws out the "will they, won't they" harem dynamic, because otherwise the show would be over I guess, it does still feel in character for both of them to act in just this way. This was a decent episode, but if it cut out that stuff with the phone and the bath in the beginning, it could have been one of the best of the series.
Dororo
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| That looks so freaking cool! |
Finally, we have My Inner Child Screaming Unintelligibly. In episode 20, as Tahomaru tries to provide relief to his people suffering from plague and famine, Daigo hears a report of a strange heartbeat sound resounding in the Hall of Hell. Meanwhile, Dororo and Hyakkimaru climb a mountain in search of a demon, and they meet a samurai named Saburota, who had been hunting the very same demon ever since it ate his mother. When Hyakkimaru confronts the demon, Saburota betrays them and attacks him and Dororo. The skirmish drives them to the edge of a cliff, and the rocks collapse underneath them, leaving Dororo pinned under a boulder as water starts rising, threatening to drown her. Hyakkimaru desperately tries to free her, nearly shattering one of his arms in the process, until Biwamaru arrives and helps him free her. Enraged, Hyakkimaru battles against the demon Nue and Saburota, but when he kills them, his body part odesn't return, and he flies into a rage, stabbing Nue's corpse over and over as the corruption inside him grows ever larger, before setting out to Daigo to get his body back once and for all.
Holy crap! This was great! Nue is one of my favorite designs of the demons, drawing a lot of inspiration from the Greek chimaera and evolving over the course of the episode when it MERGES WITH SABUROTA!! THAT'S JUST AWESOME!!
And can we talk about Saburota for a second? What a cool bad guy! A young man who dreamed of becoming a samurai, he was taking his ailing mother to see a doctor when Nue attacked. In his horror, he fled, wildly swinging his sword behind him, inadvertently cutting off her hand and leaving her to die! Wracked with guilt, he joined his fellow townspeople in a hunt for revenge, but upon seeing them fall to the demon as well, he felt comforted by the knowledge that there was nothing he could have done to save his mother and decided to lure victims to Nue in order to maintain the illusion of vindication. And the way he breaks down when he sees Hyakkimaru not only standing his ground against Nue but defeating it with relative ease as well is so damn cathartic! Easily one of the best episodes of Dororo so far, and that's really saying something at this point!
And that wraps up this week's roundup! Normally, I would do a whole thing about what may happen next week, but instead I have an announcement: There will be no roundup next week, as I will be attending AnimeNEXT in Atlantic City. The next roundup is scheduled for June 16, which will be covering weeks 9 and 10 of the season, meaning each show will have two episodes to review. But there will be something up next week: namely a more traditional blog post with photos and recaps of what happened at the convention. So, look forward to that, and I'll see you next time!
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