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「換魂の書」 (Kan Kon no Sho)
"Book of Soul Exchange"
With two very solid and dramatically different episodes back-to-back, I can’t help but be encouraged about Dantalian no Shoka and where it’s headed. As a little bonus, both thematically and visually this felt more like GAINAX than any of the earlier episodes.
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「冥府の天使」 (Meifu no tenshi)
“Angel of Hades”
Whether it was intentional or not, the fifth episode of NO.6 left me more confused and less sure of my footing than I was going in. As with so much of this show, I’m never quite sure just whether I’m taking things the way BONES intended.
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The first month of a new season is always one of the most interesting. It’s the perfect opportunity to get into a bunch of new shows, yet it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. Here’s what we have to say about all the ones we’re following, which will hopefully give you a better idea as to what’s worth watching.
* For your convenience, the header for a series now links to its post archive if it’s being covered. Simply mouseover the title to see if it’s clickable.
Changes since last month:
Note: Once again, please be considerate of others who may be interested in picking up a series after reading about it here by placing discussion of any major spoilers in <spoiler></spoiler> tags. There will be little to no tolerance for anyone intentionally spoiling the enjoyment of others.
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「自己相似のアンドロギュノス」 (Jiko sōji no andorogyunosu)
“Fractal Andogynous”
I think it’s pretty safe to assume most people are going to consider this a mediocre episode by Steins;Gate standards – as high as those are – but I’m going to disagree for a number of reasons. Maybe I’ve become so attached to this show that I’ve lost some of my critical edge, or maybe I’m biased because the Adorable Trap-Miko is back – but I thought this was yet another very strong effort.
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「故郷へ・・・」 (Furusato e…)
“Going Home…”
Well then. Let’s just ignore what I said last time about Utao having no chance against Kirio. I was calling out from the sidelines for a Seki change after seeing Kukuri get electrocuted repeatedly by Takemikazuchi, but then an inexplicable reversal comes out of nowhere just to prove me wrong. This seems to be happening a lot lately.
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「はなまるスープ顛末記」 (Hanamaru Suupu Tenmatsuki)
“The Hanamaru Soup Incident”
This week’s case: a mysterious man with sunglasses who always takes one bite out of his ramen then leaves.
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「人魚姫と貝殻ブラ」 (Ningyo Hime to Kaigara Bura)
“The Mermaid Princess and a Shell Bra”
Nako finally gets an episode focused on her, but it was not even remotely close to what I was expecting.
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「日常１8」 (Nichijou 18)
“My Ordinary Life 18”
As much as I feel for Yukko and her horrible experience at Starbucks Daiku coffee, I was completely floored when her plans backfired on her. The moment I realized that she was trying to setup Mio; I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was going to go completely awry.
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「僕と本音と男の尊厳っ！」 (Boku to Honne to Otoko no Songen!)
“Me, Dignity, and a Man’s Dignity!”
What time is it? It’s time to return to what made this show one of the best comedies I’ve ever watched. A little bit of dark humor combined with some chocolate, laced with what I can only assume was alcohol, started off the funniest episode of the season. Who would have thought that a quick game of the Japanese version of BS could turn into a torture session for our male leads?
