「011145」

We’ve discussed this topic before, but why bother teaching the livestock kids about the world at all? Sure, I understand that they want these kids smart so that their brain-meats are nice and juicy, but why does their education need to be about anything resembling reality? It seems like this entire operation would be a lot easier with some good ol’ fashioned brainwashing. If the children were taught from birth that it’s perfectly natural to be eaten by some toothy demon-beast, that it’s part of the ♪Ciiiiircle of Life♪ and it’s their duty to give up their tasy grey matter for the greater good, then perhaps they’ll be more compliant. People have given their lives for less.

Perhaps it’s part of some arrangement between humanity and their demon overlords. Considering we basically have humans farming themselves, this unpleasant exercise seems to be at least partially voluntary, overseen by a ‘Grandma’ who was casually namedropped exactly once. We, of course, still have seen nothing of the world outside the orphanage and know little about it but, assuming Krone’s information is reliable there are humans who yet live, perhaps in something resembling civilisation. Perhaps these farms are some kind of tithe paid to the demons. And, hey, the children still get an old-world education and even have career prospects, with the potential to be promoted from livestock to farmer. Humans are good at these sort of sordid compromises. Pay the Danegeld and maybe the invaders will leave you alone.

Of course, if you pay the Danegeld you’ll never be rid of the Danes.

Perhaps Yakusoku no Neverland is asking us to judge humanity, and consider what it means to have a people so broken. In this vein, perhaps we are invited to contrast Krone and Isabella. This was very much a Krone-centric episode, in that she reveals a good deal of her character while also serving as our main source of crazy faces. Despite being a former orphan, once on the chopping block herself, she’s rather enthusiastic about her current work. In any other job perhaps we would applaud her occupational zeal. She’s certainly adapted to her circumstances, but Neverland asks us: can we actually call her well adjusted?

Neverland is certainly not shy about the answer it gives. I know the manga readers out there have found issue with the way Krone has been portrayed in the anime, but I think I understand why they did it. Krone is crazy. She has to be. Her job is to raise children with love for a decade and then send them off to die horribly. Sure, she really has little other choice but to do what she does, but something inside Krone must be very broken for her to embrace her position with such relish. Contrast Isabella, who is always professional and perhaps even regrets her own inhumanity.

What happens to Krone now, though? It’s implied, nothing good. I would hate for her to be written out of the story so quickly. The other members of the cast approach their situations so rationally and so sanely, and it’s only Krone who understands that it’s complete madness. And she can do naught but laugh.

「嘘つき嘘たろ」 (Usotsuki Usotarou)
“Liar McLieface”

It’s crunch time for Fuutarou and the Nakano sisters as this episode continues the central conflict of the midterm arc by making sure the girls ace their exams to save his job. While the last episode left a window of uncertainty as to whether the girls would be passionate about studying, let alone if they really wanted Fuutarou to stick around, Episode 07 gives the girls more leg-room to show their appreciation for Fuutarou’s tutoring and give him an opportunity to strengthen his bond with the sisters by reaffirming his dedication to helping them out.

They might not have aced every exam across the board, but the exams did give each of the girls a better understanding of the subjects they enjoy and what they should focus on in study sessions. Yotsuba seems to be the weakest link since she ballparks a chunk of her answers, but Fuutarou sees potential in her dedication and energy if she relaxes and pays attention during her exams and study sessions. Even if Nino had a change-of-heart about not deliberately bombing the exam, she still hadn’t paid enough attention to her subjects to do anything more than just wing it based on her own knowledge. The Achilles heel in Ichika’s test-taking skills is racing to the end in spite of getting better grades than most of the girls. The crux of Itsuki’s issues with taking exams is the opposite as she spends too much time on a question that she is unable to answer the rest of them in due time. And despite doing the best out of the rest of the girls because she has the most interest in Fuutarou, Miku is too focused on her strongest subject, Social Studies, that she neglects to strengthen her skills in her other coursework.

While the sisters’ strengths and weaknesses in their scholarly pursuits are fleshed out further in this episode, their decision to rise up to the occasion for Fuutarou is also emphasized as one of the many life changes that the girls are working on. It’s no secret that Fuutarou’s tutoring has mostly helped the Nakano sisters with their personal lives, so their investment in paying it forward to him is shown mainly through what they’re willing to give him in return. Although the girls have been more apt to studying when he’s around, Miku has been trying to make it more of a lifestyle effort for her to make studying a habit. The last episode was rough on Itsuki for having her feel upset about Fuutarou’s harsh remarks to her, but they also drove her to take an active role in improving her grades and, after he came back to their condo to help her study, gave her enough motivation to want to make sure that he doesn’t get fired. After getting her foot in the door with having more heart-to-heart time with Fuutarou, Ichika had enough leeway to try to lead him back to the condo to make up with Itsuki and encounter Miku again. However, Nino plays the most pivotal role in the episode by being the one to tell her dad that Fuutarou needs to stay around because they all passed an exam because of him. Her shift from wanting to kick him out to wanting him to stay aboard is relatively quick, but it is a welcome change of pace for her to be less abraisive to him.

What it means for future episodes will be something to keep track of as it’s the first of many exams that Fuutarou will have to prepare the girls to take on. With the sisters studying at a frequent pace thanks to his influence, it will be neat to see if they are able to keep up the momentum of not trying to goof off while they go over their course material. The episode also had some fun scenes where the sisters dressed up as one another with Itsuki getting a makeover to look like Miku in a bid to get Fuutarou to help her studying without being too direct after their awkward fight. The funniest moment had to be when the sisters slipped past their guidance teacher by impersonating the one girl who made it to school on-time, Yotsuba. And since Yotsuba is the group’s Genki girl, it was hilarious to see each of the girls (and Fuutarou) try their hand at her signature greeting. They might be comical moments, but the potential should be spicy if they end up using their disguises to pursue Fuutarou or navigate around a sticky situation.

Preview

「神鳥の聖人」 (Kandori no Seijin)
“The Savior of the Heavenly Fowl”

Although this was arguably a breather episode, I found myself smiling the entire time. Not even the occasional drop in animation quality could detract from the thoroughly enjoyable A and B plots. In the first, Naofumi put his growing expertise with potions and medicines to good use by saving a village from a sickness brought on by Motoyasu’s attempts to end a famine. Therein lies the major difference between the Spear Hero and the Shield Hero – Naofumi thinks through his actions, coming up with counters to the consequences of moves he hasn’t made yet, while Motoyasu is content with providing a quick fix without sticking around to see if it pans out. As Naofumi rightfully points out, the villagers never should have accepted the seed, since they knew it could be dangerous, but they’re so accustomed to the idea of being saved that they hesitated to contradict a hero. By forcing the villagers to pay for his service, Naofumi made them complicit in their own rescuing, and hopefully more wary when it comes to asking for outside help with their problems in the future.

Now, as wonderful as it was to see Naofumi continue to build a good reputation with the people, can we all just stop a moment to appreciate how adorable Filo is? Her carefree attitude is a breath of fresh air, and she’s a force to be reckoned with, both in a straight-up fight and on the battlefield of love. I really didn’t understand why Raphtalia saw her as a threat, given she looks like she’s about eleven, but it turns out she’s a sneaky little rascal, too. Despite this, when Raphtalia sees her in trouble, she has her back. The pair of them make for a formidable team when they work together, as that poor boar found out.

Perhaps the best evidence of the positive influence these two have on Naofumi was the sheer number of genuine smiles they elicited from him. I didn’t count, but with the exclusion of the very first episode, it must have been more than the rest of the series combined. Being with them has revitalized his humanity, and while I wouldn’t say any of them are quite ready for romance just yet, as long as Naofumi has companions he values by his side, we can be sure that he will continue to grow into an even stronger and more capable hero.

And speaking of heroes, is anyone wondering how the others are doing with their exploits? Hopefully better than Motoyasu, at least.

Preview

「御せぬ君たち」 (Osenu Kimitachi)
“Ones Who Can’t Be Controlled”

The spotlight has officially shifted from cuteness overload to absolute exhaustion.

I should have known that the calm peaceful shot of Haru resting on the windowsill was an ominous premonition of what was to come. It was just too good to be true.

This week’s episode dove head first into a chaotic and disruptive storm. There was no way Subaru could have known his quiet home would be ravaged by twins (Hayato and Narumi), a toddler (Misora), a teenage girl (Nagisa) and his neighbour Hiroto. I for one was not mentally prepared for and did not welcome the intrusion. I had assumed last week’s flashbacks would lead to an episode showcasing a deeper bond between Haru and Subaru, something that would really strengthen their relationship.

Instead, we get a glimpse into what the Yasaka household must look like after school and work hours. For reasons I still don’t understand, Hiroto thought it would be a great idea to bring his four siblings over to Subaru’s to see the cat since he had to pick them up after school. Demanding, loud, and obnoxious, these children have no sense of space or boundaries, whether they’re interacting with our favourite anime cat or with our hermit. As the episode progressed, I could slowly feel my own energy drain.

One thing I should note, however, are the ways in which Haru and Subaru grow in response to this stressful situation. Their reactions provide insight into who they might become, whether they remain together or grow apart. In the kitchen, Nagisa asks Subaru what book he would recommend. This is the first time he’s ever had to recommend a book so his immediate reaction is one of nerves and anxiety. However, recollecting the moment Nana’s brother Yūgo recommended a book to him, he returns confidently with an old favourite he enjoyed when he was in high school.

Something similar happens to Haru when she misunderstands Misora’s hug as an attack. She pulls out her claws ready to defend herself against the tiny human but quickly realizes through a memory of her own that she needs to keep the ‘little ones’ safe. According to Haru, attacking a little human is against her principles. What’s impressive to say the least is how she’s able to tame herself without the need for human guidance. I’m sure some of us pet owners can agree this isn’t always the case when adopting strays.

As for the rest of the episode, I’m sure some viewers thought it charming to see Haru sit patiently between the twins while playing hide-and-seek, or found it sweet when they blessed their meal before digging in, but I couldn’t help but feel bothered. I guess I’ve already built up a story in my mind and this particular episode wasn’t part of it. I’m not usually so rigid when it comes to a developing story arc but in this case, there’s something so timid and fragile about their relationship that I’m almost scared to let the outside world mess it up.

To be fair, perhaps the creators wanted to elicit this feeling. I felt as tired and used up as Haru and Subaru did. With every awkward and overwhelming moment, I could feel my breath catch in my throat. I heard myself asking: “When are they leaving? I just want them to have space to breathe and hang out together!” As though someone had heard me right then and there, that’s exactly what happened. At sundown, the Yasakas said their goodbyes, the tumultuous evening came to an end, and I got a little sneak peek into exactly what I was looking for.

Haru nuzzles into Subaru’s neck and possibly, for the first time ever, they finally understand one another. They fall asleep side by side, their budding world blooming stronger than ever after the storm.

Preview

「ユウキ・カグラザカ」 (Yuuki • Kagurazaka)
“Yuuki Kagurazaka”

The pace of the show is accelerating quickly — maybe a little too quickly.

General Impressions

With the story picking right up where last week left things, this week’s episode started off pretty tame.
Between Charybdis’ underlings serving as a wonderful source of meat and materials and Rimuru having some time to just take it easy, it was nice to see everyone just having a good time. However this is TenShura we’re talking about, so even during times of peace there’s always something brewing behind the scenes. And this time we had something real serious in the pot — Rimuru finally starting to take action on Shizu’s last wishes.

Before I touch on those last wishes though, let me bring up one small gripe that’s been bugging me more and more recently — doesn’t the show or rather the story feel like it’s moving a bit too fast? If you remember early on it felt like the story was moving rather slowly as it built up the characters. Fast forward to right after the ogre arc and things were moving at a pretty good pace. However (and this may just be me), things have felt like they’re moving at breakneck speed ever since we finished Orc Disaster. Between Rimuru forming an alliance with multiple countries to Charybdis being obliterated, a lot of time has passed in the span of just a few episodes. That and it’s a big shame that all of the emotional impact that the earlier episodes had at the end of an “arc” have all but been lost since there’s just not enough time for you to become emotionally invested. Now don’t take this as me hating on the show — I still love TenShura and will support it through thick and thin. It’d just be nice if the show slowed down a little — especially such an important arc about to begin.

All that said, I really did enjoy this week’s episode. As I alluded to last week, I was stoked to see Yuuki finally introduced. As someone from Rimuru’s world, I was dying to see them geek out over otaku culture and all the various things Yuuki’s missed since he was summoned. With that need fulfilled, all the was left was to meet the kids that Shizu was taking care of before she passed away. Kids who, for a lack of better words, seem to be doing pretty good minus the fact that they’re all literal ticking time bombs.

All-in-all not to shabby of an episode. With (what I assume) is the final arc upon us, I do hope the story takes the time to slow things down a bit as we find out just what Rimuru has in mind to take care of the kids he’s been entrusted with. Luckily, it’s already Tuesday meaning it’ll only be another six days until we get to see what it is. Catch you guys then!

Preview

「追い込み ～正体～」 (Oikomi ~ shoutai ~)
“Cornered – True Identity -”

It’s the little things that really make the difference with Mob Psycho 100. I mean that both in terms of the production itself and the characterization, which pretty much evenly splits the credit between Tachikawa-sensei and his team and ONE. I would actually say that Tachikawa has been relatively restrained so far this season of Mob – or at the least, that his visual choices have been more subtle than they were in Season 1. But the level of detail here – right down to the eyecatches – is off the charts (why armadillos on the “we’ll be back in a moment” message?). You don’t want to let your attention slip for a second with this show, and I thank my lucky stars for the invention of the pause button.

As to the character side, obviously this arc really boils down to Reigen – even if it’s his relationship to Mob that’s at the center of it. And Mob is at the center of the show that bears his name for me – he’s the heart and soul of it. That doesn’t diminish Reigen’s importance in any way, though, because he’s as essential to the series’ success as Mob-kun is. I once said about Kenshin Himura that he was the perfect protagonist in many ways (and I still believe that). And I think Reigen is the perfect supporting character – a virtual template for what a side character should be. He has everything, and most importantly he’s integral to everything that happens with the lead.

Reigen is a popular man, no question about it. He’s a meme-generating machine, the gag spiritsandsuch.com website that Crunchyroll opened has become a viral sensation, and he’s even become something of a sex symbol. That’s why this arc – which shows Reigen becoming a meme-generating internet sensation for all the wrong reasons – packs a fair bit of irony to it. But then Reigen is all about irony in many respects, which is one of the reasons why he’s such a profoundly interesting man.

No question about it, what Joudou-sensei did to Reigen on that preposterous (i.e. normal for Japan) variety show was pretty cruel. Joudou is a right old bastard who I hope gets his comeuppance before this series is done. But as always with Reigen, there are two sides to this. Let’s be honest – he’s in this situation because he’s a fraud. He started a fraudulent business, lucked into having it be legitimate, then pushed his luck too far when he had to go back to full-time fraud. And he outsmarted himself on that TV show, in part no doubt because he just can’t help himself – Reigen is a natural performer. He’s always trying to game the system, but sometimes the system games him.

Japan’s press is a lot like Britain’s in the manner in which they latch onto a victim like a pack of hungry wolves, and just won’t let go. Whatever Reigen’s transgressions, he certainly didn’t deserve to be publicly and relentlessly humiliated in the manner he was. The hardest part of this episode for me was seeing Reigen without his usual zing (as Ritsu pointed out). This is a man who always has an answer, always has an angle – and he was out of answers. Being confronted with that much reality that quickly was a terrible body blow, and the press conference was the culmination of all that.

Again there’s that Reigen contradiction though, as there always is. He’s a fraud, yes – but in truth he actually helped a lot of people, some of them even without Mob’s assistance (psychology is a powerful thing). And it almost seemed as if he was going to salvage the press conference by talking straight until the matter of his school essay came up and totally threw him off his game. It was fitting that Reigen remembered at that moment the most fateful moment of his adult life – when 11 year-old Mob walked into his office. That was when everything could have gone in a different direction, but it went the way it did because of one simple fact – Reigen elected in that moment to perform a random act of kindness.

For all the contradictions, this is the essence of Reigen – he’s a nice guy to people who deserve to be treated nicely (most of the time). When the chips were down he gave Mob the best possible advice, with no vested interest – he had no idea Mob was a true esper at the time. Now in the time since yes, he has taken advantage of Mob, basked in Mob’s glory and exploited him for his business. And maybe this ugliness (thanks, Joudou) needed to happen for Reigen to realize that he’d been taking Mob for granted, and that he’d been truly cruel to him at their last meeting. If there were any doubt that Reigen is capable of growth – that he’s a person who always manages to find the right path when things are at their worst – no words could better dispel it than “You’ve grown up so much. You know that?”

Of course Mob knew all along – let’s get real, how could he possibly not? But the essence of Mob – and the essence of his friendship with Reigen – is that he doesn’t care. It was Reigen’s own advice, after all, not to think of esper powers any differently from test scores or physical ability or body odor. Mob gets Reigen – knows his true nature – and still considers him someone worth admiring. Not many people would see deep enough to feel that way about a man like Reigen, but not many people are as decent and full of humility as Mob. As to what happened in that press conference, well, until I see evidence to the contrary I’m going to assume it was Mob’s doing – but whatever the case, no one is going to be forgetting Reigen’s name any time soon…

Preview

「絡新婦の巻」 (Jorougyumo no Maki)
“The story of the Jorogumo silk spider”

Contrasting with the Mio arc of last week, this episode of Dororo lets the cast breathe a bit as the tone and side-story are far lighter in nature. Rather than focusing entirely on Hyakkimaru gaining one ability at the time, Episode 07 puts his empathetic traits to the test as he starts to learn about how the ability to hear and speak can influence the judgment calls he makes. Along the way, he also approaches the first time that Dororo and his vision sway him from killing a demon.

The demon in questions also turned out to be extremely empathetic as the spider demon Ohagi begins finding herself invested in humanity through the compassion and love that a villager named Yajiro gives her. After taking her into his home, she picks up on parts of Yajiro’s personality that are surprising to her and is captivated with why humans are willing to act out of their own personal interests. Instead of being wary of a spider woman or killing bugs that invade his home, he is willing to offer her a hand and free any trespassing insects that make their way inside his home. Through the warmth that Yajiro has, especially considering that he’s risked life and limb to free villagers from their oppressive ruler, Ohagi shifts away from her own demonic instincts to suck the life force from men in order to do anything she can to protect Yajiro from danger.

It helps that the episode’s premise concludes with the notion that the village that put out the bounty on the kidnapper was corrupt. With a penchant for working villagers to death and keeping them enclosed in the village to ensure they are fully devoted to their ruler, it puts Yajiro’s efforts into perspective as he smuggles them out of harm’s way from the tyrannical ruler of the village. Dororo’s decision to side with Yajiro and Ohagi also stems from the fact that they were tricked into finding their kidnapper to keep the status quo and never intended on paying anyone to find them. Taking the foreshadowing of something sinister is brewing about the town into consideration, the episode does shift the main conflict of the episode towards how the ruler and his village have far more ulterior motives than Ohagi.

While Hyakkimaru doesn’t regain any limbs from killing a demon this time around, this episode spares his soul by giving him a better understanding of the emotions of others as well as himself. After all of the moments that he’s been trying to kill Ohagi, it isn’t until he sees her trying to protect a wounded Yajiro that he decides to back down. My idea of the situation is that, through a combination of what he saw when he killed the possessed swordsman and when Mio and the children were killed, he had just learned to relate personal suffering to the posture and audio cues he’s able to witness. As a result of the torment that he himself has experienced, he is able to read the situation far more clearly and can see that what Ohagi has been trying to do this whole time was to protect Yajiro instead of going on the offensive to gratify a demonic urge to kill. While it’s a relief that Hyakkimaru took it upon himself to let Ohagi go, it is definitely a relief for the episode to end on his first laugh. The start of the episode had Dororo try to tickle Hyakkimaru because he regained his sense of feeling, but it was Dororo getting attacked by a small spider that he eventually freed that caused him to giggle at the situation that befell on Dororo. It wasn’t the moment where Hyakkimaru got to experience a new sensation, but instead, it was a moment where Hyakkimaru was able to experience a human emotion that goes far beyond a new limb; as it turns out, the part of his humanity that Hyakkimaru regained in this episode was his ability to get in touch with human emotions such as compassion and laughter.

Trends are emerging…

What was looking like a dogfight is starting to resemble a rout, as the same series (with increasing margins) has now led the polls for four straight weeks. But this season is a long way from over and I suspect the current runner-up has yet to play its most impressive cards. And the third show in the pecking order seems to be solidifying it’s hold on that spot.

This week’s “Ask the Writers” focuses on the positive, with an interesting mix of anime that can turn our team’s frowns upside-down. And Takaii weighs in with this week’s Dark Horse, which I’ll leave to him to describe…

Here are this week’s God (of manga)-like results:

• Takaii’s Dark Horse Series: BanG Dream! 2nd Season
• As someone who was deep into idol culture and managed to pull out before the point of no return, I was looking for something to fill the void that Love Live and other similar IPs left behind. Around this time a little game called BANDORI or BANG DREAM Girls Band Party! appeared and I found myself sucked into playing another rhythm game that drew me in with the lure of anime-covers and kept me playing because of the unique dynamic that each band had. Months later the first season of BANDORI the anime comes out and I’m stoked — who wouldn’t want to see their favorite characters finally appear in anime form? Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) the first season took a more traditional approach of focusing on one band and how they came to be. While not a bad decision, it definitely left me hungry for more since the show runners were literally only using a quarter of the available content. Then comes the announcement of BANDORI S2 with the promise that the other bands would be featured — it would have been an understatement to say that I was excited for it. With that brief introduction out of the way, let’s actually talk about the show. BANDORI S2 is literally everything you could ask for from a show that’s based off of a mobile rhythm game. Besides giving every band more than enough time, there’s just something amazing about watching them perform all their trademark songs without also needing to tap a screen. For the non-BANDORI fan though, the show does a good job at explaining the characters through unique performances rather than word vomiting exposition. Now, I’m sure you’re reading this and going, “What really makes this worth watching Takaii?” And my answer to you is have you ever wondered what it’d be like for a show to say fuck it and just embrace its story and characters wholeheartedly? If you want to find out what that’s like, give this one a watch :)
• Here’s an awesome, unexplained clip of why I love this show. (Please watch it in its entirety)
  Show Spoiler ▼

 

Ask The Writers


You’re having the worst week of your life. You’re totally bummed. You get to marathon one anime (series or movie) to lift your spirits. Which do you choose – and why?

• Enzo: “Duck-U!” It would be hard for me to pick any other series besides Tsuritama for this purpose. One of the most criminally underrated series of the 2010′s, it stood out even in an ultra-strong year like 2012 (I ranked it as my #1 series). I can’t sum up my feelings about it any better than I did in my series review post: “If you distilled pure happiness into 22 weekly minutes of sight and sound, you’d have something a lot like Tsuritama.” Writer Oono Toshiya said that he wrote it as a kind of letter of encouragement to his teenage self, who was unhappy most of the time, and that really shows through. So does the tremendous love the staff and cast felt towards the series, which they gave everything they had. For me it’s director Nakamura Kenji’s best series and by far his most emotionally compelling. Great work is put in by the cast, include a knockout debut performance by Ohsaka Ryouta as main character Yuki, and Miyu Irino giving his take on a modern-day “Little Prince”. Also not to be overlooked is the impossibly winning soundtrack by Kuricorder Quintet, which fits the material like a glove. 2012 was really a golden age for anime, and Spring was its pinnacle. Paired with Sakamichi no Apollon, Tsuritama was part of probably NoitaminA’s best season (yes, it used to be an hour). Everything about this series was a win, and if I had to pick one anime to elevate my mood, I don’t think there’s any question this would be the one. Eno-shima DON!
• Choya: I would choose Azumanga Daioh. I’ve got the manga omnibus so I’d probably read through that, but I also got the anime pack back when I was a young lad, and it really helped me deal with all that standard high school teen angst. I remember buying the series on a whim and absolutely loving it from start to finish. Sometimes I’d jump to the middle where Kagura starts showing up more often and watch/read it all the way through from there, but Sakaki and Yomi really help the first half come together too and make a full marathon entirely worth it. You also can’t go wrong with any of the episodes that focus on culture festivals, summer vacations, or holiday festivities. But there have been so many times it’s perked me up throughout the years that it’s been my go-to when I need to sit back, relax, and laugh a little.
• Zaiden: Let me tell you about Aqua, the planet of water, and how it serves as the iconic setting for Aria. I could be having the most terrible of weeks. Yet I’m certain my spirits would be lifted in ways that no other series could achieve. On Aqua, there exists a city called Neo-Venezia, saturated by a myriad of interconnected waterways. After enjoying a delicious lunch under the shade of a clocktower, I am taken on an excursion down one of the canals, by a carefree girl emanating serenity and wisdom far beyond her years. She is an Undine, a tour guide specialist who dedicates her life to mastering her aquatic craft. The gondola glides, gracefully guided by the precise strokes of an oar. I glance upwards and downwards. The skies and the waters both exhibit a shimmering azure that cleanses your soul, while the lull of streaming waves instils inner harmony, as you can barely hear the faint sound of hustle and bustle from the nearby town. The cherry blossoms whirling around the gondola creates a lovely sensation. Basking in the sun’s warmth while a gentle breeze caresses my face, I am able to truly appreciate this wonderful spring. The four seasons each come with their own set of sights, and I particularly recommend autumn. The fall sky of Neo-Venezia glows like an amber haze of burnished leaves, and you can occasionally see meteor showers flying past the atmosphere, leaving behind trails of sparkling stardust. So that the fantastic view can remain unimpeded throughout the city, there is a law that forbids the construction of buildings above a certain height. When sitting on a rooftop, you can be guaranteed one of the most delightful spectacles. What’s more, once darkness falls over the floating islands, you can enjoy sceneries of the moon dancing across rippling waters. And that is what I love about this city and by extension, what I love about the Aria franchise. An indescribable beauty can be found in even the most mundane of things, provided you choose to seek it out. Please, do visit Neo-Venezia when you have the time. You will be most welcome here, in a city born from wishes. A city that people wanted to build on a world without water or air. A city filled with wonderful miracles.
• Stilts-han: I’d go one of two ways: Acchi Kocchi, because it’s funny, romantic, fluffy, and oh so sweet, or: a tie between Carnival Phantasm and Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan, for the same reason: there’s something supremely relaxing about seeing characters I know were so tortured in the original timeline, just relaxing and goofing off in the alternate ones. It’s healing, albeit of wounds its predecessors inflicted. Hm.
• Passerby: This is not a hypothetical for me. I do actually hold a strategic anime reserve. When I’ve been having a particularly bad week I, like any an eccentric bachelor, retreat to my study. There, on the back wall, hangs a 12 x 15 Rembrandt. If you tap van Ruytenburch’s hat thrice the painting will slide aside to reveal a secret passageway. After navigating its myriad booby traps (don’t step on the dark tiles) I’ll come to a private chamber that houses a shelf stocked with a full collection of Studio Ghibli films. Ah, but that’s just a decoy; glued between two pages of the artbook that came with the 10th anniversary edition of Porco Rosso is a small silver key. With that key and a combination known only to myself (great-aunt’s birthday + number of dead pets – cube root of the most recent leap year of the Hebrew calendar) I open a hidden safe in which lies nothing but three seasons of ARIA. I won’t bore you with my love for ARIA — I wrote a three part treatise on the subject. It’s catharsis without tragedy, which is the best kind. Suffice it to say if ARIA can inspire optimism and goodwill even in grouches like me there must be some magic in it somewhere.
• Takkun: I watch Clannad ~After Story~ episode 18 to make myself cry even more.

「帰らざる無宿」 (Kaerazaru mushuku)
“No Place to Return”

Among the pirates, the birds, and the anomalocaris, there’s a story of a girl with a dream.

3DCG in animation has always been a tad unsettling to me. The most recent series of this nature I’ve seen is Ajin, which used the uncanny valley to purposely make its focus characters alien, reminding the viewers that they were isolated from humanity and strange. While the animation choice here seems to be more a case of convenience, it does make for some incredible visuals, especially when it comes to the fights in the sky.

The first dogfight of the episode started a little over five minutes in and it was stunning. There were times when the camera angles shifted to first person, making you feel the spins and dives with the characters. While these battles are going on, there’s a bombastic score to enhance the atmosphere of the scene, as well as propeller and engine SFX so realistic it was like I could hear them coming from right next to me.

Something interesting, the aircraft that goes by the name of Hiryu (飛龍, “Flying Dragon”) was probably inspired by the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier in the 1930’s, and the Hagoromo (羽衣) comes from the feathered kimono of spiritual beings in Japanese Buddhism. Those allusions to past and culture have been a part of the series from the beginning, but as a recent watcher, color me intrigued. Lonely landscape shots, sometimes dotted with abandoned aeroplane parts, reminded me of Nausicaa. The abandoned manmade machines left to nature’s elements around the vast plateau of Ofukouyama, a former pilot training ground, seemed to serve as a reminder to the viewer of how easy it would be for Kirie’s plane to crash one day and not fly again. Through flashbacks, we learned the story of her encounter with an ex-pilot, the man who ignited her desire to travel and see the world. He appeared to be from a mysterious group called the Yufang, and it was this group came from a hole that opened up and may or may not be responsible for the current state of Kotobuki‘s world. Basically, imagine if the isekai wasn’t about the protagonist, but rather the natives of the world struggling to come to terms with the damage left behind in the aftermath.

On a lighter note, this episode’s dialogue was delightfully quirky – Kirie’s first conversation with Ol’ Sab (Tanaka Kan), for example, consisted of her asking if he was dead in a cheerful, upbeat fashion – though sometimes it can focus a little too heavily on exposition.

As for the group dynamic of the pilots, they have enough faith in Kirie not to suspect her of sneaking the money, a testament to how much trust they have in each other’s integrity, and how well they’ve come to know their squadmates.

I’ll admit that between the build-up, the flashbacks, and the score, I was biting my nails at the last take-off scene. Now, I may not be an expert on piloting, but do you really have to wait until the last second to pull up?

It’d be nice if the series expanded more on the rest of the cast in future episodes, as well as the budding mystery, and who knows? Maybe we’ll be seeing the old man again, someday.

Preview

「番外個体 (ミサカワースト)」 (Bangai Kotai (Misaka Waasuto))
“Misaka Worst”

You know after spending a weekend digging out from snap blizzards and dealing with neighbourhood house explosions (winter is amazing I tell you) sometimes you just want to sit back and relax, and watching Index do Index things certainly is one way to do that duty. It may be a show we know deep down isn’t going to be changing now so late in the game, but dammit it’s still can be fun to watch, especially when it hearkens back to that one penultimate battle which never grows old. That’s right it’s Misaka time.

As any of the Index fans or keen eyed could say at the end of last week our mystery girl is in fact another Sister, except now one with attitude (as if the original didn’t have enough to spare already). We’ll probably find out a bit more about Misaka Worst before all is said and done given she’ll pop back up again in the future (hint hint), but simply put for the moment this Misaka is more powerful than her seniors, isn’t “directly” connected to the Misaka network, and more than willing to put sharp pointy things through Accelerator’s perpetually angry face. Her real reason for existing, why she explicitly after Accelerator and Last Order? We’ll know the remaining details soon enough (well, hopefully), but it’s quite interesting watching Accelerator’s reaction towards her and how he’s deigned to treat the girl. The kid wants badly to protect the Sisters and Last Order from harm, badly enough that he initally struggles to raise a fist against one who’s legitimately out to kill him. It’s irony of the highest form, but irony which arguably helps cap off Accelerator’s tumultuous development, showing him to be truly more antihero than villain—and with a caring side to boot. Sure he may never speak of it openly, but this kid, for better or worse, is now a changed man.

Beyond the joys of scientific fisticuffs this week though we also had some more magic fun and games, if only of the incomplete variety. Probably to no one’s surprise, Fiamma still has yet to reveal his grand scheme and real objective, but given he spent the time turning Vento’s forked tongue into an actual forked tongue, I’m willing to overlook the small things. Index is at its best when it turns to prolonged battles after all, for while nothing may make sense and the answers wind up being few and far between, you can always bet on some crazy action to help save the day. Considering Touma and new waifu Lessar are nowhere near close to saving Index (or the world) with that mighty fist of justice just yet, we’re likely to get quite a bit more on that front before all is said and done.

With everyone involved in their own personal battles it’s going to take something big to finally bring them all together and get this party started. The only question is just what that thing will finally be.

Preview

「VSイマジネーター 5」 (VS Imajineetaa 4)
“VS Imaginator 4″

It’s probably fair to say at this point that I find the longer arcs of Boogiepop wa Warawanai more involving that the really abstract ones. Not better per se, as there truly is something meditative about that whole whirlpool narrative approach, but in the end one does want to feel something for characters sometimes. A mix of the two styles is probably best, and I suppose that’s likely what we’ll see over the remaining 10 episodes, but the lingering aftereffects of this subplot will likely influence the rest of the story.

The lingering effect I mean is mostly Jin, who if not a “big bad” is certainly showing the potential to be more than a one-off antagonist. It was already clear that he was more of an existential threat than Spooky E, but this episode absolutely confirmed that. In his rather clumsy fashion Spooky – through KotoE – is still pursuing Masakipop with the idea of killing him and making a show of his corpse. He’s really barking up the wrong tree here though, chasing a bogus Boogie who doesn’t amount to much of a threat to him apart from his influence over Aya.

Eventually KotoE and a bunch of yakuza (s)he’s hired chase Masaki down into a shuttered underground shopping street, where he once again shows that his martial arts skills are no joke. I sincerely doubt he’d have pulled the trigger – especially since he didn’t know the girl whose head he was holding a gun to was a puppet – but as I predicted Nagi stepped in before he ever had to make that decision. Being the tsundere big sis she is I figured Nagi wasn’t going to sit idly by once she knew Masaki was in over his head.

As for Jin, he has most of the highlight moments in the episode. Suema-san comes to visit him in an effort to dig deeper into what’s happening with Kotoe, but she too is in over her head and realizes that quickly enough. One hilarious moment here is watching Jin in full-on cult leader mode as he tries to seduce Suema to his side, then flip it off like a switch once he realizes she isn’t going to bite. What she does next isn’t shown (I suspect go home and take a long shower) but Jin heads for the underground, where he finds Kotoe and her thugs thoroughly incapacitated by Nagi.

Jin is definitely out where the buses don’t run at this point, but it is interesting to hear him wax on about subjects like the difference between sadness and despair (which is really an age-old philosophical question). He eventually winds up at Spooky E’s abandoned amusement park HQ, and there shows that with Imaginator’s powers backing his own cursed gift he has the Spooker thoroughly outclassed. Jin is certainly thinking big – using the Towa Organization as a front to take over the world with his special gardening – but Spooky’s decision to end his own existence after Jin strips his thorns throws a bit of a wrench into the wannabe-messiah’s plans.

Given the time when these novels were written and what was thematically happening in anime sci-fi at the time, it figures there would be an instrumentality element to Boogiepop’s storyline. Jin and his messianic Medical Mechanica delusions are certainly a threat (maybe not the threat in this story, but that’s still to be determined) to humanity, but for now he’s mainly a threat to Aya – who he finds bound and helpless at Spooky E’s HQ after Spooky eliminates himself. Aya is the sacrifice he says he needs to make his plan go forward, which means this arc is probably getting close to its climax. Masaki is certain to be heard from (and not just on the phone) and I suspect we haven’t seen the last of Nagi’s involvement either.

「石上優は生き延びたい / 藤原千花はテストしたい / かぐや様は気づかれたい」 (Ishigami Yū wa Ikinobitai / Fujiwara Chika wa Tesuto-shitai / Kaguya-sama wa Kizukaretai)
“Yu Ishigami Wants to Live / Chika Fujiwara Wants to Test You / Kaguya Wants to Be Noticed”

I am very easily swayed. When I first started watching Kaguya-sama, I really liked the pace of the show and the narrator reminded me of a sports commentator. Around episode two or three, the premise was getting a little tedious and I wanted some variety. As in, can we get some scenes outside the student council office please? But then there was the hilarious ED with Chika and all of a sudden I found myself wanting someone like her in my life. So, week after week, I kept watching because I looked forward to seeing her on screen.

Today’s episode changed it all! Based on last week’s review, I was hoping for some new additions but this was like being thrown into a room full of your favourite foods and not knowing which to taste first. Keep in mind I haven’t read Kaguya-sama so this is like biting into a bean-filled bun without knowing the exact flavour and it turning into a firework explosion in your mouth. Can you tell I’m writing this hungry?

First, we get a solid introduction to student council treasurer Ishigami Yū. I more than welcomed him into my little heart considering I’m big on introverted and socially awkward characters but even more than that, he adds a nice touch of horror to the show. Kaguya’s internal evil just doesn’t really satisfy the palate (I’m still on theme here). His retelling of his trauma is hauntingly amusing to watch and had I been the one he confided in, I’d have reacted the same way when Kaguya entered the room. He’s included in all three chapters, which gave the jokes a little more depth and added texture to the humour.

The first two chapters had me cracking up, but the third chapter spoke to my high school self, and if you watched it, it probably spoke to yours too. Giving a compliment to someone when you’re in high school, especially to the person you have a crush on, is the most difficult thing to do. So when Chika called Ishigami creepy, I felt for him.

But even more, I felt for Kaguya. She tried something new and she wanted the attention but nothing she did in that hilarious ‘notice my nails’ scene seemed to work. She was so sad. At that age, you want someone to notice when you’re trying and give you that compliment. It helps boost confidence for one but also solidifies human connection. In the last scene when she sulked her way off of school grounds, the high school girl inside me just yelled out: “Someone please notice her nails! She’s trying so hard. Please.” I was desperate for her. And when Miyuki came riding towards her on his bike, he wasn’t giving a sliver of hope just to her but to me too. It’s one of the few scenes so far where we see both protagonists attempt to be transparent and real with one another. I like these scenes to be short and infrequent because when they do happen, that little flutter that Kaguya expresses as he rides off into the sunset is the same flutter that gurgles up inside me as I watch. I think I just have a soft spot for romcoms especially when they’re as deliciously well written as this one.

On that note, the only sour point I could think of for this episode is that it didn’t give me what I really wanted: another ED with a performing Chika…

「White Album」 (White Album)
“White Album”

If you ever wanted to know why manga readers have been clamoring to see the fight scenes of Vento Aureo animated, this episode is a clear-cut, textbook example of why this is the case. The fight that Mista and Giorno have against Ghiaccio is inventive in just how much on-the-fly planning that each person has to undergo to come out on top. It goes to show not only how much Araki had developed in creating such unique fights, but also how the level of quality to Araki’s fights have been consistently awesome since Diamond is Unbreakable.

The fights only get better from here, but for now, we have to show Ghiaccio some love for being one of the most charismatic members of La Squadra to appear. The Prosciutto/Pesci dynamic was admirable and Melone might’ve been memorably creepy, but Ghiaccio had a fun personality in the sense of how bent out of shape he got over everything. The last episode had him freak out over linguistic pet peeves that got under his skin, but this time around, he is constantly taken aback by the actions that Mista and Giorno take to avoid White Album’s deadly abilities. Even in situations where he could easily turn the tides on the two, his expressions are bar none some of the most animated we’ve seen from a Vento Aureo antagonist aside from Pesci. It does feel bad that he has to join the rest of La Squadra in getting killed by Passione, but he absolutely put Giorno and Mista through the wringer before they got him in the right position to be knocked into a jagged spike.

Mista also put up a heck of a fight considering that he ended up nearly shooting himself to death so that he could get Ghiaccio to stumble into the pipe. Giorno might have tried to show his resolve by tearing off his own hand after trying to heal his White Album-induced injury and deciding that crashing the car into a nearby canal would be a wonderful idea, but only Mista would go the lengths of letting himself get fatally shot several times in order to win the battle. While his blood was able to spatter on Ghiaccio’s helmet, hindering his (and interestingly enough, the viewers’) visibility, Mista continued to shoot himself in a bid to knock Ghiaccio further into the spike he was stuck on. Becoming a bullet sponge is a running gag for Mista, but it was also fun to see him get Giorno to help him create a snowboard that he used to gain some sick air over the ramp that White Album ended up making. The episode also elaborated on Mista’s backstory at the same moment you see it in the manga, but this time around, we get to see more of what Bruno was able to see in Mista as a noble, misunderstood gunman.

But above Mista shooting himself constantly, above Mista doing some SSX Tricky moves, above Ghiaccio screaming at everything, above all else, this was the episode that brought us one of the most iconic moments of Vento Aureo: The Succ. Although Giorno’s ability to turn the bullets inside Mista into proper flesh to heal his wounds and save his life, it also looks highly suggestive to see Giorno go to work on him. So much so that when Narancia finally found Mista and Giorno, the first sight he saw was Giorno manhandling Mista’s lower section as he gives loud exuberant shouts in response. Many have speculated that Jodeci’s “Freek’N You” was chosen because they knew that it’d be the song that would eventually follow this scene and add fuel to the fire. It was probably to set the tone for the mid/late 90′s production of Vento Aureo, but, much like the fully-fleshed out dance sequence. it effectively turns what was once a humorous gag into a golden experience. With so many moments already that properly set the tone for the incoming “Every time I close my eyes…”, none get quite as close to making the last scene of an episode as sexual as Narancia catching Giorno and Mista in a compromising position. On the horizon, we are also getting extremely close to seeing the boss as he makes his first appearance to rendezvous with Passione, so it’ll be exciting how they pull off their interactions.

Epilogue:

「星に願いを」 (Hoshi ni Negai wo)
“Wish Upon a Star”

Question: when it comes to mahou shoujo, what’s the best way to truly tug at the heartstrings? Despair? Agony? Copious amounts of bloodshed? Please, the refined connoisseur knows the best method always starts with emotional attachment, and there’s no better way to create it than through a little slice of life development. It may be slow going getting to the main story (read: the good stuff) right now, but never fear, once MSTA reaches that point it won’t be disappointing. After all the competition and its inevitable fallout has already been laid bare.

Probably the biggest surprise of MSTA for me right now is how it’s messing with the expected party setup. In these stories you usually anticipate seeing a motley collection of magical girls either banding together against a big evil or winding up duking it out in a coerced FFA, but here we have a mix of the two. The Magical Five who based upon experience you’d predict being best friends with each other seems to have some underlying tensions among each other. Besides the yet to be introduced Peipei and best babushka Russian cutie Tamara (foreshadowing doesn’t lie) and Kurumi’s own impassioned personality, Mia funnily enough doesn’t appear to have much love lost when it comes to her Japanese brethren and any involvement they may have in her mission. Coincidentally interfere with America doing American things? Well cannot answer for the number of additional piercings you’ll wind up with. It’ll be very interesting seeing what happens when all five of the girls inevitably do get back together because something clearly split them apart and whatever it was likely has bearing over current circumstances. Just take the titular Asuka: guaranteed there’s something more to her mahou shoujo hiatus than those traumatic experiences.

What highlights these underlying tensions most however are the additional plot (the other one) tidbits now popping up. This week’s missive for example pretty much confirms the idea one former magical girl is heading the big evil of the moment, and with it the likelihood that one or more former Magical (greater than) Five comrades have decided doing bad things pays a hell of a lot more than following the good book. What the exact reason for shoving round mathematicians into square holes of course is anyone’s guess right now, but I have a sneaking suspicion spitefulness and revenge may be high on the list. After all if Asuka hates her mahou shoujo experience, just think what a magical girl who came within inches of death and was all but collectively forgotten must feel. War has a nasty way of screwing up even the most morally upright of individuals, and when it finally gets to you (as is the case for more than one girl right now), it sticks around for a very long time.

We may not know what MSTA has next in store for our weekly cutie breaking, but you can bet we haven’t seen the true face of the PTSD shenanigans here just waiting for their grand reveal.

Preview

「311045」

I’m sure all of you were expecting last week’s cliffhanger to end up like this. Because of course it did. You’re not a fool. You’ve seen cliffhangers before. This is how they work. They leave us at a high point in the tension at the end of an episode to bait us into watching the next, only to rapidly deflate at the start of that one. I mean it’s not like they can end an episode with, ‘will they die?’ and then have an episode start with, ‘yes, they die!’. Actually, that would be an amusing reversal, but it’ll make the rest of the episode rather hard to write. Where would you go from there? If you start from the height of tension the only place you go is down.

All in all, cliffhangers are cheap tricks and I find them generally offensive. They go to show, though, that thrillers and horrors are not really that interested in how tension is resolved. Rather, they’re about indulging in the tension itself. The exciting part is the build-up, the anticipation, letting the audience work themselves up. Then they release the tension in whatever way — reveal a monster, lop some heads off, a fake-out, doesn’t matter — so they can start over. You can see the cycle in action this very action: the cliffhanger last week was a false alarm, tension is released, so we build it up again with Don (was his name Don?) pulling even riskier stunts, we anticipate potential disaster, he manages to dodge that bullet, rinse and repeat. It’s a familiar routine, but it can sometimes get heavy-handed. I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I like Yakusoku no Neverland is that it features protagonists more intelligent than your usual shounen fare. They’re smart. They know what they’re doing. Unfortunately, Neverland has introduced ‘conflict via stupidity’ back into the plot through Don. It’s nothing to do with his character, I just find it unsatisfying to have characters stumble into trouble through blind ignorance and then stumble out of it through dumb luck. It lacks agency. And I also fundamentally sympathise with Ray; Dan is rash, arrogant, and violent and such qualities jeopardises the entire operation. Yeah, I know, it’s supposed to be a heartfelt moment where we all have a good cry and renew our bonds with each other, but I must confess that a cold part of me was calculating the increased odds of success if we just feed Don to the demons and be done with him.

Well, at least it all served to drive the plot, and here comes Krone offering a deal. Of course, we know better than to trust her, but the enemy of our enemy is our friend. I assume that, if she is indeed bargaining in good faith, she does so in order to undermine Isabella. After all, if a bunch of children escaped on Isabella that would be a mortal blow to her reputation. Better yet, if a bunch of children escaped but it’s Krone who manages to catch them, then she gets to have her brain-flavoured cake and eat it too. Sounds shady, but I’m sure smart kids like Norman and Ray can work with that, and a mutually exploitative relationship is probably better than having Krone as an active enemy. Or perhaps not; as an ally she’s like Don. She’s unreliable, partly because she’s treacherous and mostly because she’s cray. I’m not entirely comfortable in siding with Krone simply because she opposes Isabella, because I’m not convinced that Isabella is entirely villainous. She looked noticeably dismayed when she heard that Norman planned to murder her. She keeps mementoes of her lost children. Perhaps there’s something human in her still.

On that note, who’s William Minerva? Minerva is the Roman version of Athena, the patron god of, er, Athens, who presides over wisdom and the martial arts. The owl is one of her symbols. No spoilers, of course, but here’s my bets: first place, Isabella; runner up, a generic resistance group outside; dark horse, a race of owl-people opposing the demons.