Posted by 
The King is dead – long live the King! Well – wounded anyway. Peeved, at least. Yes, we have our first change at the top – and it’s truly astonishing that Mob Psycho 100 could put up three episodes this great and still cede the top spot. It’s just a testament to how good Dororo has been so far. There’s a shakeup in the rest of the poll too, as the season continues to sort itself out.
This week’s Dark Horse segment sees Cho-Cho step up to the plate with a plug for one of this season’s short series (one which I’m enjoying a lot too). And our “Ask the Writer” segment heads into dank meme territory for the first time.
Without further ado, here are Winter’s premiere results:
Weekly Staff Poll
Dororo (2018) – 19 points (3 first place votes)
Mob Psycho 100 II – 11 points (1)
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Ren’ai Zunousen – 8
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. – 6
Boogiepop wa Warawanai – 5
Choya’s Dark Horse
- Choya’s Dark Horse Series: Ueno-san wa Bukiyou – Although it’s a short anime, Ueno-san wa Bukiyou stands out for me as this season’s go-to comedy. The desperate struggle that Ueno faces to get even the slightest reaction from Tanaka and have him reciprocate her feelings is hilarious to see unfold. Despite creating ground-breaking inventions like a Waterworld-esque filtering machine that can convert urine to water, a device that creates holographic censors, and a machine that pulls water from the Milky Way, she always misuses them for the sole purpose of getting Tanaka to see her in an amorous light. It is funny to see how far Ueno goes when channeling the deepest, most perverse sections of her mind to grab Tanaka’s attention such as getting excited about the prospect of indirect kisses or having him sniff her pantyhose. Even funnier is Tanaka’s attitude as he goes from being oblivious and slightly annoyed by Ueno’s exploits to taking sadistic delight in making her plans backfire. It’s not the most sophisticated material around and your mileage may vary on the raunchiness of Ueno’s plans, but for those who open themselves up to Ueno-san wa Bukiyou, it’s a riotous refuge in audacity that blends adorable character designs with the bawdy machinations of Ueno’s imagination.
Ask The Writers
Enzo’s Note: Damn some of them took this seriously. Also — The McDonald’s Triangle
- Enzo: “We have food at home”. Why? Because if I have kids (I don’t), I damn well do have food at home. Plus, I’m not enough of a bastard to do the black coffee thing (though I’d be tempted) and I would never voluntarily subject myself to McDonald’s except for ¥100 coffee or sofuto kurimu.
- Stilts: “‘One black coffee’, but only because I’ve heard the bit and I’m not above stealing good material to get a laugh (and traumatize some kids). The rest of the time I’d 100% be ‘We have food at home’. They can get a job if they want to eat out.”
- Zaiden: Probably more towards McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!, because I’d hate to disappoint the kids. I can imagine wanting to make them happy as a parent. But I wouldn’t want to spoil them too often, and McDonald’s isn’t the healthiest. So perhaps halfway. A love for Filet O Fish and Hot Apple Pies are encoded into my blood. But KFC is love, KFC is life.
- Passerby: I’d like to think that I’d place somewhere in the middle of this McDonald’s triangle because humans are creatures of infinite complexity and how we respond to any given situation depends largely on whims and moods. What would actually happen, though, is that I would realize I had raised children whose idea of a treat worth clamoring for is Mc-bloody-Donald’s and I’ll drive the car into a lake.
- Choya: I’m a big proponent of not wasting food, so I’d be down for the idea of eating food at the house when we have leftovers to take care of before they go bad. But I also love coffee and it’s a good teaching tool to let the younglings know that fast food isn’t always a good option, so I might slightly push towards that side of the triangle.
- Pancakes: Smack dab halfway between “we have food at home” and “orders a single coffee and leaves” because food is expensive yet the Schadenfreude of snuffing out the hopes and dreams of younglings is just too damn tempting.
@Mentar, now are you pleased to see Kaguya-sama claim its rightful place on this list? 😛
I should also add that I’d be nowhere near coffee because I don’t like it, lmao.
I learned something today. I had no idea about that McDonald’s triangle thing.
Zaiden, gald to have you on the Filet O Fish team *high five*
Haha 🙂
Kaguya-sama is a weird show which is difficult to predict. I have friends who share my anime taste to 95% who remain completely cold to Kaguya-sama. Myself, I love the show (and especially the characters) to pieces. Seems there is little middle ground – love it or leave it.
When it comes to non-manga adaptations, or non-sequels, I tend to pick up new season series later when more episodes have built up, so I’m excited at the prospect of Dororo being good.
If it’s for myself, I’m halfway between McDonalds! and We have food at home. The internal struggle of reason and desire within myself. McDonalds is not great, but damn right it still gives me a hit of MSG and fried food that I crave. If I have kids though, straight-up eating at home.
Oops, I mean manga adaptations that I haven’t read myself haha.
I had a feeling Tak would come through with the Maou-sama image…
Wait, MP100 dropped out of first place
I’m curious, did Dororo suddenly become amazing to you guys or did MP100 become less so ? because I’m watching them both and I haven’t detected a change in quality yet
Take it from the consummate samurai hater that is myself. Dororo’s third episode was that good for me. I’d expected the story to become Hyakkinmaru fighting monster of the week to regain humanity step by step. But then they go and add in the story of his foster father, and what a rollercoaster that was.
Tezuka stories are never as straightforward as that (though ironically Junaki’s backstory is entirely anime-original).
Mob Psycho has absolutely been as great as I expected. Phenomenal. It’s just that Dororo has been that good that it’s become a genuine horse race. I’ve already voted for each of them at least once and it won’t surprise me a bit if they both get multiple #1 votes from me again.
Dororo was never worse than #2 in the poll so it’s not as if there was a dramatic change.
The third episode of Dororo was superb indeed. Nevertheless Mob had an excellent episode as well, however it was more of a buildup to what’s to come.
Also, Passerby has such a refined yet savage answer to this weeks question. Had a very good laugh!
Refined, savage yet totally evasive. Could a career in politics be on the horizon?
I’ve never been more insulted in my life.
Yeah, but you’re still young!
Ha, now that’s funny.
Hold up Enzo, don’t you live in Japan, where McDonald’s is actually good?
I don’t know who started that myth, but I don’t personally see McD’s as being much better here than in America. QC is better, but it’s mostly the same food. In a land where brewed coffee is usually pricey their 100¥ beats the one at most of the konbini, and the soft serve for the same price is fine. But the burgers and such? Not unless it’s an emergency.
Having eaten McDonalds in Japan I can’t say I felt a difference outside of the stores being a hell of a lot more crowded