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「追憶の肖像」 (Tsuioku no Shouzou)
“Portrait of Memories”
With the opening and ending sequence taken out in favor of extra time, plus a new ending theme by Ishikawa Chiaki (Garden of Summer), this flashback episode felt like the lead up to the finale. It definitely surprised me with the way it unfolded, which was very different from what I had in mind.
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「怨嗟断絶のアポトーシス」 (Ensa Danzetsu no Apotōshisu)
“Disruption of Apoptosis”
I’m going to resist the urge for a general “I told you so” because I’m sure that by tomorrow, the combination of microanalysis and thoughtless spoilers will have found 20 things wrong in the next few paragraphs. But for now, it feels good to know that we’ve finally reached the point I’ve felt this series has been building towards.
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「くり済ませり」 (Kurisumaseri)
“Doing Christmas”
I’m not too sure how to translate the title for this episode, but it sure sounds like a dirty play on words for “Christmas” when the Japanese could be read as “finish and repeat”. Or if you prefer, “do the deed over and over again.”
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「愛・香林祭」 (Ai – Kourin Matsuri)
“Love – Kourin Matsuri”
If only Minko could have just done what she did last episode.
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「僕とのぞきと男の友情っ!」 (Boku to Nozoki to Otoko no Yuujou)
“Me, Peeping, and BROTHERHOOD”
I can’t recall the last time a show decided to break the fourth wall, but Baka Test’s narrator definitely sounded pretty pissed this week. All jokes aside, it’s beginning to feel a wee bit tedious with the collective brain power of our four three guys failing to discover their blackmailer.
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「日常２０」 (Nichijou 20)
“My Ordinary Life 20”
I think this is the first time Nichijou has spent so much time on one skit.
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「祓い屋」 (Haraiya)
“Exorcist”
There’s no doubt that the highlight of this week’s Natsume Yuujinchou was the preview, but that’s more of a comment on how great the preview was than a knock on the episode itself. And we’ll get to the preview in a minute…
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「天窓 Lucarne」 (Tenmado)
“Skylight”
For an episode where Yune catches a cold, we sure had a lot of people worrying about her.
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「真実のヨシアシ」 (Shinjitsu no Yoshi Ashi)
“The True Yoshi and Ashi”
I’ve never seen an anime swap its opening and ending themes with new sequences to go for each, but somebody at Sunrise seems to have had a change of heart seven episodes later. Surprisingly, Nanri Yuuka’s “Miracle” seems to be better suited as an opening theme.
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「Episode 4」
Taking a page out of the anime, the drama also sees the debut of Houshikaguji Renge (Tsuchiya Tao) in the fourth episode.