Spring 2018 – Week 4

Another week, another roundup of this week’s shows.

This week’s surprise discovery – a character’s name in a series this season has an unexpected real world meaning. What character? What meaning? You’ll have to read the entry to find out!

Seriosuly, I love sharing the odd side bits of information I find when researching shows.

Anyhow, hit the jump and let’s get right to it!

The shows that I am watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics.  Question marks denote shows not watched yet (during the premiere weeks), and strikethrough marks dropped shows.

3D Kanojo / Real Girl Ep 5

After disposing of last week’s nasty business…  They waste no time in moving on to two staples of the romantic drama genre:  First off, The Misunderstanding and Semi Breakup.  Except, it’s not really a misunderstanding – Tsutsui’s self-esteem issues are very real, and his reluctance (unwillingness) to grasp that Iroha actually is in love with him have finally pissed her off to the breaking point.  And he’s wallowing too deep in his self-pity to grasp why she’s so pissed off.

Secondly, the Alternate Love Interest.  Here it takes the form of Ayado, a underclassman and also an otaku who is now infatuated with Tsusui.  I really wish they hadn’t gone there, because the dynamic between the MC’s is interesting and well done enough that I don’t think they needed to.

Comic Girls Ep 4

Character roulette continues, and this week it’s Ruki’s turn…  She’s badly lacking in confidence as her first book signing event approaches.  How will her fans react when they discover that Big Boobs ♥ Himeko (her pen name) isn’t really well endowed?  (Grrr… this show and it’s concentration on physical appearances is getting annoying.)  Turns out, fangirls don’t care – they’re all SQEEEEE over getting to meet the person behind the pen without regards for looks.

Also, once again, the dorm’s matron steps in with a last-minute save – this time, taking care of Ruki’s makeup and giving her a mature look.

Also, also, Tsubasa Best Girl.

Cutie Honey Universe Ep 4

Honey decides she’s had Precisely Enough of waiting around for Panther Claw to act so that she and the PCIS can react.  To draw PC out, she transmogrifies in Idol Honey (at last, they’re introducing more of her alternate forms).  This induces PC to kidnap her, and cart her off to their Evil Lair…  where it turns out she’s taken the form of one of Panther Puppets to escape the trap.  This also finally leads to them using her classic henshin sequence lines as she transforms into Cutie Honey to fight the bad guys and escape their clutches.

Only, why sneak into the lair if you’re promptly going to fight your way right back out without having actually accomplishing anything?

Of the weird and creepy scene that took up most of the B part, the less said the better.

Hinamatsuri Ep 4

This was…  wow.  A genuinely good episode.  I loved Hina and Anzu’s time together.  Hina, remains Hina – and Anzu doesn’t try to presume on their past connection.  She’s settled into her new life and seems to be determined to do her level best with the hand she’s been dealt.  On the other hand, her streak and spirit of independence seems to have been broken.  It’s a conundrum…

I’ve seen some folks criticize Utako, Hitomi, and the bar patrons for tossing Nitta out on his dead ass.  I find myself disagreeing with the criticism, once he accepted responsibility for Hina – that’s something he can’t walk away from so easily.

Hina for her part remains determined to go “home”, even though she can’t quite fathom why she can’t.  Despite what I said above, I can sympathize with Nitta – Hina is self-centered and clueless and stubbornly retains both qualities.  Look at how she tosses the band under the bus once she has the means to buy a cheap vase to replace the expensive one she broke.  (Not that she understands the difference between them.)

In the end, Nitta takes the high roads – accepting Hina’s gift in the spirit it was given.  As I said, she doesn’t understand but she’s trying and Nitta accepts that.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits / Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Ep 5

Sean at Moe Sucks opines that Aoi is converting Tenshin-ya’s staff to her side one by one…  I think he’s right, and it’s a crappy way to plot an anime.  But we’re running out of main characters and the stock of unaligned side characters is getting pretty low too…

And jeez, after all the buildup about her cooking – she’s going to serve Oodanna curry from curry blocks?  I mean, I like the stuff myself, but it’s a short cut.

My Hero Academia 3 /  Boku no Hero Academia 3 Ep 4 (Ep 42)

That was an… incredible fight.  Half of me knew Midoriya couldn’t lose (he’s the MC after all).  The other half wondered if he just might lose…

And without Recovery Girl, he’s going to be hors de combat for some time – his arm is seriously messed up this time.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori Ep 3

The lads of Rokuhoudou are invited to take part in a grocery store special event, and eventually reluctantly do so… and succeed brilliantly.  But that’s not the important part of the episode.  That comes in the bomb-drop in the last-minute or so:  Sui has a brother, a twin, and a past.  o.0?  Maybe there is going to be some depth here.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online Ep 4

OK, after two eps of background – we’re finally back in the fight.  Only to have the fight interrupted by yet another flashback where Pito explains the mechanics of the Bullet Line and Bullet Circle to LLENN – aaargh, this show is killing me with its obsessive attention to details of the game mechanics.

And then…  there’s The Letter.  Who gave it to M? (Obviously Pito.)  Why?  And why 15:00?  And just who the hell is M?  Some folks have said he must be Kanzaki Elsa’s (M)anager, but would he be at her live event?

Many questions, few answers, and much willingness to throw objects at the TV.

Also, I just discovered that “Pitohui” isn’t a made up word – it’s a type of bird.  A bird whose flesh is toxic and inedible.  Interesting – I wonder if there’s a connection?

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai / Tada Never Falls in Love Ep 4

As soon as I figured out that this ep was going to revolve around Pin-senpai‘s infatuation with HINA…  I thought to myself “Well, here it comes.  The episode where I drop Tada.”  As it turns out, that’s not the case and the ep didn’t entirely suck.  I figured out pretty quickly that Hinako was HINA, and it was annoying that Pin-senpai never did.  On the other hand, Hinako herself was pretty wishy-washy about her feelings too…  Both of these plot points are bog standard rom com fare, regardless of the media

I think eps 3 and 4 are defining how Tada is going to proceed – showing love in its many splendored forms all around Tada and Theresa-hime before finally getting down to business with the main couple.  Among these, Alex herself is also pretty plainly infatuated with Theresa-hime…  There’s also the blond-haired prince dude, he’s been referred to too much to not put in an appearance at some point.  I bet he’s in love with Theresa-hime, and it’s not beyond possibility that (unbeknownst to Theresa-hime) there’s an arranged marriage thing going on too.

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Ep 6

Well, the managed to pack the beach ep, the training camp ep, and the school festival ep all into one episode…  Other than that, it was pretty much Umamusume‘s standard episode pattern – filler/train, race, roll credits.  They’re trying, but failing badly, to drum up some drama between the teams…  which might work better if anyone who isn’t Spe-chan ever got some significant camera time.

After dunking on them last week for pushing Silence Suzuka into the background, it was nice to see her race this week.  She pretty much unemotional about it though, she comes out of the gate and just runs.  The focus of the race was on her competitors trying (and failing to even close) to beat her.

Any did anyone else notice the plethora of carrots in the ep?  Spe-chan had a carrot (for a snack?) on her desk, and a big carrot plushie on her bed.  And there’s a carrot sticker on what appears to be their dorm fridge.  There were grilled carrots at the beach BBQ, and something called “Choco Carrots” (yuck!) at the school festival.  I almost expected the eating contest to be carrots, but it turned out to be doughnuts.

And that’s a lot of words on a meaningless show, but I go where my muse takes me.  At least she showed up for a bit today.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Ep 3

It’s a series about otaku, so inevitable there would be a Comiket episode, or at least half an episode.  They managed to pack in all the standard tropes, so good enough.  It was charming to see Hirotaka supporting Narumi, but so far it seems to be a one way street.

The sleepover bit was kinda odd, but charming…  Especially Hirotaka’s awkward attempt at kissing Narumi.  She’s ready to level up their relationship, but scared as hell of doing so as well.  (She’s barely gotten used to idea she’s dating as an otaku.)  The less said of the porn stash hunt, the better.  That was just embarrassing and unnecessary.

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And there you have it, my thoughts on this week’s shows.  Longer than I meant to be in some places, but so it goes.

What are your thoughts this week?  Drop me a line in the comments and let’s chat!