Whew! Two weeks to catch up on (again)! Sorry for the delay, but I had my hands full with the Thanksgiving holiday. (A full week of dancing on the culinary high wire without a net – I love it!)
So, let’s hit the jump and 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, and strikethrough marks dropped shows.
A Certain Magical Index III Eps 7-8
Over at 100 Word Anime, Karandi asks a very good question: Shouldn’t I be enjoying this series more? I was really looking forward to a new entry in the franchise, but eight weeks in I’m finding it increasingly hard to summon any enthusiasm. (Not helped by the fact that the last couple of episodes have been particularly weak.)
Anima Yell! Eps 7-8
Nothing specific to say about these two episodes… Anima Yell! remains a solidly character driven CGDCT series. While I wouldn’t say that it tops Three leaves, Three colors, it’s not missing by much.
Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru Eps 7-8
So, is Sayaka going to make her move or just remain a pain in the ass hovering around in the wings? Make a decision girl! (Though as it stands, you’ve lost the race.)
Also, the umbrella/bench scene was diabetes inducing levels of sweet… and also nearly perfectly done.
Bunny Girl Senpai Ep 9
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai / Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl-senpai no Yume wo Minai
Is it jut me, or did Bunny Girl Senpai know another one out of the park this week?
Part of that is no doubt due to Mai once again being front and center, even if she is in Nodaka’s body. Bunny Girl has always been at it’s best when she and Sakuta are sparking off of each other.
I find it fascinating how Nodaka has bought into being compared with Mai, even though she knows she’s been forced into it. It’s not quite something like Stockholm Syndrome, but not far off it either I wager. Even though she’s still ahead of almost everyone (being a debuted idol), she still feels second best, like a consolation prize.
For Mai’s part… I think it’s telling that she was watching Sweet Bullet last episode. She thinks more about her sister than her sister knows. (And no doubt the contents of the forbidden cabinet are going to make that clear.)
Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara / IRODUKU : The World in Colors Ep 8
This week we got a nice long look at Grandma-chan’s character, and it was magnificent. It really drove home that she wasn’t (isn’t?) the randomly destructive teenager that the school portrayed her to be. On the other hand, here and in the past we’ve seen that she isn’t always mindful of the consequences of her actions or the effects they might have on other people. She’s not malicious, just a bit clueless.
There’s been speculation here and there about how/when/if Hitomi will return to her native time… And think this episode dropped a huge hint: The effects of Kohaku’s time magic always wear off. Is that something she learns to overcome, or is Grandma sixty years in the future depending on that? Did she spend sixty years growing a spell powerful enough to send Hitomi back? Or was she growing a spell that would hopefully last long enough for Hitomi to find her answers?
As Hitomi has found a home in the present that she never had in the future, that could make for a very bittersweet ending.
This line pleased me… Because capturing and conveying light is what photographers do after all.
Release the Spyce Ep 7
What a complete mess… I guess we were supposed to have some feels over Hatsume and Goe’s relationship and the complications springing from Hatsume and Theresia’s “re-union”. But the whole thing was so hamfisted and drawn out I felt nothing. Yeah, I’m done here.
It’s official, dropped at Ep 7.
Run with the Wind / Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Eps 8-9
These two episodes can probably be neatly summed up as Kakeru’s fall from grace and redemption. He starts off pissed at himself for what he sees as his poor performance at their first track meet – and he starts taking it out and those around him. Poor Prince is the main target of his ire, and we cliffhanger there to end Ep 8. But we the viewers have seen something Kakeru didn’t, or discounted if he did… Prince is, in his own way, actually trying to better himself and obtains a treadmill so that he can work out while reading his beloved manga.
Episode 9 was a work of art… The team attends a track meet, but Haiji doesn’t schedule them all to run. Kakeru is pretty pissed at this too. (To be honest, that boy has chip on his shoulder and a really short fuse.) But the race… the race changes everything. Even Kakeru gets caught up in the heat of the moment and yells his fool head off to encourage the runners. For their part, the runners respond and put the spurs to it… None of them make the needed official time, but feeling part of the team goes a long way towards making up for that. I really liked the way they were breaking down their own performances afterwards. Not bitter for not making the time, but honest assessments of what they did wrong and need to improve on.
We then get a brief glimpse at another thread running through the episodes… Nico-chan senpai denying himself food and forcing himself to work out. Haiji does his level best to reign in this self-destructive behavior, and reveals how deeply he’s been looking after the team in the background. (Though we’ve seen some of that in how he’s set the training regimen.)
Episode 9 ends on a bleak note… With Haiji collapsing in the kitchen.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Ep 8
Finally, some action! And some hints on what is going on… Kirito and Sortiliena both make a big deal over how “the power of imagination” lends powers and capability to a combatant. My guess is that this is somehow related to the Mystic Arts (“System Calls”) we’ve seen previously.
My guess is that not just anyone can overcome the limits programmed into them via the Taboo Index and reinforced by strong social mores. It takes a certain strength of will to do so… And that makes me think that the Rath project should be investigating Levanteinn and his ilk rather than Alice who violated the Index more-or-less by accident. On the other hand, it’s not clear to me that Kikuoka and his team actually have any detailed knowledge of what’s going on. And they’re not talking with Kirito, the one guy who could tell them.
Huh… it just struck me as I was typing that paragraph. They aren’t trying to contact Kirito and so far as we know have no idea of what’s actually going on. That strikes me as odd, especially since it’s a research project. Do they know more than they let on to Asuna? (Yeah, we can probably take that as a given.) It’s all very odd.
The climax of the fight is set to Swordland – my second favorite piece of music from the SAO OST.
My favorite piece is Luminous Sword – among other places, it’s used during Asuna and Yuuki’s duel (SAO II, Ep 19), and a remixed version is used during the climactic boss battle in Ordinal Scale.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime / Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken Ep 8
This episode was… Unexpectedly good. So far, Slime has given characters who aren’t Rimuru pretty short shrift so I didn’t expect the poignant focus on Shizue’s fate. Honestly, the first episode so far to make me lean forward, pay attention, and actually care.
The Girl in Twilight / Akanesasu Shoujo
Reading the reviews over the last two weeks… It doesn’t look like Twilight has improved much and the odds are against it doing so… Therefore, I’m going to make it official:
Dropped at 7 episodes.
Tsurune / Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu Eps 5-6
I’m trying to come with something insightful to say here, but so far Tsurune hasn’t exactly been a deep or insightful show, has it? It certainly hasn’t been bad though. I enjoyed the training camp ep and watching the boys come together as a group. The girls are still being almost criminally ignored… Tommy-sensei and Masa-sensei‘s conversation was interesting. I’d been wondering about their background. I wonder if Masa’s grandfather also trained Tommy? He seems awfully familiar with him, too familiar to have been by reputation alone.
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Also yay – my 200th post! Hadn’t even realized I was close.
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And there you have it! How did your shows go the last two weeks? Drop a comment and let’s chat!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
Congrats on the 200 posts! :D I keep hearing more and more about Run With the Wind and Bloom Into You, but I haven’t even started them yet. I keep getting more and more bogged down in the ones I’m already watching. I love how Bunny Girl is consistent with how good it is every week, pretty much just what I hoped it would be!
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Thanks! Both are worth checking out, but I do get being bogged down… A good part of why I’m starting to get more proactive about drops.
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Congrats on two hundred posts!
And I do agree with your comments on Sayaka just being there and taking screen time and Tsurune being puddle deep.
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Thanks! Nothing wrong with being puddle deep though, so long as it’s competently executed… And Tsurune has struggled to get to that point.
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@Bunny Girl Senpai: I found myself fast-forwarding through Rio’s arc’s conclusion: this show is dropped. I find it just incredibly boring, and when I’m bored the silly things (like the pseudo science talk) stands out. It’s a pity. This was one of the shows I was actually looking forward to, but it doesn’t work for me at all. I think I’ll follow the episodicals on Moe Sucks for this.
Tsurune is also inching closer to the precipice. KyoAni in-house shows never really seem to resonate with me. I don’t think I’d still be here, if I hadn’t always wanted an archery anime. The worst thing about this show for me is the score. The music’s good, but it’s taking over far too many scenes and doesn’t do what a soundtrack should. What a waste of good music!
@Slime: I’m not watching this one for the narrative, but the show can be surprisingly subtle at times (subtlety is not the shows main game). The scene where Shizue asks for Rimuru’s name, and he doesn’t get the question at first… Here he is after only a couple of weeks/month and has pretty much gone native, while Shizue still rejects this world after 60 years. And it’s all in this short moment.
@Anima Yell!: is a lot more fun than I thought would be, but there’s fairly little to say about it. (The vampire show had a good episode, too.)
@Run With the Wind: This show’s just really good at what it does. It’s amazing how well I feel I know the cast, even if some of them haven’t done much. I certainly didn’t expect Haiji to collapse, but I wouldn’t put it past the show to have him drop out first (though they’d need a tenth man, then, wouldn’t they?)
This reminds me: did you finish reading or watching the Great Passage. Curious about your thoughts. Coming from The Great Passage, I was initially surprised how conventional Run With the Wind seems, even though I could see the author’s touch.
And finally: it’s time to mention Merc Storia again. A completely family friendly episodical fantasy show is a rare thing, but this one’s great, and the characters of the week (or two weeks in case of a two-parter) are actually the stars of their respective episodes. The current two parter seems one of the better ones, too, and people should watch this for the awesome stage performance and rejected-love song. I wish people would talk about this one more. It’s really good, though it’s maybe too kid-friendly?
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re:Bunny girl In it’s defense, Rio’s arc was pretty danged weak. My wife started watching, and I rewatched alongside her – until it came to that arc. Then I told her “you need to watch this arc for continuity, but I’m skipping it”. It gets a lot better once it gets to the Mai/Nodaka arc.
Re:Slime Agreed… It can really pull off the little moments (Veldoria and the Ifrit was another good one), but large scale structure eludes it.
Re: Great Passage. Yes to both, and my wife too. I loved how the shifting POV characters in the novel kept bringing fresh eyes to the narrative. I enjoyed the anime, but it was a bit too compacted… But I can see why they did that. There was too much material for a single cour, yet not enough for two. My only real crank with it is that they completely blew the scene where Kaguya comes to Mitsuya’s room.
I wish I was better at writing seasons reviews, so I could get more people to watch it. Especially now that Amazon’s anime offering are more accessible to North Americans.
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Aww, you make we want to read The Great Passage, now. Must be a great book to read.
@Bunnygirl Sempai: I was never into the show to begin with. I always wanted to like it more than I actually did. I’m not sure why the show bores me. I have some quibbles with it, but none of them should be dealbreakers. It’s because I’m bored that they stand out. I don’t know why. Everyone seems to like the show, too. In a sense, I’ve been using the arc as an easy way out more than as a reason in itself, if that makes sense. I’d feel disappointed with the show, if I weren’t so puzzled about my reaction.
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You mean you haven’t? You really should – it goes much deeper into stuff the anime only brushes over. It’s very good.
Re:Bunnygirl Senpai Fair enough.
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The biggest problem for me reading stuff is availability: I don’t have nor do I want an e-reader, and I never buy things on the internet. I used to order things through bookshops, but with the advent of Amazon that’s become increasingly harder, as bookshops tend not to bother with foreign contacts (for what little business they’d get) and wholesale importers import less for much the same reasons.
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Are you thinking of dropping Index or will you keep going regardless?
That said, you raised some great points about Kirito and why they don’t seem to have any contact between those in the game and out. I’m sure those who’ve read the source know the answer already but now I’m super curious to keep watching to find out.
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I think I’m going to keep going, mostly to make sure I have context for the upcoming Railgun and Accelerator series. (Huge sprawling franchises can be problematic in that respect.) But I am going to shift it over to the “only comment when something special happens” category alongside Slime.
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That may be the path I end up taking. Watching the anime but not reviewing it. I’ll keep going until the end of the Autumn season, then I’ll see what comes out and whether or not Index still has a place in my review list.
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Well, great. Guess I’m the last one standing in finishing/enduring The Girl in Twilight. What a hill to die on lol.
Anyway, congrats on 200 posts!
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I think Marth and Moesucks are also covering Twilight, but yeah… It’s a dwindling number.
Thanks!
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I loved the cheering during run with the wind… Those faces!
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When the episode was finished, I knew I had to use a screenie from that sequence. :)
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Kakeru sure let his anger get to him but this week was a much better episode. Watching them run from the side lines is a complete different feeling and I’m glad Kakeru actually got caught in the moment of it all. It allowed him to see just how hard everyone is working. Still, Haiji’s collapse at the end was bleak. Maybe he’s the one that’s truly overworked playing the role of coach, captain and manager.
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Kakeru has blown hot and cold all through the story… Maybe this time he’s finally gotten the message.
I’m crossing my fingers for Haiji, he has been working hard but I never expected that.
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Hopefully! I think Haiji’s fainting might do the trick.
That’s true. Hopefully Haiji will be okay.
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Congratulations on 200 posts! It’s amazing how fast time flies, isn’t it?
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Thanks! It is, it is. And with my 2nd blog-a-versary only a couple of weeks away, it means I’ve averaged putting out a post every three-four days… which seems impossible.
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Consistent effort applied across time — it’s almost amazing what you can achieve!
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