Not a bad week on the anime front that is… Crazy busy IRL Thurs and Friday, so really needed to get this out today. And, since you’re seeing this, I obviously did.
So, without further ado, let’s hit the jump and run ’em down!
The shows that I’m watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics, strikethrough marks dropped shows and (*) marks shows that are watched but not regularly reviewed.
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform Episode 7
Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku
After a short streak of mediocre(ish) episodes, Akebi comes roaring back with something a little different… Hebimori is Akebi’s new focus, and agrees to play her guitar for Akebi. Only, unlike the previous characters, Hebimori can’t actually play the guitar. She’s kinda dreamed about it for years, but she’s never actually gone ahead and done it. Thanks to her roomates support and Akebi’s unending wellspring of cheer – she manages to learn a simple tune. And discovers that she actually enjoys the results of the work…
Reminded me a lot of the scene in Sound Euphonium (S1E6) where Hazuki finally gets to sit down and play rather than just practicing. Given that it aired a year before Akebi started serialization, I wonder if there’s a connection between the two.
Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 Episode 7
Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Part 2
– Floch… has gone off the deep end. And I don’t see that this ends well, as I don’t think Eren ever intends for a dictatorship to be established. Assuming he has an endgame beyond “protecting the people of Paradis”. Quite a few of which have been injured or killed by the Wall Titans… He probably didn’t think through that detail.
– Armin… Titan‘s eternal optimist finally grasps the truth. And promptly melts down. And he puts his finger right on the real problem – even if the world is sterilized… Titans, particularly the Nine, will still exist. He’s probably never heard the saying, but he’s grasped the truth… “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
– I thought I heard that there are a million Wall Titans. Assuming the planet they’re on is Earth sized, if they march outward in a circle – they’ll be forty meters apart at the largest diameter. How broad are their shoulders? But either way, certainly big enough to effectively destroy every city, town, and major ecosystem on the planet. Maybe not to kill every human though, it’s conceivable to flee ahead and then slip between. But it won’t be pretty for anyone who survives – even the people of Paradis.
Thoughts on the last two paragraphs: There’s been a lot of electrons spent debating what Titan is an analogy for. But I’ve never seen nuclear weapons and nuclear war put forward in that context – but that’s sure as hell the closest thing I can think of.
– Hange, Hange, Hange… WTF are you thinking, surrendering yourself and Levi to the Cart? The Marleyans have no love for the Scouts. And I doubt the circumstances will improve their mood.
– Gabi… She certainly has changed. But she’s still determined to save Falco. And now there’s two groups out to stop Conny. And he’s not going to care very much.
But I’m not entirely clear on the motivations. Gabi obviously wants Falco not to be eaten… But Armin? Seems to be more about the Jaw Titan. What’s his endgame?
– And finally, Annie. Who is retreating from the battlefield… And it’s not at all clear what her plans are.
Lupin III: Part 6 Episode 19
Definitely a low-key episode, with Lupin & Co. barely making an appearance at all. The major plot was resolved kind of weakly… Most of the focus was on Goro and Ariana, Zenegata’s proteges/assistants. And it turns out Tomoe was also Ariana’s tutor/surrogate parent! Tomoe seems to have gotten around quite a bit, and I don’t think it’s the same as Lupin or Holmes – where the name is an inherited mantle.
And how does Mattea fit into the bigger picture? There was a serious hint of potential violence during her meeting with Ariana…
My Dress-Up Darling Episode 7
Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru (C/F/V AP)
After this episode, I’m a lot more confident in the show’d future direction… Inui seems to be more a vehicle for Marin and Gojo’s growth as cosplayer and costume designer/maker than any interfering factor.
And is it just me or was Marin and Gojo’s “home date” just so cute? (Of course, Marin was the only one who realized it was a date. Gojo is a blockhead in that respect.) Love it that Marin isn’t really fighting it or trying to convince herself she’s wrong or whatever. She’s a go-with-the-flow character to start with, but this goes a bit beyond that I think.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Gojo finally twigs to what’s going on… He’s not only not the sharpest pencil in that respect, he really doesn’t have any idea of how interpersonal relationships work.
I can’t be the only one who LOLed at this… And also remembered the many times I’ve said the equivalent.
(*) Police in a Pod Episode 7
Hakozume: Koban Joshi no Gyakushuu (F)
Salaryman’s Club Episode 4
Ryman’s Club (C/V)
Tournament episode. Shiratori faces the partner he left behind – and can’t play against him. There’s some big betrayal there, and some baggage we aren’t privy to yet. In the flashback, they were joined at the hip. But… there’s more I think.
Shiratori and Miyazumi ditching the team dinner to go learn more about green onions strikes me as being precisely in Miyazumi’s character. He’s a fun loving guy for sure, and a bit of an oddball… But he takes his work very seriously. And Shiratori is learning to as well.
Slow Loop Episode 7
(F AP)
At first, I was mostly annoyed by Futaba’s arc. By this episode made me feel a lot better as it showed how Hiyori is coming out of her shell, and Koharu is getting a lot more responsible. Of course it goes with saying this is because of how they’re affecting each other.
Putting on the wedding dinner for their parents? *Chef’s Kiss* Just Perfect.
I’ve blown hot and cold on this series, but this really was a good episode.
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Came across this on Facebook this week… and it strikes me as oh-so-very-true. Even outstanding series like Euphonium and Yorimoi rely at least a little on anime specific tropes and symbology…
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Two doctor’s appointments Thurs and Fri, routine followups & therapy on my back pain, so nothing to worry about. But the physical therapy really wears me out. So, if this is a little more hurried than usual, that’s why. Of course, if I could muster more motivation on Mondays this wouldn’t have been a problem.
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After a week or so of balmier temperatures, the thermometer plunged over the weekend… Homemade minestrone with homemade bread was the perfect thing.
But the sun has been setting after 5PM and it’s creeping ever closer to setting after 6PM, so the end of winter is in sight. Don’t want to say more and jinx it because historically we’ve had nasty storms as late as next week.
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Anyhow, that’s all for me this week! What are your thoughts this week? Did you eat something especially good? Drop a comment and lets chat about whatever!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
@Salaryman: I think the show implied our protag hasn’t had the guts to even meet his partner after the accident. This may well be the first time they meet since then. Not sure, but it’d make sense to me.
@Dress-up Darling: We’re not really in my favourite arc, right now. I’m generally fine with the direction the arc takes, but the ecchi clichés are hurting my enjoyment a little (not a big deal). Case in point, the moment they wondering how Juju’s little sister looked, I knew roughly what sort of design we’d get, and I’m not here for it. Maybe they’ll explore something down the road? But so far it’s really just an ecchi cliché, and Juju’s introduction had no pay-off so far, either. It’s that first panty shot all over again, so there’s a possibility it’ll go somewhere – but I’m not optimistic. That said, everything else is great as usual, and that “home date” was every bit as adorable to me as it seemed to have been for you.
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re: Salaryman
It did. It makes sense from what they’ve shown, especially moving so far away after school. He’s running away.
But that’s also what’s changing, the Coach and Miyazumi are forcing him to take things seriously.
@Dress-up Darling
I’m kinda learning to just endure the ecchi bits and the fanservice… Marin made sense, but Sajuna and Shinju are just purely gratuitous. (Let’s make sure everyone has a potential waifu candidate.)
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I enjoyed too the last Akebi episode. In this episode Akebi acts more in the social explorer role letting us see in to the lives of Hebimori and her room mate. I thought Hebimori’s efforts to learn guitar were both charming and the kind of thing I remember doing years ago when I was a teenager learning guitar and bass for the first time. Akebi’s enthusiasm for Hebimori efforts provide the perfect pay-off for her hard work and it looks like Akebi has been the key for unlocking what might be a life long passion for Hibemori.
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Akebi does seem to be better when she’s not quite so active a participant… When she’s a catalyst.
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Now on tropes and cliches. Personally, I find comments like that one a little irritating. It’s a superficial yet common response to tropes and cliches and is the kind thing you see over and over in MAL and Crunchyroll reviews (which is one reason I regard a lot of reviews on those sites as being a waste of time. My gut response to the author is “well if you have such contempt, then why are you even watching it?” Tropes and cliches are an essential part of the building blocks of art and I doubt there has been a work of literature, cinema, theatre, and painting that doesn’t contain at least one trope (and in many cases a lot of them. Shakespeare is full of tropes and cliches. Tropes are often a shorthand means of communicating with the audience, where the communication rests on shared meanings. Anime is no different. Let’s look at one of my pet hates in the anime producer’s kit bag – the night festival yukata trope. Frankly I groan whenever I see it – not because it’s a “trope” but because it’s usually a signifier for a lazily written filler episode which ticks off all the night festival cliches one by one. I’m sure somewhere in the anime universe there is a really great night festival yukata episode (Railgun III’s Misaka’s bon dance date with Touma comes to mind as a better one). As the fading of the fireworks and the end of summer invites the first steps to maturity for many characters, the yukata plays something of a purifying role as the girl’s true beauty is to be first revealed in traditional Japanese dress, signifying Japanese traditional values as a real source of a girl’s beauty. Leading her to be really noticed by the usually dense MC for the first time. Or it might be that Japanese guys just think girls look hot wearing them haha.
Airing this season is the gaming/isekai show “Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja” (“She professed herself a pupil of the wise man”), animated by Studio A-Cat, which has attracted the usual gamut of negative comment owing to its use of Isekai visual tropes. Personally, I don’t have much issue with its visual look. (BTW its main character Mira has been condemned as a Rimaru Tempest knock off – However ‘Kenja’s’ source material predates that of Slime, so…). Being pretty familiar with this young studio’s art style, it is representative of the studio’s simple and straight forward style. Anyway, critiques of its design style miss the point that the show’s storylines are very tightly and economically presented, leading for me to an enjoyable viewing experience. Even when its riffing on familiar fantasy territory, it manages to do so with enough originality and panache to carry it off. Get stuck on “oh its full of anime bullshit”, the form over the content, and you may end up missing a show you might end up liking.
Of course, I will caveat this with the comment that of course there are shows that are just plain bad both for form and content and nothing can save them. We’ve all seen plenty of those being served up over the years.
Anyway, that’s my defence of tropes etc. I hope it didn’t take up too much time 😊
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@Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Part 2:
I started composing replies several times and wound up deleting them all. Just… tune in tomorrow.
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Of course tomorrow is today by the time I saw this… :)
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