The moment many have been waiting for… Yor Forger (née Briar) AKA Thorn Princess finally appears. Also, Anya being cute, and ditto Desumi. The first batch of 3rd episodes, so I have thoughts on them.
All that and more after the break!
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.
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
Aharen-san Is Indecipherable – Episode 3
More cute sketch comedy, more of Raidou’s devotion to Reina – often bollixed up by his overactive imaginations and a light touch of cluelessness.
Third Episode Thoughts: Loving this show, a keeper despite the constant intrusion of the well meaning friend. Possibly move to “watched but not commented”.
Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness
Episode 2
Oddly for a second episode, this was all about a side character. A nice heartwarming story that reflects well on Nagomu, but that’s about it.
Heroines Run the Show: The Unpopular Girl and the Secret Task
Heroine Tarumono! Kiraware Heroine to Naisho no Oshigoto
Episode 2
So why exactly does Hiyori have to keep her job a secret, while literally the entire school knows who Aizo and Yujiro are? I mean, it’s not it would break any kind of kayfabe, right? Everyone knows entertainment personalities have “people” (staff)… It just makes maintaining her work-life balance even harder.
Happily, it does look like she does have actual friends to help keep her sane.
About her general lack of social graces… well, hopefully time will help there. And she is the titular Heroine after all.
Aizo and Yujiro’s storyline? It’s interesting, and not unrealistic, but it is being oversold. We get it already.
Love After World Domination
Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de
Episode 2
Aahh… That time worn staple of the romantic comedy and two dorks trying to figure this out genres – the Awkward Date. Mostly is serves to highlight some things we already knew, Fudou’s single mindness and general cluelessness and Desumi’s more girlish side. (As contrasted with how her co-workers see her.)
You did watch the after-credits scene, right? If you didn’t, you should go back and watch it. I think it might be important.
And wait – he’s a high school student? That’s pretty much par for the course in a Sentai style series… But how does the dude even find time between hero work and endless bodybuilding sessions? Yeah, I know, we’re not supposed to think too hard about this stuff. But I can’t help it.
SPY x FAMILY
Episode 2
I am so glad they didn’t run with “Franky as a woman”, that would have been too cliché.
That being said, the back half of the episode, from Loid and Yor meeting to the end was absolutely one of the most cliché ridden things I’ve ever seen. And I grinned like a fool all through it because it was executed so damm well.
The “wedding” scene was just so darned good.
As soon as I saw Yor… This comparison leapt immediately to mind. (I’m a huge Black Widow fan.) Make of it what you will.
Also, the Marin (My Dress Up Darling) fanart that had filled my twitter feed has been replaced by a swelling tide of Yor fanart. I approve of this development.
This week’s Anya-stealing-the-scene moment… I suspect (hope!) this does become a weekly thing.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life
Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road
Episode 3
And now… The final piece of the plot is on the board. And boy, is Princess Ashuna a real piece of work – arrogant, vain, and headstrong. And while she came looking for a fight with a Priestess, she wasn’t ready to fight a Priestess.
Either Momo doesn’t have the same suite of capabilities that Menou does, or she was holding back for some reason. (Probably the former as she is some kind of apprentice or trainee.) But she still held her own…
However… Those twin fight sequences drug on way too long and were fairly pedestrian. In retrospect, they were clearly running out the clock.
But the real payoff comes at the end – Akari uses her Pure Concept… to undo Menou’s failing.
I’m calling it now: The Church will be unable to kill Akari. And Menou is going to rebel against the Church.
Third Episode Thoughts: Still too early… They’re taking their own sweet time building out a fairly complex world and set of relationships between the main characters & factions. A keeper I guess, it’s managing to keep me interested overall.
<mode=”train nerd”>And how in hell do you run a railroad without inventing switches & sidings? Even granting borrowed high tech, it’s an operational problem with a low tech (and obvious) solution.</mode>
And it also occurs to me that we haven’t seen any form of non-magical long distance communication.
Ya Boy Kongming!
Paripi Koumei – Episode 3
I much prefer this more usual form of “monster of the week”… Last episode, it was all pretty much laid out up front and the viewers were more or less lead by the hand. This week, it was more of a puzzle to solve. We saw what Kongming was doing but it was left for us to figure out why. The explanation was left to later, to fill in the blanks.
Also I liked how his was magnanimous in his victory when he could have been an *sshole. He’s very old school… It’s nice that the writers don’t forget that amongst the modernity. And it makes that he uploaded his remedy to “Cookingpad” doubly funny. (For those that don’t know, Cookpad is a recipe sharing site that’s enormously popular in Asia.)
Third Episode Thoughts: I think Kongming is still getting it’s feet on the ground… That’s neither a good thing or a bad thing. It just is. It’s also self confident as hell, and I love that. Solid keeper.
I’ve mentioned the OP before… but I’ve listened to it at least once a day for a couple of weeks now. I just love it to pieces.
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In other news:
IKEA finally got the desk I wanted back in stock, and last weekend we tore apart the electronics wall and set it up. And I am seriously impressed with this chair. Still need to tweak some of the adjustments, but it’s made a huge difference in how tired/painful my back is after a day at the keyboard.
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For the first time in two years, I have a SCA event this weekend… Which means I’ll be busy Fri-Sat and probably wiped out on Sun. This will almost certainly mean next week’s post will be short or possibly skipped entirely.
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Well, that’s it for me this week. How is your week going? What are your thoughts on this week’s episodes or pretty much anything else? Drop a comment and let’s chat!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
@Aharen-san: It’s cute, but I already don’t really remember much about last episode. This sort of show. Neither what I hoped for, nor what I feared. Good, charming entertainment, and fills a niche that’s recently underserved with good stuff.
@Deaimon: Still my favourite show that’s not SpyXFamily this season. I really, really like the look of the show. The content of the episode was okay, but underpinned by likable characters and a style I love, it’s still a really nice thing to watch. Next episode, IMO, is better again.
@Heroines: Not sure what the prouction side’s take on keeping it a secret is, but while keeping the secret is a hassle, everyone knowing her job would be much more of a pain: all the attention and none of the respect – no thanks. I’m having fun with this show.
@Love after World Domination: I dropped this after about half an episode, but I still wonder whether I should pick it back up again. I waver, because I’m not a huge tokusatsu fan, and I don’t really like (or dislike) the main couple. In fact, with Shikimori that’s the second show this season that’s basically “couple with a gimmick”, and I’m not that into Shikimori either (to the point that I’m not sure I get the name right). Even though romance is among my most-watched and enjoyed genres, romance by itself isn’t a draw, and if you forget to make the characters interesting by themselves, it won’t work for me. That’s what made Tonikaku Kawaii stand out; they, too, are a couple with a gimmick, but on their own they’re both likable weirdos and not just romance mold filling.
SpyXFamily: Such a fun show. I can’t tell how naive Yor really is; she might just be socially awkward and take things in stride (because she lived through a lot, and sees a lot of depravity). And Anya’s just the cutest; actually behaving like a child most of the time. Not sure what direction the show will take, but at that point I’m not worried it’ll go downhill. I’ve heard speculation that Yor’s brother might be in a “secret business”, too – would be fun if he were Loid’s boss, heh. One thing: the names are weird in romaji. I keep wanting to type Lloyd and Yoru, and it’s hard not to.
@Executioner: Momo is more bearable in professional mode; she almost always rubs me the wrong way – not in that fight, though. Going to be back to annoying soon enough I suppose. The setting is still the show’s prime draw. I’m not that curious about the plot, and I’m not invested in any character, but there’s also nothing (beyond clingy-mode Momo) that puts me off. Decently fun to watch.
@Kongming: Third favourite show this season, and I, too, liked this episode better than the last one. The characters all just work for me. And, yeah, that’s without a doubt the best opening this season. I adore it, too. And I can’t wait to meet all the characters who join the dance in the OP.
Also, I’m really enjoying Healer Girl; I barely had any expectations for it, but they actually put a lot of thought in the healing-via-music. I thought it’d be just the typical anime soul-cleansing cuteness thing, but not quite. In the second episode the character struggled with key changes, and then, when they sang to calm a pregnant woman, they actually ultimately failed until the sensei arrived. Why? They failed to take into account the baby – and they didn’t say that, but I thought it was strongly implied that this sort of situation would be one common application of keychanges. Sadly, my ear-training is deficient, so I can’t tell if the song involved any.
And I’m still loving Birdie Wing. I sort of feel sorry for people who were hoping for a serious golf anime, but I’m more into it that way. I prefer over-the-top silly sports anime, like Keijo, Basquash, and now this.
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@Aharen-san: To me, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with mindless fluff. It’s nice to just turn off your brain and have a little fun.
@Heroines: I think you’re right. She’d definitely be hassled by other girl if they knew she had free access to LIP X LIP, so that makes sense. (You speculated that about her friends a couple of weeks ago.) Maybe the agency is protecting her? Her boss has certainly BTDT and knows how things could go.
@Executioner: Absolutely agreed on Momo. Though, as I said earlier, her annoying clingy side is now more bearable knowing she also has a coldly professional side. (If that makes sense? A 3d character is always more interesting than a 1d or 2c character, even if you don’t like one of the dimensions.)
@World Domination: No, taking that into account, I don’t know that you’d enjoy it. In a lot of spots it’s very paint-by-numbers. So far, I’m sticking with it because I enjoy the parody aspects and because my wife likes it.
My dislike for Birdie is partly that it’s over-the-top (practically to the point of parody)… And partly that the MC annoyed the heck out of me. I mean, I’m a huge Aokana fan, so it’s not like I’m against over-the-top as a category.
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