It will happen eventually… an episode of Abyss will end I won’t have a stunned look on my face as Riko did at the end of this week’s episode. It has to, right?
All that and more after the jump!
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.
The Devil is a Part-Timer!! – Ep 3
Hataraku Maou-sama!!
The first part of the episode was fairly predictable “forced family goes to the amusement park” hijinks. The second… whoo boy. A backstory of Maou’s woes as a young demon – and how he is somehow responsible for Alus Ramas’ existence. (That part is a bit blurry.)
And then, out of seeming nowhere, one of the lamest villians ever pops up – and for some reason demands that Maou and Emi hand over Alus Ramus. (That part is also a bit blurry.) Of course, they refuse (otherwise this would be a very short series). Chiho intervenes on Maou and Emi’s behalf.
Third Episode Status: Seems to me to be suffering badly from sequelitis. Have run out it’s central conceit – now they have to come up with something to keep the story going. There’s 27 volumes to the LN, so it must have worked for someone… Me, I’m kinda doubtful at this point. Let’s let it run to mid-season gut check and see what happens.
Love Live! Superstar!! 2nd Season – Ep 3
Superstar seems intent on breaking the mold… On top of introducing new girls to group, Sunny Passion is also stepping aside – and a new opponent appears.
And unlike past seasons, Wien Margarete is no friendly rival. She’s absolutely in Final Boss mode. Curious how this will play out, because the franchise hasn’t really had a heavy of any sort before. We all know the girls win the Love Live competition in the end, and that takes a lot of wind out of the dramatic sails…
Third Episode Status: I know it’s gonna be a saccharine storyline, ‘cuz I don’t think Superstar will end up any further from the tree than Sunshine did. But it’s a low effort watch, so, keeper.
Luminous Witches – Ep x
(Not watched this week.)
Lycoris Recoil – Ep 5
Am I the only one who found this episode unsettling? Someone is now directly targeting Chisato, trying to force her to kill. Something that goes against her deeply held principles. And that someone is almost certainly Yoshimatsu… The representative of the Alan Institute and the guy that tried to off Robota in the first ep – and responsible for Chisato being alive in the first place. Like a bad penny he keeps popping up in the oddest contexts.
And the weirdest context of all – a couple of episode back he said he saved Chisato “because she has a talent for killing.”
Which brings us to her mechanical heart… Congenital defect? Or, and I wouldn’t be surprised, was she mortally wounded during the battle at the Tower? (That damned tower again. Is it not just symbolic for Chisato?)
And speaking of killing – we have Mashima, the terrorist. Who correctly identified and then brutally murdered a Lycoris who was trailing his minions. And the other thread, tangentially related to him, the police know damm well the government is covering up what happened at the station.
DA/the Lycoris, seems to be a poorly kept secret… if it’s even completely secret (black as opposed to grey) at all. Maybe it’s just the proles general public that are being kept out of the loop?
Interesting thread of an interview with Shingo Adachi, Director of Lycoris Recoil: (Credit to Frog-Kun for retweeting.)
MADE IN ABYSS: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun – Ep 5
MADE IN ABYSS: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyo
Once again, less than 24 hours from seeing the episode to hitting publish on the blog is just not enough time to digest Abyss… So, once again, reduced to bullet points.
– Reg. As theorized last week, yeah, he’s not the only robot (android?) creation in the Abyss. He’s just one of several… But now comes the questions. Who created them? Why? And how were the others overcome, or is Reg more highly powered than them? (Or was, since he’s lost the ability to use Incinerator.)
– Riko. Is once again messing about with shit she ought not to mess with and poking her nose around where it’s likely to get cut off and fed to her. I simply don’t know any other way to put it. I think in Belaf she’s met an opponent she can’t bluff, and alone can’t outfight (mentally or physically). And that look of horror at the end of the episode… Over Belaf’s proposed deal? Or something off camera we won’t see until next episode?
– Nanachi. Miss Not Appearing In This Episode… because she’s in some form of stasis, having willingly given herself over to Belaf to save Mitty from further abuse.
And the Three Sages. One imprisoned, one isolated, and yet… one simply walks the village freely. Are they no longer companions?
The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious – Ep 2
Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii
About halfway into the episode I hit the pause button and said “You know…” and my wife said “Yeah, we’re done”.
This show would have worked far better as a short where the viewer had a week to recover from being hammered over the head with the same gag. Four to six time in a single full length episode is just too damm much.
Status: Dropped.
My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex – Ep 5
Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta
So… Minami and Kawanami have a love/hate relationship not entirely unlike Yume and Mizuto’s. Interesting. And explains why Kawanami seems to have an intuitive understanding of such relationships.
Equally interesting, it seems their relationship started off accidentally. On some form of school trip? And why does Mizuto describe it as a “youthful indiscretion”? That’s usually used to describe something that never was a good idea and/or is considered unacceptable behavior at some level.
Prima Doll – Ep 5
It’s Karasuba’s turn in the character barrel this week… and something of an unexpected development. Her problem (her body breaking down) doesn’t get fixed – she’s simply going to live with it, and the cafe staff are going to accommodate it. She won’t budge and they aren’t given a choice.
My question is what’s the value of free will if you’re going to choose to remain in bondage? “Devotion to my master” kinda sticks in my craw. (And I doubt this show will go deep enough to address such issues.)
So, now, they’ve run out of Dolls with problems to solve. What next? Looks like the terrorists are Up To Something, but I can’t even remember what their goal is as it was a seeming throwaway line way back in the first episode…
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2 – Ep 5
Kanojo, Okarishimasu 2nd Season
Shine Post – Ep x
(Not watched this week.)
Tokyo Mew Mew New~♡ – Ep 5
TOKYO MEW MEW NEW
Girl bonding and Mint’s character episode… The second part, Mint’s backstory, we learned she was not valued by her family as a person. Her own dreams and ambitions were treated as childish. On one hand, she’s a first year, on the other even though she’s a girl – she does want to be involved in the family business. Seems to me that should be encouraged to see how far it goes.
The episode wraps up with a fairly standard theme – the team, her friends, do value her.
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Fun thing I took part in on Twitter yesterday… currently runs back to 2013! Not cast in stone though, ask me on a different day and you might get a different set of answers.
Click through to see the whole thread.
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The weather here is currently cool, cloudy, and pleasant. It’s been nice to sit here with the windows open. Going to be beastly hot over the weekend and into next week though.
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Speaking of next week, there will almost certainly not be a post next week. Wednesday, when I do most of my writing, I’m taking off on a photoshoot with the photo club. Between now and then I have SCA commitments that I simply must wrap up as I’m already behind.
And I haven’t even really started serious planning for the trip in Sept yet.
(I do have an Anime Playlist post mostly finished, so you might see that pop up.)
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So, that’s it for me this week – as always, over to you! Drop a comment about this week’s anime or anything else that strikes your fancy.
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
@Hataraku Maou Sama: The story never really was the main draw for me in season one. It was just a fun show to watch. It still is to a degree, but not to the same degree. I like the character designs less. There’s more emphasis on reaction faces, and so on. Diminishing returns might play a role, too. They do pick up strands from season one.
@Lycoris Recoil: For me, it’s more interesting than engaging. I find the setting intriguing and I’m curious what happened, but I’m not particularly into the show. The heart was a perfect illustration of that; I was curious what that meant for the setting, but less curious about what it meant for the character.
@Abyss: Yeah, Riko really does just do things without thinking them through much. Nanachi was important to caution her and reign her in, more so than Reg, and now she’s out. I also wonder what “copying” Mitty means. Also, the robots: do they predate the discovery of the Abyss? Did someone hack Reg? Not sure I’m making much sense.
@Stepmom: Yeah, I’m not into the story, but I do like the characters and their dynamics. It’s weird. Also “youthful indiscretion” sounds more like a kid desparate to feel like he’s grown up than anything else, to me.
@Tokyo Mew Mew New: Standard magical girl fare, no? (Well, it’s one of the genre’s classics.)
Fun twitter game, though difficult for people how routinely get hundreds of likes, I suppose. I can’t say I was particularly surprised by any entry, and there were that would have surprised me by their absence (though sometimes great shows air in the same year). Sort of curious what I’d come up with.
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re: Abyss
No, you’re making plenty of sense. Between the ‘bots and the existence of the village – we can see now that the Abyss is not a purely [super]natural phenomenon. There’s an intelligence, a guiding hand, that’s been meddling. That’s a significant shift.
re: Stepmom:
Is there a story? Other than the still unfolding background story [of their middle schools years] it’s starting to feel more like a series of vignettes. I mean, we’re just plowing in a circle with not much progression.
re: Tokyo Mew Mew New:
Very much so in both respects. But it is what it is, given it’s age I didn’t expect anything groundbreaking.
Between here and the Barrel, you’ve been reading me long enough that you know my tastes almost as well I do. :) :)
When I was sitting doing those, I was doing ’em in chunks… So there was a certain amount of hurry and “mentally flip a coin and choose between the top candidates” going on. If I were writing that as an entry and taking my time, it would probably come out different.
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