Dagashi Kashi 9 is one of the better ones. The first one, concerning wata-pachi, brings up the idea that foods that bring you pain can be enjoyable (Hotaru has a mouth ulcer). Actually, they bring up a different issue, that foods that you should not eat are tastier for that reason, but watching the pleasurable pain Hotaru experiences (livened up with a mini-drama) makes me think they were going for that point, too. Then it’s on to Lucky-choco droppings, and a very tasteful fantasy Hotaru and Saya conjure up to eat a candy that comes out of an animal’s ass.
There follow two more dagashi, Sakura Daikon, which I can’t believe kids like, and prompts Kansai talk from Hotaru because, apparently, you can’t get it there, and boob, sorry, bomb ice cream, both sequences showing us once again that Hotaru is out of her mind. Really, she makes almost no sense at all during much of it. Her onlookers, Saya and Hotaru, are usually too stunned to do anything but play along; really, was Saya really that deterred by those toy frogs? No! She wanted to see what Hotaru would do next.
Shoujo tachi wa Kouya o Mezasu 10, not content to give us a new story arc, gives us two. One of them will distract our gang from the other. First, we meet Mitsuteru, and more importantly, Taiko, from Typhoon, a professional and highly-polished studio, who see Bunta’s demo and are impressed enough to try and lure him (and Yuki and Andou) away to join Typhoon and be miserable. They do this by posing as fellow amateur nerds and arrange a meetup. Why production-savvy Kuroda didn’t recognize the name or reputation before is not explained. So we now got a competition with consequences that would never make it in the real world. As annoying as all this is, the appearance of Kuroda’s brother, Iwao, and the discovery that their game is intended to pay off his debts, is even worse. How much money did they expect to make, anyway?
After weeks of dull predictability and forced emotions, Musaigen no Phantom World 11 finally takes this formula and makes it work. Turning Haruhiku into a child wasn’t all that clever (though going to a grade school was a nice touch), turning him into something of a brat was a little better, but it took a nice little scene where he and Mai, his temporary mom, bonded a little over both being alone to lift the show above its normal level. For one thing, Mai got a chance to show her sweet, protective side. Also, need I say that the show looked even better than usual, not only the battle at the end, but the playing in the park scene.
Teekyuu! 80 has Yuri out with a cold, so naturally the other girls go visit her and make trouble. And Kanae is the second show this post to work the Kansai-ben thing, though this episode is actually two weeks old. They’re still not at full steam, GPS of 3.14, but it’s not bad, and they actually worked in a beat gag this week. I didn’t think this show was capable of that. This show can do ANYTHING!
Too Old for Anime 