It’s been a week, so it’s time to quickly put Saekano Flat to rest …
The first half is Tomoya and Kato’s date, which is not really a date because in spite of all the shopping scenes, hand-holding, and revived fond memories, there is no romance here. It’s partly to cheer up Tomoya, of course, a chance for Megumi to reaffirm her support for his next project, coming right down to a sort of re-creation of their first encounter on the hill, minus the wind. It didn’t really work because they’ve reenacted the scene before, but anyway. Not a romance, but rather a muse reassuring a struggling artist. It also provided Tomoya the opportunity to tearfully release his regrets and frustration of the near-breakup of Blessing Software.
That done, we switch to Utaha and Eriri about to board a shinkansen for a business meeting. When Tomoya shows up I thought the show would take a false step and have the girls reconsider, which would be utterly wrong. One of the things I liked in the last few episodes was that it made perfect sense for them to leave Tomoya’s circle and take on a bigger artistic challenge. Happy to say that Tomoya had come around to the same conclusion and he was just saying goodbye. It would have gone on too long except they added a nice comic bit at the end involving a kiss. And then, when Tomoya and Megumi start their senior year, guess who’s entering their school? Izumi! Looks like the circle isn’t dead yet!
The first season was pretty good, and this one was pretty good as well. They managed to balance the story of making a game with exploring the relationships, interestingly, none of them romantic, and story-wise the relationships became more important than the game. And, as I said, I liked the honest approach the show took in terms of Utaha and Eriri moving on. I could have done without some of the fanservice, but the point of the series, partly, was to poke some holes in the romantic game genre, while not mocking it outright, and they did a good job with that too. So I’m sorry to see this one go.
I’m trying wrap my head around the good guys’ plan in Re:Creators 12. It’s pointed out that Altair is gaining powers daily from the addition of fanart and videos put out on the web every day. Meteora proposes that each creator should start augmenting their creations’ powers and also plan for a story-crossing event that will exist in the gap between our world and the fictional one, and means a huge battle between everybody. I have some problems with this. First, Altair will be “lured in.” How? Second, it will take six months to make this happen, and I don’t think they have the time. The plan is too unwieldy and depends on too many things happening, like the fans buying into the new abilities. And why can’t these fictional characters develop new abilities from the fans like Altair is doing? Or, since the late Yuna lived her artistic life online, that’s part of Altair’s strength. Anyway, I think they’re working too hard on this. They already have a crossover platform: Re:Creators itself. Oh, they don’t know their story is fiction, do they?
Finally, a rousing but confusing ending to Uchouten Kazoku. I will never understand the beef between Benten and Nidaime. Well, I don’t understand Benten anyway, but I don’t expect to, and her unpredictability makes her fascinating to watch. Nidaime, on the other hand, should be easier to figure out … why was he sitting despondent, bottle in hand, under a pile of tanuki? Why did he assist in burning up his own house, like he had rejected his false airs, only to tell Yasoburou later that he doesn’t intend to become a tengu? I get the attraction between them, but why the savage fight?
Well, they’re both sad, lonely people. Much happier are Yaichirou and Gyokuran, getting hitched, rather a brief scene for all the import it has, and Yasaburou and Kaisei get engaged again. Meanwhile, Tenmaya is pulled back into hell, nice timing there, and Soun goes with him, though he of course is not dead and will undoubtedly return next year when the Friday Club have another stab at making tanuki hot pot. Yajiro seems to have his transformations back in order, or maybe it’s the drugs, while Yasaburou still has issues when he sees his fiancee. Well, as he says, it’ll work out somehow. He’s probably right.
There are many things that make this series exceptional, the visuals, the odd stories with endless surprising twists, the magic, the characters and their connection not only to folklore but to their own personal histories, the glorious visuals–really, I need to go back to Kyoto soon. But for me Yasaborou puts it beyond most shows. He can (unless he’s targeted for that hot pot) go anywhere he wishes, to his friends, to enemies or threats, even to Hell, and talk, bow, and negotiate with everyone, because he’s “a fool.” Maybe, but a cunning one who can also exhibit kindness to people who might be threats and fool those that he needs to. As a member of a species that is clearly at the lowest status among sentient beings, he uses his formidable skills to keep himself and his family alive, and to keep the peace, unless it’s time to cause trouble, that is. I was delighted to have him and the others back for a second season, but I don’t expect a season three. Well, I didn’t expect a season two, either …
That wraps it up for Spring 2017. Now I can lazily wait for the Summer season, which begins, er, today.
Too Old for Anime 