The only show this season that has had me doubled over with laughter is Gochuumon wa Usagi Desuka Bloom. With episode 2, more than once I had to stop the recording because I was giggling so much. Syaro borrows a DVD to watch, “but I forgot I don’t have a TV …” … Okay, maybe it was the delivery, but my point is this season is living up to the last two. In the first half, Chiya and Syaro (the latter is more or less the star this week) are drawn into doing a test of courage in the woods, which goes wrong of course, and a little muddy. But it’s a bonding moment and everyone has fun. The second half might have been even better, as everyone is watching the series “Phantom Thief Lapin,” who looks a little like Syaro, who wants to imitate Lapin’s moves for a crossover her cafe is doing, but Cocoa is the one stealing everyone’s hearts! Throughout all the cuteness little bits of slapstick humor, absurd situations, and non sequitur pop up to keep the scenes moving, just the reason I fell for the first two seasons.
Kamisama ni Natta hi, at episode 2, is still at the comical section of the story, though it looks like that’s going to change quickly now that something’s happened to Sora. I was happy to see that moment, not because I dislike Sora, but because I couldn’t bear any more of Yota trying to woo Izanami. The movies they filmed for Sora’s club got stale once we saw through what Hina was trying to do–get Yota and Izanami to embrace. I almost skipped the songwriting bit completely, just coming in at the end to see Izanami’s positive reaction. I hope now that they will start getting to the bottom of the actual story. Yota’s family has god names, Hina says she’s a god, and Yota’s parents recognize her and know that something is up. Not to mention what happened to Sora, whatever did. Much more interesting than Yota’s love life and Hina’s constant meddling.
Ochikobore Fruit Tart so far (Sorry, I forgot a picture) … I enjoy it at first, but all those screaming voices get overwhelming and I wind up taking a break. Not that I dislike the show, it’s just too much at times. So in the first half the girls all head off for the first day of classes, and Ino and Hayo make asses of themselves while trying not to reveal that they’re idols, and struggling failure idols at that. So it looks like the show might cover the regular school stuff as well as the idol stuff. In the second half they’re told to write a song, and no one can think of anything in common about them–actually a good scene when it gets down to Roko’s old man tastes. Roko is becoming my favorite character apart from Hoho the manager. She can whip out “Eh?”, “Hah?”, and “Oi!” with excellent timing. Finally, the show ups the fanservice a bit with everyone managing to wind up smothered in Nina’s boobs at one time or another. Still not sure whether to keep this one. I like the energy, but as I said before, it gets too much …
I know Assault Lily Bouquet has a lot of world-building to give us, and a lot of characters to juggle, but I don’t think it helps the show’s flow for them to repeat some of the same information a second time, like the whole concept of Magie, how the Huge use it and so do the Lilies, or is it Lilys? They more or less managed to slip it into the story, where Riri starts training with Yuyu and keeps getting trounced, while the others wonder why Yuyu is being so tough on her. We know–it’s because she’s trying to drive her away. A more interesting bit of exposition, acted out, is that Yuyu’s special power, Lunatic Trance, means she often inadvertently attacks teammates, and that is what killed her original shutzengel. So it’s not that this girl died, but Yuyu killed her, which is the problem. Everything else in the episode, including the strange shared magie sphere Yuyu and Riri find themselves in when their weapons touch, is second to that. Still it’s a good battle, with Yuyu fighting out of guilt, rage, and that nasty Lunatic Trance, until Riri comes to her rescue. I think the show might have found its footing now, but please, keep it light on the infodumps.
In Majo no Tabitabi we get two stories that have similar morals. The second story, about Nino, a poor indentured servant of a unpleasant man, is the longer and more preachy one. The lovestruck son has some magic and uses it to collect magic in a bottle to cheer Nino up, but it probably has the opposite effect, we never find out. But we could see the moral coming right away: doing nice things can really screw things up. The first, shorter tale is more direct. There’s a beautiful field of flowers outside a village, but these flowers like to draw people to them and then suck out their life force. Creepy, but not an original idea. What I like is Elaina’s reaction. Once she sees the truth, she backs up and moves on. In the second story, she leaves with Nino in the same position she was in before, except perhaps even unhappier. In both cases, Elaina observes, interferes only a little, and moves on, while we get our moral or theme. I guess the theme this week is that nice things are really nasty and you should avoid them.
100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatte Iru gets its fourth team member, Yuka, female of course because we’re building some sort of harem here. In this episode the fantasy world events are really secondary to Yuka’s story. Yuusuke rescues her from some bullies, but it’s more complex than that. They are “friends” who had taken umbrage at a comment she had made on MicoMico, and part of the episode is sorting out who’s to blame for what. Shindou sensibly tells her they weren’t her friends anyway, and now Yuka almost worships Shindou at her feet. Yuusuke is treated as a pervert for the rescue, since it was in a high school girls bathroom, though he was only following orders from that weird cut-off god thing. Oh, they defeat a centipede, but it’s more of an initiation for Yuka. Her story, and a flashback of Shindou’s sad past (she’s pretty complicated herself) are the important parts.
Tonikaku Kawaii can’t survive with only those two, especially with Nasa’s overwrought thoughts, and fortunately the show knows it. We meet two young girls who run the bathhouse, and while Aya gets a little tiresome with her anxieties and constant apologies, Kaname is a lot of fun. She reacts to the marriage in a good, suspicious fashion, knows all about Nasa, and lets Tsukasa know all about it. She’s also a good tease, refusing to leave the men’s bath because she’s “cleaning,” tee-hee, so Nasa is stuck in there hiding himself. Aya isn’t as much fun, but she does give Tsukasa things to react to. All that said, the sisters aren’t enough side characters either. Fortunately we’re finally going to get a bit of Tsukasa’s mysterious past next week. Oh, and there’s a cute misunderstanding at the end which at this point means little. Let’s see if the show can now pick up a head of steam.
I found Miyako annoying last episode of Senyoku no Sigrdrifa. She gets plenty of screen time in episode 3 too, but most of it softer, and helped develop her character in more positive ways. The first half has the girls visiting Umihotaru, where the battle was fought last week. I had wondered about the people trapped in that bubble and I’m glad they told us this week that they’re healthy, happy, and giving the girls lots of free food. All during the happy first half I was afraid they were setting us up for something, and indeed the mood changes, but it’s not a vicious surprise, just sending off one soldier who was badly wounded in the battle. It’s tradition for valkyries to “send them off” before they go, even if it’s just tradition, but it’s something Miyako is serious about. This and Odin’s unpleasant chat at the beginning about her being the Grim Reaper gives Claudia plenty to think about. But she does join in the sending off … Kind of like how I thought the show had just forgotten about last week’s victims, but the show really hadn’t. I don’t think the series meant for it to be that way in my head, however. Quiet episode, but an improvement character-wise over last week.
Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko 3 wastes its time with more heaps of praise for Ryoma, and long conversations to boot. The Reinhart family is visiting the mining town Gimul in order to inspect the mines. I thought that might be mildly interesting, but instead Ryoma is sent off to register at various places, which gives us too much talk and more of that praise, even from the three gods, who show up at the oracle to say hello and give him even MORE praise. I almost cheered when they go to the tamer’s guild and he learns out slime skills are considered nearly useless. At last, something Ryoma isn’t good at! But then he does a combat test at the adventurer’s guild and it’s heaps o’praise time again. I almost skipped ahead but they were throwing in little world-building bits along the way, so I was forced to watch. But at the end, his first job, we FINALLY meet a catgirl! Maybe the show will get better now.
I finished watching Maoujou de Oyasumi 3 and have nothing to say about it. I mean, I liked it, but I have nothing to comment on. The princess tries new ways to improve her sleep and throws the demon castle into chaos each time. I just wonder if they’re going to take the supreme weapon away from her.
Too Old for Anime 