The focus is away from Bunmei, and so this episode was much more enjoyable than the past one. It was all about the occult, and really chock full of references to all kinds of ideas and superstitions around the world thanks to a character that I once thought was pretty useless (the girl who is obsessed over occult stuff).
It actually made this episode pretty interesting. I’m a big fan of the series that put a lot of research into their subject matter here. While the previous episodes were all about “what if folklore was true”, this episode broke that part and instead talked about superstitions that are just products of the imagination of humans, ranging from spoons that can’t rust to monks who bury themselves alive and even the five second rule passed (called the three second rule here).
At first I really thought that that girl would be annoying with her optimism, but the comedy around her was again really excellent. This series definitely has the best sense of humour of the entire season, and its jokes are well built up and varied and the repeated jokes are handled with restraint.
Also, the previous episodes were certainly annoying, but they did what they were supposed to do: Maya really loathes this guy right now, and the previous two episodes really turned that into a deep-seated loathing, compared to the “this guy is weird”-kind of hatred of the first two episodes. Now, if she suddenly starts to develop feelings for Bunmei this would of course ruin everything (“you guys are fighting a lot so you must be in love with each other”… blegh), but I have faith in this series. And heck, the next episode will be staffed by Ryousuke Nakamura of all people. While I’d rather see him get another full series over which he has total freedom, an episode directed of the best and most imaginative series of the current summer season certainly isn’t bad either. I’m really interested what he’s going to do with it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Floors in the Netherlands must be really clean. Its the ‘3 second rule’ round here too.
To be honest, it’s a rule I had never heard of in my childhood. I only learned of it when the Mythbusters took it under the loop and showed that it didn’t make any sense.
Yeah, 3 second rule is BS. It’s more like a few minutes or something.
It’s a matter of what you drop it on, how much transfers to your food, and how (in)hospitable of an environment your body happens to be for whatever you pick up with your food. If you were an infant and dropped a pacifier in a bowl full of botulinum spores (what, that never happened to you?) I wouldn’t suggest sticking it in your mouth regardless of the time window. Same for things you’re really allergic to, and so on.
I actually thought Chipmunk Anri was a little too stupid. After the build up it was rather fitting that she was the one that ended up volunteering to die and vacation in Summer Wars.
The end of this episode caught me by surprise. Between the cliffhanger and suspicion that Mikaze was just angling for an excuse to wander around the campus, I’m eager to see the next episode.
‘You guys are fighting a lot so you must be in love with each other…blegh!’ Lol. You put it so mildly, not to mention in only one line. I imagine that, like me, you have a whole peevish diatribe you could rip out on that one that you are too professional to put into this review…g-d, but that one drives me nuts. If I see one more anime scene where two people are fighting and a third person says ‘see how they get along…’ except I know that I will so I don’t dare make any threats. Even anime I really like have done it, and even in those anime it always annoys me (even if, overall, I agree they get along).
Of course, suddenly developing feelings and developing feelings are two different things – if I was watching it I’d have my guesses by now, but since I’m not, well, you’ll find out for me won’t you? ^_^
The candy colored afterlife was something straight out of a Takashi Murakami advertisement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIhnnQH_GdQ
Best part of the episode.
Yeah this was another great episode. It is just too bad that Anime no Chikara appears to be on the way out. From what I hear the block will be getting bumped next season and no one is sure if it will even return.
really like the animation/art at the end, pretty creative and imaginative
‘You guys are fighting a lot so you must be in love with each other…blegh!’
Actually after watching how Maya reacted when Bunmei was with the Ami, i got a slight feeling that she got jealous then. Not too sure about how you guys feel but thats just my impression of the scene.
This series definitely has the best sense of humour of the entire season, and its jokes are well built up and varied and the repeated jokes are handled with restraint.
Agreed. Particularly like the way they reused the ‘Megane! Megane!’ routine at the end, very creepy.
I really hope Maya hasn’t developed feelings for Uchida either, that would just make me so angry for some reason. Let’s hope she was just offended by how strongly he denied that he would ever think of her in that way, lol.
the 3-seconds rule is BS. Would you eat it in 3 seconds if it fell in shit? I wouldn’t.
I’m watching this so a week behind on Crunchyroll but I have to say I am really liking this series more and more with each episode. So, far this had been my favorite. It made me like Maya a lot more. She was being a tad bit to bitchy for me before and seeing her bond with the other girls was a nice change.
I also hope there is no Maya x Bunmei. This show has been pretty refreshing but still undoubtedly “anime”, but that would really knock a lot of the wind out it for me.