Wooper: Having just published a beefy Spring Preview, some of us had no words left to dedicate to anime this week. Lenlo and I still had a bit of gas in the tank, though, so we teamed up to create a short and sweet recap post. If you’re still keeping up with winter’s mid-tier shows despite the distraction of a brand new season, this one is for you.
Heaven’s Design Team – 8-10
Lenlo: I know I’ve missed a few weeks of this but I promise it wasn’t due to a lack of interest in the show. If anything, Design Team continues to impress me with just how many ideas it has. Not all of those ideas are good mind you. For instance I wasn’t a fan of the “Honey I shrunk the kids” cross-episode skit. But for every failed reverse-aging storyline we have a tyranny of the mole rats or Whose Penguin Is It Anyway. And even then regardless of the skits’ quality the lessons they teach are always interesting. Whether it be explaining concepts of generational diversity and societal health through aging or the heat-sink purposes of penguin bone structure, Design Team delivers. And for what I considered to be a C-Tier show that I would probably lose interest in after 3 episodes, that’s pretty damn impressive.
Yuru Camp – 11
Wooper: I skipped a couple entries in my Comfy Camp diary in order to catch up, and it turned out to be a good decision. This episode had it all: hot springs visits, a mouthwatering cooking segment (garlic shrimp and alfonsino pasta), and the continued geospot adventures of Rin and the Narrator. Settings were very nice since most scenes took place outdoors – this show’s interior backgrounds are bottom tier if I’m being honest – though the simulated fisheye effect during some of the panning shots was a failed experiment in my mind. I don’t recall the show doing that in the first half of S2, though I might be misremembering. All of that aside, my favorite Yuru Camp moments are the ones where the show gets a little poignant, and we got one such scene between Nadeshiko and Ena this week. I’d actually forgotten that Nadeshiko was a transfer student at the start of the series, but the reminiscing about her oceanside home reminded me of that fact. Pairing the sound of waves rolling in and out (her past) with her happiness at camping with friends (her present) was a strong way to mark her maturation as a young woman. She’s definitely been this season’s MVP thus far, and with just two more episodes to go, it’s unlikely that anyone will catch up.
Back Arrow – 11
Wooper: Now that the ‘split personality princess’ arc has mercifully concluded, it’s time for war! As in most anime series, Back Arrow’s war between two nations is represented almost entirely by the conflicts of the main characters, who do a lot of yelling about strength, loyalty, and treasuring your life. There was a lot of that last topic piled onto the Arrow vs Ren battle, which was so frantically choreographed that I’m amazed they had the lung capacity to shout at each other midfight. Listening to Arrow’s harsh criticism of Ren’s suicidal tactics, it occurred to me that this series (and others like it) push the ‘don’t die’ message so hard that it muffles any conversation about the actual purpose of their lives. Back Arrow is ostensibly anti-war, much like the Gundam shows from which it ripped half of its plot, but it’s built on a foundation of shallow characters and military trappings. It offers no alternative to deathly struggle, even as it advocates for life; Shu’s latest plan (to make Arrow the ruler of Lingalind) will only be possible in the aftermath of a catastrophic war between two superpowers. And of course, all the bloodshed will occur off screen.
