Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 07 [Convenience Store Chio-chan – Chio-chan and the Duel – Remnants of That Day]

This episode of Chio-chan sure brings back my memory. I was one of those stupid boys who played that zapping butt game (among other stupid games, like stick a pen where my friends would sit) and let me tell ya, it hurts like hell. To the point whenever I listen to this song I would remember that dreadful game. That is to say that I understand completely the life-or-death stake these girls find themselves to. In a more serious note, I feel like the last couple weeks Chio-chan loses its steam as keeping things amusing. I don’t mind the mundane nature of Chio’s misadventures (although I watched the PV of Chio-chan back the other day, it did advertise for a more wide ride. #falseadvertising), but if they want to keep the segment long (as in 10 minutes), Chio’s issue needs to escalate to something completely out-there. That juggling butt out from the public bathroom did the job, this first segment doesn’t.

It’s sad because it starts out strong: Chio goes to her usual store looking for her game’s magazine, instead she’s hooked to the BL magazine and decides to buy it out. OMG that BL segment was so hilarious, I like both the ridiculous lines those characters say, and Chio’s reaction to it (#yaoifortherun). Encountering Aidou-san as a store clerk is a solid gag, but Chio-chan doesn’t properly build up from that and unfortunate drags out towards the end. To be fair, I find the gags where she tries to hide the “suggestive image” and accidently makes it even more erotic funny, but the resolve leaves a lot to be desire. First, playing Aidou as a straight man deflates the comedic tone it was building up – because if he acts normal like everyone else then what’s the fun behind catching Chio busted? I imagine it would be much more hilarious if Chio just runs for her life and cause Aidou to leave the store unguarded. The resolve is just… uneventful.

I could say the same for the second segment as I also feel the gag drags out for too long. That blonde girl (I don’t believe we know her name) who despite coming from a rich school still use that butt-zapping game as A DUEL? Poor Manana who gets zapped twice instead of Chio. This whole duel plays like a juvenile segments out of shows like Squid Girl or Mitsubishi Colors than it does in a Chio-chan episode, but the appearance of Madoka again ruins the show. If I have to point out a single character that could ruin the whole show it would be her, since she leaves bad taste to the mouth all the time. Whatever the reason why the blonde girl has such a grudge for Chio and Manana, we will eventually learn afterward. The last segment for me stands out for what these previous two lack, it’s short, sweet and to the point. It lets the big gag unfolds and finishes before things get pale. It’s one of the few moments where Chio and Manana share some empathy to other character (with a romantic, touching subplot to boost), and the old woman turns out to be an old cranky woman who is both addicted to game, foul-mouth and tech-savvy enough to pour cold shower on our naive Chio and Manana. Life is not what you expect indeed.

Hanebado! – 07 [I’ll Mop the Floor With Her]

I was wrong. I don’t enjoy this dead-eye expression of Ayano at all. It feels as though we’re watching a completely different Ayano characters compared to the first few episodes. That just means in no way I’m identified with this anti-hero version of Ayano. Again, I understand the intention. Ayano has that unhealthy obsession of winning since she believes beating the opponents is the way to get her Mom attention back. But isn’t showing her expressioness face a tad bit too obvious the presentation? I could’ve understood if she meets the Mom and that causes her brutal emotional state, but Hanebado frames that all this was just heartless Ayano being heartless Ayano.

One of the issues this episode have is to flesh out the perspective of Kaoruko by introducing her teammates who we don’t know or care an inch for. Heck, I don’t pretty care for Kaoruku to begin with, but it’s nice we know more about her vulnerable side. As for her teammates, we have all the usual archetypes: the jealous teammates, the losing senpai and the supportive underclassman. It’s a good touch of Hanebado that we get into her perspective during the match, but again this match is never meant to be thrilling. I say that because I can’t see other reason to explain why Hanebado skipped the entire second set and showed the match point instead. For a player who was hyped up as Ayano’s rival, we don’t see any sense of rivalry at all. Just the resentments from each other.

As for the big picture, I’m slightly disappointed that Hanebado focuses too much on Ayano and not enough on the other members. At least show me some of other members’ matches. Nagisa is again delegated into background characters (oh she’ll play against Frederica Girls’ captain next week? Would be a good match), as does the coach Tachibana as he leaves next to no impact to his students so far. As it stands, Hanebado has many potentially compelling drama and some good characters, but it struggles to put any of its assets to full potential, resulting in a show that can be brilliant at one point but jumping around with no purpose at the next.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight – 05 [Is Sparkle Even Possible]

Revue Starlight is back to business this week with its bizarrely entertaining duel. In a way, this duel is a long way coming as this is one of the development I expected to happen sooner or later. What I didn’t expect, however, is the overall light-hearted tone with cartoonish paper cut-out design and Mahiru -Karen fight literally stage-crashing other duels at the same time. I guess it’s because Mahiru is a kind-hearted person so we see her point of view in a rose-tinted glass with almost too naive outlook. Overall, while I have some nitpicks over the episode, it’s a delightful one from start to finish. My only beef with this week is that, for an episode that is about jealousy, we get little to no exposition of that theme. We see Mahiru feeling left out by the appearance of Hikari, but it plays out mostly for laugh (good one at that though). Moreover, Revue Starlight frames her conflict more as her own insecure with the rest of the cast, with all the country pumpkin imply and “sparkle” stuffs. Which again, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that “jealousy” isn’t really much there to begin with.

But what this episode of Revue Starlight does extremely well, it’s how they manage the comedic beat. There are recurring gags about whenever Mahiru doing something “perverted”, Hikari appears with that deadpan expression and walks away. The visual cues sum up very well Mahiru’s situation than many words can tell (it’s show, don’t tell). We have Mahiru’s affection to Karen and we also sense how she feels Hikari invading Karen and her own space. Another notch for great visual gags come later in the duel, where other various auditioning girls get distracted by the duo’s crashing their stage. As for Mahiru, working with all the greatest faces also make she feels unconfident about herself, that she can’t shine like others. It’s her frustration triggers the audition so that she’d have to fight Karen (why not Hikari?) at the revue stage.

The revue duel this week is a total delight with catchy song, humorous, original (even to this show’s standard) and again brimming with many symbolisms that might or might not have a meaning. I mean, I can’t still get my head around the significance of baseball and she hits Karen off. Or even the fact that Revue Starlight animal-codes her as a white kitty cat. As for the duel, well… it’s purposely different from the rest of the duel we’ve encountered so far and I enjoyed every minute of it. With this duel done, however, I hope Mahiru still stay relevant. She’s the odd one out of the 9 members cast and it would be a let down if she remains the least developed character out of this mix. As the final note, two things I can takeaway from this duel: 1) there are simultaneously other auditions happening around at the same time in some extra-dimensional space and 2) I have the most single bizzare image of the week, not from the weird duel, but from our giraffe gets his head down to drink water in the lake with silver coins, while talking no less. Thumbs up for originality!

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 06 [Everyone’s Own Path – Chio-chan Eludes]

Chio-chan… well… doesn’t go well this week. Not necessary because of the reappearance of crash fanservice gags – which for now I pretty much roll with, but because it’s a replication of Chio-chan’s previous (and better) segments. It adds up with the fact that both segments this week feel longer than they needed be. Take the first half, the Kabaddi captain reappears, training herself in a nearby park to “revenge”. There are some amusing bits here and there: Madoka realizes her ultimate technique is just basically embrace her own desire to the next level, the story of her homeless sensei is so off-putting and dark it’s actually clever the way Chio-chan sold this, the constant betrayals of both Chio and Manana are certainly a joy to watch. But then again this part A is pretty much about the joy of grabbing butts, so yeah it’s pretty much for an “acquired” taste.

Although I said that I’m okay to put the issues aside, I still don’t like Madoka much as a character. Unlike Andou who we see him in various out-there situations, with Madoka we pretty much associate her with kabaddi and her yuri urge. The way Chio-chan portrays the latter, however, leaves much to be desired. Drooling; the long, intimating tongue, the white eyes with no iris – this “oni” approach threatens to overwhelm her as a character. As for the story, it drags out for way too long. We don’t need all the flashbacks because we don’t need a reminder of a character who just appeared once before. Condensing the exchanges between Madoka, Manana and her sensei, for example, would benefit this segment better. Finally, I love to see Hosokawa back in action but her scene is just so minimal and she’s vastly underused by now.

The latter half plays like a variation of the premiere episode, where our Chio stuck in game-mode, thus bring all the troubles upon herself. The bit where we get into the first person shoot-them-up POV is particularly well-done. I find that scene most amusing where she’d scan the “hallway”, but completely misses the Mother and Son right behind her (they boy seems to be impressed). As for the latter part, again it drags out a bit too long. Chio and Manana come to the point where their chemistry become too solid that they can carry the segment themselves, but the show has been relied too much on these two. Their meanie to each other hints for the fact that they understand one another all too well, and the way the ended up working together (together with Mananacchio dance) means that they can really watch other’s back when the situation calls for it. This is not a bad Chio-chan episode, it just feels all familiar, and for a comedy show, “familiar” ain’t good enough. Shake things up a bit by adding new characters would benefit Chio-chan much, much better.

Hanebado! – 06 [It’s Our Last Summer, You Know]

It’s a side-character focus episode this week, and Hanebado goes back to its “more subtle” drama (note: more subtle by the show’s standard), which I gladly enjoy. It’s the glasses Riko who takes the spotlight this week, as Hanebado challenges her own badminton’s ambition by putting her against the tough opponent right at the first round. The way the show sets up her emotional trigger is apparent right in the first few shots. When the club advisor Miyako talks to Nagisa and her about the new uniforms, she seems almost out of place. It’s the manner of her looking down, afraid to charge on that signals what about to come for her development. Speaking of that, while I appreciate how Hanebado utilizes the visual language into its storytelling, I have some reservation regarding its presentation. It doesn’t feel natural, thus it sticks out not in a good way. The shot of Sora turning her back against Ayano I mentioned last week for example is way too obvious it takes you right out of the scene, and the same can be said with many shots Hanebado employ this week regarding Riko.

It’s the last year of tournament for Riko and naturally she wants to make the best out of it, but as fate (and God magaka) decide, her chance of advance is threatened by facing the her old teammate, who finished in top 4 last year. It’s when she has a little crisis. All her hard-work and practice would come to nothing if she loses, and when it comes to tournament and competition, the result is all everyone care for. As Nagisa points out correctly it seems she gives up without even putting a fight. Although earlier I “dismissed” the visual storytelling as obvious, there are two scenes that stand out for me. First, Riko and Nagisa are on these steps, and Riko just stops midway as Nagisa walks by. It speaks right there the situation Riko currently faces and Nagisa as a distanced supporter. Second, the shot where Nagisa finds her sitting quietly on the stairs (again!), with the towel covers her head. It’s the saddest moment Hanebado captures in this episode.

While Riko has some space to shine this week, the top billed characters unfortunately have little to do in this episode. I particularly have mixed feeling about Nagisa’s involvement in Riko’s story. They have well-rounded chemistry, that’s for sure, but since her slump gone she acts way too straight, way too simple-minded that I don’t see the complex in her character anymore. Hanebado is still at its best when they can pull off some internal conflicts from our cast. As for the tournament… well, the appearances of Evil Mama and the encounter between crazy-looking face Ayano and equally crazy Kaoruko mean that the tournament will go in a predictable, contrived fashion. Let me just guess even without knowing anything about the draw. I reckon the semi (top 4) is going to be Ayano – annoying twin tailed pink hair girl and Nagisa – annoying twin tailed blonde girl before the final match of the “sisters” who fight for Mama’s attention. Prove me wrong Hanebado!

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight – 04 [Promise Tower]

I bet most of us coming out of this episode feeling a little underwhelming. Where’s all these revue duel? Where is the talking giraffe? To its defense though, this week builds the central dynamic of our main Karen and Hikari, and giving the rest of the cast the whole “we are together” vibe. While one could argue these members looking out for each other plot thread goes against the competitive duels to pick out a “Top Star” Revue Starlight has accomplished for the last few episodes, I think it’s rather appropriate development. These 9 girls, as competitive as they are, still need to work together as a team for the Starlight production. So in fact they’re not unlike idol girls who work together for the group’s benefit. That doesn’t mean I’m selling short these girls’ dynamic towards looking out for Karen and Hikari as they’re well over their curfew, these are charming moments, especially the way Claudine speaks nonsense French and Futaba and Kaoruko have to tiptoe around the hallway to cover these girls. I like what we see so far and I guess I would become more dramatic when these girls who obviously enjoy their time together have to fight on a surreal audition later on.

So this week Revue Starlight focuses on our main duo Karen and Hikari. I enjoy the way the show highlights the girls’ lack of emotional bond by the showing the physical distance. Karen leaves out of campus and Karen goes out her way to look for her. I also enjoy the way their communication getting better as the day progresses. At first we have blurry pictures that prompt Karen to pick a totally wrong location (the miscommunication?), to Keren figuring out of aquarium but ends up in the wrong aquarium, then they have phone conversation together which is actually their first heart-to-heart conversation since Hikari moves back to Japan and finally, they meet up face to face at their destined place, the Tokyo Underground. For whatever the aquariums might represent in terms of their relationship or Hikari’s psyche I have no idea, but them meeting at the Tokyo Tower feels like a long-awaited fated encounter. From this point on I’m certain that they’d work together as the duel.

What they exchange over the phone is also important. They recall on the past they shared together, about the initial inspiration and their promises that basically shape their lives the way they are now. Hikari might be angry with Karen for losing, but it turns out she doesn’t know more about Revue audition compared to Karen. As a result, while this episode is indeed the Revue Starlight’s breather episode, it’s still an important one to establish all the bright sparks that these relationships bring (notice that the cast goes for usual pairs this week, I don’t suppose it remains like that as the story kicks into gear), also develop our main Karen – Hilari so we have reasons to care for their goals, so that when it’s time for these girls to “destroy” each other, it adds up in context. I still feel the confidence from the production breathing through in every detail of this episode.

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 05 [Thank You, George/ Mananacchio]

You know, watching Chio-chan I have feeling just like watching a brilliant kid playing around. It’s consistently funny from start to finish; it’s very, very relatable, but sometimes you can’t help but feel a bit nervous when the show resorts to fan-service tendency. To be fair, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having some fan-services in a show. Many shows depend entirely on the low-brow humors, but we all know Chio-chan can be just as hilarious without relying on those fanservices. Chio-chan this week has plenty of panty-shots, and toilet humor – or put it better, all the humors happening in the toilet, but I could argue that the show has some context behind it so somehow it gets away with it. We starts off with our Chio having the need to find a nearby toilet (oh so relatable), and things escalate from here as she goes to the men’s toilet and is unable to get out. It’s the basic formula to ensue hilarity.

First off, everything involving Chio’s decisions work well for me. The way she would do anything but walking out of the front door is just so consistent with her never-embarrass-herself policy. The overly complicated but somehow-it-works plan that runs like a domino effect is so absurdist in concept it’s actually funny to see if it works out. Her tactic involves distracting the cat with the toilet ball she uses, that in turns distracting the two school girl then as a consequences distracting the businessmen for looking at girls’ panties. There’s an awful lot of coincidences requirements here but I don’t mind one bit of that. Yep, I was talking about fanservice earlier and here we have juggling ass out from the toilet window, and goddamnit why the animation is so smooth and addictive? Heck, this might be one of the rare time that I can’t help but keep staring at that butt. I also love the exaggerated sound effect of the person who used the toilet next to her, and cute little George. Well, this segment is a winner for me.

The second segment, however, not that much. Mostly because of the new addition, Momo, who doesn’t really stand out except for playing straight against Chio and Manana’s antics. As she witnesses the duo keeps being awful to each other without remorse, she can’t turn her eyes away anymore and declares those two are bad influences to each other. While the setup is dime a dozen and in truth I think Chio and Manana’s dynamic doesn’t need this kind of reassurance, it produces what might be two of my favorite moments this week. The first of them is a total crash and embarrassing Mananacchio dance which basically how 5 year old kids would do when they imitate cats (cats appear to be the MVP here) and second, one of this sharpest line: “when people find out the relationship between teacher and student, all the blames will go to the teacher, so just try your best”.Goddamn Manana, listen to her advice and heads certainly will roll. Chio-chan and her way to school still have plenty fun to offer.

Hanebado! – 05 [You’re Not Alone]

So this week Hanebado moves from contrived drama into… shameless fanservice? Woah, honestly I didn’t see girls taking bathing naked coming in this series. In more serious affair, I enjoy the story lot better than last week. Despite the lack of smooth animation on the match, which I will discuss later, at least in this episode Connie is much more bearable. Hanebado drama remains a mixed-bag this week. The two conflicts that I mentioned last week, namely Ayano wanted to be part of the team and the sister having a beef at Ayano, are quickly raised and then resolved. Too quickly in fact that they feel half-baked. I appreciate that Hanebado raises more complex chemistry from the cast, but if they was building up Sora’s discontent of Ayano for almost 2 episodes (you can see in the top left screenshot she’s the only one who has her back against Ayano), they need to resolve it more thoroughly.

The Connie match, on the other hand, concludes in a satisfied fashion. It puts both Connie and Ayano into a new stepping stone now. For Connie, the match point her partner Tagajo saves her made Connie realize that her teammates always have her back, in addition she behave too cruel towards her friend. Ayano, in the opposite spectrum, uses it as an excuse for her lose. I reckon this nasty bit of her of blaming something else for the lost is the main reason her Mother left her. Or that could be the effect of her Mother left her generate the fear of being abandoned, that the teammates might give up on her if she doesn’t perform well. In any case, these girls have a Mama issue and soon enough her Mom will join in the picture so we can see things clearer through Mama perspective (and it’s better be good reasons).

The animation sadly takes a nosedive this week. Not that it was overly terrible but Hanebado uses many shortcuts for those sequences. Sports like badminton or boxing emphasis strongly on footwork. The production from the first few weeks nails that part down effectively with an intense footwork on the characters. But this week they focus instead on “big moment” that the don’t feature much of these small-steps movements. While it’s not a bad approach consider the match concentrates on drama rather than… sports, for a show that did everything right previously, this is a bit of a let-down. Overall, this week of Hanebado has a tonal issue, it can go way melodramatic at times, while other time go all fluffy and light-hearted. Still, I’m pretty much prefer this version of mad eyes, suffering Ayano than the plain, unconcerned Ayano who literally got dragged down to the badminton club.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight – 03 [Top Star]

Well, we have a slower week of Revue Starlight compared to the first two episodes, mainly because the first half is more about setting up the girls’ dynamic than introduction. It’s not a complaint, either, since this week we see the girls go for different pairing, as a result they create a more complex web of relationship now. The audition duel this week is a classic “two steps forward – one step back” for our main Karen, as she fight the Top Star and realizes how much of a gap between her and Maya Tendou. If I have one issue during the episode, it seems so random that Karen fights with Maya because there’s no proper setting up prior to the underground audition. Other things stay ambiguous without any actual explanation and so far I pretty enjoy those. There’s apparently another duel happening simultaneously with Karen’s fight, for example, but for whatever purpose and even what those fights even mean remain a mystery.

But in this episode 3, we learn a lot about other cast members of the Starlight team, so let dig it up. First, we have Banana who steps down of the acting role in pursuit for production design. I suppose we learn more about this development once we get into her episode. For now though, it feels like a set-up to get every piece into place. On other notes, we get a better look at the duo Kaoruko and Futaba, but amusingly when they’re separate. Futaba, the most boyish character of the group, is the only member who aware of Claudine’s struggles to surpass Maya, as we see last week she lost to the fight against Maya. That, however, doesn’t explain why they battle at the end of the episode (another note: Futaba uses an axe as her weapon, an interesting choice). At the same time, Kaoruko proves to be more than her sleepy, spoiled appearance, as the way she talks signify that she’s a calculated, and maybe a bit manipulative character. The character that receives the least treatment so far is Hikari. We don’t pretty know much about her apart from her tsundere act which kinda get on my nerve in the beginning of the second arc.

I also noticed there’s a theme for each audition’s sword fight. Last week, it was “Revue of Desire”, this week, it’s a “Revue of Pride”. Now whether it’s mean those are the themes of the week, or about the personality from a character Karen has to fight is up in the air, but I’m leaning more about the latter. Maya is full of pride, and the main conflict between her and Karen is mostly about the idea of every woman for herself (Maya) vs I fight for me and my partner (Karen). The visual motif of the fight shows how out of depth Karen is compared to her opponent. Maya is always stationed at a higher place, and everytime Karen tries to climb up the ladder, she immediately fails. This fight also serves as the reality check for Karen, that in order to achieve her dream, she has to put more efforts. In addition, Hakari isn’t pleased at all the way Karen put everything down the line for her sake. It means nothing for Hikari if Karen is the sole person who work for the goal. Despite it’s a less dense episode compared to what we had seen so far, it’s still a pretty good week for Revue Starlight, all things considered.

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro – 04 (Smoke on the Sailor – Taking the Cherry Blossom in Your Hand – Manana’s School Road)

Like Hinamatsuri last season, I wouldn’t have expected that Chio-chan having an “arc” for their side-characters; the “supporting casts start to grow whereas the lead stays the same” bit. This is the third week in a row we encounter Andou, each time he’s in different position (not to mention that Chio is the very core behind his life-changing events). What I like most about his character is how in these three appearances, we see him get sucked in three very different scenarios. While the first two display him as a badass gangster, this episode shows a more vulnerable side of him. I mean, trying to act cool as soon as he sees Chio? Boy, he’s like a teenager. Despite knowing the truth about Chio faking her badass persona, he grows even more fond to the girl. Is there, as Manana suspects, a romance going on between this former biker and Chio? I suspect Chio-chan will flirt with the idea in upcoming events.

One thing about Chio-chan that I don’t expect when I saw the PV though, that it’s much more slice of life and mundane than flat out over-the-top hijinks. These events that Chio face on her commute to school are something we could experience ourselves (well, if you walk to school that is). The whole delivering newspaper affair, for example, is something you might do if you sure is amusing. The jokes about people making a big fuss out of delivering papers late hit home for me. In particular, “I already knew that on TV news”. I find the part where Chio ninja-jumping up the stair a bit over the top, but overall it’s a fun ride from start to finish. The most important thing is that Chio’s enthusiasm once again changes Andou’s mind about keeping up with the job. It might be simple like what she said: even if the job isn’t for you, if you’re really into it you might find a joy for the job.

Another strength of Chio-chan is the dynamic of Chio and Manana, which they have a natural forth-and-back that these exchanges themselves can carry the show along. Their banters about “what they want to do once in their life” are just so relatable and progress so naturally (regarding Chio’s: well, smoking don’t make you look cool but returning the litter sure is). You can see right off the bat these girls act their age with their social awkwardness, as well as their bratty attitude. Another “man of the moment” is the teacher/ security guard, who is sharp at one moment and oblivious the next. It’s a good characteraction from him, as he stands out in a good way. As a whole, Chio-chan’s adventures on her way to school is not as crazy as I thought it would be, but it’s hella more relatable. Chio-chan might think she’s an below-average girl, but she’s one of the more vivid portrayal of high school girl I’ve seen in awhile. I’m happy to follow he aroundr, hopefully the cast will expand more in later weeks. As the last note, Hey girls, is there any other method of greeting tour friends that don’t involve one rolling down the ground in public?