Category: Currently Watching:

Princess Principal – 03 [Case 2 Vice Voice]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

We have another fun action-spy time this week. While this week isn’t as great as the week before, the decision to group the girls in different pairings make this one entertaining to watch. This means Ange is pairing up with Beatrice, and the Princess with Dorothy (just to make it more consistent I will address Ange the spy as Ange, not Charlotte and the current Charlotte as the Princess). Admittedly, the first pair receives a larger amount of focus than the other duo since this week is all about their first mission together and in Beatrice’s case, accepting those girls as her companions. Beatrice has a decent DARK backstory here, but her character is still the simplest out of our main girls and the way she’s obsessed over the Princess is way too much for me. On that I think all the clues have been suggested regarding how those girls’ relationship gonna pan out. The Princess really intents to become the next Queen so that she can order the fall on London wall. Ange agrees to play along with her even if it means she’d deceive the Princess and deceive herself. Of course, when she’s going to deceive the Princess she has to deal with Beatrice so that development can create an interesting crack between the main cast. Take heed that even work together as a team, each girl has different agenda and at the end of the day it’s a matter of who achieving their objective, so I expect the last “conflict” would be within the group.

Their mission this week is to retrieve a stolen printing plate (make me wonder what’s the currency they use in that fictional world? Do the two divided nations use the same currency? North Pound – South Pound?), and that somehow involve dodging bullets outside of a floating airship, explosions and tandem parachute jump because… when you’re a spy so you just have to make some noise huh? Dorothy again steals all the limited screen she has here with her seduction femme fatale technique (looking forward to her arc), and I’m glad to see many events don’t go as Ange’s plan during the mission, thanks largely to Beatrice. Still, she possesses an amazing superhuman skill of listening to multiple phone lines but still be able to remember all the conversations. As far as this mission goes it’s fun to follow at best, but gives little insight for us to delve into. On that note, how the hell Beatrice can intimate voice from some random caption that she has never meet before?

The reason why Beatrice can alter her voice has been revealed this week, and well, it certainly is sad and twisted. Her father uses her as a lab rat and he changes her vocal chords into a mechanic one. That explains her unnatural high pitch “himesama” voice but it would prove to be useful for spying. Ange and Beatrice share nice chemistry together, although I don’t really like the way they’re linked together by the Princess. Indeed, the Princess role plays a great impact here since as soon as Beatrice realizes how Ange truly cares about the safety of the Princess, she lets her guard down and agrees to join the spy team. Chise is nowhere to be found in this episode but from the look of it, I expect her to make an appearance soon, probably next week and it will be interesting to know her stand and her role in all this. A fairly enjoyable but a bit forgettable episode. Still my muse of this season. And like Rick remarks at the end of Casablanca: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

18if – 03 [The Witch of First Love]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

At this point, I wholly expect 18if to bring different approach, have different style on its same themes each passing week. This week, they indeed pulled a very different episode from its first two. It was a fascinating episode. I said “fascinating” because if I’m gonna mark this week as a standalone episode (or as a premiere episode), then I wouldn’t rate it too highly because its flaws are massive. But If I see this episode as one jigsaw piece in this 18if universe, then it adds up. Episode 3 addresses the issues that I have with 18if from the very beginning, even with the expense of the main cast. In order to sell us on the Witch’s case we have to invest to the Witch, and this episode spends a fair amount of time to develop her. Tojiro Fujii, an animator most famously known for his work with studio Pierrot, was given full creative control on this episode, as he directs, writes, storyboards and animates this piece, and his input surely shows: the characters are more expressive and the dream world is more grounded, with muted color palette. This episode actually reminds me of Flip Flappers for good reasons, so despite its shortcomings I don’t deny that this episode is my favorite 18if so far.

One thing, for better or for worse, that you can all take out from this week is that episode 3 feels and tastes different than the previous two. Instead of the excessive LCD psychedelic images of the first episode, or red blood disturbing atmospheric second episode, this one is surrounded by isolated normal town with only Kayo, the third witch, and Haruto, stay in. Kayo wanted to experience the normal high school life, but she was so sick she missed all the activities most of the time. All those visual choices actually help deepen the insecure state of Kayo, from her sitting alone in the middle of the empty town, to how 18if maintains the distance between the Kayo and Haruto (If you split the screen right in the middle, then those two would fall on different side) until she opens up to Haruto. This isn’t showy type like previous episodes but this is very well-handled direction, which I greatly appreciate. This episode also develops Kayo greatly by telling the episode from her point of view, so we can get into her thoughts, her nervousness and what she wants to achieve. Haruto and Kayo spend some solid chemistry together as well and seeing that little girl having small moments of happiness make my heart swell. I don’t really like the romance first love part but it does have its merits. The direction and the great development of the Third witch are understandably the highlight of this episode.

But its flaws are too big to ignore. Haruto spends an entire episode being passive, hanging around and doesn’t know what to do. Remember his main mission is to solve the case and get out of the witch’s dream? Well, this Haruto doesn’t have that purpose anymore, or any purpose whatsoever except for playing around with Kayo. I don’t like to say this but he has no personality this week so his tears in the end just don’t do anything to me. Other recurring characters are all relegated to some small lines and one-off, which of course hurt the consistency the show has established so far. And honestly I don’t know what to make of Kayo transforming into the witch. By any mean she would become extremely dangerous but 18if simply leave it aside. Well, witches aren’t necessary dangerous but when Kayo doesn’t use any of her power then what is the point of making her the Witch then? In the end, I consider this episode an anomaly in this 18if universe as it doesn’t follow the game rule established in previous episodes, and the results have its fair share of strengths and weaknesses. My usual complaint for 18if is that this is style over substance series, and I guess that’s likely where they will go for the rest of their run, but this episode proves that 18if still can go deep into the psyche of characters to tell a compelling personal story.

Classroom of the Elite – 02 [It Takes a Great Deal and Skill to Conceal One’s Talent and Skill.]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Something about Youkoso, after the end of both first two episodes, that left me there hanging. Something that I feel “off”, but I can’t quite put my fingers on. I guess a big part of it was caused by the pacing, which it takes way too long to get into the intrigued part. I mean, a huge part of this episode for example, is about group study, which excites no one, both to the characters and to us. So, I went ahead and read the chapters where this episode adapted from, and to my utmost surprise, it was different from the Light Novel. They cut down important parts that both reveal new sides from the cast, and leave out the details about the rules. I’m sure they’d save these events for later development so it’s fine for now but even more head-scratching, they include the pool sequence that has no right to be in there in a first place. And I still don’t get the obsessions over gazing at Kushida’s big boobs because as far as I see, Ayanokoji doesn’t get excited by her boobs. It’s just blatant fanservice that don’t go together with the tone of Youkoso. Or maybe that’s just a normal treatment every girl with big boobs will be received in anime, doesn’t matter if it’s relevant to the plot?

In terms of settings, Youkoso introduces one of the more intriguing school-settings that we haven’t encountered for awhile, the academy displays the social structure, the social functioning that we can relate from the real world. In this, class members work together so that they can gain points and raise up their social’s status. We already have the “underdog” here so it’s easy to root for class D, the lowest of the low and I can see heaps of interesting angles Youkoso could explore. First, this is clearly more of a team-work effort than any single individual’s performance so it could provide the real test for both Ayanokoji, the loner and Horikita, the superior complex one to reach out with the rest of the class for their own sakes. Second, the criteria for allocate students to their respective classes and “gaining points” system aren’t strictly academic achievement, meaning that even if the class passes the midterm exam (means that no one got expelled), it is not guaranteed that they can earn more point. Figuring out the best method to raise their rank and beat out the other classes would prove to be interesting and I’m eager to see how the plot develops from here.

At this moment, I like the main cast of Ayanokoji – Horikita and Kushida although they still remind me greatly to the cast of Oregairu. This episode, unfortunately, doesn’t convince us clearly the motive of Horikita when she decides to help out the Bad Three. Such a shame because in the novel, they made it quite clear: Horikita is shocked about being put into class D, while her score is always near the top; thus aiming for the top has always been her objective and she will work out every solution to reach that goal. In the anime I just don’t see it. Youkoso however does shed a new light on her characters with her even more high horse and abusive brother (who happened to be a council student president huh?) and that’s the only time where we can see the real reason behind her superior/inferior complex.

The male lead Ayanokoji is also an amusing lead. He knows much more than he lets out and people around him start to pick up on this. I quite like his cynical point of view so far but damn, after reading the Novel I feel like they haven’t use the characters to full potential. Like I said earlier, the way this episode adapts from its source gives me some concerns: if Youkoso want to focus on the characters I honestly don’t see the reason they cut down the important parts, whereas if they want to concentrate on the process of the class working together to raise above the zero ground, then they fail when rushing abruptly to the final test results. I still see Youkoso has a lot of potential, hopefully they know what to do with the intriguing setup.

Re:Creators – 15 [Waves Approach the End of Wandering]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

This week’s episode didn’t have any action once again but there is a lot more movement on the main plot as each faction solidify their alliances and plan out their new moves.

As speculated last week, the latest creation has a snowball’s chance in hell in be competitive against every other creation as her only power is flashing her panties to seduce men. That doesn’t comes as a surprise since her source material is an X-Rated eroge ported over as an all-age version and with Mamika out of the picture, it’s up to Hikayu fill in her shoes with her  future magical powers via fan side release. I’m skeptical that there is enough time or compelling development to do that since it will just be a repeat of a naive kind-hearted girl coming to terms with the harsh reality of this world. Her creator doesn’t fare any better as his buck-tooth appearance and behavior towards creations leans heavily into the more unsavory end of the anime fandom. Out of all of the creators, he is truly a terrible human being.

As her creator speculates, Alice does something very out of character this episode and that is to seek out the help of Magane. For a creation that is pretty meat-headed and relies on brute to win the day, this is a radical departure from her ideology of honor and absolutes. Seeing the batshit insanity that is the money-bathing Magane trouncing around half-naked in a towel go along with her polar opposite is the sort of risk that Re:Creators needs to take if it wants a strong finish. With some incoming power-ups courtesy of her own creators and having Magane take part in  her ambiguous plans, this bores enough potential for a payoff that will definitely shake things ups as the series goes closer to its conclusion.

Blitz has always been an enigma with his backstory and reasons for staying on Altair’s side. His story has been now revealed to be a tragic and dark history with him killing his own daughter in order to prevent a catastrophe in a cyberpunk universe. It’s just that when the show try to link his backstory to Altair is when it gets a little creepy. As with Rui’s sudden transition from being a twat to a stewart defender of the real world, we miss all the nuisances and buildup to his confession to Altair and makes it seems rushed while coming out of the left field. It could have been a cool parallel story like something along the lines of Joel and Ellie’s twisted relationship in The Last of Us but Re:Creators really dropped the ball when it comes to those two.

Princess Principal – 02 [Case 1 Dancy Conspiracy]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Man, plot twists. Through many twists and turns within the episode, we have a big switcheroo Sixth Sense-size at the end that completely change the context of what come before. I mean, Princess Principal walks on a really thin wire here. On the one hand, deceive and betrayal are the backbone of spies, guessing the motives of each character and how they double-cross each other make this show intriguing to watch. On the other hand, major plot twist like this is always tricky, you can’t make viewers invest on something and then pull the rug from under their feet. It has to deepen the narrative. This revealing works because it deepens the narrative, but I feel more worried than happy to be completely frank. It seems to me that Princess Principal relies too much on such twists and if that is the case, they will fall quickly because the plot won’t hold up anymore. If what I was ranting above doesn’t make it clear enough, there are spoilers down below so you might give this episode a watch before continue reading. Now, for those who remain, let’s head down to the episode.

We’re heading back to case1, the start of it all – when the spy and the princess agree to make a pact deal together. Let first begins with the Control, the headquarter that consist of 4 important figures from the Commonwealth- Military General, head of Spy, a Governor and the other that I assumed is a Duke – to plan out all the spy affairs. They come up with the bold (and ill-fated) Operation: Challenging, intend to replace Ange for the Princess. This episode not only deals with the outcomes of that Mission, they also cram in “retrieving some important key” mission somewhere in the middle and then flip them all over again with the reveal that the Princess already knows everything and then Ange single-handed controls everyone to get the results her way. Pacing-wise, it’s too much to take in that the key-subplot don’t have time to sink in. When you really think about it, the plot’s development starts to reveal some inconsistencies. For example, the guards serve more as a bunch of mannequins than actual guards because they should’ve figured out Dorothy as a spy the moment she came close to the guy and picked her immediately after finding out the key was disappeared. The Operation: Challenging sounds pretty implausible at best, and I’m already taken into account Ange’s impressive ability; but, how they gonna deal with the real princess when the plan succeeds? Lock her away? Kill her? What about Ange’s cover as a student then? Moreover, the moment when the bell chimes and everyone was distracted (as plan? I guess) was too much of “luck” factor involved to be taken seriously. I honestly don’t buy any of these.

Now, let address the elephant in the room. Ange and the Princess (Charlotte) have a history together and it’s heavily implied that they swapped roles as a young age due to some accidents. So, Ange WAS the real princess – Charlotte, and Charlotte’s real name is Ange. I swear it’s a goddamn effective twist because all the hints have been planted well before. Now that all the vague conversations from last week, like “some lies become truth in the telling” or “Because we’re complete opposites” from their introduction have a new deeper meaning. But then, who else know about this? For me, it’s no coincidence that the Control advises Ange to replace Charlotte in a first place. From what I gather in the first episode, the remaining girls don’t aware about it either. It’s interesting to see how the show goes from there as if anything, Ange’s chain of actions heavily shows that she has a more personal objective than following higher-up’s orders and I would say that the main chemistry between Ange and Charlotte is the show’s central emotional development.

The show’s aesthetic remains distinctive and overall stylish. I dig many shot compositions and I even like the high shot angle when Ange and Charlotte introduced to each other; but whenever the CG panning appears it does distract me from the show a bit so I hope they tone it down. Character-wise, Ange and Charlotte steal the spotlight and at least Dorothy is watchable (her smoking scene is hilarious), but Beatrice is under-developed thus far and others function more as a plot device than actual characters. I’m fine with that though, as long as they develop the five girls I won’t have any complaint, and I suspect the Japanese samurai girl Chise will have a proper introduction next week (while at it, did anyone else notice that we have A, B, (double) C, and D for our lead? Interesting). So, with all the rambling, did Princess Principal deliver a great episode? Well, again, yes and no. I’m not fond with too many twists and turns, especially with this series since those twists could potentially destroy the emotional investment you have for the characters and the spy case of the week is frankly, weak but this particular plot twist is a game-changer, and makes me really excited for the next episode. Love it or hate it, let’s all see how the mystery will unfold.

18if – 02 [Time Stopped at Age 12]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

18if (pronounced as eighteen – if… nah I’m kidding) is an anime version of a multimedia project The Art of 18 which also include a mobile game and a VR game. Watching the first two episodes you can see a clear influence in its game format: a self-contained case that more or less has the same setup. Haruto wakes up in a dream, enters through red door, encounters the Witch of the Week, solves her problem, exits via blue door and goes back to sleep. It’s worth noting that each episode is handled by different director (Space Dandy-style) with overall supervised by the great Kouji Morimoto (Memories, the Animatrix), hence explain the slightly different look both in terms of visual and character’s designs. Unlike the premiere episode with overloaded with random visual, this week’s dreamscape is much more stripped down, yet they nail the mood with the atmospheric dark murder room and everything bathed in red blood gore scenery, down to the red heel. Overall, this episode goes much darker territory than the first, we have more details to work with the dream settings but 18if still has issues with its storytelling.

The main case of this week starts with the murders of the whole family where three members were brutally murdered, leave only the youngest daughter alive as she was hiding in a closet. The three murderers, who all were minors at the time, didn’t receive a proper punishment and years later, they re-enter the society like nothing happen. If you think this is a jab at the Japanese criminal justice system, then rest assured that 18if just drop it as soon as they mentioned it, and it works more as a setup for the girl to kill them in their sleep, Freddy Krueger-style. As much as I found the concept intriguing, I can’t fathom the fact that after all those years of sleeping beautifully, she didn’t kill them then and just waits for 10 years (is it?) carry out her plan in 1 day. Seem pretty random to me except for the purpose that Haruto can come save the day. Other aspect that surely will raise conflicting opinions from viewers is the moral ambiguity towards murdering someone in the dream world. 18if stands by the side that those three former murderers deserved to be killed, even Haruto helps out to finish the last guy off. Revenge is a dish best served cold after all. But are they? In the end the Witch and Haruto get away with all the murders. While I certainly see those guys are garbage, do killing them like this make the Witch feel better? 18if says yes.

This episode further confirms the theory that Haruto isn’t a real person. Throughout the course of two episodes, he never appears in the real world. Maybe Katsumi (the talking cat) has the key for his true existence, as aside from Lily and the Witches, he’s the only person who interact with him and his only line of communication to the outside real world. As for if Lily was Katsumi’s sleeping sister, it remains to be seen but as of now I don’t think it’s necessary a case. Might be Lily is similar to Haruto, an entity who wanders in a dream and save people’s problems (she calls him “brother” after all). Again, the shortsighted in storytelling and characters’ development still remain. This case, by all mean, is bold and surely grabs viewers’ attention, but dig deep into the case and you find nothing much. The Witch this week has a compelling reason and for me she’s an improvement from the Thunder Witch last week, still I can’t call her role exceptional. She just doesn’t have much time to develop and again, the ending wraps itself up too clean that when it’s all said and done nothing much to remember, except for its gore and its atmospheric blood red visual design. 18if relases with both Japanese and English dub versions, while I haven’t checked out the English dub I’ve heard good reception from it. I will try the English dub out but make sure to check out its OP. Lovely groovy song.

Re:Creators – 14 [Why We Travel]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

Re:Creators starts off it’s second half of its series with a brand new opening credits from Sawano using the two same singers of gravityWall. Titled as shØut, it takes the same melody as AL:Lu and closely follows the first opening in its presentation. I thought it was about the same quality as the first one with a bit more action like having fighter jets coming out of Meteora’s Gate of Babylon and explosions everywhere. What information can be gleaned is that Selesia will eventually get back her prized Vogelchevalier and that two more creations, in addition to Charon, will be joining the show. The first is apparently is Yuuya’s rival in which his sister was killed by our sword wielding stand user. This is going to be turn out to be very explosive as these two are going to butt heads as one seeks vengeance for a murdered family member. The second character is so bizarrely out of place in her normality as she seems to be a character from one of those generic romantic visual or light novels. Other than her warm and kind heart, I don’t see any powers that could stand toe-to-toe with Altair’s dance of swords or every other creations wielding their massive abilities. Re:Creators has surprised me before and I’m sure they will surprise me with her.

Unfortunately, it’s been nearly a month since anything really awesome has happened and since then, it’s just been mostly just theorizing and coming up with an elaborate plan to engage Altair and defeat her. Episode fourteen is no different with briefings and characters standing around talking to each other. It does answers several questions like having Altair being deliberately written to be weaker and confronts a few loopholes that the audience might have thought to exploit. I didn’t really enjoy all the info dumping and for the rest of the episode, the creative process takes center stage in how each creators approach their craft from being on a salary working for a client with specific needs to being utterly devoted to maintaining the artistic purity  of their work and totally independant. People like Kentaro Miura, of Berserk fame, comes to mind when it comes to telling a story that does not compromise in its quality, subject matter, or release schedule that sometimes takes years between the release of chapters. I was annoyed that they decided to omit the details of Sota’s little plot insertion as the episode was already so dry. At the very least, a date is given to us about when the grand event is to occur, which happens to exactly fall on when the sixteenth episode is aired. I expect it to be awesome because the last few episode certainly haven’t been given all the buildup that has been happening.

Re:Creators – 13 The Usual Way, the Way Back

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

Seeing the previews for this week’s episode, it was obvious that the main narrative was going to be taking a break with a recap episode. The question is if this was worth watching at all. Thankfully, Re:Creators pulls off an above average clip show that actually has some new animation, is aware of the loathed nature of recaps, and pokes fun at itself.

As most recaps show are usually all recycled footage, I was surprised at the amount of new animation like seeing Altair get her ass completely shredded by an alternate sexualized version of Meteora. While that was very entertaining to see, I thought that her alternate personality could still use a bit more spark as her mannerism didn’t match with her new physical appearance. The nonlinear format of showcasing characters breaks up the tired template of reliving though the series in twenty minutes while Meteora trashes-talks them. There is actually some new backstory information like Yuuya’s past as he was part of a special unit before he murdered a whole bunch of people and became the antagonist of his own universe. Finally, the ending scene is completely meta as Meteora breaks the fourth wall to kindly explain the reasons for a recap episode and puts to rest any concerns about its quality. I don’t think this will turn into the shining example of being the best recap episode ever but it still worth a watch if you’re in Re:Creators as does a thing or two to keep things interesting.

Tsuki ga Kirei – 12 [And Then]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

There sure is a lot of crying going on in this finale (mine included, MANY TIMES), and that was one significant factor Tsuki ga Kirei pulled off in their last episode – they go for big emotions here – for better or for worse. The “worse” part, this emotional outburst goes completely against the show’s quiet tones presented in earlier episodes, and those scenes unfortunately bring Tsuki ga Kirei into an ordinary romance anime territory with all their usual cliché – “boy gets girl, boy loses girl” stuff. The “better” part then, after following their relationship for 12 episodes, Kotarou and Akane more than earned the emotional impact they presented here. The stakes are much higher now, as they have issues both from external threats and internal fallouts. Having Kotarou screaming “I Love You” to a running train, or Akane crying whenever she has a chance feel rightfully resonate with us viewers. Just like hidden waves just keep bubbling up under the surface to transform into massive tsunami, this is a stage where those two need to be actively acknowledge how much they are meant to each other. So in the end, not the best ending I could have hope for, but still an emotionally satisfying one.

I love how Tsuki ga Kirei wasted no time telling us the main conflict, as Kotarou receives a “rejected letter” seconds into the episode. Thus, the two will have to do with long-distance relationship, but will they survive? Akane is insecure about their status: her sister feels it’s better for both of them if they break up, her best friend Chinatsu tells her AGAIN that she confessed to her man, and Kotarou doesn’t address that issue, or any issues at all, instead taking the load all by himself. Now about Chinatsu, I know many of you would absolutely hate her by now, what’s up with all the confession again and again that she knows would hurt Akane and break their friendship? I just say it’s how extrovert works, they have to let it all out and no hard feeling after all said and done. They move on. Akane understands that trait of her friend so she can take it well.

But she won’t take it as well when it comes to Kotarou, because he doesn’t tell her any of that. Indeed, he doesn’t tell her lots of things, one of them is his ongoing online novel – about their relationship (poor Akane just aware of its existence by Chinatsu, again – just to show you how attentive Chinatsu is with the world around her). His novel, I take it as the literary version of this series, takes a lot of viewers’ hearts for its true and honest depiction of first love. But the true question remains, raised by a random user named Akane “What happens next?”. That’s for you to know and for me to find out, kids – It’s an ongoing question that both Kotarou and Akane need to search for themselves, and in that extend all the lovers out there. I think this question hits home hard, so that I remain a bit baffled by the ending credits. Cute and heart-warming, yes, but we don’t really need to know the outcomes. We’re here to witness their first love in a very first stage, and whether they gonna be together for the rest of their lives or not isn’t our main concern. In fact, I believe this story is stronger if the two can’t make it till the end (yes, I’m cynical). This end credits make me again want to pair up Tsuki ga Kirei with Flowers of Evil as a companion double-edge piece: one depicts the light, the brightness of first love relationship, and the other details how such relationship can go horribly dark and twisted.

As a whole, Tsuki ga Kirei has been a wonderful ride. I won’t say much here as I will save my thoughts for the final review. Just let me say I really respect the efforts studio Feel put in for this little gem. I know they were having productions issues in the latter half of its run, judging by the constant delay in their broadcast. But knowing all that made me even more impressed with the final products, as save for one episode they were exceptional. Also, I’m very happy you made it till the end, Kotarou and Akane-chan. Bravos.

Sakura Quest – 13 [The Marionette’s Banquet]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

Up until the last few minutes before the ending, I almost written this arc off as the one with no real drama, since the events play out too easy for our characters. But as Yoshino’s concern arises, I realize that it was all intentional and with that, this episode closes up nicely the first half of Sakura Quest. On the surface, the Founding Festival is nothing but a huge success: the number of attendance reach their whole year’s target, Manoyama town got promoted by the popular programs and the girls are given spotlights that they deserved; even the town locals have a chance to sell their foods and products. But those successes are not sustainable – the plans rely too much on the band Plotemaios (pronounce as Plus Minus!!) and their appearance indeed overwhelmed all the efforts of the girls. The quiz program shows little interest to the travelers, though they still manage to carry on till the end. Their coupons are greatly ignored and the girls are framed as the ones who invited the band over and their quiz panel is completely ignored in the broadcast. Look at the aftermath of the quiet town where the only trace left from the big events was trash and lost coupon flying around, Yoshino wonders if all her efforts are truly worth it.

When Yoshino questioned that whether getting people to come to the town is good enough, well, it is important. After all, getting people come to town constantly is the first and foremost goal in the tourism industry. The constant flow of visitor can indeed affect the town, as many local products aim at tourists can blossom, but it has to be “constantly”. Many of those past events from previous arcs (save the woodcarving and the cooking ones), plus this event are one-off events, meaning that most of the time, after such events end, things turn back to normal for the town. Improve some of the town’s traditions and unique features so that it can attract outsiders is one of the option, but Yoshino, bear in mind that maybe most people in the village just want to live quietly this way. She clearly upsets with how things turn out now and finding motivation, plus looking for a better alternative sound like a good direction for me. The event itself, putting all those pretentious thoughts aside, still provides heaps of funs with many little character moments. I enjoyed Ririko’s idea of putting map as a wrapper; or Yoshino sings that cute little anthem song. The scene-stealer of the event, again, is Sandal, as he correctly guesses the answer even without hearing the full question (he OBVIOUSLY knows the answer, rightttt?) and then proceeds to announce Mr. Kindaichi to be his partner for Guam trip (haha, seriously made me laugh).

Half way through, Sakura Quest has its ups and downs. It has never been bad, mind you, as I quite enjoy many elements from the show. After all, I am within this show’s target audience and when the show uses their characters as windows to explore adult’s insecureness and their real struggles with their current lives, it speaks too close to home. On the other hand, Sakura Quest’s sometimes just too light-heart and sitcom-y for its own good, and tries to cook up too many ideas that many of them turn out to be half-baked. The chance of me continuing cover this show the next season will be slim (though not set in stone yet), as for me it just isn’t that exceptional or personally resonate with me to spend another 3 months talking about it. Hope things turn out well for the Queen and her people in the second half.