Wooper: It’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday week in the U.S., but we’ve got a new site to promote, so the flow of fresh content must proceed. Lenlo is off someplace being a responsible adult, but the rest of your weekly summarizers are on the case, this time with some bonus dual-writer impressions. Enjoy!
No Guns Life 6-7
Mario: Okay, I took over the writers board for No Guns Life this week. These two episodes focus on the new arc of Over-Extended assassination and for me this arc so far embodies many core aspects of NGL to great affect, from its body vs machine theme to the conspiracy behind using these Over-Extended as tools for war. As with most new arcs, the show introduces many new characters and although I’m not too fond of their designs, they are a bunch of interesting characters. You can see the CG models here and there but overall I think the show does a decent job of animating it. It’s a constant surprise for me to see that NGL still holds up week after week. Here’s hoping that it can land the ending soundly.
Amun: Much love to Mario for chiming in! I agree with everything he says, especially about the CG – I’m loving Cronen though. He started off a bit flat, but he brings an element of professionalism and rule following that the rest of the underworld cast has been lacking. Like Juzo, I agree that the major strength of the season has been the consistency of each episode – also have my fingers crossed for a good landing!
Mugen no Juunin: Immortal 7-8
Wooper: Oh lawd, that dog scene at the end of episode 7 was Not Good. Immortal’s cold opens present objects and symbols that are important to each story (the dog, in this case), but there’s no way those dirty rainbow filters and bouts of manic laughter were justified after the decapitation came to light. Hamasaki’s version of the story thus far has been a tone piece, but this just seemed tone-deaf. Even putting the dog aside, these were the show’s most brutal installments yet, largely because of Shira’s violence against prostitutes. The girl in the first one receives an especially tragic death, due to the symbolism of her glass ornament and the way it was positioned between the camera and her corpse. Watching him immobilize and then rape the second woman in episode 8 was nauseating, but there was something more than shock value at play there; Shira’s psychotic display forced Rin into action, even though he’s an ally in her fight against the Itto-ryu. Her thirst for vengeance has seemed absolute in the past, but now she’s willing to cut down someone like Shira, even if it lowers her odds of bringing Kagehisa to justice. Unfortunately, Rin isn’t a strong enough fighter to finish him off, but I have faith that she’ll get there before the series concludes.
Babylon 7
Mario: I know “ridiculous” is essentially in Babylon’s DNA, but frankly with this episode I can’t take the show seriously any more. The drama is heightened to the extreme as Seizaki literally loses everything: his plan fails miserably and all of his allies bite the dust, and guess how they died? By Ai Magase whispering to them. To add flavor to the absurdity we have the uncomfortable moments of her chopping off the poor victim. Like in Gen Urobuchi’s shows, Babylon aims to break the main character’s morality, but after this episode the show paints the villain as some sort of monster and any intriguing aspect in her character is destroyed because she’s too one-note and inhuman. Some of you might know that Babylon got delayed until the end of the season so this might be the last time I talk about the show and boy did it leave a sour taste in my mouth.
Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 7-8
Wooper: Episode 7 picked up right where the previous one left off, with Iruma’s accidental courtship of Aremi, the student council president. A supernatural character’s obsession with human customs (in this case, the production of shoujo manga) is a trope that crops up in postmodern fantasy from time to time, and Iruma-kun gets about as much mileage as it can from the subject, but the entire plot sets a limit on Aremi’s potential within the story. Alice’s assumption is more interesting: that Iruma’s desire to ascend the ranks has led him to confront the demon academy’s ultimate authority. That’s not the reality, of course, but Aremi is certainly monopolizing his time – a fact which prompts Clara to seduce him (or at least try her darndest to do so). It’s a strange direction for her character, so I could understand why people might not be wild about episode 8, but I found the Smoochy musical number near the conclusion to be worth the price of entry on its own. Though she’s utterly lacking in sex appeal, it’s heartwarming that Iruma responds to her mostly platonic temptations.
Amun: Amun is hijacking posts left and right this week! I haven’t commented on Mairimashita recently, so I thought I’d chime in. The episodes have been disjointed, colourful, lots of fun – but truthfully, the very definition of uneven. We have a love triangle sprout out of nowhere, haphazard progression on the quest to be Demon King, Azz-Azz is reduced to a gag character, and no tension despite Iruma’s human nature being known. That being said – it’s still great fun. I wish we’d see Sullivan in a different role than the grandfather-before-school, because I think he’s good for more than those laughs. Still, this has definitely been my go-to relaxing show of the season.
Hi Score Girl 4-5
Mario: These two episodes mark the rise and end of Oono vs Hidaka’s 3-match contest with Haruo as the prize, in which… it’s much better than I made it out to be. Behind its game-like formula, this marks a phase where both Oono and Haruo are being more honest with their feelings for each other, and Hidaka gets the most out of her screen time. Here at her showdown against Oono, she’s torn between winning at all costs and her pride to fight square. Either choice would be understandable, but the fact that she’s at this crossroads, afraid to take action, further showcases why she’s one of the best written teenage characters in recent memory. Haruo has some growth himself so it’s neat to see how he and Oono will end up.
Kabukichou Sherlock 6-7
Wooper: The first of these episodes was a clunker in my book. It continues the trend of fleshing out the other row house detectives, which is an admirable goal, but Kobayashi’s “reformed gangster” backstory has seen at least 100 iterations in anime alone, and this was nowhere close to the best of the bunch. A lunatic member of the same gang was the best idea the show had here, but despite his vindictive methods (such as dropping a bowling ball on Kobayashi’s head), the episode director took his foot off the gas when depicting the guy’s brutality. Number 7 wasn’t great either, though, but I respect the business of its script, which seems to be leading towards a serialized plotline, or at least a two-parter. The introduction of Mycroft is accompanied by a potential government scandal, a phantom USB drive, and a pleasure bot subplot, resulting in characters double and even triple-crossing each other. It doesn’t quite come together, but the post-credits scene means we’re not done with the story yet, so I’ll reserve judgment for now.
