Amun: Note: This is the second to last week of this season’s weekly summary, with several shows wrapping up. I’m going to have to take a break next season due to IRL, but hopefully this continues in some format (may go to a bi-weekly post, we’ll see). Until then, enjoy (we have unofficial ratings this week)!

Vanitas – 12 [FINAL]

Amun: Our favorite vampire bois have ended their run with…a whimper. These final two episodes feel like backdoor pilots (which I HATE) rather than a meaningful arc conclusion. The good news is that a second season is already confirmed, and apparently it’s quite a good arc. Overall, I liked the execution of Vanitas far more than the premise – I’m still a little confused as to what all the world’s mechanics are (there’s a mirror Paris, history’s been rewritten so that vampires exist, and despite all that, we STILL don’t know if Jeanne is a curse bearer…). Speaking of Jeanne, I think she’s a wonderful waifu, but she had far too much screentime (I’d prefer to see more of Noe’s cat). I hope that’s remedied in the upcoming season, but really that was my main complaint. Vanitas is infuriating, but he’s supposed to be; Noe isn’t a wallflower and surprisingly nuanced – quite a refreshing duo. One of this season’s best. Amun’s unofficial rating: 7.5/10 (with a 5/10 being average – if you use a 7/10 as average, then this is 8.5/10).

Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi – 8-9

Wooper: It’s fitting that a show starring gods that can break the sound barrier would outpace its audience in the move from one arc to another. Episode 8 detailed the success of the coup d’etat in Zoble – or more accurately, it spent 10 minutes on fight scenes with its Emperor and Empress, 10 minutes on major developments for Gil and Rin’s characters, and one minute on a list of bullet points detailing the success of the coup. I enjoyed getting to witness Gil’s rebirth as an Idaten (it was a smart way of repurposing the show’s least valuable player), but the series has been all about the conflict in Zoble for weeks now, and it flaked on the strategic aspects of the protagonists’ mission at the very end. Idaten-tachi didn’t slow down for even a second in the coup’s aftermath, either, shifting its focus to the villains in episode 9. The subplot about Brandy’s children resurfaced in a big way here, since her offspring will clearly play a major role in rebuilding Earth’s demon population, but they’re so ineffectual without the Demon Lord’s support that it’ll take another timeskip to make them truly relevant. Can Idaten-tachi’s plot support another jump forward when it’s already running a million miles an hour? Probably not, but this show has already demonstrated a tendency to do whatever the hell it wants – more power to it, I guess.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 – Weekly Summary Week 12” →

Kaizoku Oujo – 5-6

Wooper: Pirate Princess Fena may not be the most pleasant surprise of the year (that’d be Odd Taxi), but it has to rank pretty highly on that list. Taken together, these installments served as a major turning point for the adventure series, and I’d say it handled the transition with aplomb. Things got real starting in episode 5, where the previously cartoonish band of female pirates from several weeks back revealed themselves to be major players in the show’s universe. Their alluring Captain Grace led an operation that landed Fena back in captivity, and her crew pulled far fewer punches in the process. The Indiana Jones-ish descent of the episode dovetailed quite nicely with our heroes’ sudden imprisonment in an undersea cavern; they escaped near the start of episode 6, of course, but that was far from a copout. Rather than throw Yukimaru & Co. back into the fray, the series hunkered down for some good old-fashioned exposition regarding its larger plot – emphasis on “good.” I can’t remember the last time an anime dumped so many mythical countries, legendary swords, and ancestral warrior clans into my lap while keeping my full attention. Abel was a positively magnetic antagonist here, fully earning the wonder of his new prisoner and the hatred of his former lover in the process of explaining all these concepts to us. Add to that Yukimaru’s surprisingly emotional decision to undertake a solo rescue mission, and you’ve got a recipe for a killer second half of an already-engaging anime. More please!

Re-Main – 8-9

Wooper: Re-Main just jumped the shark in a major way, but the question of how it’ll cross the finish line still interests me. After Minato’s memories were restored thanks to a five minute lecture from Chinu, he hit his head AGAIN in episode 8, this time maintaining his recollection of junior high but losing his cheery high school demeanor. Now he’s an overconfident asshole with the sort of anger issues that lead him to trash his room, and his seiyuu has been forced into mimicking Yuki Kaji’s babyrage voice in an effort to keep pace. The growl-off between Minato’s old self (which is new for those of us in the audience) and a surly former teammate made me embarrassed for everyone involved in the making of the scene, from the writers who had to play along with their boss’s Double Amnesia vision to the actors who had to pretend that it made any sense. Episode 9 did a decent job of bringing Minato back to Yamanami High and humbling him a bit in the process, but that hardly puts a dent in the whiplash created by this plot development. At this point, my curiosity about how the show plans to recover is morbid in nature, but hey, at least I’m curious.

Amun: Honestly, nothing really stood out to me this week – although I am a little behind on Fena.  MHA was slightly better, and Iruma-kun ended the season on a high note.  We’ll try again next week!