Spring 2024 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 3

Lots of drops this week as we enter Week 3 for the Spring Season! Mostly just me cleaning house with a few of the lesser series of the season, nothing to extreme.

Dungeon Meshi – 17 [Harpy/Chimera]

Dungeon Meshi took a break for a few weeks there, letting other shows strut their stuff, but this week it returns with a vengeance for that first place spot. Seriously, what a great episode. From Shuro confronting Laios over the consequences of his actions, berating and criticizing him for the use of Black Magic and how blasé he is about everything, to Falin showing up and wrecking house. And holy crap, did she show up. Dungeon Meshi has always been very emotive, from facial expressions to how the characters move, it’s always been good at conveying emotion. But this week was… It was on another level. I can’t get over how incredible Falin’s new design is, from the feather coat and draconic torso to her new eyes and how her expressions can turn on a dime. One minute she’s almost cute, smiling and blushing as she crushes Maizuru’s skull beneath her foot, the next crying out for her brother as her true self takes control for but a moment. And the way the music tied it all together, just fantastic stuff. Not to mention the actual narrative of the episode, how Dungeon Meshi called Laios out for his hypocrisy regarding monsters after he had already gotten on Senshi for the same shit, or Shuro sticking to his word and reporting them to the authorities but still giving them an opportunity to escape should they succeed. All around one of the best episodes I’ve seen in a long time. If I had any complaint it would be that no one actually died, there was no cost to the conflict, which feels like a missed opportunity. I get it, resurrection is normal here, I don’t begrudge Dungeon Meshi bringing back all the important ones. But I would have liked if one or two had stayed dead, just to hammer home the situation and what Laios/Marcille have done here. Even with that though, a stellar episode, I swear I’ve watched it like 3 times. I’m hyped for where Dungeon Meshi is going.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night – 3 [Kiui Watase]

In a close 2nd place this week is Jellyfish. Had Dungeon Meshi not just dropped one of the best episodes of the year, this would number 1 for the week. Instead, Jellyfish has to content itself with only making me cry. That’s right, this one hit me hard. Not really the Vtuber stuff, that’s just Jellyfish engaging with newer forms of media, which is cool since it allows Kiui to express her ideal self to the world from the safety of her own home, but ultimately isn’t very important for the episode. No, I’m talking about Kiui’s reality check. She’s spent her whole life as this “weird” outgoing kid, idolized by Mahiro for her confidence and willingness to put herself out there. But the moment she steps into middle school, when she’s separated from Mahiru, that weird chuuni nature starts to turn people away. Still desperate for approval, to be idolized, to be loved and respected however, she lies to Mahiru. Lies about being Student Council President, lies about her incredible test scores, lies about how great her life is because it’s the life she wants but not the life she has. And the longer it goes on the deeper a hole she ends up digging, until she can’t even set foot in school, buying everything online, afraid to go outside. We’re watching a NEET be born in real time, after Welcome to the NHK, that’s pretty god damn sad. But Jellyfish isn’t a sad show, and instead it ends on a high note of Mahiru livestreaming her play, livestreaming her own embarrassment to her best friend, to try and draw her out of her cave just like her character drew out Amateratsu. It was a really nice throughline for the episode, and I enjoyed it a whole lot. The ending being the MV Kiui made for them as well was just the icing on the cake. I don’t know where Jellyfish goes from here, it can’t keep introducing more and more characters like this, but at the same time it’s earned my trust at this point. I want to see where it goes, because I’m loving it. Girls Band Cry can eat its heart out, because Jellyfish is demolishing it.

Wind Breaker – 4 [Clash]

Wind Breaker was fine this week. Definitely the weakest episode yet, but not actually bad or anything. More like it’s starting to fall into the expected Shounen tropes. Stuff like nonsensical over the top antagonists and oddly artificial team battles and such. This can still be fun, I love Shounen for a reason, but compared to Sakura exploring and figuring out what it’s like to be loved and respected by a community, it’s a step down. Take Umemiya for instance, I’m not huge on this overly relaxed attitude of his on the roof, that doesn’t feel to me like someone capable of commanding the respect of all of these delinquents. What we got down in the courtyard was far better, and made a lot more sense for his position. Similarly, Choji and the Shishitoren are just… These aren’t actual people? Or anything close to that? They exist purely because “insane” antagonists are supposedly easy to write, but good “insane” antagonists still tend to stand for or reflect something. These guys are just “We like fighting” delinquents. Maybe we will get a bit more about what Choji is missing, and what he hopes to find in Umemiya, but for now I’m not terribly impressed. And that’s basically my feelings on the entire episode, it has some fine ideas but the execution is a lot more stereotypically Shounen than I was expecting after 3 otherwise good introductory episodes.

Viral Hit – 3 [The Date]

I continue to not really understand why I like Viral Hit. It’s ugly, not very well animated, and all of the characters including our MC are just kind of assholes. Yet… Something about it just… works for me. The fights aren’t all that stylized or dramatic, but they are grounded, and Hobin is growing at a pretty reasonable rate. He isn’t winning these fights by much, hell he hadn’t even won a single fight until this episode, and that was barely a “win” at all. As someone who boxes, it’s amazing how far a little confidence and a willingness to get hit can take you. If anything, the weakest part of the show is actually starting to be the YouTube and Slice of Life bits. The money, demonetization, the date with Bumi, those were the least interesting parts of the episode for me. That’s when Hobin being a pitiful piece of shit starts to hamper Viral Hit. Watching some bullied victim stand up and fight back? Good shit. Watching a wet noodle stumble his way through social interactions because he’s to chicken shit to talk to a girl who asked him out, after all of his fights and stuff? Reminds me to much of some people I know. Anyways, I’m hoping with Munseong coming in as a reoccurring character that it will start to focus more and more on the fights and YouTube chicken man, because those are what I’ve enjoyed the most.

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio – 3 [Yuhi and Yasumi and a Sleepover and]

Voice Actor Radio was… weird this week. Like… I get it, Voice Actor Radio wants to show them getting closer, hanging out, connecting over a mutual respect for each other and a love for the career, but was a nude bath scene really the best way to do that? And did they need to start molesting each other in the bath? Maybe if this turns into a legitimate full on romance I’ll look back on this and accept it, an early moment for them to start getting feelings for each other and shit. But that doesn’t seem like what Voice Actor Radio is trying to do, so right now it just comes off as blatant fanservice and little else. And considering the show is setting up a stalker figuring out where they go to school and who they actually are, those are some really weird scenes to pair together if you ask me. Luckily the rest of the episode was pretty solid, what with Yumiko talking to Chika’s mom about the industry, and Yumiko also being human and starting to crack under the weight of the industry. It’s a very real feeling, and while she took it out on Chika a bit to ham fistedly, I still think it’s solid drama. As for the casting couch stuff, that’s so obviously Chika’s dad that it’s not even worth freaking out over. We know she wants to be on his anime, she stated it just this week, so it’s obvious what’s going on here. Hopefully Voice Actor Radio doesn’t drag that particular plotline out.

Astro Note – 4

Astro Note was sort of cute this week. Nothing was terribly surprising, I said last week the “Ghost” was just going to be a NEET roommate, but it was still an amusing reveal and the fact half the residents already knew about her got me to chuckle. I will say though, I’m not huge on this weird stalker energy Astro Note is setting up with her. How she was the waitress at the hotel the MC worked at, or how she’s sniffing his hand-written note. That stuff is kind of weird, and not very welcome in what’s otherwise a cute 90s style romcom. Aside from that though, it was a pretty straight forward episode. Hanging out, drinking, learning how skilled a Chef MC is, watching a movie together, all that jazz. Nothing to special.

Bartender: Glass of God – 4 [Bar’s Secret Ingredient – The Face of a Martini] – Dropped

Our first drop of the week, but not the last, Bartender just isn’t working for me. When it talks about alcohol, what it means for people, how the drinks are made etc etc, it’s pretty good! The whole thing with avoiding other ingredients for fear of not being considered “genuine” food/drink, the idea that your environment influences your perception of taste and such, that was all solid. But the situations to get to that point? Why would a Chef ever agree to this competition? And mind controlling people with liquor? I get that it’s a figure of speech, but I feel like the show is getting very far up its own ass in regards to what Bartenders actually do. This ends up taking away from what I actually enjoy about the show, Sasakura being passionate about bartending and creating unique drinks to fit a persons situation. Anyways, all in all the show has just fallen off for me. And while it’s not the worst thing, I have better things to do in a season than watch/write about this each week.

Mysterious Disappearances – 3 [Horns, Bullying, and a Hair Ornament] – Dropped

Mysterious Disappearances really is nothing more than an excuse to put a big-titty lady in weirdly sexual situations, isn’t it? So much of this episode existed as nothing more than fetish bait. Why does her power only activate by licking something/someone? Why are sniffing people? Why is Ogawa randomly turning back into her full form in school, conveniently bursting out of her otherwise to small schoolgirl outfit? It’s just… There’s nothing really here aside from the sex. Yeah, Mysterious Disappearances tries for some kind of commentary on bullying, but it falls flat when the episode spends more time on Ogawa’s tits and ass than it does the actual curiosity and setting and why Adashino is hunting for them at all. It’s just… It’s a disappointment, enough so that I have no interest in watching any more of it.

Train to the End of the World – 4 [Why Are You Hiding Your Butt?] – Dropped

This episode was… It had good ideas, good moments, good scenes, but… They never came together to form a larger episode for me. Train sprinted through 8 different stations this week, reducing each one to little more than a pretty background as they rolled on through. And what little story it did have involving Akira and her “problem”, which was heavily hinted to be a tail and a legitimate ongoing issue I might add, got ruined by the reveal that it was just a mushroom. A mushroom that, unlike the ones everyone else had, barely even mind-control’ed or affected her in any way. What was the point of this? Why was she so embarrassed, just rip it out like you did everyone else’s before it became a problem, why is Train acting like this is a plot point? Basically this episode is where it became clear to me that Train never intended to be anything more than “Well wasn’t that random and wacky”. There’s no direction, nothing to really sink your teeth into, and as such I’m done wasting my time on it.

Unnamed Memory – 3 [What the Forest Dreams of] – Dropped

Finally for this week we have Unnamed Memory, and it was just… so boring. The show is forgoing any kind of interesting romance between the Witch and the Prince in favor of some larger threat to the country at large. This should be the easiest win ever, keep her status as a witch hidden longer, actually have the Prince try and court her, add some magical fantasy hijinks to keep it interesting, and only then bring in a larger threat to push them to admit their growing feelings for each other. Instead Unnamed Memory just keeps dropping these completely unrelated mini-stories that, honestly, aren’t very good. At least last week had a decent fight, but this one? It’s just a big titty forest witch casting a weird succubus dream curse on the Prince. I’d tell you more about, really rip into it, but if I’m being honest, I fell nodded off halfway through the episode and only woke up when it ended. Just a very boring show.