Summer 2021 – Weekly Summary Week 13 [FINAL]

Amun: It’s been my pleasure hosting you for this summer season.  With fall upon us, I’ll be handing the reins off to Wooper again.  Not to worry though, I’ll still be here for my hot takes on the latest shounen trash!

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Slime Isekai – 12 [FINAL]

Amun: Slime Isekai finishes out the second half of its sophomore season…to mixed results. Frankly, this season spent far too much time talking and far too little time doing – the first half was basically a political conference. The second half, and the finale in particular, were some good old fashioned beatdowns that were quite cathartic given Clayman’s nonsense. We also have the looming spectre of the final boss baddie, which I’m not entirely sold on. As far as finales go, this one was pretty good – especially with all the homages (most of all being the clown’s “You’re already dead”). I actually want to see more of the other Harlequins troupe members in coming seasons, because they’ve turned into decent characters. All in all, a pretty good season (more the back half than the first), and an excellent OP – I’m pretty happy. Amun’s unofficial grade: 7/10 (5/10 being average).

Kaizoku Oujo – 7-8

Wooper: When a fictional character spends a great deal of time pondering the meaning of their existence, it’s sometimes a sign that the author who created them isn’t sure of that meaning either. That seems to be the case where Fena (the “Pirate Princess” from this series’ title) is concerned, at least if episode 8 is any indication. A slow-moving installment designed to give the characters time to recuperate from a naval battle, the episode played host to a lot of ponderous dialogue about who Fena truly is. An ordinary girl? A princess? A witch who puts everyone she encounters under her spell, as Shitan seemed to reveal? We won’t find out until reaching Eden, the story’s final destination, but for now she exists as an object of fascination for three men and not much else. Many of their conversations with her have involved grand proclamations and desirous stares – it’s all getting to be a bit tiresome. I would have loved to see her level up as a pirate or learn more about her destiny before reaching this point in the story, but as long as one or both of those checkpoints arrive before long, I’ll be alright. Plus there’s still the memory of Fena’s excellent episode 7, with its ship-shredding cannon fire and climactic boarding mission, to tide me over until the next big set piece.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom – 12/13 [FINAL]

Amun: I criticized Realist Hero before the season as a poor man’s Amagi Brilliant Park. Turns out…I was right. But, as I surmised, it wasn’t all bad – in fact, it wasn’t that bad at all. Realist Hero set realistic expectations, and met them. And you know what, that should be commended. I expected a straightforward power-fantasy, slightly political isekai. I got that, with serviceable characters, a moderate harem, and a plot with enough interesting situations to keep me engaged. Is it likely a high schooler makes all of these great judgement calls? No way (I’m also very concerned about Japan’s libido after seeing some of these recent protagonists – no wonder the population is declining). These final two episodes had some nice moments: I particularly liked the singing of the conquered national anthem, with the full expectation of execution. Solid moment. The season was wrapped up well, with the future conflicts pretty well telegraphed – I foresee an adequate amount of character creep, with a few new harem additions. A good way to judge your true opinion of an anime is to react to news of a sequel; in Realist hero’s case, I’m looking forward to it.

Love Live! Superstar!! – 8

Wooper: After the previous episode added some levity to the Hazuki-centric school festival plot, this one got so serious and sappy that it put a sizable dent in my opinion of the series. Last week’s noir spoof felt like an opportunity for the creative staff to have a bit of fun – it’s a good thing they did, because this follow-up was utterly humorless. Hazuki’s angst over her School Idol mom’s lack of mementos nearly turned the entire academy against her, but the current School Idols found some old photos and a notebook in the nick of time, proving that the past School Idols had loved being School Idols after all. Then the student body clapped for a teary-eyed Hazuki not once, but twice, with deafening orchestral music serving as a “please feel now” sign in both instances. This level of self-congratulatory drama is something I probably should have expected from an idol show, but Superstar wasn’t nearly this schmaltzy during part one of its run – if it had been, I wouldn’t still be writing about it. As things stand now, I still intend to finish the show (there are only four episodes to go), but without the optimism that carried me through its first month and a half.

Re-Main – 10-11

Wooper: These two episodes played it very safe in softening Minato’s no-longer-amnesiac edge, but they really didn’t have much of a choice. When your hero loses his memory in a car crash, then gets it back but forgets the new stuff after falling off his bike, your show has to grab onto something, anything, to keep its balance. In Re-Main’s case, that something was a life preserver labeled “teamwork makes the dream work,” which was the overarching message all along, but now it’s even conquered Minato’s newly coarse personality. The writers did the right thing here, showing Minato his limitations so that he would come to lean on his teammates out of necessity, then giving each of them a chance to prove their worth (except Ushi, but he doesn’t need to be useful – every modern sports anime needs a deadweight member so the non-athletes at home can relate). The non-water polo moments in these episodes topped the time spent in the pool for me, especially Jo inviting his distant dad to watch his first official match. I admired the idea behind our “hero” confronting his mother at the start of number 10, as well, but his family life hasn’t been central enough for that scene to have twisted any sort of knife. These weren’t bad episodes and Re-Main isn’t a bad show, but it’ll be forgotten before long (kind of like the past year of Minato’s life).

Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi – 10

Wooper: One episode per week is definitely the way to go when scheduling your Idaten viewing – this episode was just as conceptually hectic as the previous two, but I enjoyed it a lot more since it wasn’t competing with a neighbor for brain space. Of course, it helped that some of this week’s layouts were among the best not only of the show’s run so far, but of the summer season as a whole. The backgrounds have gotten sketchier and more dilapidated since the demons went into hiding, reinforcing their losing position with messiness and decay. The villains’ placement within their shots are smart, too, either going wide to enforce their boredom or zooming way in (mostly on Miku) to illustrate how ready they are to bust out of hibernation.

On a moral scale, there was some despicable stuff in this installment (mostly about demons finding pleasure in mating with human children), but it did factor into Miku’s plan to repopulate the earth, which the show did a fine job of clarifying here. As a matter of fact, everything about this episode was easily readable, from the swift POV changes to the combat animation. That hasn’t always been the case as of late, so I’m thinking that Seimei Kidokoro reserved one of his best directors for this episode in order to effectively set up next week’s conclusion. I’ve got no idea how Idaten will wrap itself up with just twenty-odd minutes left – I sort of doubt a series this bold and transgressive can secure a second season, but that may be the only way to achieve a satisfying finish at this rate.