Tag: anime

3-gatsu no Lion – 20 [Kyoto part 2 – part 3]

by SuperMario, posted in 3-gatsu no Lion, Currently Watching:

With this episode we come to an end of Shimada’s title challenge matches against Souya, and somewhat close his arc down. Shimada time has been very effective and touching time and he proves to be a very worthy addition to the cast. In this episode we get to see his dream: the dream sequence depicted the life Shimada could have been had he given up on shogi. In that dream, he lives a normal, happy life in his village with all the smiling and warmness from his hometown people. While this sequence sure is bittersweet, I can’t help but feel it was a tad heavy-handed. Now, “heavy-handed” is a term that I don’t normally use for 3-gatsu, even I don’t mind those sequences about Rei’s depression, as it lays bare the emotions Rei has been struggling to live his life. But the reason I find this dream a bit forceful is because when you make a career out of something, anything really the feeling of burden and “just stay on your feet and keep walking slowly ahead” are bound to happen. Not just shogi. Here the show tried to paint us that it was the life he sacrificed for his shogi professional path. Well, it’s not like his girlfriend left him because he chose shogi for one thing; moving to the big city to make ends meet and trying to survive is the very struggle of majority of people out there, and shogi career isn’t that bad. It could’ve been much worse. My point is that his dream feels like a wishful dream, and maybe that is the show’s point. Just like any sweet dream, it’s just too bright and too perfect to be real. In this life though, the stomach pain he got represent the responsibility he been carry through from the people from his village. He has to carry that weight and that pain for the rest of his life; but like he acknowledges later on, he embraces that pain because the pain makes him feel alive.

The match between him and Souya ends up in another straight loss for Shimada. Boy, here I thought with all that build-up, the show would just make him win this match so that he could play in his hometown; guess I was underestimated the show’s writing. One interesting thing (and how true) I noticed is that doesn’t matter how Shimada tried his best to climb his way up slowly and steady; in public eyes, at least for now he will be remembered as “the challenger who loss straight matches”, “a loser whose skills ain’t that great to be in the title match”. It’s a shame though the way publicity works, sometimes you just see the ice tips on the surface and ignore the rest of the iceberg. And he comes this close to win that match without even realizing it. The same thing. “Almost winning” still doesn’t mean anything to others but maybe himself, Souya and Rei. All his efforts weren’t rewarded this time, but now he knows that he still has a potential to actually beat the master.

Rei, on the other hand, has become really active lately and I believe he has matured a lot in this trip. It’s great to see him actively feel concern for someone he cares, and moreover express his feeling towards Shimada in the final moments of the match, something that the timid Rei in the beginning of the series wouldn’t dare to do. Witnessing Shimada struggling through matches, his will to play, and finally that “last move” have given him a lot of valuable lessons as well. After he sees the weathered Shimada sleeping soundly on the train back home, he learns that what lies on the other side of the storm is just more furious and non-stop storms. Pretty deep stuff here. At the same time, it reaffirms that our Rei is, in fact, special (surprise surprise! He’s our protagonist after all) to find the final move that only Souya could see afterwards. Kidding aside, it draws the parallel between Souya and Rei, as in term of shogi, they pretty have the same style and the same instinct. The real difference is that while Souya is always portrayed as a perfect inhuman being (time stop around him, snow falls, he doesn’t age), it comes with a price too: he’s so far removed from the rest of the world. With Rei thought, he’s human, he’s imperfect and although he feels lonely at times he has others who actually care for him. They’re not the same in the least. With only 2 episodes left (meaning 4 more chapters), all I can really hope is for 3-gatsu to have a proper ending point. But I really doubt that, since like in real life; we, and life itself, just keep moving on.

Scum’s Wish – 08 [Sweet Refrain]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Scum's Wish

Leave it up to Scum’s Wish to break some more taboos about love. I’m not gonna beat around the bush here, this episode was magnificent, the way it grabs you in closely and never lets go. I felt emotionally wasted after the episode ended, but for good reasons. We finally have some major developments in the main plot- the premise that was promised in the beginning by our main characters, not tangled by any supporting, third love this time. Mugi confessed to Akane, and Hanabi confessed to Narumi – pretty straightforward. But things won’t end here, mind you, it’s spinning out of control just as messy as everything came before it. Scum’s Wish understands that making characters miserable all the time don’t produce massive impact. After all, if we’re keep going down to the bottom, the only way when we reach there is up. Instead, they give us some moments of genuine feelings between Hanabi and Mugi, before crushing our hope down to pieces. Dang it, Mugi has to f*ck it all up! The fireworks finally appear (for those of you who don’t aware, her name Hanabi literally means fireworks) to signal the storm about to come so I know we’re about to have a thunderous final act of the show.

Let’s start with the newest taboo this show tries to tackle on, relative member’s crush. Now mind you, it’s debatable when it comes to perception on cousin love relationship, even today around the world people still arguing if cousin marriage is legally acceptable or not. I know in Japan this is not uncommon for cousin to love each other, though it’s becoming less and less prevalent now. From where I come from, in contrast, that same topic is strictly perceived as a taboo for example. But let’s move on now since I know that topic isn’t what you come here for. Well, introducing Atsuya- Ecchan’s cousin, that late in a game doesn’t really bode well with me, because I think the show is offering Ecchan a safe way out and a bit unnecessary conflicts on his yet-another unrequired one-side crush. We’re all know that Ecchan tried everything she can to take all she can take from Hanabi physically and emotionally; so that guy is a voice of reason, the guy who would step back and say to Ecchan “You’re trying too hard”. That’s good, mind you, it’s mean some more character development for Ecchan, and I truly think Atsuya inclusion here helps Ecchan to realize the stopping point on her own relationship to Hanabi. From the preview next week we have Hanabi and Ecchan in some random country house so (smirk) prepare for some yuri show time next week. Oh and that Ecchan’s hat!

It’s Mugi and Hanabi who actually share some intimate moments together, and for the first time since they started forming contracts, they acknowledge that they see  each other as themselves, not as a substitute for other lover. It’s a major development if you ask me. Before, their relationship was strictly business, consoled each other by way too much touching in other to hide away the pain; but now, they start to have feeling for each other, Hanabi starts to feel and enjoy the warm when they hug. Those are one of the warmest, most hopeful moments in Scum’s Wish and really, hoping for them can get through all the batshit in order to become a normal couple might be our greatest rewards. But I’m telling ya, don’t get your hope up, not because of the mess Mugi had done (I’ll get to that later), but as I keep saying for awhile now, I don’t think they can become a healthy normal couple. What they lack is sharing, especially in regards to their problems. I get that each of them have to face all these personal issues for themselves for their own maturity; but they are unable to share their problems to each other and just kinda let it pass. No. That will never work as a couple.

And Hanabi is the only unfortunate soul to get a short straw here. Both being rejected by her crush, and her partner-in-crime falling into pitfall created by Akame. Hanabi confession is as conventional as it gets, but it’s touching because she can finally let it all out, resulted in her outburst. And that four-eye teacher handles the situation surprisingly well, always stays calm and respects her every words. Kudos the show for handling the sequence with great framing and near-perfect pacing. The other confession though, is as unconventional and (again) taboo-breaking as it could get. Although Mugi is the one who ask her out and confess his love, it’s very clear that Akame is the commander in charge here. Mugi claimed that he knows everything bad about her, determines to change her but he couldn’t help but fall for those sweet words anyways. We actually did see some genuine facial expressions from Akame (or was it not? She’s the liar-master after all), but it’s bad. It’s bad because he has her way too easy, thus he will eventually become one of her prey, never get out of her spider-web. He can never have her by himself, and our Hanabi will always be alone. Forever alone. And our hearts again will be crushed along with her.

p/s: after watching this episode, I had to put on the ED of Flowers of Evil to calm my mind and arrange my feelings. Does that make me a broken deviant who like being tortured and manipulated? So be it.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 08 [The Princess Who Spread Her Wings and the Friend Who Had a Duty]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

Damn this show making me feel sad and melancholic all over again. When Nino told Jean last week that this is going to be a long story, I wouldn’t dare to think that he really means it. This week, the show takes us back 33 years ago and tells the story from royal observer’s point of view, resulted in the show’s most emotional resonate episode so far. This episode is just bittersweet and beautiful. Now, there are two things about ACCA writing that set it apart from other anime. The first aspect is its attention to details and confident storytelling, which I mentioned last week and psgels pretty much nailed it in his monthly review. The second aspect is… well, remember at first we initially thought ACCA might be similar to Ghost in the Shell in nature? Turned out we were completely off the mark because ACCA never at once goes heavy-handed. There’s a lot of backstaged planning, behind-the-scenes scheming but there’s no real dark intention in that world. Everyone’s actions so far have been for the benefit of the kingdom, even the coming coup arisen from the fear of the incompetence of the expected king. No selfish reasons whatsoever, at least not yet, just conflicted ideas on protecting the kingdom’s order I guess. The “accident” 33 years ago happened in that same vein. It was the scheme organized by Qualms (the head of Council Privy), the King, his daughter and her guard in order to protect the harmony of the royal and the kingdom and give Schnee the freedom she always desired. Everyone got out of it with what they think was necessary, even if it resulted in the second princess removed her name from the Dowa family register- become a commoner. That would be a fairly same-old same-old, cliche story if not by the fact that her life was chronologized secretly by the person who give up his own life to report her life, so in a sense, her family’s life has become the man’s; and his son’s, lives, and that hold lots of weight.

Nino, in particular, has been given a lot of weight-lifting this week but he shines through. When his father decided to follow his master’s quest, meaning that he had to give up his current life and his child for an unforeseeable future; he wanted to go with him no matter what. And Schnee and then the Otus family suddenly become their lives, but the father and Nino took pride and passion to their jobs. Every picture they took, every news regarding the princess they gathered, every bread the princess took interest to; they treasured them all. For Nino’s father, at least he had his own life before taking this job, but for Nino, it’s sad to realize that the life revolving the Otus family is the only life he knows. Makes me wonder what his purpose gonna be if Jean and Lotta were all gone. He took up the job pretty nicely too, attended college (despite huge age-gap) in order to stay closer to Jean. But then that train-wreck incident happened that not only took Jean’s parents lives, but his father’s as well. He then realized that he has been set up all along to be the next royal observant reporter in line. The best moment of his character development has to be after he received the news on TV, sadden by the the death of his father, bitter by the cold decision of the master, taken up the job he knows had no exit, he was still sensitive enough to offer a shoulder for Jean to rely on. This guy totally deserved a gold medal guys, he might become my favorite character of the show now.

So the main question the episode trying to raise is whether Abend is in fact Grossular. Looking at appearances, Grossular does share a lot of similarities with Abend, most notably his long hair and the fact that he isn’t Jean and Lotte’s father who died during the train wreck. Speaking of which, there is a minor twist that Schnee and Abend weren’t lover, which actually raise a compelling relationship between those two. It’s a duty for Abend to keep track with Schnee, but is there other feeling involved from Abend to the princess? For now though, I think Grossular is a red herring; yes all the details pointed towards him being Abend, but it makes no sense for me that Nino would report to him twice with different manners of speaking, and the show actually mentioned that everyone in that Rokkosu district having the same look regardless. In fact, I suspect that the real Abend is closer to Jean and Lotta than you might think, in fact I’m thinking of a certain character that the show keeps mentioning despite not appearing that much in the series, and he does eat a lot of desserts together with Lotta lately (Yes. You know who! Oh, and the child Lotta might be the sweetest thing ever). In any case, I strongly suspect that guy Abend to be the one who set Jean up for the upcoming coup d’etat (in other words, he’s important!), so the fun remains to see who this guy is and what exactly he plans to use Jean for the coup.

Lastly, allow me to give extra recognition to the impressive color palette in this episode, as it conveys effectively the mood of each sequence. In the sequence between the King and the young princess for example, the scene is bathed with light blue of sadness and longing. The sequences involved Abend, in contrast, was all in red/brown background of calculated plan and the strong sense of duty. Move over to the scenes involving young Nino and his father and we have a slightly washed-out color of memories that feel like an old picture. And lastly, when Nino received the devastated news on TV, it was dark blue with bold strokes and dark shading. The music, likewise, is totally impressive. Head ups for the sequence of Nino meeting Jean for the first time when an actual song kicked in. Even more stunningly, all the framing, the color and the music never distract the mood of the story or stand out too much, but fit the stories very, very well. This week, as a result, is the most impressive ACCA episode both in terms of technical quality, and emotional strengths. While the main storyline might focuses on the upcoming coup, the show’s main catch has always been establishing the ambiguous relationships between the cast. This backstory episode might not progress the plot very much, but it builds a solid foundation that exploring many intriguing relationships with confident executions. I said last week I was sure the show going to get better, right? Well, it does get better, but for reasons that completely against my expectation and for that I am really grateful. And boy how the show know how to pull an emotional punch, that piece of apple pie at the end (the apple pie that marked the sharp turn in Nino’s life) seriously melt my brain and make my head spinning around in circle. Damn this show making me feel sad and melancholic all over again.

Little Witch Academia – 08[Sleeping Sucy]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

After Lotte got her own episode I did think it was a matter of time before Sucy got the spotlight. However I did not expect her episode to be so…weird. Personally I consider this the weakest episode of the series so far as it didn’t really push the plot forward and was more focused on being wacky rather than charming. The end of the episode essentially pulls the “It was all a dream” twist and despite not really being so, this episode felt like filler. Enjoyable filler but well filler nonetheless. There are a considerable amount of references this week with shoutouts to Akira and Sleeping Beauty being a few of them. If there’s one thing to take out of this it’s that Sucy does genuinely care about Akko despite her pranks. The theater in her head does replay their first meeting often which does show that she cherishes that memory.

Animation got fairly creative and having the episode take place inside Sucy’s head allowed Trigger to get more silly that they usually does with Little Witch Academia. This is purely speculation on my part but I think that Hiroyuki Imaishi was more involved with the creation of this episode than You Yoshinari. Mainly because the tone was kinda similar to the likes of Hiroyuki’s Kill La Kill or Luluco. Now I am all for having fun but from what I seen of Trigger’s animation studio online, those people need some sleep and having this much effort go into an episode which is essentially fluff has me worried about burning the animators out. Passion is beautiful but for the love of god guys don’t kill yourselves with overwork. But what else can I say about this episode? I don’t really know as I don’t think I really learned anything new about Sucy despite being in her head for an entire episode. The most telling thing was the movie theater and a lot of that could be surmised by her normal behavior. She does have parts of herself like her mild interest in reading nightfall but really everyone has whims such as those.

Other than that I don’t have much to add here, this episode was madness from start to finish and while I liked it I felt it missed the distinct qualities that make Little Witch Academia so different from their other original works. There is a wackiness to the show but it’s the heart and charm that truly make it memorable. We saw a glimpse of that here with the movie theater but the rest was more or less comedy chaos with little rhyme or reason. Seeing as we have a two cour season I don’t see any real harm in spending an episode in manic oddness and cultural references. As long as Little Witch Academia doesn’t forget whats important it will remain high on my watchlist.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 21

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Allow me to be honest for a moment, my dear readers. Recently, I’m having a hard time sitting down to watching Rakugo. This is not due to a lack of enjoyment and I found myself to have this strange apprehension to starting to watch it. Youjo Senki and Little Witch Academia are shows that I can’t wait to watch and usually do so at the first chance I get. Rakugo, however, I find myself putting off for reasons I can’t quite fathom. Perhaps, it’s due to not having a lot to say about it in my blog posts as the slow pace of revelations leaves little room for interpretation or opinion. Another reason could be that a large amount of the series is already tied up. Yotaro has gotten over his problems as a performer, Konatsu and him now have a rather loving relationship, and Yakumo’s past has been laid out to bare. Really, there isn’t much left to this story and the plot now focuses on Yakumo getting back into Rakugo after his health taking a nosedive. Truthfully, I find everyone’s attempts to force him back on the stage to be rather cruel. He’s past his prime and the accident took away his ability to perform well, so if there was a point to retire, this would be certainly it.

I can understand what Yotaro is trying to achieve in performing Sukeroku Rakugo in front of Yakumo as it ss made clear that he wants his master to have fun performing again. In a way, it’s similar to how Yakumo pushed Sukeroku back into performing before his death. Though, the big reason to get Yakumo to perform is to make the yakuza boss happy as he and Yakumo have some shared history that I don’t believe was explored in the anime. Actually, on that note, there has been a disconnect between episodes in regards to time. Each time I start up an episode it feels like a significant amount of time has passed but not many clear indicators of it having done so. Maybe there is a date shown at the beginning of the episode but it’s mentally taxing for me to keep track of the timeline week after week. Either way, Yakumo’s problem looks to be wrapping up if it wasn’t for the police to have picked the worst timing to arrest the Yakuza leader. From the next episode preview, it looks like

Yakumo will be giving him that performance in prison is what’s in the future for this series. The only thing left isn’t essentially saving the art of Rakugo but how that is going to happen is a mystery. We have the writer working on new Rakugo stories and preserving the art but other than that, there hasn’t been much effort to shake up the art. I do still like this show but I admit my interest is waning a bit. In truth, Rakugo was never usually my kind of show as I tend to not go for series set within reality. I often prefer to escape the mundanity of real life, which makes slice of life such a bore for me. Rakugo to me looks to have reached a premature conclusion and now needs to bring up a new struggle to deal with in its final episodes.

3-gatsu no Lion – 19 [Passing the Night – Kyoto (part 1)]

by SuperMario, posted in 3-gatsu no Lion, Currently Watching:

This week we have an episode that dedicated to Shimada the 8th Dan and overall it was a satisfying episode. Looking back to his first introduction, I’m even more amazed how the show pulled his character off by purposely made him insignificant when we first met him both by his plain appearance and by Rei’s occupied thoughts on Gotou; until he demanded Rei’s and our full attention. He might be plain and always seems to be lurking in the background (and the show keep pointing that out as well), but as this episode proves magnificently, even ordinary everyday man has his own personal compelling tales to tell, just like real people we meet in our lives. Chica Umino is a masterclass when it comes to character writing and I’m in overall happy with what she accomplished to Shimada’s character here.

Starting off by Shimada’s flashback on his rural hometown and how he gotten into shougi, we followed his perspective on the struggle he had to stand on his own in the shogi world. We usually find this kind of flashback in other anime as well, the whole episode focused on certain character’s backstory to flesh out the character, but in this case I would argue this flashback is an example on how to use it right. Because in addition of giving more depth to Shimada, this flashback never at once feel out of place or even disrupt the flow of the story. Everything they showed in that flashback was just deepen what we already know about Shimada. That night bus keeps squeaking as it runs through the night perfectly sum up thematically his struggle towards just barely make it there to shogi, become “a small fish in a sea of sharks” and keeping the hope from the people in his town (man, how I love this writing). I had been in night buses before (and night planes that took forever) so I can relate to it all to well. Waking up and there’s a different, unfamiliar world awaiting you; but the moment when you’re alone in those buses waiting to get there was the loneliest time ever. His stomach pain also represents his pressure towards the kindness and hope of the people in his village; but those hopes (and that heartfelt banter) are something that keep him going, that make him try harder and harder in his shogi path.

I’m honestly quite surprised about Rei, as he takes a very good care of Shimada in this episode; because let me tell ya, taking care of a person is a freaking demanding job. He felt a bit responsible for Shimada’s current stomach pain so he decided to accompany him to Kyoto (that place! One of my favorite place that is). Rei has gotten more active roles lately and I’m glad that he starts to take care (AKA giving his support) to others because then people can rely back to him. It’s the right step in the right direction for our protagonist. It’s interesting to note that he’s actually shared the same thinking with Souya regarding shogi, because mostly they play the same all-rounder style and both relatively “genius” among his peers. Well, the Souya comparison will get more apparent as Rei’s getting better at his game I’m sure, but it’s still nice to see that Shimida acknowledged it sooner than anyone else. Also, we learn a bit more about Souya. He’s like an outcast, I don’t think he feels belong to this shogi world, but he keeps getting forward without looking back and apart from that he doesn’t care for anything else at all, just wandering around places with his mind in the sky. There’s really a thin line between a genius and a fool after all. Next week, we gonna see how the title match in Kyoto progress and I hope this time Shimada can break through so that he could play shogi in his hometown. You have my full support Shimada.

Scum’s Wish – 07 [Lots of Love]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Scum's Wish

Let see, this week we have a full Moca’s episode. Her role up till now admittedly has been a little insignificant, mostly because her princess, childish persona don’t go to well with the dark themes of love in Scum’s Wish. Thankfully, this episode gives her character justice and yes, she does support the overall theme very nicely. While it’s still unclear right now that it’s the end or just the beginning of her act, I believe she serves her purpose so I don’t really recommend if she’s trying to push her love through Mugi (but if one thing I’m sure about Scum’s Wish, it’s that they WILL push forward anyway). Really, her role would just make less impact the more they force her love in so the trick here that you should learn, Scum’s Wish, is to make one sharp clean slit rather than several dull cuts.

“Apparently, if you go to sleep holding hands, you’ll both have a same dream”

Alright, the loss of innocence.I’ve been waiting long for this opportunity to address it because Moca is a perfect candidate. She acts like a princess, having “elegant mood”, eat Western-style foods (because the other characters actually don’t), and dreaming of the prince of her life. She’s a girl who stay inside her little perfect dream because it’s the safest and the most beautiful world. Looking at her roles in a big narrative, she contrasts very well with Akane, who embodied all the darkness and bitchiness of woman’s nature (I wonder how it feel like if the two talking to each other with their true personalities). The show has a great touch to further express that theme through the movie Mugi and her watching: The Little Mermaid, whose story details one big theme about shattered romance, with all the dreams dissolve into foam. Here what makes her character different than her archetype, she awares that Mugi never desire her. Going out with him is for her sake and she intends to enjoy the most out of it so she always has the “perfect moment’ in her dream, and then leaves it at that- the sweet little moments that she will cherish for life. Of course, things don’t go according to plan because she feels the desire to touch him, to kiss him. That desire will forever shatters her fairytale version of love, but for Moca in particular I think this is for the better.

“And then, the prince’s kiss shatters the dream, and the princess wakes from her dream, finding herself alone in the darkness”

Thank God that Moca isn’t just an one-note character, as she has her dark, spoiled side and she awares of it. One distinctive thing about Scum’s Wish is that almost every character awares of their own dark feelings (except for a certain guy with glasses), they have their own reflections. She knows Mugi having a girlfriend and with her “dignity”, she should stop and has a more genuine relationship with Mugi. But she decides to charge over, hugging him and kissing him. That sequence of her real self fighting with her innocent self further highlights on how she abandons her innocent in pursuit of lust. As soon as Moca kisses Mugi, she’s no longer a “pure” princess, and now she understands the breakdown of the real romance relationship. At least, Moca had broken the shell of her egg so that she can be more mature and more honest to her love. She might find herself alone in the darkness, but at least now she knows what she doesn’t want to be.

“I want you to think I’m worth something”

Meanwhile, Hanabi tries unsuccessfully to hook Takuya up, but that guy who basically act based by his hormone so why give him so much effort? Hanabi wants attention, and desperately hooks into one so she can feel her worth. That’s painfully honest, pathetic and sad at the same time. From how I see it she doesn’t really love her true self, so insecure about her worthiness that she needs a desire/conformation from the others. Well, at least she and Mugi decided to confess their hopeless love in order to move on and possibly start dating for real again. I don’t see their relationship going to be genuine at all but at least now they have a courage to do what they had been avoided from day 1, so there’s a tiny little ray of light at the end of this dark tunnel.

“I’m going straight to hell”

Yes, totally. You bastard.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. – 07 [The Truth Emerges in the Night Mists]

by SuperMario, posted in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Currently Watching:

The plot sure thickens a lot after this episode. Well, last week I mentioned about the possible spoiler of ACCA plot, but the truth turns out that it didn’t really qualified as a spoiler at all. All the hints were there and viewers picked up pretty quickly (or just that I’m a slow picker, yare yare). All that just to say that I really admire ACCA’s storytelling; the way they don’t spoonfeed us with obvious details, but trust viewers to pick up hints and then move the plot forward. This week the show decides to drop that bomb out front: Jean is a royal blood and he’s the first line in succession. His mother was the second princess, but she eloped with a beautiful white hair guard some 33 years ago after the Titanic accident. The couple then had Jean and Lotta, living a normal happy life until that train accident that really took their life 13 years ago. Now it raises 2 questions. First, was the train accident really an accident? And second, how much does Grossular know? I would say 90% sure that he knew about Jean and Lotta’s true origin, but how much did he know about the real cause of the accident? And about this upcoming coup?

It’s not hard to pin down the real boss of Nino though. It’s pretty obvious that he set Jean up to that cake store so Jean could have some time with the King alone, so we can rule out that only the King or that Privy Council was his boss. And with that phone talk at the end I can pretty much say the King was the one assigned him to follow Jean. But is it that simple? I appreciate ACCA’s storytelling so far but this week, at episode 7, we still come up with new characters, namely the first princess/ Prince Schwann’s aunt. I know she’s a minor character but this actually gets me questioning: where the hell is Prince Schwann’s mother, the third princess? Seems like she gained the most after the disappearance of the second princess and it might be that she had some kind of role in that ship sank? How about monitoring Jean now through Nino? Is she going to appear in this story at all? Man, there is a lot of questions, but I do love that for the first time since forever Nino was shown in some kind of emotional state, having received praise from his “supervisor”. Well, just looked at him when he was in the cake shop, you can sense he was overwhelmed as well. And isn’t that rare that he admitted that he was too close to Jean as dear friend that his supervisor isn’t happy at all about that. Jean and Nino share such great chemistry together and the next time they talk gonna be a life-changer one.

But my favorite sequence was when Maude takes up the stage and take Jean by storms. She accurately figured out lots of things happening around Jean without his help, and despite Jean hiding things from her she still trusts him dearly. If they join forces together they would make a really dangerous pair. Still, I really love that deadpan matter-of-fact delivery of Mauve, and Jean’s cool detachment when hearing that he’s the first in line for the throne. Elsewhere, Prince Schwann proves to be much smarter than everyone assumed him to be, figuring out by himself the true identity of Lotta, and now aiming to gun Jean down. As of now, how many people actually know about Jean’s true identity? I can safely say right now there’s the King, Mauve, Nino, 90% Grossular and now the Prince and those I believe will be all main ace cards for the upcoming coup. But with the revelation, the current situation has changed considerably. The main questions are no more “Who setting up the coup?” or “When will the King die” (because as far as I see he’s freaking healthy) but “Who gonna be the next in throne and who would be benefited the most with the outcomes?” Now we have Jean and the Prince for the throne, with that Privy Council President as a dark horse (because he can still manipulate the King). Jean has been set up to be an intermediary so far, so it’s mean there’s still someone behind the curtain who know about his true identity and pull all the strings.

Finally, the two districts we visited this week: Dowa and Kokore, were full of interesting characteristics and tasty breads. Dowa is the capital city with that old-fashioned but elegant city designs, and Kokore is a feminist town that really resembles an European city. I love how they explore a bit of women’s aspect in that Kokore district, and really the strong influx of women’s roles in society at large is always a positive sign for me. The breads and cakes also are equally impressive. With Dowa we have that apple cake and snowball cake (man, looks so tempting) and Kokore has full of delicious chocolate. This is hands out the best episode of ACCA so far, as the plot moves in much tighter now, while simultaneously never betrays what makes the show so appealing and unique in the first place (I’m looking at you, hot breads and cakes); I expect the show getting better from now on, now that they‘re gearing up for the big final showdown.

Little Witch Academia – 07[Orange Submariner]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

It’s good to see that the strides Akko made last episode are still in effect as she is not making an honest effort to improve herself. She’s taking lessons from Ursula and paying attention in class but despite this her improvement is minimal. That’s good as I don’t want to see Akko become a top class student just because she’s trying now and her development is likely to be a main driving force for the series going forward. What this episode highlighted well though was that Luna Nova clearly hasn’t made an effort to accommodate for Akko. Akko is one of the first student to attend the academy from outside a wizarding family so it is natural to assume that she would need to be taught from the very basics of magic. However the teachers of the academy never took this into account and have thrown her into the deep end without anything to guide her. Akko’s difficulties with magic are not necessarily her own fault but also the fault of her educators who quite frankly never made an effort to incorporate her into the school. This is what makes the teacher’s rant against her at the end of the episode so utterly infuriating. For the teacher places all the blame on Akko without considering her own failings in teaching her.

After all one of the teachers required her to understand fish language for crying out loud and this woman is complaining about why she can’t keep up with the other students who clearly have had plenty of preparation before entering the school. You didn’t even tell her that she was going to need to be able to ride a broom to even enter the school. By all accounts, Akko isn’t a bad student. It just seems like she is being taught wrong. She seems to learn quickly when people are depending on her which allows her to get a grasp of fish language and movement spells in one fell swoop when she is needed.(Though the fish language thing I find a little too convenient) Which brings me to something I didn’t expect which is that Ursula is also learning while teaching Akko. The two have really started to be bond and Ursula in turn needs to learn the right way to teach Akko. So Ursula will be growing with Akko and I think there is something there when Akko remarks on childhood dreams. By teaching her Ursula looks to be regaining the fire she had in her youth and seeing her stand up for Akko at the end of the episode was immensely satisfying

My previous theory about the sorcerer’s stone being the only place one can use magic in the world looks to have fallen through as Ursula remarks about numerous magical professions around the world. I admit my theory didn’t really account for just what the students do upon graduation but just how is magic considered useless by the modern populous? There are things that only magic can do so I have a hard time understanding just how this could be considered antiquated. The only other ways i can see this mindset being logical is if magic has much greater limitations outside of the school or if the traditional mindset of the community has made the world ignorant of magics true potential. This is an issue that needs to be addressed but I have a feeling trigger isn’t going to let this be some plot hole to overlook.  Lastly it’s nice to see the shooting star mentioned in the paper detailing Akko’s marine adventure. Looks like it’s still flying around. Theres also the matter of Diana’s prediction that Akko would leave the school which seems to have more meaning than Diana worded it.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 20

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Looking over my old review of episode 12, I find that I didn’t really cover the episode decently. I gave a brief summery but I don’t think I really articulated my feelings on the episode as well as I could. I do remember finding it to be a big heel turn when it came to Sukeroku’s and Miyokichi’s final moments but I was willing to give it a pass. Now this episode comes along and reveals that was all a fabrication. Thinking on it, I believe Yakumo incorporated part of the last Rakugo story Sukeroku told into his version of the events as it detailed a story involving a deadbeat husband changing his ways. However now so many things make sense. Konastu’s hatred for Yakumo and why she calls him a murderer and why Yakumo is so beaten down in his old age. All this time her lied to protect Konatsu from the horrible truth. The truth that she was inadvertently caused the death of her parents.

While I do find this version of events quite interesting, it does hold a level of contrivance like the last version. It makes sense for Konatsu to lash out at her mother after she stabbed her father but I find her pushing her mother back into the balcony and the balcony collapsing at that exact moment to be too calculated. Konatsu and her mother were fairly far from the balcony so Konatsu pushing her that far seems a little unrealistic. Still the thematic implications are strong and it certainly is heartbreaking to have Yotaru embrace Konatsu while crying. All the while Konatsu being ignorant of the fact that those tears were for her. So the question is, will Konatsu ever learn of this truth before season’s end or will Yotaru and Yakumo take it to the grave. After all these years learning the truth would break Konatsu, it would utterly destroy her.

Other than that we have Yotaru watching the old videos of Yakumo and Sukeroku and remarking at the difference. Yakumo in particular did seem much more cheerful in the past when doing Rakugo, a point Yotaru notices easily. Seeing Sukeroku after all this time was oddly nostalgic and I felt a connection with Matsuda in that it really felt like the return of an old friend. In other events the writer looks to have had a crush on Miyokichi which does explain the level of antagonism he has for Yakumo. Though in turn that seems to be the origin of his love for Rakugo. On top of all that Yakumo says he’s done with Rakugo, this may be why his vision when he fell unconscious features Sukeroku strangling him. To Yakumo, Sukeroku took his voice and without Rakugo he only has to wait for the reaper. The rest of the cast is reluctant to let him leave the Rakugo world but perhaps this truly is the end of his carreer.