Again, sorry for my lack of coverage for this column, but doing these weekly summaries make me realize more clearly than ever how quickly time passes. Feel just like yesterday that we just started this season, and now it has come way past midway point. Anime this season offers a wide range of offerings. Mob Psycho 100 had many stunning episodes, Boogiepop keeps up with its unpredictability by releasing a whole batch of 4 episodes. I’m slightly disappointed at Promised Neverland, however, as it somehow becomes less and less thrilling as the story goes on. The 4 other shows that I will feature below, still have their own appeal that keep me come back every week. The next season might be an heavyweight, but I’m perfectly happy with the current wealth this season has been offering.
Endro! (ep06-08)
Endro spends the last three episodes to flesh out the characters outside of their heroes’ group, to a varying degree of success. First, loli Devil Lord is my waifu of the season so it’s a delight to see more of her, cute facial expressions (and there are heaps of it) and whatnot. It’s a good little episode since it shows how much she steers away from her supposed evil role, and learning to accept companionship even if her friends are the ones destined to destroy her. I do have a feeling that the Devil Lord vs the Heroes fight is too repeated at this point, but everything else is a delight. The same could be said for Princess, whose assigned role is to love Yuusha unconditionally and she pushes it to the max. I enjoy how she getting close to other members because those scenes, as repeated and predictable as they tend to be, spark a solid chemistry between her and each member. That is why the latest episode fares as its worst effort. Staggering a rescue mission is nice and all, but her plan becomes a bit too much in my opinion. There’s still some solid gags (like how the faked Demon Lord’s underclassmen are more powerful than the actual one). This is the show where it constantly pokes fun at the “roles” everyone supposed to play, so the segment where they play exactly like their roles doesn’t really speak well to me.
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. (ep06-08)
The last few episodes this series delivers a constant doses of warm and heartfelt feeling, although not too perfect by any stretch. First, it’s nice to see Haru meets her brother again and the backstory gives us more than enough how tough these kittens have gone through. I love the older cats who pretty much serve as their guardians and they shine in a little screen time that they have. One little nitpicks about this flashback that it breaks Haru’s character is how quickly the show glossed over the death of the other brother, whom she spends surprisingly little attention to. As for Subaru, we see how he gradually becomes more open to his friends, and it’s certainly nice to see the house getting more people. The chemistry between him and Haru is rock solid at this point, and it’s pretty heartwarming to see how they influence each other for the better. Life is almost too perfect for Subaru at this point
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (ep06-08)
Out of all the shows I am following this season, Shield Hero is the easiest to write, given how it has its clear strengths and flaws. The last three weeks unfortunately go towards its weaker efforts. Now, to address the main concern that our Shield Hero forms a harem team. While it remains true that he considers both Raphtalia and Filo nothing more than a caretaker (or not!), it’s the girls affection towards him that count. Raphtalia especially is the worst offender here as she continuously seeks for Naofumi’s acceptance. To be fair, her affection isn’t at cringe-worthy level, but then again I am not too fond on how the default chemistry between Filo and Raphtalia has 70% to do with Naofumi (why doesn’t the show focus more on their sisterly bond and fondness towards each other, I wonder?). As such the segment where they go all out to acquire that special egg gives a bit of a sour taste to me. But that still isn’t Shield Hero’s major flaw. The biggest issue that we have right now is that when we get to their day-to-day adventure quest it comes up as boring and loses its edge. There’s no big stake, the problems pretty much solved in the end, the group happily marching on… they’re just filler episodes. I reckon that is why I feel the show gets back on the right track when Naofumi gets consumed by his hatred and nearly lost himself for a second. That is something that marks his personal development in the big way as his condition is presumably gets worse the more he fights, which in turn makes up for a damn good time. Just remember, for a series like Shield Hero, the more suffering the better.
Gotoubun no Hanayome (ep06-08)
“It’s just one of Quintuplets jokes”. One of the girl said this line in a matter of fact manner, and it further demonstrates the charm of this show. This is the show that understands fully its own appeal and is comfortable of being itself. In the last three episodes, Futaro fought well so that he can stay as their tutor, and the latest episode gives some heavy-push for the last girl Yotsuba. Nino emerges as the best girl (sorry Aidan, you’re wrong), as it makes it much more rewarding that it was her, the girl who always opposed to Futaro, save his ass at the end. Gotoubon also pretty much nails it in making its small stupid hijinks as snappy and irrelevant as ever. My favorite gag: on their way to their midterm exam that they are already late, they would stop for the most random things. Even the way that Futaro reconcile with Itsuki feels satisfying. For Yotsuba, she might be the simplest character out of the sisters, but that doesn’t mean she lacks charms or emotional depth. After all, she’s the first one who confesses her feeling to Futaro (pooor Miku and her croquete). What I’m mildly worried about, in a total contrast to Shield Hero, is that the revealing of the lost childhood friend (which of course is one of these girls) doesn’t bode too well with me. We have a strong foundation of how these girls starting to open up to Futaro, and vice versa. Why do we need this “precious memory” at all? It’s pretty much become a guessing game at this point on which girl is THE ONE that somehow work against all the foundation that the show has built for the five girls so far. I will wait to see how this plot thread span out but as for now I’m cautious.
Bitch, I will fight you.
The church of Miku reigns supreme.
I’ve still enjoyed Shield Hero even though the last 3 episodes feel like sidequests. But while filler, they’re good places to develop the characters. Naofumi is building up as a merchant and healer/doctor/saint and also how his former comrades aren’t aware of the consequences their actions make, since for them the mentality is that their actions don’t have ramifications over fulfilling killing a monster or delivering an item (which to be fair could also be a mistake the Shield Hero could easily make).
Raphtalia sadly hasn’t develop further especially since she now has to share screentime with Filo in a love triangle aspect. I find weird these episodes don’t give glances of her backstory since there are several place where they could have showed something.
Filo seems like a character to add levity to the story, if I didn’t knew better I could expect this type of character to die, since while cheap it at least could pull the rug on how her presence has changed the tone of the story. Also that would make these filler episodes have more purpose.
All in all, while Slime has a lot of style there isn’t conflict on that Isekai, while Overlord is more “deep” it has a lot of chatting and planning before and after each major setpiece. Shield Hero has been the one that has felt closer to adapting what is playing a traditional JRPG, since so far the pace has been similar to Tales of Phantasia, of course the elements have been different but I feel it’s a similar template.