Mario: It’s me and Wooper again contributing in this column for “less popular” shows this season. Many of them are falling apart as they wrap up, but that to be expected with any season. If we’re lucky, we have golden eggs but most of the time they are forgettable fluffs. Well, enough with metaphysical nonsense and let’s scroll down to see what this week has to offer.
RikeKoi – 10
Wooper: While watching this episode, I was surprised at its level of commitment to the characters’ academic presentations. We’ve only seen two Ikeda lab members pitch their research, which means we might spend the last two episodes watching the rest of the cast do the same. Before that, however, Himuro and Yukimura will have to work out the misunderstanding that threatens to drive a wedge between them (ruining not just their relationship, but their joint presentation). Yukimura giving a cortisol-lowering hug to Kanade just before her turn was an innocent gesture, but it’s a terrible betrayal in his partner’s mind. That plot is pretty stupid when you type it out, but I did pick up a hint of interest from Kanade, mostly based on her senpai’s unflapability. Girls do love confidence in men – could Himuro have detected something between the two that they’re both unaware of?
Somali to Mori no Kamisama – 08
Mario: I’ve come to realize that Somali the show fares much better when it focuses on the side characters instead of the main leads. The reason for that, I suppose, is that Somali and Golem’s chemistry is solid but has only one shade. By focusing on their relationship it becomes repetitive and gradually loses its impact. By examining other characters’ relationship towards the human race, or towards the person they love (like last week), the show draws out more context and dimensions to the central leads’ fondness for each other. This episode is entirely in flashback from a witch’s point of view, and that segment says so much about humanity’s frailness and skepticism when it comes to accepting other races. In addition to that, the witch’s world is gorgeously detailed and becomes my favorite setting out of this show. Somali’s looking good heading to the last stretch of its run.
ID:Invaded – 10
Wooper: There’s no way I can unpack all of that in just one paragraph, and I’m sure as hell not writing two or three. I’m not that invested at this point, as evidenced by my cold reaction to the insert song halfway through the episode. It was designed to make me feel something for Sakaido before he was ripped away from his wife and daughter again, but we hardly know those two, even as he’s spent over two years of perceived time with them in Kiki’s subconscious. Maybe if the whole episode weren’t so loose with time, I’d have been able to ground myself in the story a bit more. As it stands, the offscreen elimination of half a dozen serial killers and instantaneous passing of a month during Momoki’s investigation made it tough to get my bearings here. In ID:Invaded’s defense, it did a pretty nice job pulling itself out of last week’s pickle, but developments like Fukuda’s intact memory failed my frontal lobe’s processing test. Speaking of the brain, apparently the hole in Fukuda’s head is the reason why he can remember his identity, even within the well. Am I the only one who doesn’t buy this nonsense?
22/7 – 7/8
Mario: If I have to point out which episode of 22/7 that best represents the whole show, I’d pick episode 7. It’s an episode of half-goofy dumb present day idol as one girl has to do all the works of others in a single day, with the reason as stupid as food-poisoning, and this episode won’t sit well with serious watchers who are in support of labor’s rights here (yeah, “instead of cancelling the whole day, let’s work that girl to death” is the show’s message). And the other half is an over-dramatic backstory as that said idol girl turns out was very sick when she was younger. Taken on their own, these two segments are far cry from good storytelling, but in a strange, weird way when 22/7 combines them together it sort of… works. Jun’s condition mysteriously gets better and she takes that as a sign that she inherited her late friend’s life hits the chord and tells you why she becomes who she is now. Episode 8 does the same thing, but in reverse, with Akane from being cheerful in childhood has a trauma and becomes static and emotionless. At this point, I can safely say that 22/7 is a middle-ground idol show, it is inconsistent but there are many moments in its episodes that ring surprisingly true.
Oshi ga Budokan – 08
Wooper: To all the OshiBudo fans out there (all six of you), my apologies in advance. Rather than talk about this episode as a whole, I have to vent about its climactic scene – the Christmas live event. The lightning strike that cut the lights mid-set must have zapped the audience’s brains as well, because there was a serious lack of IQ in that darkened room. Everybody in the audience was holding glow sticks, but not a single person thought to turn theirs on until the main character suggested it. “Oh yeah, I guess we could do that!” was one guy’s honest verbal response to her suggestion. This must be the worst idol group on earth to have attracted such a drooling fanbase. Why am I still watching this show, after it abandoned its roots as a loving critique of idol fandom? All we’re left with is the “loving” part, which only takes shape when the show bends over backwards to give Eripiyo something halfway sane to do or say.
Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun – 08
Mario: I’m not really sure if i’m on board with the new villains here. This episode marks the first time Nene isn’t our narration, and it develops the relationship between Kou and the new ghost Mitsuba. It’s rushed for one thing when we see how Mitsuba grows fond to Kou, gets manipulated and bites the dust in a span of an episode. The tonal issue is still there but I do like the fact that Hanako-kun is pretty shaken up while meeting this new villain, who has the same appearance as Hanako-kun but I can’t say I care much about him.
