Mario: Welcome to week 8 where we somehow only have one month left before the new season starts. Crazy, right? I still have lots to catch up on, especially Kuutei Dragons and Blade of the Immortal, so hopefully I can watch those in time for the next post. For now, enjoy our thoughts on these second tier shows.
ID:Invaded 8-9
Wooper: I had a good handle on episode 8 as I watched it. The show spent a great deal of time in Momoki’s desert psyche, which functioned as the setting for Sakaido and Fukuda’s miniature buddy movie. Moisture conservation tricks, quicksand escapes, and encouraging banter got them to their destination: a cockpit with Kiki Asukai’s name on it. Surely Hondomachi and Sakaido would meet up in Kiki’s mind this week, I thought, and get to work on another mystery. Nope! As of yesterday’s episode, this show has become Inception: Serial Killer Edition. It turns out that Kiki is really Kaeru, whose dreams play host to murderers summoned by John Walker. Sakaido is caught somewhere between half a dozen dreams, all of which take place in the past, giving him a chance to catch the Challenger before his family is murdered. There’s no time for celebration, though. His new mission is to kill all the serial killers who are conveniently attracted to Kaeru’s brainwaves. This wasn’t just a conceptual left turn – this was a deliberate swerve off a cliff. Is there any hope of coherence for the last four episodes? Guess we’ll find out soon enough…
22/7 – 6
Mario: I only had time for episode 6 of 22/7, and it’s easily my least favorite episode out of this show. To its credits, I found the show’s characterization a tad bit more grounded than typical idol shows. I suppose the reason is that they are based on real idols instead of fictional ones, there’s a ring of honesty in the characters. Like the beginning of this episode where baby Reika fighting for her life feels genuine. In addition, I’m glad we get into the conflict as trivial as this one because when you think about it, teenage girls are usually fret about these tiny little things. But it doesn’t lessen the fact that this episode is boring and insignificant as hell.
RikeKoi 8-9
Wooper: There was a lot more Kosuke focus than normal in these episodes. While I do find the central relationship between Yukimura and Himuro to be the show’s biggest asset, Kosuke’s ordinary buffoonery contrasts nicely with their more sophisticated idiocy. Whether it’s writing an algorithm to detect optimal dating sim permutations or not having the same familiarity with complex numbers as everyone else, he brings something unique to the show. There was a new character this week, as well: Yamamoto, a manga artist who wants to use Yukimura and Himuro as subjects for her new work. She often appears on screen with crow’s feathers drifting behind her, so I’m wondering about her past with Ibarada (who doesn’t seem to like her very much). At the moment, she’s content to involve herself in our main couple’s experiments, like the oxytocin measurement that has them hugging and collecting vial after vial of their own saliva. (Writing about this show gets weirder every week.) They even kept up the tests during their beach trip to Okinawa – hopefully they collected enough data for their upcoming presentations in episode 10.
Oshi ga Budokan 6-7
Wooper: Despite this show’s nice background art and attractive character designs, it can be an uncomfortable viewing experience. For me, that feeling comes down to the way it embraces idol culture and the delusions of the fans that take part in it. When reports of Sorane walking in public with some guy start to circulate on Twitter, Motoi (her biggest fan) falls down a flight of stairs in shock. Afterwards, he gets depressed that Sorane “doesn’t need him anymore,” and when he finally learns the whole thing was a misunderstanding, he stays quiet in order to occupy a larger place in her eroding fanbase. Imagine being a Japanese teenager and being influenced by the logic of this show’s dumbass characters. There was a slight satirical bite to OshiBudo’s early episodes, but at this point that’s out the window. Now we get scenes of otaku nodding emotionally as their favorite idols announce their popularity rankings and thank the fans for their monetary support. Where are my cute Maki/Yumeru friendship scenes, man? I want a damn refund.
Somali to Mori no Kamisama – 6-7
Mario: Somali episode 6 expands the conflict in episode 5, and for me it remains Somali’s best arc yet. The harpie girl Uzoi relationship with her guardian Haitora parallels strongly to Golem and Somali’a relationship, and having her committed to do whatever it takes just to realize she can’t do it speaks a lot about her character. Haitora’s dark past is much welcomed too. Episode 7 is alright, while it stumbles in the story department, it more than makes up for creating the witch world full of books and wonders. As a side note, I just noticed the beautiful (and somewhat familiar) soundtrack and turned out the composer is the one who made After the Rain OST – one of my favorite soundtracks in recent years.
Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun – 6-7
Mario: Jibaku delves deeper to the titular Hanako-kun now, and so far the show just did about enough for me not to drop it. The art styles are still a delight, and a mix of rumors and supernatural elements make the show interesting at some points. The main storyline is pretty solid, as well. But it’s the comedy that is pretty weak, the characters themselves aren’t that interesting and Hanako’s voice in particular gives off a wrong sense to me. A mixed bag in its truest sense.
I need to watch that 8th episode of ID again, up until now its being fairly easy, but I think this most recent episode I needed to pay more attention to definitely, as you say it suddenly went off in a weird direction.
*9th episode.
Hmmm, you ended up using the same screenshot for 22/7 and Jibaku.
Somali definitely stepped it up these past couple weeks, and to great effect. The funny thing is, regarding episode 7, I just found out that the chapter that episode adapted is actually from volume one of the manga, so I’m wondering why they rearranged the chapter orders around for the anime. But I do think the order makes some sense, as having the witch episode happen later gives Golem and Somali’s journey a sense of actually making progress.
I just saw episode 6 of 22/7, and I personally dislike it as well, not because it was boring, but because of the way Reika is treated. She doesn’t want to wear a skimpy swimsuit or be a sex object for the fans to drool over, but instead of, say, compromising by giving her a swimsuit she feels comfortable in, everyone pressures and guilt trips her into going through with the shoot in said skimpy swimsuit, and Reika is portrayed as being in the wrong for…y’know, having reservations about being exploited for sex appeal. Not only is that an awful message to send, it also feels really sexist to me. It kind of makes me realizes that 22/7 is kind of turning into the very show it originally tried to criticize.