Wooper: With The Promised Neverland and Kemono Jihen having been ejected from the weekly roundup posts, this column was looking a little thin – good thing Mario is working through his backlog to beef up our selection of shows. Some of these entries may not be about seasonal anime, but hey, winter is old hat – the beginning of March means the Spring 2021 Preview is only weeks away. Hope you’re not thinking of unbuckling your seatbelt, because this ride never stops.
Go-toubun no Hanayome S2 – 06-08
Mario: It’s time for the final arc as the “pretense” tutoring is over and the romance comes in full force as the sisters are on the offense now. I am glad that these episodes focus on Miku (she deserves it) while never forgetting the other girls. Both Nino, Yotsuba, Ichika and Itsuki have their moments in these episodes – and it makes sense that Futaro faces his biggest challenges yet: not tutoring them but telling these girls apart and responding to their love. Nino makes the first leap forward here (true to her character) and that will push the others to do the same. It’s interesting to note that only Itsuki hasn’t fallen for Futaro yet, and that actually makes the whole “race” more refreshing. While I enjoy these characters immensely, the show doesn’t handle the time skips very well this season, given I never have a good sense of how long time has passed between events – and what happened to Futaro’s family in episode 7-8? They all but disappeared on the trip.
Heaven’s Design Team – 08
Lenlo: This might be the best episode of HDT yet. Not only were the animals and how they got to them interesting, but the theme was so clever I still can’t believe they did it. To give us a DBZ battle, rap and a stage production all under the guise of “mating presentations” was absolutely brilliant. I had fun the whole way through and it really revitalized my interest in the show. With this episode HDT has ensured that I will finish it, just on the off chance I get another one of these. Cause god damn was that better than it had any right to be.
Yuru Camp – 06/07
Wooper: I’m a week behind on Yuru Camp, but I couldn’t bear to cram three episodes of such a slow-paced show into a single day’s viewing, so I’ll catch up later. These two eps were more than enough to tide me over for now, especially number 7, which returned to the Nadeshiko/Rin pairing where the show typically does its best work. Their individual outings were linked by text messages and smart match cuts, my favorite of which was the transition from Nadeshiko staring at her food to Rin staring at her older sister. That food scene, where we got to join Nadeshiko in watching her shigure-yaki being prepared on the grill, was delectable – my mouth is watering just thinking about it, and my ears can still hear the delightful mandolin tune that played over the sounds of sizzling ingredients. Episode 6 was pretty good too, balancing its prequel’s comedic tone after a brush with dangerous temperatures. Just a pinch of drama was enough to get the message across before an excellent final scene, where the girls’ appreciation of the sunrise was magnified by their awareness of the frosty weather they had previously neglected. So glad this show got a second season.
Urasekai Picnic – 06/07
Mario: It’s astonishing for me that even after we reach the second half of Urasekai Picnic’s run, there’s still unclear exposition about its worlds. The basic formula for the show right now is the girls somehow transport to Otherside, fight some monsters and then somehow get back to their world. “Somehow” because the show seems to make up the exit portal as they go. It has 2 things on its mind: 1) creating a creepy atmosphere where the dangers lurking around and can attack them from any corner 2) framing these trips to the Otherside as fun adventures for the girls – and these two don’t mesh quite well together. Heck, its utmost determination to follow anime tropes (beach episode, its gaze on female body’s parts) stays at odds with its more serious moments. The episodic nature doesn’t help either since it gives little attention to the one-off cast, like the US military unit in episode 5 & 6. Basically now I’m watching it for the show’s chilling mood which reminds me in a good way of J-horror classics.
Reincarnated As A Spider – 08
Amun: This week on spider isekai – welp, looks like the spider’s dead, show’s over, time to go home…..yeah, right. Reincarnated As A Spider is definitely going…somewhere with its plot. It’s not 100% clear where that is, but this episode’s flashback introduced a character named “Spooky”, who kind of looks like the genderbent version of the world eater from the OP. Coincidence? Unlikely. Also, I’m sure it’s due to the manga pacing, but the continuity of Spider-chan’s fights feels disjointed – all of a sudden she goes from checking out spells to fighting a dragon. Probably made more sense in print, but didn’t translate that well on-screen. (Before you get on my case, I know her name’s Wakaba Hiiro – a little on the nose there – but she’s Spider-chan to me). Still, the show’s romping good fun, and I love the parallel brains (good way to break out of the monologue trap? Just get split personalities!). Spider-chan, fighting!
Eikoku Koi Monogatari Emma
[Classic Show] – 03/04
Mario: Well, I really enjoyed the first two episodes of Emma, but in these two outings, the appearance of the over-the-top prince Hakim gives me a mixed feeling overall. On the one hand, he’s the one who shakes things up and breaks the status quo which I appreciate, and he serves as a perfect contrast to William. On the other hand, his depiction of a rich, exotic and bored prince is filled with stereotypes that I am not keen on. I can look over the fact that he arrives with 5 elephants to meet William, but the way the show uses Prince Hakim’s maids as accessories who look-alike and have no personality at all is problematic. Hakim is more cunning than he lets on though so he proposed (and got rejected by) Emma. I do enjoy Emma and William’s growing relationship for now, and even Eleanor who everyone can guess will serve as the third wheel, but Hakim’s larger-than-life personality overwhelmed the narrative right now, making our leads feel rather passive. I really hope the show picks up form here.
Back Arrow – 08
Wooper: There was an incredible moment in this episode where a mad scientist pulled back a velvet curtain to reveal a choir, which proceeded to sing a jaunty tune about getting stabbed with electrodes. I am now 100% convinced that Back Arrow is a satirical work, but the precise target of its satire eludes me. Maybe it’s lampooning the haphazard plotting of 80s mecha anime, or commenting on the depths to which the genre has fallen in the modern day. It could even be criticizing the industry conditions under which it was greenlit, where money was thrown at a project spearheaded by two big names despite the flimsiness of its concept. That last one is a major stretch, but having watched a cutesy princess wrestle for control of her body with her evil alter ego this week, I find myself unable to take any creative motivations off the table where Back Arrow is concerned. What madness will the next episode of this series bring? At this rate, my desire for the answer to that question will become less morbid and more sincere.
Shounen Onmyouji
[Classic Show] – 13-15
Mario: Shounen Onmyouji starts the new arc (which I believe will be the entirety of the second half) with a formidable villain that is powerful and promises to be a complex character as well. The first three episodes involve her summoning a vengeful spirit who then curses the one he believed to be responsible for his exile. The show also focuses on Masahiro – Toshitsugu dynamic as the latter is picking on our boy. The mystery woman is planning to kill Masahiro’s grandfather Abe no Seimei, and for now I suppose it is based on the grudges passed down by someone close to her (she doesn’t know Abe no Seimei’s face to begin with). I hope she serves as a perfect soil foil Masahiro. For now it’s Toshitsugu who is serving that role but I guess that will change once the story gets more serious.
Now that I think about it, Back Arrow is essentially Nakashima’s Carranger, which for the non-Sentai fans, is a comedic season of Super Sentai that viciously parodies itself with incredibly ridiculous and intentionally stupid storylines and villains that all make fun of its own episodic conventions but all done completely in earnest (something that got completely lost in the process of attempting to adapt it into the much-maligned Power Rangers Turbo where it tries to take itself seriously).
It seems writing something like Carranger (being a super dumb, yet earnest mecha parody of his own work and other 90s mecha shows) is what he’s trying to go for here.