Spy×Family - Episode 20 [Review]

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Spy×Family - Episode 20 [Review]

The most surprising thing about this episode is easily Anya's school assignment. “Interview someone whose job you think is neat” is an assignment I remember having in elementary school, although I admit to taking the Becky (and Anya) route and just going to work with my dad and picking a random radio station employee to talk to. But then, my dad wasn't hiding a secret profession as a spy, nor was my mom an assassin masquerading as an office worker, so my options were in no way as exciting as Anya's – and she's hoping to take full advantage of that. Or, well, partially advantage of that, thanks to Yor's intense imaginary scenario of training her daughter in the way of the assassin (I don't think we're going to see the spin-off series “Briar Princess, Starlight Anya, and the Bloody Daggers of Doom” any time soon). That Yor barely sees anything wrong with her fantasy of taking her daughter to work is what really makes the scene, though – we can guess from the pixilated intestines (?) that she's concerned that it'll be too gory for a little girl, but apparently assassin training is a-okay otherwise!

It's a good thing Anya's psychic, because that extended bit of terror is what prompts her to choose Loid, or rather, Twilight. Not that that goes much more smoothly – by the end I'm pretty sure Loid is wishing he'd taken his (fake) colleague up on that psychiatric test she offered Anya. Anya aside, the whole thing does raise an interesting question we haven't really had space to ponder before: is Loid actually working as a psychiatrist in between missions? The answer appears to be yes, which is at least a little alarming, because if he is in fact an acting psychiatrist rather than a psychologist, that means he can prescribe meds. Sure, his spy life has probably made him better than the average bear at assessing people's mental states, and Sylvia clearly wouldn't have sent him in without any training whatsoever, but the thought that he's seeing patients at all is a bit alarming.

It may, however, help him in his role as a father, even if he doesn't realize it. When he comes back into his office after talking with the woman from the ending theme, whose role will significantly expand next week, Loid sees Anya's last-minute toybox mess and freaks out. Psychologically speaking, the box to him signifies that her psyche is in utter turmoil, the disaster to end all disasters, which – when he thinks about it – makes a lot of sense given the upheaval in her life. (Her comment about the lack of operating room equipment and brain machines in his office is a chilling little reminder of what her life was like before, not that Loid gets it.) But his first thought is that he's a failure as a spy for not dealing with her mental health sooner, which is significant because he is failing, but not Anya: he's unable to realize that he's afraid that he's doing a bad job as a father. Yes, he needs Anya for his mission, but all of his inner-voiced concerns are parental in nature, as is his offer to swing by the bookstore and buy Anya her favorite series. If Loid's failing at anything, it's understanding that the Forger family is much less of a forgery than he thinks it is – for all four of them.

This storyline is the stronger of the two that make up the episode. The back half, where Anya becomes obsessed with a secret code from her favorite cartoon and goes wild distributing it to people, also has that ring of childhood truth; even today I see the same behavior when kids first read Louise Fitzhugh's book Harriet the Spy. (And yes, I definitely went through the spy phase after reading it.) The punchline – that only Franky takes it seriously when he's the one person who shouldn't be – is decent, but it doesn't really do much for the characters or the story. It's cute, but following on the heels of Sherlock Anya convincing a psychiatric board that ghosts are real and in their ceiling, it can't quite keep up. But that's okay – not every bit of every episode needs to knock it out of the park, and we've got plenty to look forward to when night falls next week.

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To Your Eternity - Episode 3 [Review]

To Your Eternity - Episode 3 [Review]

I'm not much of a stickler for spoilers these days. As with anything, there are exceptions to this rule, like Attack on Titan or HBO's Watchmen series, that I genuinely benefitted from not knowing what happened next as I watched them. Usually, though, I tend to become more interested in a story the more I knew about it. To Your Eternity is an interesting case wherein I knew almost nothing at all about its plot ahead of time, but I was very aware of its reputation as serious, finely-crafted tearjerker. Considering the testimonials of dozens of Twitter users and several personal acquaintances, the only preconception I had of To Your Eternity was that it was going to make me cry. We're talking Made in Abyss levels of raindrop tears and snot bubbles, baby.

Even if you were to discard that stunner of a premiere, which didn't quite make me cry, I am beginning to wish that the tone of this story hadn't been so hyped in advance. Not because the show is proving to be bad; far from it! So far as pure, rich fantasy storytelling is concerned, To Your Eternity continues to be absolutely first class. I have, however, found myself constantly distracted by this gnawing feeling in the back of my mind that any given scene is one tragedy away from forcing me to bust out the Kleenex, and I think that attitude does a disservice to what the show has accomplished in its brief three episodes. It has been tragic, yes, and I'm sure it will return to that well again before too long, but this episode and the last have entirely different goals in mind, and they are just as important and impactful as whenever the show punches its audience in its collective gut. It's just a bit less dramatic about things, is all.

With “Rambunctious Girl” and “A Small Evolution”, it is clearer than ever that the premiere was more prologue than first chapter. If you will allow me to mix my metaphors a bit, it might be more appropriate to consider Episode 1 an overture, less concerned with establishing the lay of the story's land and more so with putting its audience in the right frame of mind to dive into this strange new world. Last week was our proper introduction to the setting, and to the characters that I initially assumed would be one-off leads in To Your Eternity's episodic travelogue, like the boy whose face our orb now wears. Instead, these last two episodes have served as a very fun, thrilling, and compelling look at the non-orb characters that we will apparently be following alongside the orb for the time being.

I have no doubt that Orby, who March christens “Fushi” in reference to his immortality, will eventually move on to travel new lands and meet new people, but To Your Eternity is running with a more measured pace than I guessed it might, and the tonal deviations we first encountered last week are in full form here. Even as March has made her choice to accept her fate as the sacrificial offering to the great bear god Oniguma, Parona continues to fight for the girl's freedom. It isn't one minute after she manages to break free from Hayase's bindings that Parona comes face to face with Oniguma himself, a perilous turn of events that Hayase is only too happy to take advantage of. Meanwhile, Fushi slowly trods his way in the direction of the unconscious girl that helped him nab all of that yummy fruit, and it isn't long before he very literally finds himself in the maw of the beast itself.

Something I should note is that To Your Eternity was originally set to premiere months ago, and was only pushed back to April on account of the worldwide COVID pandemic. I cannot say with any certainty whether or not some of this episode's visual hiccups are a direct result of how the extended lockdown affected Brain's Base's studio workflow, but either way, I can't say that To Your Eternity's visuals are its strongest suit.

The show looks good – I don't want to undersell the studio's work here, especially with some of those lovely character animation cuts – but it struggles more when it comes to the purely technical aspects of its action scenes. In some sequences, especially the ones concerning Oniguma, the colors and inconsistent linework give the series the same vibe as a mid-budget anime from the mid-2000s, and the lower framerate of the animation can undercut the impact of the violence. There are even a couple of very weird first-person and transition shots that look very cheap; one chase sequence is punctuated by a shot of a single forest background that the camera just zig-zags randomly across, and there's a crash-zoom shot shortly after that almost looks…I don't know if “broken” is the right word, but it certainly feels sloppy.

All of this is not to disparage “A Small Evolution”, which is another genuinely great episode of To Your Eternity, but to emphasize how wonderful it is that the show can sell its excitement and drama so well despite looking so inconsistent. There's a confidence of feeling to the writing and characterization that is just so goddamn delightful. March's brave but quiet willingness to die for her people is truly touching, Parona's ability to push through her own inexperience and clumsiness to rescue March is the definition of thrilling, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the touch of Hayase and her people not even believing that Oniguma is real, even as they bring this child to die in his name. There are a number of shots of Hayase simply looking bewildered as the events around her become increasingly bizarre, as if sacrificing children to make-believe bear gods is just her 9-to-5, and she is wholly unprepared to commit to any overtime.

Then there's Fushi, who is finally becoming a character himself, even if it is only in baby steps. The narrator expounds upon the episode's title as Fushi makes his journey to rescue Panora and March from Oniguma, which is a result of the same kind of adaptation that any complex creature would perform in order to survive. At first, it is unclear how much of Fushi's actions are born of conscious thought or simple mimicry; as the battle against Oniguma grows more vicious, and Fushi reverts back to his wolven form, you can see the glimmer of will in Fushi's eyes. He is learning to think. To plan. To envision a goal, understand what must be done to achieve it, and to take whatever action is necessary.

For March, this same moment of self-actualization drove her to offer her life to a god she didn't worship, if only to spare her friends and family a similar fate. For Parona, it means tossing aside any future she might have ever had with her people for the sake of sparing March such a terrible fate. For Hayase, it means telling a bit of a lie and bringing the girls back to Yanome with her, though her interest clearly lies in the shapeshifting creature that just felled a god. For Fushi, it meant another one of those yummy pear-looking things.

I don't know if To Your Eternity is the show I envisioned when all of my friends were singing its praises for months on end; I don't even know if it's the kind of show that the first episode promised, or if it will be that show again anytime soon. What I do know, however, is that this is a remarkably compelling adventure told with stunning clarity of vision, and it has the good grace to end this episode with an absolutely perfect gag: Fushi is in his wolf form, pear bits still dripping from his chops, when he turns his head up to his new friends, his animal mouth twisting in uncanny directions to form two simple words, the first of his life. He says, “Thank you.”

Any show that can deliver a moment that good is worth sticking around for, of that I am absolutely certain.

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Fruits Basket the Final - Episode 4 [Review]

Fruits Basket the Final - Episode 4 [Review]

We're approaching a point in Fruits Basket the Final in which the characters are THIS close to breaking the curse, and the dysfunction that plagues the Sohma family is beginning to noticeably bubble to the surface. Now at least three Zodiac members (Kureno, Haru, and Rin) are working in active defiance of their god, and another (Hiro) has found new courage to combat her indirectly. Meanwhile, Akito is lashing out more erratically than ever, finally committing an atrocity so extreme that even the loyal Kureno can't ignore it. “I'm... Home” forgets about humor and its three main characters. Instead, it's a sometimes angsty, sometimes fluffy portrayal of Haru and Rin's love in defiance of the twisted family ties that would keep them apart.

Perhaps the most wholesome Sohma family interaction is right at the beginning of the episode. Hiro's baby sister inspires him to finally say something about the curse to his fellow Zodiacs. “[Hinata] just is the way she is… Whereas I'm always wrapped up [in] my vanity, my fear.” In other words, Hinata is just vibin' in the present while he's worrying about the past and future and never taking any action right now. That changes when he decides to open up to Kisa and Hatsuharu about what he saw Akito do to Rin. Even though this is indirect action, it's more than he's ever dared to oppose Akito in the past. Kisa's response directly afterward, acknowledging how he's suffered alone up until now, allows her to do the heavy lifting of expressing the normally-reserved Hiro's emotions. It's a cathartic moment to see Hiro break down after years of believing Kisa's suffering was his fault—to Kisa's immediate denial. We the audience realize that they're instead both victims of the same dysfunctional family.

Akito's time is almost up and she knows it. The Zodiacs are no longer as obedient as she would expect by her birthright. When she catches Rin snooping around her rooms, she enacts a truly nuclear punishment: secluding her in the Cat's cottage without adequate food, water, or medical care. Have you noticed that Rin's nickname and her long black hair bear an uncanny resemblance to another Sohma family member? Akito definitely is taking out her mommy issues with Ren on Rin, snipping off her lovely hair and belittling her the same way Ren has tortured Akito. While this episode's portrayal of Ren's cruelty is also quite damning, I don't think it's designed to humanize Akito; now that she's leaving Rin to die, that ship has sailed. Instead, it's more of a villain origin story, suggesting from where Akito formed some of her twisted morality. Akito hates Ren, but she's more like her self-interested, cruel mother than not.

Things really go to pieces for Akito when Haru shows up to confront her. When Haru is furious Akito is composed; at least that means his full attention is on her. She almost succeeds at making Haru blame himself for Rin's suffering, the same way Hiro blames himself for Kisa: “It's only because you chose that girl… You dug her grave.” But the balance of power shifts when Kureno shows up and notifies the two that Rin has been transferred to the hospital. After that, Haru decides not to waste his energy being mad at Akito. When he walks away, ignoring Akito's cries to return for probably the first time in his life, we see a braided rope starting to fray—a visual indication of the curse beginning to break. Akito doubling down on aggression seems to be having the opposite effect: the more severe she is, the more they are pulling away. Even Kureno, who has stood by her even without the bonds of the curse, is starting to lose patience with her increasingly dangerous tantrums.

After sitting through all this despair, we were rewarded with a happy ending. They have yet to create a hospital strong enough to hold Rin (perhaps they should try putting her room on the second floor?) so she once again ends up hoofing it to who knows where despite still being delirious. Love and plot lead Haru directly to her rescue, where he unceremoniously lifts her over his shoulder, much to the surprise of several nearby elementary-schoolers. To the emotional swell of the ending song, Rin tearfully realizes that even if she came from an abusive home, she can always come home to Haru instead. This episode's melodrama can be a bit over the top, but enduring that Sohma family angst to conclude at this fluffy ending feels a bit like a homecoming, too.

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My Hero Academia - Episode 92 [Review]

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My Hero Academia - Episode 92 [Review]

We're back with more coverage of the latest in teen hero grudge matches! Let's just jump right into the action folks, as you're not gonna want to miss a second of this. And since Vlad King has lost his commentary privileges amid broiling controversy, I'll be taking over this play-by-play for the foreseeable future.

Last week, it seemed that Team B fully got the drop on their opponents, and Team A has little time to properly counter. They were so busy getting up to speed with newcomer Shinso's quirk that they failed to come up with any concrete strategy, and that makes all the difference in their initial confrontation. While Shinso himself buys time with his surprise voice modulator, he doesn't move quickly enough to capitalize, barely allowing for Froppy to recover from the initial attack. That manages to net Team A a single capture, but Team B's Gevaudan easily recovers and makes off with Defensive Lineman of the Year Red Riot and All-Star Good Boy Anima. It's a tough first half, not going to lie, but I'm sure they can come back from it just as soon as they bust Shinso out of that air cube.

Meanwhile, Team B are being cautious, but perhaps not cautious enough. First they miss Kirishima's tracking target, but more importantly they get hung up on arguing over their hero names, which is extra silly. I mean, yeah I'm sure “Apocalypse Beast” sounds cool to a bunch of know-nothing teenagers, but “Gevaudan” is such a rad, cryptid deep-cut that I have to respect it. Plus it's a bold move for Shiozaki to judge somebody's hero name when she had to change hers from “Maria” after realizing naming herself the super hero Virgin Mary was possibly a little blasphemous. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh right, the other team. See, this is what I was talking about. Gotta learn to focus, kids.

Taking advantage of their opponents' distraction, Kaminari actually manages to smack his brain cells together and have a good idea, allowing himself to be captured by Shiozaki to draw the enemy's attention. It's a risky plan, putting the team's biggest deterrent right in the enemy's sights, but his teammates mop up after him spectacularly. First Shinso's able to brainwash Shiozaki, while drawing Gevaudan's attention and throwing a big hitch in Team B's communication. After all, so long as they can't trust each other's voices in the heat of battle, they can't properly plan a counterattack. That lag in teamwork gives just the right opening for Tsuyu to take out Dragon Shroud, who proves to be the object of his team's destruction, in that the frog girl literally hurls his whole body into Gevaudan to knock him out from behind.

Overall, it's a solid matchup with some good, strategic back-and-forth. Just about everyone involved gets at least one moment where they get to look cool, and both teams manage to work well without either side feeling like they got stomped. Shinso is certainly the focus, since his quirk is what allows Team A's comeback, but I've ultimately gotta give this round's MVP to Tsuyu. Not only did she capture 3 of their 4 targets personally, it was her weird mucus strategy that gave them the element of surprise in the first place. Even working from a disadvantage, her clever thinking and focus on utilizing all of their team's unique strengths is what ultimately clinched this for them, and I am now expecting the class to give this very good frog a medal next episode. She deserves it.

Shinso himself also gets to show what he's capable of, though any team looking to draft him after this season will definitely need to consider him a project for the foreseeable future. His quirk is certainly unique, and as evidenced here makes for a dangerous x-factor when fighting multiple enemies, which will only become more useful as more groups like the League of Villains or the Shie Hassaikai start to pop up. Still, being self-sufficient to a certain degree is a necessity for any Pro Hero, and that's where our boy is still lacking, but that means he just has plenty of room to grow. He already displayed a clever use of Eraserhead's binding cloth, and once he has more experience in the field I think he'll make for a damn good Hero in his own right.

For now though, we'll need to look forward to the next fight, and this one will be a true 4v4:

1-A Team 2

1) Momo “Creati” Yaoyorozu – Quirk: Creation – Special Skills: Insultingly rich, has a cool new cloak over her costume

2) Fumikage “Tsukuyomi” Tokoyami – Quirk: Dark Shadow – Special Skills: His imaginary friend can actually beat you up

3) Yuga “Can't Stop Twinkling” Aoyama – Quirk: Navel Laser – Special Skills: Large assortment of cheeses on his person at all times

4) Toru “Invisible Girl” Hagakure – Quirk: Invisibility – Special Skills: Somehow skirted Marvel's legal team with her Hero Name

1-B Team 2

1) Itsuka “Battle Fist” Kendo – Quirk: Big Fist – Special Skills: Inexplicably powerful side-ponytail

2) Kinoko “Shemage” Komori – Quirk: Mushroom – Special Skills: My editor already stans her

3) Manga “Comicman” Fukidashi – Quirk: Comic – Special Skills: Can see without having an actual face

4) Shihai “Vantablack” Kuroiro – Quirk: Black – Special Skills: Somehow skirted Anish Kapoor's legal team with his hero Name

This one's a much harder call, since most of Team B are total unknowns. My instinct says to bet on Team A, since they have both a heavy-hitter in Tokoyami and a strong commander in YaoMomo, but that could just be familiarity bias talking. 1-B are almost certainly going to be looking for revenge after this early defeat, and they do have somebody on their team who commands the power of decay as an extant for of life, so they could easily pull this out. We'll find out for sure next week!

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One Piece - Episode 937 [Review]

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One Piece - Episode 937 [Review]

The prison rumble continues. Armadillo man is upset about Hyogoro downing his good buddy alpaca man and whips out two pistols to start blasting. Luffy jumps in to scoop up the elder and dispatch the armadillo man with a massive punch. Hyogoro informs Luffy that what he calls haki is known as ryuo here in Wano. Luffy continues to put the beat down on more goons and practice with his haki as Hyogoro offers advice, but he finds himself frustrated at a lack of progress.

Back in Ebisu, Yasu is going around making quite the impression on everyone. He mentions Kinemon in relation to the rebellion, leaving Shinobu and Kanjuro shocked. Even though the villains know about the tattoo and the plan, Yasu tries to remain upbeat that more will join their cause regardless. He then sets out about town tending to the sick, providing food for the hungry, and checking in on the elderly. When the Straw Hats press Shinobu and Kanjuro to reveal who exactly Yasu is, they admit they don't know and were afraid to be rude and ask him. Usopp and Nami ask an elderly woman in the village who reveals that Toko is his daughter and she sends him money from the capital. He in turn spreads as much as he can to others in the community and eats very little for himself. We also get a brief moment of Toko dreaming of her father giving her a piggyback ride while she sleeps next to Zoro.

Back in the prison pit, Luffy is frustrated by his lack of progress. He has fought until nightfall and while he has won every encounter he doesn't feel that his haki is up to snuff yet. He and Hyogoro are surrounded by guards watching them, but when Hyogoro asks why he's so consumed with beating Kaido the future king of the pirates knocks out the guards with a quick haki burst. He explains his ambitions to be king just as Raizo arrives… inside Caribou's cloak?! It turns out Raizo had the keys to Caribou's cuffs and freed him.

Caribou grovels at Luffy's feet to join his crew. Luffy agrees so long as Caribou has really changed, which surprises everyone (Caribou most of all). Hyogoro pledges himself to Luffy as well and Raizo reveals that Hyogoro was a big yakuza boss back in the day. Hyogoro mentions that there are four other identical prison pits full of people jailed for treason against Orochi. Luffy deduces that if they free them, the prisoners will probably join their fight. Excited at this new plan, they steal a big pot of red bean soup and dig in.

Meanwhile, the Big Mom and Chopper gator-riding crew are getting closer to the prison. Charlotte Linlin is starving and can't wait to have delicious red bean soup. Kiku speaks kindly to her as they travel, but Chopper is terrified that Big Mom will turn on them at any moment – as is the reptile they're riding who is worried Big Mom might start gnawing any second. We get a final shot of Luffy licking his face clean of soup before the To Be Continued card flashes and draws the ep to a close.

Another phenomenal episode of Wano. This episode had a great mix of emotional beats and dynamic combats, with a hint of what's to come tacked on at the end. Yasu is such a fascinating character and watching his earnest attempts at helping others through the difficulties of Orochi's rule is very heartwarming. A good chunk of screen time is spent lingering on Yasu speaking with the elderly, feeding the hungry, lifting newborn babies, and it all does a great job of investing the audience in him as a character. With someone like Orochi stomping around doing all the most evil things all the time and creating nothing but anguish for the people of Wano, it's nice to have the counter-balance of Yasu providing a glimmer of hope through uncertain times.

The visual fidelity was once again outrageously good. The scenes of Luffy and Hyogoro leaping around using haki were all visceral and paced very well, with plenty of jaw dropping environmental destruction and kinetic dashing through the prison arena. The absolute show-stopper of a punch Luffy delivered to armadillo man was beyond excellent. That ripple of flesh rolling across his face like a shockwave was superb, I felt that one in my bones.

I also wanted to make particular note of a few highlights. At one point Hyogoro is recounting prior events and giving a bit of exposition for the audience. During the scene he kneels down and the events are “projected” behind him like a literal projector is just off-screen, complete with his shadow outlined against the film reel. It's a really brilliant flourish to spice up a somewhat standard flashback, and ties in very well with Hyogoro being an older character. Having this sort of classic film-style display for an aged veteran of sorts helps underscore how much older he is and being from a bygone era, as well as tapping into the chanbara/classic film vibe that Wano has going for it.

Lastly, Ikue Ōtani had me rolling this episode. When Chopper does this little scream/squeal as Big Mom is looming over him, she has this truly hilarious deliver that has an almost chirp-like quality. Just hearing her do that improved my day tenfold.

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One Piece - Episodes 919 ~ 921 [Review]

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Princess Connect! Re:Dive - Episode 13 [Review]

“In which nothing beyond the immediate threat is resolved.”

After 13 beautifully animated episodes, we have reached the end of the series--though this episode feels more like one set in the middle than the final climax.

At the end of the last episode, Pecorine, Karyl, and Kokkoro were whisked away by Labyrista when they found themselves unable to defeat the giant shadow monster that had been unleashed on the castle town. Awaking inside what appears to be the castle, Kokkoro stumbles across a painting which shows Pecorine is (unsurprisingly at this point) the literal princess of this kingdom. Soon Pecorine herself shows up and reveals her backstory to Kokkoro (and a hidden Karyl)--basically explaining that when she went on a journey to understand the plight of her people first hand, everyone in the kingdom had their memories about her wiped and a usurper took her place.

This explains why she is so touchy-feely with the guild--and why she drags them along on adventure after adventure. She is desperate to make strong, interpersonal connections so that those dear to her won't forget her again. And given that she has no idea how everyone was made to forget her, this is an understandable fear.

This also explains her warped view on reality--why she insists on seeing the world as a better place than it actually is. It's only by believing in something that it can become true. And because she has lived that way, it's not only her guild which she's made connections with. The common man loves her far more than the royalty at this point--to the point where they antagonize the city guard in an attempt to help her. In a very real way, she has become the people's princess. In the end, she recognizes this. While she may have lost her old family, she has made a new one that loves her just as much.

Karyl, over the course of the series, has been torn between loyalty to her master (i.e., Pecorine's usurper) and her new friends in the guild. It's always been a matter of when she'd have to choose between the two. What's interesting is that, in this episode, she makes the hidden third choice: to die.

Knowing Pecorine's tragic backstory and knowing that her master is responsible makes it clear to her how torn her loyalties are. She's reached a perfect balance--she can't choose one over the other. If she fights the giant monster and destroys it, then she'll be betraying her master. If she simply stays out of the fight and lets it kill Pecorine and the others, she'll be betraying them.

Thus the only thing she can think to do is to fight the monster alone and die--leaving neither side betrayed. The trick is, however, she is not allowed to make such a choice--not when Pecorine is around. What Karyl fails to realize is that the interpersonal connections she's built with the guild are a two-way street. Unlike her master who demands loyalty and gives nothing back, the guild loves Karyl for who she is--not what she can do for them. They wouldn't sacrifice her for any reason. And this display of affection is enough to get her to move directly against her master's wishes in the heat of the moment and defeat the monster alongside her friends--well, once Yuuki shows up anyway.

But while the monster is destroyed and a bit of character growth is had by Pecorine and Karyl, this doesn't feel like the final, climactic episode of the series--honestly, it feels like a normal (though important) episode. In last episode's review, I listed the plethora of unanswered questions the story has set up. Among the twelve I listed, only a single one was answered in this episode.

And that's the problem: the series as a whole feels like a prologue or perhaps the first half of an opening chapter to a bigger story. In the grand scheme of things, very little that has been set up is resolved. Yuuki still lacks the vast majority of his memories, Karyl is still torn between her master and her friends, and Pecorine is still an outcast princess with an evil usurper taking her place. Worse yet, even at this point, I'm still confused by basics like the rules of this fantasy world itself and the proper nouns the characters throw about without explanation (“Princess Knight,” “Re:Dive,” etc.).

In a lot of ways, this anime feels like a trip to nowhere. Now, was the trip a fun one with colorful characters, good humor, and astounding animation? Sure. I just wish there had been a destination--a complete story that tied everything together. Instead, what we're left with is a six-hour-long advertisement telling us to play the smartphone game if we want any answers--a game not released in English, I might add. And I'm not gonna lie: that sucks.

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One Piece - Episodes 919 ~ 921 [Review]

Episode 919

We open on Nami and Shinobu's castle infiltration mission where they are on the run from the guards. Nami tries to mew mew mew like a cat to throw them off their trail and shushes Shinobu by cutting off her air supply. Blades through the ceiling let them know that the guards are not having it and they escape onto the roof. Shinobu reveals her fear of sharp objects to Nami before waxing poetic about a mature woman's beauty being as deadly as a weapon. As the wind picks up Shinobu uses her kite jutsu and they soar away across the city. Nami reveals that during their spying she saw the name of the port for the arms shipment, a critical piece of intel.

As they float over the city they notice a large number of young women lined up in the streets. It turns out they are waiting for Sanji's cooking, and Nami makes her feelings on that known with a ~_~ face. It turns out that Ladies Love Cook SanJi, and he's beaming with pride as they eat it up. In the shadows, a shady group glowers at Sanji for muscling in on their turf.

We cut back to the prison labor camps to see an old man named Hyo begin horribly mistreated by the prison staff. Additionally, Luffy and Kid engage in various feats of strength. They are running full tilt carrying cartoonishly oversized blocks of stone to earn more and more food, much to the dismay of the guards who realize they are this powerful while wearing the sea prison stone cuffs. They are rewarded with piles of food which they gobble up in short order.

Soon Dobon the hippo man arrives, demanding to know which prisoner ate all the food in the back. The guards bring out Dynamax Luffy and Kid who are swollen from how much they've eaten. The duo perform a Kirby-style inhalation and exhale the pounds away, with Kid specifying that in fact Everybody Poops – I guess he felt that was revelatory.

Dobon complains about the amount they ate, to which they reply that they worked hard and used the scrip system to earn the food. Ah, but that was supposed to be Dobon's food you see, and he's going to punish them regardless. He swallows them both in his enormous mouth to slice them up, and a scuffle ensues in the hippo's mouth that manages to be Man vs Man, Man vs Self, and Man vs Nature conflict all at once. Kid and Luffy emerge victorious, scoop up Hyo to carry him to safety, and become heroes to the prisoners. Our old friend the To Be Continued card arrives and the episode draws to a close.

I enjoyed myself quite a bit with this episode. The visual standouts were not as frequent, but there was a lot of ground to cover and it can be hard to squeeze in those moments with the exposition and setup. Still, it had its moments. The scene with the cherry blossoms surrounding Shinobu complete with sparkling shojo bubbles was a delight. Plus the brief sequence of Luffy and Kid tossing gigantic stone blocks onto the boat was impressive and definitely the biggest *pop* in the episode.

I think the real joy in 919 is all the little characterful flourishes. when Nami is trying to pass off her and Shinobu's intrusion as a cat's meow and they are discovered, Akemi Okamura's scream includes a sort of cat-like “meow” in her performance, a brilliant addition that she pulled off expertly. This arc exudes a lot of Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken energy – which I am 1000000% here for – between the football armored and be-mohawked goons, the very wasteland warrior vibe of Queen, King, and Jack, and Wano's vast stretches of post-industrial wasteland. The extra oomph on that front is Luffy calling Kid “Jaggy” which cannot help but bring to mind Kenshiro's biker Zoidberg brother Jagi.

The real star of the show is Dobon though. Dobon is one of the most absurd character designs in the series and Quintessentially One Piece™ from the comedic beats of no one being able to understand him with his mouth closed to the sheer absurdity of it being a part of his fighting style. Not to mention that his consumption of Luffy and Kid acts as a not-so-subtle “in the belly of the beast” allegory for their current status in prison.

As always, Oda incorporates an undercurrent of the systemic cruelty of the world amongst all the more overt symbolism. Luffy and Kid have not done anything wrong – they worked and earned the food in exactly the manner they were told to. But it was never about “earning” the food, not really. The system was designed to be overwhelmingly cruel and punitive, they weren't supposed to be that strong. So because of that they get punished anyway. Always nice seeing guys like this get walloped by our rubbery lead.

Episode 920

Sanji continues serving food to the ladies of Wano. Just as Franky begins berating Sanji for not cooking enough spicy food to attract samurai, three goons arrive who start messing with Sanji and his customers. They identify themselves as being from the Kyoshiro family and claim that this is their turf. Sanji continues to serve food anyway, giving a bowl of soba to a young girl named Otoko. In perfect villainous mook fashion they knock the soba from her hands and spill it on the floor. She begins laughing and crying at the same time, clearly upset by this.

At the sight of wasted food, Sanji goes beast mode and attacks them with a solid spinning bird kick. They pull out sword, but no metal can withstand the hairy leg of the culinary Straw Hat and it shattered beneath his heel. Franky cannot help but join in and delivers a titanic Frnosuke Iron Suplex on another goon. Sanji forces the goon to eat the food off the ground, and Usopp recalls having met Otoko previously at a shrine. Sanji prepares her a fresh bowl of soba with what he has left. He weeps and says she has to return to work then mentions the approach of Oiran's procession. An elder woman arrives to describe Oiran Komurasaki to the Straw Hats, and notifies Robin that she has been summoned to Shogun Orochi's palace.

Just before the episode draws to a close we have a brief scene at the labor camp. Luffy is in full beef mode cracking stones with a pick as Hyo comes to thank him for saving him from Dobon. Luffy tells him it's no big deal and even hands over a clutch of the food scripts he's secured. Finally we see a glimpse of the main road once more and Oiran approaching before the To Be Continued ushers us out.

A delightful episode all around. Sanji is a character who can be difficult to root for at times, so when we get to see him in his element – namely cooking for others and protecting the innocent against bullies – that is a treat. Not to mention the scene with Franky getting excited to deliver an enormous aerial suplex the likes of which you usually only see in fighting games. I wholeheartedly approve. Yet again the visual flair of Wano is breathtaking to behold. The star of the show was Oiran's procession, from the cinematography to the closeups on her various jewelry/accoutrements. That penultimate shot of her in the road where the buildings and streets are vibrant pastels in all manner of hues while the crowds of Wano's people are empty faceless masses of waving limbs. It's another deft use of imagery to underscore the reality of Wano beneath its gorgeous veneer.

The facial work is another highlight this episode. The slow motion grin as Franky suplexes the Kyoshiro goon, his puffy cheeked laughter, and the exaggerated “OIRAN? KAMURO?” faces brought a huge smile to my face. Sanji's red-eyed glare as he told the goon “I need you to finish your food, dear customer,” was equally stellar. And of course there was plenty of Robin laughing and smiling, which improves any episode exponentially.

Episode 921

Toko rejoins the procession and Oiran mentions that she was worried about her. We are show a clutch of three rather gnarly looking dudes who are weeping at the sight of Oiran and clutching daggers followed by a sweeping shot over Komurasaki's garish attire.

Back at the labor camp, Luffy's work is interrupted by the return of Caribou. Any illusions that Caribou had become less creepy or disturbing in the time since we've last seen him are immediately dashes as he begins pestering our hero for food with his tongue wagging freely in the air offending both God and man alike. A short flashback to Fishman Island reminds us of Caribou's various misdeeds before we return to have Luffy tell him to get to work dude.

Back at the capital, Oiran's procession continues apace and we get an extended flashback related to one of her upset suitors. It turns out that she came to him in secret and confessed her love. She could be with him if only for her current contract! Of course this spurs him to trade away or sell off the entirety of his possessions to pay off her current contract with the Shogun. He shows up to the pleasure hall asking for her to come join him and he is laughed at by everyone, including Komurasaki. He is beaten for being an old lecherous pervert and sent away in shame.

In the present time once again we see these suitors have been taken out by the samurai guarding her processional. She is beaming so brightly it forces people in the crowd to avert their gaze, and she sends a deft stinger of a line at the cowering perverts saying, “I don't like poor people…” as a final mark of shame.

This episode's flashback is one of the most interesting in Wano. The way it frames these men as victims at first but slowly reveals their horrible natures is really spectacular. In a sense they have been taken advantage of by Oiran, yet we see how cruel, petty, and ruthless they were, and it recharacterizes how we see her character – a preview of things to come for sure. The most interesting visual is a cutaway shot we briefly get of a dead insect crawling with ants picking over its corpse during all this. To my mind it represented the way so many had taken advantage of Wano's “corpse” in the years since the fall of the Kozuki, men just like the ones Oiran was teaching a lesson to.

I have to say the real joy – if you can call it that – in this episode is Masaki Terasoma's performance with Caribou. He absolutely knocks his scenes out of the part with his outrageously evil delivery. When Caribou says “I beg of you” to Luffy I was both laughing and cringing at the same time, a testament to the skill of Masaki's delivery. It can be hard to ride the line between unnerving and hilarious and he manages to expertly deliver here.

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 - Episode 12 [Review]

This week, Kaguya-sama: Love is War closes out its stellar sophomore season with a finale that's equal parts hilarious and emotional. Episode 12's first two segments revolve around the loss of Kaguya's flip phone, which held a treasure trove of photos she'd taken since joining the student council. When her phone is accidentally broken during the taking of a commemorate photo, Kaguya is crestfallen to discover that there's no way to retrieve all her pictures. Hoping to make the best of a bad situation, she finally upgrades to a smartphone and assures herself that its top-tier functions will prove useful in capturing new memories. Fortunately, now that she has a smartphone, she's able to join LINE, prompting Miyuki to create a private group for the student council (which he'd previously held off on doing to prevent Kaguya from feeling excluded). Much to Kaguya's delight, the other members instantly begin flooding the group with all the photos they've collected during their time together, thereby ensuring that those memories will live on. As the narrator concludes, if the memories you share with others are truly precious, the people with whom you share them will want to hold on to them, too.

The final Kaguya-centric story of the season, these two segments seamlessly blend the show's trademark comedy with low-key drama. Although the story mostly portrays Kaguya in a sympathetic light, her devious side still pops up here and there—particularly in her response to the principal wanting Miyuki and Chika to pose as a couple. (Also humorous is how, as sympathetic as Miyuki is to Kaguya's plight, he has serious reservations about being the one to initiate the exchange of LINE IDs, as he believes it would be an admission of love. It's a startling contrast to Kaguya not caring anymore about such things when she so unenthusiastically asks him for his ID first.) While even Kaguya herself seems to realize that the loss of her digital photos isn't hugely important in the grand scheme of things, the show does an effective job of illustrating that one's emotional reactions needn't always be grounded in logic. In Kaguya's eyes, she's suffered a devastating loss—as evidenced by her complete lack of interest in engaging Miyuki in their usual mental jousts. The other members' collective concern and desire to raise Kaguya's spirits serves as touching reminder that despite all the backstabbing, one-upmanship, and general dysfunctionality that colors many of their interactions, this is a group that cares deeply for one another.

After dipping its toes in the drama pool, the show delivers a closing segment that's 100% focused on madcap fun. When Chika forces the gang to play a game that entails pumping air into a balloon until it bursts, none of the participants want to be the one who's up at bat when the thing finally pops. (Since both hands are required to work the pump, Kaguya can't even utilize her new calming ritual.) Even Ishigami, whose recent experience at the sports festival left him with heightened inner courage, is terrified of having the overinflated balloon pop in his face, leading the narrator to conclude that his character arc was pointless. Under intense peer pressure from Chika, Miko eventually inflates the balloon to cartoonish proportions, leaving it primed to burst at any moment. Just as a petrified Kaguya is about to deliver the finishing blow, a well-timed tangerine-based mishap (courtesy of Chika) pops the balloon, resulting in a massive explosion that engulfs the entire academy. As Kaguya and Miyuki stand up and take in all the destruction, they vow to continue their perpetual battle of the minds with renewed vigor.

As Kaguya-sama's zaniest offering in weeks, this season's parting segment is packed to the brim with fast-paced jokes and peppered with shades of self-parody. At several points, setups for epic displays of courage end in characters cowering in fear and opting to pass the burden of bursting the balloon to the other unfortunate participants. Ishigami failing to put his newfound confidence to good use is funny, but Miyuki resolving to take one for the team for Kaguya's sake, only to back down almost instantly, is particularly hilarious. In their attempts to avoid popping the balloon, everyone's most humorous traits are on full display, which serves as a great reminder that no matter how heavy things get, this series will always return to its comedic roots.

A satisfying conclusion to a consistently amazing season, episode 12 fires on all cylinders and leaves us wanting more. Going out on a note that highlights the collective friendship between the student council members rather than Kaguya and Miyuki's ongoing war is a great way to emphasize how much of an ensemble piece the show has organically become throughout the past season. Here's hoping Kaguya and the gang are able to continue their misadventures in animated form—and soon!

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Digimon Adventure: - Episode 4 [Review]

And we're back! An interesting effect of Digimon Adventure:'s “three episode movie premiere” vibe is that the show left us in a decently comfortable place before it took a couple months off due to the global pandemic. So with that initial teaser being all we had to digest, it definitely feels like the ‘real’ show is starting as we return with this fourth episode. There are more characters being introduced, and they're in the Digital World proper now, exploring this lush fantasy land in an adventure closer to the original show's journey. But as it has been since the series kicked off, there are a lot of pointed unknowables in play here, reminding us every step of the way that even if new Digimon looks superficially similar to old Digimon, the old rules don't necessarily still apply.

A big example of that is the question of motivation. As with a lot of alternate-world anime of the bygone era of the 90's, the kids in the OG Digimon were primarily looking for a way to return to their home world. But in this reboot, Taichi and Koshiro jumped into the Digital World mostly intentionally, hoping to find a way to fix the technological issues (a series of blackouts this time around) in their own world. Lost tykes surviving on their own in a hostile environment meant the Digimon kids always worked with their own level of agency, but this new framing makes them come across even more proactive now. The series hasn't really laid out anything about these children being ‘chosen’ yet, but their actions mark them clearly as ‘heroes’, apart from just trying to survive until they stumble across their Digi-destiny.

Though she popped up in a couple of the previous episodes, this one is our formal introduction to Sora, whose characterization so far encapsulates that ‘proactive hero’ style being impressed onto the kids. Some sharp writing here economically characterizes Sora as a responsible person who was buying emergency supplies for the blackout, so luckily she had them with her when she and Taichi need them to survive in the Digital World. And she's an empathetic, caring person, rushing to save Piyomon before she knows the bird is her destined digital partner. So it's easy as viewers to group her in with the boys and their goal of saving Tokyo since they're the only ones who know how. That underscores one of the major driving mysteries at this point in the series, which Taichi and Koshiro both remark on: Why are they the ones who made it into the Digital World and got the power of monster partnership needed to stop those attacking both worlds? It's the most obvious gesture at that concept of ‘destiny’, definitely strengthened by the characters' active desire to figure it out for themselves.

All that talk about the kids' more proactive style leads me to bring up one of the more specific strengths of this new show, and how that ties into that idea of partnership. Taichi, and now Sora in this episode, find themselves getting especially involved in the battles between their partner Digimon and the hostile wild beasts they encounter. The human characters in the original version of the show certainly weren't passive participants in their adventure, but when the monster-battling started there was a tendency to reduce them to the roles of cheerleaders, believing in their partners real hard until they leveled up to win the day. In this version, Taichi's been jumping in to bash monster heads since episode one, and Sora spends more time helping and saving Piyomon this episode than her presumed birdy bodyguard does for her. This nicely integrates the full cast so far into the adventure more, hopefully carving out the path for the whole cast to have active, key roles in the show instead of easily being siloed into human hero and monster-pet job classes.

These are all concepts put forward in service of presumably laying out how the show is going to work now that we're in the series proper, a tone that oddly leads to most of the criticisms I can lob at this episode. Things definitely feel scaled back from the cinematic ambitions of those first three episodes, as we get things like introductory name-text for each new monster advertised on screen, and a just-noticeable uptick in stock footage for things like Agumon's attacks. On the other hand, he also gets a lavish new stock-animation evolution sequence, so there are some nice side-effects to this presentational shift. There are also things like an insert song played during battle that mark this just a bit more clearly as a Sunday morning kids' show than we were led into with those first three episodes. It's not necessarily a bad thing—I love Sunday morning kids' shows—but it is noticeable.

The other noticeable point is a marked visual downgrade. The part of me that understands production schedules knows that this episode was likely completed before the show was decided to be delayed, and its lesser looks are simply the result of being the fourth episode of a series intended to run for quite a while that had a bombastic introductory three. But coming into this as Digimon Adventure:'s triumphant return can undercut its own hype somewhat, especially if you rewatch those first three episodes ahead of it. It certainly doesn't look bad, and it's still light-years ahead of the original anime's visuals, but all the little bits of stock footage and shortcuts add up to it feeling just a bit cheaper than before. Despite being intended as the threatening big baddie showcased this episode, Snimon especially is practically a one-mon slide-show for most of his presence in it.

There are other little issues I can take with some of the story choices. The main one that jumps out is that, ecstatic as I am to see Tentomon again, he does kind of come out of nowhere here. Since the next episode looks to focus at least somewhat on him and Koshiro, I'm hoping we'll get a little more elaboration on their thus-far offscreen meeting. That could be an intentional tease for such future developments, as Digimon Adventure: jumps into serious serial-style storytelling, ending on the twin cliffhangers of Koshiro and his bug-buddy being swallowed by a Whamon and us getting a peek at classic villain Ogremon going after Taichi and Sora. So even with some slight stumbles and downgrades, Digimon still has me delighted to have it back, and extremely hyped to see where it's going next.

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Listeners - Episode 8 [Review]

One of the more understated issues with Listeners' episodic storytelling is that, despite spending half a dozen episodes following them, Echo and Mu have remained pretty underdeveloped. They're likable personalities, and can bounce off eachother and the myriad supporting cast well in most scenarios, but besides learning to be more trusting towards eachother they're virtually identical to where they were in the premiere. Consistent character writing's all well and good, but our deuteragonists have had to spend so much time reacting to the wacky rock'n'rollers around them that the audience hasn't gotten much time inside their heads since their pit-stop with the Valentines in episode 3.

Thankfully, “The Real Me” helps remedy that a bit. Following last episode's example, it once again slows the pacing down enough to let the characters actually talk about their feelings and worries, rather than just infodumping. When the pair are suddenly whisked away to Londinium by the charismatic Tommy Walker and all but conscripted into his plan to re-open the gate that supposedly swallowed Jimi Stonefree 10 years ago, potentially bringing their journey to an end, it triggers a good bit of contemplation for Echo and Mu. Echo's conundrum is the simpler of the two – he's realizing he's in love with Mu, and has to pluck up the courage to tell her, or at least ask to stay by her side even after they've found Jimi and unlocked whatever secrets are hiding inside her memories. It's a straightforward conflict that suits such a plain boy, but it's nice to see him doing some real introspection for once and deciding to take action. Mu was the spark that made him admit he wanted more than a life of numb safety, and now he's internalizing that lesson and putting it into practice.

Mu's problems are decidedly heavier. While excited at the prospect of finally meeting her mysterious brother, she's also apprehensive about what it could mean for unlocking her memories. What if the person she was before Echo dug her out of the scrap heap is completely different from who she is now? Would that mean Mu, as she knows herself, would just vanish altogether? It's all very existential, and quite in line with the episodes namesake song, itself a bombastic plea for true understanding of one's self. Mu ultimately decides to step forward and face whoever she really is, but that question becomes way more muddled when somebody else decides to make her who he wants her to be.

Tommy Walker is decidedly different from his namesake, as he doesn't so much as touch a pinball machine this whole episode. And rather than starting a 70's cult he's gone a different route and formed a child army, decking them out in Mod fashion to evangelize in the streets of Londinium when they're not being indoctrinated within the walls of the Watchtower. The audience can tell from a mile away (and from the end of last episode) that he's not on the up-and-up, but it's still interesting to see him subtly push Mu into following his plans, before throwing all subtlety out the window and just drugging her to get her to activate his retrofitted version of Jimi's Equipment and launch a god damn (sound) wave motion cannon into the Earless horde. Rather than trying to bring Jimi back from wherever he's gone, Tommy's decided it's better to just recreate him, whether his vessel wants to or not. Which I guess within the classic rock metaphor means he's trying to create Woodstock '99, and that's perhaps even more evil than the manipulation and genocide.

Jokes about terrible music festivals aside, this episode feels like confirmation that Listeners has found its footing now that's it's done with the broad set-up. Our leads both get important moments that make them feel well-rounded, and the overall conflict feels much better defined than the previous globetrotting. I also have to mention the climactic laser-blast and its accompanying buildup: the lyrics to “All Along The Watchtower” has never felt so ominous, which is saying something. Hopefully this is a sign of what to expect going into the 3rd act of the series.

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Wave, Listen to Me! - Episode 8 [Review]

I never expected to be just as invested in the Makie/Nakahara side-plot as I am in Minare's story, but Wave, Listen to Me! continues, as ever, to surprise me. I originally thought that Makie was only being brought in to serve as The Other Woman to Minare in a love triangle, and while that is still a possible avenue for the show to go down, I'm very happy to see that Wave is committed to making Makie into just as much of a fully fleshed out character as our heroine. Despite being nearly perfect foils for one another, both Makie and Minare have something in common, too: The men in their life are really freaking weird.

As far as Makie's brother Toru is concerned, that weirdness is both utterly strange and legitimately terrifying. The guy looks ripped right from the pages of a seedy crime novel, for one, and he practically oozes a sketchy and dangerous aura. Also, as he reveals in his first interaction with Makie and Nakahara after he and Takarada are released from the hospital, Toru seems to literally suffer from a condition where worrying for his sister causes him to black out and become consumed with a murderous rage. Apparently, one of these black out sessions ended up with one of Makie's bullies being tied up in a bundle of reeds with his own mother and left to drown in a mountain dam.

So Toru isn't exactly going to provide what any reasonable person would call a safe home to live in, and Nakahara almost screws himself over completely when he reveals that Makie has been living with him the entire time Toru was in the hospital. Thankfully, Nakahara's sister has superhuman levels of gossiping power, and she ends up…nagging Toru into submission? The gag isn't the cleanest, but it gives Makie a place in Nakahara's home for now, which can only be a good thing. A part of me still thinks that Makie's domestic drama, as absurd as it has turned out to be, feels like it almost belongs in its own, separate show. Another part of me appreciates the thematic connections the show is weaving in exploring the sometimes darkly comedic struggles that its women share.

Minare has less to deal with, comparatively, since her primary struggle is that all of the collective anxiety that she has suffered over the past few episodes has kept her from coming up with ideas for this week's broadcast. This leads to Kanetsugu coming up with one of the funniest bits the show's done so far, a segment where Minare calls a family member to argue with them on air, which in this case involves bickering with her dad about her name. His first story about the origin of Minare's apparently strange name — He got distracted looking for baby name books and saw it on the cover of a porno mag — is too stupid for even Minare to fully buy at first, but then we get the “for real” version of the story, which is somehow even worse. As her father tells it, he had three extramarital lovers that he dumped in the wake of Minare's birth, and each of them requested that he name his newborn after them, as a token of their memory. When the time came, the three lovers' names got jumbled together in his head: Michiru, Natsuko, and Reiko. The rest is history.

Minare's predictably homicidal reaction is great, but her low-stakes, joke-heavy plot also manages to reinforce the ideas at play in Makie's story. To quote the lovely Mizuho: “See, Miss Minare? Men can bring you great despair, but they can also save your butt, too, at times.” After all, Kanetsugu has Minare's back no matter how stupid things get, Komoto is there to make sure even the sloppiest of rants sounds good on air, and even Kureko can be relied upon to deliver a solid script when Minare needs direction. This week's script is set to be Komoto's last, though, since he's moving on to bigger and better things, though even Minare has to admit that he's been uncharacteristically generous with his work this time around. He's prepared a scene for Minare that involves her trapped alone in the woods, only to meet with a ferocious looking bear…

Aside from recapping the events of Wave's first episode, which we've finally caught up to, there's one more sequence worth discussing in “I Can't Tell You Over the Phone”, a flashback of sorts to a meeting between a young Kanetsugu and the elusive Sissel Komei, who has returned from her overseas work with a passion for working in radio. The scene is decidedly abstract in how it is directed, using post-modern techniques like a sepia tone and dialogue intertitles that establish a much more somber tone than what the rest of Wave usually goes for. She went and saw Monty Python on Kanetsugu's recommendation, and while she got what made them so popular, she's less interested in comedy that makes fun of easy targets; Sissel would much rather establish a brand that draws laughter from jokes reflected back on oneself.

If that philosophy, not to mention her striking resemblance to Minare, wasn't enough to sell the feeling that has drawn Sato Kanetsugu to his new protégé in the present day, Sissel declares that, if she were ever to have a child, she would name them after the word that means “To make laugh”, which is written as 笑わせる. This would normally be romanized as “warawaseru”, though an alternative reading can give you the katakana spelling of ミナレ. “Minare”.

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Tower of God - Episode 12 [Review]

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Kakushigoto - Episode 12 [Review]

After weeks of teasing disaster and despair, Kakushigoto finally pulls back the veil on its frame story and delivers a definitive conclusion for its father-daughter saga about manga artistry and dick jokes. Unlike prior episodes, this one takes place entirely in the somber flash-forward starring 18-year-old Hime, and even though it's a slight departure from the story's expected format and tonal variance, it feels appropriate. Kakushigoto has already spent so much time hyping up the mystery of its titular character's fate that there's no way it would've been able to squeeze something satisfying into just a minutes-long epilogue. That doesn't stop the finale from feeling a little bit strange, but on the other hand, we can all be thankful that Kōji Kumeta resisted the temptation to knock over his meticulously-arranged chessboard of character drama for one last spectacular goof. Instead, Kakushi and Hime find closure and a (mostly) secret-free path forward for their family.

Kumeta actually seems kind of embarrassed about how long he ended up stringing the audience along, based on how quickly he reveals all the narrative cards he was hiding. Hime is indeed Kakushi's real daughter. Kakushi himself was actually the illegitimate child. That only mattered because kabuki actors and traditional artists don't get along, apparently. His half-sister sent Hime the house key. His wife was lost at sea, and he could never fully accept that. He gave up on manga because his fans found out and thought that was weird. He's also not dead right now; he's just in a coma. And that's more or less it. All of this comes to light in the first five or so exposition-saturated minutes—more perfunctory than satisfying. The saving grace is that all these answers are pretty mundane and set the stage for the eventual reunion between Hime and her dad. Last-minute twists for the sake of it are difficult to pull off (and to be fair, Kakushigoto does try to pull a pretty big one that we'll get to shortly), so the way these naturally fizzle into the denouement is probably the best course it could have taken.

One issue I do rankle with is the valuation of blood relations, which is broached briefly when Hime's cousin reassures her that Kakushi is her “real” dad, to her vocalized relief. As a staunch appreciator of found families—especially those in some of my favorite anime series—I can't help but critique this small but nonetheless misguided focus on the “legitimacy” of their bond. Kakushi would have still been Hime's dad even if he had found her in a stalk of bamboo. This whole show was about the two of them taking care of each other, working through their problems, and celebrating the triumphs whenever they could, because they love each other. They're family!

The last-minute amnesia twist is also so shamelessly cloying that Kumeta can't help but lampoon himself yet again through the mouthpiece of Tomaruin. If I'm being charitable, I can accept it as symbolic of Kakushi's deep-seated reluctance to see Hime grow up and consequently learn the truth about his former occupation and passion. In reality as in fiction, there's a temptation for fathers in particular to infantilize their daughters. Thus, the key to Kakushi breaking through his amnesia is his acceptance that raising Hime and seeing her grow up into her own person was well worth working through his own discomfort and insecurity. That's both sweet and perceptive, but it's still tacked onto a cheap and cliché dramatic shortcut appended to the final ten minutes of the show.

Unsurprisingly, the tone of this episode is a lot more serious overall compared to its predecessors. However, buried just underneath the surface of the text is some of Kumeta's most quietly acerbic satire to be found in Kakushigoto, surfacing here as if he finally felt freed of the responsibility of sustaining cute father-daughter shenanigans. Most overt is the manner of Kakushi's accident, in which a man who tried to run away from the manga industry ends up hospitalized due to a pallet of manga falling on him. That's some tasty irony, but to take this one step further, the reason the pallet collapses is attributed to someone stealing a copy of Shonen Jump to leak to the internet. Many people (myself included) have at one point justified manga piracy to themselves, but here Kumeta doesn't mince any words about the harm it causes creators. While they might not be falling into conveniently tragic comas, there are plenty of other ways it hurts the people who, as Kakushigoto has frequently pointed out, don't have easy careers to begin with.

This finale in general doesn't paint a flattering portrait of the internet. A combination of tabloid journalism and vitriolic anonymous commenters dealt the final blow to Kakushi's ambitions of making people laugh. Granted, Kakushigoto doesn't (and couldn't) explore this facet with the intensity of something like Gatchaman Crowds, but it's not accidental that Kakushi's recovery—both from amnesia and from his manga block—stems from time spent together with people who care about him. Hime triggers his memories with a decidedly low-tech cardboard box full of musty manuscripts. It's a callback to the boxes her mother left for her, but it also shows the importance of the in-person interpersonal warmth Kakushi has been able to foster in spite of himself.

Ultimately, what works best in this finale is what has always worked best for Kakushigoto: the small and sincere moments shared between people who care about each other amidst their rampant wackiness. Whether it's Hime's classmates banding together for one last detective job, or Kakushi's former assistants dutifully drawing pages for a series that ended years ago, the bonds they've all forged transcend any attempt at secrecy. It adds up to a safe yet satisfying conclusion. Personally, in my heart of hearts, I'm always going to hold Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei as the paradigm of Kōji Kumeta manga and adaptations, but Kakushigoto was a nice change of pace and a relaxing companion for stressful times. I look forward to whatever Kumeta moves onto next with a mixture of anticipation and fear for the unmined depths of pun-making he can still unearth.

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Listeners - Episode 12 [Review]

Here we have it, the big finale of Listeners, and like any sci-fi action series made after 2000, it's got to go out on a big emotional confrontation where the fate of the world hinges on magical robot powers that let enemies and allies alike understand eachother for the first time. At least this time the robot magic is also tied to music, which is actually a pretty good vehicle for facilitating empathy and one of the few times the show has managed to harmonize its musical aesthetic with its broader themes. Still, at this point it definitely feels like the story going through the motions of what's expected for it. There are still some buried gems in the dialogue – Roz gets probably the best line of the whole show when Denka starts to call Echo the second-coming of Jimi: “It's nothing so grand. All he did was express what was in his heart, and the world chose all by itself to be moved by it.” It's a perfect encapsulation about the act of making music, how it can be at once personal and powerfully external, and I came out of the climax really wishing those feelings had really been at the center of this story and conflict.

As is, Listeners' conclusion mostly serves as an object lesson in spoiled potential. There are multiple monologues and speeches during Mu and Echo's big confrontation that try to tie a bow on the questions of understanding, hope, and love that have been thrown around across the show's runtime, but through most of them I kept asking “wait, is that what you were trying to be about?” as the show seemed to self-assuredly wrap up on the sentiment of not labeling others and reaching out to learn who they really are. It's certainly not a bad moral to build your show around, but through the sprawling, cluttered stories Listeners has told that only ever felt like one of its many philosophical toys it would bring out when it wanted to add weight to its rock'n'roll robot dystopia.

And then there's Track 13, which makes up the back-half of this finale so we can double up on Beatles references, and tries to be a happy epilogue where Humans and Earless now live in harmony and everyone gets a new beginning, but also serves to throw in two very random twists that I cannot wrap my head around. The first is easily the dumbest, with the reveal that Lyde and Richie were alive the whole time and just off camera some where. It's a bizarre joke to end Nir's arc with, and pulls the rug out of what was one of the more emotionally effecting beats in the whole story. I get they didn't want to leave Nir alone and mourning when everyone else gets a happy ending, but there had to be a better way to go about it.

The other twist comes in the form of that elf looking kid in the review image, who looks so much like a fusion of Echo and Mu I initially thought that what they were. But the final post-credits scene assures us that our protagonists are alive and distinct, going on yet another adventure together, and they certainly haven't aged enough to have a kid either. Going by a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit in the climax I've got to assume that's the new form of Listeners, now that Mu's own personality has split off entirely, and I guess they get to start a new life coexisting with humans just like the other Earless. If that is the case, that's a real baffling way to conclude an already underdeveloped storyline, and making the delivery so vague just leaves me scratching my head rather than soaking in the good vibes of your happy ending. In all, these final scenes are just a strange, discordant note to go out on for the series.

So that's where I stand on the finale, but what about Listeners as a whole? Well...ok. I have made my fair share of musical puns and metaphors throughout Listeners' run, and I'm proud of every last terrible one of them, but there's a particular comparison I've been trying to hold off on until the show could play out its tracklist. It's not a damning comparison, nor a particularly kind one altogether, but having finished the show I think it's entirely fitting. Plus the show starts with an Oasis reference and ends on TWO Beatles name drops, so really it's inviting this:

Listeners is the Be Here Now of anime.

If you've watched this show for this long I assume that comparison makes sense to you, but for those who only know Oasis from the Eden of the East OP, Be Here Now is the band's 3rd full-length album and widely considered the bomb that took them from the biggest name in rock music to a faded memory of the mid-90's. While on the whole it's not a terrible album, it's a work defined by pretentious of grandiosity being undercut by a vapid, vacuous lack of real sentiment; an LP that intends to be profound but in the end feels too soupy and disjointed to achieve it. It's also littered with an embarrassing amount of Beatles references that only serve to remind you of much better songs you could be listening to instead of “Magic Pie.” And I don't even like The Beatles that much.

In much the same way, Listeners feels like a show too smothered by its influences and inspirations to ever say anything of its own. For all that it's slathered in broad and deep cuts of rock history, it ends up feeling like a cover version of its obvious sci-fi anime forebears, and only rarely manages to pull something unique from its mix of mech and music. As much as seeing anime-tastic versions of iconic musicians tickled my brain, it also left me wanting in a big way when it came down to what the show wanted to say. What made so many of the musical acts that Listeners name-drops so memorable was that their art had a sharp, personal, often intentionally counterculture sentiment behind it, and that never really shows up here. In the end it's not a bad show – the stories are mostly entertaining, and if you get a kick out of rock history in-jokes there's plenty to be found to amuse you – but I left wanting something, anything more.

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Wave, Listen to Me! - Episode 12 [Review]

So this is how Wave, Listen to Me! ends: Not with a bang…but a 6.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Hokkaido! Yes, dear viewers, the show opted to end the season in a surprisingly grand fashion, showcasing everyone on the MRS team at their best as they work together to use the power of radio to unite the island and bring some peace of mind in times that are both literally and metaphorically darker than anyone expected. This isn't about tragedy, or death, and it doesn't even feel like a cheap grab at the real world earthquake disaster that is still a fresh wound in the minds of the whole Japanese populace. It's just a simple story with stakes that are a little bit bigger than normal, and it's all about how radio is a tool that can be used for truly extraordinary purposes when the time calls for it.

So, with those lofty and emotional ambitions established, how on earth did “I Want to Convey It To You” end up as such a letdown of a finale for an otherwise stellar and refreshing series? I'd seen rumblings that the season was going for something of an anime original conclusion already, mind you, so I was prepared for Wave to maybe pass over a couple of plot threads on its way to putting a bow on what might be its only run of episodes. Don't get me wrong, either, as an individual morsel of calculated pathos, “I Want to Convey It to You” works well enough, and if this was the penultimate chapter of the season or something I'm sure it would go down nicely. As the show's final and theoretically most emphatic statement of purpose, though? This episode is weak sauce, man, there's no way around it, even if this isn't anime original material.

My misgivings are all tied up in the way the episode both seems determined to address all of the plot threads its laid out across the past eleven episodes, while simultaneously failing to do anything remotely interesting with any of them. Take Makie for example: At the beginning of the episode, we see that she has actually been using the alias “Joker Stonsky” to work as a contributor to a radio program at HCB, which I presume is a rival station to MRS, which is significant because…well, I'm not sure, to be honest. There are a lot of things to infer, naturally, mainly to do with the romantic rivalry she shares with Minare, and she outright says that she's doing the work as an act of rebellion via independence, something that is hers and hers alone. That's all well and good, but I'm flummoxed as to why the show would include a plot thread like this in such a half-assed manner, only to completely forget about it once the earthquake hits. After that, Makie and Nakahara's cute bonding gets routed into turning Voyager into a makeshift soup kitchen for locals. Again, it's fine, but it all feels decidedly random.

Then there's Mizuho, whose angst over Kureko's imminent departure has been a stopping point across the last few episodes. Here, we get a bit more texture when we learn that a lecture of Kureko's is what got Mizuho interested in being a station assistant director to begin with, and then there's lots of her fretting over whether to pursue her “dream” of working with Kureko on her own show. After weeks of kind-of building this character arc up, the climax that Wave gives us is…Mizuho working up the nerve to just ask Kureko to work with her, which he says he will in his own curmudgeonly way. So, yeah, an incredibly minor crisis was capped off with an incredibly minor resolution.

”Okay,” I can hear you all saying, “Sure, but Wave was never the best at juggling a bunch of plot threads at once, especially in its back half. Surely, though, Minare and Kanetsugu get a worthy send off?” That, my poor hypothetical reader, is where I will have to disappoint you the most, because they really don't. Now, there is good stuff here, once the cool and collected Kanetsugu has to walk the panicky Minare through the routine emergency broadcast procedures. I liked the way Minare has to balance her anxious word vomit with her responsibilities as someone with broadcasting capability in an earthquake/blackout emergency. I liked how Minare didn't suddenly fall into her destiny as The Ultimate Local Hokkaidan Entertainment Personality when the chips were down; Chishiro had to step in to provide the measure of genuine authority that Minare doesn't quite project yet. I even kind of liked Kanetsugu turning on his Hardass Mode to keep Minare functional when things got crazy, (though someone maybe ought to let him know that it's 2020, man, and Minare doesn't need to have “balls” to be capable).

As a one-and-done after-school special sort of affair, this stuff works. It just makes for a lame finale to a whole season's worth of stories and development. We don't get any of the program's wacky visualization, we don't get to hear Minare interacting with her audience in a more personalized and non-earthquake-focused manner, and hell, the scene doesn't even work terribly well as a signifier that Minare has taken her first big step into a weird new career, even if it just the first of many. The best the show can do is have Mianre reflect on how amazing and powerful radio is at, like, bringing people together, man, and that she's more determined than ever to make her mark. We get not one, but two different treacly pop-song montages over scenes of the Hokkaidans making it through the night, and of Minare committing herself to radio once and for all.

I don't know how else to say this: It's corny as hell. Wave, Listen to Me! has been a lot of things over its twelve-episode run. It's been brash, bizarre, inventive, oddly touching, and frequently hilarious, sure, but more than anything, it's been honest. No matter how wacky or warped Minare's worldview painted things, this show, to me, has been about empathizing with Minare, and enjoying the ups-and-downs that come from starting a new and unpredictable chapter in one's life (oh, and bear fights! Wave has been about bear fights, too). The point is, for all of the things this finale did well, it's the first time I felt I could see all of the turning cogs and dancing strings holding the story together. It felt manipulative, albeit in a somewhat muted sense, and dishonest. Does that negate all of the wonderful things the series did in its best moments? Hardly. It's just a bummer of a note to go out on.

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Ouran High School Host Club - Episodes 7-8 [Review]

I like when shows like Ouran High School Host Club, which revel in playing with their stock genre setups, arrive at the ‘obligatory’ swimsuit episode, since I get to revel right back by calling attention to it. So what better joy can there be here for me than Ouran actually having two swimsuit episodes, in a row, which line up directly with this week's review block? At last, the multi-episode synergy benefits the analysis of the reviewer! What's that, they're actually wildly different from each other in intent and tone? I'm ruined!

Seriously though, that just means there's plenty to ruminate on across both these episodes despite their superficially similar subject matter. Episode 7 sees the Host Club take a day off for themselves to relax at a cutting-edge resort waterpark, owned by Kyoya's family in one of several links these episodes do share. They go for the most obvious gag fuel first: the Hitachiin twins conspiring to try to get Haruhi into a feminine swimsuit, and Tamaki interfering as his own conflicted feelings on the matter manifest. Since their turn a couple episodes ago made clear the bros might have more serious romantic designs on Haruhi apart from their usual playful flirting, it seems Tamaki has adjusted to regarding them as an actual threat to his own intentions. Oddly, this makes him come across as more sincerely protective of Haruhi from their overt lascivious intent, though his newfound couching of such concerns in acting as her ‘Daddy’ is more than a little off-putting in its own way. It's still funny, because Mamoru Miyano doing anything this ridiculous is always funny and Tamaki continues to not be taken seriously at all. But it still does so in that mid-2000's shoujo way that makes me side-eye how far some of these jokes might go.

Tamaki's not the main event though, as this is ostensibly a focal episode for Honey and Mori, the two club members still pending any development at all. And this episode actually delivers on that need in pretty much the best ways I could have asked it to. Honey has been a complete enigma to me, as I question how much of his childlike persona is as much of a projection as the other boys' character types, obfuscated as it is by the vagueness of his actual age. But the same kinds of depths behind his presentation start coming to the surface here, indicating that he's well aware of his own cute kid nature and how to play it up, and showing that he's very capable of taking care of himself. Mori, for his part, gets some decent development vis-à-vis his loyalty to Honey and how the other characters explain it.

I'm honestly not 100% down with the supposed explanation that Mori is obligatorily deferential to Honey due to his family's past of servitude, but at least Haruhi seems to agree with me on that one. That makes it somewhat sweeter when he assists Haruhi out of what seems to be the same kind of generalized loyalty to his friends. So there's a lot of digging still to be done on Mori's character, but Honey's childlike earnestness still seems to come through in a real way. Despite some odder ins and outs detailing his and Mori's relationship, I dug his appreciable demeanor towards his much taller friend. Honey is a good example of why I've been hoping so hard that Ouran would add more nuance and layers to its characters, since that gives me more reasons to enjoy watching them. Plus there's a scene this episode where Honey single-handedly beats up a bunch of cops. So I might have a new favorite.

The implications of Ouran's relationship developments are decidedly messier to parse in the eighth episode, which takes a suggestion by Haruhi from that previous one and runs with it all the way to a real beach (also owned by Kyoya). This one also sees the club actually performing their hostly duties while lounging around in swimwear, and it's always a delight to be reminded of Haruhi's complete inability to turn her natural swag off. That does dovetail into the overarching conflict this episode, beginning with the boys trying to discover if the perpetually-unflappable Haruhi actually has anything that can distress her, and halfway through turns to... them scolding Haruhi for forgetting the inherent weaknesses she has as a female? Oy.

The one pass I can give Ouran on this plotline is I can't be certain the narrative itself is admonishing Haruhi or if it's just a way to put the guys' regressive views on display. We're still in the single-digit episodes after all, and this series has been nothing but clear about how glacially its character development is actually going to occur. Yet there's a thread of understanding their worries, regardless, in how the story is told, as Haruhi's badass moment of rushing in to save some Host Club guest girls from drunken molesters is kneecapped by her struggling against them and comments about her lack of musculature. A gag series like this, especially one that's already played plenty with the ideas of gender presentation, is kind of the last place I was expecting a cheap intonation of the supposed immutable differences between sexes. Half an hour ago I watched a three-foot-tall kid kick the crap out of a SWAT team, and here everyone's admonishing Haruhi because there's no way a girl could win a fight? I don't buy it.

It doesn't help that the storyline causes dudes like Honey or the twins to start guilting Haruhi like callous jerks, or, in the case of Kyoya, swerve straight into Shoujo dangerous-bad-boy mode. His momentary assault of Haruhi is some serious whiplash in a show that previously never approached that level of seriousness. It does get walked back in a way that effectively reminds us of Haruhi's true strength in being able to genuinely read people, making clear to us anyway that her rushing in was not about ignoring the worries of the Host Club but instead a sign of her trust in them. And I can't argue with this series injecting more drama into characters when I've spent so much time asking for it; indeed, I'm more interested in what's actually making Kyoya tick than I ever have been. But it might have been too much too soon in an episode that was already pushing how it treated Haruhi.

What I can praise episode 8 on is its last-minute development of Tamaki, who not only owns up to being wrong about any gender limitations he accused Haruhi of, but acknowledges the singular life she's lived until now as the real explanation for her attitude and interactions with the group. It's an impressive moment of growth because we can see him starting to interface with Haruhi's philosophy of understanding people as individuals apart from any socially-constructed signifiers. If Ouran is going to attempt a serious romantic thread before its end, then Tamaki's always been the obvious choice for the endgame just going off all his promotional positioning. But this moment between him and Haruhi at the end of this episode was the first place I got the feeling such a thing might actually work. Far from hinting at the potential for character development, this gave me hope for how much the show could pull it off. Plus, it still showed off its comic chops at this early stage by undercutting things and making Tamaki look like a doofus. I could watch them dunk on that guy all day.

So we get an episode with Ouran's comedic ability still on fine display, which throws in some solid character work for the last two main boys that needed it. But then it attempts more nuanced analysis that may not be ready for prime-time at this moment. I can't fault the show for being ambitious, but it's frustrating when those ambitions lead it down a path that undercuts the strengths I so enjoyed about it until now. Trying to put its cast through an emotional wringer while still having silly snake jokes and crab puns perhaps shows a skewing of priorities so early in the series as we are.

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Tower of God - Episode 12 [Review]

I didn't think the penultimate episode of Tower of God would have me clamoring for Crunchyroll to redesign their website but here we are. “Underwater Hunt (Part Two)” ought to have concluded on a shocking cliffhanger, but I knew ages in advance that Rachel was up to no good. Even if I hadn't read some of the original webtoon the show is based on, and even if I wasn't on social media, I would still see the comments under each Tower of God video wishing ill on Rachel in increasingly colorful language. Now that it turns out that all Rachel did to deserve this vitriol was one extremely-telegraphed yeet, I'm sitting here wondering, “Why does Crunchyroll even have a comments section?” People call them the “Netflix of Anime” but just imagine what kind of hellhole a Netflix comments section would be. YouTube has comments to be sure, but they're not a place I'd like to spend a lot of time. However, my dashed expectations at the end are only a small part of the experience this week, an action-packed episode that crams in everything and the kitchen sink.

While each episode of Tower of God has been nonstop, this one took it up a notch. Every character we've met so far (and a few that we haven't) played a role this week. This episode never lets up as it switches between multiple high-stakes situations, which themselves are cliffhangers from last week. Rak continues to torment Paracule with his gung-ho personality, making for an entertaining interlude between more serious beats. Khun manages to game the wildly complicated system by pitting the earthpigs against the barnacle goblins and their wetworms—proving that an exam with this many different aggressors has an obvious loophole. But when a family member of Khun's shows up, it's a realization that even our resident strategist can't account for all of the Tower's unexpected twists. In this fast-paced anime we're only getting a taste of this world's internal politics, but there are so many factions with differing motivations that even Hansung Yu and Lero-Ro can't agree on how to administer this exam.

One thing that Hansung Yu is weirdly cool with: Ren (aka the evil riceball) running amok in the testing site and putting out hits on various contestants. By controlling the eldritch abomination known as the Bull, he's decided to take out the “imposters” Anaak and Endorsi, ostensibly on the orders of King Jahad. He offers Endorsi the chance to redeem herself by killing Anaak, but in a surprisingly sweet about-face, Endorsi instead invites Anaak to have lunch with her when this is all over. It was just a few episodes ago that these two were fighting each other pointlessly—neither girl willing to put aside her pride to avoid serious injuries. The power of friendship doesn't magically defeat Ren, but a fellow princess does. Lady Yuri finally returns to the testing area twelve episodes after her first appearance and proceeds to absolutely wreck the dude. We don't know much about Lady Yuri aside from the fact that she seems to be invincible as well as not subject to the rules in the same way as everyone else—the perfect ally for our protagonist Irregular and his team of what are now traitors for assisting him.

Speaking of traitors… Rachel took all of Bam's puppy-dog loyalty and literally pushed it away. It turns out she could walk the whole time; she was just holding onto that ability to increase the element of surprise. I get that this is supposed to really make me hate Rachel, but it's been a long time coming—though I'm not sure if it's the fans' constant disparagement or her multiple-episode coldness toward Bam that has fed that suspicion more. From using a fake name to avoid Bam, to commenting that she found Bam weak and annoying even during the honeymoon phase of their relationship, to quietly acknowledging but not reciprocating Bam's constant words of praise and affection… well, the writing has been on the wall that She's Just Not That Into You, Bam. Compared to the cluster of betrayals that occurred in episode 9, this wasn't such a shock. But even if it wasn't a huge surprise, the show did a great job using its impactful closing music to give additional pathos to the moments following the push. Hopefully this will encourage Bam to finally move on and find his own reason to climb the Tower. But, looking at how much hatred webtoon readers have for Rachel, I'm going to say probably not.

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Tower of God - Episode 12 [Review]

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Kakushigoto - Episode 12 [Review]

After weeks of teasing disaster and despair, Kakushigoto finally pulls back the veil on its frame story and delivers a definitive conclusion for its father-daughter saga about manga artistry and dick jokes. Unlike prior episodes, this one takes place entirely in the somber flash-forward starring 18-year-old Hime, and even though it's a slight departure from the story's expected format and tonal variance, it feels appropriate. Kakushigoto has already spent so much time hyping up the mystery of its titular character's fate that there's no way it would've been able to squeeze something satisfying into just a minutes-long epilogue. That doesn't stop the finale from feeling a little bit strange, but on the other hand, we can all be thankful that Kōji Kumeta resisted the temptation to knock over his meticulously-arranged chessboard of character drama for one last spectacular goof. Instead, Kakushi and Hime find closure and a (mostly) secret-free path forward for their family.

Kumeta actually seems kind of embarrassed about how long he ended up stringing the audience along, based on how quickly he reveals all the narrative cards he was hiding. Hime is indeed Kakushi's real daughter. Kakushi himself was actually the illegitimate child. That only mattered because kabuki actors and traditional artists don't get along, apparently. His half-sister sent Hime the house key. His wife was lost at sea, and he could never fully accept that. He gave up on manga because his fans found out and thought that was weird. He's also not dead right now; he's just in a coma. And that's more or less it. All of this comes to light in the first five or so exposition-saturated minutes—more perfunctory than satisfying. The saving grace is that all these answers are pretty mundane and set the stage for the eventual reunion between Hime and her dad. Last-minute twists for the sake of it are difficult to pull off (and to be fair, Kakushigoto does try to pull a pretty big one that we'll get to shortly), so the way these naturally fizzle into the denouement is probably the best course it could have taken.

One issue I do rankle with is the valuation of blood relations, which is broached briefly when Hime's cousin reassures her that Kakushi is her “real” dad, to her vocalized relief. As a staunch appreciator of found families—especially those in some of my favorite anime series—I can't help but critique this small but nonetheless misguided focus on the “legitimacy” of their bond. Kakushi would have still been Hime's dad even if he had found her in a stalk of bamboo. This whole show was about the two of them taking care of each other, working through their problems, and celebrating the triumphs whenever they could, because they love each other. They're family!

The last-minute amnesia twist is also so shamelessly cloying that Kumeta can't help but lampoon himself yet again through the mouthpiece of Tomaruin. If I'm being charitable, I can accept it as symbolic of Kakushi's deep-seated reluctance to see Hime grow up and consequently learn the truth about his former occupation and passion. In reality as in fiction, there's a temptation for fathers in particular to infantilize their daughters. Thus, the key to Kakushi breaking through his amnesia is his acceptance that raising Hime and seeing her grow up into her own person was well worth working through his own discomfort and insecurity. That's both sweet and perceptive, but it's still tacked onto a cheap and cliché dramatic shortcut appended to the final ten minutes of the show.

Unsurprisingly, the tone of this episode is a lot more serious overall compared to its predecessors. However, buried just underneath the surface of the text is some of Kumeta's most quietly acerbic satire to be found in Kakushigoto, surfacing here as if he finally felt freed of the responsibility of sustaining cute father-daughter shenanigans. Most overt is the manner of Kakushi's accident, in which a man who tried to run away from the manga industry ends up hospitalized due to a pallet of manga falling on him. That's some tasty irony, but to take this one step further, the reason the pallet collapses is attributed to someone stealing a copy of Shonen Jump to leak to the internet. Many people (myself included) have at one point justified manga piracy to themselves, but here Kumeta doesn't mince any words about the harm it causes creators. While they might not be falling into conveniently tragic comas, there are plenty of other ways it hurts the people who, as Kakushigoto has frequently pointed out, don't have easy careers to begin with.

This finale in general doesn't paint a flattering portrait of the internet. A combination of tabloid journalism and vitriolic anonymous commenters dealt the final blow to Kakushi's ambitions of making people laugh. Granted, Kakushigoto doesn't (and couldn't) explore this facet with the intensity of something like Gatchaman Crowds, but it's not accidental that Kakushi's recovery—both from amnesia and from his manga block—stems from time spent together with people who care about him. Hime triggers his memories with a decidedly low-tech cardboard box full of musty manuscripts. It's a callback to the boxes her mother left for her, but it also shows the importance of the in-person interpersonal warmth Kakushi has been able to foster in spite of himself.

Ultimately, what works best in this finale is what has always worked best for Kakushigoto: the small and sincere moments shared between people who care about each other amidst their rampant wackiness. Whether it's Hime's classmates banding together for one last detective job, or Kakushi's former assistants dutifully drawing pages for a series that ended years ago, the bonds they've all forged transcend any attempt at secrecy. It adds up to a safe yet satisfying conclusion. Personally, in my heart of hearts, I'm always going to hold Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei as the paradigm of Kōji Kumeta manga and adaptations, but Kakushigoto was a nice change of pace and a relaxing companion for stressful times. I look forward to whatever Kumeta moves onto next with a mixture of anticipation and fear for the unmined depths of pun-making he can still unearth.

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Listeners - Episode 12 [Review]

Here we have it, the big finale of Listeners, and like any sci-fi action series made after 2000, it's got to go out on a big emotional confrontation where the fate of the world hinges on magical robot powers that let enemies and allies alike understand eachother for the first time. At least this time the robot magic is also tied to music, which is actually a pretty good vehicle for facilitating empathy and one of the few times the show has managed to harmonize its musical aesthetic with its broader themes. Still, at this point it definitely feels like the story going through the motions of what's expected for it. There are still some buried gems in the dialogue – Roz gets probably the best line of the whole show when Denka starts to call Echo the second-coming of Jimi: “It's nothing so grand. All he did was express what was in his heart, and the world chose all by itself to be moved by it.” It's a perfect encapsulation about the act of making music, how it can be at once personal and powerfully external, and I came out of the climax really wishing those feelings had really been at the center of this story and conflict.

As is, Listeners' conclusion mostly serves as an object lesson in spoiled potential. There are multiple monologues and speeches during Mu and Echo's big confrontation that try to tie a bow on the questions of understanding, hope, and love that have been thrown around across the show's runtime, but through most of them I kept asking “wait, is that what you were trying to be about?” as the show seemed to self-assuredly wrap up on the sentiment of not labeling others and reaching out to learn who they really are. It's certainly not a bad moral to build your show around, but through the sprawling, cluttered stories Listeners has told that only ever felt like one of its many philosophical toys it would bring out when it wanted to add weight to its rock'n'roll robot dystopia.

And then there's Track 13, which makes up the back-half of this finale so we can double up on Beatles references, and tries to be a happy epilogue where Humans and Earless now live in harmony and everyone gets a new beginning, but also serves to throw in two very random twists that I cannot wrap my head around. The first is easily the dumbest, with the reveal that Lyde and Richie were alive the whole time and just off camera some where. It's a bizarre joke to end Nir's arc with, and pulls the rug out of what was one of the more emotionally effecting beats in the whole story. I get they didn't want to leave Nir alone and mourning when everyone else gets a happy ending, but there had to be a better way to go about it.

The other twist comes in the form of that elf looking kid in the review image, who looks so much like a fusion of Echo and Mu I initially thought that what they were. But the final post-credits scene assures us that our protagonists are alive and distinct, going on yet another adventure together, and they certainly haven't aged enough to have a kid either. Going by a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit in the climax I've got to assume that's the new form of Listeners, now that Mu's own personality has split off entirely, and I guess they get to start a new life coexisting with humans just like the other Earless. If that is the case, that's a real baffling way to conclude an already underdeveloped storyline, and making the delivery so vague just leaves me scratching my head rather than soaking in the good vibes of your happy ending. In all, these final scenes are just a strange, discordant note to go out on for the series.

So that's where I stand on the finale, but what about Listeners as a whole? Well...ok. I have made my fair share of musical puns and metaphors throughout Listeners' run, and I'm proud of every last terrible one of them, but there's a particular comparison I've been trying to hold off on until the show could play out its tracklist. It's not a damning comparison, nor a particularly kind one altogether, but having finished the show I think it's entirely fitting. Plus the show starts with an Oasis reference and ends on TWO Beatles name drops, so really it's inviting this:

Listeners is the Be Here Now of anime.

If you've watched this show for this long I assume that comparison makes sense to you, but for those who only know Oasis from the Eden of the East OP, Be Here Now is the band's 3rd full-length album and widely considered the bomb that took them from the biggest name in rock music to a faded memory of the mid-90's. While on the whole it's not a terrible album, it's a work defined by pretentious of grandiosity being undercut by a vapid, vacuous lack of real sentiment; an LP that intends to be profound but in the end feels too soupy and disjointed to achieve it. It's also littered with an embarrassing amount of Beatles references that only serve to remind you of much better songs you could be listening to instead of “Magic Pie.” And I don't even like The Beatles that much.

In much the same way, Listeners feels like a show too smothered by its influences and inspirations to ever say anything of its own. For all that it's slathered in broad and deep cuts of rock history, it ends up feeling like a cover version of its obvious sci-fi anime forebears, and only rarely manages to pull something unique from its mix of mech and music. As much as seeing anime-tastic versions of iconic musicians tickled my brain, it also left me wanting in a big way when it came down to what the show wanted to say. What made so many of the musical acts that Listeners name-drops so memorable was that their art had a sharp, personal, often intentionally counterculture sentiment behind it, and that never really shows up here. In the end it's not a bad show – the stories are mostly entertaining, and if you get a kick out of rock history in-jokes there's plenty to be found to amuse you – but I left wanting something, anything more.

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Wave, Listen to Me! - Episode 12 [Review]

So this is how Wave, Listen to Me! ends: Not with a bang…but a 6.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Hokkaido! Yes, dear viewers, the show opted to end the season in a surprisingly grand fashion, showcasing everyone on the MRS team at their best as they work together to use the power of radio to unite the island and bring some peace of mind in times that are both literally and metaphorically darker than anyone expected. This isn't about tragedy, or death, and it doesn't even feel like a cheap grab at the real world earthquake disaster that is still a fresh wound in the minds of the whole Japanese populace. It's just a simple story with stakes that are a little bit bigger than normal, and it's all about how radio is a tool that can be used for truly extraordinary purposes when the time calls for it.

So, with those lofty and emotional ambitions established, how on earth did “I Want to Convey It To You” end up as such a letdown of a finale for an otherwise stellar and refreshing series? I'd seen rumblings that the season was going for something of an anime original conclusion already, mind you, so I was prepared for Wave to maybe pass over a couple of plot threads on its way to putting a bow on what might be its only run of episodes. Don't get me wrong, either, as an individual morsel of calculated pathos, “I Want to Convey It to You” works well enough, and if this was the penultimate chapter of the season or something I'm sure it would go down nicely. As the show's final and theoretically most emphatic statement of purpose, though? This episode is weak sauce, man, there's no way around it, even if this isn't anime original material.

My misgivings are all tied up in the way the episode both seems determined to address all of the plot threads its laid out across the past eleven episodes, while simultaneously failing to do anything remotely interesting with any of them. Take Makie for example: At the beginning of the episode, we see that she has actually been using the alias “Joker Stonsky” to work as a contributor to a radio program at HCB, which I presume is a rival station to MRS, which is significant because…well, I'm not sure, to be honest. There are a lot of things to infer, naturally, mainly to do with the romantic rivalry she shares with Minare, and she outright says that she's doing the work as an act of rebellion via independence, something that is hers and hers alone. That's all well and good, but I'm flummoxed as to why the show would include a plot thread like this in such a half-assed manner, only to completely forget about it once the earthquake hits. After that, Makie and Nakahara's cute bonding gets routed into turning Voyager into a makeshift soup kitchen for locals. Again, it's fine, but it all feels decidedly random.

Then there's Mizuho, whose angst over Kureko's imminent departure has been a stopping point across the last few episodes. Here, we get a bit more texture when we learn that a lecture of Kureko's is what got Mizuho interested in being a station assistant director to begin with, and then there's lots of her fretting over whether to pursue her “dream” of working with Kureko on her own show. After weeks of kind-of building this character arc up, the climax that Wave gives us is…Mizuho working up the nerve to just ask Kureko to work with her, which he says he will in his own curmudgeonly way. So, yeah, an incredibly minor crisis was capped off with an incredibly minor resolution.

”Okay,” I can hear you all saying, “Sure, but Wave was never the best at juggling a bunch of plot threads at once, especially in its back half. Surely, though, Minare and Kanetsugu get a worthy send off?” That, my poor hypothetical reader, is where I will have to disappoint you the most, because they really don't. Now, there is good stuff here, once the cool and collected Kanetsugu has to walk the panicky Minare through the routine emergency broadcast procedures. I liked the way Minare has to balance her anxious word vomit with her responsibilities as someone with broadcasting capability in an earthquake/blackout emergency. I liked how Minare didn't suddenly fall into her destiny as The Ultimate Local Hokkaidan Entertainment Personality when the chips were down; Chishiro had to step in to provide the measure of genuine authority that Minare doesn't quite project yet. I even kind of liked Kanetsugu turning on his Hardass Mode to keep Minare functional when things got crazy, (though someone maybe ought to let him know that it's 2020, man, and Minare doesn't need to have “balls” to be capable).

As a one-and-done after-school special sort of affair, this stuff works. It just makes for a lame finale to a whole season's worth of stories and development. We don't get any of the program's wacky visualization, we don't get to hear Minare interacting with her audience in a more personalized and non-earthquake-focused manner, and hell, the scene doesn't even work terribly well as a signifier that Minare has taken her first big step into a weird new career, even if it just the first of many. The best the show can do is have Mianre reflect on how amazing and powerful radio is at, like, bringing people together, man, and that she's more determined than ever to make her mark. We get not one, but two different treacly pop-song montages over scenes of the Hokkaidans making it through the night, and of Minare committing herself to radio once and for all.

I don't know how else to say this: It's corny as hell. Wave, Listen to Me! has been a lot of things over its twelve-episode run. It's been brash, bizarre, inventive, oddly touching, and frequently hilarious, sure, but more than anything, it's been honest. No matter how wacky or warped Minare's worldview painted things, this show, to me, has been about empathizing with Minare, and enjoying the ups-and-downs that come from starting a new and unpredictable chapter in one's life (oh, and bear fights! Wave has been about bear fights, too). The point is, for all of the things this finale did well, it's the first time I felt I could see all of the turning cogs and dancing strings holding the story together. It felt manipulative, albeit in a somewhat muted sense, and dishonest. Does that negate all of the wonderful things the series did in its best moments? Hardly. It's just a bummer of a note to go out on.

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Ouran High School Host Club - Episodes 7-8 [Review]

I like when shows like Ouran High School Host Club, which revel in playing with their stock genre setups, arrive at the ‘obligatory’ swimsuit episode, since I get to revel right back by calling attention to it. So what better joy can there be here for me than Ouran actually having two swimsuit episodes, in a row, which line up directly with this week's review block? At last, the multi-episode synergy benefits the analysis of the reviewer! What's that, they're actually wildly different from each other in intent and tone? I'm ruined!

Seriously though, that just means there's plenty to ruminate on across both these episodes despite their superficially similar subject matter. Episode 7 sees the Host Club take a day off for themselves to relax at a cutting-edge resort waterpark, owned by Kyoya's family in one of several links these episodes do share. They go for the most obvious gag fuel first: the Hitachiin twins conspiring to try to get Haruhi into a feminine swimsuit, and Tamaki interfering as his own conflicted feelings on the matter manifest. Since their turn a couple episodes ago made clear the bros might have more serious romantic designs on Haruhi apart from their usual playful flirting, it seems Tamaki has adjusted to regarding them as an actual threat to his own intentions. Oddly, this makes him come across as more sincerely protective of Haruhi from their overt lascivious intent, though his newfound couching of such concerns in acting as her ‘Daddy’ is more than a little off-putting in its own way. It's still funny, because Mamoru Miyano doing anything this ridiculous is always funny and Tamaki continues to not be taken seriously at all. But it still does so in that mid-2000's shoujo way that makes me side-eye how far some of these jokes might go.

Tamaki's not the main event though, as this is ostensibly a focal episode for Honey and Mori, the two club members still pending any development at all. And this episode actually delivers on that need in pretty much the best ways I could have asked it to. Honey has been a complete enigma to me, as I question how much of his childlike persona is as much of a projection as the other boys' character types, obfuscated as it is by the vagueness of his actual age. But the same kinds of depths behind his presentation start coming to the surface here, indicating that he's well aware of his own cute kid nature and how to play it up, and showing that he's very capable of taking care of himself. Mori, for his part, gets some decent development vis-à-vis his loyalty to Honey and how the other characters explain it.

I'm honestly not 100% down with the supposed explanation that Mori is obligatorily deferential to Honey due to his family's past of servitude, but at least Haruhi seems to agree with me on that one. That makes it somewhat sweeter when he assists Haruhi out of what seems to be the same kind of generalized loyalty to his friends. So there's a lot of digging still to be done on Mori's character, but Honey's childlike earnestness still seems to come through in a real way. Despite some odder ins and outs detailing his and Mori's relationship, I dug his appreciable demeanor towards his much taller friend. Honey is a good example of why I've been hoping so hard that Ouran would add more nuance and layers to its characters, since that gives me more reasons to enjoy watching them. Plus there's a scene this episode where Honey single-handedly beats up a bunch of cops. So I might have a new favorite.

The implications of Ouran's relationship developments are decidedly messier to parse in the eighth episode, which takes a suggestion by Haruhi from that previous one and runs with it all the way to a real beach (also owned by Kyoya). This one also sees the club actually performing their hostly duties while lounging around in swimwear, and it's always a delight to be reminded of Haruhi's complete inability to turn her natural swag off. That does dovetail into the overarching conflict this episode, beginning with the boys trying to discover if the perpetually-unflappable Haruhi actually has anything that can distress her, and halfway through turns to... them scolding Haruhi for forgetting the inherent weaknesses she has as a female? Oy.

The one pass I can give Ouran on this plotline is I can't be certain the narrative itself is admonishing Haruhi or if it's just a way to put the guys' regressive views on display. We're still in the single-digit episodes after all, and this series has been nothing but clear about how glacially its character development is actually going to occur. Yet there's a thread of understanding their worries, regardless, in how the story is told, as Haruhi's badass moment of rushing in to save some Host Club guest girls from drunken molesters is kneecapped by her struggling against them and comments about her lack of musculature. A gag series like this, especially one that's already played plenty with the ideas of gender presentation, is kind of the last place I was expecting a cheap intonation of the supposed immutable differences between sexes. Half an hour ago I watched a three-foot-tall kid kick the crap out of a SWAT team, and here everyone's admonishing Haruhi because there's no way a girl could win a fight? I don't buy it.

It doesn't help that the storyline causes dudes like Honey or the twins to start guilting Haruhi like callous jerks, or, in the case of Kyoya, swerve straight into Shoujo dangerous-bad-boy mode. His momentary assault of Haruhi is some serious whiplash in a show that previously never approached that level of seriousness. It does get walked back in a way that effectively reminds us of Haruhi's true strength in being able to genuinely read people, making clear to us anyway that her rushing in was not about ignoring the worries of the Host Club but instead a sign of her trust in them. And I can't argue with this series injecting more drama into characters when I've spent so much time asking for it; indeed, I'm more interested in what's actually making Kyoya tick than I ever have been. But it might have been too much too soon in an episode that was already pushing how it treated Haruhi.

What I can praise episode 8 on is its last-minute development of Tamaki, who not only owns up to being wrong about any gender limitations he accused Haruhi of, but acknowledges the singular life she's lived until now as the real explanation for her attitude and interactions with the group. It's an impressive moment of growth because we can see him starting to interface with Haruhi's philosophy of understanding people as individuals apart from any socially-constructed signifiers. If Ouran is going to attempt a serious romantic thread before its end, then Tamaki's always been the obvious choice for the endgame just going off all his promotional positioning. But this moment between him and Haruhi at the end of this episode was the first place I got the feeling such a thing might actually work. Far from hinting at the potential for character development, this gave me hope for how much the show could pull it off. Plus, it still showed off its comic chops at this early stage by undercutting things and making Tamaki look like a doofus. I could watch them dunk on that guy all day.

So we get an episode with Ouran's comedic ability still on fine display, which throws in some solid character work for the last two main boys that needed it. But then it attempts more nuanced analysis that may not be ready for prime-time at this moment. I can't fault the show for being ambitious, but it's frustrating when those ambitions lead it down a path that undercuts the strengths I so enjoyed about it until now. Trying to put its cast through an emotional wringer while still having silly snake jokes and crab puns perhaps shows a skewing of priorities so early in the series as we are.

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Tower of God - Episode 12 [Review]

I didn't think the penultimate episode of Tower of God would have me clamoring for Crunchyroll to redesign their website but here we are. “Underwater Hunt (Part Two)” ought to have concluded on a shocking cliffhanger, but I knew ages in advance that Rachel was up to no good. Even if I hadn't read some of the original webtoon the show is based on, and even if I wasn't on social media, I would still see the comments under each Tower of God video wishing ill on Rachel in increasingly colorful language. Now that it turns out that all Rachel did to deserve this vitriol was one extremely-telegraphed yeet, I'm sitting here wondering, “Why does Crunchyroll even have a comments section?” People call them the “Netflix of Anime” but just imagine what kind of hellhole a Netflix comments section would be. YouTube has comments to be sure, but they're not a place I'd like to spend a lot of time. However, my dashed expectations at the end are only a small part of the experience this week, an action-packed episode that crams in everything and the kitchen sink.

While each episode of Tower of God has been nonstop, this one took it up a notch. Every character we've met so far (and a few that we haven't) played a role this week. This episode never lets up as it switches between multiple high-stakes situations, which themselves are cliffhangers from last week. Rak continues to torment Paracule with his gung-ho personality, making for an entertaining interlude between more serious beats. Khun manages to game the wildly complicated system by pitting the earthpigs against the barnacle goblins and their wetworms—proving that an exam with this many different aggressors has an obvious loophole. But when a family member of Khun's shows up, it's a realization that even our resident strategist can't account for all of the Tower's unexpected twists. In this fast-paced anime we're only getting a taste of this world's internal politics, but there are so many factions with differing motivations that even Hansung Yu and Lero-Ro can't agree on how to administer this exam.

One thing that Hansung Yu is weirdly cool with: Ren (aka the evil riceball) running amok in the testing site and putting out hits on various contestants. By controlling the eldritch abomination known as the Bull, he's decided to take out the “imposters” Anaak and Endorsi, ostensibly on the orders of King Jahad. He offers Endorsi the chance to redeem herself by killing Anaak, but in a surprisingly sweet about-face, Endorsi instead invites Anaak to have lunch with her when this is all over. It was just a few episodes ago that these two were fighting each other pointlessly—neither girl willing to put aside her pride to avoid serious injuries. The power of friendship doesn't magically defeat Ren, but a fellow princess does. Lady Yuri finally returns to the testing area twelve episodes after her first appearance and proceeds to absolutely wreck the dude. We don't know much about Lady Yuri aside from the fact that she seems to be invincible as well as not subject to the rules in the same way as everyone else—the perfect ally for our protagonist Irregular and his team of what are now traitors for assisting him.

Speaking of traitors… Rachel took all of Bam's puppy-dog loyalty and literally pushed it away. It turns out she could walk the whole time; she was just holding onto that ability to increase the element of surprise. I get that this is supposed to really make me hate Rachel, but it's been a long time coming—though I'm not sure if it's the fans' constant disparagement or her multiple-episode coldness toward Bam that has fed that suspicion more. From using a fake name to avoid Bam, to commenting that she found Bam weak and annoying even during the honeymoon phase of their relationship, to quietly acknowledging but not reciprocating Bam's constant words of praise and affection… well, the writing has been on the wall that She's Just Not That Into You, Bam. Compared to the cluster of betrayals that occurred in episode 9, this wasn't such a shock. But even if it wasn't a huge surprise, the show did a great job using its impactful closing music to give additional pathos to the moments following the push. Hopefully this will encourage Bam to finally move on and find his own reason to climb the Tower. But, looking at how much hatred webtoon readers have for Rachel, I'm going to say probably not.

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 - Episode 10 [Review]

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Arte - Episode 11 [Review]

Of all of the things Arte has had to think about since her arrival in Venice, the hardest has been herself. That's not what she had expected – especially after meeting Katarina, Arte (and some of the viewers) thought that the biggest challenge she'd face was getting the little girl into shape, with painting Signora Sofia's portrait as a pleasant distraction from that task. But the more she got to know Katarina, the more Arte began to really think about her own position from an angle she hadn't considered before: that truly, in the context of other women of her social standing, she's been incredibly fortunate.

As I discussed last week, Arte's caring father (and to a lesser degree her worried/frustrated mother) gave her the chance to indulge herself in what she loves and is good at. Yes, she had to give up her more pampered lifestyle as a noblewoman, but the tradeoff was that she got to paint and study fine arts. That's not an opportunity Katarina had and, as Matei pointed out this week, not one that most women, noble or otherwise, ever get. (Insert rant about butchering Darcia's storyline here. It would have made a major difference to how this element of the Venice arc played out.) It was one thing for Arte to learn Katarina's story, because Katarina does have her uncle Yuri; it's entirely another to listen to Matei because what he notices isn't that Arte is lucky “for a woman,” it's that Arte's social status and gender are actually helping her to get work because she stands out as an anomaly in the art world. Matei, who is clearly older than Arte and has likely been an apprentice much longer than she has, remains essentially trapped in his master's workshop because he hasn't stood out sufficiently in his skill or by other means and hasn't caught a patron's eye. Arte, by virtue of her differences, has been hired six months-to-a-year after starting her apprenticeship, and by a major family of Venice to boot. Where all Arte saw were her struggles, Matei sees her good fortune, and that's less of a wakeup call and more of a physical blow to her.

Not that she thinks Matei is being cruel, which is how Katarina interprets his words. Instead Arte takes his statements and uses them as a lens through which to view her Venetian life…and what she sees isn't something that makes her proud as an artist. It's hard to deny that things have been much cushier in the Falier palazzo than they were for quite some time, and given her family's lesser-noble status, it's entirely possible that she's never lived like she is at Chez Falier. Unlike her time at Leo's she doesn't have errands to run or cleaning to do because there are servants for that sort of thing, darling, and her only actual artistic tasks are painting Sofia's and Katarina's portraits. We've seen her sort of wander into the odd church to sketch, but it's obviously been nowhere near the level of artistic practice that she was engaged in at Leo's workshop. Seeing Matei's hard work come to basically nothing – and looking at his battered and calloused hands – forces Arte to wake up and realize what she started to be more aware of last week: her privilege.

To us in the 21st century it doesn't necessarily look like that, but in Renaissance Italy, Arte really is pretty fortunate – she could conceivably be married to someone like Leo's gruff patron back in Florence, only much more abusive. Instead she's able to work at what she loves, and after her talk with Matei, she doubles down on that, racing to finish the portraits of the Falier women. Although she doesn't ever say it, there's a definite feeling that she might be doing this not just because she's moderately ashamed of her good fortune compared to many other apprentices, but because what she truly wants to do is go home – home to Florence, yes, but also home to Leo. Even if we assume that she's largely over her crush (please, please be largely over your crush), he's still her family in that he has become her main support in life, where in Venice she's had to be Katarina's. That Leo, Angelo, and everyone else in Florence miss her too is sweet, and almost certainly a sign that she'll decide with her heart rather than her head to go back next week (the episode title “apprentice” seeming to signal that that's how she sees herself). That feels like it would be a fitting end, and we'll find out if it's true next week.

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 - Episode 10 [Review]

With Shuchiin's annual sports festival on everyone's mind, this week's Kaguya-sama: Love is War delivers a more thematically unified string of segments than usual. The sole exception is episode 10's introductory story, which shines a spotlight on Kei, who's torn between offering comfort to her dejected brother and remaining beholden to her newly-awakened rebellious phase. However, when Miyuki, who's crestfallen by Kaguya's recent avoidance, receives depressingly impractical advice from their father, Kei overcomes her teenage angst to reassure her brother that everything is probably okay between him and his crush. When Kaguya utilizes her new calming ritual at school the following day and resumes regular interaction with him, Miyuki sees that he was ultimately worried over nothing.

In addition to offering up a number of amusing Kei moments, this segment provides us with our first extended look at Miyuki's home life. The manner in which Miyuki continually nags his sister—and Kei's reaction to said nagging—nicely illustrates how differently Miyuki's bullheaded personality and desire to be in control come across in a domestic setting than at school. Still, given that he and Kei have very little in the way of parental supervision, it's not surprising that he would take on such a role. The revelation that Miyuki and Kei's mother walked out on them and that Papa Shirogane is largely undependable also shine some light on how Miyuki developed his take-charge attitude and knack for hard work. While primarily used as a vehicle for comedy, Miyuki's depression over Kaguya's behavioral changes is certainly palpable. When someone you care about seemingly wants nothing to do with you, it can be difficult to consider reasons for this that don't involve them hating you—even though this might not be the case.

The second segment finds the perpetually rhythmless Miyuki struggling to learn the soran dance, which the second-years will be performing at the upcoming sports festival. In light of her struggles to tutor Miyuki in the past, Chika peaces out almost immediately, leaving Kaguya to step into the teacher role. However, upon seeing how quickly Miyuki moves on and how mechanical Kaguya's teaching technique is, Chika becomes jealous, inciting a fight between the two girls. Luckily, their conflict turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as breaking free from their combined grasp inadvertently helps Miyuki perfect the movements of the dance.

At the onset, this segment seems like it will be the usual “Chika struggles to teach Miyuki a basic skill” story, but by bringing Kaguya into the mix, the series does an entertaining job of shaking things up. While previous stories that followed this formula have been funny, the supply of jokes that can stem from Chika's exasperation at Miyuki's ineptitude seems to have been exhausted. Not only do we get a look at Chika's devious side in her criticisms of Kaguya's methods, we also see what is arguably the most direct conflict between Chika and Kaguya to date. Kaguya's beefs with Chika are usually one-sided and take place entirely in her mind, so seeing the two practically come to blows is an interesting change of pace. Furthermore, the differences in the girls' respective teaching techniques (Kaguya—whose motivation is really a desire to touch her crush—wants Miyuki to mechanically mimic the dance moves, whereas Chika wants him to appreciate the art behind the dance) serve as an adept microcosm of their personality gap. Hopefully, any future stories that involve Miyuki being tutored will follow a similarly chaotic path.

In this week's third segment, we're given some additional insight into Ishigami's largely unexplored past. While observing one of Miko's usual scuffles with Ishigami, Kobachi opines on how the latter was accused of stalking a girl and beating up her boyfriend in middle school and earning a lengthy suspension as a result. However, when Ishigami was in danger of not being able to enter Shuchiin's high school division in response to this incident, Miko went to bat for him and made his case to the headmaster. As we learn, Ishigami is still dealing with the fallout of all this and is widely reviled by his peers, and in spite of everything that's happened, he still refuses to share his side of the story. He's also covertly tried to stop the bullying of Miko over the years, leading Kobachi to conclude that the two have a lot in common.

While relatively short on laughs, this segment helps cast Ishigami in a new light. His lack of popularity was always assumed to stem from his extreme cynicism and edgelord demeanor, but learning that his status as a social pariah isn't comedic in nature adds a new layer of depth to his character. Despite constantly acting like he's above it all, Ishigami has been dealing with full-scale ostracization, and to some extent, it's possible that his usual abrasiveness serves as an emotional shield. Seeing both Miko and Kobachi stick up for Ishigami is touching, especially in light of all the bad blood between them, and it would nice (albeit not conducive to comedy) to see Ishigami and Miko become aware of the kindness they've shown one another at some point in the future. (It would also be a shame for the season to conclude before we're given the full story behind the purported stalking incident.)

The sports festival is in full-swing in this week's final segment. Thanks to a lack of steady employment, Papa Shirogane is able to attend—and begins embarrassing his son almost immediately. When Miyuki is able to get his father away from the festivities, the elder Shirogane encounters Kaguya, and after recognizing her as the girl he briefly spoke with on the phone the previous summer, needles her into revealing how she really feels about his son. After discovering the true identity of the man she's been talking to, Kaguya is predictably flustered, prompting a furious Miyuki to demand to know what his old man did to her. Meanwhile, encouraged by scores of cheering peers, Ishigami and Kazeno, the cheerleading squad's president, take first place in the two-legged race as a mysterious figure (presumably the girl from the stalking incident, who has since transferred schools) watches from a distance.

After learning more about his backstory, seeing Ishigami take first place and flash a genuine smile as he crosses the finish line feels incredibly gratifying. However, while the unanswered questions about Ishigami's past are still very much a point of interest, Papa Shirogane emerges as the final segment's MVP. When he tricks Kaguya into defending Miyuki, he reveals that his surface quirks belie a penchant for manipulation that rivals his son's. Although Kaguya's true feelings for Miyuki are no secret to the viewer, her reiteration that Miyuki—and by extension, Chika and Ishigami—essentially restored her faith in humanity is a touching reminder of the beating heart that lurks beneath all psychological warfare and constant one-upmanship.

With a figure from Ishigami's past potentially set to reemerge, Kaguya-sama: Love is War once again leaves the audience hungry for more. Whether laughs are on the horizon or the forthcoming events take on a more dramatic tone, Kaguya-sama is likely to have no trouble sticking the landing.

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Princess Connect! Re:Dive - Episode 11 [Review]

“In which we learn Pecorine's biggest strength is, in fact, a double-edged sword.”

This episode begins lazily enough with Karyl attempting to sleep in even as the others call her to breakfast. What she doesn't expect is that by not responding, she sends Pecorine into panic mode.

As someone who lives to eat, the only reason Pecorine can imagine that someone wouldn't come down to breakfast is that there is something physically stopping them from doing so. Thus, she runs outside and breaks into Karyl's room through the window to “save” her from this non-existent threat—damaging Karyl's favorite stuffed animal in the process.

While a bit of a silly scene and little more than the impetus to get our heroes into the city for the rest of the episode on the surface, it's also a stark reminder of the big issue with Percorine. Karyl tries to sum it up by saying that Pecorine has no sense of personal privacy—but that's just a side-effect of the real problem. Pecorine is unable to see the world from any viewpoint other than her own. Hell, it's more than that: she is completely unable to understand that people as a whole do not share her worldview.

It is her greatest strength and also her greatest weakness. Time and again we've seen her basically bully reality into fitting her ideal—be it Karyl's aversion of her or the two thugs stealing her sword. Most of the time, due to her sheer force of will and her pure spirit, it works out for the better. But as we see in this episode, sometimes it does not. This time the result is just the destruction of a window and a stuffed animal, but what happens next time?

The majority of the episode, on the other hand, deals with Yuuki's encounters with his pre-amnesia companions Shizune and Rino. With the shadow monsters from the woods now attacking people in the city, Shizune and Rino have been sent to make sure that Yuuki remains safe.

What's odd is that the pair are not aware of the identities of Yuuki's new companions. Rino, for one, looks at Kokkoro as a rival in love—unaware that she has received a message from God to act as Yuuki's guide and servant. This in turn begs the question of how much of what's going on are they actually aware of. They know about Yuuki's amnesia and the shadow monsters but are unaware of the specifics of Yuuki's new life. It'll be interesting to discover why this is, as well as why they're supposed to protect him without interacting with him.

The rest of the episode is setup for what is to come. Karyl's master has created a super shadow monster that drains life force from anything in its proximity and sends it out into the city. At the same time, ominous forces with unclear goals are coalescing on the city—and seemingly at cross purposes to each other.

All in all, this episode is a collection of tantalizing hints with very few solid answers—be they about Yuuki's backstory or setting the stage for the final two episodes. At the same time, it manages to introduce four new characters and explore the problematic aspect of one of our main heroines. Solid stuff.

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Fruits Basket - Episode 35 [Review]

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Fruits Basket - Episode 35 [Review]

Don't look now but Fruits Basket just dropped a major reveal. There is no longer any ambiguity about the nature of Akito's power over the Zodiac. From the kids' unquestioning obedience to Shigure's fawning, the Sohma family's dynamic now makes a simple, terrible sense. Low lighting and rainy nights amplify Akito's power in a physical sense this episode, but the tense, melodramatic storytelling offers room for hope. Amidst a grandiose, violent gesture to lord his power over Tohru, Akito doesn't realize that he's actually given her ammo against him. Since the beginning, Tohru has brightened her found family's home through kind words and acts of service. But now that Akito has clued her in, she's found a higher calling: to break their curse.

Look up “emotional vampire” in the dictionary and you'll probably find Akito's picture. The Sohma family head is a pro at sucking all the joy out of any situation, even a fun beach retreat. His toxic personality is so outsized that even though the last episode was supposed to be about Tohru and Kyo, I spent most of my review talking about him. It helps that this tyrant is surrounded by enablers, the most disturbing of which is Shigure. The laid-back, always-joking dog of the Zodiac has emerged during this summer vacation as a surprise agent of chaos in Akito's court. In an unsettling, almost incestuous scene in a darkened room, Akito chides Shigure for being cold to him and commands a return to the days when “you looked only at me.” This scene is set in a timeless traditional Japanese room, which serves to distance Akito's twisted realm from the real world.

The divide between Akito's inner court and the beach house where the others are staying with Tohru is further emphasized when Akito changes from a kimono into Western-style clothing in order to make an impromptu visit to “that woman.” It's raining, it's the middle of the night, and yet Akito feels compelled to wake up Tohru and give her a piece of his mind. Akito's most self-aware moments are whenever he realizes that Tohru is a threat to his hold over the Sohmas—but these are also the times he is most dangerous. It's no surprise that this encounter culminates in assault. But before Akito literally digs his claws into Tohru, he drops a few shocking truths. Missing, however, is what exactly marks Akito's godhood over the Zodiac—is he an incarnation of the original god, like the others are incarnations of each animal? Is his pull over the Sohmas merely psychological, or supernatural? For such a major discovery, I was hoping for concrete details. And another bomb: Tohru now knows that Kyo is going to spend the rest of his life in confinement. Though Akito may think he's crushing her spirit here, he's actually giving her strength. Tohru's mission changes as a direct response to this conversation. Up until now, she's worked to cheer up the Sohmas. But after Akito's threats, Tohru no longer questions her place in the Sohma family. Now she knows she's there to break Akito's hold over the people she loves.

Though Akito loomed over this episode like a dark shadow, it was Momiji who was the MVP. The childlike rabbit of the zodiac proved he has wisdom beyond the innocent front he usually presents. At the beginning of the episode, Tohru overhears a conversation between him and Kyo, in which Kyo puts two and two together: the kids are all spending their days with Akito because if they refused, they'd make Tohru more of a target. Later, Momiji gets a chance to defend Tohru directly, taking Akito's punch rather than bring him to her. And in the end, it's Momiji who gets the others to defuse the situation. When Hiro asks why the two of them are injured in the fireworks scene, Tohru lightly conceals the truth and presses her forehead to Momiji's in a sisterly gesture—he protected her, and now she's following his lead. I think this marks a turning point in Fruits Basket. From here, the story becomes her hero's journey, documenting her efforts to break the curse.

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Gleipnir - Episode 10 [Review]

There are a lot of good romances currently airing. Kaguya-sama's uproarious second season easily solidifies the series as one of the funniest comedies of the past few years. My Next Life As A Villainess is a feel-good and refreshing take on both anime harems and otome games. Only Gleipnir, however, is brave enough to test the mettle of its main couple with a literal war crime.

This story has so far relished in the over-the-top grotesqueries of its body horror and ultraviolence, but this episode quite deliberately reigns itself in to articulate the subtler and more familiar terrors that slither under Gleipnir's flamboyant surface. Clair herself explains it best: “Special powers, incredible strength — these things aren't scary. What's scary are the people who use those powers.” While we all know by now that great power comes with great responsibility, Gleipnir takes this idea a step further and interrogates the inherent horror of such responsibility. Shuichi has been attacked by all kinds of monstrosities, and he himself contains a monster he still doesn't fully understand. In fact, every one of the gatherers has a deeply embedded desire that informs and defines their transformations. An iceberg, no matter how intimidating its tip appears to be, hides most of its goliath form in the dark water of the ocean. Beneath every bizarre ally or enemy is a person who decided to use their powers, and a person's resolve can be both beautiful and terrifying.

It's extremely appropriate, then, that the villain of this arc is Madoka, an enemy whom Gleipnir refuses to color with black-and-white morality. He's obviously not a good person, but he's not a moustache-twirling villain either. As we saw last week, he behaves like a natural and charismatic leader with a strict set of codes and a genuine sense of duty when it comes to fellow pieces of shit like himself. His self-identification as a loser is important, and I really like his off-the-cuff remark that he only discovered his first chip because he had gotten so used to staring at the ground instead of looking at other people. The very nature of this game seems to select for outsiders. Madoka's frustrations from his prior life inform his creation of a collective where outcasts like himself could band together and earn everything that society had denied them. Like many groups that define themselves by a mutual sense of indignation, it gets filled with a lot of unsavory and selfish characters, but that desire for camaraderie is not intrinsically toxic.

It's similarly appropriate that the peril Sayaka's group finds themselves in is not a result of any one gatherer's special powers, but a simple matter of being surrounded and outnumbered. And the choice Madoka gives them is just a variation of the good old-fashioned trolley problem: is it more ethical to choose a sacrifice for the survival of the group, or for the whole group to go down together. Yota is quick to bark some shonen-flavored bombast about overpowering Madoka's team with pure moxie, but Gleipnir refuses to let our heroes off that easy. In fact, Clair takes the reins of the conversation and Socratically tears down the other members' attempts to rationalize their way out of the situation. There's a kindness in her cruelty, however; she wants these people to understand that they are fundamentally unequipped to handle a person like Madoka. Luckily for them, she is.

Clair's statement about the frightening people behind these powers is a bit misleading. She's certainly talking about other gatherers — especially smart and ruthless ones like Madoka — but she's primarily talking about herself. It's ironic that, despite having no powers of her own, she's been able to survive and thrive in this world better than most just by utilizing the powers of those around her. It's an irony that doesn't escape her, and it foments the kind of self-hatred that compels her to see herself as frightening. Her way of coping is to turn that into her strength, to become the cold, calculating, Machiavellian anti-hero behind some of the series' most outrageous moments. That's a genuine part of who she is, and it's part of what makes Gleipnir so much fun to watch, but she's a much more three-dimensional character than her menacing Glasgow grin. The wistful pain on her face as she asks Isao to grow the oleander says it all.

Clair's playing the role she believes is expected of her. She takes the yoke of villainy to spare others the pain of wrestling with their own morality. She does so with the knowledge that she will be feared and hated for it. It's a terrible burden, but despite her depressive impulse towards self-flagellation, it's not one she has to bear on her own. This whole episode is built around this one moment where Shuichi repeats the words back to her about the two of them being one, followed by a long embrace that allows Clair some momentary yet momentous emotional release. It's the single most romantic gesture in the show to date, and it's about our heroes enabling each other to commit a literal war crime. This is why I love Gleipnir.

Love is powerful. Even swept up in the swell of emotions brought on by Shuichi's conviction, Clair ruminates how that kind of love and support will only further foster her ruthlessness, but she respects him for it all the same. After all, Shuichi does here for Clair what Clair was unable to do for Elena back when she received her first chip. Elena might be stronger than the two of them, but she also doesn't have anybody to share or relieve her of her own burdens. That will likely be the deciding factor when and if the two sisters confront each other again, and it also may be Clair's own personal undoing. Whether she and Shuichi can channel the strength of their bond into something healthy and sustainable remains to be seen, but for the time being, it's weird, passionate, and exactly what they need to survive.

This proves to be Gleipnir's most compelling episode yet, letting its character drama do all the heavy lifting while solidifying its main couple as the fascinating and delightfully problematic emotional core of the series. In other words, I wanna see these two depressed horny teens do even more war crimes together. There's a liberating toxicity to their dynamic, reminiscent of why I couldn't help but root for Nakamura and Kasuga in Flowers of Evil, despite their inevitable self-destructive destination. That's a very tough needle to thread, but Gleipnir has no fear of getting messy, and that continues to be its greatest asset.

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 - Episode 9 [Review]

This week, Kaguya-sama: Love is War changes things up a bit by taking a small break from the two leads and devoting two-thirds of its runtime to supporting characters. Although viewers have become well-acquainted with the show's supporting cast, we seldom get a chance to see how they function outside of the usual setting and away from Kaguya and Miyuki. While the vast majority of the series' humor stems the main duo's ongoing conflict, it's nice to get the occasional reminder that Kaguya-sama's world is populated by other characters who are funny and fascinating in their own right.

The first segment finds Miko, who's considering a departure from the student council, unloading her anxieties on Kobachi. From Miko's perspective, she's a tragic heroine, and the student council is made up of oppressive bullies and depraved perverts (with the exception of Chika, of course). However, since her friend has an overactive imagination and is prone to jumping to conclusions, Kobachi posits that Miko has simply misinterpreted the gang's words and actions, prompting Miko to carefully reflect upon her recollections of recent events. After thinking things through, Miko once again allows her imagination to run wild and concludes that Kaguya is the primary cause of all the student council's chaos and is hellbent on wresting the presidency from Miyuki — effectively replacing one misguided train of thought with another. Newly enlightened, Miko goes on the offensive against the unsuspecting vice president, only to find herself on the losing end of the episode's battle when Kaguya reacts unexpectedly to Miko demanding to know how she feels about Miyuki.

Miko's extended fantasy sequence and knack for exaggeration demonstrate that she's a much better fit for the student council than she thinks. She's partial to flights of fancy and has a very specific plan for how things should be — but she's not necessarily able to execute said plan to her liking. Still, it's strange that she's been established as a stickler for the rules when her deepest desire seems to involve revolutionizing a strict, out-of-touch student council and becoming the student body's hero. Her desire for adoration fits well with her character, but standing by her principles seemed to be central to her personality as well. Perhaps she thinks she knows the ideal level of discipline, and the student council of her fantasies have simply become too strict — which, again, is odd, considering her belief that the gang has no respect for the rules.

Picking up from the conclusion of last week's installment, the second segment finds Kaguya unable to face Miyuki following her bout of lovesickness. To help make herself less nervous in his presence, Kaguya develops a calming ritual that involves touching her left cheek with her right hand. However, when Miyuki grabs her right hand and insists that she explain why she's been so evasive, Kaguya is unable to use her new ace in the hole. More flustered than ever, Kaguya violently throws Miyuki to the ground, thereby freeing her hand and enabling her to perform her ritual. Unfortunately, her calmness quickly dissipates when she realizes how badly she's injured Miyuki, though it may have been virtual reality, judging by the brief scene of her in VR goggles at the end.

Fast-paced and laden with winning gags, this segment is the sole portion of episode 9 that centers on Kaguya and Miyuki, and it truly makes the most of its brief runtime. Presenting Kaguya's confrontation with Miyuki as a fighting game is both a funny visual choice and accurate portrayal of ballooning embarrassment and out-of-control emotions. It's also surprisingly hard to take sides this time around, as neither party is trying to coax a confession out of the other or engaging in emotional blackmail. Both Kaguya's desire to avoid embarrassing herself and Miyuki's concern for Kaguya's wellbeing are malice-free, which makes for an interesting change of pace. Kaguya achieving mental clarity in Miyuki's presence — but only for a few seconds — serves as yet another darkly comic reminder that true victories are rare in this series.

In this week's final story, Ishigami decides to come out of his shell and join Shuchiin's cheerleading squad in the hope of becoming a “normie.” However, after seeing how gung-ho and extroverted the rest of the squad is, he quickly comes to regret this decision. For the school's upcoming sports meet, the squad decides that all male members will wear female uniforms, and all female members will wear male uniforms. While the prospect of borrowing a uniform from one of the girls on the student council fills Ishigami with dread, Kaguya proves surprisingly sympathetic and volunteers the use of one of hers. (Although she intentionally botches his makeup job in response to him claiming that the chest area is too tight.) Energized by Kaguya's support, Ishigami decides to honor his commitment to the cheerleading squad, and the narrator promises that his story will continue next week.

This story provides us with our first extended look at Ishigami on his own, giving us a chance to see how he interacts with peers outside of the student council. In spite of his usual antisocial behavior and judgmental observations, we learn that he harbors a genuine desire to grow as a person and step outside of his comfort zone. Having unfairly looked down on the cheerleading squad in this past, he wishes to right this wrong and possibly become a better-rounded person in the process. The segment also shines a light on the evolving relationship between Kaguya and Ishigami. Although he still claims to be terrified of her, Ishigami is receptive to Kaguya's help and is quick to confide in her. For Kaguya's part, she no longer appears to regard Ishigami with the same level of disdain she had for him at the outset and doesn't hesitate to provide assistance after being briefed on the situation. Among this segment's stand-out jokes are Miyuki becoming jealous by the level of physical contact between Kaguya and Ishigami, and Miko reacting to the sight of Ishigami in a dress with detached indifference instead of her usual panic.

This week's Kaguya-sama: Love is War starts strong and manages to entertain throughout. Miko shows that she's more at home on the chaotically dysfunctional student council than she might think, Kaguya continues to tackle the physical symptoms of her lovesickness, and Ishigami makes baby steps towards self-improvement. For a series whose central gimmick largely depends on the status quo being upheld, this episode contains a fair amount of character development.

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Plunderer - Episode 22 [Review]

“In which a love goes unrequited but might actually save the world.”

Most of this episode is focused on bringing Lynn and Licht's relationship to its final conclusion. Lynn has been in love with Licht since he saved her back in episode 3—despite his constant sexual harassment. Yet, ever since Hina re-entered the picture, Lynn has been a bit of a third wheel. When Licht needed someone, it was always Hina who rushed to his side. And this is why Lynn's relationship with Licht was doomed to never move beyond a crush.

Lynn fell for Licht because he supported her when she needed it. But Licht isn't looking for people to rely on him. In fact, that's the thing he wants the least. After all, the last time that happened and he took on all the responsibility, it ended with his friends dead and him in a catatonic state. He's Looking for the opposite: someone who could support him.

While Nana tried to be this, her guilt, self-loathing, and shared history with Licht made this impossible. Hina, however, just steamrolled in, determined to give him unconditional support. She didn't see the man he was, she saw the man he could be—and was prepared to help him become that. Lynn never really had a chance.

But while she couldn't win Licht's heart, that doesn't mean she hasn't touched the lives of others. Lynn may be a klutz and not the sharpest tool in the shed but no one in the series exhibits the heart that she does. And in her lowest moment, as she's bleeding out and unable to rouse Licht, she gets proof of this. Seemingly out of nowhere the villagers she befriended arrive to bandage her wounds—giving her a chance to convey her feelings and bring Licht out of his coma. She may not be the love of his life but her connection to him is more than strong enough to save those they both care about.

The rest of the episode is mainly about Doan: He is not the high school bully we remember. He's not motivated by some survival of the fittest mentality—exploiting the weak to get a comfy life. The war changed him—and it's obvious that he did as much killing as Licht with his talk of killing women and children. However, that doesn't mean he's proud of what he did. He merely thought that it had to be done.

However, now Licht has decided what they did wasn't worth it. Doan can't accept this. The only way he was able to get through what happened—the abandonment of his friends, family, and the rest of humanity on the barren planet below (in addition to the killing)—was to hold onto the idea that the alternative was worse. Either everyone starves together or some live happily while others starve.

Over the centuries, he has clung to this idea as his personal dogma. He is enraged that anyone, even Licht, would seek to undo what has been done and make their sacrifices moot. He would even kill his classmates from long ago to stop the destruction of the world—and the fact that they have an original ballot implies they are planning to do just that.

However, deep down he knows that his world is built upon the lesser of two evils—and the lesser of two evils is still evil. This is why he holds out hope that Licht is not dead—sparing Hina and the others till morning. He wants Licht to prove to him there is a better way after all this time—regardless of what that means for his conscience. Unfortunately, the bad guys have an additional leash on Doan: Sonohara.

Back in the past, Doan claimed that he bullied Sonohara to keep her safe. Whether that was true at the time or only became true as the war went on, he certainly cares for her now. He is dismayed to see her under the control of the drug again but feels that on the baddies side with him, she will be safe.

And so Licht is set to fight a battle he has little chance of winning—with the lives of Lynn, Nana, Hina, and Pele hanging in the balance. Good thing there's a hero on the way that's more than able to even the odds.

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Tower of God - Episode 11 [Review]

Just who is being tested this week on Tower of God? Bam and Rachel have been cleared to take the Administrator Exam, but all they have to do during the test is sit tight and trust in their friends. “Underwater Hunt (Part One)” gives our protagonists time to reflect in a bubble while everyone around them risks their lives. As usual, an initially simple test premise gives way to a convoluted tangle with plenty of places for contestants to slip through the cracks. Even a Princess of Jahad could find herself in danger here. All this action keeps the story chugging along even as the plotline becomes confusing to the point of unknowability. I'm starting to perceive the anime as an exciting companion piece to the webtoon, because the further it delves into politics and intrigue, the less I can understand it on its own.

Being surrounded by gorgeous glowing schools of fish only serves to emphasize the flat color and crude line art that make up Rachel and Bam. It's really not fair that they're the ones who are ostensibly being tested, yet get to reminisce about old times in a quiet undersea bubble. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the pair are finally about to make amends. Even though Rachel clearly doesn't feel the way about Bam as he seems to about her (while he acts like her tough protector, she ruffles his hair as if he were a child), they seem to be coming to an understanding. Little do they know that all around them, hell is breaking loose.

The competitors' team mission feels like one of those logic problems where you have to transport grain, chickens, and a fox all in the same boat. They need to protect the dolphins, fight the earthpigs, avoid the goblins and worms, and there's also a superpowered freak of nature called the Bull? Luckily Khun's there to coordinate everyone into a plan, because I have no idea how they'd strategize around all those working parts. This is definitely one of those places where the complexity that lends richness to the webtoon struggles in animated form. It clearly was designed for pages of explanation, not an easily-digestible half-hour of TV.

But even with so much going on, Tower of God manages to develop its characters through their relationships and dialogue. Parasol—I mean Paracule has quickly become a member of Rak's formerly one-man comedy troupe. Shibisu and Khun, two completely different character types, acknowledge each other's strengths as equals. And Anaak and Endorsi both prove that they have more strength than smarts as they completely ignore Hansung Yu's warning about the Bull and eventually pay the price. In each of these scenes, it's riveting to watch the tone flash from comedy to life-threatening suspense within seconds.

The episode concludes on a cliffhanger with nearly everyone in danger, and Tower of God's bloody track record suggests that at least some characters will face real consequences. There's definitely more afoot in this test than we know about—it includes secrets that Hansung, Ren, and perhaps Lady Yuri alone comprehend. But I'd probably have to read the webtoon to know for sure what's going on, and that's an adaptation problem. While I don't envy the staff's task at distilling a massive webtoon season into 13 episodes, I do think that for it to be a success, it needs to be something even a newcomer can understand.

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Tower of God - Episode 8 [Review]

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Tower of God - Episode 8 [Review]

They're winning! No, they're losing....Unless? This week on Tower of God, the storyline was devoted to one of the most beloved of battle anime tropes: a competition so fierce, it isn't decided until the last second. Set in a shadowy, testing facility with potentially impossible architecture, there's no tension to be found in the abstract, bare bones visuals. Instead, it's the vibrant mental cartwheels of Khun versus Quant that transform this vague scenario into a nail-biting sequence of ever more gripping turnabouts.The art may be crude, but clever dialogue and intriguing plot twists keep the story engaging—and often surprising.

As someone coming in fresh to the anime, it's episodes like "Khun's Strategy” that make me realize I'm missing out on a lot of explanation. While it's true that adapting the exact lengthy exposition from the webtoon wouldn't work, it's evident that a great deal of this storyline wasn't designed to be told in 24-minute episodes. I'm not entirely sure why some people are guaranteed to pass the position selection test no matter the outcome. I'm a bit shaky on the rules of what Quant can and can't do. (Like, how does Khun know he's running out of Shinsu?) And while I don't need a detailed diagram of the testing facility, I would like a basic layout that would describe the stakes—how far does Anaak need to travel to reach an exit, for example? A glimpse at the webtoon (can you believe we're up to chapter 43 now?) verifies that the administrators offer a lot of additional info through handy diagrams and descriptions that work for the comic, but would turn this show into a yawnfest and remove the asset that makes it so interesting—its whirlwind pace. Urged forward by mesmerizing action and a dynamite soundtrack (I especially love that memorable jazzy piano number), Team A's valiant attempt against Ranker Quant goes by so quickly, I was surprised when the episode ended.

Khun quickly establishes himself as the brains of the operation, and through episode eight he continues to be this show's character to watch. He's always one step ahead of the game, positioning his teammates around the arena like chess pieces. He's so clued into Quant's psychology that he knows just how the Ranker will respond to Khun's taunt. But the real genius of his strategy is that he always intended to lose, but made the team's loss close enough to be believable. As the administrators confer amongst themselves, Khun's real team is scattered between A and B. Since everyone on A that he wants to pass is already a shoo-in, he wasn't playing to win. He was playing to create a blueprint for B, so Bam, Endorsi, and co. could use his example to find a way to defeat Quant for real. Khun's feigned disappointment after the exam, which readily wins over his losing team, shows just how formidable he is. He even got them to cheer him up over the loss he executed! It's chilling what Khun is willing to do in order to climb the tower with his chosen team. In this situation it turns out favorably for our protagonist, but what about in the case his own interests differ from Bam's?

Meanwhile in the waiting room, Bam and Endorsi have an interesting heart to heart. He's obviously still hooked on Rachel while Endorsi, who knows that Rachel is trying to extricate herself from Bam, is gently trying to redirect his attention. As Hoh directs his unsettling gaze to the pair, it's clear that while Khun is looking out for a team of his choosing, Bam is meanwhile surrounded by enemies. I have no idea how this naive-seeming protagonist, who stubbornly looks for everyone's good side, is going to pass this exam. Khun's team lost with everyone working together (even if they didn't realize they were actually working toward Khun's master plan). But on Bam's team there are a lot of different motives at play. The game is confusing and the setting is plain, but the story is fantastic. Webtoon author SIU continues to show his appreciation for the shonen battle genre through this thrilling iteration.

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Fruits Basket - Episode 31 & 32 [Review]

 

Fruits Basket - Episode 31 & 32 [Review]

With a bang and a whoosh, Momiji whisks the Soma family away for a beach vacation in this drama-packed pair of episodes. The sun! The sand! The sea! The sadness. Hey, it's still Fruits Basket, after all.

Since I'm cramming two episodes into one review this week, I won't dwell too long on the lighter side of this family reunion, but the beach house does lend this story a refreshing change of scenery, full of wide-open spaces that allow the large cast to spread out and interact in unique ways. From inner-tubing to beetle-catching to watermelon-splitting, it's fun to watch Furuba's zoo of lovable weirdos make their own fun in the sun. There's also way more skin on display as everyone strips down to their swimsuits, and I'm not sure how I feel about getting a closeup of Tohru's bottom. I could do with fewer jokes about Shigure's wandering eyes in my favorite wholesome healing dramedy.

Besides, Shigure's been playing the field enough without bringing our heroine into his dirty mind. It was easy to assume that Rin might have dumped Haru to protect him from some dangerous mission ahead of her, but the stomach-turning reveal of what she wanted to get from Shigure in the first season finale comes as an early shock before the summer trip has even started. Rin's attempt to seduce the Zodiac's most unreliable member is deeply uncomfortable to watch, since she's so bad at faking her attraction to Shigure, and she still seems to be in shaky health following her accident. But she needs information about the curse, and her past efforts clearly haven't gotten her anywhere, so she believes there's no other choice but to pay Akito's closest adviser with her body.

Gross.

We don't see what happens between them after Shigure considers her offer, but we do know this meeting convinced him to stir the pot with Akito once again. As they share another weird conversation halfway between bitterness and intimacy, Shigure convinces Akito to surprise everyone at the beach house and "teach them a lesson" for having fun without him. It's been hard to trust Shigure ever since we learned of his selfish intentions back in episode 10, but the way he cares for Tohru and gently prods the boys into further growth has led us to believe that he's ultimately on our side. So what possible good could come from injecting Akito's malice into this relaxing vacation, endangering the Zodiac children and Tohru when they most need a break? Even the theory that Shigure wants to give Hatori (or Kureno?) a break from Akito's advances doesn't make sense, because Akito just ends up bringing his favorite toys to the beach along with him. And Shigure can't be investigating something at the estate in the master's absence, because he comes along on the trip too. Then again, Rin doesn't. And there's someone hiding in the estate with a very similar name, "Ren", that no one is allowed to talk about, who's apparently the main reason that Akito won't let Kureno or Hatori stay behind without him. The mysteries keep piling up with no end in sight, and we haven't even gotten back to the main cast yet!

I'll just start with the smallest characters and work my way up. There's trouble in paradise for Kisa and Hiro when the Sheep lets his jealousy get the best of him, prying open a wound for Tohru that will linger for the rest of these episodes. After she drops her notebook again and Hiro looks inside, he remarks that it's weird for Tohru to be such a momma's girl but never even mention her dad, who also passed away not so long ago. In the past, we've seen Tohru dismiss this question with an easy answer—she was too little to remember much about him when he died. But she struggles to tell that lie this time when specific memories do resurface in her mind, memories of a quiet house and a Kyoko with long hair in mourning clothes who turned her back on a tiny Tohru. We've seen this image of our heroine standing alone in the doorway of her old house before, back in episode 27 when Kyo dug too deep into Tohru's anxieties. And once again, this heartbreaking image chains directly into another memory, when Tohru stood alone in her apartment after her mother's death.

Questions bubble up rapidly as Tohru whispers reassurances to her mother's photo alone on her balcony at night. If she doesn't remember her father at all, why does Tohru talk just like him, being hyper-polite to everyone regardless of context? Why does she tie a memory of her father's funeral so directly to her mother's eventual death, and why does she have to keep Kyoko's photo so close to convince herself that they're still "always together"? Even if she hides it well enough that only Kisa (and Kyo) can tell that something's wrong, it's unmistakable that something about Tohru's relationship with her father remains too tender for her to touch. Like Yuki, Tohru has put her earliest memories in a box with the lid shut tight, which means her dad—and some part of her mom—has to stay in that box too.

I'll come back to that mystery when Yuki enters the picture, but for now, Kisa and Hiro's fight is resolved peacefully, as they both apologize for hurting the other, and a welcome distraction soon arrives to ease their minds. The woman we saw walking with Hatori at the main estate was actually Hiro's mother Satsuki, and she's going to have a baby! Tohru is elated, Hiro is embarrassed, and all the other Soma cousins explore their own feelings about welcoming a new member to the family who's guaranteed to be free of the Zodiac curse. As Yuki puts it, "Now the Somas can have children just because they want them." Parents like Momiji's don't have to suffer with a child they can't accept, and parents like Yuki's won't be able to use their cursed children as pawns for their own financial gain. Then again, it wouldn't have mattered to Hiro's mother, since she's implied to be among the most loving and accepting members of the Soma family. She has that Tohru or Kana-like energy, absent-minded but open-hearted, which might be why Hiro is so normal for his age compared to many of his more damaged cousins. If he wasn't so jealous over Kisa, maybe Hiro would have applied his adorably overprotective instincts to Tohru as well.

Then again, that's Kyo's job. As Momiji points out, the Cat and Sheep are more alike than they'd want to admit—and Momiji also notes that Kyo has gotten much softer since Tohru accepted his true self. As Yuki and Haru look on, Kyo orbits around Tohru in his feline way, never demanding her attention like Momiji, but never straying far from her side either. Even after Kisa's worries about Tohru dissipate, Kyo can sense that she's still in pain, so he prods her to open back up about her mother once they're alone together, instead of letting Hiro's insults make her self-conscious all vacation long. This scene really brings out the beauty in their dynamic, because in order for the ever- selfless Tohru to be comfortable opening up again, Kyo has to be brave and clear the air about his own mother, so Tohru can accept that she's not hurting anyone with her mommy complex. It's not easy for him to talk about such a dark past, but it is healing for him to share the truth with someone he trusts, and Tohru quickly melts back into her old self when she gets to share funny stories about Kyoko destroying the house. (Once again, Tohru doesn't seem bothered by a memory of her mother breaking her dad's photo, despite being incredibly protective of her mother's own picture.) As Kyo and Tohru laugh together, it's hard to deny that their ship has surely sailed, leaving Yuki adrift on the waves.

And who should he crash against but Akito, sitting coldly on the concrete tetrapods that cover an uninhabitable side of the coast. It's interesting to see Yuki and Kureno juxtaposed with one another in this creepy scene; it's like Yuki is staring down the future he could have had, a ghost lingering just behind his persistent tormentor. I don't want to analyze Akito's behavior in this episode too deeply, since so much of his motivation remains mysterious, but besides stating the obvious that he's a horrible monster to everybody, it's become clear that Akito does discriminate between Zodiac members in some head-scratching ways. Even his efforts to convene an impromptu banquet for everyone don't follow the rules that people like the Old Maid seem to care about. Yuki's allowed to skip the gathering because Akito wants him to come crawling back by choice, so he's happy just to get him alone on the beach and "remind" him that he will never find happiness outside of his proper place in the dark compound. Kyo's told not to come because he's the Cat, but then again, it's never made clear that Akito himself made that decision; Shigure's actually the one who tells Kyo to stay behind, and he has his own agenda that Akito doesn't seem interested in challenging directly. And then there's Kureno, who's not allowed to interact with anyone else at all, not even Akito's other favorite pet, Hatori. As he tells his derelict selection of animals that he loves them, it's anyone's guess as to why Akito has chosen to divide the Zodiac up with such arbitrary prejudice. As Shigure puts it, "We can't get any more twisted than we already are." Even if the way the Zodiac is "supposed to" operate is still dark and insular and terrible, I don't think it's currently functioning as intended under Akito, and maybe the family head, like the Old Maid, has been blaming Yuki's desertion for this sorry state of affairs.

Thankfully, Yuki doesn't seem to care about Akito's thoughts anymore. After pushing himself to visit the Soma estate without incident, seeing his sworn enemy get closer to Tohru in such a positive way for both of them, and accepting that there were glimpses of light and happiness even in his darkest days as a child, Yuki is finally ready to open the tightly closed lid on his feelings. (This took a lot longer in the manga, where many chapters from season one were placed between the Kyo's-true-form stuff where the lid was introduced and this climactic summer vacation, but in the end, I think the emotional impact is the same.) He had been warming up to the idea just one day before, when he lay on the couch stroking Tohru's hair in a scene that probably should have been more romantic than it felt, but it's not Tohru who ultimately pries the lid off Yuki's childhood traumas; it's Akito.

Yuki realizes to his own surprise that he's no longer the same person who shut down when he saw Akito at school in episode 12, because the hateful words that used to leave him paralyzed with fear just seem like hollow lies to him now. He spent the last couple years running away from "the truth" about being the Rat, an abandoned child only born to entertain his master away from a judgmental world. But in just a few months of fighting to become his own person, trying new things that scare him and meeting new people who challenge him, making the effort to reconnect with his brother and being encouraged with love from people like Tohru and Haru, Yuki's come to accept that he doesn't have to be afraid of his "weak" childhood self rising up and taking over. Just like Momiji said back in episode 14, those memories don't hurt the way they once did, because all the brighter memories Yuki's made since then have given him clarity about who that little boy was all along. His weakness has finally made him strong.

Even if he and Tohru had forgotten about it in the sad years that followed, there was at least one bright day hiding inside that dark box, when he escaped the Soma estate, rescued a stranger, and began to dream that he might have a place in the world outside his cage. If he wants to take that warm memory out of the box, he has to accept everything else inside it and move forward. Now that Akito's words don't leave Yuki incapacitated anymore, and he's decided to embrace that life-changing moment when he got to be the heroic boy in the hat, he knows what he must do to accept his past and create his future. It's time to say goodbye to more than just Akito.

That's why Haru calls opening the lid "an ordeal" for Yuki. Even if he can accept all the memories inside without being swallowed up in panic, many of those feelings are going to be sad, and they may force him to make difficult decisions. We still don't have a clear picture of what everything in that box has told Yuki about what he must do, but episode 32's heart-stopping ending gives us a couple of clues. When Tohru asks why taking the lid off his feelings has made Yuki so sad, he tells her that she's just like the open sky above them, streaked with the shooting stars that reflect his own tears as they stream down her face pressed to his. It's something unreachable, a horizon that inspires us and grants us perspective when we feel the walls closing in, but that sky is not something we can ever keep for ourselves. Thinking all the way back to where his story began, Yuki brought Tohru into his home not just to help her, but to prove to himself that he could interact with normal people and become normal himself. Right after that, the family secret got out thanks to Kyo, so Yuki was forced to drop the prince act and accept his true self instead, discovering that the world still had a place for him, warts and all. Ever since she saved him then, Tohru's been a security blanket for Yuki, but as he sees her forging a deeper relationship with Kyo, Yuki realizes that he'll have to keep moving forward without her constant attention. If he doesn't want to be like the possessive Somas who raised him, he's going to have to let go of the person he loves more than himself and forge his own path into the future.

This is a brutal step in self-actualization that most people don't reach until much later in life (which is true of most of the healing the Somas undergo in this series), and Yuki will be happier in his friendship with Tohru if he doesn't have to rely on her so much to function, but this also raises some dark questions about Tohru's own "tightly closed lid". As Yuki finds strength in the acceptance that his childhood wasn't all darkness, Tohru is unsettled by the haunting echoes of a childhood that wasn't all light. She's nowhere near ready to remember the imperfect side of her late mother, but she won't be able to resolve her fear of abandonment without fully accepting her past. Yet time marches on, and the Somas are slowly growing beyond her to pursue their own lives, while Akito rushes to steal them all back from Tohru before they can escape his grasp.

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Black Clover - Episode 119 [Review]

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Black Clover - Episode 119 [Review]

Episode 119, appropriately (if also unexcitingly) titled “The Final Attack,” is not just the climax of the mega-arc about the elves; it is, in effect, the climax of the entire series to date. Most of what the series has been about since its inception, and all of its core storylines, come together in the final dramatic confrontation against the nameless devil who is the mastermind behind everything that has happened involving the elves. As climactic confrontations go, this one doesn't achieve legendary status, but it still acquits itself satisfyingly well.

This happens in part because this is an all-hands-on-deck team effort. There are no egos here, no needless grandstanding, just a bunch of very powerful people who quickly recognize the roles that they are best suited for in this conflict and don't hesitate to pursue them. This even applies to those, like Nozel, who have left the action because they recognize that any victory can't be a true one if they lose people in the process; while that is normally a menial role by shonen action standards, it is nonetheless a valuable one. It applies to Yami, who knows he can hurt the enemy but probably can't get to him in time, so he pushes his magic to the limit for a back-breaking ranged attack, or to Charla/Charlotte, who doesn't let emotions or prejudices stop her from recognizing that the best she can do is help set up Yami's shot. It applies to Lumiere and Licht, who recognize that their magic isn't as effective against Emo Devil as Yuno and Asta's, so they basically buff everyone else, or Patry, who sees the renewed bond between the two and decides he has to support it. It also applies to Secré, who naturally supports Asta because she's been watching him (while self-admittedly using him) for a long time and recognizes his ability and commitment, so she's actually the perfect person to give Asta a final push even if he doesn't realize it himself.

And of course it applies to Asta and Yuno. I have always been underwhelmed by Yuno as a character, and still am; he's just a limp personality compared to Asta, and easily the dullest of the recurring characters in the entire cast. However, he showed both in the much earlier fight against Licht and the earlier stages of the battle against Emo Devil that he understands perfectly well how to fight alongside Asta in a complementary fashion, and that is in full force here. It isn't just how he can use his wind powers to manipulate Asta into position, block out, or provide enough threat with his own attacks to Emo Devil, include that nifty new wind sword; Asta and Yuno feed off of each other like no other two characters in the series do. These last few episodes just reinforce that the series has missed some golden opportunities by so rarely having these two working together.

The actual course of the battle conforms to standard shonen action patterns for these affairs: an early strike which temporarily seems like it might have defeated the foe but instead brings on its final form, a reversal, and a seeming defeat of the heroes being interrupted by outside interference before the final strike successfully lands. The animation isn't one of the series' top-tier efforts (I'm guessing because the scene doesn't allow as much room for fluid, crazy maneuvering) but it is more robust than the series' base level, had some interesting effects at the end, and suitably dramatic musical support. The whole business with Emo Devil essentially turning into a humanoid form of what tabletop RPG players would call a gibbering mouther was also effective at casting him as a grand enemy, and the portrayal of Yami's strike was definitely a highlight.

With the episode ending with Emo Devil's destruction and a whole lot of things left hanging as a result, a whole episode or more of wrap-up and closure is going to be needed here. For now, though, let's just savor the climax.

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Babylon - Episode 12 [Review]

Let's be frank: The odds of Babylon ending on a strong note were virtually nil after last week's disastrous episode; never mind the story's plummeting drop in quality ever since it returned from its winter hiatus. And yet, here I am, smashing my head against my keyboard in an attempt to write a review of Babylon's finale, which is worse than I could have imagined, even after the G7 fiasco. Ever since Ai Magase's “true nature” was introduced, I'd been preparing for the show to dole out some truly noxious political vitriol by the time it ended. Still, the naïve and altogether too-trusting part of my critical eye was desperately hoping for all of the Magase stuff to be setup for an eventual subversion, something along the lines of “You thought Ai was going to be the actual Whore of Babylon, complete with inexplicable and spooky magic powers, but she is actually just reflecting back the role that a corrupt and misogynistic society forced upon her from a young age, all because she made men horny!”

I should have learned by now to smother that optimistic voice with a pillow whenever it tries to speak up, because the closest thing Babylon has to an “answer” for why Ai Magase is doing what she is doing is that she very much is the Whore of Babylon, complete with inexplicable and spooky magic powers. In fact, that one explicit allusion to the Biblical myth is just about the only discernible statement Babylon has made at all in its final two episodes. That's right, everyone, after months of infuriatingly obtuse build-up, Babylon's grand and ultimate conclusion to both its plot and its central thematic questions is a big old shrug, along with two giant middle fingers raised high into the air. I'm honestly feeling a little insulted that the episode had the nerve to title itself “The End”. To call this anti-climactic would be an insult to the very concept of a climax, or the basically understood notion of “plot” – it would be more appropriate to call Babylon's ending anti-narrative.

In true Babylon fashion, the whole first half of the episode is the phone conversation between President Wood and the suicidal Japanese woman that Kaika introduced last week, Kanae, who demanded to speak to the President of the United States, and somehow got her wish. Again, we've run into a situation that defies the most basic understandings of reality and logic, because even if we could accept that some Mayor in Japan could get away with basically holding a woman hostage by proxy and forcing the hand of the President, we would also have to accept the President's astoundingly stupid decision to go along with it. Remember, this guy believes Zen completely when he's told about the magical shape-shifting Whore of Babylon who can control your brain simply through speaking, even over the phone. The President's argument is that, since an interpreter would be doing the talking, he would theoretically be safe from Ai's influence, despite the fact that they are dealing with a freaking sorceress whose powers have never been studied or understood by a single human being on earth. Babylon is trying to tell us that this supposedly intelligent man, who has had a lifelong fantasy RPG obsession, isn't considering that Ai might have some kind of bonus area-of-affect spell, or something?

You can't think about this too much, though, or you would risk bursting a blood vessel before Wood and Totally Not Ai Magase In Disguise have their heart-to-heart about suicide. Like every conversation every character has ever had in the history of Babylon, this conversation is mostly a dull repetition of the exact same ideas we've run around in circles before. Even the supposed epiphany Wood experiences, the single point of clarity that is meant to give meaning to all of the self-masturbatory futzing about, falls flat on its face. Basically, what Wood comes to realize is that the definition of “good” he has been grasping for is found within the concept of “continuing” – he doesn't know whether Kanae's suicide would be a good or evil thing, but that there is even cause to continue searching for an answer makes existing worthwhile. Or whatever.

It is possible that there are language nuances at work here that I can't parse – the terribly wooden translation continues to do Babylon no favors – but I doubt that even the finest localizer's touch would be able to save Babylon from its own Achilles heel, which is that it gave itself the terribly important task of once and for all putting into words what philosophers, scholars, artists, and prophets have been debating since the literal dawn of civilization. I don't know whether to blame the author of the novels, Mado Nozaki, or series writer Minaka Sakamoto, or Kiyotaka Suzuki, or whomever, but someone needs to be sat down and told that “The meaning of life is the search for meaning!” is the kind of platitude that is best left to bumper stickers these days, or should otherwise be left in the care of a story that knows what in the ever-loving hell it is doing.

What really makes all of this swill go down rough, though, is that it all amounts to nothing. Ai ends up brainwashing the President, he ends up on the roof of the G7 building, ready to kill himself on live television, and Zen does the only thing he can think of in the moment and kills Wood before he can jump. The idea is that, if Wood was to kill himself at the G7 Summit that was specifically about deciding the fate of the suicide law, it would send a message to the world, and as soon as America adopted the law, the rest of the world would tumble like dominoes. At least, I think that's what the show is trying to say. The idea is so juvenile and half-baked that I have a difficult time accepting that this would be Ai Magase's grand scheme, that anyone would imagine a society that would just fall over itself to start jumping off of tall buildings once the President set the standard. Even as satire, it's idiotic – the only way it could possibly work would be if it played as comedy, but Zen's fall from grace is handled with deadly seriousness. He committed the ultimate sin, throwing away his own life so the villain wouldn't get her way.

So it's more or less the ending of David Fincher's Se7en, except Morgan Freeman isn't around to give a small amount of meaning to the senseless violence. Ai Magase doesn't win because Wood's suicide is foiled; Zen's life is ruined, and his plan to avenge his former colleagues is foiled when Ai kills him before the credits roll; President Wood loses because…well, that one is pretty obvious. Every outstanding plot thread Babylon has set up winds up fizzling out into the ether in one glorious catastrophe of wasted opportunity. Remember Kaika? I don't, because he literally doesn't matter. The suicide law? Who knows, who cares? How about Zen's family? A post-credits scene reveals that Ai is alive, which confirms that Zen is super dead. She meets up with his son at some random bus stop, which means he's probably going to be dead soon too. Cool.

To make a heinously long story short, here is the best I can make of what Babylon might have been trying to say with all of this: “Suicide is definitely not good but, like, we live in a society, you know? And society is pretty messed up. Maybe we'll get to the point where we think suicide is good! Wouldn't that be wild? Also, apropos of nothing, I bet that it would happen because a super sexy anime woman who axe murders people used her magic powers to make men cum their brains out. Like literally, with bullets. Women, am I right?” If there's something less puerile than that going on, Babylon sure as hell isn't telling any of us about it, and I certainly won't be looking into the books to find out more. This finale was so bad, it retroactively tainted even the things I kind of liked about the early episodes. Babylon may have started as a dumb-but-fun supernatural cop show, but it eventually revealed itself incomprehensible bore with delusions of grandeur, one that that ran up so fast to join the other Super Serious Anime at the adult table that it tripped over its untied shoelaces, and also soiled its pants in front of everyone. If the show weren't such an obnoxious waste of time, I'd almost feel bad for it. Almost.

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Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - Episode 141 [Review]

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Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - Episode 141 [Review]

Following its latest smattering of one-off misadventures, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations dives into a brand new story arc this week. When Kokuri, a former member of the Mujina Gang, is arrested in the Land of Grass and imprisoned in Hozuki Castle (the setting of Naruto Shippūden: Blood Prison), Naruto and other Hidden Leaf brass see an opportunity. Although the Mujina Gang has been creating chaos all over the Land of Fire, its leader's identity and ninja techniques remain a complete mystery. Since Kokuri had fled the organization after stealing money, he's a prime target for assassination—especially now that Tsukiyo, the gang's second-in-command, is doing time in Hozuki Castle as well. In return for protection, Kokuri has agreed to spill the beans, but since his temporary protection order is being held up by the Land of Grass, Naruto decides to send Team 7 to keep him safe until the government is able to sort things out. While Boruto and Mitsuki pose as inmates, Sarada enters the prison in the guise of an aspiring journalist. Shortly after Boruto makes contact with the perpetually timid Kokuri, a mysterious assailant who's in possession of one of Hozuki Castle's key cards is able to stab the would-be snitch in the shoulder and escape before the guards arrive.

As a table-setting episode, the latest arc's introductory installment is fairly solid. The show wastes no time in laying out the stakes, clearly outlining the gang's latest mission and introducing us to this adventure's key players. At no point do the proceedings feel too vague or like too much of an info dump, and the direction does a great job of creating a distinctly prison-like atmosphere. Naruto's rationale for assigning this mission to a trio of genin feels contrived, but they had to get these kids into Hozuki Castle somehow. Nonetheless, two young boys seem noticeably out of place in a facility full of adult convicts, but fortunately, no inmates see fit to remark on this. (Though it's weird how despite being undercover, Boruto and Mitsuki continue using their real names.)

This arc also marks the first time in a good long while we've seen Team 7 (sans Konohamaru) undertake a big mission together. Since Mitsuki and Sarada were largely absent from the past two arcs, it's satisfying to see the main trio function as a cohesive unit again. As is often the case, Mitsuki emerges as this week's MVP—first by turning the “finders keepers” rule around on his cellmate, and later by craftily using his snakes to obtain the Chinese lantern plants Boruto needs. Sarada feels underutilized thus far, but as this is only the introductory episode, it's entirely possible she'll play a more active role in the coming weeks.

Episode 141 is a strong start to what appears to be an intriguing story arc. While there's likely to be plenty of action down the road, this episode helps illustrate that Team 7 isn't all about brute force and is capable of stealth and deception under the right circumstances. Boruto's latest mission has all the trappings of a good prison intrigue story, and it's exciting to see where things will go from here.

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In/Spectre - Episode 3 [Review]

Well, I have to eat some of my words from last week's review. In/Spectre did actually end up resolving last week's cliffhanger, and although I maintain that my way of resolving it (i.e. not) would have been a lot funnier, the way Kotoko assuages the snake's curiosity does not at all invalidate my larger point about this mystery. She spins a tragic tale about a miscarriage and a futile search for closure on the culprit's part, and that ends up appealing both the snake's hangup about the woman's quick prayer and their own perception of what people are like. All's well that ends well, right?

Except later Kotoko privately admits to Kuro that even her final answer is not necessarily the correct one. She came up with the best she could based on the information she was able to collect, but the overall dearth of evidence prevents any degree of certitude. She even says that there's no guarantee that the snake god didn't mishear the woman, which might have changed the context of the entire whydunit. However, these considerations are ultimately unimportant, since her role was not to unearth the truth but to come up with an answer that satisfied her audience. This can be read both as a commentary on real life crime solving and as metatext about the nature of mystery writing as a whole. In both cases, the degree to which we can know and define “the truth” will always be at odds with telling a good story. Storytelling is the art of weaving lies together into a cohesive whole, and its success has nothing to do with facts and everything to do with the audience's perception.

This is a meaty, ambitious way to conclude In/Spectre's first full foray into these genre conventions. While it likely portends further self-aggrandizing cleverness down the road, I have no problem excusing its indulgences if its writing remains this sharp. Not just any author can make a full episode of a girl talking to a snake engrossing. It's also delightful to watch Kotoko's confident smugness clash against the begrudgingly besmitten Kuro. Truly the best romantic chemistry is found bubbling between two different flavors of self-assured jerks.

With the lake mystery solved, In/Spectre surprises with a matter-of-fact two-year timeskip into a completely different location with completely different characters. Two cops on lunch discuss the recent rumors surrounding a new yokai called Steel Lady Nanase, supposedly the vengeful ghost of a recently-deceased idol. It's immediately easy to see why Nanase has (from what I've seen) been the poster-girl for the series—a spooky faceless idol decked out in hot pink and wielding a giant steel beam strikes quite the imposing image. I like too that this means In/Spectre will not only be dealing with creatures from established Japanese folklore. While faceless ghosts (nopperabou) are part of the yokai canon, Nanase's appearance and backstory fall more neatly into the category of a modern urban legend. The steel beam itself is a symbol of modernity. Of course, today's urban legends are also tomorrow's folklore, so it's nice to see In/Spectre acknowledging that continuity.

One of the two cops, Saki Yumihara, happens to be Kuro's ex-girlfriend, and she's primed by her experiences with him to believe that Nanase is a real supernatural threat. We already got the gist of her backstory from Kotoko and Kuro's discussions, but seeing things from her perspective also proves to be illuminating. Most importantly, it becomes easy to sympathize with her position, as Kuro's otherworldliness seems to have been exacerbated by either his inability or his reluctance to properly explain things to Saki. The damage was already done, however, and Saki now finds herself more aware of yokai without being able to do a single thing about it. It's an unenviable position manifesting itself as depression, and it might have even been what drove her to join the police in the first place. This Nanase situation is just one example: her colleague doesn't believe in ghosts, but he does believe that weird rumors often coincide with trouble on the streets. Saki, on the other hand, knows that there's no point in the police allocating resources towards this, but nonetheless feels powerless to do anything helpful herself.

Luckily, fate comes bounding into her in the same fashion that Kuro first fell into Kotoko's arms. This time, however, it's Kotoko doing the falling and Saki doing the catching, with an angry Steel Lady Nanase on the prowl in front of them. Saki is understandably confused by the situation, but she manages to channel both that confusion and her years of sadness into raw anger at the yokai. While her attack is totally ineffectual, this moment marks a turning point for her character, transmuting her passive awareness of yokai into an active desire to fling herself fist-first into that world. Kotoko responds to Saki's passion by pummeling Nanase enough to make her retreat, and the ensuing banter between the two remaining living humans is as full of personality as the rest of the show. Kotoko might want to invest in a reinforced bonnet, however, since Saki's fist-first philosophy also extends to the girl currently dating her ex.

That more or less covers the episode, but here's a small postscript: I love that the first line of dialogue out of Kotoko post-timeskip is pretty much “yep, I've had s ex.” The reference to her “deflowering” is totally out of left-field and absolutely not anything a real human would say, but it nevertheless does feel like something Kotoko would say to a stranger who turns out to be her boyfriend's previous squeeze. So much art and literature is so weird about sex, and it's honestly refreshing for In/Spectre to have such a matter-of-fact acknowledgement that its heroine has canonically fucked and it's super not a big deal. After two years of dating, I would hope she and Kuro have a healthy s ex life!

In/Spectre continues to be funny, snappy, and thoughtful to a degree nearly without peer this season (the presence of Eizouken forces me to include “nearly” as a qualifier there). It's just chock full of good, character-rich writing, and I can't wait to see more of Kotoko's delightful gremlin antics next week.

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ID: INVADED - Episode 5 [Review]

It may be true that no two head holes are the same, as The Perforator says this week. Certainly he, Hondomachi, and Haruka are all reacting to their head traumas differently, although I feel we don't truly know, or at least understand, what Hondomachi's deal really is yet. But perhaps the statement is better taken less literally – what The Perforator may really be saying in a metaphorical sense is that no two cases of psychiatric trauma, or just psychiatric condition, are the same. Two people with diagnoses of anxiety may react very differently to the same stimulus, and while Haruka's head wound appears to have altered his impulses towards love and murder so that they cross paths inside his brain, that's clearly not the case for The Perforator, nor is it for Hondomachi. We may lump all three in the same category, but that's beginning to look like we're making a dangerous assumption.

Granted, it's kind of a tortured metaphor, and the more nit-picky among us are likely wondering why the hell there are three people with open wounds on their heads just walking around like bacteria isn't a thing. (Okay, we saw Hondomachi rip her bandage off, but still.) It's also a sign that ID may be trying to tackle a few too many crime show themes all at once – brilliant detectives and profiling and serial killers and rogue cops and psychoanalysis? That's a lot for any story, and this one seems to just keep piling things on with each passing episode. There's no certainty that it won't be able to pull things together – episode four, the strongest thus far, absolutely made good use of most of them – but the foray into more focused psychoanalytical content this week doesn't feel quite as balanced as last. That may be due to an increased focus on telling rather than showing – in episode four, we could draw our own conclusions as to why it was so important to who Sakaido is as a person that he desperately needed to save the little girl. Episode five is much more about Hondomachi talking out her theories before launching them at the suspect, which just isn't as effective in terms of storytelling.

That's certainly not to say that it doesn't work at all, though. The slow build towards the reveal of who The Gravedigger really is is definitely effective, from the way she can't stop looking at the blood from Hondomachi's wound (both on the body and on the tissue), the implication that she's still clutching the bloody tissue in her hand when she sits back down (note her clenched fist where the other hand is relaxed), and the shots of the house that let us see how totally impersonal it is are all very nicely done, as is the small detail of three cups of tea being out for two people, Hondomachi's partner never having entered the house in the first place. When this show is at the top of its game, it really knows how to play.

This is also evident in the links back to the first two episodes. Not only is one of the Gravedigging Duo a victim of the first serial killer explored, but two of the visuals from that case also make a return. The first is the dapper gentleman Jack, a man in vaguely 19th century dress with a pixelated face, while the second is the fact that victims who appear in an ID well may be somehow disguised. In the first case, the killer had melded with Kaeru, becoming whole, while in this case all of the victims appear as a single person with morphing features. Both of these depictions speak of the way that the killer sees his prey, either as no one person worth remembering, or as incomplete human beings made of interchangeable parts. Jack is a little more nebulous, as the name in English and American folklore is a sort of everyman placeholder. But his clothing may link this Jack more to the 19th century legend of the monstrous Spring-Heeled Jack, a sort of evil Batman figure often said to be a gentleman in his everyday life.

It'll be worth watching to see how and if these two themes continue to recur in the series. Even though this is the fifth episode, I feel like the show is still trying to reach firmer ground. That may be deliberate; only time will tell if that's a storytelling method that's going to manage to pay off in the end.

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Haikyu!! To The Top - Episode 3 [Review]

In college one of my friends had a sign on her door that read “Think – there must be a harder way to do it.” In some ways, that sentiment applies to Hinata, who takes the idea of being unafraid of hard work to a level that's fairly impressive. He could easily have just stayed at Karasuno and continued working with his team while Tsukishima and Kageyama were off at their training camps, improving in a steady but predictable way, and he probably would have made some progress. But his incredible drive to be as good as he possibly can – and then to take it a step farther – is what keeps him going back to the camp at Shiratorizawa that he's crashing, even though it's far from the easiest way to improve his game. That he's clearly making the rest of the boys uncomfortable by insisting on being there as well as raising Washijo's ire doesn't phase him in the slightest.

Actually, he may not be aware of the other boys' discomfort, although I daresay that even oblivious Mr. Hinata is aware that Washijo doesn't want him there. (That may be behind part of his determination to keep coming back in the face of the man's jackass tendencies; Hinata's always been stubborn.) We certainly see that the guys aren't sure what's going on, and it's clearly eating at Tsukki as well, although with him there could be several reasons behind it, the most likely two being embarrassment at his teammate's behavior or concern over how his teammate's being treated. Either way, he clearly resents being made to think and/or care about Hinata; as we've seen in past seasons, Tsukishima isn't a fan of interacting with others and he's also not particularly good at it. Yamaguchi is the only person who has managed to break through his icy shell, and even that feels like it's on sufferance, although that's probably just Tsukishima trying to not show that he cares about having a friend. Admittedly that's not a great attitude in a team sport, but Hinata's treatment and behavior at this Shiratorizawa camp is wearing him down in one way or another, and the end of the episode where he calls Hinata over may mark a change in his attitude. Either that or he's going to scream at him or confess to him.

That the camp is having a positive effect on Hinata's game is certain. He's learning to really think and pay attention in ways that he never has before, and while he's still moving on instinct a lot, he's also observing other players in ways that he couldn't (or maybe just didn't) during games before. Because he can't stand out while he's just being the ball boy, he's forced into watching the game in a different way, and he's not only figuring out new moves (speaking to his innate athletic ability), but he's also learning how to analyze what he's seeing. That's not an easy skill for everyone, and it's not one that comes naturally to the physically-inclined Hinata. But he's learning it, as well as how to think outside the game, as we see when he calls Ukai to ask what he should be eating, since Washijo refuses to feed or house him. (Again, the man should not be allowed to work with children, teens or otherwise.) Simply put, Hinata's growing up, and that's not necessarily something he could have done in his comfortable place on his team.

Speaking of his team, we get a brief glimpse of Karasuno playing a practice game this week, reminding us that yes, the other characters are still important. Kageyama gets a short moment too, which more serves as a reminder that A) he still exists and B) he's gotten way too used to playing with Hinata at this point. His clip is also another visual introduction to some of the new characters who will be important once the tournament actually starts, and may I just say that the guy with the feathery hair and eyes that look like lenses at an optometrist's office does not translate well into anime. He's much creepier than in the manga, which is saying something.

Next week we'll return to Kageyama, and even if he's not your favorite character, it's still important to see what he's up to. And if he is your favorite character, get ready. The King is definitely in danger of realizing that he's been wearing a paper crown.

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Smile Down the Runway - Episode 3 [Review]

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Smile Down the Runway - Episode 3 [Review]

We last left Ikuto staring down the spotlights of Hajime's runway show. A model is a no show and now Ikuto has to figure out how to reinterpret a dress designed to fit a much taller model onto Chiyuki's tiny frame. Ikuto confidently steps up to the plate only to begin having mini meltdown with no time to spare.

Smile Down the Runway fully embraces its shonen roots by taking a crisis that typically appears in a sports show and applying it to alterations. Ikuto becomes overwhelmed by his own experience and lack of tools; he'd need a thick needle to alter the heavy fabric and he can't sew a new hem with such limited time. The rest of the show is eventually able to cover for him by switching up the music tracks to buy more time. Ikuto's altered garment makes it out as the show's finale and it even pulls off the required drama; both from Chiyuki's unconventional height and a dress transformation at the end of the runway.

Ikuto's approach to designing is like an artist with his muse. He adapts Hajime's original look to something completely different that best suits Chiyuki's personality while also maintaining Hajime's theme of "power" and "independence." In doing so though, he completely remakes the dress' silhouette, and this is where I'm going to get annoyingly nitpicky. Hajime's original design for the dress emphasized volume and unconventional lines. I'm hesitant to call it "avant-garde" because bro sent out 40 red outfits with men's wear details for a women's line emphasizing power--and that's basic as hell. Regardless, even if he had gotten his taller model, this would have been a dress more suited for artsy magazine shoots than red carpet unless she's heading to the Met Gala. Which is fine, there is a place for fashion as visual art and playing with expected proportions.

Ikuto abandons that entirely for a lapel front and a voluminous high-low hem that transforms into kerchief hem. It's much more conventional and the initial look is more street wear. The audience eats up the "unconventional" transformation and Chiyuki's height and smile. The dress ends up defying expectations like Hajime wanted although I'd credit that more to serendipitous happenstance and Chiyuki than anything Ikuto actually did. Here you might say, "wait, but the dress' hem change was totally Ikuto's brilliant idea!" Please. That moment was entirely convenient timing written in for the sake of spicing up the show for us, the viewing audience, than anything else and you don't have to squint too hard to see it. Ikuto acts like it's purposeful but there's no way he could have timed when the thread would give, much less at the exact moment when Chiyuki's heel gives out.

Also why would you leave dangerous, non-functioning shoes in the line-up with all the good shoes? Hajime, are you trying to kill all of your staff? I'm also in complete denial that Hajime would allow Ikuto's alteration to go forward as the final look of the show which is conventionally the biggest piece. Designers typically save their most technically impressive for the finale, there's no way he'd send that out. In reality, Hajime would likely cut the look all together--a typical runway show has 30-40 looks and he'd be well within that by showing 39 instead.

My last complaint might be what is turning out to be a major piece of the show's ethos. Smile Down the Runway is named as such because, as is explained by the magazine editor, it's an industry standard that models do not draw attention to their face by smiling during a show. This is a partially true, quite a few shows have serious-faced models and will tie the looks together with similar make-up, wigs, hairstyles, or hats. Smiling is not the norm--unless your Betsy Johnson, who has been turning New York Fashion Week into a playground for YEARS. It's part of her whole aesthetic. There's plenty of other designers too that shirk the whole "serious business" standard. That's because presentation of a show is up to the designer and the mood they want their fashion to embody. Fashion is art and if you want your art to evoke joy, you can have your models smile as big as they want. You can send a whole runway of gay and drag icons down to bring Disney villains to life, like The Blonds did last year. Basically, models have been and doing all kinds of quirky stuff on the runway in Paris, New York, and beyond forever.

Or in other words, here's a lady in a big hat with a dog grinning on the Paris runway for Thierry Mugler in 1997.

The series is trying to draw a comparison to the "industry standard" of not smiling and Chiyuki's grin as breaking the mold or rebelling against what the authority says can and cannot be done. I appreciate that message, but tying it to smiling on the runway doesn't work; instead it looks like the creators made an assumption without doing research. Or they didn't expect anyone as annoying as me to watch this show. It's a good message overall, and one of two the episode focuses on this week.

Chiyuki's appearance on the runway draws gasps from the crowd but it also serves as an inspiration for Niinuma, a newbie fashion writer who is also of average height and has felt left behind in the fashion world. She felt like interesting clothes weren't for her because she's not stunning or tall. Seeing a representation of herself on the runway gave her a push of confidence to be true to herself again. This is an interesting development as fashion is often dismissed as an outlet of vanity, but it really can be about self-expression. You don't have to drop thousands of dollars on high-end clothes to be interested in fashion or enjoy how certain pieces of clothing make you feel whether it's strong, cute, fun, thoughtful, or anything in between. Your outward appearance can be another facet of what makes you--you. Fashion is better when it's not looked at as status.

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Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun - Episode 3 [Review]

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Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun - Episode 3 [Review]

Cliffhanger episodes can be the bane of a weekly reviewer's existence. It's tough to assess narrative pacing when you've only got half of the story. This week, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun left us hanging with “Misaki Stairs,” an apparent multi-part story about the Japanese version of the nursery rhyme “step on a crack, break your mother's back.” This show's got spooky style and dark fairytale atmosphere in spades, but the wide variation in this latest story's length has me wondering why, this week in particular, Hanako-kun just can't pick up the pace.

It's not only the show's wonderful worldbuilding, expressed through delightfully haunted scenery and an enchanted soundtrack that makes this show one of the most promising out of the winter lineup. For me, it's also been the sharp, snappy storytelling that keeps things moving. In the first two episodes, we learned the peril of the Mermaid and the comparable sweetness of Yousei-san while still wrapping up quickly enough to learn heaps about Hanako, Nene, and Kou. It's night and day with episode three, which slows down on multi-minute gags while at times zipping past the central mystery. When Nene's friend Aoi, and several of Kou's classmates, all go missing in the proximity of the stairs to the art room, Hanako is ready for a jaunt to the spirit realm—a risky trip which, in the impish fashion that's quickly becoming his trademark, he treats like harmless fun. The gang winds up in a deliciously creepy setting that resembles the stairs up to an old shrine, but it's packed with junk and they keep getting sidetracked. The boys squabble about an adult magazine while Nene spends precious time wondering if her body ought to look like that, too. It's an odd, time-consuming segue that doesn't add much to the story.

When that's dealt with, they tediously pick their way through an otherwise richly portrayed spirit world, gathering body parts for the illusive Misaki, an apparition who claims to be a long-ago murdered schoolteacher, and who claims to have no arms yet can somehow call Nene on the phone. The guidelines for her challenge aren't portrayed very clearly: she tells them to get her right arm but then accepts a mannequin arm (not to mention Hanako's scavenged robot arm) as fair game. However, I'm not complaining about the sudden speed-up that prevents us from having to watch them retrieve every single part of Misaki's body, even if it were to illuminate the rules. Even so, it doesn't buy enough time to allow us to meet the Big Bad. She better be truly impressive for all of the buildup we've gone through compared to for the other apparations we've met so far!

I'm looking forward to the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun graphic novel, which is scheduled to be released in the US next week, and I'll be eager to see if it tells Misaki's story with more logical pacing. And at this point, not knowing how the manga or the anime unfolds, I might need to recant next week and say that this two-parter was entirely justified. But from this vantage point, it feels like a stumble on the stairs.

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My Hero Academia - Episode 78 [Review]

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My Hero Academia - Episode 78 [Review]

Alright folks, it's that time of the season again. With the Overhaul arc finally making its exit, it's everyone's favorite quarterly Xmas presents: new opening and ending themes! First up is “Star Maker” by KANA-BOON, an infectiously peppy technicolor montage that promises plenty of fun and cheer to help us all recover from the maelstrom of the previous arc. While last cours' “Polaris” did grow on me eventually, “Star Maker” has almost instantly lodged itself in my head and refuses to leave. The opening animation also gets a ton of extra credit for finally focusing on Undisputed Best Girl, Jiro (Don't @ me). Ryoku Oushoku Shakai's “shout Baby” leaves less of an impression – it's a perfectly fine song, and the collage of school photos of the Pro-Heroes (and villains!!) is cute as heck, but it can't help but feel underwhelming having to follow up Sayuri's perfectly moody “Koukai no uta.” Maybe it'll grow on me, but 1 out of 2 isn't bad for now.

As for the actual episode, “Smoldering Flames” feels a bit stretched in all directions. It's acting as an emotional epilogue to the Overhaul arc, an introduction to the coming (and decidedly more lighthearted) School Festival arc, and also laying the seeds for the larger villain conflicts by formally introducing us to All For One's trump card: Gigantomachia. Sharp-eyed viewers may recognize the hulking giant from his brief appearance after Stain's message went viral way back in season 2, or earlier this season when he made a cameo in Kirishima's flashback. We still don't really know anything about him besides being an absolute unit and strong enough to make half a mountain disappear, but he's an imposing figure to imagine our heroes going against in a post-All Might world. For now though, he's nothing more than a distant threat that none of the 1-A kids are even close to thinking about yet.

That's partly because they're all still wrapped up in the aftershock of their first outing as Pro-Heroes. Deku's up first with an intensely awkward meeting with Mirio. With how heavy the last episode ended, you'd be forgiven for expecting Buff Tintin to be down in the dumps, but as always Mirio remains a bastion of positive thinking in the darkest of times. He's clearly still hurting from Nighteye's death, but has chosen to internalize his master's final message and smile through the pain. He's lost his Quirk and his mentor, but his future is his to grasp regardless, and that's enough to keep walking forward. Deku is decidedly less resolute, seeing only his own shortcomings in all of this and even trying to offer One For All to his senpai. He's shut down immediately, but it speaks volumes that after all the sweat and blood (so much blood) he's poured into mastering his legacy Quirk, Deku's willing to offer it to someone else. All Might's gonna really need to support this kid going forward if he's going to believe in himself enough to stand on his own.

The other kids get less focus, but what little we see manages to say a lot. Seeing the rest of 1-A tentatively crowd around them upon their return is sweet – these kids care about each other a lot, but are well over their heads when it comes to being emotional support. Still, they try their best, and moments like Kirishima admitting he's “not there yet” when asked if he's okay is actually a bit heartwarming in how he lets himself be vulnerable around his friends. Uraraka is simmering with her own regrets, chiefly the shock of seeing death up close for the first time and her own inability to make a difference. It's not enough to make up for the narrative sidelining her and the other girls for 90% of action, but it's at least an earnest reminder that all of these characters have their own interiority outside of the main narrative. Uraraka's own image of heroism has shifted considerably since she came to UA, and it's nice to be reminded of that in the midst of so much turmoil. Now just giver her a cool solo fight already, Horikoshi.

There are, however, two conspicuous absences from Deku & co's return – it turns out even when your friends have just gotten back from a life or death mission, you still have to go to summer school, and that means Bakugo and Todoroki have to turn in early. While Bakugo is his usually grumpy self about the whole remedial training thing, Todoroki has considerably more to deal with. On top of reuniting with the earnestly obnoxious Yoarashi, the flaming bag of crap that constitutes his dad is also there to observe. This is the first time we've seen Endeavor since he effectively became the new #1 hero, and his first act of screen time is to boast from the top of a staircase at the now retired All Might, so he's still the charmer we all know and hate. Still, I find myself curious about just what's going through his head now that he's ostensibly achieved the goal he tore his family apart to achieve – MHA's always been good at giving even its most despicable characters intriguingly human emotions, and much like Bakugo's crescendo in season 3, there's a lot of room to explore Endeavor as a character, even if he absolutely sucks as a person.

All in all, this episode has a lot going on, and does a decent job juggling it all without feeling too busy. Personally I'd have preferred a more focused denouement to what is effectively MHA's first onscreen death, but serialized storytelling being what it is probably necessitates seeding new stories as you harvest the old. “Smoldering Flames” does a solid job making me interested in what's to come – even if half of that is just the new OP – and if nothing else I'm down for seeing Bakugo fight literal children next episode.

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Chihayafuru 3 - Episode 15 [Review]

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Chihayafuru 3 - Episode 15 [Review]

It's good that this episode of Chihayafuru steps back a bit, and gives us a little more comedy than usual. I'm not sure my heart could handle many more episodes like the past few, what with all the tension in Dr. Harada's victory, and that confession! Just seeing the flashbacks kind of make my heart flutter again, although I admit that I am biased because I've always been a staunch Arata supporter. Maybe it's that adorable accent, maybe it's his folksy charm, or maybe it's that killer black kimono he walked out in, looking like a teen movie makeover.

Truly, the only thing that could make it better is if someone actually told Taichi about it, to really make him squirm and confront his own emotions. But no, Sumire wants to seize the opportunity to take Taichi for herself. I get it, but if this is the season for honesty, I barely register Sumire as a character anymore. Her support for Taichi has been sweet in the past, but as far as background characters go, the only club member I think about less than Sumire is Akihiro. Does he even go to this school? Someone check the registrar's office, please.

To fill a little time before the championship finals, the episode gives us our weekly dose of karuta action when Suo calls Chihaya unexpectedly and asks if she wants to have a practice match with him. Naturally, she's excited to say yes, and she and Taichi set off to meet up with Sudo and Suo.

It's neat to see Suo outside of the context of competitive matches, but his character doesn't do much for me. His quirks have always struck me as one-note and tiresome, and I don't find him to be half as compelling as, say, Haruka.This episode tries to give him some extra flavor, namely in a way that shows him as a ruthless karuta player with strategies we haven't yet seen in the series, but it fails to inspire. Even watching Chihaya try to adjust her strategy against him falls flat, because any style of hyper-defensive sport is tedious to watch. Ask hockey fans what it's like to watch games against defensive trappers and you'll get a taste of why--despite it being an efficient strategy--it doesn't make for gripping television. That's how the entire back half of this episode felt, and my only hope is that it pays off by giving Dr. Harada the recon tools to completely steamroll Suo's obnoxious play strategy. (He is now my second least favorite karuta player, next to that dead-eyed gal who contests every play.)

The quiet hero of this episode is Taichi, who's feeling glum after learning that Arata wants to go to college in Tokyo. His small shot of bravery gave him the adrenaline to defend Chihaya against Suo's advances, but that hasn't translated to opening up to her directly. Instead, he bemoans his lack of relentless positivity. It's partially referring to him not getting down about his karuta defeats, but it's mostly about his future with Chihaya. On the upside, just like he's settling into his own unique style of karuta, hopefully we can expect him to finally emerge as the Taichi he needs to be to confess his feelings.

Compared to the past few episodes of Chihayafuru, this episode feels a little blase, but they can't all be heart-pounding winners. It's nice to see Chihaya process Arata's confession, rather than sweep it to the side, but I would've liked to see more. Fingers crossed that we'll get Taichi's side of the equation soon, too.

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Darwin's Game - Episode 4 [Review]

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Darwin's Game - Episode 4 [Review]

Shuka is still MIA this week as Rein and Kazuma fight for their lives inside a hotel roaming with plant-controlled zombies. We learn a bit more about Rein and Kazama's Sigils and that no one named "The Florist" could really be that bad.

I thought that Rein's Sigil would likely relate to her job as an information broker, like maybe she could connect her brain to the internet or something weird like that. It turns out it's way more combat-ready that I anticipated. Essentially, Rein can predict the future. Her Sigil allows to know the speed and direction of all objects (likely within her immediate area) and adjust her own movements with split-second accuracy, letting her pull of feats like dodging bullets or avoiding falling debris.

This gives her a leg up against zombies who Kazuma and Rein are able to evade due to the tracking app included as part of the game event. The zombies are carrying rings (which allow you to be tracked) and The Florist is unable to make them drop them since he can only make his zombies do things that are already within in their nature (I'm pretty sure this is also how hypnosis is supposed to work). His zombies want to defeat opponents but they also want to win. Rein and Kazuma hole up briefly in a hotel room that was supposed to be locked and honestly I don't understand how they got in, it's waved away with a short talk involving a pillow but whatever, moving on. It's then that we learn that Kazuma's "recreating weapons" Sigil gives him yet another advantage: he never has to restock weapons from the in-game store because once he's bought one he can recreate more at will.

Right, so the in-game store. Somehow you can just buy stuff via the app in battle and it digitally materializes in the real world inside a box labeled "konozama.com". It's obviously a play on Amazon, but I have no idea how (if they even will) explain how this works. No one seems the least bit surprised but it's weird given that this isn't a "trapped in a game" series...at least not in the usual sense. Anyway, Kazuma can now add grenades, flashbangs, and a machine gun to his conjuring arsenal. Rein takes up the job of occupying the zombies by leading them up to the 40th floor while Kazuma scales the side of a skyscraper to get to the lower floors. Our hero is suddenly very athletic.

On the ground floor he meets The Florist which turns out to be a middle-aged man in a scuba suit who needs to win at Darwin's Game to earn enough money for...either his daughter or his own health so he can stay with his daughter. His backstory might be rote but his powers are pretty neat. Controls plants isn't a unique idea but I haven't seen it utilized to create armor before, so that was neat surprise. Unfortunately the battle itself isn't given a chance to shine thanks to lots of cutaways and other animation saving techniques. There's one cool shot where Kazuma gets punched through a door to reveal a...Christian church. This struck me as odd since I haven't come across places of worship in any of my stays at the Marriott. This is more like what I'd expect to find in an American hospital, not a hotel in Shibuya.

Kazuma looks to be in a corner with no energy left to materialize weapons at will when he taps into an alternate version of himself. It's not clear now if blacksmith Kazuma is a manifestation of his Sigil, consciousness, or something else but their discussion is able to reinvigorate Kazuma and teach him that he can visualize tweaks to the weapons he knows before materializing them, finally giving him the firepower to defeat The Florist. Kazuma's a nice guy though, he's not going to kill this dude when they could be bombarded by other high level players at any moment. It's time for him to recruit his enemy and add to his growing clan!

Darwin's Game is starting to show more signs of utilizing shortcuts, especially explanations of action that happened off screen instead of just showing it. The character designs also fluctuate in this weird space where the facial proportions sometimes go too small (or their heads are too long?). I'm hoping the production isn't heading towards a crash. There are plenty of silliness to the show as a whole but it could be an entertaining action series if it can keep it together.

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