Another week, not quite as good as the last, but a few changeups in episodes this week, as we draw closer to the end of the season. As usual, in order of this week’s rankings:
Hanasaku Iroha 10 depicts life without Ohana somewhat, as she came down with a cold from all of the shenanigans in the previous two episodes. Despite being told by everyone to take it easy and rest, she believes the inn needs her to run. However after being told everyone can handle it without her, for a moment, she starts to convince herself that she is not needed and starts to compose a message to Ko, only to be intercepted by Nako. Nako and Minko convince her she should stay, and this may be the first signs of the “Ice Queen” in Minko thawing.
Things start to heat up in Dog Days 10 as the demon turns out to be a spirit god who was ensnared by a demonic sword. Faced with the decision to kill it or save it, naturally Princess Millhi moves to save it, along with Cinque who with Eclair’s help made it to where she was. After a brief fanservice shot, both are blessed with the two holy swords and manage to defeat the demon, but before it could take over Cinque, Leo finishes the sword off with a well-placed arrow shot from a-far. It seems the day is saved, for now.
Steins;Gate 10 dives into life in Akihabara without anime and moe subculture, as Okarin continues to struggle with the events that have unfolded due to his D-Mail experiments. Back at the lab, he apparently still thinks Ruka is a guy, and embarrassingly finds out otherwise, much to the others chagrin. Outside he chats with “Part-Time Warrior” Suzuha who tells him she may not be coming back if she does not find her father at a pre-determined meeting place. Okarin tells her to come back to the lab if she does not find him and join the team, and they will throw a party. But by the time it rolls around, she is nowhere to be found. He decides to send himself a D-Mail to the past to follow her and upon the world line shifting once more, she is there. As it turns out, she followed her to the same gathering Daru was supposed to go to, and that her father may be or is related to John Titor, the one he has been sending messages to. If you have not seen Chaos;Head, it really does not matter, I think Steins;Gate does the job so much better in so many ways, and considering both it and Hanairo will continue into the summer, it’s gonna be a close fight.
GOSICK 21 wraps up a mystery in which several mysteries prior in the series links to, the murder of Coco Rose, the Queen of Sauville. It’s amazing she solved it the way she did, and it was probably the toughest case yet, but at the end, it doesn’t look like everyone was fully convinced of the outcome. Nevertheless, she was allowed to return to the Academy along with Kujo. 3 episodes remain, and I’m left to wonder if it will fully wrap up the grand mystery, or if it will link Cordellia and Victorique somehow in the conclusion. Hopefully they keep up the momentum, because it’s been a very good ending arc so far.
Baseball is the theme of this week’s Denpa Otoko 9 as Maekawa invites Makoto to play amateur baseball with the city folk versus the shopping district merchants. She herself of course does not play but is present in another cosplay outfit. Ryuuko shows up at some point to play basketball across the hill, and in the next game, they get Erio to join the play. Meanwhile Erio has been setting up her telescope to star gaze again with Makoto around to watch. Average episode, few good moments, but still fuzzy on how it’s going to end.
A Channel 10 jumped the charts a bit this week with a good episode revolving around the best character of the series, Tooru, as she find a abandoned white kitten. Unfortunately thanks to Run’s intervention, the kitten is named “Carbonation” but that does not stop the kitty moments from occurring to Tooru as she tries to acquire the things to take care of it, and still go about her daily life. Easily one of the best episodes in the series and will continue to reinforce her spot on the CharacterRanking chart at the end of the season.
So it seems now everyone is aware of Menma being there in some form in this week’s Anohana 9, but Major Asshole is still whiny about the fact that only Jintan can see her, and why not him? Outside of his selfishness, there is also the unresolved concerns of Anjou who confessed last week but got the cold shoulder. Nothing came from that, but in her sob-fest, Major Asshole came over to proclaim his fondness of her, like the asshole he is. Chiriko was not amused. The crew begins to build the firework to launch after getting approval from Menma’s father, in a last-ditch prostitution by Major Asshole, his only redeeming moments seem to be when he is on his knees begging.
It’s an episode focused mostly on Hina Sakai in this week’s Hoshizora 9 and I am totally okay with this… except at the end when the animators insisted we see not one but both brothers in crotch-wear and coats. Still, adorable Hina moments overshadow everything and was one of the better episodes in this series. I’m almost curious on how this series will end, because there is no real story, unless something bad happens soon.
Random things happen, and Nichijou 10 does not disappoint, offering another mostly Professor Shinonome-centric episode, but with a short skit featuring NASA and a Space Shuttle launch. I’m not sure what the intended punch-line is exactly, but love the reference nonetheless. I mentioned on Twitter they should play the Nichijou theme for the Japanese astronaut that just went up with the next ISS crew, but having not heard any anime tunes on any of the previous Japanese astronauts aboard the station, I guess none of them grew up with even 80’s or 90’s anime tastes, or they hide their power levels.
Lupin the 4th is back in Hidan no Aria 9 and this time she aims to make Kinji’s Hysteria Mode a permanent feature, by doing anything she can to get him aroused at the most inopportune moments. Aria of course will not stand for it and butts heads with Riko when she can. Shirayuki, who refuses to lose to either girl, conceives her own plan to trap Kinji and get him to go down on her. She even pants like a dog and barks, and the fucker escapes out the window while she had her head down. Come on dude, she’s a goddamn Shrine Maiden who apparently doesn’t care if you do the deed with her, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Jesus. I’m not even that beta for this shit, I’d hit that in a heartbeat.
Not gonna lie, at this point, I am finishing X-Men simply to see what happens, but so far I am very disappoint at how even 10 episodes in they went from a passable story with decent action to a horrid story with no action. I dunno, I am not an expert at the franchise, maybe it’s a story worthy of the X-Men name, but I just could not keep with it often in parts. I feel it was something that could have been accomplished without Hisako, without changing Moira to Sasaki Yui, and without Japan. I know what the animators intentions were, and really, that’s fine, but in the end, I’m not going to rate this highly because it did not grab me at all, even less than the second and third X-Men movies.
And that’s the week in review. Chart only next week as my work vacation starts, so I’ll be back the following week for the start of the final wrap-up of the season, along with previews for the upcoming season. I will however be posting reviews for Seikon no Qwaser, and possibly the first twenty episodes of Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes (Black & White) which I started after finding someone who subs the episodes. I initially was watching for Smugleaf, but found that the sub, even with the different names in Japanese, was quite passable to watch Pokemon in. Not that I mind the dub so much, but it does get annoying in places, being a mostly children’s show. Haters gonna hate, I’m old enough to remember when the original one started airing, as well as owning and playing the games.
