A few more reviews for you to end the summer season with, as mentioned on Twitter, I’ve finished everything except Joshiraku, because gg is slow, and I also need to finish Hyouka, because Chitanda has to know.
Compared to the first season, the second season of Dog Days didn’t feel like the first in many ways. Perhaps it was because Cinque was the only hero, and the world was new, but it felt grittier, more to the style you’d expect from the same folks who did Nanoha, in fact, it felt like I was watching Nanoha A’s. The second season felt like watching the first season of Nanoha, or the first half of StrikerS, it was too friendly at times, like nothing was at stake. Leomitchelli was bad fucking ass in the first season, but she seemed to dull down in the second, the most we got from her was her fight with Droopy, who was still a ball of emo this season but unwound a little by the end. Don’t get me wrong, I still love everything about this show, it embodies all the things I loved about Nanoha and would expect from the same crew, but 13 episodes does not do this show justice, it really needs a full season and a full story to shine. I have no doubt they’ll be back for a third, hopefully with something new and exciting, and maybe a little more grit.
Also, a note to HorribleSubs, I realize some sources have “Sink” as the name for Shinku/Cinque, but that sounds terrible. Most subs have changed it to Cinque, and I purposefully waited the extra day for Commie subs for this. Not that you should care, just saying.
Title: Dog Days
Sub Group I Watched: Commie, Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Leonmitchelli
Least Favorite Character: No one.
Favorite Hero: Still Cinque.
Favorite Kingdom: Galette
Season Three? I’m hoping for something along the lines of Nanoha A’s, something slightly dark and gritty that involved the three heroes and their rulers, combined with everyone else, for more of a StrikerS feel to it, but not StrikerS, that’s cruel.
If you’re into myth and lore, especially ancient gods and that sort of thing, Campione might be up your alley. For me, I was less than impressed. The show starts very slowly, with Godou basically building his female harem while defeating a couple of gods, before they throw in a mid-boss to remind you that the show is about killing gods, only to finish up with Athena, whom he fought earlier and spared, coming back to assume her FINAL FORM and attempt to take over the world. Spoilers, she loses. No surprise there. The problem with this show is that it’s all flash and little substance, and the substance contained was cliche harem bullshit that doesn’t mean much to the flash shown. The fights were pretty good, I’ll give them that, but it felt like I was getting a goddamn history lesson about ancient gods, like if Dragonball Z started just monolouging instead of grunting. You can safely skip this show, nothing of value was lost.
Title: Campione
Sub Group I Watched: Commie, Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 6
Favorite Character: Athena
Least Favorite Character: Everyone else.
I initially saw Kono Naka ni Hitori Imōto ga Iru! as being another harem show with little else to watch, and indeed the first half just seemed like a crazy tease, always toying with who was his sister. I actually ended up enjoying the last half of this show though, and that’s interesting because I am not a huge fan of Japan’s obsession with sisters. Perhaps it is because I don’t really have a relationship with my sister, or a very weak one at best, but I don’t understand why Japan has such an extensive sub-genre for sibling love. It’s a little disturbing. I actually thought by the end the TWIST would be that the spy girl would be the sister, because that’d be hilarious, but alas it was the most tsundere of them all. It’s a decent watch though, give it a shot.
Title: Kono Naka ni Hitori Imōto ga Iru!
Sub Group I Watched: UTW
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Mei Sagara
Least Favorite Character: Yuzurina Houshou
My Suspected Sister Choice: Ikusu Mizutani
The Siscon Thing: I’m not Japanese, I don’t get it.
Season Two? They left it open for another season, but I kinda hope they don’t. It’s enough as-is.
Honestly speaking, Oda Nobuna no Yabou was a good show to watch, and that’s interesting considering it’s yet another show based on Nobunaga’s Ambition. The idea that most of the warlords are female, combined with the rest of the eccentric cast, cast an interesting spin on the battles and the dialogue that actually kept me interested in watching. I could be bias though, Goemon made watching her scenes incredibly adoring, and Hanbei was also a treat to this show. The only thing that nagged me was that they never really explained what brought him back in time, and they didn’t send him back somehow either, which I summarize based on the final scenes is because they might have enough to set up another season of this show. I think they could have done it in one, I dunno if it was good enough to get a second, but I won’t complain if it does get another season, it was a decent watch.
Title: Oda Nobuna no Yabou
Sub Group I Watched: Commie
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 7
Favorite Character: Goemon Hachisuka
Least Favorite Character: Sakihisa Konoe
It’s tits and ass fanservice with magical bullshit and bits of GRIMDARK, that’s the TL;DR of Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, but strangely enough I ended up liking it, or at least the last half of it. After you get past the intro and the school hi-jinks, you get another show with magical bullshit where the hero is indestructible, even when you think he gets beat he shrugs it off and powers back up. It’s kind of crazy, but it kind of works, and should they get a second season, unlike most shows where people from alternate realities never go back to the other side for a season, this one just might. So you know, enjoy the little things. Or the big things, like Myuu’s tits.
Title: Hagure Yuusha no Estetica
Sub Group I Watched: SubDESU
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 7
Favorite Character: Miu Ousawa
Least Favorite Character: Kyouya Hikami
The new season begins next week, so I managed to finish everything on time somehow. Saimoe season still continues into the next month, but now that the bulk of it is over I can focus on getting this place back up to speed in time for the new year. So you know, for the whole five of you that read, party on, Wayne.
