You and I Are Polar Opposites Ep. 8: Street lights

Don’t you hate it when someone randomly hits you up after ghosting you? All you can think is, Oh no, what the hell do they want now? Considering how it’s Azuma’s ex-boyfriend, dude’s probably just looking for a quick hook-up. He knows she won’t throw a fit, so he probably figures why not shoot his shot? The problem with Azuma is that she under-reacts, but this makes her the perfect polar opposite for Taira. Sure, he’s an overthinker, and there are lots of underthinkers among the cast. But his main problem is that he over-reacts to everything and everyone around him. Girls giggling off to the side? They gotta be making fun of him! And Azuma is the direct opposite of that. She refuses to take offense; she just goes with the flow. Sadly, that also makes her a doormat — the chill, easygoing girlfriend that usually just ends up being second, third, or fourth priority. And it’s infuriating because she knows she deserves an apology from her ex, but it doesn’t take her more than a couple seconds to get over it. Girl, c’mon. Where’s your self-respect?

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Frieren Ep. 34: Humanity is a sitting duck

The episode opens with demons slaughtering an entire village and its inhabitants. A man cowers in hiding. A child probably cries his or her last cry. A woman attaches a message to a carrier pigeon, but it isn’t for help. It’s too late for that. All she can do is seek vengeance for the fallen, hence the episode’s title: “A Demon-Slaying Request.” Seeing all of this, I can’t help but wonder about the nature of this world and where demons even come from. I don’t like how demons are portrayed in this series, but fine, let’s grant that they are absolute evil, no questions asked. Why are they surging in power again? And why now? Why did humans sit idly by and allow this to happen to themselves again? After Himmel defeated the Demon Lord, why wasn’t there a campaign to expand northward and completely annihilate demonkind? They, the demons, were presumably at their weakest point, no? Unless, of course, demons just spawn in like a video game. There’s so little that we know about this world and how it works.

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Sentenced to Be a Hero Ep. 8: Walk and talk, walk and talk

A bunch of holy knights were supposed to back the gang up in last week’s episode, but Kivia’s crew never showed up. Obviously, someone sabotaged them, but who? It doesn’t take long before they instantly clue in on the adventurer’s guild. They thus hatch a plan to kidnap the guildmaster for questioning. You know how Dotta has sticky fingers? Apparently, he can even steal a grown ass man. It wouldn’t be the most audacious thing he’s tried to steal; just before he was sentenced to be a hero, he tried to abscond with a dragon in order to save the crown prince. So swiping a guildmaster should be easy, right? Not if he’s flanked by an army of child assassins!

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Tamon’s B-Side Ep. 9: Shallow love

Ori thinks Tamon and Utage kissed on the beach that day, and he’s been obsessively replaying the scene over and over in his head. By the end of this week’s episode, he will admit to himself that he’s in love with Utage. But why? Literally why? What does he even know about her other than that she’s crazy about Tamon? Oh, she tells him to be his pure and sincere self? That’s enough to be in love with someone? C’mon, get out of here. I’m not convinced. I’m simply not. Ori was right the first time: “I thought I only wanted to get her to look my way because of my pride…” He has his own fans — a veritable sea of them — but he wants what he can’t have. He’s just another petulant child.

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