Things that make you go hmm… 

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Angels of Death Ep. 5

I think I nodded off twice during this week’s episode. On the one hand, I always get sleepy around this time of day (only to be wide awake for the rest of the night), but on the other hand, this show is just really, really boring. The puzzles are lame, and the characters are even worse. It’s funny how different people can be, though. Some guy on Anime News Network actually likes the voice acting in this show. In fact, he thinks Angels of Death is funny in a campy sort of way. Really? Really? Meanwhile, I can barely keep myself awake. Maybe it’s time to drop this show as well. I dunno, we’ll see. So what did we learn this week? Oh, Zack had a shitty home life and… um… he hates liars. Yeah.

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Cells At Work! Ep. 5

In this week’s episode, allergens invade the body and all hell breaks loose. All hell breaks loose every single time. God only knows how we’re still alive. Anyways, it saddens me to say this, but I’ll probably have to drop this show. It was kinda amusing at first, but it doesn’t have a story to tell.

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Chio’s School Road Ep. 5

Things that make you go hmm part two. Show’s alright. It’s definitely settled into a groove, and while it’s not the funniest comedy this season, it’s watchable. Plus, Chio’s voice actress puts in a good effort.

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Grand Blue Ep. 4

This was probably the first Grand Blue episode that I actually somewhat enjoyed. Usually, Iori and Kohei’s stupidity ends up getting them in trouble, which would normally be fine. Hey, I like cringe-inducing humor, too. The show’s primary problem is that it lacks pathos. To draw a comparison, Michael Scott is a huge screw-up as well, but what makes me root for him is that he’s a pitiable character. All of his flaws are born from his loneliness — his desperate need for love and companionship. To put it simply, his heart is usually in the right place. With Iori and Kohei, they just stumble into one big mess into another, and there’s really little reason for me to feel bad for them. But in this week’s episode, they actually employed their dumbass antics to help others (i.e. Cakey). I can at least relate to that. For once, they actually feel like actual human characters and not just caricatures of party-hard college students.

Anyways, I kinda hope Cakey can be the newest member of the diving club. On the other hand, I still don’t really get Chisa’s appeal. I know she’s supposed to be the hot, tsundere girl who is hard to impressed, but she’s always pissed off or frowning about something. It gets old.

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Happy Sugar Life Ep. 4

Bad moms…

…and crazy, obsessive people.

If you push Satou too far, she gets stabby. Every episode feels the same. We’re barely learning anything new as each week goes by.

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Holmes of Kyoto Ep. 5

In this week’s episode, Holmes finally meets his rival. If Ensho isn’t his rival, then at the very least, he’s going to be a recurring thorn in the guy’s side. Ensho is a master counterfeiter, and apparently, he was going to repent until Holmes saw through one of his works (y’know, back in the very first episode). As a result, the guy now has a newfound passion for counterfeiting again. He will stop at nothing to try and fool Holmes one day. On the other hand, our boy genius intends to expose Ensho’s fakery to the world.

Speaking of fakery, Holmes really hates liars and frauds. Naturally, he really hates counterfeits, too. As a result, he brings up his history of being cheated on again. This guy will just not let it go. Even better, Holmes tells Akihito that he’s completely turned off from women just because his ex — one girl! — betrayed him. I thought he was supposed to be a genius. Considering how vehemently Holmes hates counterfeits, I wonder what he hates more: his ex’s fake love for him, or her being fooled by another man, i.e. a counterfeit of him.

Anyways, we all know where this is headed: it’s up to Aoi to melt the icy walls around Holmes’ heart with her genuine personality. I just can’t wait for a grown-ass adult to fall in love with a high school student.

Side note: according to anime, all Japanese women are into yaoi.

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Overlord III Ep. 5

So the village manages to repel the trolls, and the dork gets the girl. Love in anime is so sickeningly pure. These two haven’t even kissed, but they’re already throwing the word “love” at each other like its candy. C’mon, you guys are young and in the throes of youth! Throw caution to the wind! Put your hands all over each other! Unfortunately, the only sex that ever occurs in this universe is when evil men take advantage of helpless maidens, apparently. Y’know, like that one girl that the butler dude rescued (I’ve already forgotten their names).

Actually, what really grinds my gears is that nobody even died. I didn’t think either Enri or Nphi would bite the dust (because Ainz would’ve gotten on Lupisregina’s case had this happened), but none of the goblins suffered any casualties? Boy, this sure was an exciting arc! But really, what did we even get out of this? Nphi’s purple potion? Ainz’s new army of zombie trolls? Also, I like how Enri got all dressed up for Nazarick and even put her hair up, but Nphi still wore his potion-making apron. C’mon, dude, at least dress up a bit if someone invites you over to their home. It wouldn’t hurt him to do something about his hair either.

Hopefully, the next arc will give me something to care about. At least show me an exciting, well-animated battle, y’know? I don’t think that’s too much to ask for. I would also love an arc where someone within Nazarick loses just a teensy tiny bit of respect for Ainz. Just a bit! ‘Cause right now, the guy could trip and fall flat on his face, and everyone would still praise him for starting a hot new trend. Actually, I kinda wanna see Ainz test this out. He should do the most embarrassing things possible (e.g. dabbing every five seconds) and see if his bootlickers will still try and imitate him anyway.

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Steins;Gate 0 Ep. 17

Things that make you go hmm part three. Also, who would win? All these highly-trained men…?

…or one time-traveling boi daughter?

And holy shit, future Daru actually sounds normal!

If this doesn’t motivate everyone to lose weight, I don’t know what will! Anyways, Mayuri insists that she loves Rintaro more than Kurisu ever could. Maybe that’s true. I’m not going to quibble about it, because this really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Mayuri’s also willing to sacrifice her own happiness just to see Rintaro return back to normal. But it’s funny how one-and-a-half season’s worth of episodes can color my perception of a character. Because Mayuri has been such a childish airhead up to this point — hell, she spent a good chunk of Steins;Gate 0 planning parties — I must confess that her emotional outburst in this week’s episode didn’t really affect me all that much. I’m usually pretty emotional too! I can’t blame the voice actress, ’cause I think she did a bang up job. And I can’t really find any fault with Mayuri’s motivations either. Nevertheless, my overwhelming sentiment is finally. Finally, the other shoe has dropped.

The first shoe was convincing Maho to rebuild the Time Leap Machine. And now, maybe Mayuri getting shot will convince Rintaro that inaction will still lead to overwhelming sadness. Yep, she gets killed at the end of this week’s episode, so you know things are finally returning to normal! There is apparently no world line in which everyone is happy and Mayuri ends up with Rintaro. He can end up with her and have a little happiness, but other people will still suffer. Plus, this half-compromise that our hero has convinced himself into accepting still ends up with Mayuri dying anyways, so he may as well just pick his ass off the ground and finish the mission.

Also, is it just me who doesn’t care about Kagari at all? I feel like she just drags this story out even longer than it needs to be.

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We Rent Tsukumogami Ep. 3

This Suou drama is getting pretty tired already. To clarify, Suou is not the name of a person itself. Suou is an incense burner. There was, however, a person who owned said incense burner, so he is referred to by the tsukumogami as Suou’s person. In this week’s episode, one of the tsukumogami overhears Oko talking about falling in love at first sight. Of course, they end up gossiping about it back at the shop, which bums Seiji out. It turns out, however, that Oko had merely fallen in love at first sight with an expensive comb. Life must be simple back then. I can’t imagine caring so much about a comb. In any case, all of Seiji’s fretting and worrying was for nothing. Having said that, this Suou’s person is still out there somewhere. It might even be Sataro. He hasn’t been introduced yet, but he’s in the show’s key visual, so he’s certain to be an important character. My problem is that this subplot isn’t going anywhere. If Seiji loves his foster sister so much, he needs to say something. Just sitting around looking sad every week isn’t going to impress the girl. People are generally attracted to confidence. It’s bad when the tsukumogami even pity him.

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Yamishibai 6 Ep. 5

Note to self: even umbrellas are cursed in Japan.

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Quick & Dirty Weekly Rankings (That You Should Totally Take Seriously)

1. Asobi Asobase
2. High Score Girl
3. Banana Fish
4. Persona 5 the Animation
5. Sirius the Jaeger
6. My Hero Academia
7. Planet With
8. Hanebado!
9. Chio’s School Road
10. Steins;Gate 0
11. Grand Blue
12. Shichisei no Subaru
13. Overlord
14. Harukana Receive
15. Holmes of Kyoto
16. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
17. We Rent Tsukumogami
18. How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
19. Dude of Red: The Red Dude
20. Island
21. Phantom of the Twilight
22. Yamishibai
23. Happy Sugar Life
24. Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi
25. Cells At Work!
26. Angels of Death
27. The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar

I’m short on time, so I won’t be able to explain my rankings this week. Sorry!