Not a whole lot of fall shows here yet, since I’m still doing first impressions for a lot of them. But hey, we can fill ourselves up with some of the summer leftovers. We all know how much we love those shows!
Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits- Season 2 Ep. 1
I actually watched the entirety of the first season when it first aired back in 2018, but I remember practically nothing about it. I just know that the main character likes to cook. So out of curiosity, I looked back at the last post I wrote about the anime, and I found this:
Should Aoi’s adventures in the Hidden Realm receive another anime adaptation, however, I don’t think I would be there to watch it. Obviously, you can tell that I did not enjoy Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi all that much. I only blogged it from start to finish out some of sheer stubbornness and the fact that Mondays are usually lacking in terms of content.
Hah. Well, to be fair, I’m only casually watching the second season. Honestly, I’m just surprised it got a second season at all. Why revive this show seven damn years later? I’m sure there’s an interview out there to answer that exact question, but I don’t care enough to look for it. Let’s just move onto the second season already.
Every time there’s a sequel, the first episode simply exists to get the audience up to speed. I don’t want to waste my time though, so we’ll cut right to the chase. There are a lot of pretty boys around Aoi, but Odanna is really the only one that matters. So when the topic of marriage comes up — y’see, the tanuki is getting hitched — Aoi has to confront the fact that she still doesn’t know Odanna oh that well. How can she marry a man who is a complete mystery to her? Hell, I voiced this exact complaint at the end of the first season:
On the other hand, Odanna might have more substance to him, but “might” is precisely the problem. Maybe what we don’t see — i.e. what is reserved for the light novels — will flesh out this guy’s backstory and characterization, but at the moment, his only defining characteristic is that he’s largely enigmatic. Aoi doesn’t know him that well and neither do we.
So at the end of this episode, Aoi tries to probe Odanna for at least one answer: was he involved in bringing her food? She just wants to get to know him. Unfortunately, he remains as tight-lipped as ever. According to Odanna, there are burdens he doesn’t want her to shoulder. Pfft. Regardless, the stage is set and we know what the sequel is all about. Or rather, what it should be all about. We will learn a thing or two about Odanna over the course of the season, but will it be enough? I don’t expect a marriage, but I do expect some real progress in their relationship. And oh yeah, some decent-looking food wouldn’t hurt.
A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Ep. 2
Boy, is there a lot of exposition world-building in this week’s episode or what? Wanna know why orc tenderloin drop rates are so low? Wanna know why none of the kidnapped women have been defiled? Wanna know why warriors are so low level these days? Wanna know why everyone hates the seven heroes now? Wanna kn–… well, you get the point. None of it is particularly interesting to me. All you need to know is that humanity’s fucked, and Lufas is the only one who can save the world. And we’ll start by beating up a poor little lamb in next week’s episode.
Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze Ep. 11
So what’s the root of Miwa’s problems? It turns out she doesn’t genuinely love shogi. She only practices so much because, well, she’s damn good at the game — good enough to be praised by that asshole dad of hers. Playing shogi basically lets her stand tall with her sisters. Otherwise, she would feel left behind. Naturally, we need Yuu to give her some perspective, i.e. doing something for love and praise isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, I don’t disagree. In fact, Miwa’s predicament is similar to what a lot of us have to accept when we grow up. You don’t need to love every single thing you that you do in life, because frankly, that’s just not realistic.
Some people are lucky enough to do something they’re truly passionate about for a living, but the rest of us don’t have that luxury. I’m not passionate about programming. I honestly don’t give a damn about making the best app in the world or writing clean code. Yes, I want my shit to be bug-free due to personal pride, but this isn’t my life’s work. I simply code because it pays well (not for long at this rate), and a couple of my hobbies are expensive (video games and fine dining). And do I feel any shame in that? Hell no. As an aside, if I hadn’t been so lazy in college, I would’ve wanted to become an astronomer or something similar.
Anyway, I had to roll my eyes at the marshmallow Yuu. Just one more episode before I’m finally free from this show.
The Water Magician Ep. 11
More than half of the episode is devoted to Oscar’s tragic backstory. In fact, they double… no, triple down on the tragedy. Not only did his parents get killed by bandits, wolves then swooped in to take out the survivors. Oscar managed to get away, but barely. A dear old man took the poor kid in, but nope, we’re not done yet. Those same bandits returned later and killed the dear old man with the same sword they had stolen from the first attack. Uh, is this really necessary? And why? What narrative purpose does this serve?
Back in the present, Oscar arrives just in time to see Fiona get knocked off a cliff. Luckily, Ryou’s friends just happen to be there to protect the unconscious princess from her tenacious assassins. Unfortunately, Oscar doesn’t know that. He instantly jumps to conclusions and assumes that Ryou’s friends are her attackers. Is the anime trying to suggest that his uber tragic backstory justifies him being a dumbass now? ‘Cause I don’t really buy it. But him being a dumbass sure is convenient. If we need to cook up a reason for Ryou to fight this guy, putting his friends in danger is a surefire way to accomplish that. Oh well, one episode left and it won’t even be a fair fight. C’mon, everyone knows that fire is weak to water.
Tougen Anki Ep. 13
The kids are on the move, so for safety, they each have to don a disguise and adopt an alias. Really, bro? I can barely remember their actual names. The disguises don’t change much so I’m good there, but you can’t expect me to pair them to their aliases as well. Shiki is Natsu. Everyone else can screw themselves. I ain’t learning two names for every character.
Anyway, in the first half of the episode, Natsu sneaks off on his own to hit up a local festival. He ends up meeting a guy who is also a major gun enthusiast. The two quickly become friends, which is rather suspicious. To nobody’s surprise, this Mikado guy is a Momotaro. Classic move, honestly: have the protagonist befriend someone from the other side and fall in love. Well, maybe not the last part, but you never know~~~~ Nevertheless, I did previously say how I wanted the story to introduce another Momotaro who didn’t automatically hate Onis. Maybe this guy can fit that bill. After all, he not so subtly waxes on and on about how we shouldn’t judge people by their appearance.
As for the second half of the episode… well, look, we already know that the mangaka has a certain fetish from Kuina and Yomogi’s character designs. But then we meet this lady:
Christ, that’s a new low. This is why a subreddit exists solely to make fun of how men draw women. Hell, there’s even a post up for this exact episode!
Anyway, I think there’s also new OP, but I skipped it.
Gachiakuta Ep. 13
Well, it’s time for Amo’s backstory, and my worst fears about it are pretty much realized. She definitely comes across as someone with that sort of trauma. After all, she’s only ever been used and manipulated. She was just a meal ticket to her mother, and we all know what her abuser was after. There’s even an implied time skip, so he got what he was after for a long, long time. And of course, the “angels” didn’t care about Amo either. None of this excuses her actions in the previous two episodes, but it’s clear now why she’s the way that she is. Of course she’s desperate for affection. Of course she would react badly to people just showing up out of nowhere and demanding answers.
One thing about the “angels,” though. Obviously, they weren’t interested in saving Amo despite the moniker she gave them. For whatever reason, she was and probably still is a vital component to their plans, so they took her abuser’s boots away just to give them to her. They then promptly left. In the ensuing struggle over the vital instrument, Amo accidentally knocked her abuser out of the tower and killed him. Did the “angels” know that this would happen? Did they set her up to become a killer? Maybe they didn’t know he would die in this exact way, but they must have known something bad would happen. Back in the present, Amo tells Rudo how the boots allowed her to feel human again, but the drawback was that she finally understood what the abuser had done to her. Why did the “angels” want this? And what did making her “human” again even accomplish?
Anyway, I’m not really comfortable discussing the details about her past any further than that, but I do like seeing some of her perspective through the abstraction of a child’s drawing. Obviously, she had to retreat into a childish fantasy in order to cope with her reality. I wonder if the manga is like this as well, but I’m still not interested enough in the series to check it out.
Amo starts drawing one of the “angel’s” faces, and Rudo recognizes them immediately: it’s the person who killed his foster father. You probably expected that, though. You probably also expected Rudo to make nice with Amo. I’m not sure how I feel about this. It almost seems too easy. I also don’t get why the Cleaners just all leave as well. I know she wants to stay behind for now, but it just feels so obviously dangerous to leave her alone. So of course, something bad happens to her right at the very end of the episode. It’s all behind closed doors so we have no clue what happens. We suddenly see Jabber again, but I think this is a red herring. Why hide her attacker just to show the guy walking through the desert nonchalantly seconds later? So no, I don’t think he’s the attacker. He’s probably just there for another reason altogether.
Anyway, it seems like a waste to kill Amo off, so I don’t think she’s dead. But the gang obviously won’t be seeing her anytime soon.
I don’t really have anything else to add. Just playing Final Fantasy Tactics and reading a book from a Korean author called The Vegetarian. It’s pretty short so I’m almost done with it. I already feel like it could use another fifty to a hundred pages. Anyway, this isn’t a literature blog, so I’ll just leave it at that.
