Get a load of this guy. He really thinks we as a society would reward our brightest minds.
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s Ep. 8
The rest of the students want to impress Akira, because as it stands, he thinks they’re too weak. They would just get in his way. So what do they come up with? Every year, there’s a beauty pageant in this city, and every year, the winner mysteriously disappears. Can you smell what the students are cooking? Surely, solving this little problem will impress our MC enough to let them fight by his side!
This whole thing feels incredibly silly. First, I thought the missing winners got trafficked or whatever. But no, the big bad is kidnapping them for their… uh, organs? Why do you need to harvest organs from pretty girls specifically? Second, why do people keep signing up for this pageant? Gee, the winner keeps disappearing every year! Oh well, it won’t happen to me! Third, the winners get told to accept their prize at some rundown, decrepit mansion. How stupid can you be to walk into such an obvious trap?
Amelia enters the competition, but she surprisingly doesn’t win it all. Instead, she’s tied for first along with Latty, who is apparently the demon lord’s daughter. Uh-huh. But y’see, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions, because Latty is a hero who won’t let you kill the bad guys — not even kidnappers who are part of an organ harvesting operation! Oh, don’t even get me started on the whole killing business! Amelia gets mad at Crow for trying to goad Akira into taking a life. Y’know, since he’s an assassin? Meanwhile, she was going to kill her would-be kidnappers, but Akira, watching her from his dreams, is all, “Nuuuu, don’t make me watch my waifu take a life!” What is this nonsense?
I just want to know how this story came about. “Yeah, assassins are cool… but heroes who don’t kill are also righteous and cool! Wow, what a juxtaposition!”
Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill S2 Ep. 8
Mukoda tries to commission a pretty large charcoal grill, but all of the smithies in the area are snobs. Only weapons! No cooking equipment! In the end, he has to ply one of them with whiskey in order to convince the man to take the job. Enjoying hard liquor straight up is still an enigma I’ve yet to crack. I’ve found wines that I can enjoy. I even like quite a few of the cocktails you can make with hard liquor. But simply whiskey or bourbon by itself (on the rocks or not) still doesn’t appeal to me.
Anyway, Mukoda finally remembers to make his offerings to the gods. They actually want him to level up faster, but he plays hardball by threatening to return all his blessings and put a stop to the offerings if they keep pressuring him. I dunno, man, this seems kinda ungrateful. They give him all these powers to help make his life luxurious in another world, and all he does is forget his duty.
Finally, the food. Like always, Mukoda is allergic to vegetables. I mean, this meaty rice bowl doesn’t even come with onions. Onions in a rice bowl should be a given! Hell, I’m going to order one right now. The place I like makes it with oyster mushrooms and red onions. You even get an egg on top with a runny yolk in the middle. On the side, they give you a cup of rich beef broth to go with every bite. It’s fantastic.
Also, what a coincidence! Mukoda happens to roast a giant bird at the same time that a bunch of Americans are about to do the same! Personally, I’m not big on turkey. Sliced turkey in my sandwich? Sure. But for the holidays, I’d rather have duck. Anyway, I don’t mind stuffing the bird with rice pilaf (even though I’d still prefer more veggies), but I do question the use of frozen rice pilaf. Do I use frozen food at home? Of course. The problem with fresh vegetables is that I simply can’t finish them before they spoil. But Mukoda shouldn’t have to worry about the logistics of food storage, so it seems weird to cheap out and be lazy.
Last but not least, Mukoda uses his new charcoal grill to, well, grill up some meat. Again, no vegetables. He and his familiars have the palate of a stereotypical teen boy. Also, I wouldn’t exactly call it barbecue, but it probably means something different to him.
Yano-kun’s Ordinary Days Ep. 9
Kiyoko and Yano (I know I’m mixing up their first and last names, but meh…) have a study date at her place. It’s sickeningly saccharine. I don’t have much else to say about their first official date (if you can call it one). Well, there is one thing. Yano’s heart has been racing even harder than ever whenever he’s around his girlfriend these days. Obviously, he’s fallen deeply in love. But considering how injury prone he is, wouldn’t it be morbidly funny if he suddenly dropped dead from a heart attack? Okay, maybe that’s going too far. We can save that for their honeymoon. Just a bit of dark humor.
It would’ve been nice to see Yano interact more with his Kiyoko’s younger siblings, but I suppose we already know he’s good with kids thanks to his part-time job.
Other than that, there’s very little drama to speak of. I just want Hashiba to stop thinking he’s actually in a love triangle. An actual love triangle would require Kiyoko to be confused about which boy she should pick, but Hashiba isn’t even on her radar. She’s 100% committed to Yano. In contrast, Mei is jealous for roughly a split second, but she quickly brushes the angst aside. Be more like Mei, Hashiba!
Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits- Season 2 Ep. 8
In feeding Takechiyo the promised macarons, Aoi ends up meeting Zakuro, the woman who used to run Tenjin-ya. The two ladies taste each other’s confections, but Zakuro isn’t impressed. She immediately dismisses Aoi’s food as gimmicky, which is pretty hilarious as the macaron has been around for centuries. It’s hardly a gimmick. But fine, Zakuro doesn’t know that. Nevertheless, the fact that she dismisses something as technically refined as a macaron shows she’s either a hater or doesn’t really know shit about pastries. It’s probably the former, since she also claims that Aoi’s cooking is a passing novelty that won’t stand the test of time — not like her oh-so-traditional cooking. Ah, she’s a food boomer. Got it.
I mean, Zakuro’s just plain wrong. “Traditional” recipes are constantly in flux. Your grandma’s cooking is likely very different from her grandma’s cooking. What one emperor ate in his era is probably quite different from what another emperor ate in his era. And speaking of “novelties,” some of them definitely stick around and become traditions in their own right. Don’t a lot of Japanese people eat KFC on Christmas nowadays?
Anyway, Takechiyo jumps to Aoi’s defense and helps her escape. Byakuya also runs into some trouble with the emperor and Raiju, but Aoi’s macaron somehow has the ability to power him up. Actually, her food can power up every ayakashi, so I can’t help but wonder why Zakuro didn’t feel anything after eating one of Aoi’s macarons. Maybe it simply doesn’t work on haters. Still, we’re no closer to saving Odanna. He’s got a pretty cushy role in this sequel, doesn’t he? He’s barely even in it.
Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! Ep. 9
Poor Reiner is still on that housewife training arc. I know Arel’s mom told Reiner that this would make the latter a better swordswoman, but y’know what? I don’t believe her. I think she’s just making sure her son has someone who can cook for him.
As for Arel, he stomps his way to a promotion in two more schools. Still not much here to talk about. Again, what’s the endgame? Why does our classless hero need to master literally everything under the sun? The story has yet to provide a compelling reason even after nine episodes. Arel merely tells us that he’s trying to catch up to a certain someone. Who? His dad? After all, he’s already caught up to his mother. Is there another person he wants to catch up to whom we haven’t met?
Dusk Beyond the End of the World Ep. 8
Akira ultimately decides to save Amoru’s parents’ storybook, but it ends up being about Towa’s LC Project anyways! Wow, what a coincidence! In the end, he didn’t have to make a difficult choice after all. Pretty weak if you ask me. I hate this storytelling decision, because sacrifices are a part of life. The stakes are high because we can’t have it all.
Anyway, the gang then hop onto a train where they bump into a family with issues. Basically, the man is a cheat, and the woman has been angry with him ever since. The thing is, he cheated ten years ago. No, there isn’t a statute of limitations on cheating. If she’s not happy, then she’s not happy. Her feelings are valid. But why did she stay unhappy for ten whole years? For the kids’ sake? Meh, being in a dysfunctional family does more harm than good in my opinion. But on a more serious note, who the fuck cares? How is it any of Akira’s business if a random couple has marital issues? Why is our protagonist even getting involved?
In the process of sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, Akira and Yugure run into her sisters on the train. Or to be more accurate, the sisters have been stalking them for quite some time now. But it’s okay, ’cause they quickly form a temporary truce! We then find out that they’ve been after Yugure all this time because she might actually know a thing or two about Towa’s whereabouts… which… kinda sounds ridiculous but maybe not? I mean, from a practical standpoint, Towa should be super old and thus super dead. But who knows? Maybe there’s technology that can extend her lifespan. Or maybe she’s turned herself into AI.
Either way, we still have more questions than answers. What did Towa do that was so bad? Shrug, who knows! And where is she? Is she actually still alive? Who knows? Is she just Yugure or is Yugure that AI we keep seeing in the flashbacks? Who knows? You know what, though? I’m so glad we spent all that time on the B-plot about the cheating husband. Exploring all the different ways people can ehlsea is so much more fascinating than the A-plot about Towa and what happened to her!
Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! Ep. 8
Those monster birds are still chasing after Melphy, Aristide, and his men. As a result, half of this episode is “action-packed,” which isn’t exactly why I’m watching this show. Why bother with action if you can’t animate it competently? But hey, they have to show us that the magic extracted from monsters can be used as a weapon. As such, Melphy turns monster blood into a bomb that can only be activated by Aristide’s blood. This ends up wiping out the entire flock of monster birds. So, uh… any dangerous byproducts from that explosion? Do we have to worry about the magical energy falling onto nature or whatever? Or do we just assume that everything is hunky-dory?
Afterwards, Melphy worries that her research will simply lead to the creation of more dangerous weapons. Her fiancé then has to remind her that they can also use the same magical energy in smaller quantities for domestic purposes, i.e. heating homes, lighting lamps, etc. And that’s it. No cooking this week, no food to judge. Just some boring, ugly-looking action and Melphy slowly solidifying the aims of her research… which she honestly should’ve nailed down a long time ago. I feel like this show peaked with the first episode and has been steadily declining ever since.
My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha Ep. 8
This is just a nasty world full of brutish, ugly people, and I’m not talking about their attractiveness. Male humans are tortured for amusement. Female humans are kept as sex slaves. Human children are captured and clapped in chains in order to be sold on the market. But Light isn’t bringing the bad guys to justice. This entire episode is one long setup to eventually break Sasha and the elf kingdom. They’re cruel to us, so we’ll be cruel to them in return. It’s just one unending cycle of abuse. No one comes out of this with their soul intact. Meanwhile, his underlings talk about Light as if he’s a god. It’s like they all belong to some freaky cult. The whole thing feels greasy, not too dissimilar from watching an exploitation flick.
A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Ep. 9
At first, the goatman recognized Dina, so I was like, “Darn, I guess she isn’t a sneaky little sneak after all.” But later, the devilman was about to accuse Dina of… something. Unfortunately, the maid robot killed him before he could finish saying his piece. We’re still in, boys! God, I hope she’s actually a devious traitor. Lufas realizes near the end of the episode that Dina somehow knows what a photo is even though no one else in this world has a clue, so maybe our little mystery will finally sort itself out in next week’s episode.
As for everything else that happens in this episode? I honestly couldn’t care less. Uh, I think some vampire lady wants to kill Lufas. That’s… something, I guess.
My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! Ep. 8
The MC is sick at the start of the episode, so Iroha actually cooks and cares for him. Sure, that’s great and all, but when he’s not sick, she straddles him in bed and sticks popsicles down his mouth while he’s sleeping. So yeah, she ain’t redeemed yet.
Afterwards, Sumire tries to convince the MC to save the drama club, which is in danger of being shut down because, well, it’s full of kooky weirdos — one of which is Sumire’s younger sister. But I dunno, I kinda like their somewhat surrealist mindfuck of a performance. I’d rather watch a bunch of kids dance in mushroom hats than yet another hackneyed high school rendition of Romeo and Juliet. In any case, our MC doesn’t exactly know how to save them, because he’s not an actor himself. He has to decide whether or not to ask Iroha for help. I guess that’s our cliffhanger.
The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest Ep. 8
As I’m watching Alec, Krasia, and Olivia fight their way out of the monster nest, I keep thinking to myself that Krasia kinda looks like Elie from the Kiseki video game series. Yeah, that’s all I’ve got for this portion of the episode. The animation is pretty weak, so the action isn’t worth talking about.
Olivia’s backstory is a bit odd. So Melea Dial, the so-called “Blademaster,” claims to have murdered Olivia’s mother, but he still took Olivia in and raised her like his own child. Once she became a strong enough swordswoman, however, he attacked her out of nowhere in a dungeon and left her for dead… kinda. I feel like a so-called “Blademaster” would know how to finish the job. After all, he has so much experience killing people. There’s no way he would make the mistake of leaving Olivia alive long enough for her to get her revenge. As such, I have to assume he didn’t want to kill her. It’s probably something stupid. He probably just wanted to make her mad enough to go after him out of revenge. Basically, he’s too much of a wuss to kill himself, so it’s suicide by… foster daughter? Makes you wonder if he actually even killed her mother. Then again, he’s now working with the bad guys. Yeah, it’s dumb.
Speaking of the bad guys, one of them immediately absconds with Yorha after triggering a trap that catches both her and Ornest by surprise. Apparently, the Shadow Guild need her for some as of yet unknown reason. Wow, Yorha recently expressed her romantic interest in Alec, so just like that, she’s already a damsel-in-distress. Welp, time to go save your future wife, Mr. MC.
Hands off: Sawaranaide Kotesashi-kun Ep. 8
Remember when people used to make “In Soviet Russia…” jokes? This episode is kinda like that with Miyuki turning the tables on the MC.
Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! Ep. 8
I actually thought the first half of the episode was pretty funny. A middle-aged man kidnaps Alma, because he’s hoping for a fat, juicy ransom. She doesn’t quite understand his ill intent, so she actually tries to help him make money. At one point, they even have a group interview for Neon’s company. Maybe it’s because my summer job search has made me delirious, but when Neon gives the kidnapper a generic rejection, I just had to laugh. Aaaah, I’d rather go to hell than go through another job search. In the end, the kidnapper realizes that he does have a unique skill to offer: he’s, uh, really good at tying things up. As a result, Alma learns a new useful skill.
In the second half of the episode, one of Suzume’s other robots go haywire and attacks the city, so Alma and her clone bodies (controlled by Machina) have to stop it. She ultimately removes the core and leaves the giant body intact, which then becomes a kids attraction? Is that safe? Yeah, I don’t have much a reaction to this one.
Dad is a hero, Mom is a spirit, I’m a reincarnator Ep. 8
Rafilia, Sauvel’s daughter, has been acting up, but it’s not entirely her fault. Her dad likes to do that shitty parenting thing of constantly comparing his own kid to others. Growing up, every time my mother heard of a child achieving something amazing, she would turn to me and ask, “Why aren’t you like that? How come you can’t make me proud like that kid made his mom proud?” If I happened to be watching sports, she would pick out an athlete who was doing well and say, “I wish that was my kid instead.” Man, I got straight As in school! I took honors and AP classes. I got a free ride to college! Whoops, this got too personal. Anyway, Sauvel sucks. Don’t be like Sauvel.
It’s funny how this anime has been nothing but family drama. It’s kind of like a soap opera. Just not as a dramatic. In a real soap opera, Rovel probably would’ve cheated on Origin with his brother’s wife.
Mechanical Marie Ep. 8
Strange how we have two episodes this week featuring robot on giant robot violence. We also learn that Marie is very stupid. Even after a tutoring session, she barely scrapes by on her make-up tests. To be fair, Noah trolls her the entire time, and Arthur is dumb enough to believe that his super-amazing “robot” can’t pass a high school test. It’s the nerds’ fault! They erased all of her knowledge!
Last but not least, Marie and Arthur share a moment on a private beach. One problem with this show (among many) is that I don’t expect the status quo to change by the end of the season. Nor do I expect this show to get a sequel. As a result, I have no reason to be invested in the romance. It’s not gonna happen, and even if it did, I wouldn’t get to see it unless I take the effort to read the source material. But even then, it seems like people have stopped translating the manga months ago. The point is, this special lil’ moment of theirs in this week’s episode means absolutely nothing to me.
Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right Ep. 7
Instead of a beach episode, we get a preparin’-for-the-beach episode. First, the kids have to get through theirs finals, then the girls have to try out swimsuits, then Luna goes overboard preparing for the trip, then Otori gets self-conscious again about his odd relationship with Luna, then we might as well just invite the whole damn class with us. I used to really not like slice-of-life anime. My stance on them have soften over the years, but this anime represents the worst that the genre has to offer. Every episode feels so inconsequential.
Tougen Anki Ep. 19
The sneering Momotoro finally manages to gaslight Mikado into hating Shiki, but our protagonist doesn’t want to fight his friend. This is when his superiors tell him how he’s gotta be strong! Y’see, the only reason why the Momotaros won’t come to the negotiating table is because the Onis are too weak. I get what the story is trying to say, but this isn’t like a playground bully who will respect you after you sock them in the face. We’re talking about monsters who are willing to murder children in order to further their agenda. I mean, why did Kougasaki’s father murder his family? Because he didn’t respect their lack of strength? No, he did it because he and the Momotaros like him are fundamentally fucked in the head. What even is Tougen Anki‘s stance anyway? Is it honestly trying to convince us that persecuting the Onis are bad because not all Onis are bad? Because right now, the anime has ironically given us very few reasons not to wipe out the Momotaros in retaliation. We’ve seen literally two Momotaros who aren’t gleeful child murderers, and that’s Shiki’s dad (who’s now dead) and Mikado. The rest of them are happy to frolic in the entrails of Oni children.
Gachiakuta Ep. 20
At first, it seemed like Dear and Bro were finally going to fight Bundus for real, but they are interrupted by the trash beast taking off into, um, a trash storm. Not super creative with the naming in this anime. In the ensuing chaos, the trio has to call a temporary truce in order to survive, and this sequence is admittedly pretty entertaining. But once the fun and games are over, we snap back to Zodyl predictably trying to recruit Rudo over to his side. I mean, it’s no “Luke, I am your father!” moment. He basically trying to tell a shounen hero to ditch his trash teammates. Hah, you just fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Never question a shounen hero’s beliefs in his friends! And right on cue, Enjin shows up. Probably a hype moment for fans. For me, however, cookie-cutter is fine, but the execution is kinda bland. You need to provide an inkling of doubt that Rudo might join Zodyl. Of course he won’t, but you gotta tease that possibility. Instead, the story merely banks on the fact that he’s really angry about what happened to him at the start of the series. That’s not even close to enough to override the power of friendship.
Everything else about everything else:
- Well, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road was fun for about twenty hours, but the more I play, the more I realize that everything just feels kinda samey. You can recruit over 5,000 characters, but they don’t feel all that unique from one another. The same can be said about all the different moves you can buy, all the different teams you play against, so on and so forth. I mean, does Reika play differently from Briar? Not really. I still feel like I got my money’s worth, but the game lacks the depth required to keep me hooked. I can’t see myself randomly booting the game up once a week just to play a match against the CPU, which is predictably braindead. I could go online and play against other people, but I’m not a PvP guy.
- In search of a new game to play, I finally started Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian, the single player game and not the ill-fated gacha. I waited all this time, because I didn’t want to start until Resna and Valeria were finally added. I know that if I had beaten the game on launch, I’d have never gone back for the DLCs. First impressions? Sadly, it’s not hooking me either. The way you inherit traits with the crafting system is odd. The character writing feels bland. As much as I like Sophie, shoving in famous heroines from previous games is not enough to win me over if the characterization is this shallow. And despite the colorful palette, the game looks washed out. I double-checked my brightness and contrast settings, and other games look fine. It doesn’t help either that certain areas in Resleriana seem to have choppy performance even on the PS5. I’m about seven hours in, and all the game has done is make me want to go back to a flagship Atelier title. Well, the Ryza DX trilogy just came out…
- Other than that, I’ve been looking for some interesting indie games to fill the gaps between longer games. Urban Myth Dissolution Center is kind of a cool narrative title. Wish it had any substantive gameplay at all, though.
- Ugh, we’re already through eight weeks of the season. I’m not sure I’m ready for 2026. Unfortunately, time never stops its march.
