Anime in a nutshell.
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s Ep. 11
Akira still can’t make up his mind! In fact, he wants to meet with Gram first! Dude, how many episodes are we going to waste on this dilemma? It’s not that profound. And again, I don’t care whether or not Akira wants to kill. If he wants to be a pacifist, then fine, be like Batman or whatever. Just catch the bad guys and leave them tied up for the authorities to find. What happens to those losers afterwards is out of his hands and thus none of his concern. I just hate all the pretentious hemming and hawing, e.g. Amelia trying to argue that you can’t forcibly end anyone’s story, not even a scumbag like Gram.
The best part is how Akira’s known far and wide as the Silent Assassin. People’s jaws drop when they find out who he is. Don’t you feel like a dork to have that title when you have yet to assassinate anyone? Again, no problem with him being a pacifist, but at this point, the core premise of this anime is a complete joke.
Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill S2 Ep. 11
The first dish we get is hayashi rice. This is supposedly a Western-style dish, because although it looks like yet another curry albeit darker, the dark brown sauce is actually demiglace. Demiglace is basically espagnole sauce mixed with beef stock (or veal if you wanna be a little fancier). And if you’re wondering what espagnole sauce is, it’s one of the French mother sauces. It’s made out of caramelized mirepoix, tomato paste, dark roux, and more beef stock. Basically, just a lot of stock. Mukoda doesn’t go the distance, though. He simply relies on hayashi roux cubes. That’s fine when cooking for convenience, but I expect a cooking show to be a little more… I dunno, thorough, I guess? It’s the same with curry. Yeah, you will save a lot of time with curry roux cubes, but making your own curry mix yields better results. I wouldn’t wanna go to a restaurant that relies on roux cubes.
After that, the gang goes fishing, so they dredge up a bunch of horrific sea monsters. Nevertheless, Mukoda goes about grilling the kraken like it’s just any standard squid. Eh, I think I would pass. Squid’s chewiness is manageable because the ones we eat are cut so thinly. I would not want to chow down on a squid that thick.
Yano-kun’s Ordinary Days Ep. 12
Sigh… the reason Yano wears an eyepatch is really stupid. It’s really, really, really stupid. Back in junior high school, Okamoto, the gloomy-looking girl, was his only friend. She convinced him to stop wearing the eyepatch for a few minutes — maybe thirty tops. Suddenly, a large sign fell on them, so all of his classmates started spreading rumors that his right eye was cursed. In reality, Yano didn’t want to be thought of as weird, so he used the curse as an excuse to avoid talking to anyone. Yup, that’s not weird at all! But seriously, I have a huge problem with Yano suddenly pushing his current high school friends away even though we just had an entire season of fluffy, light-hearted, super low stakes slice of life bullshit. Literally no one has gotten hurt over the past twelve episodes except him. I’m sure his junior high school experience sucked, but high school has been completely different. No one has bullied him, no one thinks he’s weird, no one has had anything remotely negative to say about Yano. Kiyoko, Hashiba, and their friends have all been next level supportive. They’ve all gone above and beyond to help this guy and drag him out of his shell. So how does Yano repay them? By constantly running away like a lil’ bi-… no, I should stop using that word. But he’s being super pathetic. If this had happened earlier in the series, I could look past it. But after an entire season of character development? It’s inexcusable! Yes, with his friends’ help in this final episode, Yano gets over his “trauma” before the episode ends. But I can’t shake the bad taste in my mouth. This show ended on a sour note for me. This sort of thing can’t happen this far into a story.
Oh yeah, Kiyoko gets to see his right eye, but they still hide it from us like it’s a big deal. Man, it’s just a fucking eye. Who cares?
Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits- Season 2 Ep. 11
The only food we get in this week’s episode is the tiramisu, which is unfortunate. Instead, we have to deal with the drama between Kasuga and Kiyo. She wants to bring his old self back, but he wants to send her back home to Tenjin-ya where she would be safe. At one point, Aoi accidentally reveals to Kiyo that he is Kasuga’s first love, which makes him blush. Bro, you two are literally married. What the hell?
Anyway, Kiyo ends up being right for wanting to send his wife away, because Kasuga takes a bullet that is meant for him. As a result, she now has three days to live before she succumbs to the deadly poison! The only cure? A super rare mushroom that only grows in O-Ryo’s hometown. As a result, the ice woman, Aoi and Ginji must set forth as a party and locate the antidote before their dear friend dies! But beware, as ice wolves in the area won’t hesitate to eat them all! Man, what is this JRPG ass quest we’re on? All of a sudden, it feels like we’re in a really bad video game. Plus, I didn’t expect Ginji to be so damn weak here. His foes look like generic wolves. But that’s not even the most pathetic part of the episode. For me, it’s the useless Kiyo seeing his wife slowly dying from poison and not even going out to look for the special mushrooms himself. “But he’s the king! He needs to be protected! He shouldn’t be doing such things!” Not even for his wife? Man, fuck off outta here. I’d rather die alone than have that kind of “loving” relationship.
Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! Ep. 12
What on earth did I just watch? Out of nowhere, a bunch of powerful women try to drag Arel to see their empress. You don’t get to see any of the fighting, by the way. We have neither the budget nor the time to animate any goddamn fight scenes. Who is the empress, you ask? Literally his older sister, of course. Warning: I’m going to use the word “literally” a lot, because this episode is literally that dumb. Basically, while Arel was busy learning all sorts of skills, Astea went out and literally established an empire. Why? Just so people wouldn’t look down on those who are classless like her brother. But that’s not the only reason. Naturally, she also wants to literally marry her brother. Yes, that’s right. And when he refuses, his sister literally tries to mind control him into becoming her lover. That’s really fucked up, but we’re going to gloss over the attempted mind rape because she’s a cute anime waifu. Again, what on earth am I watching?
I kept waiting for Arel to wake up in his bed and thus reveal that everything we just saw was simply a dream. But no, it’s all real. The next thing we see our classless hero returning home to his parents after being gone for a whole ass year. He has a quick chat with Reiner, then proceeds to fuck off on yet another one of his adventures. Meanwhile, Reiner has nothing better to do. I guess she’s just gonna stay and live with Arel’s family from now on. And… that’s it. That’s the end of the series. Somehow, a shitty anime becomes even shittier.
Dusk Beyond the End of the World Ep. 11
Sure, I understand why Amoru stuck around and cared for her friends as they went into “sleep mode.” They saved her life in the past, and are essentially the only family she has left. But while the two androids were asleep, Amoru should’ve been seeing the world, meeting new people, and living new experiences. Instead, she fixated on her two friends to the point of madness. It doesn’t surprise me at all that she ends up falling for Yokurata’s words — oh yeah, he’s a bad guy now — and thus allows him to turn her into an android. Amoru sheds her body without any guarantee that doing so would convince her two friends to ehlsea with her. Tragic. And maybe if Akira and Yugure had taken Amoru’s affections for them a little more seriously, we could’ve prevented this. Maybe if Yugure didn’t ditch Amoru for seven years just to save Akira, we could’ve prevented this. But alas…
On a different note, I don’t like how Akira conquered the issue with him being an android offscreen. He basically spent seven years exclusively with Yugure while they slept. During that time, they worked out all sorts of issues… and we didn’t get to see any of it. Pretty weak, if you ask me. All this build-up, and Akira simply “gets over it.”
It’s just one of those shows where you end up not liking any of the characters. There’s not one person here that I feel like rooting for. I guess I pity Amoru, but that’s about it. Hopefully, next week’s episode is the finale, and I can rid myself of this show for good.
Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! Ep. 11
The shape of the fruit and its giant seed makes me think it’s an avocado. But according to Melphie, the flesh is translucent and very sweet.
But on a more serious note, I have no clue where this show is going. We’re near the end of the season, right? And yet, we spend nearly half of this week’s episode gushing over the fruit. We then spend nearly another half of it talking about potentially raising a puppy from a wild species. Then our heroine dolls herself up in order to prove that she’s ready to be the next duchess. Uh, is this it? Is this really how the story’s going to end? Melphie impresses everyone and convinces a blacksmith to forge a sword for her?
My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha Ep. 11
Literally the same setup as always. The elves don’t believe what they see with their own eyes — “Level 9999? No way!” — they act cocky, they get a rude awakening, then they lose. The elf general takes two rounds to go down, but he still goes to something as simple as a punch. On the other hand, you’ll have to wait till the season finale to see Sasha get tortured. How exciting.
This must be what it feels like to be a college football fan. I’ve personally never gotten into it, because 1) my alma mater doesn’t have a football team and 2) 90% of the games are complete stomps. Nevertheless, this show is like watching Ohio State demolish a school no one has ever heard of. Afterwards, the OSU players line up to kick the other team’s mascot in the balls. That’s the torture part.
“But the torture here is justified!”
Uh-huh.
A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Ep. 12
That’s how the season ends? I feel like all we got was one big, fat exposition dump followed by Lufas gaining the determination to stop Alovenus. “To be continued,” folks. But by the time a second season rolls around, I’ll likely have forgotten all the details. As for Dina, she’s probably one of the Goddess’s avatars, but they make it so obvious that I can’t help but wonder if it’s a red herring. Ah well, like I’ve said before, I’m not that invested in the story, so I couldn’t care less if she’s a double, triple, or quadruple agent. It was kinda neat at first if she ended up backstabbing Lufas, but I’m over it now.
Would I recommend this show? If you like action, I think the fight scenes are generally decent. But for me, I’m not emotionally invested in any of the characters, so the well animated battles are wasted on me. Who cares if it looks cool if I don’t care what the outcome is? And the story simply doesn’t hook me. Didn’t care about it before Alovenus’s presence reared its ugly head, still don’t care afterwards.
My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! Ep. 11
Most of the episode can be ignored. The only part that’s relevant is near the end. One of the club members gets sick, so the play is pretty much ruined unless someone steps up as a replacement. Naturally, that someone is Iroha. She will finally debut as an actress. Up until now, she’s been hiding behind an anonymous persona. On a somewhat related noted, there’s some slight foreshadowing with Mashiro. Maybe she’ll finally reveal her identity to the rest of the team. It would make sense for this to happen in the season finale along side Iroha’s debut performance.
The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest Ep. 11
Hoo boy, an entire episode focused on just beating Melea. Basically, teamwork makes the dream work. In the middle of the fight, Olivia finally asks the right questions, i.e. Melea’s actions are nonsense. Nevertheless, he still refuses to explain himself unless she defeats him. Well, I think we’ve finally achieved that by the end of the episode. What I’m afraid of, however, is getting one big flashback at the start of next week’s episode. It’s going to be boring. It’s going to be dumb. A show like this needs stronger characters, because the plot is nothing to write home about. But we’ve gone through 90% of the season, and Alec and friends still haven’t grown on me whatsoever.
Hands off: Sawaranaide Kotesashi-kun Ep. 11
Imagine pouring your heart out to a guy just for him to ask to touch your butt. At least it’s consensual? Anyway, MC molests basketball girl’s butt for a bit, then tells her she needs to strengthen her core. So she goes to work on her glutes and… yeah, you’re not toning anything in just two weeks.
Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! Ep. 11
Alma has been a poorly kept secret for a while now, so she’s finally caught the attention of outsiders. As a result, her parents get jobs at a big, fancy-pants institute in America. They’re even treated to a classic American breakfast! Wait, is that butter on the bacon? Also, these people are supposed to be Americans.
You can already tell where this is headed. Enji and Suzume are swamped with with their new responsibilities, so they start neglecting Alma. She then runs off into space to… I dunno, stew in her own sadness? I guess a cold, uncaring vacuum full of dangerous radiation from the sun is good for that sort of thing. Even so, classic Japanese dad sees his sad daughter but still thinks work is more important, so Suzume has to scold him (even though she’s just as responsible for this mess as he is). The two parents thus recruit their friends to help locate Alma, and we end with a touching reunion. Like… literally the end. Yeah, you just watched the season finale. This really snuck up on me. I guess I expected the usual twelve or thirteen episodes. I expected more of a build-up to this whole mess rather than just dumping the final episode on me.
So would I recommend this show? It had a few funny moments here or there, but the laughs weren’t consistent enough. Nor were the characters all that interesting to boot. So no, I wouldn’t recommend the show. It’s pretty mediocre.
Dad is a hero, Mom is a spirit, I’m a reincarnator Ep. 11
I feel like this anime wastes so much time on things we already know. Yes, Ravisel was responsible for Rafilia getting kidnapped. No, Rafilia still hasn’t gotten over her inferiority complex. Yes, she still blames Ellen for everything. No, Sauvel hasn’t stopped being neglectful. Yes, if Ravisel wants his hands on the medicine, he’s going to have to pay for it and pay handsomely. No, the people in this world cannot reproduce Ellen’s medicine (they’re basically antibiotics). Yes, the royal family will remain cursed for now, because Gadiel’s ancestors didn’t show contrition. No, Gadiel can’t just talk to Ellen, because his father is a shithead who keeps messing with her family.
Like c’mon, did we really need a whole ass episode to hammer these obvious points home? The answer is apparently yes. I sat there for over twenty minutes, waiting for the anime to show me anything new. No new developments, no twist, na-freaking-da. Oh well, one episode left.
Mechanical Marie Ep. 11
Walking in on someone while they’re showering is such a dumb trope. Can you not hear the shower running before you open the door? And after you open the door, do you not feel the hot air rushing out to greet you? Why is the bathroom door not locked, you ask? Because it’s ridiculously designed to be locked from the outside. So now we have an even dumber trope: two very naked love interests trapped in an enclosed space. Marie could break the door down with her super strength, but she thinks Roy would kill her for doing so. But why? Because damage to his master’s mansion is more important than his master sleeping naked overnight in a damp bathroom that will rapidly get unbearably cold?
Well, Arthur immediately picks Marie up and puts her back in the tub. Yeah, sure, it’s full of hot bathwater… for now. But it’s eventually going to obey the laws of thermodynamics. That’s something I would expect a future CEO to know. What are you going to do? Replace the cold water all night? People shouldn’t stay submerged in water for that long anyway. This is the best that a future CEO can come up with? Ugh, I can’t. My brain hurts from all the stupidity.
What’s funny is that this is supposed to be a pivotal moment in the plot. Marie finally realizes that Arthur knows her secret. Meanwhile, Arthur thinks he’s confessing his love to her. We’re on the verge of getting substantive progress in a romance series. Sure, this sort of thing isn’t super rare anymore in anime these days, but it’s still infuriatingly uncommon if you think about it. But I can’t focus on our two lovebirds potentially moving their relationship to the next stage, because I’m so annoyed with the setup.
Out of nowhere, Arthur immediately collapses before either of them can commit to anything. Of course. Apparently, he’s been poisoned. How convenient. Then when he wakes up, he forgets almost everything he ever knew about Marie, including the fact that she’s human. How is this even possible? Because the poison is supposed to make him forget that he’s an heir to a massive corporate empire. So now Roy refuses to find the antidote, because they don’t want Arthur to remember that Marie is human. Ahhhhh, fucking kill me.
Look, I know Marie feels guilty about lying to him — not to mention the fact that he’s back to being a misanthropic douchebag again — so I’m certain that Arthur is going to get his memories back with her help in the season finale. Hell, there’s a nonzero chance he hasn’t forgotten shit and is just faking it. But I’m so exasperated with this episode that I almost want to call it quits on the show right here and now. If it weren’t for the fact that we only have one more episode left, I probably would’ve pulled the plug.
Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right Ep. 10
Well, it’s finally the school festival episode, but there’s nothing here that you haven’t seen before, i.e. maid cafes, food stalls, carnival games, etc. Luna has a post-festival show, but festival performances pretty much peaked with Haruhi and it’s been downhill ever since. We do get to finally meet her mother, so… that’s something, I guess. This show’s primary malfunction is that it has almost nothing new or interesting to offer to the either the romance or slice-of-life genre. Nothing about it stands out. I can’t even complain about it being exceptionally bad. It’s just there. This is an anime. It exists.
Tougen Anki Ep. 22
I audibly groaned when we got the backstory for the evil ass Momotaro. I’m so tired of this narrative device. Rather than building up a villain gradually as the story unfolds over how many episodes, let’s just dump their entire life story on you as they lay dying. Give me a break. I groaned even louder when the narrator chimed in simply to tell us how other Momotaros had started to look up to him. Why? Because he was able to climb the ranks despite being just so talentless. Such feckless storytelling.
The fight between Shiki and Mikado is also a joke, because one of the Oni is only there to yap over the action. “He must have been born with a different level of killer instinct.” Whoa, really?! Tell me more, peanut gallery of one! Anyway, it’s only the first half of the fight, so Shiki loses the entire time. But then he comes up with a plan that no one else can predict! And just like that, the episode ends. Predictable and feckless storytelling.
Gachiakuta Ep. 23
The Cleaners quickly destroy the giant trash beast in just the opening alone, which leaves the rest of the episode for a lot of low stakes nonsense. For example, it turns out Remlin pranked Zanka, so he didn’t get the same protective spell as everyone. He got some weird Popeye-esque buff instead. I guess that explains him completely jobbing it to what’s-his-face. I care so much about this anime that I can’t even remember the bad guys’ names. But Zanka’s not mad at Remlin, ’cause he admits that he sucks. A spell isn’t going to change that. See, it’s good to know your limits. But I guess the major takeaway here is that he’s going to keep pushing forward even if his ego’s bruised, and Rudo has newfound respect for him. What more can you expect from a pair of shounen protagonists?
Elsewhere, the villains do what villains always do: pretend that everything went according to plan, then talk ominously about their future, oh-so-villainous plans. Dude sure seems cocky for someone who did jack shit while his underlings were doing all the dirty work. Look at me, I eat cockroaches! By the way, more trash beasts! More hunting down pieces of the Watchmen series! And then finally, we’ll invade Sphere like we always planned!… …in like 2040 or whenever the concluding arc is finally adapted.
Everything else about everything else:
Despite all my bellyaching last week about how getting old was impacting my ability to tackle harder games, I still managed to finish Nine Sols. I got the platinum for it too, which meant not relying on story mode to beat the game. I guess I just needed more time to adapt to the combat. If you go by just deaths alone, the first boss ended up being the second hardest for me. I took forever to acclimate myself to Nine Sols’ parry timing. Once I did, however, I breezed through most of the game until the final boss (she’s just miles harder than any other enemy in the game).
Anyway, Nine Sols is a cool, little indie game. Great combat, really cool art direction, a little iffy on the exploration and atmosphere, typical bleak-ass storytelling. What do I mean about the last bit? Well, it’s one of those games where almost every side quest leads to a depressing conclusion. In fact, I’m still salty about one of the trophies. To get the “Repurposed” trophy, you have to not destroy any of the guide robots you come across. So I’m thinking to myself, Cool, I didn’t want to hurt them anyway. So what do I find at the end of the game? One of the “friendly” NPCs has gone and destroyed all of those robots I spared in order to repurpose their parts. Bah. Still worth playing just for the gameplay alone, though. I hope the devs’ next project isn’t another walking sim horror game. Yeah, I didn’t like Devotion very much. But that’s a different topic for a different day.
Right now, I’m trying to get Blasphemous‘s true ending. I’ve beaten the game before, but I only ever got the bad ending. I never knew that you could destroy the Confessor statues and thus do a bunch of side challenges necessary for the good ending. Blasphemous takes such much inspiration from Dark Souls that even the quests are opaque and thus require a guide. And man, my opinion of this game has certainly changed from when I first played it. Blasphemous is odd in that it’s both insultingly easy and utterly frustrating at the same time. None of the enemies are mechanically challenging. None of the bosses should take you more than two or three tries tops if you can beat Silksong or Nine Sols. But I’ve died more to cheap instant death spikes and bottomless pits than all of Blasphemous‘s bosses combined. It doesn’t help either that Blasphemous feels the most sluggish out of all the Metroidvanias I’ve played. Going from Nine Sols to Blasphemous is basically like going from Sekiro to Dark Souls. Love the art and lore of the game, but I can’t appreciate the gameplay anymore. As a result, I haven’t touched the sequel, but I’m no longer excited at the prospect of playing it. I might finally do Octopath Traveler 0 next.
I should stop being lazy and start checking out what shows to watch for the winter season. I already have two that I will definitely cover, but there is still a ton of anime to sort out.
