He lied as easily as he breathed.

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My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s Ep. 12

Welp, Akira finally did it. He finally took a life. And boy, it sure felt like pulling teeth just to get our assassin over the goddamn finish line. This show tries way too hard to be deep and profound without having the actual balls to confront actual darkness. Again, to very much belabor the point, Gram has gotten countless people killed and will keep terrorizing the nearby lands if he’s allowed to live. Not only that, he has already made an attempt on Amelia, and he will keep pursuing her as long as he lives. Basically, there’s no moral dilemma here. There’s no grey zone whatsoever. None. Zilch. Nada. Almost everyone wants Akira to take this guy out, too. We can honestly just call this self-defense, and that’s my problem with this whole “should I kill or should I not kill” arc. It so desperately wants to paint this picture of a character caught between a rock and a hard place, arms and limbs trembling as he holds a knife above his target’s head. Oh dear, will this be Akira’s first descent into hell? I’m sorry, but this is an insult to everyone who has ever had to take on the burden of protecting others.

Nobody has ever been this dramatic about taking out the most obvious scumbag ever. Imagine if someone was as hesitant as Akira to kill, say, Ed Gein. Or Epstein for that matter. ‘Cause that’s what it feels like. When people talk about how taking a life is traumatic, they don’t usually mean taking out a target with a body count in the tens or hundreds! They don’t usually mean a known trafficker who has ruined the lives of countless people! What they’re usually talking about is perhaps a cop who returns fire and ends up killing someone in self defense. Not the biggest fucking human trafficker in all the lands! But this story is so scared that the audience might hate Akira for being a killer — EVEN THOUGH HIS JOB IS TO BE A FUCKING ASSASSIN!!!! — so they give him one of the most heinous targets possible — the biggest scumbag to ever walk this earth! This way, no one can actually blame him for taking a life. But at the same time, the story still wants to keep its oh so deep and profound “Ohmygawd, what have I become” navel-gazing bullshit. What the writer doesn’t realize is that this only makes Akira look incredibly weak and pathetic, ’cause who the hell would hesitate in his position? So yeah, I won’t lose any sleep if I never see another episode of this dumb, pretentious isekai.

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Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill S2 Ep. 12

The story sucks like always, so let’s just jump straight to the food. Other than the mountains of (fish) meat and shaved ice, Mukoda also whips up okonomiyaki for his familiars. Obviously, this is not the sort of thing that’s readily available in San Francisco. Well, a few restaurants offer it, but be ready to pay an arm and a leg. But it’s a nice snack. I just don’t find it very filling.

Unlike the monster meat lady, this show at least sticks to its guns. I only wish Mukoda had a more refined palate. He kinda eats like a teen boy, but to be fair, that’s probably the primary audience for an anime like this.

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Dusk Beyond the End of the World Ep. 12

Stupid. Just stupid. The story basically gave up on itself. OWEL has been pretty Orweillian by burning books and suppressing technology. After all, the organization was more than willing to gun down an entire village in order to capture Akira and further its agenda. But it’s okay now, because the original Akira has faith in Oboro! So y’see, we’re going to be just fine! In fact, everything is going to be just fine. Amoru’s crash out doesn’t have any consequences. They’ll just hack her back into her original body, then we can all get ehlsea’d. Even Yoiyami is more or less resurrected. Yeah, yeah, she loses her memories. That just means you get to make new ones.

So what is this anime even about, you ask? “Is AI good or bad?” “Can AI have personhood?” “What responsibilities do scientists and researchers have when their technology lead to dire consequences?” Boy, look at all those moral quandaries. What do you reckon we should do with them? Throw them out. Just throw them all out. There’s literally only one thing that matters: “Why choose one waifu when you can have two?”

Oh well, at least Yokurata getting burnt to a crisp looked kinda gnarly.

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Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! Ep. 12

Every time I finish watching one of these shows, I keep asking out loud, “Huh, is that it?” And yeah, that is truly it. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting. A sense of finality? Some closure? How silly of me. Now of course, I understand that the vast majority of anime series are adaptations of existing, ongoing works. I understand that anime exists to push sales of manga, light novels, and other related merchandise. Nevertheless, don’t you think a compelling arc would do a better job at enticing people to fork over their hard-earned cash? What exactly is enticing about Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, though? Nothing happens. Nothing! This whole episode was about impressing some jackass blacksmith. Then our lovely, charming couple reiterated their desire to eventually give up the puppy we just met last week! Yep, that’s all there is to this season “finale.” This is like the LaCroix of anime plots. Don’t go in expecting an actual story with some meat to chew on. Rather, just be content with the subtle aroma of a story, and you won’t be disappointed! But for the rest of us who have a pulse, Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! just doesn’t pass muster. It’s not even good at its own gimmick, which is showing us delicious monster meat! Seriously, where’s the meat?!

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My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha Ep. 12

I laughed when Light’s servants saw his injured right hand and immediately wore their looks of concern. There’s so little substance behind their love and adoration for him. Mel started worshipping the ground he walked on from the very first second he summoned her. There was no rhyme or reason to her actions. She came preprogrammed and preassembled to love Light. I doubt the other servants were any different. He didn’t have to earn their love. He didn’t have to earn their respect. This is just a straight up cult.

The best part was when Sasha tried to offer up her body in return for mercy, so one of the servants got all pissy: “Not only do you refuse to admit wrongdoing, but you peddle fake love…” What? Like your love for him is real? C’mon, man.

I laughed a second time when Light told his servants that he will “make the world a place where people can live in peace and happiness.” How can you say that with a straight face after torturing people?

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My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! Ep. 12

I get it, I get it: Mashiro is confessing her feelings to the MC through her script, and Iroha is confessing her feelings to the MC through her acting. What an amazing two-prong attack. It’s a double for the ages. Too bad the MC Is dumb as bricks, so none of their feelings get through to him. Plus, Iroha always has to hedge her bets in order to protect herself from his rejection. “It was just a prank, bro!” gets pretty tiring after a while. Anyway, if you haven’t watched a second of this show, don’t bother. It’s one of those no-progress romcoms with nothing new or interesting to offer to the genre. I won’t remember this show ever existed by the time the new year rolls around.

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The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest Ep. 12

I won’t bring up Melea, because I’ve said enough about him. Just know that this season finale did nothing to change my opinion of the guy. As for the show’s ending, it’s not just open-ended. There’s now a bigger picture involving the dungeon cores. We gotta seek them out in order to locate Eden! We also can’t forget about Yorha’s mysterious past, which she conveniently has no memory of! Last but not least, Alec has to discover the truth about what happened to his mother! Essentially, you just watched a 12-episode prologue. You want the good stuff? You feel as though you’ve earned it after watching a boring season full of flat characters? Well, you can’t have it. The anime’s over!

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Hands off: Sawaranaide Kotesashi-kun Ep. 12

The vice principal actually takes her top off around the MC in order to try and prove that he’s a perv. But she literally just exposed herself to a minor. Someone should arrest this woman. She can’t titillate him anyway. According to the MC, he literally disabled his ability to be turned on by women a long time ago.

Anyway, I can’t tell if this was the last episode or not, but it’s certainly the last time I’ll be covering it. I kinda rolled with it since the episodes were only twelve minutes long. But with the winter season just around the corner, there’s no real reason to continue this farce. Shit show, and somehow even shittier-looking boobs. Seriously, if you’re going to goon, then at least learn to draw a woman’s body.

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Dad is a hero, Mom is a spirit, I’m a reincarnator Ep. 12

Royals are gonna royal, so people continue to suffer under Ravisel’s bungling rule. The masses were so close to overthrowing the bastard. So, so close. But alas, we can’t go and Marie Antoinette his ass like he deserves. Our only consolation prize is having Ravisel swear that he’ll never mess with Ellen’s family again. So basically, all we have is his word. Weak. Even if Ravisel sticks to his promises, it’s the most boring conclusion possible. I also feel the same about our heroine’s successes. Y’know, saving everyone with her medicine, restoring the farmland, and creating jobs for everyone. All of those things are expected of her as a protagonist. I’ve seen countless other isekai anime do the exact same thing. If this show actually wants to leave a mark on my memory, then it should’ve gotten rid of the aristocracy. Unfortunately, the story wussed out. I suspect we want to keep Gadiel around as a prince, because he’s so obviously positioned to be Ellen’s future love interest.

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Mechanical Marie Ep. 12

A confession of love is one thing, but I didn’t expect these two to actually get married. Talk about a rush job. I guess I should toast Mechanical Marie for not wasting our time, but when you get down to brass tacks, it just wasn’t a very good anime. The only character I unequivocally liked was Marie 2, i.e. the robot meant to be a recurring gag. Meanwhile, the jokes were terrible all season long (“She’s a robot, so she eats batteries! Get it? Hahahahaha…”), and the animation quality sank immediately after the first episode. I mean, would it hurt you to splurge a bit on the final episode? Marie looks ghastly here. Oh well, no point dwelling on just another throwaway romcom.

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Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right Ep. 11

The only part I liked was when they visited a cat cafe. Other than that, well… it’s just your typical Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right episode, i.e. nothing important really happens. Otori will supposedly meet Luna’s father in the finale. This would normally be a big deal, but there’s literally no romantic chemistry between the two main characters. As such, meeting your friend’s father should be a walk in a park.

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Tougen Anki Ep. 23

Sigh, another fight where Shiki gets his ass kicked until he magically powers up. The worst part is when he goes berserk. The design here is just terrible. All you see is this blackish-red blob surrounded by or extruding guns. There’s no artistry to it whatsoever. To top it all off, the story does one of the most pathetic attempts at jerking our tears. “Oh my god, Shiki’s gone berserk but he still refuses to kill Mikado! They are true bros!” These two shitters hung out like once or twice. Why are we acting like this is some deep friendship forged in fire? These two barely know each other.

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Gachiakuta Ep. 24

At Zanka’s insistence, Rudo tries his best to lift Remlin’s spirits. This somehow leads to him and the rest of the kiddies grabbing some paint and paying a visit to Canvas Town. I just had to shake my head when he first approached Remlin in the most shounen protagonist way possible, i.e. a lot of screaming. Why are young male protagonists always screaming in anime? Is that what Japanese boys are like? Still, this is the sort of “training” I’d like to see more of. More heart, more emotional growth, less boring fighting or villains pontificating for episodes after episodes.

Sadly, we can’t end on a happy note. Not only is there a reveal about Rudo sharing the same last name as the original owner of the Watchmen series, we also see who has Amo chained up and imprisoned: Tamsy. Man, hasn’t this girl suffered enough in her life?

Will I keep watching this show when Bones inevitably adapts more of the source material? Eh, it’s not the best, but it’s not the worst either. At least the character designs are tasteful, unlike Tougen Anki.

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Everything else about everything else:

Turns out we won’t glimpse a new season of Dandadan until 2027, but that’s what most people predicted, right? You can’t pump out quality at such high speeds unless you’re abusing your animators. I just hope I’ll be able to see the whole series in anime form before I’m six feet under.

I’ve been playing a lot of Octopath Traveler 0. The gameplay is great. Love the town-building aspect. Unfortunately, the story, as usual, is kinda shit. Octopath‘s gimmick is that you’ll have a plethora of small stories to choose from instead of only one. As a departure from previous games, 0 puts the spotlight on the villains instead of the eight heroes you would normally be playing as. Unfortunately, this gimmick sorta necessitates cheap, shallow storytelling. For instance, you’ll meet a character, have them betray you, get their sad backstory, and bury them in the span of fifteen or thirty or so minutes. It’s just ludicrous, but more importantly, there’s also no chance for me to get emotionally invested in any of the characters. It doesn’t help either that both the English and Japanese cast are just hamming it up. Worst of all, none of your party members have anything to contribute to the primary storyline, and party banter is one of my favorite things about JRPGs. Ah well, at least I like the gameplay even if the game is sorta pissy easy.