Same, girl, same…
Wash It All Away Ep. 9
It’s storming, so like a stereotypical anime girl, Wakana is scared of the thunder. Uh-huh. This leads to her and the minor sharing a room overnight, because she totally wouldn’t be able to manage without him. Nor is there any other place in the entire business where he could sleep. The other room is filled with clothes that need to be dried. Can’t help it. Yep, just gotta sleep next to each other, no questions asked! Needless to say, he gets a glimpse of her cleavage in the middle of the night. Wait, what is this show about again?
Before dozing off, Wakana worries that her memory loss might worsen. Should see a doctor about that, not some random high school kid in the neighborhood.
There was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party, so I Tried Confessing to Her Ep. 9
Yoki realizes that he hasn’t made much progress with Cecilia, so he tries to speed things up… by learning about her from other people? I don’t think you need to know every single detail about someone in order to date them. In fact, isn’t that the whole point of dating? To get to know them slowly over time? Normally, i.e. if this was my friend coming to me for advice, I’d say something like, “She’s just not into you, bro.” If after all this time, they’re still not an item, then there’s just no chemistry. But this is fiction, so Yoki and Cecilia are fated for each other. They’re just being arbitrarily kept apart for the whole “will they, won’t they” dance. Gotta keep us watching ’til the very end, after all! In that case, Yoki doesn’t really need to change anything, because it wouldn’t matter. He just needs to keep being himself, which is what Mikana tries to tell him in a roundabout fashion.
Tune In to the Midnight Heart Ep. 9
Kirino’s sub count has been growing pretty steadily, but she becomes insecure when she compares herself to a 3M subs vtuber (probably a Kizuna Ai reference, which is funny because she kinda plateau’d a long time ago). Comparison is the thief of joy, blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before. Moreover, it makes no sense to do this to yourself. It’s like uploading a couple of songs onto Youtube, then wondering why you’re not as rich or popular as Taylor Swift or Beyonce. But the problem here isn’t that she’s acting stupid. The problem here is that she’s acting unrealistically stupid. In a bid for popularity, Kirino starts doing ill-conceived streams that are doomed to fail. Yes, she’s desperate, but her desperation is exaggerated beyond credulity. It ends up having the opposite effect of what it’s trying to achieve. Why not approach her insecurity with a little realism and earnestness? Being hyperbolic about it just makes me roll my eyes rather than empathize with what she’s going through. For instance, take the cooking stream. The story piles idiocy on top of idiocy: no handcam and she’s attempting to do a four-tier cake. What if it was just a normal cooking stream, but Kirino is not good at cooking? As a result, the cooking goes badly, she gets nervous and messes up her words, there are long awkward pauses, etc? It culminates in Kirino tearfully apologizing to her audience then abruptly ending the stream. No silly over-the-top nonsense, but it would’ve been heartfelt unlike what we got.
Anyway, Yamabuki’s right about a vtuber’s voice being their biggest asset. I’m pretty sure a former shark vtuber mainly blew up because of her voice. He’s also probably right about the fact that Kirino simply lacks exposure. There are a ton of vtubers in the 10k to 100k range that I’ve never heard of, even though having that many subs should be considered relatively successful. Nevertheless, these vtubers simply do not reach me, because they’re at the mercy of Youtube’s recommendations algorithm. Moreover, they probably just react to vids like “Top 5 Karen encounters with the police!,” and I don’t watch that shit. But I digress. So how do you get more exposure? Collabs, of course! The problem with collabs, however, is that they often feel fake. Oh look, these two vtubers who have never interacted before suddenly seem like besties on stream. It comes off as incredibly perfunctory, especially when the collab ends immediately on the 1 or 2-hour dot.
For the remainder of the episode, Kirino more or less bumbles her way to success with Yamabuki’s help. For instance, she bombs a gaming stream, but still goes viral because her audience thinks she pissed herself. She enters a competition where the grand prize is a collab with the aforementioned 3M subs vtuber, but she is eliminated immediately. Even so, the 3M subs vtuber calls her anyway. They actually cut to the person behind the 3M subs vtuber when she praises Kirino’s advisor (a.k.a. Yamabuki). So great, I guess she’s also an important character. But how is she even related to Yamabuki? Bah, probably also listened to that dumb radio show.
The Case Book of Arne Ep. 9
As of 12:30 PM PST, there is still no new episode on Crunchyroll. I’m not going to sit here and keep refreshing the page, so I’m just going to assume the series took the week off. Ah well.
Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None Ep. 9
Orhun hangs out with his new party, and he’s mightily impressed. Somehow, this takes up half of the episode. Nothing too exciting to talk about here.
In the latter half of the episode, two of his new party members — Selma and Rain — get drunk and hit on him. Ladies, please, he literally just joined. Do we need to have a talk with the guild’s HR rep?
In any case, Selma comes to the realization that she might be in love with Orhun. Of course she is. He already has one sister, so why not two? She and Sophia can now match the two childhood friends also gunning for him. Everything good comes in pairs.
But yeah, no real plot development this week.
Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord Ep. 8
Episodes ago, Ortho and his group were told not to find the dungeon in the region, because if they did, the village would need to inform the capital. This would put the village on the map, adventurers would come flooding in, other countries might target the village, etc. Needless to say, they found the dungeon. I mean, you knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of when. In any case, this episode is all about setting things up for the incoming adventurers. For some reason, adventurers in this isekai look like raiders from Mad Max.
The only other significant thing that happened this week was Xara bumping into a girl on the way to the capital. Somehow, she instantly falls for him. She relocates to the village and even starts sharing a home with Xara. Wow, kids sure do move fast these days. I can’t help but find her suspicious because A) she’s in love with him already, and B) are female characters even allowed to love anyone but the main character? You can’t do that! Not in an isekai!
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Ep. 8
Yako is staying over at Tonome’s place for the first time, and I’ll be disappointed if they don’t hook up. Look, if Kaguya and Miyuki can do it, then so can these two grown-ups. To hell with purity culture. You gotta make sure you have sexual compatibility with your partner before you move in together!
Immediately, Tonome lets me down, and Yako lacks Kaguya’s boldness. Groan. What a weak ass sleepover. After that, I pretty much lost interest in the rest of the episode. Uh, I guess Tonome is still keeping secrets from Yako. Well, that’s extra shitty.
The Holy Grail of Eris Ep. 8
So the cat’s finally out of the bag: the Holy Grail of Eris is just an invasion plot. Preventing Scarlett from marrying Enrique meant Faris couldn’t turn Adelbide into a vassal state… at least, for about ten years or so. Basically, Scarlett’s own father had her sacrificed for the good of the country. He had no other choice! Killing her was the only solution! Well, Constance certainly doesn’t agree, so right before the episode ends, she goes and confronts the duke.
Shitty parents aside, I’m disappointed. An invasion plot? That’s it? Kinda anticlimactic if you ask me. All the secret phrases, the weird cultists, the masked parties full of illicit activities, the drug use, the human trafficking… and all we get is a freakin’ invasion plot? Bro. Maybe if the build-up had been stronger, I wouldn’t feel so let down. But the pacing has been shit for weeks, and it was all for nothing.
The best part was how Lily pretty much sniffed the whole thing out. In a way, she laid the foundation for Scarlett’s vengeance, and Lily didn’t even need magical ghost powers. Maybe she should’ve been the protagonist of the story. Her downfall was that she didn’t have connections to bail her out like Constance, so I guess that part is true to life.
Roll Over and Die Ep. 8
Blind girl says her name is Ink, and she’s now a fixture in the household. These adventurer anime always need some broken down, tortured waif character for the protagonist to promptly adopt. Usually, this is a shortcut for male heroes. To have an actual daughter, you have to, like, get married and shit. No self-respecting Christian isekai hero would dare to have a biological child out of wedlock! Then you gotta do the deed, wait nine months, then hope it’s a girl (’cause ew, who wants a son in an anime?!). Then you gotta raise her for a few years until she can finally talk and thus become a contributing character in the story. Babies generally aren’t that interesting. Point is, male protagonists ain’t got time for all that bullshit, so they opt for the quick-fix solution: just go down to the slave market and find yourself a little girl to buy. That’s practically every other adventurer show out there. Even innocuous ones like the anime where the protagonist opens a restaurant still has him adopting a slave girl. It’s this weird trope that has to crop up in almost every single one of these stories. Sure, none of these isekai protagonists ever abuse their slave daughters, but the fact that this is an actual trend makes you wanna side-eye the fuck outta them.
Anyway, I guess Roll Over and Die has an excuse, because it’s not like Flum or Milkit can go to a Fertility Center in this universe (unless that’s what the Church has been working on!). So sure, why not have a blind girl fall into your lap courtesy of your current biggest enemy Dein? Not like Ink has anywhere else to go. Flum tries to look into her past, but they can’t find any record of her ever having a family. Hell, they don’t even know which orphanage she’s from. I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it? She’s a Church experiment.
Speaking of the Church, Dein has gone and signed up with them. Seeing orbs of human flesh makes you devout, I guess? Or rather, he needs divine intervention to deal with the trauma. Look how mind broken he is. Oh well, he’s still the bad guy. The only difference now is that he’ll be fighting for the Church, who are the uber bad guys.
Last but not least, Milkit is all healed up. Okay.
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar Ep. 8
Apparently, this all started in some long, lost kingdom from ages past. Some guy became the first vampire, there was a sickly princess who had to drink the blood of a wolf god, and then… uh… summarizing it would take too much effort. I don’t give a shit. All you really need to know is that Sooha is the reincarnation of a princess of said made-up, vaguely European kingdom. Oh yeah, the vampy boys used to be her knights. Unlike her, they did not technically reincarnate. Through magical shaman powers, the princess sent them into the future where they… strangely reverted back into babies? So they did reincarnate? Ah, who fucking cares.
HELL MODE: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing Ep. 8
Allen can now hunt C-rank mobs. That’s pretty much it. A bunch of other stuff happens, but they don’t seem all that important to me. For instance, the eldest Granville son comes home from school to pay his family a visit. He and Allen have a duel, which the latter promptly loses. Yawn. A viscount drops by just to brag about how his daughter is talentless. Apparently, nobles do not want to have a talent. Again, yawn. Yeah, I dunno, not really much of a plot here.
Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling Ep. 8
Myria gives the dragon a name, but I’m not gonna use it. I’m not going to encourage inappropriate human-dragon relations. I know it’s inevitable; I know that’s where we’re headed. Even so, I’m going to keep calling him the dragon protagonist and hope to this isekai universe’s god that he remains single.
Anyway, Doz, that adventurer who died weeks ago, somehow shows back up as a zombie toting a rock dragon egg. Something is making him lure the rock dragon back to the human village. Something obviously wants to cause some mayhem. Well, wouldja looka that? Our boring isekai anime about a dragon suddenly has a plot. I just wonder why this something has to puppet a dead human in the first place. If you have the power to control a dead body as well as a pack of wolves, why not just do it yourself? For the drama, I guess? Just wait until the humans are all asleep, then sneak into the village with the rock dragon egg in tow. Seems far more foolproof to me than relying on a dead person.
Scum of the Brave Ep. 8
Investigating and getting revenge for Ishino’s death is one thing. Taking a bounty to drag a kid back to his abusive family is another thing entirely. Not only that, Yashiro murders the kid’s sister in cold blood in front of him. Like what the hell, dude? When the kid then begs to be mercy killed by his own gang leader — and is mercy killed — that pretty much says it all. The kid would rather die than be under his father’s thumb. And yet none of this seems to give Yashiro much pause. I get it, he’s more of an antihero than hero. Still, it was all fun and games when our devil may care bounty hunter was pissing his days and money away at the bar, playing Magic the Gathering or whatever. But I don’t really like Yashiro anymore. His extreme amorality in this week’s episode leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and as such, I think he should stay the hell away from the three girls who seemingly look up to him. Unfortunately, him training them is one of the major premises of this show.
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk Ep. 8
Takiguchi and Ichimura are now officially dating after the whole summer festival incident. Cool, we got over the first major hurdle. Unfortunately, they still seem so unrelatable. At school, Takiguchi suggests inviting all of their friends to lunch together. Ah, the classic merging of the friend groups. The more, the merrier, right? But in the middle of said lunch, she suddenly whips out her relationship contract with Ichimura and starts going over it point by point. For instance, while they’re at school, she and Ichimura need to maintain a minimum distance between the two of them. Takiguchi ultimately relents when she realizes she wants to spend time with her boyfriend — what a novel concept — but this whole thing still feels weird. Fine, she’s inexperienced, but even then, I’ve never seen anyone act like this. I don’t find it particularly compelling to watch either. And if Takiguchi is too uptight, then Ichimura is the direct opposite. They’ve only started dating, but he immediately invites her (and her friends) to go on a trip to stay at his fancy villa in Kobe. Oooh la la~ But seriously, pump the breaks, bro. Try to at least go on a couple of official dates before you plan a freaking trip. Ah well, if you want your uber-unrealistic romance with uber hot, model-like characters, then I guess this is the show for you.
Elsewhere, Ouji is not so ouji-like. He learns that Takiguchi is now dating Ichimura, so what is his first course of action? Ask her to hang out with him. It’s only to help pick out a present for his sister, he says. Uh huh, sure. In a vacuum, a boy and a girl can certainly have a platonic relationship, but the timing here is more than suspect. He barely knows this girl. He’s worked a few shifts with her and that’s it. So no, his motives likely isn’t pure. Dude’s a wannabe homewrecker.
Kunon the Sorcerer Can See Ep. 10
Unfortunately, the mage academy doesn’t allow their top students to receive an allowance. Everyone in the advanced class needs to be able earn their own living. That’s apparently how you prove that you’re top tier. How disgustingly capitalistic. This is a broad generalization, but normally, students are given scholarships and/or grants in order to focus on their studies. After all, not every academic pursuit can or should be monetized. Unfortunately, this school doesn’t see it that way, so Reyes, the saint, is in trouble. Granted, her expenses are a bit much. Does she really need two maids-slash-bodyguards? Nevertheless, the girl runs into an all-too-familiar conundrum for her gender: she wants nothing to do with a certain male, but due to her financial situation, she is just going to have to prostrate herself before him. Okay, maybe prostrate is a bit of an exaggeration. And while Kunon doesn’t necessarily have bad intentions, he’s still being a little gross. Seriously, can he not stop with his bullshit for one damn day?
Sure enough, Kunon manages to help Reyes with her money problems, and you could argue that it could’ve been a lot worse. My point, however, is that Reyes should never have been put in this situation to begin with — a situation where she has to hope that Kunon isn’t a predator. And even then, he’s still being inappropriate by constantly asking her out to lunch. Why is his maid the only person willing to teach Kunon how to behave? It’s not like he’s an adult. He’s what? Twelve? He’s not a lost cause yet; he’s still got time to learn. Yeah, I kinda hate it.
Hana-Kimi Ep. 10
It’s time for the annual sports festival, so let’s just memory-hole everything from last week’s episode but the kiss. What’s that, you ask? The would-be rapist is still running free? In fact, if he’s bold enough to attack Mizuki, he’s probably already done it to other girls. But hey, what happens to anyone else is none of our concern! The only thing that matters is that Mizuki is safe. But not for long! Y’see, Mizuki is really good at running. As a result, the boys from the rival dorm plan on injuring her so she won’t be able to participate in the final relay. Only in drama, you guys, only in drama. People complain about the kids in You and I Are Polar Opposites being too wholesome, but I feel like this is way more over-the-top. Literally injuring someone and potentially risking their life in order to win a race in a sports festival? C’mon, I know there are a lot of jerks in high school, but as a collective, kids are not sociopathic. It’s unrealistic. Ah well, this is a show about an American girl cross-dressing her way into a Japanese boys-only school. What can I expect?
The best part is how Sano doesn’t want Mizuki to enter the “chicken fight” because he knows something about it that is detrimental (probably because the other dorm plays dirty). But does he explain that something to her and the audience? Fuck no. Communicate? Are you insane?
Speaking of cross-dressing, there’s a beauty pageant where the boys wear girls’ clothes. So I guess Mizuki will be cross-cross-dressing.
Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary Ep. 8
We finally meet Namu, ojisan’s so-called master, and he seems to know a lot about the Ebisumori family. He also refers to Kaya as a monster. I wonder if, like Nana, he’s mistaking Kaya for the evil entity haunting her mother. But maybe he’s right. Kaya herself might be an innocent child, but she always “turns” whenever she goes into exorcism mode. So maybe there is something sinister behind Kaya’s ability to exorcise ghosts. It’s hard to be on Namu’s side, however, when he looks and acts like a kidnapper. The scene at the very end of the episode is probably just a red herring to make us dislike him, but the optics, man, the optics!
Anyway, this alternate universe kinda sucks, doesn’t it? There are ghost everywhere. Even when you’re just playing in a sandbox, you run into a ghost. Well, they say Japan has over eight million gods. Not literally, sure, but maybe there are just as many evil spirits.
Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power Ep. 9
You would expect someone this awesome to be able to dress himself in the morning.
The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor(ing) Kingdom Ep. 8
During the wedding, Icilla starts crying as she realizes that she might have feelings for Aquasteed after all. Or is it the game’s plot compelling her to act this way? The story is never clear on this. Also, Akari is someone who has been isekai’d like Tiararose, but Iciilla isn’t? What’s truly surprising, however, is that both Akari and Keith (his normie ass name cracks me up every time) are the ones to stop Icilla from ruining the wedding. I like how Akari and Tiararose are besties now. Even so, Icilla’s sobbing catches everyone’s attention. As a result, Aquasteed has to pause the wedding, literally princess carry Tiararose back to the pew where Icilla is sitting, and boldly declare his love for his soon-to-be wife. Kinda ridiculous, ain’t it? He’s about to marry the damn woman, so I sure do hope that he loves her. First, they should’ve just let it slide. After all, people cry all the time at weddings. Why assume that Icilla is doing it because she’s against their union? Second, this sort of thing would cause a huge uproar in any wedding, much less a royal one. But you don’t hear so much as a peep from the rest of the wedding goers. Finally, where was Tiararose’s grand gesture when Keith was disrespecting their relationship in last week’s episode? Nah, I’m not letting it go, man. Keith gets to feed Tiararose a cupcake by hand, but Aquasteed turning to look in the direction of the sobbing Icilla is enough to make our heroine insecure? Girl, please. I’m telling ya, Tiararose ain’t it.
Ultimately, Icilla accepts that her love for Aquasteed will remain unrequited, but some important-looking lady in the sea (her mom?) looks pissed.
Everything else about everything else:
I beat and platinum’d Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It’s not without its rough spots, but there’s something charming about being able to form a four-man party consisting of your wife and two children to tackle a post-game dungeon. Once again, video games allow us to live out our most unrealistic fantasy: affording a nuclear family.
Afterwards, I gave Death Match Love Comedy! a shot. The premise wasn’t appealing, but I really enjoyed their previous game Raging Loop. The former even has callbacks to the latter. I suspect that one of the characters is from the previous game, except she’s all grown up. Unfortunately, DMLC‘s story didn’t interest me one bit. I gave it about six or seven hours, too. Never made me laugh, never made me care. That’s 30 bucks down the drain.
Right now, I’m in the middle of No Sleep For Kaname Date. I really like the previous AI: The Somnium Files games, but I don’t exactly have high hopes for this one. After all, Iris is running around half-naked for some bizarre gooner reason. The previous two games had twists that would completely turn their narratives on their head. Apparently, No Sleep For Kaname Date is only half as long, so I doubt it can accomplish the same feat in far less time. Again, it always comes down to pricing. If this had been around 30 dollars, the reception would’ve been a lot more positive. 40 just feels overpriced when so much of the game is composed of reused assets. And look, I’m into Persona, and I’m into the Like a Dragon series. I obviously have no issue with games reusing assets. But I’m about five hours into No Sleep For Kaname Date, and you literally revisit all of the same haunts from the first two games. Iris goes missing, and we don’t go anywhere new. Hit up Marble, Lemniscate, the cold storage werehouse, Bloom Park, Ota’s restaurant, etc. Sure, why not? All the same places for a brand new story. No wonder this feels more like a DLC than a standalone game.
Speaking of spinoffs, the Switch 2 update for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is finally out, so I’ll probably tackle that next. Gotta get some use out of my Switch 2 for once. I’ll probably never replay XC2 due to the gacha mechanics, but I wouldn’t mind revisiting XC3 if it ever gets a similar upgrade. Also, just give us a clear-cut reunion, i.e. none of this vague, open-ended nonsense. If Rex can have a harem, why can’t Noah and Mio at least be seen together?
