Yo, why is there a Brazilian carnival in my generic fantasy anime?
Goodbye, Lara Ep. 2
The more I watch this show, the less I seem to understand. The girl who punched Lara? Her name is Mari. She’s always carrying a peculiar-looking fish around. As you might have guessed, the fish is none other than the sea witch Grace herself. And yet, both Mari and the witch are the least of Lara’s concerns! Grace tells Lara that this is a place called Shiga, and she led the merfolk here. But they lost their light because Lara broke the law — because she fell in love with a human. But she can still save them. She can save them by returning their light via finding true love. Dude, what? From the first episode, we already saw how nobody really tried to explain to Lara what she was doing wrong. What I really don’t understand is how breaking the law leads to the kingdom’s downfall in the first place. Coupling your people’s fate to the whims of a young girl’s heart sounds like a pretty bad idea! But now finding true love is the key to saving her people? Huh?
Lara lost her precious ring when Mari rang her bell at the end of last week’s episode. Upon realizing that it’s missing, Lara is determined to find it. But then we meet a tall lady, who has a similar-looking ring. She looks like one of Lara’s sisters. Same hairdo, same eye color. So clearly, the merfolk are not all gone. At least one of them is living up here on the surface. It would be nice for the two siblings to reunite, wouldn’t it? But when Lisa travels to the lakebed — somehow, this is possible — and confirms for herself that Lara has awakened, she ominously declares, “I will find you no matter what, Lara… my beloved.” We then see a light flashing from the tip of a dagger. Aiyah, I thought they were sisters! Aren’t they sisters? Or are we doing toxic, incestuous yuri? Ugh.
We proceed to get a flashback which explains how their mother had the power “[to produce] the light that gives this castle life.” That light comes from love. The older sisters then ask if Lara has ever felt true love, because that, again, creates the light. So that’s what we saw when Lara turned into foam in last week’s episode. The light came out of her. So she needs to find true love again to produce that light again? But what happened to it when it drifted up into the sky? It’s called true love, so I assume you don’t find it twice… or can you? Kinda depends on how cheesy the story is, no?
Well, Lara doesn’t find her ring. She nearly drowns herself in an attempt to return to the ocean — a reference, I’m sure, to how little mermaid turned into foam in the original story. Basically, the little mermaid was supposed to kill the prince in his sleep with a dagger. Maybe that’s what we saw at the end with Lisa? But moving on, the mermaid couldn’t do it. She instead threw herself and the dagger overboard, thereby turning into foam and rising up into heaven. Clearly, that doesn’t happen here. Instead, Mari suddenly reaches out and pulls Lara back to shore. Lara had been running all over the place, but I guess Mari just knew where to find her. Finally, the two girls properly introduce themselves to each other. Mari also explains how she first met the sea witch.
That night, Lara asks the witch if she could possibly find true love in Shiga. As she utters those words, she turns and stares in Mari’s direction. Maybe it’s foreshadowing, but I dunno, man, I don’t see how a punch implies any sort of love. Nevertheless, this potential yuri pairing already seems a whole lot more palatable than the other one!
I can’t say that I’m fully onboard with this show yet. It has a mystery at its core, but it’s not the sort of mystery that I enjoy. Nothing about it seems coherent. I’m sure it’ll make sense in due time, but eh…
Iron Wok Jan Ep. 2
The second episode is all about a food critic with a rotten personality. He has a golden palate, though! We gotta impress him! We just gotta! As someone who used to go to fine dining restaurants before the economy and job market went to shit, I can easily name some of the top chefs in the country: Thomas Keller, Dominique Crenn, Corey Lee, Eric Ripert, Grant Achatz, so on and so forth. On the flip side, there isn’t a single food critic that comes to mind. Not. A. Single. One. Nobody cares, man. Nobody cares and you’re not memorable. And this isn’t limited to food. I can name a ton of directors, but if we’re talking film critics… the late Roger Ebert? Critics don’t create anything. They just criticize. I say that knowing full well what I’m doing right now. It’s all good fun, but my content has no real value in comparison to the shows I watch. This is all to say I find the boogeyman of the critic in fiction to be highly amusing, because in reality, they honestly don’t matter.
The head chef was supposed to blow this asshole’s socks off, but he falls ill. As a result, it’s up to Jan and Kiriko to save the day while needlessly bickering with each other. To be fair, his “princess” comments are out of line. It’s pretty well-documented that kitchen brigades can be chauvinistic. It has long been and still is a male-dominated space. In other words, Kiriko is already fighting an uphill battle, and Jan isn’t helping matters one bit. If Jan wants to harp on her lack of talent, then do exactly that. The gendered insults are unnecessary and sexist.
Well, the kids decide to attack the asshole critic with chawanmushi, a dish which never fails to impress. If you ever watch Top Chef, it always seems to win the judges over. What Kiriko offers up, however, is a whole lotta eggs. It’s eggs on top of eggs on top of eggs. Just when you think you’ve identified all the different types of eggs, another one rears its ugly head. I’ve never had Silkie eggs. They’re supposedly richer.
Next, it’s Jan’s turn. But before we can see what he’s brought to the table, we get a flashback where his grandfather beats him for making mistakes in the kitchen. Y’know, as a kid, my only exposure to a professional kitchen was Gordon Ramsay’s antics. America had this phase where it loved seeing pompous British jackasses say mean things to people — jackasses like Ramsay or Simon Cowell. But if you’ve ever observed an actual professional kitchen, they’re mostly cool and collected. That yelling shit was simply abuse. I look at gramps hitting Jan in the back, and all I can think is, “Yeah, that’s why you’re so fucked up.” If you can’t mold someone’s talent without being harsh and cruel, then you’re just a bad teacher.
Anyway, this is a cooking show, and yet I’ve never been more grossed out. Why is this show so damn obsessed with tongues? Put that damn thing away. Nobody wants to see it. Even the main character has to be gross about it. Hell, Kiriko joins in at one point too. For fuck’s sake. Finally, Jan reveals his secret ingredient: lamb’s brain. Dude is obsessed with sticking offal into his dishes. Well, jot that down as yet another thing I haven’t tried. No, I don’t particularly like the thought of eating brains, ’cause, y’know, prions and all. Plus, egg custard with a “brain base” doesn’t sound remotely appetizing. They call it a draw, but I think I’ll go with Kiriko’s dish this time.
The Insipid Prince’s Furtive Grab for the Throne Ep. 2
Arnold returns to his room still dressed as Silver, thereby outing himself to Finne. Apparently, she had baked some sweets for him and him alone. At one point, the insipid prince mentions how the room is protected by a noise suppression barrier, so she doesn’t need to whisper. How fancy… and yet he forgot to do the simplest thing: lock the damn door. Then again, maybe Sebas put her up to it. Maybe the butler was tired of carrying the burden of the secret alone, and he also wanted Arnold to befriend someone from the opposite sex. Y’know, touch some grass.
Ah well, so begins the protagonist’s relationship with the obvious romantic love interest. Leo is still short on supporters, so Lord Kleinert insists that Arnold return to the capital with his daughter. This must have been Finne’s suggestion. After all, her demeanor towards Arnold can be best described as sycophantic. Granted, he solved the slime crisis plaguing her family’s domain, but sheesh, she’s more like a worshiper than a future partner.
Sadly, there isn’t much else to say about the episode, because it’s just Finne getting the “lay of the land,” so to speak. Arnold introduces her to Leo, Arnold explains the various factions gunning for the throne, Arnold plays tour guide and shows Finne around the city, Arnold buys her a new dress, so on and so forth. Pretty sleep-inducing stuff. You can easily tell when I’m bored, because I’ve taken a single screenshot from the entire episode.
The funny thing is, Arnold’s rather brusque with Finne; he acts as if he has no patience for her company. One could say he’s being a bit of a jerk. Not that it matters, of course. Finne remains as upbeat as ever; she’s like an ever eager dog, wagging its tail whenever it receives any sort of attention from its owner.
LIAR GAME Ep. 15
Akiyama figures out a way for his team to win, then proceeds to spend like two-thirds of the episode explaining his gambit. Unfortunately, it seems as though Yokoya might have beaten him to the punch. Y’see, Akiyama’s plan requires identifying a potential traitor on the other team. Unbeknownst to him (maybe), Yokoya has always been fishing for other traitors in Country of Day. So is this it? Has mini Hitler decisively won the third round? Well, it might be interesting to see our know-it-all lose for once. We can thus see how he reacts to failure and adapts. But as always, I suspect Akiyama will have some sort of contingency plan up his sleeve.
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games Ep. 2
Aya’s issues with Mio seem so silly to me. So she lost the passion, quit fighting games, and she’s currently trying to become lady-like. Unfortunately, meeting Mio has rekindled that love for fighting games, and she’s in denial? I gather Aya’s jealous, because Mio is effortlessly ladylike and she can enjoy fighting games. But Aya intends to crush Mio’s spirit just for that and that alone? I dunno, I don’t get it. Chill out, girl. Plus, how would winning a best of five even accomplish that? Ah well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the end, because the two girls officially become friends by the end of the episode.
I’m not going to comment on the girls’ more intimate moments, i.e. hiding under the sheets to avoid being caught playing games at night. If they both start having actual feelings for each other, then it’d be a different matter. Until then, however, it feels like yuri-baiting for the delight of the target audience. It feels tacked on.
By the way, does Mio really carry around a gaming laptop as well as two fight sticks? That’s a lot of weight to bring with you everywhere.
Victoria of Many Faces Ep. 2
Victoria and Jeffrey’s paths keep crossing; she ends up being a maid-slash-assistant for his uncle. What I find funny is how she is trying to keep her identity a secret, but she keeps doing things that no normal person should be able to do. For instance, she ascends a tall tree just to retrieve a hat for her future landlord — the same lady who had her purse snatched in the first episode. She then tries to cover it up by saying she used to be a tomboy. Yeah, I don’t think tomboys were doing that, girl. Granted, the hat has sentimental value, but if Victoria’s identity gets leaked, her new life with Nonna would disappear pretty quickly. I wouldn’t risk it for some hat. Likewise, Victoria flexes her multilingual skills with Jeffrey’s uncle. Again, not something any average person should be able to do.
In any case, Victoria has charmed everyone in her vicinity, including Jeffrey again. As a result, he tries to ask her out. Victoria has an interesting response; she recognizes his romantic intentions, but finds it more amusing than anything. Well, she and Nonna are a package deal, so Jeffrey quickly realizes that he needs to invite the kid along as well. As a result, the three have a tranquil picnic where, once again, Victoria does a poor job of concealing her identity. She can do it all! She can cook, she can translate, she can even drive a carriage! Most of all, she’s teaching Nonna to be self-sufficient so that the girl never has to rely on others to rescue her. But lest you forget, Victoria’s just a commoner! Sure. Sure. Jeffrey’s probably too smitten to notice anyway.
Jeffrey puts some moves on Victoria at the end of the day, but the show hides her reaction from us. Granted, she doesn’t seem to know how she reacted either. She’s never truly been in love, and she sees this as an opportunity to gain more “new faces.” Kinda clinical, but I suppose this is what you’d expect from someone who has been a spy all her life. Will she eventually let her guard down and allow Jeffrey a place in her heart? If I were her, I’d say no. Her focus should be on protecting the life she has with Nonna.
Near the end of the episode, Victoria is convinced to accompany Jeffrey to a ball. He says it’s to prevent his boss from trying to introduce him to other women, but I’m sure he simply wants a date with Victoria.
Elsewhere, Victoria’s former boss has finally retrieved the necklace she threw away. He’s not convinced that she’s dead. Before “Chloe” disappeared, people noticed that she had grown thin. In other words, she literally starved herself for an alibi — she needed to look distraught over his impending marriage. I find this so curious. She went to such lengths to fake her death, but she doesn’t seem all that cautious these days.
Red River Ep. 2
Yuri meets Tito, one of Kali’s servants, and he strangely bears a striking resemblance to Yuri’s sister Eimi. I find that rather odd. I wouldn’t expect anyone from the ancient Hittite Empire to have Japanese features. But whatever, this is a show with magic that can summon a poor girl through time.
Anyway, Tito’s not long for this world. Yuri learns that she can go home if she can recreate “the state in which [she] came.” Basically, some springs need to be filled, and Yuri needs to be wearing the clothes she arrived in. Well, the evil queen still has those garments, and Yuri has no patience. As a result, she ropes Tito into trying to get them back even though everyone warns her over and over that it’s an obvious trap. Needless to say, the trap is sprung and Yuri almost gets herself raped and killed (and not necessarily in that order). Tito eventually sacrifices himself to save her. We don’t see his fate before the episode ends, but I don’t see how he’s going to survive this.
My biggest problem so far is Kali. Yeah, yeah, he’s the playboy prince, so he’s going to do all the creepy shit that his personality entails. What gets me is that there’s a good chance Yuri won’t want to go back home once she gets the opportunity to do so. And in this very real possibility, her reason for staying is going to be because she falls in love with this dude. Ugh. The story is going to redeem his character as it unfolds, but I’m not sure if I will change my mind.
The Villager of Level 999 Ep. 3
Koji confronts the demon commander and flat out asks if the Demon Lord had ordered this invasion. The answer is apparently no. Instead, someone might be pulling a Weekend at Bernie’s with Alice’s father. Still, Koji manages to talk Menow, the demon commander, down. Considering how our hero is level 999, he must have spared some points for diplomacy. Anyway, with his newfound friend, Koji and his party must now race against the clock to prevent the true invasion from happening. They also need to discern the Demon Lord’s true intentions. All things considered, I guess this is not a terrible premise. Yes, Koji is overpowered, but at least he’s using his completely broken-as-hell status in an attempt to foster mutual coexistence and not, y’know, acquiring a bajillion wives. It could’ve been worse. I only wish the storytelling itself wasn’t so dull.
At one point, the hero’s party confronts them, so Koji tries to talk things out again. If it worked with the demon commander, why wouldn’t it work with self-proclaimed heroes, right? Well, I don’t mind yet another yap-filled scene necessarily, but the delivery is bad. Like the first two episodes, there’s a whole lot of standing around, spewing exposition. Demon horns inadvertently create monsters, and those attack humans. Humans thus attack demons, so the demons attack back. Blah blah blah, cycle of violence. In the end, this is just the third episode, so the hero’s party is not convinced — not when you have a mage girl with a traumatic past. Ah well, nobody ever said peace negotiations were easy. In fact, I think my country has declared peace with Iran like four or five times in the past few months alone!
Clevatess S2 Ep. 1
I watched the first season as it aired last summer, and despite having some promise at first, Clevatess never really came together in the end. The animation quality didn’t hold up for a show that was heavy on action, and there wasn’t a single character arc that evoked any sort of emotion. The crux of the entire story was Klen using a child to determine whether or not humanity was worthy of his attention. In practice, however, this whole affair was dry as hell. I was never convinced that Klen truly developed a bond with Luna. They never got any special moments together. The start of the second merely reinforces my point: we barely even get a goodbye as Klen and Alicia ship their asses off to school. So was this baby actually important to them or what?
Speaking of which, the first thing you see in season two is Alicia disguised as a young student. They already teased this at the end of the first season, but I still can’t believe they took a strong, powerful knight — the heroine who saved Hiden by defeating Drel once and for all — and turned her into a schoolgirl. Yep, it looks like the entirety of season two will take place at a magic academy. Sigh… sure, whatever. Why are they here, you ask? This was apparently where Drel conducted his secret, horrific magic experiments, and each of the three major nations wants to learn what he had discovered. I’m glad I’m not dedicating a post to this show every week like I did last year.
My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked Ep. 1
Man, I forgot this show even existed. To be fair, I mostly pay attention to Crunchyroll and Hidive. Then there are Netflix shows that are hard to ignore, since they typically get the rights to high profile anime. Then once in a while, Amazon forks up the cash for something big. This isn’t one of those big shows. This is just… reverse Snow White, I guess. Well, no, a true reverse Snow White would have the Snow White equivalent treating her step-family like shit. Our Snow White — Miya — is simply lucky. And I suspect a lot of blended families are probably getting along swimmingly. The only problem is that you never hear about them, because why would they have a reason to bitch if their life is peachy?
But wait, if the stepfamily is so nice, why did they never help Miya or her mother out? Why did the illegitimate daughter have to languish in the boonies? Why did her mother have to grow weaker by the day when they could’ve sent medicine, proper food, paid for proper lodgings, etc? Welp, it turns out dad is a shitter — a tale as old as time. It seems as though Miya’s stepmother and stepsisters didn’t even know she existed until now.
Nevertheless, the first episode keeps leaning on the same bit over and over: Miya thinking that her stepfamily will be mean to her only for her fears to be subverted every step of the way. The stepsisters immediately comment on Miya’s stinkiness. Oh no! They proceed to give her a bath themselves. Miya thinks her stepmother is going to exile her to the cellar. Oh no! Turns out they’re moving her father’s books to the cellar, so she gets his study instead. Ho ho ho, very funny… look how my expectations are dashed! But how are we going to pull this off for an entire season? It’s the same joke over and over:
Stepsisters: “You don’t know how to read?”
Miya (to herself): “Oh no, they’ll be mean to me for being stupid!”
Stepsisters: “Fine, we’ll teach you ourselves!”
Miya: “Ehhhhhhhh?!”
Rinse and repeat. Just switch up the scenario a bit. Even by the end of the first episode, the joke was already wearing thin. Don’t get me wrong, ’cause I’m glad they’re not mean-spirited. But it’s hard to see how this will develop into a story with substance over the course of a long season.
The only weird part was when her maternal grandmother stopped by. She was afraid that Miya wouldn’t fit in, so she tried to argue that Miya should return home with her. If granny is so concerned, why don’t they take her in as well? I suppose this would end up becoming a slippery slope. You let one extended family in, then the rest will come knockin’. You gotta draw the line somewhere. Still, it’s a bit odd that granny ends up heading home all by her lonesome. Or were they right when they speculated that granny might have had other plans — perhaps nefarious ones — for Miya? Granny didn’t really defend herself. Hm…
Mebius Dust Ep. 1
Immediately, we see a bunch of kids in streetwear competing against each other. They all have special powers, of course. The anime eventually explains that a bunch of meteorites had crashed into the planet around the same time (space is big, so this is either an insane coincidence or Earth was purposefully targeted), thereby granting kids and only kids special powers. Well, obviously. The future is now, old man! Memes aside, every kid has different abilities. One girl’s feet turns into roller skates. Yeah, I think I’d rather have my feet, thank you very much. But maybe that’s why I’m a “boomer;” it’s a mindset thing.
Anyway, the government has not only put a cap on their powers, and the kids now can’t leave the general vicinity of the meteorite that hit their part of Japan. A (naturally child-like) scientist, however, promises to let the kids use their full powers so long as he can conduct some experiments. So the rest of the episode is the kids competing again but with their limiters gone. Yeah, it’s not exactly the most exciting episode. You’ve got a huge cast that I probably won’t keep up with, and they’re playing capture the flag to claim turf. That’s boring.
So I double-checked the synopses to see if I was missing anything. Crunchyroll wasn’t much help: “Araki, Stella and Olga live seemingly normal lives in a city shaped by Mebius Dust…or do they?” Utterly useless. The synopsis on Anilist is better, but it raises other questions:
On February 29, 2000, a group of Möbius meteorites fell down to earth. These meteorites brought new material called Möbius Dust, which dissolves in air and can cause miracles. The day the Möbius meteorites fell was dubbed 2.29, and the economic disparity in Japan increased dramatically after that day. A group of people fed up with the wealth inequality fought back with acts of terrorism. The police established a special group to fight against the terrorists and a school to train members for that group.
The group trying to end wealth disparity are the terrorists? I dunno, sounds kinda fishy. Well, if this is the actual story, we sure as hell didn’t get to see any of it in this opening episode. What a shame. Whoever planned this show out really thought seeing a bunch of kids zipping around was a compelling plot hook.
Chainsmoker Cat Ep. 2
I heavily considered not watching this show again, but I also realized that I could watch it at 4x without really missing out on anything. So for now, we’ll push on with the gross out humor. What’s new this week? Well, we get to meet both Yaku and Hame. And instead of poop jokes, we get piss jokes. Yay!
The former is a kouhai who actually still looks up to Yani. She, however, has already ascended to harder drugs. Speaking of which, the episode started with Yani seeing things in her apartment — dancing cigarettes, to be specific. Look, I know nicotine withdrawals are bad, but I’m not sure visual and auditory hallucinations are part of the symptoms. Maybe she’s breathing in black mold particles from her dirty ass apartment.
As for Hame, she seems… relatively normal? She’s a live streamer who is into fighting games, so she’s already a helluva lot more functional than the other two. Her biggest problem is her name. Her parents never gave her a legal last name, and apparently teachers will dock you points for that. Weirdly inflexible, but sure. So now that Hame is a legal adult, she can go and give herself a last name… which she does by adding an asterisk to the middle of it. Unsure how to pronounce the symbol, government officials defaults to “anal”… ’cause, y’know, the asterisk looks like a butthole. Hah, comedy genius! In my mind, I was actually reminded of the Claude icon. Then again, people have made butthole jokes about the Claude icon as well. In fact, all of the LLMs weirdly have butthole-like icons. Strange, huh? Billion dollar companies, and this is the best branding they can do.
One final aside: weird how this is the second time I’ve seen this gag in the summer season.
Dara-san of Reiwa Ep. 2
Dara is initially suspicious of the guy above before eventually deeming him safe. Meanwhile, she literally overhears this shut-in detail her plans to groom Kaoru, but doesn’t make a big deal out of it. Right…
Also, I’ve been told by friends that the guy above resembles the fat bastards that often crop up in hentai. And this is why it’s ironic that he isn’t actually trying anything weird with Koaru. Right. Well, the more you know…
We learn a bit more about why Dara’s sister hated and betrayed her. I wish the show would focus more on that.
I Became a Legend After My 10 Year-Long Last Stand Ep. 2
Yes, yes, the main character is super powerful. Luck, Lock, or whatever you wanna call him can defeat his foes without breaking a sweat. It’s stupid, but you kinda have to accept this sort of thing nowadays. So I gotta harp on the world-building instead. This is originally a quest to exterminate some goblins, right? That’s why a bunch of F-rank adventurers could pick it up? Well, it has escalated to fighting a goblin lord, which the B-rank Sia struggles with. Then after Lock disposes of said goblin lord, we learn there’s an even bigger threat deeper in: a vampire lord! Wait, huh? A vampire lord in a goblin’s den? And when they reach his room, it’s filled from top to bottom with (presumably) human skulls. The vampire lord is chilling in the middle of the room like a video game boss waiting for his victims to find him. I mean, I know this is a throwaway Friday anime about an overpowered Gary Stu, but… I dunno, make some effort? What the fuck does a vampire lord do all day when adventurers don’t come knockin’? I feel like the Bobs from Office Space: “What exactly do you do here?” Then after our heroes easily defeat the vampire lord, the foe uses its last dying breath to talk about how other vampire lords are conspiring to open a portal. A portal to what? The interdimensional rift where powerful dark gods reside! Double huh? Like Cthulhu? Hah, whatever.
I don’t think the original premise was completely worthless. A legendary hero returns after ten years to see how the world has changed. Maybe you could get contemplative and talk about how humanity no longer has any need for adventurers like Luck/Lock, because he went and beat the game! What then is a hero to do? How does he live out the rest of his life? Hm… nah! Let’s create a bigger, badder threat.
Draw This, Then Die! Ep. 2
So why is Teshima-sensei so insistent on manga being a waste of time when she herself is a mangaka? It’s simple, really: she lost sight of what makes her happy. She started off like Ai: reading manga for fun, leaning on Doraemon for emotional support, etc. At some point, however, she got it in her head that she needed to get published. When her works failed to gain traction, she came to the misguided conclusion that she wasn’t meant to be a manga artist — that drawing manga is too hard. No, man, being a commercialized anything is hard. But you don’t have to give up on your hobbies because you can’t make a living off it. I’m not going to stop singing in the shower because I have no chance of signing with a record label. I’m not going to stop blogging because I can count the number of readers I have on one hand. I do it because it’s fun. Of course, I’m not trying to discount her disappointment. She had a dream of becoming a mangaka like her idol, so all those rejections must have crushed her. But you can’t let that taint your entire hobby. You can’t let that also taint your student’s passion! And yes, I know we still gotta eat, we still gotta pay our rent, etc. I’m not saying that money isn’t important. It is sadly very important. But that’s why she’s a teacher, no?
Anyway, Ai spilled Teshima’s secret to her friend Sachi in no time flat. The munchkin wants a room with A/C for the summer, so she proposes starting up the manga club. Naturally, Teshima is against it, but Sachi’s a menace. As a result, she blackmails her own teacher over how public servants aren’t allowed to have side jobs. Suuuure, but does selling an amateur comic at Comitia really count as a side job? Nevertheless, this kinda spooks Teshima so much that she deeply considers resigning as a teacher and leaving the island. Sheesh, imagine how Ai and Sachi would feel if this actually happened. But instead, she challenges Ai to drawing a manga in a week’s time. If the girl can do it, then the kids can start up their own club. Needless to say, a complete amateur’s first-time comic is rough. It’s very, very rough. But this is exactly what I’m talking about! Ai’s not trying to get paid! Like a singer in the showers, she’s just having fun.
Teshima predictably relents and hands over the club registration form. Ah, but wouldja look at that — you need three people to start a club. We immediately cut to Kokoro, who gets yelled at by her mother as soon as she returns home. A bit trite for a setup, but I guess manga will have to save another life.
The Drops of God Ep. 14
We take a step back from the competition to solve a mystery — a wine mystery. Someone has stolen five super expensive bottles of wine from Yutaka’s infamous collection, and the police suspect Robert. Altogether, the five bottles are worth roughly 10 million yen, which is a pretty exorbitant sum for fermented grape juice. Moreover, some of these bottles are over 100 years old. I seriously wonder if a bottle that ancient would even still taste good, but that probably doesn’t matter as much to enthusiasts. The rarity alone is probably enough to drive the fanatics crazy.
Anyway, Shizuku and Issei work together to lure out the true culprit. First, they serve an aromatic white wine at a cold temperature, which is apparently a big no no. As a result, the culprit gives himself away by palming his glass in an attempt to warm up the wine. Y’see, no true wine connoisseur would dare to drink cold wine that should be lukewarm! He’s no swine! Not even if he’s supposed to be a clueless layman! Yes, he might get caught and sent to jail, but it’s the principle! But we’re not done! Afterwards, the boys serve pinot in a glass that smells like fish. What I find odd is how the culprit is the only one who is offended. There are two other suspects at this dinner — innocent, obviously — but they don’t clock the same fishy smell? I mean, that sort of thing really stands out. More importantly, if I was the culprit, I would’ve shut my mouth. I would’ve choked that fishy wine down with a smile! In fact, I wouldn’t have even attended this dinner party in the first place! Ah, whatever.
(In reality, how would the culprit even get rid of the wine? You can’t auction off such fancy bottles of wine. You could try to pawn them off on the black market, but wouldn’t word still get around? “Hmm, this estate reported five missing bottles of super rare wine, and this guy just happens to be selling five bottles of super rare wine. What a coincidence!”)
They catch the bad guy, so it’s off to jail with him, right? Well, he gives this sob story about how he’s in massive debt due to a shitty friend, he’s got a sick wife, he can’t lose his house, blah blah blah. Basically, his temptation got the better of him. As a result, everyone rallies around the guy and tries to help him out. Uh, how magnanimous of them. I didn’t expect such a Disney ending to this mystery. He stole 10 million yen’s worth of wine, and they’re gonna let bygones be bygones. Sure. I’m not too fussed about it, because of all the crimes you can commit, stealing fermented grape juice from rich people is… pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things? Still a thief, though.
In the end, this episode feels like filler. It neither advances the main story nor develops any of the main characters. Just a small little detour. Whether or not it’s a fun detour, I’ll leave that up to you.
Everything else about everything else:
I finally finished The Adventures of Elliot, and I mostly enjoyed my experience. People complained about your supporter yapping too much, but it didn’t bother me. I welcome the company. These adventure games can feel very lonely at times. It sucks when your companion repeats the same voiced lines over and over, but this isn’t a big budget game. Speaking of voiced lines, I was very pleasantly surprised to see how much voice acting there was in the game. Not only was the main story fully voiced, so were the side quests. JRPGs rarely do that. I only expect it from AAA games like Final Fantasy, not a mid-tier game like The Adventures of Elliot. I hope they carry this forward to future Octopath Traveler games.
For a Zelda-like, The Adventures of Elliot is pretty story heavy. Towards the end of the game, you start getting pretty long cutscenes, which might chafe with people who simply want to hack and slash. Again, I was fine with it. The story wasn’t original, but I appreciated the effort. I only wish it had the guts to stick with a certain boss as the final boss. Instead, we get an 11th hour true mastermind behind everything trope, which I could honestly do without. In the end, however, I simply wanted a chill Zelda-like, and I got mostly what I wanted. A game like Mina the Hollower certainly has more depth. If you have the time and energy for Mina, you’ll also get more out of your investment. But I don’t really want my Zelda-likes to have challenging jump puzzles, so The Adventures of Elliot is more up my alley.
What’s next? Between prepping for coding interviews and the writing for this blog — on top of normal, everyday routines like cooking, exercising, chores, etc — I don’t have much left in my reserves for video games. But Digimon Story Time Stranger recently got a 60 fps patch, so I might give it a second shot.