Saying goodbye to the summer season.
LIAR GAME Ep. 26
It turns out Nao and Fukunaga actually worked together to trick the other team, but that isn’t even the most surprising part. What’s interesting is that Akiyama had no idea what the girls were up to. Was he really just going to let Nao do her thing? His only message to her was “Don’t mess this up.” What’s up with that? Maybe he likes coming to her rescue or whatever. Either way, it goes to show you that our girl Nao is getting more and more comfortable with lying and deception as the games progress… oh no… oh no. Is that how this series is going to end? And I’m not talking about this season. I’m talking about the overall story. There’s a super good chance that both Nao and Akiyama will walk away from the Liar Game penniless, but it’s going to be like, “But Nao is now street smart, and that’s the most valuable gift of all~!” Ugh, they’re totally gonna pull that card, aren’t they?
The other surprising fact is that Fukunaga apparently has a crush on Akiyama, which is why Nao was confident she wouldn’t betray them. Hm, well, I doubt Akiyama even thinks about romance. After 26 episodes, I think he’s just sadly a rather flat character. Not that you have to be romantically inclined in order to be interesting as a person, but there are no real dimensions to Akiyama. He’s just a really smart dude who has some tragic past, but this series obviously doesn’t care that much about rich character layering. No one in the cast is particularly deep or interesting. Having said that, Nao rushes off in a very exaggerated manner after telling Akiyama, “…but you know very little about women’s feelings.” Hm.
As Nao promised, she didn’t let the other team go down in flames. She’ll pay off their debts so that they can leave the game without any worries. Meanwhile, she, Akiyama, and Fukunaga will move on to the next round for yet another match against the Hitler-wannabe. Curious to know how that’ll play out? Well, rest assured, a second season has already been announced. Unfortunately, I’ve no clue when the second season will come out, nor am I looking forward to it.
LIAR GAME is just too dry for me. It relies too heavily on the gimmicks of every round to carry the story. The characters, by comparison, get almost no attention. The only minor bit of development I can point to is that Nao can now lie. Okay. So now what? Does that carry over into real life? We sadly never see them live their real lives, though. There’s never a break from the games. No one ever goes back to their day-to-day routine. The games become the routine, and thus the show loses all sense of immersion. Whatever happens in these games, it doesn’t matter because none of it ever applies to the real world. The people they meet in these rounds? Out of sight, out of mind. Other than the Hitler-wannabe, no one ever comes back. They might as well be props. Point is, just a single scene where Nao… I dunno, uses her newfound ability to deceive in order to get back at a mean person in her daily life would go a long way in grounding the story and make it feel real.
Red River Ep. 13
Well, well, well, look who doesn’t get kidnapped this time. Instead, the enemy just outright tries to kill Yuri. She’s the heroine, so she’s not going to die. Nakia must not pay well, because the assassin didn’t check to see if Yuri was dead. Now, I’m not an assassin. God forbid I ever have to take a life. If I were in that position, I would just bail. With those caveats out of the way, why oh why would you not stab the girl’s body a few more times?
Anyway, Yuri is going to be the sole survivor somehow. Actually, I hope the horse Aslan also lives, but realistically, I don’t see that happening. Animal cruelty is the worst. On the other hand, Zannanza is definitely dead, and I guess this is our first major death since… well, I guess since Tito. But does he even count? The kid was only around for like an episode. There was literally only one thing that was notable about him, which was that he looked like one of Yuri’s siblings for some bizarre reason. Other than that, Tito didn’t have much of a character.
Sadly, you can say the same about Zannanza. His personality boils down to what? Also being in love with Yuri? But also loyal to Kail? Eh. It should always be sad when someone dies, but this series’ terrible pacing means I ultimately feel nothing here. Zannanza’s death doesn’t tug a single heart string. Plus, why did Yuri insist on accompanying him to Egypt anyway? I think I missed that. She said she could bless his upcoming marriage to the Egyptian princess, but uh… she knows she’s not actually Ishtar, right? Well, since she insists on being the human embodiment on Ishtar, I’ll move Red River write-ups over to the Villainess Villainy column for the fall.
Saved by the Ice Cold Prince’s Embrace Ep. 12
Clarence uses his magic to create a bunch of snow, which allows him to safely catch Katrina falling from the sky. I’m skeptical that this would even work, but I’ve literally never seen snow in my life so I’ll just leave it at that. What can I say? I’ve lived 95% of my life in the cities, and California only sees snow in select places.
In the aftermath, we’re told that both the stepmother and stepsister were not only tortured but sentenced to death by hanging. Sheesh. What they did to Katrina was pretty horrible, but torture…? Really? For what? What do you even get out of it? And I don’t believe in capital punishment. That’s just state-sanctioned murder. It’s also mental torture in a sense. You have to live out your final days knowing exactly when you’ll die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Sure, Clarence and Katrina can now live happily ever after, but all this cruelty brings down the mood, no? Who wants to kiss and say sappy shit after that? But this is sadly just the monstrous nature of retribution. They take a finger, so you think you’re justified in taking the whole arm in return. It’s nuts, but it’s happening all over the world.
Clevatess S2 Ep. 12 & 13
The fake Milea crashing out because Alicia didn’t fail the trial is hilarious to me, because again, I didn’t feel like Alicia had much to overcome. This ain’t James Sunderland marching into Silent Hill with a huge monster of guilt weighing him down. She simply buried her mother’s dying words. Big whoop. Alicia is a hero through and through, so even her trauma is squeaky clean.
Suddenly, Vordin decides to talk. He has consistently refused to explain his motives, but now he wants to spill his guts. I find this rather inexplicable. Maybe he thinks it’s okay to yap simply because he’s so close to winning or whatever.
So does the lore dump live up to the hype? Is it worth waiting twelve episodes to finally learn what Vordin’s mad quest is all about? Eh. Seriously, if I had a nickel for every single time a fantasy anime ends up being an isekai…
To make a long story short, the people of Toah started summoning souls from other worlds to serve as heroes. Unfortunately, these heroes could not permanently die. If they fell in battle, their souls would simply inhabit another body and thus be forced to fight again and again. Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought I was watching Sentenced to Be a Hero. Wouldn’t it be crazy if Clevatess was just a prequel to that series? I mean, this has actually happened before. I was completely mind blown by 428: Shibuya Scramble when it ended up being a prequel to Canaan. But I digress.
Vordin met a hero named Write, one of the summoned folks but this one (big shocker) likes to write. Write eventually manipulated the heartless, emotionless people of Toah (Toahns?) into helping the heroes revolt against them. These heroes weren’t exactly saints themselves, though. Perhaps driven mad by their inability to die — and also forced to fight a war against their will — the so-called heroes started killing each other and raping the women on the bottom rung of society. Nevertheless, with Write’s help, the heroes finally struck back against the people of Toah. Afterwards, they begged Write to let them die, which he obliged. He tried to join them, but Vordin wasn’t having it. I guess the dark beast grew attached. Even now, however, Toah is still alive somehow, biding their time. No, not the people. The… alien entity who was possessing humanity all along? And Write foresaw this…? Regardless, there you go. There’s the big reveal we’ve been waiting for.
I am extremely whelmed by what I’ve just learned. Was all the secrecy necessary? Are these revelations somehow juicier because we’re learning them at the 11th hour? Meh. I just think it’s too much lore squeezed into one short episode. A better paced story would’ve had this story unfold over multiple episodes, involving multiple, interesting characters. Instead, this feels like me reading a quick summary about a major conflict on a Wikipedia page.
But it gets worse in the finale.
Milea accepts the negative side of her personality, so that allows her to become one with the evil Milea. The new Milea is a bit… saucy, but no matter. Her resolution solves one very small problem in the grand scheme of things. Alicia also gets a crest where the scar on her left eye would be. This part, I didn’t mind too much?
Alicia quickly rushes to Klen’s side just to find him being stepped on by Vordin. This is where the narrative really starts falling apart for me. I mean, I wasn’t loving the story before, but it just feels like it goes completely off the rails here, because subverting the viewers’ expectations is more important than any other quality. As soon as Vordin gets distracted by Alicia, Klen suddenly gets back up. Somehow, he can overpower Vordin now. What’s up with that? Was he just sandbagging it until Alicia could arrive or what? Or did Alicia’s presence alone empower him?
But then we have Rathwell being eaten by Toah. Yeah, Toah. It wasn’t Write who came back. Vordin schemed and plotted just for the mysterious alien being, whom we still know relatively nothing about, to steal his lover boy’s body. Cool. Toah then eats Rathwell, erects a giant cross, and dices Vordin into nothing within seconds. But then Klen turns into… what, a light dark beast? And also a drill a la Gurren Lagann? And he proceeds to blast Toah super far away? Where are these power-ups coming from? What is going on? I feel like I’m watching a Gainax ending.
Ah, but it’s only a Gainax ending if it’s also super unsatisfying, so our heroes think the day has been saved, Klen is headed back to Luna to keep his promise, Alicia is monologuing about the state of the world, blah blah blah. All of a sudden, she collapses and her body starts to decay. We cut to Klen, who just had his heart snatched out of his body by that prison dude. Dude, what is this shit? We just had two dark beasts clash, then a mysterious being came back to life, but some fucking One Piece wannabe just wrecks Klen offscreen? Huh? I’m so tired of anime series ending on a massive cliffhanger like this. I’m also so tired of stories that prioritize plot twists and withholding information above everything else. The last twenty minutes felt like random shit being thrown at the wall, and we’re just clapping like dumb monkeys because anything that distracts us from our shitty lives must automatically be brilliant. And the thing is, it doesn’t even have the novelty of being dark dark. Yeah, the Berserk adaptation also ends on a massive WTF cliffhanger, but at least it was truly balls-to-the-walls brutal. This simply doesn’t compare. Nevertheless, people really like this shit story. So what else you got for me?
…
Oh cool, a five year time skip where Luna is now older. Luna is barely in season two, but sure. But the biggest crime is probably Alicia and Klen being separate for 90% of the season, so you don’t even get the banter between the two of them. The only charming thing about Klen is how he interacts with normal people, and they snatched that away from us. I don’t get the hype for this show and I never will.
My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked Ep. 12
Miya gets sick at one point, so everyone takes turns doting on her. I have to admit, however, that I was distracted the entire time I was watching the finale. I kept wondering to myself what makes one low stakes series so much less captivating than another. Why do I not enjoy this anime when I’ve enjoyed other drama-free shows? I think it’s because the world and setting have never felt real to me. The show is too squeaky clean — I mean, there’s literally only one visible man in the entire series — and this puts it just outside the bounds of believability. My mind dismisses the anime as pure fantasy. It goes from an ideal to aspire for to pure pablum.
Mebius Dust Ep. 12
There’s so much that I don’t understand about this anime, but an important lesson in life is learning how to let go and move on. Araki finally answers Stella’s questions, and guess what? Totally unsatisfying reveal. We also learn why Kurusu became the way he is. Weak ass shit. But therein lies the problem: expectations! Just let it go. Stop caring. Be like that one adult character in the entire show. Dude has found his true calling, and is now serving up hot, fresh fried chicken from a food truck. He’s got it made! All he really needs is a proper English dictionary to teach him how to spell “chicken.”
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Ep. 12
In truth, this show was never really a love story. Even after all this time, Sasaki still can’t quite call Yamada his friend, which is ridiculous to me. As a result, I can’t even say that this is a show about two friends. I mean, it is, but if one of the main characters is too cowardly to admit it, what am I supposed to do? And I guess that’s what it ultimately boils down to. Sasaki is harmless, but he’s the worst kind of harmless. He’s just so… chickenshit about everything. The crux of this episode is pretty simple: Sasaki’s former mentor is retiring, so the old man is reaching out to the guy for… I dunno, one last meetup for the road? There’s no reason why they couldn’t stay connected even after his mentor hangs it up for good, but adults are fucking weird sometimes. Naturally, Sasaki has to be even weirder by turning his mentor down. Yeah, yeah, he thinks he let his mentor down when they used to work together. Whatever, man. That’s my whole point about Sasaki. He’s just so pathetic. Needless to say, Yamada has to give him the kick in the ass he needs to go see his mentor. But that’s the thing: she’s also a coward herself.
In order to force Sasaki to confront his fears, Yamada bans him from their usual smoke breaks until he reaches out to his mentor. She worries, however, that she might have made him stay away for good. This wouldn’t be a problem if she could just talk to him normally, i.e., outside of their mutual smoke breaks, but you know that won’t happen. And this is just one of their many problems in a much larger picture. This whole Yamada-Tayama business could go away instantly if she would simply reveal the truth, but she won’t. For whatever reason, she keeps this “relationship” woefully underdeveloped even though she clearly wants more from Sasaki, calling him an idiot from time to time for not realizing that she and her alter ego are the same person. So sure, it’s great that Yamada can help Sasaki step out of his comfort zone… so long as it has nothing to do with her. But who will ever make either of these two knuckleheads step out of their comfort zone? They obviously won’t do it. So again, if Sasaki can’t quite call Yamada a friend, then by extension, I can’t quite call this a wholesome love story. It’s just two adults indulging their gross smoking habit from time to time. They don’t even hang out normally. No one ever goes, “Hey, I’m hungry, so wanna go grab some ramen?” They don’t even contact each other over the phone! I don’t find this endearing. I don’t find this cozy.
Most of all, I hated the discourse around this show. People kept saying shit like “Finally, a romance anime that isn’t about kids!” They were so smarmy about it too. And yet, your amazing romance about adults featured two of the biggest wimps ever. If this is what being an adult is like, why bother growing up?
Chainsmoker Cat Ep. 12
I really don’t have much to say about the last episode, because all it does is pay a visit to each and every degenerate woman at the apartment complex, showing us that none of them have improved their lot in life. Yani Neko even caps the series off by shooting hot, liquid shit into her toilet. Yes, again. Catgirl diarrhea bookends an anime series. Now that’s a brand new sentence. This show is nevertheless immensely popular, proving that you don’t need cute girls doing cute things to succeed. Cute girls can do disgusting things and still be a hit. I won’t pretend that I was a fan; the gross-out humor was largely a miss for me. But let’s end on a more wholesome note, so here’s the cast singing the OP in the recording studio.
Dara-san of Reiwa Ep. 13
The elder sister ends up not being much of a threat thanks to Dara’s ability to switch vessels. First, she transfers herself into Kaoru’s doll that was fashioned in her likeness. Then at Hinata’s behest, Dara possesses the girl and gains access to her massive spiritual reserves. This combination, albeit looking a little weird, easily overwhelms the elder sister. And yet, Dara says she doesn’t have the resolve to destroy her sole remaining family for good. As a result, she simply seals her older sister away. Hmm, I dunno about that… but that’s it. The interesting part of the episode is over.
What follows is a bunch of dull slice-of-life moments with the siblings. That’s the problem with this anime in a nutshell. I was generally pretty interested in all the stuff involving Jurota. He carefully ensured that A) the younger sister would find peace, and B) the mountain would remain protected for centuries to come. We even learn that he not only gave Dara her bells, he also erected a monument to free her from her name. And yet, peace and safety only get us irreverent scenes with Dara goofing off with the kids.
I’d be singing a different tune if the show was actually 100% wholesome, but there were always questionable moments sprinkled in here and there. For example, Kaoru literally has a woman trying to groom him. There was also that subplot where his teacher’s dying cat turned into a buxom woman in the man’s dreams despite it being a tomcat. Over and over again, the anime felt like a vehicle to help the author indulge their fetish for thick women. Sure, enjoy whatever fetish you want, but I can’t see the show as wholesome with those elements mixed in, especially when one of the characters is a child in grade school.
Hell Mode S2 Ep. 13
Dogora’s Extra Skill manages to destroy Rehzel’s second heart, but the demonized dark elf deals a life-ending blow to the kid… or rather, it would be life-ending if the elves’ stupid spirit squirrel hadn’t shown up at the last second and magically reset the kids’ Extra Skill cooldowns. This allows the healer guy to resurrect Dogora, sparing them from tragedy. As a cherry on top, the squirrel even blesses the kids by wiggling its butt. Does this count as deus ex machina? I think it counts. What a dumb way for this final battle to end. Ultimately, the party doesn’t suffer a single casualty, and I think that’s a cop-out for a show about war. Of course, I’m just saying that because I’m not attached to any of these characters. If I were, I’d probably be ticked if Dogora had stayed dead. Alas…
Anyway, Rehzel gets to die somewhat happy, because the World Tree is the last thing he sees as his vision fades. Kinda pathetic for a man who abandoned his own son to go on this mad quest. Good to know that your own offspring isn’t as important as some overgrown plant. Yes, I’m being dismissive, but whose fault is that, huh? The story only tells us that the World Tree is important to the elves, not why it’s important. Even worse, the elf queen, i.e., Sophia’s mother, later tells the kids that the elven nation has a peace treaty with the dark elves! Even Rehzel’s own people don’t care that much about the World Tree anymore! Rehzel’s just a deadbeat dad for the love of the game!
After a war ends, you usually celebrate by reuniting with your loved ones, but this only gets a wordless montage. What’s truly important in this anime’s eyes — in Allen’s eyes — are class upgrades! Hell yeah! As a result, the ultimate payoff for his victory is seeing all of his friends get promoted. Even Helmios gets a bump, making him a 6-star Hero King. Uh-huh, that’s what war is all about, kids! You fight and spill blood so you can get an extra star on your status page! This show has no emotional stakes whatsoever. Nevertheless, it’s going to get yet another season. That’s truly the most amazing and inexplicable thing about this anime! Some shows never come anywhere close to sniffing a sequel, much less two. Remember Land of the Lustrous? I would love to see that series get a continuation. But somehow, Hell Mode gets three seasons? Bah.
Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life Ep. 12
Someone bizarrely set fire to the apartment complex where Ryusei and his sister live. As a result, Meteor offers to let them stay with her. I forget where her parents are supposed to be. Regardless, our “couple” don’t make it official. Even though they clearly like each other — and she’s even comfortable enough to smother him with her chest — they stop just short of admitting their feelings to one another. I’m not too bothered, though. After all, I’ve never really been all that invested in this show. Earlier in the episode, Meteor had a dream of her past life, and it seemed to suggest that she’s always had a crush on Ryusei (or whatever he was called in his previous life) even back when they were just generic fantasy adventurers. It’s always funny to me when a series withholds such a mundane fact about the main characters until this late stage in the game. Maybe the intention is to force us to look back on the couple’s relationship and recontextualize everything. On the other hand, if we had known this from the start, their relationship would’ve had proper grounding. I think I’ve said it before, but this show has always been too much com and not enough rom. As a result, it doesn’t really matter to me whether or not Meteor and Ryusei get together. So when the show finally decides to give us the rom, I just don’t have a reaction to it. The anime never consistently delivered the laughs, and everything else was too forgettable.
