What a gross old man.
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World Season Ep. 28
Oh man, the war just keeps raging on. Well, next week’s episode is titled “The End of Vasmarque,” so I’m hoping that’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Personally, I just have no interest in the oh-so-brilliant tactics and subterfuge that allows Ars’s vastly outnumbered army to pull out a sure victory. For instance, they manage to steal the enemy’s supplies simply by having Pham dress up as a woman and seduce an enemy commander. One side is arbitrarily weak because a superior is a hornball. Why should I be impressed by that? Plus, if they were gonna do a war story, then I’d like to know how and what the rank-and-file soldiers are thinking. I’d like to see how the commoners are dealing. Maybe the young and able-bodied have been conscripted for the war effort. Maybe food and materials are also being seized to fuel the war effort. I’m not saying it’s unjustified as Canarre has the right to defend itself, but I still want to see how people are coping with the hardship that war brings about. That’s the human interest story that I care about, not Ars’s men continually heaping praise on him.
Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers Ep. 2
The most interesting bit from this episode was learning about the goddess’s origins. Her name is Noah (I didn’t know this name was unisex), and she belongs to a class of Titans who were once defeated by the current gods. As a result, she’s confined in a labyrinth somewhere deep in the ocean. And like always, the victors get to dictate history, so gods like Noah are now deemed evil.
Makoto isn’t very impressed with Noah, but he’s tantalized by such a daunting quest. This is supposed to show us that he’s a true gamer or whatever. Personally, I think our protagonist is an ungrateful brat. In this week’s episode, he quickly gains notoriety by slaying goblins nonstop. But he has shitty stats, remember? So the only reason he’s even able to do this is thanks to Noah’s dagger. I’m not seeing him giving her any thanks, though.
Anyway, Makoto saves another adventurer (knowing how isekais operate, she’s probably a future waifu) from an ogre. He then proceeds to kill said ogre, which earns him even more notoriety. I’m not particularly impressed, though. Yes, the ogre was very big and very strong. But at the end of the day, it’s also incredibly stupid, because it fell for the same trick as the first goblins Makoto defeated: tricking it into deep water. Man, whoever programmed this game needs to spruce up the monster AI a bit.
From Far Away Ep. 3
In this week’s episode, we learn that Izark has great power, but it scared everyone away from him, including his mother. As a result, he empathizes with Noriko, whom everyone regards as dangerous even though she has no clue who or what she is (The Awakening). Yes, yes, two troubled souls lean on each other and eventually fall in love. Nothing new here. I’m more interested and mystified by this evil squirrel thing that Noriko accidentally manages to kill by headbutting the bandit leader. With it gone, the bandit leader can no longer jump teleport, but what was it in the first place and how did it come to be his pet? Naturally, I wonder if I’m being unfair to this show. After all, the manga that it’s based on started in 1991. That’s nearly 40 years ago! It may very well be the case that From Far Away is the source of several tropes that we now hold dear. But unfortunately, I can’t help the fact that I’ve never encountered this story until now. I just think about how Noriko will probably fall into enemy hands at some point, because this sort of thing almost always happens whenever a normal girl gets isekai’d, and I can already feel the exasperation welling up inside me.
Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Spaceship! Ep. 3
Hiro thinks that if something happened to him, Mimi would be back on the streets. Why? Does this setting have no form of inheritance? I don’t approve of him getting into a relationship with an orphan who just lost her parents, but what’s done is done. He should really have a will drafted should he meet his untimely demise. You can’t say it’s unlikely. He’s a fucking space mercenary, for christ’s sake.
But there’s probably a good chance that some system of inheritance doesn’t exist in this dumbass setting. Why do I say that? Well, Hiro inquired about Elma, who he hasn’t been able to get in contact with. He’s told that she’s struggling to pay for the damages incurred in last week’s raid on the space pirates. If she can’t pay, she’ll go to jail. And guess what? Male and female prisoners share the same space. That’s completely asinine. This is a setting with nanomachines and spaceships, but they’re not smart enough to house male and female prisoners separately? Come the fuck on. But if you’re a stupid ass isekai, then of course this is natural! How else do you motivate the harem lead to rescue his second waifu from being potentially raped in prison?! But that’s ultimately what it’s all about, isn’t it? Hiro had to save Mimi from evil men in an alleyway, and now he saves Elma from evil men in prison.
You might argue that this isn’t what Hiro intended. He offers to hire Elma simply to train Mimi. Both Elma and Mimi simply get the wrong idea. But c’mon, I’m not just strictly talking about the story in front of us. I’m talking about both what the author intended, and what fans of these kinds of stories are really looking for. And you can’t tell me that neither group expects Elma to join the crew without offering herself up to Hiro. At that is exactly what happens. And this point, I’m just wondering when Serena will somehow have to join the crew or else be attacked by evil men.
So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin Ep. 4
Oh, it was the margrave’s stupid idea to have Karen try and seduce Akira. The goblin makes up a lie about how human women don’t turn him on, so she leaves feeling both humiliated and ashamed that she wanted to kill a friend. But she doesn’t get to dwell on the incident for very long before a mysterious assailant attacks… and then what? The next time we see her, she just has scratches or bruises all over her body?
Anyway, the margrave obviously had a backup plan in case Karen failed to assassinate Akira. He did not, however, have a backup backup plan in case the mysterious assailant also failed, which he did. Akira then goes to confront the lecherous, old man. There’s no reason to trust him at this point. The margrave has proven that he’s all smiles in front of you, but will have a dagger behind his back.
We learn that humans tried to eradicate all goblins in the past, but the last one became super strong and murdered tens of thousands of humans before it could be stopped. At this point, you really gotta throw up your hands and be like, “Alright, the gods don’t want us to kill goblins.” How else would you explain this? I don’t believe in god, but if the last whale on earth could suddenly shoot laser beams, I think I’d start praying too!
We also meet the margrave’s grandnephew, who is also a prince. Oh yeah, he was the one who defeated the archfiend. Like the margrave, the prince is all smiles on the surface. In private, however, he thinks their best move is to cast Akira as the next archfiend. Well, I suppose that’s one way to torpedo Akira’s hopes for peace.
Last but not least, Akira saves Chloe’s three elven friends from humans probably intending to enslave them. We get this lore about how elves live so long that they eventually lose their will to live. As a result, Akira has to “defeat” them, subjugate them afterwards, then order the elves to continue living. Yeah, this just seems like a flimsy excuse to mind-control a bunch of hot babes. I’ve played my Dark Souls. I firmly agree with the game that death is natural. If they have no will to live, substituting your own doesn’t make up for that. They only look and sound happy because you told them to. At this point, can you really consider them to be alive?
Reincarnated as a Sword S2 Ep. 4
It’s just one big fight against the Lich King, so there’s barely anything to write home about. The only part that stands out to me is when Jean attempts his vitality-sapping attack that can purify undead mobs. For reasons that will be revealed later, this fails to work on the Lich King himself. Jean is then mostly useless for the rest of the encounter. We eventually learn that the dungeon boss has been drawing nearly unlimited mana from something called the Animus Engine. Stephan manages to destroy it, so the Lich King can no longer fight indefinitely. This makes me wonder why Jean didn’t wait for this to happen first before attempting to purify the Lich King. Sounds kinda stupid, no?
Anyway, the good guys fight, Fran takes some knocks but they ultimately win, the boss does a last ditch attack to take them down with him. Next week’s episode is titled “A Smiling Farewell,” so Fran and her sword will probably bid farewell to Jean and Stephan.
Magic Knight Rayearth Ep. 3
The show really embraces the idea that it’s just like a video game, even flashing us screenshots of the game adaptation at one point. Presea has weapons for the girls, but not custom-made weapons. They will need to retrieve a special ore if they want special weapons that can apparently grow along with them. Aw, one of the best parts about JRPGs is buying new gear when you reach a new town or city!
Nevertheless, the girls sally forth into the Forest of Silence. Mokona, the Clefairy-looking mascot thing, travels with the girls with the aim of aiding them on the trip. So far, it seems to offer dubious utility. The girls naturally come across scary monsters, defeating one and getting help with another. Guess we’ll get to know some forest warrior in next week’s episode.
Elsewhere, we see Alcyone beg Zagato for a second chance. She swears she will not fail, but one wonders why he wouldn’t just do the job himself. If the girls are the biggest threat to whatever evil scheme he has in motion, then why send minions to do your dirty work? But that’s just classic JRPG storytelling for ya.
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Ep. 17
Thanks to Ruche, the duo gets yet another rare drop. But this time, the drop (a dagger that can inflict poison) is worth so much that clown waifu wants to outright toss it. Even when Elymas convinces her that they should keep it — in fact, she should probably be using it — Ruche has the world’s worst poker face.
I was looking forward to seeing these two interact with other characters for once, but I should’ve known this show would somehow manage to drag these “encounters” out and make them painful to watch. First, the lady working the counter looks down on the duo. Granted, Elymas asked if they could speak to the guildmaster, but a simple no could’ve sufficed. Instead, the lady launches into this haughty spiel about how they don’t have time to entertain backwater adventurers. Only when Elymas plops down all the magic stones they’ve gathered does the lady change her tune. Money greases the wheels.
Finally, the duo gets to speak to Hailenn, a woman whose unique boob physics sends her breasts flying in opposite directions even when she’s doing something as simple as sitting down. Must be a pain to deal with. She starts asking probing questions along with revealing that she, too, is a noble. I like how even this topic gets a PowerPoint presentation. Look, Elymas just wants to warn her about how dungeon bosses are evolving, right? This should be a simple operation! But his mind starts racing. He starts wondering if maybe this woman and her family might have set the centipede up to evolve, maybe this woman might know he has knowledge from beyond this world, blah blah blah. As a result, we’re going to drag a simple conversation out like we drag everything out! We’re going to have to wait until next week to see what comes of this chat!
Man… after 17 episodes, we still don’t have Ruche’s backstory or even a frank conversation between these two about what they hope to achieve with all their adventuring. Then again, this talk would probably end up being like a 5-episode saga anyway.
A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Ep. 16
The mystery grows ever more complicated by the day. Terra, the demon lord’s son, tries to confront Venus, who is secretly Dina. She won’t explain herself with Luna present, though. That’s because Luna is, in Venus/Dina’s words, a puppet. So… does that mean Terra isn’t a puppet? Well, that’s not entirely clear… Either way, Terra dismisses Venus/Dina from her position among the Seven Luminaries. She regretfully informs Lufas that she can no longer play the double agent. But what exactly did she do that was helpful? Yes, she manipulated several of the demons to attack humanity, but to what end? Whom did her actions aid? It didn’t look like it helped anybody but potentially herself. But even then, we still don’t know what Venus/Dina got out of all this treachery.
Lufas finally meets Mizar, or rather, a copy of Mizar. When he was still alive, he could feel himself losing his mind to the goddess’s influence, so he replicated his personality and memories, then stuck them in a crystal. This Mizar goes on to explain that demons are just spells. The goddess cast a spell against humanity, which then took on the form of demons. Okay… point is, the demon lord is sick of following the goddess’s orders. So wait, how is Terra not also a puppet? Isn’t he also a spell? Yes, kinda…? But he’s a spell cast by the demon lord, so he’s not the goddess’s direct puppet? I dunno, man…
The last thing we see is Castor defending a key from the demon king — a key that allows you to reach the heavens. I assume the demon king intends to use it to confront Alovenus. Can a spell really do anything against a goddess, though? Also, how does Sei fit into all of this? Or is he just some poor kid summoned into this world for no particular reason? He and the rest of the humanity are so low on the power scale, I just don’t know how he matters.
I’m still not thrilled with this show. I think it has too much exposition. It’s just one big fight, exposition dump, one big fight, exposition dump, rinse and repeat. But in terms of building up a mystery, I think it’s doing a better job than, say, Clevatess. A Wild Last Boss Appeared! is slowly peeling back layers of the onion. It’s doing so rather clumsily, but at least it’s doing it. We’re not stubbornly clinging to a single reveal for the entire season.
Magical Explorer Ep. 4
Kousuke solos a dungeon by himself in an attempt to get stronger. He ends up forming a contract with Nanami, an angel who is also a maid. Seems kinda redundant. Claris already fills the maid archetype, doesn’t she? Unfortunately, she’s the only person who objects to Nanami’s presence. Everyone else is just cool with a complete stranger showing up one day and living with them. Then again, they’re all living with Kousuke and they barely know him.
This episode was so thrilling, I didn’t snap a single screenshot. Welp, now I gotta go back and scan the episode.
Next week’s episode will finally stick everyone in a school environment. Great, so exciting.