Category Archives: Series

Tamon’s B-Side Ep. 6: We needed more romance, but not like this

I’ve been griping about how this anime doesn’t really feel like a romance. After all, not only does Utage worship Tamon like a god, she only sees herself as one of his millions of girlfriends. She loves him in that distant, platonic way, not the “I want to go on dates and snuggle with you” way. Or to put it more simply, she loves him, but she’s not in love with him. But what does Tamon want? Unfortunately, this is a Pandora’s box we might not want to open. Ever since Tamon misunderstood Utage’s encounter with Ori, he’s been off his rocker. When Utage takes her weird-looking dog on a walk one day, the “criatura” somehow leads her straight to Tamon’s apartment. It has great timing too, because when the girl looks up, she sees Tamon about to jump from a building. Yep, it’s that serious. We’re actually talking suicide.

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Journal with Witch Ep. 5: An offbeat teen rebellion

Asa used to watch musicians perform on TV, and her mother would tease her about possibly liking one of the guys onstage. The girl insists, however, that it’s the song she likes, not not any of the performers. Maybe she’s embarrassed, maybe she’s not. Maybe she just actually likes the music. But this is something parents seem to do a lot. My parents were the same way. I guess it’s fun for them or something. And because they provide for you, or because they’re higher up on the family hierarchy, they feel like this should give them carte blanche to do a little “harmless” teasing every now and again. I dunno, I think it’s shitty to make someone uncomfortable for your own amusement. Yeah, the kid will get over it, but that’s not a good argument in and of itself.

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You and I Are Polar Opposites Ep. 4: No summertime sadness here

It’s almost time for the local summer festival, but that also means it’s almost time for term exams. Naturally, Yamada gets the bright idea to coordinate a study session. It’s just funny how Tani rejects him with nothing more than a simple “no.” He doesn’t elaborate further. People usually do, because they want to be liked; they don’t want their friends to misunderstand them. After all, Yamada assumes Tani isn’t worried about the upcoming exams. Meanwhile, Sato is a little more cynical: “More like Tani-kun doesn’t see any merit in studying with us.” Only Suzuki knows the real answer, because she understands him.

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Frieren Ep. 31: Nobody actually knows anything

Frieren’s been teasing an onsen since the first episode of the new season, but her sense of time is so different from ours. Her “[it] used to be here” could mean anything. Girl, be specific. Rather than “Where’s the village?” how ’bout we start with “When’s the last time you’ve been to the village?” Ten years ago? Twenty years ago? Well, in this specific case, only “over thirty years ago.” But that still means the village is long gone by human standards. But for some odd reason, Stark remembers hearing a thing or two about the legendary hidden hot spring deep within the mountains, so… all hope is not lost? I dunno, I don’t really care about hot springs. I don’t really care about seeing these characters get naked and jump into one either.

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The Holy Grail of Eris Ep. 4: Storytelling at 100 mph an hour

For the rest of the world, that’s roughly 160 km. Just trying to be helpful. Anyway, this is probably my least episode yet. Not only is it all over the place, it also introduces a billion characters in its short runtime. A woman by the name of Deborah Darkian summons Constance to a secretive but nevertheless investigative tea party. Odd, but okay. This is just some random woman, though. Okay, not exactly random; Deborah supposedly belongs to one of the four great houses. Nevertheless, she has no jurisdiction over anyone or anything for that matter, and Randolph even says as much. He advises her to ignore the “summons.” Constance still insists on attending, however, because, y’know, she’s trying to gather information on her ghostie girl’s death. But when the meeting finally goes down, there is no new information to be had. All we get is Deborah threatening Constance over… um, what, exactly? Pamela’s false accusations? I thought we settled that. And again, what exactly can Deborah and her followers do to Constance? Deborah mocks Scarlett’s death, so is she implying that she can also frame Constance with a similar crime?

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