Fuuka is back. Has diomedea realised that not everyone liked the show? Could that be the reason why Fuuka isn’t a 2-cour show? Meh, what do I care…this was the obligatory show I regret choosing…
Just as The Fallen Moon makes their debut at a poky underground venue, Fuuka announces that she will be accepting that scout’s offer to go solo. Going after a dream is a good thing, but The Fallen Moon was her baby. She forced them all to work together and now after writing only one song, she wants to leave? In my opinion, she is being very selfish. I think her decision was aided by the fact that she’s still wound up that Yuu and Koyuki are officially together (and here was me thinking she had no interest at all), has realised that she can’t have her cake and eat it, and just decides to go and do this. It’s a good plot-point for the end of the show though; it’ll be something to bring them all together…hopefully.
Well Fuuka won’t be a 2-cour show, so no need to go into that for Spring. More on what I’ll be watching later. In the meantime, Little Witch Academia has finally started to make some progress. It appears that the landowners are set to be the ‘antagonists’ of the show, in particular the Earl who hates all forms of magic and has a close leash on his son Andrew, who already has a tsun interest in Akko…who is just as tsun as he is! This week is a Cinderella episode. Akko decides that she shall go to the ball, but with a magic bee in tow, things go wrong very quickly when it stings nearly everyone there, making them fall in love with the first person they see. You can guess where it goes in this one, although it was rather amusing to see Diana get stung and then later look in a mirror.
Andrew and his father will almost certainly make more appearances in the Spring; Andrew has ample time to grow a spine and follow his dream. Professor Ursula/Chariot has ample time to make a witch out of Akko and I know (through the mini-movies) that Diana will get a taste of her own medicine in time. I am looking forward to what the show will bring next season; I only hope that it gets its skates on…although saying that, plenty of people I know are fine with these mini-stories as they are.
One more episode after this, and I can breathe a sigh of relief, as I have joined those people who are moaning that Sangatsu no Lion‘s time was up weeks ago. It’s a shame, as the first half of this coming-of-age show was truly excellent; it only let itself down when Rei got too focused on competition and focus began to shift more on Shimada, who was thrashed in the Lion King Tournament last week. With the arrival of the cherry blossoms, life is going back to normal. Rei and Shimada go back to his hometown to attend a shogi festival. After seeing Shimada being more than depressed in the last few weeks, Rei is finally happy to see his mentor enjoy himself. This was another rather dull episode, but the one thing it did show us that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, and that we should always look on the bright side of life. A bit of a metaphor there, but Rei will be starting a new school year, he will have many more matches to do, Kawamoto’s traditional sweets store will be just as popular…the path to adulthood can suck, but it is usually worth it in the end.
Meanwhile, I’ve been behind on watching Gabriel Dropout, so I’m covering two eps this time. They decided to show the mandatory Christmas episode this time…in the middle of March. That’s something that’s not uncommon in shows; you see Christmas/Holiday episodes in shows that air in the summer. Sadly Christmas/Holiday episodes have never been extra-special in my eyes. Perhaps other studios see it that way too, and now I see less and less shows even bothering with Christmas episodes; because they’re really no different than any of the others.
Later, the girls find time to go back home; Gabriel and Raphiel to Heaven, and Vignette and Satania to Hell. With Gabriel being a lazy NEET and Vignette becoming a goody two-shoes, both end up struggling to impress angels and demons that they are doing good/bad deeds on Earth.
I won’t mind seeing the back of this show, but that’s not to say that Gabriel Dropout hasn’t made me giggle. Dogakobo’s other slice-of-life comedies, like Yuru Yuri and last year’s New Game!, turned out way better than this, and I think it’s mostly down to the character design. These four girls didn’t really grab me like Kyouko and Chinatsu (Yuru Yuri), and Aoba, Hifumi and Ko (New Game!) have done…and I think it’s that fact that has let this show down.
Over in Chihayafuru, Chihaya is slowly learning from her mistakes. I think this great gap between Chihaya and Arata is rather ridiculous; in episode 18, they were both at the same event, and yet cannot seem to find time to talk to each other. Although saying that, I can see it from Arata’s point-of-view; the reason he gave Taichi his contact details (and not Chihaya) is that he thought that the two of them ended up becoming a couple.
With both Kana and Tsutomu now safely in Class C after their match last week, the focus has shifted firmly back to Chihaya/Taichi/Arata. Taichi has his own problem in playing (which is both a blessing and a curse): he is in the belief that karuta is only a mental contest, a game of wits. The reason why Nishida became so good over the years is that, despite his size, he has excellent reflexes, so he shows him how to practice on his card swings, and to work on the distance between each card. It’s taken a really long time, but I’m warming to Taichi more; he used to be a real jerk, but he has since matured into a smart, caring and thoughtful young man.
Well with 2 shows that I’ve been desperate to finish finally finishing, now is the time to look at Spring. Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia and The Eccentric Family are all getting second seasons, meaning Crunchyroll’s social media accounts will be going non-stop until October, potentially. Natsume’s Book of Friends is getting a sixth (yes, sixth!) season, and my favourite sci-fi *sarcasm* Mahouka has a movie. Well I will be watching none of them; instead I have the following to watch for this column:
Little Witch Academia (continuing), Saekano Flat (season 2), Sakura Quest, and eromanga-sensei. My out-of-season show is to be Haibane Renmei. I have seen it before, but that was well over 10 years ago, shortly after Pioneer brought it to the West.