Go ahead and shoot me. I’ve already started packing for my trip to the US, even though it’s 3 weeks away.

I have been just a little disappointed by some of this week’s offerings; even Love Live! Sunshine!! had the filler of all fillers. But now we’re halfway through this season, ‘halfway stories’ are wrapping up, and the show can finally get going at full speed. Plus it’s around this time when I plan in advance on what I will be watching in the autumn season; a long-awaited sequel and a SHAFT show among them…Well because I promised last week that I would dig into both Shokugeki no Soma and Prisma Illya, I shall do so, as I keep my word.

Love him or hate him, Takumi was a bit of a comedy character, and had always had a bone to pick with Soma. But his defeat was truly heart-wrenching. I mean…who the hell likes biker antagonists in shows? People prefer the adorable arch-rival more. But with the first of the two antagonists wiped out, I can breathe a sigh of relief, as we have all wanted Soma and Erina to square off ever since the show started, and now we’re reached the last half of the show, we’re slowly building up to that. Plus there’s the ongoing lovable Soma vs. Takumi feud. He gets his tools back, but promises payback to Subaru, and so requests that Soma hangs on to his beloved chopper. You can see the brolove between Soma and Takumi from miles away.

While the entire show has centered around its characters desperate to defeat each other mercilessly, this week’s Shokugeki of Soma and creepy biker Suburu has shown that despite the need of chef’s demanding perfection, they must also demand respect. Suburu showed no manners and no respect and operated effectively like a human cookbook. However, I still believe that Soma’s optimism will get the better of him when he reaches the final, and ultimately Erina. Season 2 is building up for that face-off and with both Megumi and Takumi now out of the Autumn Elections, while we’ll likely be watching fillers until the end, it’ll be cool to see what will happen.

Looking back on past episodes, though, I think it’s good how the defeated characters (Alice, Megumi, Hisako and Takumi) haven’t simply been discarded. All of them are as much as part of the show as the main MCs are. I especially hope we get to see Hisako again; her defeat was rather heartbreaking, and I know Erina will set that aside because the two of them have known each other for so long. But has Alice joined #TeamSoma? With her counterpart coming up next week, of course she hasn’t. But I think after her match against him, she respects him more now that she knows that scientific cooking isn’t everything.

Meanwhile, over in the Prisma Illya camp, its trademarks have not disappeared at all; they were only lurking, and waiting for the right time to simply spring back to us. Lots of people were #TeamKuro and thus were very glad she arrived in the new dimension as backup when Illya really needed it. Without the cards, she would have been vulnerable to merciless attack. However, we’re not all watching this for the heart-stopping action of course…

…we’re watching this for the ecchi. If only we had that this week though…

This fourth season of Prisma Illya has felt very different from the others, somehow. Previous seasons have shown action, although it has firmly been kept at the back-seat, behind comedy and ecchi. The fact that the two has suddenly switched around for this season is throwing me off a little. Illya, Kuro and Ruby have been thrown into an awkward position with no hope or escape, and Miyu no longer seems to care anymore on whether her beloved Illya will come for her or not. And in addition to this, as each week progresses, the episodes seem to get shorter and shorter somehow, and I don’t know why. It’s as if there’s such little content in each episode that they have to drag it out further and further. For instance, this episode alone only had 5 actual scenes. Will we get this still with the show wrapping up soon (each Prisma Illya season last only 10 episodes)?

So fillers coming up for Shokugeki no Soma and possibly Prisma Illya too…

…Love Live! Sunshine!! is a different matter, however. The aqours girls are still being aqours girls, and this week offered nothing more than filler, sadly. And here was me thinking the backstory for the third-years was deep and complicated. I should know better. Dia’s just bitter her attempt at being a school idol with her fellow third-years fell flat, while Mari is still sticking her nose in everyone else’s business (and feels she has to, now the school is to merge). Still next to nothing from Kanan, though. I think that’s why I like it every time she crops up; I really do want to know more about her, but the show is just keeping us in suspense. I’m in the belief now that the reason she doesn’t want her second-year friends to be school idols is because she doesn’t want them to make the mistakes she made with Dia and Mari.

Over on the orange camp, the truth comes out during summer break; the others were all been sent letters too. This was actually something I should have seen sooner. But as each episode progresses, I lose more and more caring on whether Kakeru will disappear or not. I think a part of this is down to these 6 characters being the populars of the class.

In 6 weeks, I have come with some headaches over shows already. The Future Arc of Danganronpa has annoyed me beyond belief, and so my focus will now only be on the Despair Arc, which has suddenly become very interesting, now that the so-called ‘slice-of-life’ theme has gone, and we’re seeing how all of these kids become The Remnants of Despair.

Prisma Illya has given me some headaches every now and then as well, and I have accepted now that Rewrite is most likely going to be a clone of Charlotte in these next coming weeks (another dollar/pound/euro for the jar), but all in all, I’m pleased with the shows I chose for Otaku Theater. There have been other shows this summer that have caught my eye as well, and I hope to do a separate post on them once this cour is over.