This season actually feels like it’s flown past. I mean, it’s week 9 already, and it still feels like I haven’t quite gotten into the shows I’ve picked as much as I’d like. Perhaps it’s just the shows that my OASG colleagues picked. On the bright side though, I haven’t gone into full-on rage mode for any of them. Even a show like Girly Air Force is something I can watch without completely despairing, despite the fact that there’s a lot in the show that I find very frustrating, and that’s not counting how much of a JDSF propaganda piece it is coming across as.
There’s something else that bothers me about Girly Air Force, aside from its hidden military propaganda: the fact that, even after 9 episodes, the antagonists of this show still don’t have much of a presence. I accept that these Xi/Xai/Zai (whatever they are meant to be) are advanced beings/machines from a distant land who seem intent on global domination, but despite how much the characters in this show make out that their technology is super-advanced, it’s like they are non-existent. Even the Neuroi in the Strike Witches franchise (also advanced beings from a distant land) had more of a presence, and they were actually more villainous as well. You could be forgiven for thinking that more focus has been put on Kei’s plane girl harem than the real villains of the show.
This week was weak though. We are introduced to yet another Anima, from the US Air Force, along with her handler who seems to be obsessed with AI. Rhino acts like the atypical tomboy of an anime harem and aside from being super curious about Kei, she doesn’t really offer much this week.
Minghua knows the score though…
…and it won’t be long before she’s finally had enough of Kei’s antics, and decides to leave. Perhaps that’ll be his wake-up call: the fact that he’s neglecting a poor human refugee in favor of romancing not only plane girls, but the JDSF he so desperately wants to be a part of. It should make him realize how important humanity really is. But is this show deep enough to give out a message like that? I doubt it.
I won’t lie when I say that I have been finding The Magnificent Kotobuki an weird watch, but it’s not for the reasons you probably think. I love this show, in fact, and it’s a real shame that it’s something that’s sort of ‘off-the-radar’ compared to the likes of The Promised Neverland, Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Mob Psycho 100 season 2 (who have all been the big hitters this season). I think that it’s this slight underrating that is making me feel like this – this is a show that deserves more attention than it currently does. Sure, people will probably be put off by the slightly awkward mixture of 2D and 3D animation, but the rest of us have just let this slip, compared to the great original story, fantastic world-building and exciting action scenes and plane dogfights.
This week we get to see Kate’s brother again, but it’s just a bit of a shame this week felt a little rushed, and too crammed with plot points. With the Kotobuki Corps off on their own contracts due to the Hagoromo being grounded for repairs, Kylie finds herself at a crossroads, since the Corps is something that has kept her going in life, and the thought of being a stray pilot without work is something that worries her a little.
This week’s episode also opens up the possibility/conspiracy theory that this place is even an alternate dimension, and that this is even an isekai show. Why? Well what could this strange ‘hole’ in the sky possibly be? A wormhole? A passageway to another dimension? Of course those are all the wild theories dotted around on Reddit right now, but we’re still left with the question of what this thing even is.
One thing that has been ‘hidden’ is the political side of the show. Some of us may have overlooked the fact that Isao is seizing control of pretty much everything in a short amount of time. Not only is he gaining misaligned trust from the city by ‘saving’ them twice now (once from air pirates, and then from thieves threatening to destroy the place), but has now found himself sort of in control of their military now (as well as other cities’ military forces, as he seems to have organized contracts with them too). By the end of this episode, we’re left with the hint that he has declared martial law. He’s right to find the Kotobuki Corps and the more libertarian female politicans a threat.
This hole/portal/gateway has made me curious though, and even though I’m a little frustrated on how The Magnificent Kotobuki hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, the final episode should be interesting to watch.
Am a little disappointed by this week’s Domestic Girlfriend, despite the fact that it has finally made headway with the plot. Hina lived up to her declaration of moving out (since it was something she already told the rest of the family), but not before leaving Natsuo a key, which spells all sorts of trouble – trouble that we anime-only viewers sort of saw coming anyway.
Team Hina will be especially happy that this adaptation has gone in the direction that it has. Of course that leaves the rest of us in Team Rui extremely upset, because she’s the one who really deserves more happiness. I made the joke at the start of this show that while Hina was more the popular girl type, Rui appeared the type of girl who listened to weird European rock bands (like I did), and secretly had a Livejournal (…also like I did). A part of me still hopes all that is true, but as this show remains to be full-on trash, that’s something that’s going to have to remain in my head. As an anime-only viewer myself, I actually don’t know what the remaining episodes will give us, or even if Diomedea will remain faithful to the manga. It isn’t like that haven’t strayed from a manga story before; in their adaptation of Fuuka, the titular girl wasn’t meant to survive the car crash, and yet in the show, she went on and continued in her little rock band with the potato of a male protagonist. I wouldn’t call Natsuo a potato though; he certainly gets around in this show, having taken Rui’s virginity, then going on to be intimate with both Hina and Momo.
Rui is not happy though, and her ‘not-happy’ face will be something that will keep me going while Natsuo makes the wrong decision by being closer to Hina. This will definitely be something that’ll bite them both on the behind, and a part of me is looking forward to what’ll happen.
In the meantime, I’ve already picked the shows I want to watch for the Spring season, including my out-of-season ones, which are actually ones that are far more recent. My run of Kemono Friends is coming along nicely though, with episode 9 being a mixture between an entertaining filler and a taste of what Japari Park originally was, before the Ceruleans and the Sandstar.
Kaban and Serval arrive in the Snowy Mountains area on their way to the harbor, where they hope they’ll get the chance to find some humans. Since it offers a good view of the huge mountain that spews out so much Sandstar, a message comes out of Lucky Beast, which appears to come from someone prominent in Japari Park by the name of Mirai. This Mirai person appears to know a lot of what’s happened at the park, when it comes to the anthropomorphing of the park’s animals, the heaps of Sandstar that emits from the huge mountain, and why the strange Cerulean creatures are so interested in it.
It’s hard to think that this show will take a slightly darker direction towards the end, though, as people seem to tell me. Everything and everyone has been so positive and jolly, and everyone seems to be enjoying their time in Japari Park and what they’re doing, whether it be Jaguar being a ‘ferry’ for other Friends, or the two Owls at the Library being researchers of sorts.
I still have no idea on what Raccoon and Fennec Fox will do when they catch up with Kaban and Serval. They don’t appear to be malicious at all, so this could all end up being some ‘sorry-we-misunderstood’ moment before some extra-large Cerulean comes and threatens the Park as a whole.
I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, the Winter season is ending, so have you enjoyed what you’ve watched? Has there been anything I ought to have watched but missed out on? I know that weird mermaid idol show (Bermuda Triangle) ought to have something I should have watched just for a laugh, but seriously: have I missed any great shows this season? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…