I’ve been hit with some rather surprising news this week.
A part of me is clapping inside hearing this news, though. Watching Azur Lane this season has been very tiresome, and thanks to this show, I will likely not touch another mobile game adaptation again. The Azur Lane fans can think what they want, though; non-fans like me were just not impressed with this at all.
Azur Lane Episode 10
I believe I have said something like this before; Azur Lane is trying to be two shows at once: on the one side is a moeblob show with moeblob girls doing moeblob things, and the other side is an action show trying to be dark and deep, trying to teach us the meaning of life and humanity. I haven’t enjoyed either side, and so this extended delay until March is kind of a blessing, since by March, I will have likely forgotten everything that happened, and will dive into episodes 11 and 12 afresh…that’s providing I even want to watch them.
Ayanami is still stuck on the Azur Lane base, moping about the Sakura Empire life she has back home, while Enterprise is still moping about being afraid of the ocean and existing only to fight. Belfast meanwhile has snapped, and has grown sick of Enterprise’s emo girl behavior, forcing her to eat decent meals and behave like a senior ship girl is meant to.
I’m not going to lie: I actually found that scene really funny, with Belfast literally dragging Enterprise by her tie to the galley and forcing her to eat.
On the other side of the ocean, I think the Sakura Empire are ready to throw in the towel. With Akagi gone and Kaga about ready to snap herself, the internal division is almost ready to admit defeat, while the other Sakura Empire ship girls are beginning to grow sick of why they’re fighting in the first place, when their true enemy are the Sirens…who actually make a big comeback in this episode. Won’t spoil how exactly, but I suppose the hardcore Azur Lane fans will be ready for whatever the studio decides to throw them come March time. For me, though, when it comes to March, I’ll be deep into watching my new shows then, so by then, will I even care about what happens to these ship girls?
Kandagawa Jet Girls Episode 9
Watching ecchi watersports yuri girl show Kandagawa Jet Girls has been far more fun. In fact, I initially didn’t expect much from this show at all; now, I’ve just fallen in love with everyone here.
This show hasn’t had much in the way of racing in a while, so it’s good to see it return here, with Fuka and Inori, the shrine girls, being the next opponents in the Kandagawa preliminaries, which have suddenly arrived out of nowhere. We all have some inkling on who is actually going to end up winning this, by the way, knowing past sports shows. I guess the journey there is our entertainment.
I’m still not sure on how TNK, the studio, will actually work out how to schedule these remaining episodes before the next season begins. It’s not like they have any other projects planned for that future, but all of the voice actors and some of the staff here certainly do. Could they just end the show early, or just air the remaining episodes all in one go? I honestly don’t mind either way. I’m enjoying the heck out of this show, and this has been a part of how this Fall season has been so crazy for me. Not just show delays, but me watching shows I never expected myself to.
We Never Learn s2 Episode 11
Shows like We Never Learn, for instance. I struggled through season 1 earlier this year, and here I am, watching Nariyuki having to choose which girl he likes the most, and which one he wants to spend the most time studying with. Last week, we saw Fumino make some significant progress, when her backstory in why she wants to study astronomy was told in more detail.
This week the first episode of the final arc of this show started: the school festival. An unsurprising topic, but it occurred to me that this is something that hasn’t really been brought up in We Never Learn…at least, not in any great detail.
Each class has their own thing to do. While Nariyuki’s class has something rather mundane like a haunted house, and Rizu’s class has an udon shop, Fumino’s class has something different in mind. While they plan to do a rendition of Sleeping Beauty, the girls in the class know all too well that Fumino secretly has her eye on Nariyuki, and so plans secretly for her to play the Sleeping Beauty, and for Nariyuki to play the Prince who kisses her for real, in public, for everyone to see.
As for what Kirisu is doing? Well…I’ll just leave this here. Saying too much would just spoil it.
Speaking of Kirisu, the whole harem plus Nariyuki has been told of that school urban legend that states that the couple who touch hands just as the first fireworks go off will be together forever. Knowing this urban legend, you just know that that couple will be Nariyuki…and not anyone in the harem. My money is actually on Kirisu or something ridiculous. Just a hunch.
Houkago Saikoro Club Episode 11
This week in Houkago Saikoro Club, we go back to Midori’s game-in-progress, One Room, which she is still working on. She has been given even more motivation to work on it and complete it when she hears that her ‘mortal enemy’ George Beresford, the same guy who trash-talked her and told her she could never be a game author, is organizing a game building tournament. I would have thought something like this would be something Emilia would jump at too, since she sees herself as a game author too, but it seems like she’s taking a step back letting her ‘darling’ try and win.
As the four play the game this week, we see that the game has definitely had a lot of changes; players can now create their own room to be whatever they please, and the point scoring system has been changed as well. Not sure if it’s just me, though, but the game still feels a little complex. Perhaps this could just be down to the fact that I’m not the one playing it. I think that it’ll be this plot point that’ll be a part of next week’s final episode, but another part will be about Miki.
In all of this game playing, we have forgotten that she is the main protagonist who is fighting her shyness and social issues, but it looks like they might just come back with a vengeance. These past episodes have seen Midori, Aya and Emilia all with ideas and plans for the future, but it’s only in this week’s episode where we notice that Miki has no such dream herself, which leaves her kind of left out.
Could this be the emotional part of the show that I was expecting Lidenfilms to have in the show? They have done a lot of shows charged with emotion in the past, and now we’re left thinking…what exactly can Miki do in the future? She has okay grades, has met some wonderful friends, played a lot of board/card games, and even met a cute guy who likes her back. But even with all this, she has no dream for the future. Perhaps this plot point is expanded on next week. I’m not expecting Houkago Saikoro Club to get a second season at all, so I’m expecting everything that hasn’t already been resolved to be resolved next week.
If I have to take one thing from this week’s episode of Houkago Saikoro Club, though, it’s seeing Midori go into full-on ojou-sama mode. We knew her family were rich, but looking at her character, I would have thought she’d be a little modest and less frugal child, but I’ll let an ojou-sama Midori walk all over me any day.
Girls’ Last Tour Episodes 11 + 12
I decided to end with covering the final two episodes of Girls’ Last Tour together; less weight off the shoulders when it comes to the holidays, if that makes sense. I think this may have been the wisest decision, considering how surreal the previous episode (Episode 10) turned out being.
Episode 11 sees more of this…creature. I checked Reddit’s reviews of it, and they all thought it was some kind of mixture between dog and potato. It ends up being named Nuko, and still follows Chito and Yuuri around, as they try and make it further towards the top level of the city.
Just as music begins playing on the radio they found again, a giant robot falls from the sky. The creature called Nuko is able to power up the robot (surprisingly), and Yuuri is able to find the weapons that were on board it…which turns out to be a bit of a mistake, as they end up causing havoc to the already-destroyed city. Nonetheless, Chito, Yuuri and Nuko push on, where they find a submarine…a fully-functioning one, that has nuclear weapons on it. Curious how that fact ended up being the primer for the show’s finale episode, which turned the show’s surreal-ness up to 11 and beyond.
In the final episode, we learn how the city became so…barren and empty and hellish in the first place. Unsurprisingly, it was a result of a nuclear war that humans waged on each other, but during all of that, the Earth came into contact with aliens…like Nuko. These alien creatures are still around, with their purpose being to consume unstable energy. Girls’ Last Tour does not end with some outstanding finale plot point, but instead we are left with Chito and Yuuri finding a new level of understanding between each other. With the aliens telling them that they are the only humans they have found in the city…so far, that leaves the two girls with some tiny level of hope that they can find civilization. And not just that, the two girls learn they need each other to survive. In these past episodes, Chito and Yuuri have just stuck together because they have nothing else to do, but now they are together, the two can find civilization…quicker?
This show has been a very surreal ride, and I wouldn’t mind rewatching it another time, and reviewing it at a much deeper level. Here on TheOASG, I have said repeatedly that the cityscape they roam in is some kind of weird afterlife or purgatory. Now we see that that might not be entirely true, I’m very keen to theorize on what it truly is. At the same time, I totally understand why some anime fans were hesitant to compliment this show. It is definitely not a show for everyone, like a lot of other science-fiction anime shows are. While they are far more accessible, here in Girls’ Last Tour, we have to use our imagination to think who these girls really are, what this place really is, and what exactly happened to it. I most definitely recommend it, but only to those who are willing to dive in with an open mind.
Next week will see a Fall season review post. Houkago Saikoro Club will have its final episode at that point, and even though the other shows won’t have ended by then, I will still cast a final review on them all. I’ll still have some more posts afterwards; a review of 2019 as a whole, plus a little look at what I’ll be watching at the start of 2020.
A crazy season, huh? Let’s just hope that the Winter 2020 season will be nothing like this one…or at the very least, less chaotic. So, with Azur Lane being delayed until March, and Kandagawa Jet Girls already a couple of episodes behind the other shows, has this season been chaotic for you too? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!