Having seen Infinity War at a midnight screening last Wednesday, I’ve had to keep my lips firmly sealed because I know Justin would kill me otherwise.
Let’s begin with something completely unrelated with Hinamatsuri. Even though this week was mostly centered around Hina winning Nitta’s trust back after she is thrown out for constantly destroying his apartment, my new reason for tuning in is Hitomi. I was initially rather hesitant to pour praise on a middle school girl blackmailed into a bartender job, but she has actually grown to enjoy her work, despite it leaving her exhausted.
Her character actually makes me think of one of my all-time favourite games, VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action for the PC and PS Vita. Set in a fictional cyberpunk city, instead of being some cyborg cop hunting rogue androids or whatnot, you play the role of a very bored bartender in a run-down bar, where you make drinks for various kinds of people one would expect in a cyberpunk story; from the android sex worker to the super-enhanced mercenary, from the synthetic Vocaloid-influenced pop idol to the 24/7 daily life livestreamer. Sounds simplistic, but I seriously recommend it to anyone… Anyway, back to Hinamatsuri…
I think I’ve finally stopped taking this show seriously…thank goodness. It’s usually when I look too deep into shows when my former butthurt weeb instincts come out and haunt me. I do enjoy how the show alternates between laugh-out-loud jokes to general humour. None of it is meant to cause any real offense or harm, despite this being more of a grown-up show. I haven’t read the manga yet, and despite not really being a manga person (look to the other cool writers here on OASG for manga-related articles and reviews), I’m getting rather curious on how it compares.
We need bars like Little Song here in the UK; not everyone here enjoys going to pubs. Pretty sure they do actually exist in London or something, but I’m just probably too blind to even notice them.
No new Darling in the Franxx episode this week. They have chosen to resort to a ‘special’ episode that goes behind the scenes on production of the show, talking to VAs and staff. This is somehow telling me that this upcoming final part (which began with the cliffhanger ending of last week) is going to be something that the fans are hoping will be good. The show has suffered from a poor script, questionable animation choices and a rabid fanbase wanting Ichigo’s head for doing something against their beloved Zero Two. Even if this final part turns out to be great, Darling in the Franxx has not been the most enjoyable Trigger show I’ve watched so far, which is a real shame because, if they had reworked the script and borrowed less from existing shows, this could have been something far more enjoyable.
Still not sure of the reasons behind P.A Works wanting to adapt the Uma Musume Pretty Derby game though. I mean I know their much-hyped movie has had a Western release (Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms had its Western premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in February and was shown at a handful of cinemas across the country last month…which I only found out yesterday 🙁 ), so perhaps a lot of their creative energy was spent on that instead. I don’t know…this show does not deserve trash talk, as it is not really meant to be taken seriously. I mean human horse hybrids becoming national idols by racing. Well, this week was the festival episode, with Silence Suzuka breaking the news that she is keenly interested in racing overseas, which upsets Special Week a little. Perhaps this will end up being the major plot point of the show: Suzuka getting herself ready to race abroad, with Special Week desperate to get her to change her mind. Meanwhile, serious trainer Hana is getting frustrated with herself for acting too seriously with the horse girls in her team, which comes about when one member in her team, Grass Wonder, races with an injury.
I should really know where my serious switch is when it comes to shows, as all of the new shows I’m watching this season aren’t really meant to be taken seriously…I’m finally treating Darling in the Franxx as a ‘not-that-serious’ show finally. Perhaps I look too deeply into shows too often that it’s just become a habit. A lot of people see yuri shippings in Uma Musume, but that’s just something I don’t really pay attention to. Instead the one thing that constantly crops up in the show is…carrots. Every time they appear in the show, my serious switch is flipped.
I am relieved to see no horse girls in bikinis though.
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms will be doing another cinema run here in the UK in June, so look forward to a review of that here on TheOASG 🙂
Now finally onto my new favourite out-of-season show. Princess Principal.
Episode 4 shows the first real friction in the group. On a mission to acquire vital research information about Cavorite that the Kingdom have developed, Princess shows a keener interest in their work, which annoys Ange and Dorothy…Dorothy especially, since her higher-ups have suspicions that she could be a double agent. Princess is also itching for Ange to be more open to the others about their past relationship, which is something she refuses to do. I know the main story will center around these two; I suppose I’m just a little impatient on this one. Meanwhile the lesser seen character Chise begins to get angry that she isn’t relied upon as much as she would like. The reasons why aren’t really made that clear in this episode, so I hope that we hear more about this in another episode.
I said last week that I wished that I knew about this show sooner, well I’ll say now that after seeing episode 4, I want to see more character development. Last week I saw Beatrice’s episode, and the one I watched this week doesn’t really focus on anyone in particular. It’s just Dorothy and Chise left, and so I hope to see the focus on them more in upcoming episodes.
Also…great to hear that a sequel to the show is coming next year, in the form of 6 extended episodes/movies.
How has the Spring cour been for you? Do you think the folks at P.A Works were thinking straight when they decided to do Uma Musume? Was it a good idea to do a ‘behind the scenes’ episode of Darlifra this week? Do I take shows too seriously sometimes? Feel free to air your opinions in the comments below…