…meaning a lot of things when it comes to writing here. Being busy could keep me away from OASG, but I’ll try my very best. In the meantime, I’ll begin this week with Darling in the Franxx, and I think it’s time to bring up a topic I touched on briefly last week: how the writers of the show are dictating what a sexual relationship is supposed to be (and I no longer care if I incur the wrath of the hardcore Darlfra fans).
It’s something that is annoying more and more people as the show is reaching its conclusion, and right now it seems like more focus is being put on Squad 13 itself than on the impending Klaxosaur invasion, with some kind of telenovela-like soap opera being created around who loves who. These kids are meant to be portrayed as the squad who can put a stop to the Klaxosaur princess (and whatever she ends up doing), and yet all the writers seem to want to talk about is how blasphemous their relationships are. This week continues the trend of ignoring the mecha action, with the kids angering the Nines and the adults even more by staging a wedding for Mitsuru and Kokoro.
It feels like as each week passes in this show, I’m reminded more and more of the complicated plot and world-building in Evangelion‘s second cour…and yes, it has been a long time since I’ve seen that. The kids have been told they are to leave their home for safety reasons, so they decide to hold a ceremony that Zero Two and Kokoro have read about. This in turn forces the hand of the adults, who decide to intervene. To be fair, I sort of knew what the end result was going to be, but despite this, we have been given even more awkward questions, some of which aren’t even necessary. Why was Nana locked up? Why haven’t we heard anything from the Klaxosaur Princess, who is being portrayed (by the adults at least) as the enemy? And why did Futoshi feel he had to wear a pot on his head at the ceremony?
One thing that has put my mind at ease is that Ikuno has finally told Ichigo the truth about how she feels; their scene was the only real heartwarming scene in this week’s episode.
But even with this, people aren’t happy with how the writers are effectively forcing their views that only a male/female relationship (whether it be romantic or in a mecha) is the only true way. It hasn’t bothered me as much as others, but I do understand how unjustified the writers have been:
i'd like a version of darling in the franxx that isn't written by the most insecure straight men in the world
— Zac Bertschy (@ActionZacku) May 19, 2018
OK so here's my list of things that FRANXX for-sure seems to believe and/or be arguing for at this point: pic.twitter.com/6hyTTRPu4M
— GAB★GAB (@gabbomatic) May 19, 2018
So I was hesitant to say it since last week left like, a little ambiguity, but at this point I feel comfortable calling Darling in the FranXX this decade's Guilty Crown.
— Libe-Rei-tion Frequency (@LossThief) May 19, 2018
I know the writers really should have thought the script through, double-checked it and everything, before committing it to the animators. I know I’ll have a lot more to say when this show finally ends. Some will miss it, while a lot more people won’t.
As for whether people will miss Uma Musume Pretty Derby? Well…perhaps. Depends on whether you like your ridiculous shows or not.
This show no longer cares, and the fans who watch it know it too; I mean, it doesn’t exactly hide the fact that Special Week loves food. I know Kyoani made Myriad Colors Phantom World (which got all our palms meeting our faces) but despite being incredibly silly, it was rather harmless…well, maybe we should call this P.A Works’ equivalent.
Still annoyed by her loss, Special Week is starting to feel that her worries have severely affected her performance. Meanwhile, with Silence Suzuka properly discharged, she feels that everyone else in the team have had to slow down, in order to cater for her. Seeing this, Trainer decides to split the team up and make them compete against each other. Seeing that each one of them ought to be thinking about their own performance than worrying frantically about the others, both Special Week and Silence Suzuka find the motivation to bounce back. This show is 9 episodes in now, since it started early with two episodes, and I’m still not sure about what kind of ending it’ll have. Will Special Week become the best horse girl in Japan? Will Silence Suzuka disappear off to America like she originally planned? Or will the two of them run off into yuri Valhalla?
In the meantime, Anitwitter has gone nuts over the size of phone receivers in the show. Definitely something to giggle about, but on the other hand, you have to actually think where horse girl ears actually are. This isn’t like some catgirls, where their ears are covered by their hair, and we just think their cat ears are their real ears…
I will be the first to admit that I have been lagging behind on Hinamatsuri, but it isn’t because I haven’t been enjoying it. It almost seems like my habit here on OASG is there is always one show that I either:
- Don’t like/cannot warm to and drop after the first couple of episodes.
- Don’t like/cannot warm to, but stick with anyway.
…and Hinamatsuri has been the latter. This week has 3 stories to tell: Anzu is settling into her new home, which is always wonderful to see (and makes you wonder whether the show ought to have made her the main character instead), then Hina decides to run for student council president at her school when she finds the school rules too boring (like bad school meals and no napping in class), and finally Hina starts asking Nitta about what it would be like to have a mom and so, with Hitomi’s help, sets him up on a date with Utako.
I promise to rewatch this in its entirety at the end of the Spring season, as I know I haven’t given this show the credit it deserves, so in the season review post, I’ll have something extended especially for Hinamatsuri. Perhaps I’ll have a better opinion of Nitta…although Hitomi is still best girl (with Anzu still being best daughter).
The last episode of Princess Principal was our Dorothy episode, and showed me that the Dorothy x Beatrice pairing is superior. No surprises, as I have found the both of them (as well as Chise) the only characters I can really warm to…or rather, I can’t quite connect with Ange and Princess quite yet. Their time to shine properly (as a unit, and not separately) will come. Right now, though, episode 7 gives us more of a filler episode.
Sent to track down a serial killer who poisons Commonwealth sympathizers, the team go undercover at a laundry mill that services Kingdom soldiers, as they surmise that the killer is in fact a soldier (and can find residue on uniforms). I suppose you could call this an episode where the 5 girls end up working together in order to get to know each other better. At this point (chronologically), Chise is new to the team, and Beatrice is still a little apprehensive of what she has gotten herself into. Learning that the mill is in danger of closing, Princess steps in and buys it, saving it from going into debt. By doing this, she may have raised some suspicions by the Kingdom on what she’s getting up to, since her family still have no idea she is defecting…if working with Commonwealth-affiliated spies in order to accelerate her standing to become Queen and unify the Kingdom and the Commonwealth counts as defection.
But bless this episode for giving us moody Ange faces.
I promise to watch Princess Principal in chronological order next time. In the meantime, I already have something special in mind for my Summer classic/out-of-season show.
As previously mentioned, I’ll be very busy moving to a new place in the next few weeks, so don’t be surprised if I’ll be skipping a couple of weeks of posts here. If I do, I’ll be doing catch-up posts. In the meantime, feel free to air any opinions you have concerning this Spring anime season in the comments below!