I’m already looking at what shows I’m going to watch for this column for the summer season. Because I was unable to decide, I even looked at the possibility that I could just not choose and just watch all of them…but sense got the better of me, and so I managed to narrow them down. Expect a Summer Anime preview post coming soon.
In the meantime, we have penultimate episodes to watch: those eps that leave us on cliffhangers so we can watch finales and reaffirm why we enjoy anime so much, and Sarazanmai‘s penultimate was no different:
With Enta’s life on the line, Kazuki turns to Keppi to find a way to save him, now that they have all the Dishes of Hope that they’ve collected over the space of this show. Reo, on the other hand, begins to discover the reasons why his partner Mabu effectively became a doll for the Otters.
As we reach the end of this show, we see more of the three ‘connections’ that become the center. There’s Enta’s connection with Kazuki: an unrequited love, but still happy to be his partner in the Golden Duo. There’s Reo and Mabu’s connection: love through self-sacrifice. And there’s Toi’s connection with Chikai: the good boy turned bad by his criminal older brother, but unwilling to let him go, even in death.
Given what Ikuhara finale episodes are like, I will expect the unexpected next week. I mean I didn’t see Yuri Kuma Arashi‘s finale coming at all. What has happened in this week’s episode of Sarazanmai has determined who will live and who will die next week. Even though I’ve been trash-talking this show at points, I’m genuinely looking forward to it all.
We Never Learn is ending too, and thank goodness is all I can say. Having not read the original source, I can’t really judge too much on the story, but it really seems like this show has gone on a journey from being thoughtful about students who want to pursue careers in things they’re not academically good at, to a collection of filler episodes bringing all of them in ridiculous, stupid and compromising situations, all of which detracting from the main story.
This week sees Kirisu humiliating herself over and over again; she should be extremely thankful that Nariyuki just happens to be around at every moment to help her get out of it all. For example, leaving a mixer party to find him hanging around a maid cafe to help Asumi with her grades only to accidentally sprain an employee’s ankle meaning she takes her place as maid for the day.
Yeah…this was Kirisu’s episode, but since We Never Learn has just become a collection of filler episodes now, I suppose we just find ourselves focusing on which is our favorite girl (as opposed to the original story). For me, it was Rizu from the beginning, but Kirisu is doing a very good job of taking her place.
Just so you know, my season review post will be coming next week. We Never Learn is the only show I’m watching that won’t be finished by then, however I’ve decided to write my general review of the show then, and avoid episode 13. Not that it’ll make that much of a difference anyway; I mean, from what has happened so far in the show, no major plot twists are really going to happen.
I will be sad to see Hitoribocchi end though, as it has been such a positive thing to watch. As Sarazanmai goes on a surreal yet somewhat destructive path of growing up, and We Never Learn has just led Nariyuki into one embarassing and compromising situation after the other, Hitoribocchi has been different in that it’s gone on Bocchi’s journey of fighting her social anxiety…a fight that many of us go on, or have been on, but just have not spoken about perhaps because of embarrassment.
This week features a new girl that we haven’t come across before: Mayo Ojousa. She’s the daughter of an extremely wealthy family, who are currently working abroad, leaving her alone at home, and it is this loneliness of hers that drives this episode. However we see Mayo is not only very rich, but extremely naive as well; perhaps it is this sheltered life that has done that. Nonetheless, she notices Bocchi’s panic that the gang could all move to different classes in the upcoming second year (which turns out not to be school policy), and becomes quite chummy to Bocchi, in a rather bizarre but very heartwarming way.
It is these heartwarming moments in Hitoribocchi that have made this such a joy to watch. We watch Bocchi struggle with being social, and while we might giggle at them, we also see that she is not the only one who struggles with being among other people. It’s this gang of people she has brought together (from Sotoka’s worry that she is using her role as apprentice too much, to Kurai’s strict code of disclipine) that becomes the glue of this show. Hard to believe that all of this has come from a newbie studio like C2C.
Something to reveal: for the summer season, I will be doing 5 shows once again. I was getting worried that doing too many shows would burn me out, but it seems that I’ve been doing relatively okay. I may have been neglecting Kaguya-sama: Love is War somewhat…or rather I just haven’t talked about why it’s such a good watch, and a worthy contender for the anime of the year list.
Episode 11 sees us in 4 different scenarios again, from Kaguya’s childhood friend and maid Ai showing Kaguya the wonders of Twitter, to who will ask who out first for the upcoming Fireworks festival. Interestingly though, we get a little backstory on Kaguya’s upbringing at the end, and it shows that she did indeed live a very sheltered life. I mean, there was that hilarious moment earlier on in the show where Chika had to explain to her what ‘first time’ meant (since the beginning and end of her sexual education was just casual kissing).
Next week I’ll take a general look at Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and see if I was wrong in putting the show aside a little, so I could focus on Rascal Does Not Dream, which has been equally brilliant…and another show where I kick myself for missing.
Episode 11 of Rascal Does Not Dream begins Kaede’s arc, as I suspected. While I initially thought that Kaede was just a shut-in, it emerges at this moment in the arc that she actually has Dissociative Disorder.
It looks like this arc could be much more complicated than I initially thought. It begins fine enough with Kaede making a list of tasks to do in order to become an active member of society again, from answering the phone to stepping outside the house. Having spent so long inside, Kaede feels like her home has become both her paradise and her prison.
Episode 12 gets more serious, when we learn that there was a particular point in her school life that triggered her Dissociative Disorder. She became a victim of cyberbullying, and had begun to receive a number of death threats on top of that. Kaede knows that she needs to leave the house, so Sakuta proposes that they visit the local zoo and return to her old school at night, only to discover that this act alone has some serious consequences.
While other arcs have had instances that borderline on the supernatural, Kaede’s arc is a little more down-to-earth and shows us something that can happen to any of us. You can’t help but feel bad for what Kaede has had to go through in the past, and is currently going through now. It’s truly heartbreaking, and is actually the perfect arc to end the show on.
Here’s hoping that Kaede will turn out okay in the final episode; she’s too pure to have anything bad happen. But now, I begin to look to the summer season. Have you picked your shows yet? Will you be sad to see the shows you’re watching now end? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…