June comes, and it’s usually when studios begin to release info about their summer shows, put up their PVs, and open their dedicated social media accounts. I still haven’t decided on the ones I’m watching. I always aim to find ones with a singular narrative, although I usually end up finding the slice-of-life ones with a bazillion filler episodes…
…like We Never Learn. When I first noticed this back in March, I thought the plot was an interesting one, but it’s turned out to be one big chaotic harem mess. An amusing one though, even if this week’s episode turned out to be another filler, almost detracting us from what’ll eventually happen in the finale (whatever it is).
The first scenario was pretty tame, even for this show. Nariyuki just happens to pass by Kirisu’s apartment to notice she’s forced herself out due to a cockroach, which needs removing. Somehow Rizu gets involved in this scenario, pouts like she always does, and begins to understand why Kirisu is being so stubborn with her teaching beliefs…but it ultimately comes around to Kirisu’s chest landing on Nariyuki’s face. Never saw that coming…
I don’t even know where to start for how the rest of this week’s episode goes – I mean what kind of women’s lingerie store would let a 17-year-old boy anywhere near their place? This is more of a “watch-and-see-for-yourself” kind of scenario though.
Will I ever realize that We Never Learn doesn’t really have anything else going for it? Will I ever learn? At least my other current season comedy show, Hitoribocchi, has something (plausible story, lovable characters, subtle topics concerning kids’ social problems).
This week was pretty significant as it gives us a far better look at who Kurai is. She has a policy of not befriending anyone due to wanting to live a life of discipline, but in all fairness, she’s in the same boat as Bocchi. She started at this school with no-one. Seeing this, she chooses to remain introverted as opposed to reaching out (which is what Bocchi is trying to do). However, both Bocchi and Kurai began as solitary creatures, albeit for different reasons.
I hope Kurai becomes just as regular a character as the others. Each of Bocchi’s friends have their own unique traits to them, and Kurai is no different. Just because she’s an extremely tsundere non-social disclipined girl, that shouldn’t mean that Bocchi shouldn’t get to know her more.
We also begin to notice this week how the others are trying to push Bocchi to reach forward by herself. In the past, she’s always had to lean on the others’ shoulders, but convincing Kurai to join their outdoor class group was something Bocchi did by herself. A significant step indeed.
This week’s Sarazanmai makes a lot of progress in the story, and is a good continuation from what we learned last week. It turns out that these three boys are more closely connected than we initially thought.
One saying is used a lot in this week’s episode: we only realize how precious something is when we’ve lost it, or can no longer have it. Toi gets ready to leave Tokyo with his brother, Kazuki continues to be angry with Enta for betraying them, and the otter cops Reo and Mabu make their biggest move yet. A lot of big things happen this week, so I can’t really spoil any of it. It’s all stuff that comes out of the Ikuhara playbook though – stuff that I’ve seen in Utena, Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi.
Oh, but Kuji is totally not dabbing here! Why would you do this to us, Ikuhara?! Next week we’ll see the boys doing Fortnite dances, I’m sure.
Out-of-season shows time now, and this new arc in Rascal Does Not Dream looks kind of interesting as well. My own thinking said to me that Kaede would be the next topic, but it is in fact Mai’s half-sister, Nodoka, and a body swap.
From the start, it honestly didn’t look to me as entertaining as I found previous arcs, but as time as passed…well, it’s kind of hard to describe. A possible (and likely) catalyst for this body swap is Nodoka’s envy. Her half-sister ended up being the really famous one, while she was stick in a tiny idol group that noone had heard of, but it appears that there might be more than just that. Nodoka and Mai have the same father, but are brought up differently, and added to this, Nodoka’s mother puts a lot of pressure on her daughter, wanting her to be just like her half-sister.
I saw this ‘comparison story’ in last year’s Bloom Into You; in that Touko was living her entire life just so she could be the mirror image of her deceased older sister, and refusing to live her own life. It appears that this kind of ‘comparison story’ isn’t that new in anime shows, but even still, they become entertaining or interesting to watch, despite them largely being all too similar.
This arc looks like it’ll have a pretty easy resolution, unlike the others.
Once again, Crunchyroll is being a pain to me, and not letting me play episode 9 of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, so I’m afraid that’s going to have to wait. A small blessing maybe, as this may give me some time to reflect on why I’m unwittingly neglecting the good things in the show. Really…our favorite streaming sites can be both a blessing and a curse. I only learned this week how Funimation have bought Manga Entertainment, the UK’s biggest (and longest running) anime home video distributor. How it’ll affect us here in the United Kingdom, I have no idea. Will we get our own little Funi/Manga UK streaming site that breaks down often? Or will it just mean that Manga Entertainment will get a huge cash injection, and lots more licenses? Hopefully the latter.
Speaking of curses though, the next season is on its way, and a part of me usually dreads the summer season, as in all the time I’ve been on the OASG team, I’ve ended up picking at least one show in the summer that I end up really disliking – I’ve since called it the Summer Curse. It all started from the very first show I reviewed here: Glasslip. It continued with Charlotte and Rewrite, and reached its peak last summer though, when Revue Starlight inexplicably drove me insane and I had to drop it. I’ve had a look at what’s coming, and I see an unusually large number of isekai shows. I don’t hate that genre, but I don’t usually pick it out of choice. I’ll decide the shows nearer the time, but my out-of-season show has already been chosen: season 1 of Senki Zesshou Symphogear.
A coincidence then that season 5 of the Symphogear franchise comes out this summer as well…or was it a coincidence? I know next to nothing about Symphogear, so this will be quite a ride. Although I’ve already been told that the show will have a lot of singing, and that the animation direction in season 1 isn’t all that.
I’m also hoping that Netflix will decide to bring Carole & Tuesday to the West this summer too. It’s a two-cour show, but even though they have the license for it, Netflix are only airing it on their Japanese site. Understandable why, as translations and making dubs in various languages (not just English) costs time and money. I’ve heard so many excellent things about the show, and it’s already built up a very devoted fanbase. Makes you wonder if the scenario was different; what if Crunchyroll ended up getting the license for it? They would be plugging the show left, right and center. Every other tweet of theirs would be a 2-minute long clip of a ‘touching’ moment in one episode, and of course, it would reach a bigger audience.
Heck, I could talk about Carole & Tuesday and all the other anime shows Netflix have bagged licenses for all day…but never mind that. We’re reaching the end of the season now, so how have your shows been? Have you picked your summer shows already? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…