So it begins…
This Spring season has already had its first victims, and not just in terms of cancelled conventions. The current season of Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld, Food Wars!, the P.A. Works show Appare-Ranman!, and the Dogakobo show Houkago Teibou Nisshi have all joined Re:Zero in being postponed; while Sword Art Online and Re:Zero still have a planned release in the summer, Appare-Ranman! and Houkago Teibou Nisshi have been postponed until further notice. As I’m currently typing this, Studio Khara have announced that the final Rebuild of Evangelion movie’s theatrical release will also be postponed, One Piece episodes will be delayed until further notice, and that this week’s episode of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun T is being delayed, with last week’s episode being aired in its place. I suppose we are all going to be remembering this particular season for this one particular reason. Goes to wonder what will be next; I’m sure any one of the other franchises this season (Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Fruits Basket, Ascendance of a Bookworm) that came back this Spring will end up being next on the list. Of course, we shouldn’t think so negatively, and we should look forward, but thinking realistically is something we should, I think, be all starting to do now. Saying that, though, there is a good chance that the franchises we are all very familiar with (like the ones listed above) are the more likely ones to remain, while lesser-known shows I tend to watch the most are far more likely to be the shows picked to be postponed.
Tamayomi Episode 3
Shows like Tamayomi, for instance. If you’ve been following it like I have, you’ll know that it didn’t start off very strongly. The show’s premise is a girls’ school baseball team reforming after the previous team fought frequently and were forced to disband. Now two childhood friends and eager baseball players work together with the power of yuri to bring the love of baseball to more girls.
I actually know precious little when it comes to the sport of baseball, and so I don’t know any technical terms used here, but it wasn’t for that reason that this show started off poorly for me. It’s because of a rather lackluster character design, and a script that isn’t the worst but isn’t the greatest either. I know that we are still very early on in this show, but as this show is far more lesser-known than some of the other big franchises, and currently comparing the anime industry to the current global pandemic, I see more of a chance that this show could well end up being postponed just like Houkago Teibou Nisshi was.
This week the final two main characters join. Shiragiku is a total beginner at the sport, but did kendo in middle school, so has experience in competition and training, and was eager to try a team sport in high school, while Nozomi plays first and outfield. So far, I’ve found her an interesting character; she remains very devoted to baseball, but introduces herself in the show as someone who is not very optimistic about this new team, seemingly due to how the old team was. She, along with a couple of others in the team, are characters that have stood out for me, in that they have some sort of history in the sport, and are eager to get back into it/try it in a school baseball team sense for the first time, but something is holding them back…whether it be pessimism like in the case of Nozomi, or uncertainty in new blood in the case of captain Rei (what we saw last week when the upperclassmen were introduced). Aside from that, I’m concerned that the girls in this team aren’t as spectacular as some other anime school teams are.
Of course, I want Tamayomi to get better and not get worse, but we’ve reached a third of the way through the show now kind of, and I’m beginning to think a lot more realistically now, not just on this show’s weakness, but of how the pandemic is affecting everything in the anime industry. Even though there is the fact that Tamayomi isn’t as strong as the other shows I’m watching, I don’t want to see it delayed or postponed or cancelled even, which is something I have a nagging feeling could well happen, and not for reasons of terribleness.
Wave, Listen to Me! Episode 3
I notice far more people are enjoying the other two shows I’m watching: Wave, Listen to Me! and the second season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and so if there are any shows that’ll be affected by the pandemic, these two are unlikely to be among them.
Wave, Listen to Me! has remained a sort of solid show about mixed-up adults, but there is this one thing about it that is beginning to make me worry a little. In this week’s episode, Minare finally gets fired by her douchebag of a boss, and with little savings left in her bank account, she uses this opportunity not only to accept the radio job, but to live somewhere else too. So far, I’m enjoying the character design of Minare, and like the idea of her being surrounded by flawed adults, unlike some other comedy-drama shows where main protagonists are flawless to the extreme. I also like what the radio director Mato could be capable of as well. This is a veteran guy who has tremendous faith in a dying media platform, and wants to see it carry on for a lot more years than some others in our generation are anticipating it to be. With podcasts and DAB radio taking over now, some of us don’t have a clue on whether FM radio/shortwave radio will even last much longer. Now the idea behind this story is one that I like a lot, but I notice that it’s something that MAL in particular isn’t liking right now.
One reason I think that’s due to this is that they’d rather see shows they enjoy be taken over by loli waifus, shounen kids and/or action sequences. Eh, I don’t know; I haven’t really had that much of a positive opinion when it comes to MAL for a long time, due to the fact that it seems to lump anime fans all into one pile. Wave, Listen to Me! is a multi-layered show, with comedy-drama, hyperactive mature protagonists and characters, and mature slice-of-life elements all mixed together into one. The shows that I see MAL users loving the most all seem to be the same. Now this is still a popular show, but I think it hasn’t really gone the way Sunrise were hoping it to be. I’m also hoping this will be the kind of show that’ll still stick around despite this pandemic going on, and so it’ll have more time to develop. So far, we don’t know that much about the chief antagonist, who appeared very briefly last week, and so perhaps once Minare gets started with her radio gig, she’ll spill the beans about the relationship they had and out him. From what we saw last week, he seems to enjoy the heck out of being a misogynist pig.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 Episode 2
Kaguya-sama: Love is War season 2 is, admittedly, the most popular show out of all the ones I’m watching this season, and therefore has a lesser chance of being delayed/postponed. The show started off extremely strong last week, with some quality sketches involving everyone. And I anticipate many more quality sketches coming in future episodes, although the PVs have hinted at a long-going story appearing, in which a new student council is elected in, and us seeing how Miyuki and Kaguya cope with not being president and vice-president anymore. Of course, them not being a part of the student council means nothing when it comes to how they feel for each other, and also their ongoing war on who will confess the first.
Continuing on from last week, which centered largely around Miyuki’s birthday (which he doesn’t usually celebrate), Kaguya is still struggling on what to do and how to celebrate it, and so take the opportunity of a window shopping trip with Kei and the Fujiwara sisters to find out. Not getting much luck from Kei, Kaguya just decides to think on her feet, only for the angel and devil Kaguyas living inside her head to argue.
Last week’s opening episode started off very strongly, so I’m a little apprehensive on the decision to carry on with the plotline of Miyuki’s birthday into the next episode…when I’ve gotten so used to the short sketches that season 1 relied on. It’s not that this continuing plotliine is a terrible one; far from it, in fact. And of course, I want season 2 to be just as good as season 1 was. I suppose that, with this very slight change of plan when it comes to plotlines in this franchise, I am naturally a little apprehensive. Of course the only thing I can do is wait and see – that’s providing this show will still be airing in these coming weeks.
Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku Episode 3
Even with shows being delayed or postponed this season, I’ll still be able to catch up on episodes of Wotakoi, but so far at this stage of episode 3, I’m not really getting all the things I had been hoping for.
In episode 3, the four of them end up attending Comiket, then arrange a sleepover of sorts. When I began the show, I had been hoping that I’d warm to these 4 main characters, but even after this stage of episode 3, I’m still not getting all the things that I was looking forward to. I’m not finding either Narumi or Hirotaka to be approachable or even that likable. Even after episode 3, we haven’t really had that as much screentime for Hanako or Taro as a ‘second’ couple would typically have.
Perhaps now that these two have kissed, we can get more of a plot in this show. Don’t get me wrong, I can see some kind of plot in Wotakoi; it’s just something I’m not 100% satisfied with, or something that I was 100% expecting in a mature otaku show like this.
Now, we can easily look at how this pandemic will affect the anime industry in Japan, but I think what some of us overlook is how it’ll affect streaming services and Western businesses like Crunchyroll, Funimation and HIDIVE, whose income relies on these shows being aired at all, let alone in the West. Also, with conventions across North America and Europe now being cancelled or postponed, and with some voice actors and dub staff being stuck at home instead of working in a studio, it really is hard to get a true picture on how the coronavirus will really affect the anime industry on all scales. Will we possibly see more delayed seasons, or even seasons cancelled altogether? Will we even see some anime-related companies go out of business entirely?
Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below! Please bear in mind that, with the possibility of shows being cancelled/postponed, this season’s Otaku Theater column of mine may be forced to be put aside as well. But something that’s far more important than this column: please remember to stay at home and keep good hygiene!