Otakon came back this weekend. I think it’s okay that some conventions choose to go ahead but take extreme precautions like reduced attendance and mask-wearing and stuff. All the coverage I’ve been reading on social media about Otakon has made me very jealous. I want an anime con, and not like the party ones we have here in the UK.
Then again, it’s not like I’d be the socializing type; I’d be that guy in that party meme where he stands in the corner, drinking alone. Ever after so many conventions in the past, nothing changes, I guess. I’ll just stick to trash-talking shows.
Remake Our Life! Episode 6
Okay, so who didn’t feel bad for poor Nanako last week? She put in all of this effort in the school festival and built up so much courage to sing to an audience, and to get to know Kyouya better, only for it all to be shot down thanks to Shinoaki. And so considering how great last week’s episode of Remake Our Life! was, I would have thought that the show would continue this trend, but something just did not really sit right. I mean, here was me thinking Nanako would genuinely kick a fuss and get upset about what happened last week, but instead it seems like she has just brushed it off and is just annoyed at Shinoaki flirting with Kyouya, like the tsundere she is.
Did I expect too much from this show? I admit that each week I keep comparing it to The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, a show I didn’t enjoy, largely because the two main characters each had a lot of unlikeable qualities that outweighed the better ones. The dorm house here has likeable characters, and while I think there’s still a lot we need to know, I can say that they are easily better than what I saw in Sakurasou. Saying that though, there has been something that I’ve only really noticed until this week: we haven’t actually seen how artistic these people are.
Kyouya may be something on his own, but we have seen much of Shinoaki’s art, or Tsurayuki’s writing, and while we have heard Nanako sing, has she really put it to as much use as other followers would like? And remember that 3-minute video that they had to make? We never even got to see it. This current ‘arc’ might change all of that though. We discover that Tsurayuki is paying for his own tuition by overworking because his family disapprove of him going to art school. And Kyouya decides on a new project to keep the four of them (maybe you can count Eiko and Keiko as well) focused and to get closer together. But an eroge game? Yes, you heard me, they are making an eroge game.
Next week we will be getting a recap episode, so no coverage of the show. Considering how we had a dip this week, is having a recap episode setting off alarm bells? I hope not. Remake Our Life! is a fine watch, but if we are going to get ‘meh’ episodes like this consistently, I think I’d have a change of heart. We’ll see if this eroge game ‘arc’ will do well, but what about in the long run? Well so far in each episode, Eiko has just been around, but is usually someone that offers advice instead. But after their extended chat this week, I can’t help but shake the feeling that this could end up being something more. Hey, this is a slice-of-life harem show, so what would you expect? You know, I think Eiko might end up being the better choice.
So after next week’s recap episode, no more ‘meh’ episodes.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S Episode 5
Remember that thing I said about the direction this second season was going on, by putting more focus on characters’ backstories? Well it can’t be any more noticeable than in this week’s episode, where we get a huge backstory of both Elma and Tohru in their own realm, when they were in opposing factions, and before they met Kobayashi. It wasn’t something that covered an entire episode, but I thought it was wonderful to see how Tohru and Elma originally met, and what kind of relationship they ultimately developed. What we see this episode (in the realm they originally came from) doesn’t go in any kind of chronological order, but despite their constant bickering, we get the impression that this same bickering is what makes them so alike – something that Kobayashi is very quick to pick on.
While a portion of this week’s episode is on Tohru x Elma, we later move on back to Ilulu. Her character development in this season has made very clear how depressed, alone and listless she really is (not just here in the human world, but in her home realm). I’m really enjoying how the screenwriter’s have handled this, by not making it just one big joke. Far from it, in fact. Just as season one balanced laugh-out-humor with some very tender moments, the writer’s have made Ilulu into a character we can all empathize with
Her own backstory has already been told, and so as she finally finds something to do in the human world (aside from sleeping and eating in the apartment), we see the road to that. Ilulu has always loved games and playing, and so by finding an old-fashioned candy store on the verge of closing down, she gets to watch the same children she loved playing with in her realm and feel good inside. Oh, and we are also introduced to our other new character, Takato, the grandson of the candy shop owner. Initially gruff about some unknown working in the candy shop he didn’t want to inherit in the first place, we can tell straightaway that he is going to be the butt of a lot of ecchi jokes.
The Aquatope on White Sand Episode 5
To those who didn’t stick around for the epilogue after the credits last week, we find out that Fuuka’s mother has arrived in town, and plans to bring her daughter back home. And to those of us (myself included) who were hoping that we’d get some kind of conflict or even Fuuka putting up a fight would be sorely disappointed this week. In fact, compared to past episodes in The Aquatope on White Sand, this one has been slightly different somehow. It might just be me and my silly mind, and I was expecting something outlandish as that to happen in a show that is, otherwise, extremely chilled and laid-back…so far.
Then there’s Fuuka herself. As soon as Kukuru hears about Mother’s plans, she and Kai put together some scatterbrained scheme for Fuuka to run away again in disguise so that she would get away from Mother. As she walked off again, it made me think right back to episode 1 where Fuuka, who had only just arrived in Okinawa, wandered off without any clue on where she would stay or what she would do. After 5 episodes, I still don’t believe she understands the consequences of what she has done. She has at least found something to do in working at the aquarium instead of just sitting at home on the mainland and feeling sorry for herself. The second cour will no doubt concern saving the aquarium itself, so I wonder what kind of role a city girl like Fuuka would play in that.
One scene I really loved this week was how, while escaping from Mother’s clutches, Fuuka arrives at the Kamee Diner and sees Udon-chan really enjoy her work as a cook there. Unlike Kukuru, she doesn’t have a master plan; she cooks, serves, cleans, and she finds her fulfillment in just that. And through that cool scene in the diner, we see how detached Fuuka still is from this place. Doing stuff at the aquarium might be something, but aside from that, Fuuka just has not felt grounded here in the beautiful Okinawan countryside, and still sticks out like a sore thumb. So Udon-chan tells her that when you keep yourself busy, you don’t have time to dwell or worry on things that don’t actually matter. I think that’s something that has been holding Fuuka back; her running away from her idol job was such a spur-of-the-moment thing, and up until now she has constantly dwelt on the consequences of it all.
Chanpuru (an Okinawan delicacy that Udon-chan makes Fuuka this week) looks really awesome by the way.
This was a different kind of episode than the ones we’ve seen so far, but that isn’t a bad thing. Because this is an original show, and we haven’t really been teased that much on what the story will be like in the long run, I think an episode like this has made me think on where both Fuuka and Kukuru will get to. I don’t know about others who watch this, but from what I have seen after 5 episodes, the yuri that the show has promised still has a way to go. A slow burner? I do like slow burn relationship stories (just see my coverage of Adachi & Shimamura). Heck, I don’t even think that, when the yuri comes along, it’ll be the main draw for me. I’m really enjoying The Aquatope on White Sand so far, and down-to-earth moments like the ones this week are the draw for me.
Girlish Number Episode 5
As the last four episodes of Girlish Number have gone by, we’ve just laughed at despair at what has gone wrong with making Millennium Princess x Kowloon Overlord, but it’s only really in episode 5 when we really begin to feel sorry for everyone involved.
The first cour of the show has finished, and as the main cast and staff try to pat each others’ backs for all the work they’ve done, the real cracks have begun to form. First of all, no-one seems to care that a second season/cour for the show is coming…or maybe they just want the entire project done and buried so they don’t have to think about it ever again. Kuzu is pushing for the higher-ups to increase the budget on the show, and has taken to shifting all these responsibilities to Towada, who just looks dead inside, and is about ready to punch his boss. Speaking of dead people inside, the show’s director has stopped showing up to work, and we get to see how detached from reality the light novel author is when it has only just dawned on him that an anime of his work is being made – either that or he has completely cracked himself.
But are we meant to feel sorry for Chitose? People are watching the show and buying merchandise, and to no surprise, she wants more: her name in lights and more people to show up to events. It’s only at a hand-out event at Comiket and a live-stream when she finally sees that there are a lot of people who are calling her trash, and are being extremely vocal about it.
This increasing budget issue will end up being a major part of the story; Kuzu is just throwing money away like candy and shifting blame on others. So while we question whether we should feel sorry for Chitose, we definitely don’t feel sorry for him, since he deserves all the mud that will be slung at him once the project is over.
This Wednesday (which would be tomorrow as this post is published), I’ll be going to see Josee, The Tiger and The Fish at the cinema. And so expect a full write-up and review of that soon. In the meantime…are you firmly Team Nanako after this week’s Remake Our Life? Do you think Tohru and Elma should get along like they used to? Are you craving chanpuru like I am right now?