So my summer season coverage begins…sort of. Some spring shows I covered still needed finishing up; Komi Can’t Communicate is still running on an episodic basis right now, and will do until the end of this month. Most of my new show coverage begins next week though, and I’m especially looking forward to Call of the Night.
Komi Can’t Communicate Season 2 Episode 10
Still covering Komi Can’t Communicate, as this hasn’t quite finished yet. This episode however felt a little weird to me. I think perhaps it’s because it is the episode after the Komi x Katou x Sasaki one that I enjoyed so much. Even if the overall theme was Valentine’s Day, it still felt a little weird seeing all of these dorks back in school again. But I don’t say that in a bad way…although there is something this week I will address, in a moment.
The Valentine’s Day episode is something we all waited for. It’s not usually a type of episode I look forward to particularly, mostly because they can be so darn predictable. And especially for the ongoing relationship that is central to the show; we know what will happen (sort of) and so it’s just a matter of when, and how it is executed. In this case, Komi had made a ton of friendship chocolates and yet did not have the courage to give one to Tadano in class. Understandable that they pretty much devoted the whole episode to this story; I mean there was no way that something like this could just be condensed into one 8-10 minute segment.
I did notice some very brief moments where animation in the show felt a little weird; like close-ups of characters were a little…too close, making it look odd in comparison to the rest of the scene. Almost like animation quality (the kind we have seen in past episodes here) has been scaled down. After some digging around online, I’m glad that I wasn’t the only one who noticed; Reddit picked up on this and looked further into it. Apparently the animation for this one episode was outsourced; very strange considering it’s for an episode that is fairly central to the Komi x Tadano relationship.
We’re approaching the end of this season…on Netflix anyway; it’s finished already on Japanese TV. I may just be grumbling over nothing here. I don’t dislike Valentine’s Day episodes; I just wish that they weren’t so predictable.
The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2 Episode 12
Well this Spring show comes to an end at least. I loved the heck out of season 1, and so I think that my reservations over season 2 were mostly down to the long gap between seasons. Gag moments and sketches were all put together in a fast-paced way, and it just felt as if I had forgotten it. Here in this finale, Shamiko and Momo (as Darkness Peach) work to try and deal with Ugallu. Last week I put out three theories as to what would happen and how this season would end. Two of them were fairly sensible ones, but the third one (“Uguallu will leave Mikan’s body, but will later end up becoming a secondary character in a future season.”) was meant to be a joke at the time…
…and so guess what has happened.
The fact that a brand new secondary character has been introduced in a final episode can only mean one thing: J.C Staff are pushing for a third season. Well good luck to them if they are, and good luck to Shamiko in her ongoing quest to make her beloved Momo her vassal.
This final episode may not be as full of big revelations or shock moments as some past episodes were, but instead it has given us something a little bigger. Think back to the Shamiko of season 1, and then think about the one of now. She is becoming that much more responsible and thoughtful, as well as more committed in her quest. In season 1, Shamiko could barely piece together a magical ball; now she wields her own cheat weapon. Now that those reservations are gone, would I return to this show if/when a third season comes? Probably not. I think I have had my fill of these crazy kids.
The Spring shows are pretty much wrapped up now, and so it’s time to get onto my first Summer show, Yurei Deco.
Yurei Deco Episode 1
In case you weren’t aware, this is Science SARU’s very loose spin on Tom Sawyer’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom Sawyer Island is a data-managed city state with bland and dull architecture that have decorations (or Decos) mapped onto them so its citizens can view their city however they see it, providing they have the Love for it. Used as the island’s currency, Love can be given and received by interacting with avatars and social media. And our main character, Berry, focuses on gaming in order to build her Love up.
Right now, she is itching to catch Phantom Zero, who is thought to be behind the Zero Phenomenon, a bizarre occurrence on the island where citizens’ Love score is wiped completely. Here in the opening episode, the Deco device in her eye starts to malfunction and is sent by her mother to go and get it fixed, but instead ends up chasing after the androgynous Hack, who roams the streets causing mischief. With this being the opening episode, it appears to be setting the scene for what is to come. Phantom Zero themselves (who or whatever they are) was only brought in at the end, but the chase has begun. But what has intrigued me the most so far is this idea of redesigning environment to users’ likings.
Providing they have the Love score, the citizens can have their island home look however they want; not that dissimilar to VR and how that has developed over the last 20-30 years. And yet there is the divide between this augmented reality worlds and the real virtual worlds that is so thin that it can sometimes be hard to distinguish what is what. As well as this, only the two main characters Berry and Hack have had the screen time they need here, and so I’m hoping that future episodes will bring us some more character development and design – some meat on the bone perhaps. Despite how it is dressed, this show is set in a cyberpunk dystopia world with no crime or unhappiness (but only as a result of extreme censoring done behind closed doors) and so while I’m not expecting any grimness in the show, I’d love to know more about the hows and whys of this censoring on the island.
People think that Yurei Deco is going to be some kind of hidden gem for this season, but this opening episode didn’t really give me anything more than world-building and main character introductions. I think that these same people should also remember that just because a show is vibrant and colorful and is by Science SARU, that does not automatically make it a good one. Years ago, we might have thought that, after Madoka Magica and the Monogatari series, everything SHAFT touched turned to gold, and so when it doesn’t turn out that way they freak out. With their resume, Science SARU are on a large pedestal and I think that with Yurei Deco potentially becoming a very polarizing show, they will have their work cut out to win over everyone. It has a goofy art design, something that is sorely needed where so many anime styles look the same. But let’s hope that this won’t be a case of style over substance.
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform Episode 1
I was really happy that you guys picked this one for me; this was the other Cloverworks winter show that I wanted to catch at the time but just never got around to. My Dress-Up Darling took precedent then. I originally thought that we would dive straight into the first day at school for our main protagonist Komichi here, and that episode 1 would serve as her introduction to the whole class. As we see though, we take a couple of steps before that, and thus the opening episode goes on more about the key part of the show: her sailor uniform.
Komichi has been accepted into the same private school her mother was in, and being a fan of idols and having a desperation to look cool in this otherwise very non-descript country town, she jumps in joy at the thought of wearing a sailor uniform to her new school, and so her mother, a dressmaker, volunteers to make one herself. However as we see at the opening ceremony, the sailor uniforms that the private school used to use have long gone and been replaced by simple blazers. And so this leads Komichi wrestling between whether to look cool in her new school, and whether she wants to stand out or not.
I think this ‘prologue’ to the main story was done very well. The art and animation is just incredible. We get to see lush and detailed backgrounds and landscapes that don’t look corny or artificial, and even Komichi doesn’t go down the typical trait of dumb and idiotic school girl. She wants to be a good daughter to her hard-working parents, and a good role model to her little sister. If there is one other thing I will be anticipating in each episode, it’s foot shots…and lots of them. Now I have no idea why this decision was made, and considering how young these girls are (this isn’t set in a high school, by the way), it can feel a little uncomfortable sometimes. One big example is towards the end, where we are introduced to Erika Kizaki, and where we get to see her do a pedicure very slowly.
I really don’t want Akebi’s Sailor Uniform to rely on fetishy traits like this to keep going, because I am otherwise enjoying the characters and the setting, as well as the art and animation. This is a self-aware ‘cute girls doing cute things’ show, and so I hope that, by the time the show ends, it will not pander to the wrong kind of audience.
Both Call of the Night and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? will begin next week, so my take on their opening episodes will be then. Komi Can’t Communicate will be wrapping up very soon too, and I’m sure that both Komi and Tadano will have a lot to think about after what happened on Valentine’s Day. The manga is still ongoing, so I’m expecting nothing crazy or out-of-the-ordinary. Saying that though, I’ve already said how I feel about predictable Valentine’s Day episodes. Let’s also hope that my out-of-season show won’t go into full-on fetish territory. I want this Summer season to be a very chilled one after the weird show picks.