Heyo, so going back to what I said last week about Disney+ getting the rights for four shows this year, two of which airing in Japan in the Spring. Providing they decide to start airing them then (i.e. do what every other anime streaming platform does), I might pick some of them as shows to watch here on Otaku Theater. That is a long way away of course; saying that though, the Spring season really is packed with some interesting stuff, and it isn’t all just sequel seasons either.
I do think that in terms of seasonal anime, 2022 hasn’t really started off so great for me. I really should have found something other than World’s End Harem, and Justin is loving every moment of this, as he can say “I told you so” as much as he wants. Well, the show is ending sooner than the others are, thank god. And even though I’m trying to find something decent in it, there’s no denying what it really is.
World’s End Harem Episode 8
As teased at the end of last week, new people arrive at Shouta’s school, and it’s people from his past. Shion was someone he knew who refused to speak out to teachers about his bullying, and Erika was one of the bullies herself. The title of the episode is ‘Revenge’, and it’s something we definitely get, but even with what we see every week, this has been the most uncomfortable watch. This school prison has definitely flipped Shouta’s switch, and his brazen attitude is getting the better of him. He is no longer the kind-hearted person we knew, and is turning into the very thing he hated. It’s becoming more apparent now that all of this new behavior was designed and orchestrated. I suppose in the government’s eyes, there isn’t really that much time for pleasantries when the world’s population is at stake.
We get some tiny scenes of Reito’s plotline though, and I have to say that I’m wishing that we get back to that. We have seen far too much of Shouta now, and it’s just not that great to watch anymore. His plotline isn’t getting us any nearer to the mystery behind the MK virus, how it was created, and who is behind it all. Reito may be a bit of a sap, but it is his plotline that ought to be front and center, not Shouta’s one…unless the show is building up for a second season. If that happens though, viewers will care a lot less about the story itself, and just come back for more ecchi. The story will become more and more irrelevant, and if the writers of the anime really wanted to promote the show in a first season, they would have not made Shouta the most visible one of the three men (so far). Reito is being the one painted as the saint of the three men, because he won’t take part in the project until he finds his long-lost girlfriend.
Ehh, I don’t know what else to say here. The one plotline in World’s End Harem I thought I would enjoy has now become an incredibly uncomfortable watch, we are getting nowhere with the main one, and we see nothing about that other guy whose name I forgot long ago. But what I will say though is that even if a sequel season came out, I would not watch it even if you paid me.
Slow Loop Episode 8
Last week I made a point about how bizarre the art and animation is getting in Slow Loop. Well it still feels like each episode is turning into more like 25-minute-long Powerpoint presentations than actual animation. The source manga is apparently a decent read, and so are the studio just cutting corners or something? I know others are praising the show for its moe-ness, and so maybe I should just stop being so nit-picky. Better said than done though.
Well this week wasn’t the Obon episode like I thought it would be; instead we head off to the grandparents’ house so Hiyori and Koharu can go and catch some char by the nearby stream. Well as you watch, it looks more like catching water-type Pokemon than anything else. Okay, that was a terrible analogy.
I’ve constantly complained on how much the show has been lacking of substance, well I thought this week’s episode was pretty decent. In recent ones, we’ve just had the gang having fun fishing with the occasional fishing and cooking facts. This time we dive a lot more into the girls’ past. Not as much as I had hoped, but I’d rather have a little than nothing at all. Hiyori feels very distanced from her grandfather, perhaps because she feels that he might still be mourning the loss of a son-in-law. Plus we are treated to a rare flashback of Koharu’s past. If the show is trying to be the warm and wholesome show it wants to be, I would think that her life story is just as important as Hiyori’s is.
If anything I’ll say that Slow Loop has built up one iyashikei trait that I really like, and that is emphasizing on the smaller things in life. Koharu’s fever this week could have been something that just cover a few minutes of airtime, but it took up a good portion and made us think more about the relationship that she and Hiyori are slowly building as new step-sisters. In fact there has been very little we have been told about Koharu’s own family, and her losing her mother and brother. Perhaps it’s because she’s the oldest of the two girls, she feels obligated not to be a bother.
My Dress-Up Darling Episode 8
We’ve had some episodes of My Dress-Up Darling that have been real highlights, the cosplay event one being a great example. This week was a far more muted outing, since it served more as an introduction to Juju’s sister, who has the potential to be a good character but we also got a lot more into Juju herself. So far in the show, she has been presented as someone at a distance, but that kind of changes now, as we see that she’s a far more complicated character than she lets on to be.
She is the oldest out of all the ‘main’ characters, and from what we see, it’s like she grew up in an entirely different generation than the others. She absorbed herself in shows and games and such, but not quite on the same bar as Marin has done. Kind of hard to explain there, and so it’s more of a ‘watch and see for yourself’ kind of thing. I do hope that this won’t be the last we’ll see of her plotline (or the sister on that note), since to be honest, as much as I love them, I don’t want the show to be entirely dominated by the ship we are on….
Marin and Wakana keep on being adorable together, and I get the impression that Marin is starting to think more logically now about their relationship, instead of just running on puppy love. And of course Wakana remains completely oblivious. There’s going to be a point where it’s going to dawn on him though, and I hope the show doesn’t screw that up because My Dress-Up Darling has been amazing so far, and to ruin it like that would be a real shame.
Instead of forcing anything on this, this week’s episode was a lot more about the strengthening of the friendships and relationships that have been built so far. This was an episode that stood out on its own, and did fine not to be linked too much by any of the previous plotlines we’ve had so far. The little project they are all doing is going well, and the next episodes are no doubt going to be go hard on that, as the last third of the show approaches.
The Helpful Fox Senko-san Episode 8
If there was any episode to see coming in this show, it wouldn’t have been a beach episode, but here we go.
Senko finds out that Nakano is finally on summer break from work: one day off. Now I would have normally lamented this whole cliched idea of going to the beach for a whole episode, but episode 8 was actually very sweet to watch. I think a part of that might be down to how all the weird fetishization that goes on in the show. Instead we are treated to something very simple and minimal; the kind of episode I was hoping would come in every episode. Heck I think if the show had none of the weird fur stuff going on, I might have enjoyed it a lot lot more.
Episode 8 teases the final character of the show though. I had to do some research on who the mystery woman in the shaved ice shack was, and it turned out to be Senko’s and Shiro’s ‘boss’, the 1000-year-old fox deity Yozora. I’m relieved that she won’t be malicious or anything; in fact I think she’s going to end up being more playful and teasing than Shiro. Both Senko and Shiro have been fun characters to watch in the show, but I’m looking forward to what this Yozora character is going to do, and what mischief she is going to get up to.
I think I will definitely re-watch The Helpful Fox Senko-san, in my own time and in my own pace. Perhaps that way I’ll be able to find a lot more things that I missed.
This time of the season would be when I decide the out-of-season show for the following one. Well I’ve chosen to go back to P.A Works this time. They’ve been a real hit-or-miss studio for me, and while some haven’t been right for me, I absolutely loved watching A Lull In The Sea. I will be choosing the more recent Iroduku: The World In Colors this time. It was something that ended up going to Amazon Prime, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some who aren’t so familiar with it.
It tells the story of a girl from a monochrome world who is sent back in time on a mission her grandmother gives her. What the mission is, she doesn’t know; she will find out when she gets there, she is told. I’m expecting Iroduku to be graphics-heavy, with a lot of emphasis on animation and color especially. Well let’s just see if it delivers.
So that’s one show confirmed for the Spring. As for the rest, well you’ll just have to wait and see.