What I’ve Been Up To April 22nd - April 28th 2024
This was a very slow week for anime watching. The next week will also be pretty slow. Hopefully the one after that will have more content. I did include quite the essay for one of the shows, albeit a show which really didn’t deserve as much thought as I put into it.
I’m going to keep from talking about ARIA The Origination and future ARIA entries I watch until rewatching on my own sometime in the near future, since this first watch just isn’t working out for these posts. I feel like it’d be unfair to the show to write about it right now, as I want to dedicate adequate time to reflecting on each episode, but I’m so behind on posts that I don’t feel like I can quite do that without delaying the posts heavily.
These posts are not meant to be comprehensive reviews of episodes or shows talked about. They’re not meant to introduce people to the shows and explain who the characters are. They’re simply meant to give an idea of my thoughts on the shows I’ve been watching recently. I try to avoid spoilers because there’s the possibility someone is reading and hasn’t seen the show, but they’re not necessarily meant to be fully understood without having seen the show being discussed. If you’re wondering who a character I mention is because I haven’t told you who they are or something, that’s somewhat intentional. If I explained who every character in every show was, these posts would be unbearable to read.
Shows discussed in this post:
Completed
Gundam vs Hello Kitty
Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari
Still Watching
Blue Archive
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 3rd Season
Completed
Gundam vs Hello Kitty
Not available for legal streaming in English
This one kind of came out of left field for me. These are 2 franchises I am not particularly familiar with. I’ve seen a few episodes of the original Gundam series, as well as all of Witch from Mercury. I’ve seen none of the Hello Kitty franchise. However, I think the only things I needed to know going in are that Gundam is a franchise about the horrors of war and Hello Kitty is a cutesy franchise about friendship, and both share a goal of trying to get everyone to get along peacefully. At face value, it seems very odd to have a crossover between these two franchises. And it is. But I very much enjoyed the 6 minutes I spent watching it, even as someone unfamiliar with the franchise due to how they come together. I absolutely recommend watching it before reading this review, it will literally take 6 minutes of your time to watch it, and you really have all the background information you need now.
Being so short, there’s not a lot that can happen in this short series, but what it does in its short runtime is pretty entertaining. First we get Kitty sitting at home when suddenly the TV comes on with Gundam war footage, which dismays Kitty enough to go stop the fighting. She appears in the middle of a space battle between Gundams, Amuro present, fighting an enemy. Kitty appears and turns the enemy Amuro was fighting into a chibi version of itself. And this is where this series became really funny to me. Amuro is absolutely horrified by Kitty turning an enemy combatant into a chibi, as if she’d gored the enemy. The tonal dissonance between Kitty being cutesy and funny while Amuro is wrapped up in his angst is pure comedy, and unfolds in an unexpected way. He’s not relieved his enemy has been defeated and he’s now safe. He’s worried about what happened to his enemy happening to him as he’s suddenly faced with an unfamiliar foe. He avoids Kitty as she turns all the other combatants into chibis who start dancing and playing together, until finally Kitty gets through to Amuro that all she wants is for everyone to get along, and he assists Kitty in bringing peace to the battlefield and maybe the universe, I dunno.
This short is a delight which I feel blends the tones and messages of each franchise in such an interesting way I can’t help but love it. It’s one of those oddities which shouldn’t work and no one would have ever thought to put together, but with creativity and passion just ends up working.
Score: 8/10
Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari
Watch Links: Crunchyroll
I’m surprised by how much I feel like I have to say on Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari, due to some conflict I have with its presentation of communication and intimacy. On the surface, this is a pretty standard ecchi harem isekai. Overpowered main character guy goes to a fantasy world where he is tasked with defeating some oncoming evil that is threatening the world, and must involve himself with a variety of female characters who all grow attached to him in some way which might suggest romantic feelings. Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari does a handful of things which are atypical of this kind of show, and depending on what you’re looking for that might make it better or worse, but it isn’t completely stereotypical. This doesn’t quite save the show, though.
One major issue with the show I had is how it handles communication between characters, particularly their relationships, and how in some ways Satou comes across as kind of manipulative. It’s somewhat mixed in how it goes about communication. To the show’s credit, Hime and Satou are still high schoolers. They’re not fully mentally mature adults, so some struggles with communication are to be expected. I also was impressed by some of the moments of communication. Satou is very clear with everyone that he holds Hime above his other wives and wishes to put her first in their polygamous relationship. He also privately tells Hime that she is his one and only, although way later than he should. My problems come from Hime’s end in that relationship, and how Satou communicates with his other wives. In terms of Hime’s communication, she’s very dishonest with her desires. Now, when it’s something like telling Satou that he has a responsibility to his other wives and so him publicly showing preference for her is putting a strain on her, that is totally understandable. I don’t like that it obscures her desire to be his sole romantic partner, but it is an honest expression of some of her feelings about the situation as it is. I do still wish Hime were more honest about her feelings about Satou, though, even if she doesn’t want to get in the way of Satou’s duty to his other wives. I also dislike this exchange because it happening in private like it does worsens the situation with Satou’s other wives. Satou is clear with them that Hime is most important to him, and I do get the sense that they are aware that, without the obligations of the Ring King, Satou would not involve himself with them romantically. However, Satou goes out of his way to endear Nephrites and Granart to him before they accept marriage with him. Saphir and Amber treat their relationship with Satou as more obligatory, which, from an emotional standpoint, is how all the wives besides Hime should have been brought into this relationship if Satou didn’t intend to reciprocate. Granart even proposed that their relationship be founded on something along these lines, a part of her role as ring princess, before Satou refused in an effort to win her and Hime’s acknowledgement through the duels she set up for her courtship. In that sense, even if Satou saw this as a moment to prove himself to Hime, Satou deliberately courts Granart. My issue is, Hime is right, Satou does have a responsibility as the husband of all the other ring princesses to at the very least be honest with them as to the nature of their relationship, but Satou hasn’t had that conversation with them yet. Satou never corrects them when they discuss the order in which each will have sex with Satou, he simply refuses to have sex with them, letting them believe that, after he has sex with Hime, he will have sex with them. This is just leading them on. If Satou does not intend to be in a romantic relationship with them, he needs to make that clear to them, as it should be clear to him that they don’t see their relationship that way based on how they discuss their relationship with him.
The show does establish that the connection between the Ring King and the princesses determines the power the Ring King can draw from the rings, but the show never portrays this as the reason that Satou goes out of his way to endear himself to the other princesses. It is also stated at the end of this first season that Satou will need to increase his connection with his wives so that they can fight alongside him and grant him greater power, for which purpose they will be trained as wives. This is gross for a couple reasons, but it very much builds in a reason that Satou will have to form romantic relationships with all 5 of them, not just Hime, but this basically means the story demands Satou be in a harem. This is very much a situation where the show wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants Satou to be the upstanding, morally righteous main character who is devoted to his love, but it can’t have that and also have Satou get with all the other girls, unless it creates a reason that they have to. So the show makes Satou the good guy he is, devoted to his one love, Hime, but oh woe is him, he will just have to accept that, in spite of his love for Hime, he will have to grow close to these other 4 girls too. The way the show has crafted itself, it’s basically forcing Satou to emotionally manipulate the other princesses, or break his promise with Hime. Maybe Season 2 will have some way out of this, but he’s already garnered the affection of two of these princesses, and has another devoted body and soul to him even if this is not presented in a romantic way. There isn’t any way out of this that I can see that doesn’t make Satou an awful person, and that makes this show trying to make him out to be a good guy pretty unbearable to watch. If he communicated his intentions from the beginning, we’d be in a better place, but he hasn’t, so we’re here.
To talk about the characters’ view of intimacy, I am mostly conflicted because of Satou’s stated boundaries. Now, I’m not going to say that Satou is unreasonable for having boundaries for what he is comfortable with or because of those boundaries preventing him from having sex. What I will say is that I don’t believe Satou’s set realistic or honest boundaries. At first, Satou says he wants to wait to have sex with Hime until they are in a more fitting situation. Basically, he wants to wait until a moment which is more romantic. This is perfectly reasonable, and somewhat in line with his character and his stated desires for his first time, although after his first time I doubt he’ll be as picky. He doesn’t want to do it just to do it, or on just some night they’re alone together, or because Hime promised him sex as a reward for some deed. Ignore that that last one was because she very much wants to have sex with him and is using the reward as an excuse to set up a romantic moment where Satou has secured victory in her name, Satou says it’s not a comfortable situation for him, so fair enough. In that last instance, Satou moves the goalposts, saying he wants their first time to be back in his world. I get the feeling that their relationship being tied to the fact that she’s a ring princess and he’s the Ring King is the main reason for this boundary, that he has doubts as to whether Hime truly wants to be romantically involved with him because of her duty as a ring princess, and thus doing it in his world would be confirmation that she feels this way about him even with those strings unattached. But Hime could just tell him that she would feel this way regardless, and that she did love him in the other world, only holding back on advancing their relationship there because she thought she would have to leave Satou behind once she was made to fulfill her responsibility as ring princess. Now that her responsibility is compatible with being in a relationship with Satou, she has nothing really holding her back from being honest with her feelings towards him, and if she is honest with her feelings, Satou has no reason to have this boundary because he will have assurances that she loves him even without the duty of the ring princess, unless he actually mistrusts her, which is a whole other conversation they need to have if that’s the case. The boundary is also bullshit because there are times where Satou very explicitly says that he would have sex with Hime in this world if the mood was right, even after the boundary is set, and one time being while they were in Satou’s world and Hime had proposed they have sex and they’d begun foreplay before being interrupted. So I don’t buy that this is actually something he’d be uncomfortable with given the proper situation. If the show simply wanted to convey that Satou isn’t comfortable having sex with Hime under these circumstances, and the show were consistent with that, I would think that’s lame and counter to the objectives of the show, but I wouldn’t have criticisms of the show’s logic and characters. It isn’t consistent in this regard, though. He probably should also clear up with Nephrites and Granart that he does not intend to have sex with them so they may seek intimacy elsewhere if they so choose, but I guess the fate of the world depends on them being in love with him, and if he tells them to seek intimacy with someone else that might get in the way.
So if you’re not really concerned with any of this, if you just want a fun isekai adventure through a magical world and/or to be aroused by hot chicks with more substance between sexy scenes than your average hentai, does this show suit that purpose? Admittedly, more than most shows of this nature which I’ve seen, but I would more chalk that up to those other shows being bad at completing their goals than that this show being good at those things.
If what you wanted was a journey through a fantasy world, this show is kind of ok at that. There’s some basic but meaningful difference between the various castles most of the show takes place in, there’s halfway decent world-building, and the cat people’s caravan is pretty cool, even if not entirely original. Monster design is very basic for the most part, and it overall is still following a Final Fantasy-esque formula of traveling to complete a collection of items each tied to an element before facing the big bad guy, but it’s got some flavor in the world it builds. Many of the backgrounds are still pretty generic and uninspired, so it’s not doing much on a scene-to-scene basis, but the bar is pretty low for these things. The actions scenes kind of suck, using tricks to kind of skip actually having to show any action or movement, but I guess it’s asking too much for the show to actually be animated well.
If you wanted arousal, the show is much less shy about this aspect than most other isekai, and more akin to an ecchi anime. There’s uncensored female nipples, and plenty of female nudity with censored genitals. The main character sleeps with his harem often, although I do mean “sleep with” literally, as the main character remains celibate throughout the whole run of this season. I do think that, if arousal is what the show is primarily hoping to provide, having actual sex scenes or at the very least implying that the characters do have sex would go a long way in giving an audience what they want, but this is probably targeted towards young teens, so I guess sex is too much for them. Maybe it helps the show with how it’s able to market itself as well, who knows, but all in all this feels like something the show should be doing considering its goals to arouse its audience.
Anyway, this has become more akin to a full review than some passing thoughts on this show, so I’ll end it here. If all you want is pure power fantasy, this isn’t the worst thing you could pick, and in fact suits those purposes just fine. Anything more than that, and there’s not much here for you.
Score: High 3/10
Still Watching
Blue Archive
Not available for legal streaming in English
This week was Episode 4 of Blue Archive. Another fun episode! I would go so far as to say my favorite episode so far, continuing an upward trend for the show. This week, the Abydos students robbed a bank, and we met Hifumi! We’ve also got a nice side story with Problem Solver 68, particularly Aru. This is kind of the start of all the pieces coming together and the actual plot being explored. We’ve got most of the major players on the board, in particular Abydos, Problem Solver, and Kaiser Loans. We’ve still got a few more pieces have simply had cameos, but we can proceed with the plot for now. The unfolding of events is really entertaining, balancing comedy with the drama of the situation involving the Abydos debt and those who have begun attacking Abydos. Adding Hifumi to the mix makes things extra fun, as she’s easily the most flustered by the things happening. Aru’s part in all this continues her trend of obliviousness, and this was actually one of the few instances where I felt the adaptation actually added something to the story being told, by visualizing the way in which Aru idolizes the bank robbers. It’s not amazing, but it does add something, which I appreciate. Most of what’s being explained is stuff happening in the moment, partially because the characters are in the dark, but in general it feels like stuff is always happening and we’re constantly moving towards a goal. There’s a character moment where we get some real establishment as Hoshino as the responsible senpai, which is kinda nice and does set up later stuff for the season, but I will say is probably the weakest part of the episode. They happened to get a bunch of money along with the ledger, and from bad guys. I do get the idea of not wanting them to become vigilantly crime fighters, stealing money from bad guys to pay off their debt, and she’d rather they solve their problems through honest means and hard work, but also that money wasn’t earned honestly to begin with, and they’re in really dire need of something like that. I don’t really view leaving the cash behind as the responsible thing to do here, in terms of Hoshino’s responsibility of getting the school out of debt before she graduates, or at least making sure her kouhai are in a position to be able to solve that problem. Anyway, it’s a small thing, and these aren’t giant victories, but this episode was fun overall.
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 3rd Season
Watch Links: Crunchyroll
We also got Episode 4 of Mahouka this week. Honestly, not a bad episode at all. Still plenty of talking in circles, but I do actually kinda like the character moments for Kasumi and Takuma. This episode has kind of left the press manipulation main plotline by the wayside in favor of actually addressing the character conflicts, which seems like an odd choice considering this is actually the last episode in this arc if the episode titles are anything to go by, but I much rather focus on this than the random bullshit politics we’ve been getting so far, even if Mayumi isn’t on screen as much. We get to see Takuma and Kasumi finally get to fight, both of them getting put in their place. Both are faced with the fact that, while they might be powerful, they are not skilled enough to wield that power, and Takuma is further put in his place by being shown how much stronger his senpai are than he is, even when his limits are removed. Both he and Kasumi somewhat connect over their helplessness in the face of their senpai and their desire to grow stronger, and it’s a pretty solid character moment between two characters who have only butted heads so far due to their similar outlooks but opposing positions. It’s easily the most interesting thing to happen this season, and the most human any of the characters have felt. Let’s hope it continues this trend.
