What I’ve Been Up To March 18th - 24th 2024
This week I am going to divide the post into 3 sections: Completed, Still Watching, and Started Watching. “Completed” is for shows which I finished this week, whether they’re carryovers from previous weeks or not. “Still Watching” is a section for updates on shows I have continued from last week but haven’t finished. “Started Watching” are for shows which I have started this week but not completed yet. This format is my plan going forward. Hopefully it works out!
Completed
ARIA The ANIMATION
I finished rewatching the first season of ARIA this week! After my first watch of the series, I already was of the opinion that the series deserved its place as a must-watch for people who enjoy Slice of Life as a genre, and this rewatch has only reinforced that notion. I do still very much enjoy this show and take great meaning from it. It’s very slow, yes, and the episodes vary some in quality, but it is consistently pleasant. I will admit, I wasn’t as into the second half of the season, although there are still episodes I love in there.
Episode 7 is a better look for Akira as it pretty well reframes her strict nature to show both her customer-facing personality and how the work of an undine can be demanding, especially in training, and why that training needs to be so strict sometimes. We’re still not at the episode which actually sold me on her character, but this episode is a good stepping stone to get there.
Episode 8 is my least favorite episode of the season, focused on President Aria, and while this episode is far from bad, it’s definitely the least impactful for me. Aria as a character is hard to connect with, really, as they are not only a cat, but don’t really act in a way which I think most people would act. They reflect a different sort of childishness in many ways, wanting to be admired and emulating admirable figures, but being seen as cute and immature as a result. The episode has a proper emotional hook tied to him returning a lost doll to its owner, and this frames things nicely that, even if no one took him seriously, he still did good in helping someone be happier, but it just doesn’t resonate in the same way as better episodes.
I noted Episode 9 as one of my top 2 episodes back when I first watched it, and while I am unsure now if it still would hold that spot for me, I do still very much appreciate it. It revels in the mundane and what can be gained from the everyday. We’re taken out of the setting of Neo Venezia, and visit a place very similar to the Japanese countryside. Life is very different there, and the girls appreciate connecting with different surroundings and experiencing a very different kind of work. I like this change in setting and activity for a few reasons. Firstly, it is a nice change of pace from the canals of Neo Venezia and the everyday of undines in training, although I do also love those things. Secondly, it gives Aika a way to learn an important lesson, mostly about how ambition is good, but you also need to appreciate what’s around you and what your hard work is for.
Episode 10 is nice and pretty meaningful. Its execution on the passage of time theme as well as the idea to go with the flow and relax all tie together coherently, aligning well with the change in seasons, the weather turning cold. There’s a nice moment of Alicia teaching a lesson to the trainee undines in a relaxed setting, and the cyclical nature of time gives us yet another thing to appreciate.
Episode 11 is the backstory episode for the 3 Great Water Fairies, Alicia, Akira, and Athena, and their meeting as well as their early days together. It’s an ok episode, which has a very direct message in both appreciating the past and the present, as well as looking forward to the future. Yes, those days were good, but these days, while different and missing some things from the past, are good too. Really addresses another aspect of living in the moment by also allowing for good reflection on the past.
Episode 12 is one of the weird supernatural fantasy episodes. It’s less supernatural than Episode 4, which had Akari directly interacting with supernatural elements which existed in the past and learning about the past this way, and instead just puts Akari in the past and has her interact normally there. It’s an interesting episode, which has a good hook in its theme of appreciating all the effort that has gone into building what we have. I don’t enjoy this episode as much as others. Some of that is tied to its message, which is a good one, but I don’t find as personally resonant, even as someone who studied history as my main focus for a long time in high school and college. Maybe this is an episode I’ll appreciate more as I grow older, but it doesn’t hit home for me as much. It also cuts out everyone but Akari and President Aria for the most part, and while I appreciate Akari’s ability to carry the show, it’s a step down for me from the banter of the cast members together.
Finally, Episode 13 is our big finale, and I do find it interesting how it bookends the season. Speaking as someone in the year 2024, I know the series would go on for a lot longer, having sequels as recently as 2021 with the last in its film series, so it does feel odd for the show to bookend itself with the return of Ai to Neo Venezia and the coming of the New Year. I do think it’s more going for the idea of looking back at all the things which happened this past year which were of note, as Ai meets the various characters from Akari’s emails, and it ties into the themes of passage of time as one of the final scenes is the characters throwing their hats into the air as a sign of leaving behind the previous year so they can make new precious memories in the upcoming one, followed shortly by meeting the child of Ai’s sister. It does kind of feel like a closing chapter, though, even with the sequel season airing only a bit over 3 months after this season’s conclusion. This isn’t some glaring flaw, and I know it’s the end of this season and also signals that life will go on and new adventures are to come, but it does also feel somewhat final. It ties things up pretty nicely, and if Aria had ended here, I still think it would be well regarded. Although, if half of what I hear about Origination is true, it might not have become such a quintessential show without that season, as I often hear this season referred to as the weakest season of the series. Whatever the case, this is a very fitting compliment to the first episode, and adequately concludes this season before we go on to the next one. In terms of content of the episode, I didn’t really enjoy this one as much as many of them. Ai takes a lot more of the focus this episode, and while I do like her as a character, she’s not as fun to watch run around with Akari as other characters. A bit of a nitpick, and this most likely can be attributed to the show’s high quality thus far and my own expectations for the series, but it’s just how I felt.
All in all, this season was fantastic, and I am happy to be continuing the series. I do recommend anyone and everyone give this show a go when they get the chance.
Score: 8/10
Yuru Yuri
Season 1: Anilist | MyAnimeList
Season 1 Special: Anilist | MyAnimeList
This week I started and completed the first season of Yuru Yuri, as well as the picture book special for it. This is one I’ve been meaning to visit for a very long time. I’ve been a fan of the “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” genre for most of my anime watching career, so it’s something of a return to form for me, especially with how few conventional anime of the genre we’ve gotten of late, but also it’s a sketch comedy akin to something like Nichijou, one of my favorite anime series and my favorite anime comedy. I’ve liked the show so far, and as I’m told this season is by far the weakest, I’m anticipating more. I like a lot of the skits, and the interactions of the girls is really fun. I don’t find any of the girls individually really compelling, but I do enjoy their antics as a group, as well as some of the solo gags. I went into this knowing some stuff, such as the general cast make-up, but I didn’t quite know what to expect. One thing I expected was to somewhat dislike Toshino Kyouko, one of the series’ main 8 characters and a part of the more central group of characters. The show actually did a pretty good job of addressing some of my concerns which I figured I would have with her. She still is of an archetype I tend to be less fond of, which is just always going to leave her at a disadvantage, but of the characters of the series, the first season really only spends time endearing the audience to Toshino Kyouko. Now, if she were truly unbearable, this would kill the show for me, but she’s not too bad, and more importantly she’s pretty well developed by her focus episodes. The first one which really got me was Episode 5, which centered its first half around the 2nd years (Kyouko, Yui, Ayano, and Chitose) as they went to Comiket, the ones other than Kyouko going to help Kyouko, who writes and illustrates doujins. Kyouko’s enjoyment of and skill in art was something established before, as was Kyouko being a nerd, but this episode really put Kyouko and the viewer in Kyouko’s element and showed us really what she’s all about. We get to see the appreciation she gets from fans, and with Ayano as an outsider and something of a focal point, her understanding of this thing Kyouko loves becomes our own window into understanding her. She had previously lost a bet with Ayano just to get these doujins done, and now she’s seeing the appreciation of her fans, but Kyouko doesn’t write her doujins for that. She writes them because she loves doing so, and because of her passion for anime, especially Mirakurun. It connected with the writer/artist and nerd parts of myself in ways which I didn’t expect, and which make me feel excited even writing about it. It’s a highlight of the series thus far and really made Kyouko stand out in a good way for me, even if her typical interactions tend to be less enjoyable for me. It also cemented Ayano as my clear favorite character, as we see a real reason for her to like Kyouko. We knew she had romantic feelings for Kyouko before, but as with many of the crushes in this series, we never really got a moment where we could say “Ok, I totally get why she’s into here” before this. It makes Ayano’s crush way cuter, but also makes their dynamic more fun. The other episode which bolsters Kyouko is unfortunately less fun, but is effective in that goal. Episode 11 basically posits the scenario “What if Kyouko were less of a self-centered, obnoxious gremlin and were more proper and timid like she used to be?” and the answer is that the show would be less fun. Now, that makes this penultimate episode for this season not very fun, but I can appreciate giving a bit of variety to the interactions as well as providing more reason to appreciate Kyouko’s role in the show’s ensemble, even if she herself doesn’t do much for me. The other episode which I felt really stood out was the Christmas episode, Episode 7. It pairs off the characters from the Amusement Club and Student Council to go on dates, and while most of the pairings are kind of predictable, they do give nice little isolated windows into those dynamics, some of which we hadn’t seen alone before, and some which we get a bit more substance for. The rest of the episodes kind of maintain a standard quality of fun but not much more, and not to a level where I feel it’s particularly noteworthy. I’m hoping future seasons have a bit more to offer, but as you’ll see further down, as far as I’ve made it into the 2nd season, it’s not done much to impress me thus far.
Season 1 Score: 7/10
Season 1 Special Score: 5/10
Macross Δ
TV Series: Anilist | MyAnimeList
Picture Drama: Anilist
Sequel Film: Anilist | MyAnimeList
I technically started this show on Sunday and finished it Monday, but I didn’t feel like it was worth writing about the first 19 episodes one week and then only focusing on the last 6 episodes and the add-ons in the next week. Having now seen the whole thing, I probably could have done that, but this I still think is better.
I quite liked Macross Delta! I’m not overly familiar with the Macross franchise, only having seen some of the original series and Frontier, but this show is more than aware that most people aren’t going to be familiar with a show from 1982 or its various scattered sequels. As such, even though this is technically a continuation of that same timeline established by the original, it doesn’t necessarily require you to know everything. Each Macross franchise entry tends to focus on some distant place humanity has spread to after leaving Earth, and as such many of the events of each series are largely disconnected from one another. Some context does help, but each series tends to give you a general overview of the details relevant to it, and this entry is no different in this regard. It gives a brief overview of the premise of the series at the start, and occasionally reminds us of that, but most details about the previous entries in the franchise aren’t really relevant until very late. Episode 19 of Delta also serves as something of a recap of the whole franchise and the things which have led to this point, in particular details from Macross Plus and Macross Frontier, and the information it recaps is only really relevant at this late point in the series.
There are 2 ways which I can see viewing this series, having some knowledge of the franchise but not having seen everything prior. First is how it functions as a standalone series. It’s telling its own story, not really reliant on the viewer having seen all of Macross, with its own unique characters and conflicts and taking part in a part of the galaxy which the series had not previously explored. The second is how it functions as a part of the Macross franchise, which in some ways isn’t the most productive, but also can be an interesting thing to think about, as it does build on that foundation.
Macross Delta is still a part of the Macross franchise, and as such does bear some of the hallmarks of the franchise which I have noticed in my limited exposure to it. Some elements such as themes of peace/denouncing of war, idols and music as a motif representing “culture” and that being the antithesis to violence, weird sci-fi stuff, and a love triangle for the male lead to navigate are all present in this entry, as they were in the original and Frontier. However, Delta also stands out in its own unique ways. We follow both Freyja Wion, an upstart idol who just wants to sing, and Hayate Immelmann, a drifter who finds passion in flying, as they join a private military contractor in defending a cluster of worlds which humanity has reached and colonized, despite local humanoid species already being there. Freyja is easily the heart of this series, being more the focus than any other character, getting proper emotional arcs, and generally setting the tone for the franchise both through her infectious positivity and her anxieties. She keeps the show light and fun, and while she’s not the most complex character, she does have some depth to her. Her banter with Hayate at the start is a great foundation for their friendship, although I do think that, as the show develops their relationship, their dynamic greatly weakens. A lot of the playfulness of their interactions is taken out, and the moments where they are goofing off are often framed with Mirage, the third wheel in the love triangle, looking on dejectedly. I actually much prefer the dynamic of Freyja with Mirage, as they make good friends. Mirage and Hayate also have more fun interactions than Freyja and Hayate do, only really soured by the very obvious way that the series is leading. Mirage is a very good supporting character for both of these leads, often cutting through bullshit and helping things progress while also juggling her own personal hang-ups. The rest of the cast isn’t quite as strong as this main trio, but are still fun regardless. Probably the one most notable to talk about is Mikumo, one of the five idols in Walkure, the idol unit Freyja joins. Mikumo has some subtle and slow development throughout the series, but it really only goes anywhere in the very end of the show, so it doesn’t really have time to do much with that. Otherwise, there are other fun and interesting characters, but they’re not really worth going into here in this post.
In terms of the actual narrative of the show, I do have reservations about the overarching plotlines about the war with Windmere, the mysterious outbreaks of Var syndrome, and the exploration of the Protoculture ruins, but my biggest issue is probably that it didn’t balance itself well with the development of the protagonist group. My favorite moments of the show were the slice of life scenes, times where Freyja got to enjoy living life on Ragna. We don’t really get a chance to see Freyja enjoy being an idol at any point in the show. She does work for an idol group which serves to combat the Var syndrome, and often must perform in the midst of battles, but it would have been nice to see her enjoy at least some time performing. Instead, we alternate plotlines where Freyja goes from being super hyped about singing to her being apprehensive about singing because something went wrong or new information was revealed while she was performing, usually involving some conflict she has with Hayate. The plot does necessitate a steady progression to fully develop the various moving parts in Windmere’s plans, but in terms of progression for our main characters, their stories feel a bit repetitive for a while as the show tries to get us from one point to another with the antagonists on Windmere, and we could have used this time better if we saw Freyja having a good time with Walkure and having Hayate dancing in his mech (something established early on but seldom seen because he’s almost always fighting despite hating fighting) during performances. After watching the show, I watched the pajama party picture drama, which largely exists to entice buyers of the blu-ray with raunchy shots of attractive girls in loose-fitting clothing, but even this was a great example of what I wanted more of from the series in terms of character interactions. It somewhat recaps the character motivations, but it not only gives us some of the best group interactions for Walkure as a group of friends, but also gives insight into the ways in which the pilots who protect these girls are perceived publicly with commentary from the idols who know them more personally. I wish we got more of this kind of stuff in the show, or that we got a fully animated spin-off of the cast’s time on Ragna. Freyja is specifically designed to bring levity to this series, in contrast to other entries in the franchise. Other entries are comedic in how absurd they are, but the franchise up to this point has been an outlandish wartime drama about using the power of music to unite peoples of different races and end conflict on a galactic scale, and while I do understand that Delta has to be that in some ways too, it could have done more to use the strengths its lead brings to the table and depart from that formula in some ways, at least for some time. I do like the plot of the series, and Freyja’s anxieties are genuinely interesting to delve into as we develop the plot alongside other characters’ stories, but this content on its own could have been done in half the space it’s given by the show, so if it needed space to develop its antagonists’ motivations, it could have had its main cast depicted enjoying life with little side stories, and then the emotional impact of the war taking them away from that would be all the more effective when it happens. It doesn’t even have to completely remove the action element, the conflict between Windmere and N.U.N.S. can still go on and be shown, but the main cast doesn’t have to be focused there. This all to say, I do still like the show, I just had things I wished for it which it never fulfilled. I still like the absurdity of idols saving the galaxy from war with music, although its themes of interspecies cohesion and making the people rising up against their colonial masters the villains do make me uneasy in terms of messaging about colonialism. The fights are cool, and I think most of the characters do have enough to them to make them all understandable and likeable. I will note, I don’t really understand the whole deal with Roid and Kieth. They kind of flip motivations halfway through and that’s never really adequately explained. Roid also kind of spirals towards the end, and I don’t like how he helps the show handwave the actions and motivations of other characters and steals some of the satisfaction from them naturally developing to their conclusions. All in all, though, this series is fun. I don’t want this review to scare people away from the franchise or this series. I just found it weird in places.
All of that said, none of what I talk about above really applies to the sequel film, Macross Δ: Zettai LIVE!!!!!!. Now, the TV series does end with some loose ends, especially in terms of Freyja’s character development, and this film does address this somewhat. I’m going to forgo delving into the ways in which this film either retcons or forgets details about the series, although one thing which annoyed me immediately was having characters explain things to other characters who should already know them. Hayate does not need to tell Freyja about the notes and souvenirs he received from his father over the years, nor should Freyja be asking about the contents of said notes, she already knows this, and the film even relies on this for its emotional climax. And that’s not to mention that the film brings a character back to life for absolutely no reason. He’s just alive and shown for a brief moment when he should already be dead, but he doesn’t do anything. Did the series forget that they killed him? Maybe the recap movie changed things and left him alive. Anyway it doesn’t matter. What is most frustrating about this film is what it does to Freyja. I’m going to go into spoilers for the show and film here, so highlight between the brackets to see those spoilers, but otherwise I would suggest you just go watch the show and skip this film. [Spoilers Start Here] [So one of the core conflicts Freyja faces is that she has fallen in love with a human, but is a Windmerian, a species which tends to live for only around 30 years, and which, when they use excessive powers related to their runes, deplete their already short lifespans. The series doesn’t really put a bow in this anxiety of hers, mostly addressing it when Hayate thoughtlessly talks about their long future together (something Freyja won’t have), at Freyja’s 15th birthday party (marking the midpoint in her expected lifetime), and then not really again until the end when Freyja gets a little crystallization on her hand (a sign she’s pushing herself too hard or getting old). So it makes sense that this sequel film will focus almost entirely on that internal conflict and seek to resolve it in some way. In theory I do like this idea to tie up a loose end which the show had left dangling. It also addresses a mystery never solved in the series, who Lady M is, but that was not really necessary as it’s mostly a background detail, and while I think the answer is kind of neat, it’s not super important. Anyway, what really bothers me is the execution of Freyja’s storyline involving her mortality. The film sets the idea up properly, having Freyja’s bittersweet return to her hometown lead into talking to Hayate about her family’s generations of apple trees and the life cycle of her people alongside the trees, which outlive them by a wide margin. The antagonists then appear and burn down the orchard, leading the main cast to flee, bringing with them an elder of Freyja’s race who used up his remaining life helping protect the townspeople, and he tells Freyja about how the use of their runes will shorten their lives. Hayate brings some comfort to Freyja by giving her an apple from her grandmother’s tree which he’d retrieved, it having seeds which she can plant when this is all over, but this is where Hayate blunders and mistakenly adds to Freyja’s anxiety by talking about them rebuilding over decades together. Everything up to this point is pretty good in terms of this core theme. Apples and wind are perfectly utilized as a motif tied to Freyja’s people and the sense of passing time, both in the constant flow of the wind and the lasting impact of a tree and the seeds it leaves for future generations. However, this direction for the film basically guarantees that Freyja is going to be depressed the entire film, and that is what we get. Now, stories of facing mortality are seldom happy, so it’s fine that we go this direction, but there’s not really any levity or fun to be had here, so it better nail the drama, and it doesn’t. The middle act of the film also largely focuses on the pilots getting good enough to beat the bad guys who are using advanced technology, as well as kind of straightforwardly advancing the plot, since we’re very limited on runtime. So skipping ahead a bit, in the second to last conflict, Freyja pushes herself so hard trying to keep Hayate alive that she nearly uses up all of her life force. This kind of kills the stakes. Freyja lives to sing, and while her romance with Hayate also gives her other reason to live, this plot development basically established 1) Freyja will not be able to perform anymore, at least not with Walkure without dying unless she’s cured in some way, taking away the one thing she’d worked hard for the entire series to achieve, and 2) her life will be abysmally short, ending any sense that she could retire with Hayate and live a happy life for the remaining decade or so she otherwise would have had. There’s an emotional scene where Freyja breaks down crying, realizing she can no longer be in Walkure, and expresses her fears of dying, which is adequately heartbreaking. However, she decides in the final battle to go out and sing anyway, knowing she will die as a result. Putting aside that she would die regardless if her allies lost the battle, which they would have had she not participated, kind of making this decision the only one that makes any sense, this leading to her death is only sad. Yes, life goes on, peace is restored for now, Windmere is spared the destruction which would have befallen it had the cannon meant to kill Lady M fired, and Freyja has, in a way, created new life from her own which can carry on after her, but this isn’t satisfying. I do get the sense that it’s not supposed to be satisfying, it’s supposed to be bittersweet, since the after credits scene has Hayate standing on a hill with the child born of Freyja’s song beside the apple tree he presumably planted using the seed from Freyja’s grandmother’s tree, which fits thematically, but I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly bitter about this resolution. I don’t need a happy ending, for Freyja to find a way to live a long happy life with Hayate and Walkure well beyond her expected lifespan, although that would have been nice. She can still only live for 15 more years, hopefully having accepted that and deciding to live in the moment like she always has (and like she told Messer to do in the show), having brought peace to the galaxy through song. You still get the bitterness there, as Freyja will still only live a short life. But at least there’s enough sweet to balance it out. As it stands, we get a passing hint of sweetness, but the most likeable character, the one we’ve seen struggle the most, just dies, and I can’t see much purpose behind doing that. It just makes me sad and angry.] [Spoilers End Here]
Anyway, to briefly touch on the second perspective I mentioned much earlier, Macross Delta as a part of the broader Macross franchise, the use of the pre-existing plot elements within the show are somewhat misused here, so its place in the franchise isn’t particularly solid. It’s not egregious, and I don’t think it does anything worth striking this show from the canon of the franchise as a whole, but it’s not super well connected to previous ideas and concepts explored. The sci-fi elements have always been weird, so it’s not exactly out of place, but I don’t really think it needed to make the things which appear here tie back to older stuff so heavily, especially with the idea that many of the other events happened on the other side of the galaxy. The galaxy is a bit more connected now than it was before it seems, the far reaches being less a frontier and more colonized, and the Protoculture as a connecting tissue across the galaxy does make sense, but the structure and events in this cluster of planets and the events on the other side of the galaxy from other series don’t make a ton of sense to tie together. Anyway, this isn’t a deal breaker, just something to note.
TV Show Score: 7/10
Sequel Film Score: 4/10
Still Watching
Aikatsu on Parade!
This week’s set of episodes started off pretty strong. I watched Episodes 8-13, falling a bit behind on my schedule. Episode 8 focuses on Raki as she visits Amahane-sensei, the designer of Ichigo’s dresses. It’s a good moment for Raki’s growth and development, although I do find funny the idea that she thought it was ok to just lift Ichigo’s Constellation Dress design and make alterations and call it her own work. It makes me wonder about an alternate version of the show where Raki is evil and uses her world-hopping powers to steal designs from other Aikatsu worlds and bring them back to her world where no one would recognize they’re stolen. This isn’t that show, though. This is just another example of Raki being inconsiderate and being scolded for it, as Mio quickly points out that what Raki’s doing is wrong. Funny enough, Episode 9 also features a scene of Elza dunking on Raki, although it’s more in line with her lack of interest in anyone who isn’t the best idol around than a comment on Raki’s character. Raki’s a new idol, she’s not going to be able to compete with Ichigo, Mizuki, or Mikuru. It is funny how often the show goes out its way to make Raki feel bad, though. Anyway, Episode 8 was a good start, and while I don’t like Episode 9 much, it does feature most of my favorite characters from the series, as well as getting us back on track with the plot of finding the sister. From there, I have mixed feelings. Episode 10 I wasn’t particularly fond of either, even though it features characters who I typically enjoy. Elza is starting to kind of annoy me, as she’s kind of reverted back to some of her attitude from before the finale of Stars!, but in ways which I don’t think gel well with the lessons learned from that show or her interactions with characters of similar status from other entries in the franchise. In general it felt kind of messy, as it mostly serves to set up the next couple episodes and reconcile these Aikatsu worlds coming together. We get introduced to the inter-school festival these characters plan and which will be the focus of the next couple episodes. Episode 11 is largely forgettable (like many episodes of on Parade!), while Episode 12 actually does a pretty nice job of adhering to the themes of previous Christmas episodes in the series. It’s not amazing, but I did feel some nostalgia and enjoy seeing the various groups working together. Episode 13 was a dud. It’s about Raki trying to impress Elza, and as noted before, I don’t like Elza as much in this series as her original. I think Elza is actually a pretty good point to focus on to explain my misgivings with on Parade! as a series on its own. Elza learned and grew through the second half of Stars!, and where we end is satisfying because we see some change of heart and lessons learned. She’s compelling not just because of her obsession with perfection and tendency to dominate those she sees as worthy and cast out those who she doesn’t, but also because of how her worldview is changed by Yume, and thus we see a change in how Elza treats others. This series keeps some of that, but Elza is still very unpleasant, and no one around is really interested in challenging her anymore. It’s not on Parade!’s place to challenge Elza, she’s completed her arc, and this series doesn’t seek to affect the characters of other shows or further develop them, only put them together and have a good time. Elza was far more antagonistic than any other rival character in the franchise, though, and on Parade! isn’t really concerned with how that might affect her interactions if she maintains some of the traits which made her outwardly antagonistic. Similarly, it’s not doing much to make other interactions particularly meaningful, because its characters can’t really grow or do much in the way of developing, and neither can their relationships. Rola and Seira can get into an argument about the heart of rock ‘n’ roll, but they’re going to be on screen together for only a couple minutes, they’re not going to do much with that, and so they don’t. They haven’t even had these 2 very easy to connect characters perform together, something which would have been really fun, but instead we pair Yume and Akari to kind give some payoff to the crossover episode from Stars!. I don’t think this series has a goal or much that it wants to achieve, so it just kind of feels flat. It’s the lightest of fanservice fluff for fans of Aikatsu!, and that’s just not what I watch the show for. Yes, I enjoy the silly slice of life episodes and the stories of characters doing stuff together in the main series, but it always felt like it was a part of something bigger then. This feels like it’s just taking all those bigger things and putting them together, but not actually letting them work together in a direction.
Mahoutsukai Precure!
Frankly, I don’t really have much to add here to what I said last week about the show. It’s continuing at its pace. I watched episodes 36-39. We’re nearing the end of the series, and while things are happening, they’re not particularly new and exciting, nor moving towards anything really. I mostly wanted to update that I am still watching this show, but I sadly have nothing new to say.
Cowboy Bebop
I watched episodes 2-8 of Cowboy Bebop this week…kind of. I’m counting it because that’s what’s supposed to have happened. This group watch happens when I’m at work on days I have work so I need to watch on my own on those days, but I wasn’t super on point about that. I still did watch all of the episodes, but a bit jumbled up.
Rewatching Cowboy Bebop, it’s absolutely still a classic! Excellent sci-fi, with beautiful backgrounds and designs which sell the gritty futuristic setting. Characters are super fun and expressive, and fights are fluid. Add to that the music, and everything just works together perfectly to create these various episodic stories. Every episode packs a punch while also being super fun. Sure, some are better written than others, or tell stories which I like more, but I’m still enjoying it immensely on rewatch.
I do find it difficult to talk about this show without doing it episode by episode like with ARIA, which I could do, but these episodes feel like they’re harder to sum up without spoiling things, so I’ll just be very vague I guess, even if that doesn’t really make for great writing. Maybe I’ll write a more substantive review at the end.
General episode rankings so far: 5>1>7>8>4>2>3>6
The episodes more relevant to the characters’ backstories definitely hit the hardest. The episodic narratives hit well, but in the end we only know most of these characters for that episode and they then make their exit. The ones which focus on our main characters and their pasts do a lot more for me, so probably expect a lot of those up near the top of those rankings. 7 and 8 have fun episodic characters who it’s easy to attach to, which gives them a nice advantage. 1 as well, although I mostly have it up there for how it introduces us to the series. 6 is the only episode I would say is kind of awkwardly written. It’s still got neat ideas and is entertaining to watch, but it’s absurd in a way which I find less fitting to the more serious episodes, and this was a more serious episode.
Jewelpet Happiness
I watched Episode 12 this week. Yes, only 1 episode this week. People were busy, sadly. You might be seeing this series in this section for a while…
Episode 12 was a Sango episode, and was decently fun. A lot of my general feelings about the show still apply, and continuing with the red moon plot has me worried about things to come, but this was a better episode than most from the series. Sango’s chemistry with Nene worked ok, their point of connection making sense, and I actually kind of like the sparks forming between Nene and Mouri. They’re just a side couple so I don’t expect much actual focus and development, but I prefer than to Chiari and Sanada.
Started Watching
ARIA The NATURAL
Having finished ARIA The ANIMATION, it’s on to ARIA The NATURAL. This week I watched the first 3 episodes of the season, and I’m watching alongside a friend who is less big on the series, and typically not much a fan of Slice of Life. Admittedly, I’m not feeling as high on this season as I remember, but going back to my thoughts the first time I finished the show, I do kind of get why, assuming I still feel the same way about the show as we move forward. At the time, I noted a shift in themes to “Encounters”. Now, I do think the people met along the way in the first season were important to its themes, after all it starts with Akari meeting Ai and the way in which that creates some routine in Akari’s life by emailing with Ai. I wouldn’t say the main focus of many episodes was the encounters with other people, though, but rather appreciating the every day and enjoying life. Now, these first few episodes still have themes tied to enjoying the everyday, but they do also each feature encounters or a look into a character we haven’t had much of a look at, and some emphasis is put on who Akari or the others interact with.
The introductory episode is Ai coming back to Neo Venezia yet again for a festival, kind of repeating the finale of the first season. Ai I already noted is not as fun to run around with, but this is also one of the supernatural episodes of the series. The episode has Ai and Akari running around the alleyways again after trying to follow President Aria and bumping into Casanova. The message of this episode I think is that, while festivities (and to a broader point, leisure activities) are fun in the moment, it’s important not to indulge too much, and to return to the everyday. You shouldn’t get too caught up in extravagance and whimsy to the point of losing sight of the world you live in. This is an interesting direction for the introductory episode to this season, as I do think the encounter with Casanova is significant, but I don’t know how well it sets up the season for its main themes.
Episode 2 is about a treasure hunt. This is much more what I expect from this series, and while I don’t think it should have been the introductory episode, I do think it’s much more what the show tends to go for. Centered around Akari, Aika, and Alice as they get distracted from their training end follow a series of clues to a treasure, we get yet another unique encounter, as well as a moment of breathtaking beauty. The hunt takes them around Neo Venezia to various pretty locations, testing their knowledge of the city and its winding streets. I’m doing my best not to spoil the ending, but it very much is about appreciating the beauty of the city and all the beautiful, quirky, little places around the city. Akari also makes a new friend, furthering the theme of encounters, but this isn’t quite where I would put the start of that full shift in focus.
Episode 3 is about Al for the most part, someone who was introduced in the first season but got basically no dedicated time. Aika also is a primary focus of this episode, as she’s the main character who brings Al in and has meaningful connections with Al. I’m less sure of what this episode was going for, to be honest. The running thread is the meteor shower, as that’s set up early on and is the payoff for the episode. Much of the episode is spent wandering around dark alleyways, something I am realizing the series does a lot and I’m not as fond of if it doesn’t feel consistently purposeful. It’s not so much focused on the unique setting of Neo-Venezia as the previous 3 (or 4 if you count the finale of Season 1) episodes, but rather the beauty of the universe and the powers of attraction. I think it’s mostly about setting up Aika and Al’s relationship, and the theme is very much secondary, which probably contributes a lot to my lack of enjoyment with this one.
I’m definitely looking forward to continuing this series, and I do like all 3 of these episodes. I do find myself not liking them as much as some of the high points of The ANIMATION, though. This is consistent with my past thoughts as well. I noted a more consistent quality to these episodes, and the episodes generally being quite good, which I would still say of these, although Episode 3 is a bit of a dip. However, I noted the lack of real high points with this season back then, and that does make me a bit more apprehensive about watching it an episode a day, especially as it spans 26 episodes this time. I also do appreciate the perspective of my friend who I’m watching with, but group watching typically leads me to focus less on the episode, and I do think this series is less enjoyable when you have distractions. I still look forward to watching with them and want to continue to do so, but I might try and revisit episodes on my own to better understand my own feelings on them. Even doing these retrospectives, I feel like I’m getting a lot more out of the episode thinking about them to write about them than I got when watching them, which doesn’t always feel great. I find it funny, as I think my friend would say the opposite, that having to focus on the episodes on his own would likely make it tough to sit through for him, since he has told me he’s tried to start the show several times but struggled to actually make it through the whole thing when forced to focus on it, although his initial attempt, like mine, was a binge.
Still recommend this series very much, and think it’s worth your time, especially if you enjoy iyashikei.
Yuru Yuri♪♪
This season of Yuru Yuri has been somewhat of an upgrade to the first season, as the gags are a bit funnier and more varied, and the characters have been fleshed out more, either by getting focus episodes or by sheer exposure, but it also hasn’t quite hit the same highs for me yet. Keep in mind, I have only seen the first 5 episodes of this season, and it does have 1 standout episode already, which is my 2nd favorite episode of the series so far, putting it above the Christmas episode and just below the Comiket episode (and if we consider the entirety of the Comiket episode, maybe this episode is on par. My favorite episode so far has been Episode 3, an episode focused on Valentine’s Day. This episode focuses on the relationship between Himawari and Sakurako, a pair of childhood friends/rivals. This is the biggest moment of development for individual characters and their dynamic in the series so far I think. We mostly focus on Sakurako as she has to learn how to live without Himawari for a period of time while she helps Chinatsu. Up to this point, we’ve only really seen Sakurako and Himawari butt heads, constantly arguing and bringing each other down. Sakurako in particularly is quite mean, not only taking advantage of Himawari’s patience and maturity, but also her kindness in helping Sakurako in their everyday lives. I don’t really get why Sakurako is so mean to Himawari. I’m pretty used to the trope of the abusive tsundere, and some like Taiga Aisaka from Toradora! rank amongst some of my favorite characters, but up to this point I have found little reason to like Sakurako outside of her being a tsundere, an archetype I just tend to be drawn to. I still have reservations about Sakurako, but I do appreciate how this episode deepened our understanding of her relationship with Himawari and gave dimensions to her interactions with her, as we see her struggle with her own conflicted feelings about Himawari. I would like to see her begin to be nicer to Himawari, throw in some of that dere to complement the tsun, but at least we (and to some degree Sakurako) can understand why Sakurako sticks around with Himawari. Why Himawari sticks around is still somewhat unclear, as Sakurako is largely abusive and unappreciative. I think Himawari sticks with Sakurako because they’ve known each other so long and she knows Sakurako would fail miserably in life without her, and maybe she feels some responsibility for Sakurako, but I don’t really get why she’s so involved with her when she has yet to actually show any affection on her end. Anyway, I really liked this look into Sakurako’s thoughts, and I hope we get more episodes like this. Otherwise, the standard quality for this season’s episodes has largely gone up. There are some really fun skits right off the bat and the skits have been getting laughs out of me more often. That said, I can’t quite say I’ve reached the point where I’m in love with the series. It’s pretty good, but I’ve got a lot more CGDCT and a few skit comedies which I’d recommend before this one.
