We are really in the home stretch. And although I won’t this time, I guess a lot of people are starting to think about what they are going to choose for the summer season. I’ve already touched on a few shows that are coming soon to the Otaku Theater last week, but what would I recommend to you all? Well I would definitely say you should watch the Love Live! Sun!! spin off Yohane project: Sun in the mirror; even if it turns out awful, it would at least be funny to see Yohane in his element.
Adding some context to this, the Love Live! The team originally announced it on April Fool’s Day last year, with almost everyone thinking it was a big joke…and I thought it was too. But then the team decided “Hey, why not?”, and you know the rest. Considering the success of all Love Live! anime shows and movies have been I know fans will definitely tune into.
There will be no again Oshi no Ko coverage this week, as we had a “special episode” due to the delay at the studio, which effectively made up for what had happened so far. And a lot of things happened. In the remaining episodes, I think we anime fans are very interested in how this season will end considering what we have seen so far. Meanwhile, however, some of my other shows have had new episodes…
Skip and Loafer Episode 9
This week’s episode of Jump and moccasin was split into two parts that covered the end of Mitsumi’s summer vacation and her return to school. However, they both kept the same theme of how to handle long-standing friendships and ones that are brand new. We’ve had plenty of coverage of Mitsumi living the city girl, with only flashbacks to her middle school days in her rural hometown. Well, it’s the first time she’s flown there since arriving in Tokyo, and instead of bombarding us with loud noises and funny moments, we get a much more muted and subdued atmosphere. It reminds me of how some shows use silence to convey mood and setting. It was something that Trigger used a lot for their two Gridman Universe show. We only hear the sound of the rising tide, the blowing wind and the sound of cicadas. It’s Mitsumi’s chill time, and the sound direction reflects that perfectly. Even her nibbling on a slice of watermelon is amped up to generate mood.
The long-term relationships Mitsumi has with people back home remain strong, and what about the new ones she developed in Tokyo? Well, Ririka’s words touched Shima deeply, and so upon returning to school, he kept his distance from everyone – something Mitsumi is able to immediately understand. This is important to note as it shows how close the two have become now; they are able to read themselves faster than they can read themselves. And while Mitsumi doesn’t know all the details about who Ririka is to Shima, she knows something is bothering him.
And as the show reaches the home stretch, we get something that’s pretty typical in a school show ending: the school festival. And now there’s a lot of pressure on the school’s most popular freshman to play the lead role in the class play; something he totally dreads. We’ve been teased a bit about the kind of life as a child actor he had, and so what kind of bad memories is he going to have from it all? Will Mitsumi read the play and tell her to give up and say no, or tell her to face her demons?
What little we’ve seen of Ririka shows me that she became a bad influence on him, even though they were childhood friends. Egashira once watched it and called it trashy (partly due to the mysterious rumors surrounding it). But I know PA Works will want to end this show on a high; the same level of high they’ve had in every episode so far. So it’s exactly what they’re going to do that bothers me.
Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You Season 2 Episode 9
Tonikawa has always been a show about the little things that a new husband and wife go through. And even though the two met under very extraordinary circumstances, that doesn’t mean they’re perfectly compatible with each other. Nasa tells Tsukasa how cute she is at every opportunity, but now he begins to wonder whether or not he deserves someone like her. Even with the lore bits we’re getting this week (which pretty much confirms that Tsukasa is a Princess Kaguya-like character), Nasa thinks that because she’s so perfect in his eyes, why did he so lucky?
A rather deep topic in this week’s episode, and rather odd too… especially since it’s more of a filler for what this season will likely end on: the camping trip that Tokiko randomly organized for them without their decision.
But going back to Nasa’s new feelings, I think it’s important to remember that Tsukasa also has a goofy side. Technology is something she still stumbles with, as we saw when the TV remote stopped working and when she forgot her phone password. But we also know it’s a side she’s comfortable showing to NASA; if it was someone else, she would die of embarrassment. So Nasa may see her as the perfect woman, but I think it’s good for partners to notice goofy little things like this and still love them for it regardless.
Another example of this is when Yanagi visits, asking them for some very bizarre advice. We find out that she and the teacher she met and is dating are planning to get married. But then she brings up a date the two had, when they went to get bowls of beef. Taniguchi apparently enjoys stacking red ginger because he saw it in a manga, which Yanagi finds very odd. I think the whole thing acted more like comedic filler, but it was a good one nonetheless. You won’t catch me anytime soon piling red ginger on a bowl of beef.
Lycoris Recoil Episode 9
Well, with the cliffhanger we got at the end of Episode 8, a few things have come out now regarding Chisato, and the unconfirmed ones are all I can pretty much assume. Thanks to Shinji’s right hand, Chisato’s artificial heart was permanently damaged, greatly shortening his lifespan. This in turn could explain the more carefree attitude she has when it comes to her job as a Lycoris agent. She knows that the artificial heart she was given was not a permanent solution, so she decides to live the best life possible, because what else can she lose?
Shinji made sure to let Mika know that he was the one who forced his hand when it came to dealing with Chisato, and hence my wild conspiracy theory that she and Majima were some kind of experiment weird social was thrown out the window, I think, as a new one took its place: What if Shinji already had a replacement heart and used it as some kind of leverage to get Chisato to kill for him again? In their eyes, they want her to come crawling back begging him. It’s a plausible theory, and something that would definitely fit this show.
THE Final Fantasy XIII The game series had a plot device similar to this: chosen individuals were given a mission (or Focus) to complete. They were given no real clues as to what it was or how long they had, but completing it would mean they would become immortal. The Alan Institute clearly hasn’t given up on Chisato, as they see how much potential she has. And so this little stunt of damaging his artificial heart is more like his feeling “forced” to complete the mission the Institute gave him. And what about Majima? What was his mission? Do he even know what it is?
And while we see DA finally taking the threat Majima poses to them seriously, Episode 9 was definitely more about Chisato and the kind of person she was before she was reassigned to LycoReco and before she met Takina . The fact that they go out for a little party cements the relationship they now have, and here we see Chisato trying to make the most of what little time he has left now. But we all know that the Institute and Majima are going to get her back to being an action freak.
You know, even though all the theories I have about the final story of Recoil of Lycoris turned out to be wrong, and if all the things randomly popped out of my head, I’m still glad they popped out. It’s already been confirmed that the franchise will expand in the future, but didn’t say whether it will be a movie or a second season. And given that I don’t know what the end of this season will look like, any theory is on the table for me. It’s the same for Oshi no Ko, which returns next week. Now that Akane is doing her best to imitate Ai, what will Aqua do next? Will he stop his mad mission of revenge, or will he redouble his efforts?