Well Twitter has turned into a very fun place in the space of a week, hasn’t it? Many users have already made plans to either transfer their daily social media elsewhere, or create new accounts on other sites. I myself have resurrected some old social media accounts, and seeing as Twitter may collapse any moment now (and send the world into chaos), I’ll be using them more often. But billionaires aren’t exactly going to stop me from my weekly routine. Now if they were able to influence my tastes in shows and find or make me really awesome ones to watch, then that might be a different story.
Raven of the Inner Palace Episode 8
After what Gaojin said to Shouxue in last week’s episode, I honestly didn’t think she would follow through with his suggestion that they be friends. This episode marks the beginning of what seems to be the second arc of Raven of the Inner Palace. With Gaojin’s ghosts sent back to the afterlife, the curses put on him dispelled, and Shouxue’s Luan history problems seemingly resolved and put to bed (for now at least), it’s time to move on to the next half.
We begin with a eunuch arriving and telling Shouxue that he sees the spirit of another eunuch on the bridge in his palace, and because his master refuses to believe him, he is punished and beaten savagely. Outside of Wei Qing, we’ve never really encountered some eunuchs in the show until now, and so it’s interesting to see this area of the imperial palace that is often never seen. Awesome to see Shouxue scare the master into telling the truth; the ghost really does exist, and is of a eunuch who fell in love with the palace’s consort, the Swallow Consort. However because he was just a child, nothing came of it, but the question of how the boy died remains a mystery. That is until Shouxue is able to track down another eunuch, who is now an adult, who served around that time.
We find out that the boy was giving the prettiest feathers he could find to the consort, and his obsession to finding the best one led him to killing a blue swallow and taking its feathers. And as birds are greatly revered in the imperial palace, he was beheaded for his crime. As much as this week’s episode felt like a filler…or a starter for the second half…this was an interesting one to watch. While its main story was of this spirit of the feather-gathering eunuch, it also touched on how eunuchs in the palace are treated in general, whether they behave or not. Later on in the episode, we hear another eunuch’s tragic tale. Before he served in the palace, he was a part of an acrobat troupe, but when he tried to defend a female member from a customer who was about to rape her, he was the one who was castrated and banished instead. All very grim stuff, and serves as a reminder that the writers of this adaptation aren’t holding much back.
I didn’t think I’d enjoy Raven of the Inner Palace as much as I do. Any other season, I would probably dismiss this and pick some school rom-com or slice-of-life or edgy sci-fi show. This show perhaps is one part of why this Fall season has, as a whole, been topsy-turvy. On the one hand, I have a show I didn’t think I would like but do, and on the other hand I have a show I would have never picked before, and end up hating the main protagonist with a passion…
The Eminence in Shadow Episode 7
While I’ve been watching The Eminence in Shadow, I think one thing has started to be more noticeable to me. Cid has been trying his hardest to be the most background-y character he can be, and yet has so far failed at every turn. He’s managed to make the Cult of Diablos (who he initially thought didn’t even exist) angry and make their first moves towards civilization, made his loyal harem Shadow Garden a vigilante group that the authorities want to stamp out (despite them sharing their good intentions), leveled several blocks of the city with his overpowered magic, and now as we see this week, has caught the eye of a few more girls who want to date him.
The show is starting to become more multi-layered now, with more side characters going on their own little story. And not just Classmate A and Classmate B (whose names I’ve already forgotten) getting publicly embarrassed at every turn like every other classmate character does. Last week introduced Sherry, who is being charged with researching into the cult artifact the Academy found, and after a fleeting moment with Cid last week, she has fallen head over heels with him. But of course needed the approval of Alexia, who may say that their relationship was a hoax, but it’s obvious that she hasn’t gotten over it yet.
Anyway, this week serves as a proper introduction to Rose Oriana, the real ojou-sama of the Academy. Highly skilled as a Dark Knight, she enters the annual fencing tournament and proceeds to hand Cid his behind. But of course given his immense power in this world, it’s all a stage for him…or so he thinks anyway. By attempting to be the unnamed character who leaves the contest in the first round, he indirectly gains the respect of Rose after getting up again and again after each deadly blow.
Other reviewers of this show see more the slapstick comedy side, and here’s me still frustrated with Cid and his lack of empathy. I know that this lack of empathy is meant to be part of the show’s running joke though. I suppose I’ve just grown more attached to the people around him who have hung onto every word he says like some cult leader. Is Shadow Garden a cult though? Will Cid ever have an endgame villain? And why am I overanalyzing this again…? Well we get a real cliffhanger at the end of this week’s episode which may well serve as a turning point for Cid. He might decide that actually being a sympathetic leader to his harem is a better thing, instead of just attempting to be an invisible character.
Bocchi the Rock! Episode 7
I have to admit that I was surprised that we would be getting an episode that is far more ‘atypical’ in school comedies: the friends-over episode. Ryo doesn’t come as she uses another one of her elaborate excuses (‘grandma is sick’), so it’s up to Nijika and Kita to embarrass the heck out of Hitori in front of her parents and 5-year-old sister. They actually have a real job to do though, which is to make a design for the tee-shirts they wear for their upcoming concert at the club, but of course snacks and barley tea and board games have to come in eventually, right?
I’ve picked at moments in Bocchi the Rock! where Hitori feels like the outsider in scenes, well we definitely get that in this week’s episode. This is meant to be a social moment where she is playing a semi-central role: having her friends over at her house. And yet she still feels like the outsider looking in. She sees Nijika and Kita feel more relaxed when the rest of her family are smiling and having fun, and she sees that it would just be a bother if she interfered.
I use the word ‘interfered’ because I think that’s exactly what Hitori thinks she does in society. This is another common thing with people with social anxiety disorder, I will add. Everyone else in the world knows how to be social and interact with one another, and so they believe if they joined in, they would only make them uncomfortable and ruin the moment. And even when approached in situations like the ones below, they still feel like they are unworthy of their time. I apologize for bringing topics like this up, but I really am enjoying how Bocchi the Rock! has tackled this often overlooked and ignored issue. They know when to crack jokes, and when to take it more seriously.
This week’s episode felt a lot more like a filler episode to me than any of the other ones have. But it still plain to see that Cloverworks really have had so much fun making this show. They have been able to combine school comedy and social anxiety issues with a more left-field and alternative style of art direction. Almost as if the little moments we see are what is exactly going through Hitori’s head. These are things that’ll carry on as the show continues and reaches its end.
Odd Taxi Episode 8
For episode 8 of Odd Taxi, Odokawa makes a lot of big moves, most of which we saw the beginnings of in the previous ep. We saw him chat with Little Daimon about how he is being a ‘double agent’ and wants him to be the one to bring Dobu and Yano in, and not his crooked twin brother Big Daimon. Also, Odokawa agrees to assist Dobu on the condition that Shirakawa’s debt is made null and void. But one major part is that we now know what the real struggle right now is with Dobu and Yano: both of them know about Imai’s massive lottery win. One ironic thing here is that seeing that Imai is Mystery Kiss’s biggest fan, that money is going to end up going to Yamamoto/Yano/Dobu regardless.
Kind of feeling sorry for Kakihana who, despite having been beaten to a pulp, tied to a pole and now having been told that Shiho was only in it for the money, he still wants to live happily ever after with her. It’s pitiful, but at the same time, his idiocy and desperation is what brought him here.
We’re still a long way from the show’s conclusion, but now we see that Odokawa has put his detective hat on, the show’s subplots are now beginning to get closer and closer together. Odokawa is far from innocent, as he is still a suspect in the missing girl case, and on top of that, I still have zero idea on who or what is behind that closet of his. There’s also the matter of what Goriki wants to find out about him. He was able to obtain a CAT scan of Odokawa, and wants to know if he is physically or mentally ill or not. I like that stories are getting much closer together, and yet we still have that slow burn that the show began with.
December is coming, which means it’s time for me soon to put together my post on favorite shows of the year. As I have said repeatedly, it’s been a strange year, but I still have had fun regardless, plus I think there has been a lot of shows I have missed out on. Maybe my top 5 list will be the only one in the world that won’t feature Chainsaw Man…