As I wrestle with the new controls (column writing-wise), I notice that the shows I’ve been watching are airing their “here’s-what-will-be-in-the-finale” episodes. Some have been obvious to see, while others…not so much.

Bloom Into You has a couple more episodes to go, but things are slowly starting to fall apart for Touko…and I’m not 100% sure whether to feel bad about it or not. I mean, she hasn’t exactly been the one I’ve been rooting for in this show.

Instead it’s been this thirsty girl.

This week we see Sayaka begin to really hold herself back…or try to, at least. She knew that 3 days away with the Student Council meant that something would happen, and so she’s both frustrated and relieved that Yuu is there with them: frustrated because she can’t approach Touko the way she had hoped to, and relieved because of the same reason. Being close friends with Touko is something Sayaka treasures dearly, and so making a move on her is something, she feels, would destroy that completely. It’s something that’s both sad and adorable to see at the same time, because while Yuu has been a really amazing character to watch, it’s Sayaka that I feel the most sorry for. Out of all the third-wheel characters in romance shows I’ve seen, she’s been the most plausible and believable in a long while.

Meanwhile, as a theater troupe member (and Student Council alumni) comes one day to school the Student Council on how to act on stage, Touko learns more about who her sister was, and it is this information that shocks her to no end.

The school play is coming soon, and Touko still has to rehearse to play this girl with amnesia struggling to choose which persona to be. Now that she knows that her sister wasn’t the golden girl she was convinced she was, what is she meant to do now? Bloom Into You has become such a detailed and meticulous show; this will be something future yuri romance anime shows will have to work hard to try to imitate in order to succeed.

So…did Akane go all yandere on Yuta or not? Well this is actually where SSSS Gridman has become to get rather complicated to understand, in these final episodes. This was something I actually had to watch 3 times to fully understand everything…or nearly everything.

Akane’s personal crisis continues, and doubts whether just destroying everything would make it all better, but being unable to create kaiju anymore means she’s stuck. Meanwhile, Yuta remains stable in hospital as Akane missed his vital organs, but it’s this week where we learn the real relationship between Yuta and Gridman and how/why Yuta lost his memories. It’s something I don’t really want to spoil, as I think this is just a part of what we’ll all see in the final episode, which actually looks like it’s going to be a blast to watch, and will end SSSS Gridman on a real high. Just in time for Christmas too.

Each episode of this show has been a blast to watch in fact, giving us new characters to love, letting the tokusatsu fans geek out, and the hardcore fans desperate to look up every single reference in this show…and oh has there been many of them. As someone who isn’t totally hardcore, it’s something that I’ve been unable to really do, and so I take my hat off to the people who actually research into this and watch each episode over and over again to look for every little thing. Like below, for instance. This scene where the four in black fix Junk with computer parts in the junk shop. This apparently was almost ripped from a scene from an episode of the live-action Gridman show.

Trigger have also blessed us with a new meme. Bless you Trigger.

Finally over in Release the Spyce, I’m sure that lots of viewers have been wondering whether Mei will pull some kind of undercover/double agent kind of trick…well I honestly don’t think that will happen. Besides, I actually quite like this whole ‘turned to the dark side’ narrative, as these moeblob yuri spies began annoying me to high heaven long ago, and having Mei move over to the other side has got me back and interested into this show..kind of. Hey, I’m sure all the fan artists and fanfiction writers will have a field day with her when the show ends next week. I can picture it now: someone on Tumblr (or what’s left of it) posts a piece of artwork showing Mei as Moryo’s top general.

This ‘payback time’ scene with Momo, Fu and Goe is best watched with DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” (from Deadpool) played in the background. In fact, I think this entire episode is best watched along with that song…

So I suppose you could call this the beginning of Tsukikage’s revenge…even though a good portion of their base is still standing, and no-one actually died after all last week. Oh well, we all kind of know what will happen next week, so to be fair, Mei has now become the only thing keeping me from dropping the show at the 11th hour.

As for The Tatami Galaxy, I think it’s for the best for me that it ended with 11 episodes instead of stretching out into the full 12-13 episodes that every single cour show has.

This is the week where our protagonist finally breaks free of the time loop, after discovering all of the things other versions of him got up to: from the movie circle to the weird cult of Honwaka. And in them all he finally realises the one constant: the Mochiguma that he is meant to give to Akashi. And so after grabbing it, the entire loop collapses and he is returned to the scene where Ozu is chased down by all the circles after pulling an endless amount of pranks of them and stealing Honwaka’s airship. Turns out that he only stole it with the intention of showing his girlfriend (yes, the real him actually has a girlfriend) something romantic.

I’m glad our hero has left the timeloop and runs off on a romantic life with Akashi, but a part of me still thinks that something is still missing from the show. Maybe it’s just that I’m too used to endings being all detailed with what happens to the characters; here, it’s just something that is deliberately skimmed through because our hero decides to break the fourth wall and tell us as the viewer that it is something not really that interesting to know. So am I glad I watched this? Well…it’s more like The Tatami Galaxy has now become something I can tick off the list more than anything else. But I won’t be joining those people I know who praise the show endlessly.

I’m currently in the middle of compiling a top 5 anime shows of the year. It’s been quite hard, to be honest, as some really good shows have come out…or to rephrase, a lot of shows have impressed me this year. That list will come in the Fall 2018 review post, which will be ready after Christmas, and so, as you rush off to buy last-minute Christmas presents for your loved ones, how has this week’s anime treated you? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…