Just as I was able to escape the clutches of Eromanga sensei in the last season, I have decided to escape the clutches of Tsuredure Children in this one. Yes, I have decided to drop the show. I haven’t been enjoying it, and I felt really depressed every time I watched it. Not sure how it came about, as the show has been well-received by a good number of reviewers. I guess that I just couldn’t find anything substantial or worthwhile in any of the characters. This should be the new norm in the column; as well as totally regretting one choice, I should drop it as well…
New Game!! has been a weird one, and not what I expected at all. A part of me likes the fact that they just haven’t done a repeat of season 1, but I’m not totally convinced that going down the route that it did has done the trick to win back all of the original fans. Then again, nothing can beat back the wave of people who worship the ground Hifumi walks on…
This week, the prototype of the new game is sent to the publisher for approval; in which time, Hifumi is promoted to character team leader, a role she is very reluctant to take on, but both Shizuku and Ko want her to do this in order to better her self-confidence. Meanwhile, Hajime has been itching to get tickets to a magical girl live show, only to later realise that the others managed to get some behind her back…and invite her anyway when they sold out.
Season 2 has been shorter on jokes and more on actual story. I’ve become too used to the humor in season 1, and so seeing the not-so-great humor in this season is a bit of a letdown. However, looking at this from another point-of-view, I’ve been a bit of a hypocrite. I’d normally get rather annoyed when a sequel is just a repeat, but I really miss the fun and revelry of the first season that, compared to this, I don’t know what to think anymore.
A friend of mine put this better: while season 1 had cute girls, season 2 has crippling anxiety, despair, self-loathing…and cute girls.
Sadly, I’m noticing that Love & Lies is actually getting a lot of meh reviews, with some saying that the love triangle is just too generic for a plot that has a lot of potential. My initial thoughts after episode 1 were that it was going to feature straight couples only, but now I know that’s going to be far from the truth.
This week, in the rather mundane and atypical camping trip episode, we learn that the assigned-marriage system set up isn’t bound by law, (i.e. people don’t have to marry the person they are assigned with). Nisaka discovers what Ririna is planning to do with Yukari and Misaki and doesn’t approve. Despite his rather blunt attitude, he actually wants to see Yukari succeed in life, and so informs Ririna that Yukari’s choice of partner (whether it be Ririna or Misaki) will stay on his government record…thereby affecting any future college applications and career prospects. Is this his way of nudging Yukari and Ririna together? Maybe…but it appears to be working, as she begins to take an interest on one of Yukari’s passions: burial mounds. Even Yukari says, in narration at the end, that his relationship with Ririna is more ‘natural’ than Misaki.
Meanwhile, over in Sakura Quest, it became more evident on how ‘down-to-earth’ and ‘ordinary’ the background characters in this show are…and that’s meant to be a compliment…I guess?
After the residents of the small village decide to make a stand about the lack of a bus route, they rope Yoshino into campaigning with them…which in turn attracts more people to their cause. Sanae, on the other hand, finds herself very frustrated at what has happened, and I think this is mostly down to the fact that she is still in a state of uncertainty on why she, a Tokyo girl born-and-bred, decided to move to the sticks. The college professor, and the puppet-master of this revolt, has his own reasons, but Sanae does not…and we still don’t know what they are. Fortunately, the bus route dilemma is resolved, everyone is happy, and the girls manage to find one of the three pieces they are after for the festival they plan to revive.
Going back to the ‘ordinary’ characters, Sakura Quest has excelled on creating a lot of characters we can all relate with, in that they are all too similar to us (and don’t have anything too outstanding). And it’s that that has made this show as popular as it has become…for the people who have enjoyed past slice-of-life shows made by P.A Works, and not just Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako.
Over in Squid Girl, the titular character meets her match in American paranormal investigator Cindy, who is convinced that she has stumbled across the alien she has been searching for all her life. I keep saying that I can’t find anything really outstanding in this show. I know that’s not a very good attitude to have, especially considering I’ve only just dropped a recent show for pretty much the same reasons. Unlike Tsuredure Children though, I am finding aspects of this show somewhat entertaining. While I don’t feel anything for the beach-house owners, Squid Girl herself is a rather funny character to watch, and I can see now why she has the fanbase that she has. There’s no chance of me joining that fanbase though…
Splatoon 2 is getting its own anime show too…albeit in ONA form, coming out on August. 12. Well, in my eyes, anything’s better than nothing. No news on whether it will show the events of Hero Mode (which I hope it won’t), whether it will have a story centered around Salmon Run, or whether it will set up its own original story with a group of Inkling Boys and Girls though. I hope that my Queen Pearl will make an appearance as well…and yes she is the superior one and I will fight anyone who disagrees…
In other crazy anime news, Netflix announces that they want to get more into the anime scene (clearly the success of Little Witch Academia helped that), Daisuki decides to call it a day and announces they will shut down, and…umm…Sony Pictures decide to buy a majority stake in Funimation. Who knows what that will mean for the future?