I’ve had to seek an extension for my teacher training, due to falling behind on so many assignments. This is no biggie though, as it’s effectively been a wake-up call for me to get my skates on and actually do this. Asia is calling (and yes, that is where I am aiming for), but this is an anime column…

I love Harukana Receive so much. It may well be one of those kind of shows that we all will probably forget about in a year or two, but watching all of these girls in action has been such a joy every week. Especially Kanata; she is just one adorable little dork.

The identity of this mystery girl is revealed this week. She’s just a fan girl, that’s all. Akari Ooshiro appears to slot into the comic slot in this show, but doing so makes the beach volleyball club a genuine club, as opposed to just being a branch of the main volleyball team. She is apparently already famous in Okinawa for doing drinks commercials as a younger child, and still holds onto some dream of becoming a famous idol. When her plan to partner with Emily or Claire fails, she retreats back into her cave straightaway, showing us that being a semi-celebrity doesn’t necessarily mean having friends.

This week is more of a filler episode, to be honest, although there’s actually nothing wrong with that, as there’s nothing wrong with Akari or her personality whatsoever, and having a ‘comic’ character in the show fills the slot in a group that is otherwise 2 pairs that all get along with each other. Some conflict makes for good writing, and having Akari get all stroppy and be tsundere is okay, as was the bizarre act where Haruka blows on Kanata’s ear to ‘punish’ her for talking about her ex-girlfriend Narumi so much.

I’m just expecting the meme team in Crunchyroll’s social media group to be all over that bizarre scene at some point.

Oh, and it’s also only just occurred to me that their school lets them wear sandals indoors instead of conventional school shoes…

Asobi Asobase decided on a straight parody this time, which is rather unusual, and of all things, it had to be Persona 5:

When a suspicious girl comes to them requesting they take a report book from the Student Council office, the Pastimers Club decide, for some reason, to take the mission uber-seriously and head out late at night to commit their crimes, not only in costume, but with a stag beetle that Hanako has specially trained to pick locks. Yup.

Later on, Hanako finds Kasumi’s masterpiece on her laptop; a bizarre BL story that she’s been working on…and when the three girls have to make something for Home Economics class, a few snips here and a few pieces of leftover fabric there lead to some…mistakes.

This show is something that is already in the running of my top 5 of the year, along with Violet Evergarden and Yuru Camp. I know I keep saying how strange it is that I can love a weird gag show like this and yet really hate other weird gag shows like Nichijou or Pop Team Epic. I think I should just try not to dwell on that so much, and just enjoy this randomness for what it is 🙂

If only my third simulcast show would be as enjoyable as the other two…

This week’s Hanebado! saw Nagisa go for some revenge on her beloved Riko by facing Nozomi. But I think this episode was a victim of some poor writing, as all the secondary characters have now become so wishy-washy that I don’t really care about any of them, plus I can’t really accept Nozomi’s coach having a sudden personality change when she tells him during an interval why she wants to be in the Nationals so badly.

As I finished this week’s episode of Hanebado!, quite a few things came to mind for me. One is that the show is making it difficult for us to like all of the characters. We are all either team Nagisa or team Ayano.

Those of us who side with Nagisa do so because of all the hard work she has gone through, and also the fact that this could likely be her last tournament, so she might as well go out with a bang. There is also the fact that, as the show has progressed, more focus has been on how Nagisa has developed, even though at first glance it might not appear that way. Nagisa goes from sore and bitter loser who lashes out on her teammates to someone who is able to take defeat on the chin and put her all into badminton because she loves playing it. On the other hand, those of us who side with Ayano do so either out of pity (after the PTSD she has received when her mother abandoned her), or because these current circumstances have made her so merciless. Despite being in the team, she has had very little support from the others; even Elena is struggling to side with her now. Not even the coach seems to want to do anything with her, but as Ayano says to Elena in this show, it was her who effectively forced her to come back to the sport, so she is in part responsible for this sudden behavioral change.

To be honest, I’m not even sure if I even care about Ayano’s side of the story anymore. Hanebado! is already becoming quite a difficult watch, and cheering on someone who got to where they are because of hard work (Nagisa) is becoming much more enjoyable from cheering on someone who got to where they are because of latent talent. Those hard workers know loss and grow to be better from defeat, while those with latent talent find loss impossible to them, and when it hits them, it does so like a ton of bricks, and the way Ayano is acting right now, I want that ton of bricks to come sooner.

Finally onto the classic/out-of-season show, and episode 7 of Serial Experiments Lain has made me see more sense in things/plotlines in the show. We can see that the Lain of the real world and the Lain of the Wired are two different people. Sure, we knew that already, but it becomes more evident in this episode than ever before. The Men in Black arrive and ask that she meet with their boss, who tells her that he is aware that these two Lains exist, and that the border between the real world and the Wired is beginning to fall apart. He proves it by asking her when her family’s birthdays are, and when they got married, to which she has no answer. I’m not sure how this show will approach the theme of multiple personality disorder, but I suppose I’ll just wait and see, as my interest in this has dramatically increased.

This episode also shows us more on what kind of people the Knights are – from your average hikikomori slob to the stay-at-home housewife, the Knights of the Eastern Calculus can be anyone. Aside from staging pranks and stealing data, there isn’t really much that we know so far about them. Who they are is irrelevant really, but why do they do what they do? Do they have some kind of belief? Are they on the border between real life and the Wired, just as Lain is?

So many questions…I hope to see some answers, although I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the end of the show, I’ll end up with some more hypothetical questions.

Ah yes, and while I’m getting more stuck into Serial Experiments Lain, I suppose it’s time to decide what I’m going to watch for the next season. Doing the Twitter poll now; take your pick 🙂

Okay then, so my opinions on some of the shows I’ve been watching have changed, but how about you? Are you Team Nagisa or Team Ayano? Will the arrival of Akari see Harukana Receive go down-hill or up-hill? Should the Pastimers Club have had a pet cat telling them to go to bed? Feel free to air your opinions in the comments below…