• Anime moms are anime moms. So while we had psycho Enigma disguised as a Mom in last week’s Myriad Colors Phantom World, we have teary-eyed Mom and son, which genuinely was touching. We will never quite know the real reasons why she decided to up and leave unannounced…but then I guess Haruhiko doesn’t care any more. He has her mom back, and that’s all that matters. And not just that…because he took down Enigma, he turned into a ladies man, much to the annoyance of Mai, naturally, who I grew to like by the time the show ended. As for final boss, well Enigma turned out to be rather dull and boring. And give it a few weeks and I will have forgotten her completely. It’s kind of reminiscent of the ending of Chuunibyou, where Rikka left town and Yuuta chased after her. I didn’t care. Oh don’t get me wrong; the finale had a lot of things I was happy with. There was no romance, but hey this is KyoAni we’re talking about; romance seldom exists. Although Mai will have her boy lined up when she graduates…getting all teary-eyed because she won’t see her kohai again.
  • But speaking of unexpected endings…I thought the finale of Aokana was going to be a serious bloodbath, with Asuka and Saki at each others’ throats. Considering last week’s Saki had a…umm…feeling, much to Irina’s annoyance, she began to accept that while Flying Circus is a sport and competition, it is also a show for the people down below to watch. Irina might have gotten wound up when she lost, but I was even more surprised on how she and Goth-sensei decided to kiss and make up. Plus Saki is now part of the harem…another season? Possibly. It’ll suck though, because there’s not much else to go on aside from doing more tournaments and wooing Masaya.

  • When this season started, I ended up liking Aokana the most out the three shows I started with. Looking back on it now, I can say that I got exactly what I was looking for: a no-nonsense sports show with sci-fi, school and slice-of-life elements. And considering the last few seasons I had been watching some rather deep shows, some mild fluff did me some good…and has made me think about what shows I want to watch in the future. While Dagashi Kashi just got sillier and lewder as each episode progressed, Aokana had characters I could identify with…plus not only would anyone want Grav-Shoes, but to live in an archipelago like that?!
  • Something else that came out of the blue was the OVA for Charlotte (I literally found out about this as I’m typing this!). It clearly wasn’t adequate enough to be part of the final show, although it certainly left a bit of an impact. It was not only the first time we got to see Nao get furious with a so-called friend, but it gave us some more chemistry between her and Yuu…something we didn’t wholly get in the original show.

  • This has been a very bizarre season for me; not wholly because of the shows I watched, but because of what’s happened to me IRL. It is the reason, unfortunately, why I have decided to end this column. Shows this season have made me facepalm, feel stupid, made me want to tear my hair out, and leave me gripped to the very end. You might say that they are good things for an anime reviewer, right? Well perhaps it was this season that showed me my limits, and how I shouldn’t let anime take over my life entirely. That’s not to say that I quit; I’ve been following anime for over 20 years now, like a true weeb. But there is more to life than that…like doing the dishes, or vacuuming the house, or taking the dog for a walk…you know…non-NEET things…
  • But I do anticipate very good things this year; Spring brings the Phoenix Wright show, we’re getting a second season of Hibike! Euphonium, season 2 of Attack on Titan, SHAFT may or may not give us more news about their new Madoka Magica project/sequel to Rebellion, plus a brand new Danganronpa show with all the old characters returning (especially Kyoko! Kyoko love!)
  • But if anything, at least this season will be remembered for one thing:

  • This summer I’ll be attending Amecon in the middle of the UK, and thus will be doing a full report on that. The UK anime community is way different than in North America, so check it out in August.