- And so it’s at this point finally where show plots thicken…apparently. If last week taught us to never let your kids ride in stolen cars, then this week teaches us [insert cool stuff here].
- I was rather speechless with this week’s offering of Myriad Colors Phantom World. The plot itself was rather ridiculous, but the fact that Mai’s TLC instincts came to blossom simply made up for it all. Instead of any particular place, this week’s Phantom was focused on Haruhiko himself, all the way back to chibi-Haruhiko. Losing his memory of the others, Mai takes it upon herself to keep an eye on him (because all MCs have parents who are non-existent in shows)…bringing out the mama in her. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to go all soft, or puke. It was obvious from episode 1 that while Mai loves treating Haruhiko like a punching bag, after seeing him in a very vulnerable position (and especially after learning how his mother ran away from him), realising that he is much much more than a idiotic bookworm makes her see that not every male highschooler is the atypical leering creep she pictures. And by the end, when he regains his memories and his body (and not remembering a single thing about when he was chibi), we’re left troubled: does Mai have it in her mind that she wants to be the tsundere and demure type to him, or something else? The plot point has still not been touched on yet, and I doubt that it ever will with only 2 episodes left.
- After that promised re-watch of Haruchika, I decided enough was enough. I was a self-confessed smart kid in high school, but there are actually two different kinds of smart kids: ones who use their heads when they can, and ones who use their heads every time they can, thus proving themselves as snobby show-offs…Haruta and the teacher deserve each other, and so Chika should just be left to her ditziness. But I wouldn’t call the show a part of the P.A. Works curse; the animation has been very…interesting (dem eyes will haunt me forever!), and the mysteries in the episodes have been worth watching. Not Hyouka-level, but amusing nonetheless. My favourite was the very early one where the group try to solve a white Rubik’s cube. Plus Haruta got slapped around in that show, which made me very happy indeed!
- And speaking of show-offs, my mood regarding the characters in Aokana has changed a little. Asuka has finally acknowledged that she has to get off her behind if she wants to face Inui in the Fall Tournament, leaving Mashiro as the comedy nyan-cat and Misaki to eat dust. Well, she’s decided to recruit former rival Shindou to coach her into being a better fighter, and then…Masaya arrives. Yes! I knew the whole time he would eventually put his Grav-Shoes back on. Maybe he took Asuka’s defeat uber-seriously and sees it as a “You-mess-wit’-my-girl-I-mess-wit’-yours-back” revenge mission.
- And not just him; Goth-sensei decides to get her shoes back on too. Kind of shows how desperate they are to make Avalon eat their words. I mean, any school would kill to have a Flying Circus building like this for “practice purposes”!
- And we have his identity now! After the massive cliff-hanger in last week’s Bokumachi, I was genuinely clueless about what could possibly happen? Kayo is safe and away from harm, but that still left the other two children in danger. But then he suddenly goes and changes his mind on his future plans…and most important of all, what about Satoru? I mentioned last week about how Bokumachi runs on the Butterfly Effect, much like most shows/movies/games concerning time travel.
- We have reached the crunch stage, where we get cross on how all our favorite shows in this season are suddenly ending. Myriad Colors Phantom World still has a couple more episodes to go, but since about 99% of viewers are on the edge of their seats to see whether Satoru managed to save both Kayo and his mother…this season has been painful for us. On the one hand we’ve had ridiculous limbo-dancing and sugar-high girls in rural Japan, but on the other side we have conflicted time-travellers, smart alecs and love-struck schoolkids with flying shoes. I deliberately chose to avoid any uber-moe shows; watching Dagashi Kashi pushed me, so watching moe shows along with it would have me hitting my head repeatedly against a wall.