I think the Fall season will bring some very good shows but it will also bring a dumb show about a sport with girls using their breasts or butts to push each other off platforms…I’ll just leave it at that. And no, I will not do that here; instead I’ll save that for my marathon torture blog.
Sadly we saw another filler for Love Live! Sunshine!!, and even though the final episode will bring some sort of climax (leading to a possible second season, which will please every Love Live! fan). While Chika realized (with the help of the A-RISE wannabes) that she shouldn’t just copy her idol Honkers, and just do aqours her way, all of the main pairings have come to light. Kanan x Mari are too obvious; as obvious as Nico x Maki…there’s Hanamaru x Yoshiko…there’s Dia x Ruby (totally not incest, but it’s not meant to be that kind of pairing anyway)…and finally Chika x Riko x You in some sort of mixed manner. I like how my favourite girl has stopped being silly and believing she should be the one that gets to keep Chika now.
…and it took a second trip to scary Tokyo for these yokels to realize all of that.
While I can easily see that it’s pretty much the end of the season, and know that I’ll be sad not to see any shows I really enjoyed this summer, at least I can smile…knowing that orange, Rewrite and Prisma Illya will end.
I’ve seen and I’ve read how the adult group decide to write their letters and send them, and it makes me laugh every time, but somehow it was just even funnier and more ridiculous in this adaptation, and I can’t put my finger on why. As I said last week, the movie was more sincere, and while we’re meant to feel for all the six of them in the anime show, I just can’t. Saying that though, this was actually a good episode, and will likely be the best episode in the whole show. Instead of focusing on soppy Naho, we got to see Kakeru, the one who genuinely does feel the world is against him.
However this episode just makes it seem like the last 11 episodes were a complete waste of time. Kakeru was on the path to true happiness, and suddenly an episode like this comes crashing down, with this new timeline where he actually does die…only for the episode to be entirely ruined by black hole/Bermuda Triangle nonsense. I am ever the sceptic and cynic. I am both happy that the manga and the movie were better, and annoyed that this show makes me laugh and cringe.
At least with Rewrite and Prisma Illya, we have an excuse to laugh, because they were both plain silly and ridiculous throughout, pretty much. While I’ve still been genuinely following Illya rescuing her beloved princess Miyu from the dark side, I sort-of gave up on Kotarou’s journey of saving the world using atypical Studio Key characters. I much preferred it when the city looked amazing, when they were all having fun in their little occult club chasing after stupid stories, and so I guess it was when Guardian (the good guys) and Gaia (the bad guys) were revealed to us that I said to myself I can no longer do any of this. I mean I saw this in Angel Beats! and last summer with Charlotte, so was the third time a charm? Of course not. This will be my final Key show, as they have clearly run out of ideas now.
The action turned up to 11 for Prisma Illya, and the bad guys got what they deserved, finally…albeit it was rather non-descript and a little forced, as if the writers and producers were kind of rushed to finish this show. Another season will no doubt come, but I don’t really know how they can move on after this.
Anyway, moving on. Oh FUNimation…what are we going to do with you? Danganronpa was delayed yet again. I know it was actually down to a production delay over in Studio Lerche, but it’s so much easier and more fun to just pin the blame on Funi, isn’t it? Because Funi is Funi.
I need to say, wow, did I see this coming? Hell no!! Okay sure enough, my girl Chiaki is cute as a Remnant of Despair, but the whole ordeal was something else! This whole show/arc (since I lost my way with the Future Arc) started off from being cutesy school slice-of-life, to mysterious thriller, to psychological horror and that’s precisely the formula Danganronpa is famous for; lulling us into a false sense of security, only to bring us down and warp our minds. I mean, think back to that moment in episode 3 in Madoka Magica (when Mami lost a very important part of her body)…same formula.
The thing is that I was getting concerned that this was going to be all ‘meh’ when the show was over, but as a Danganronpa fan, I’m ultimately very glad to watch this prequel show.
Something else this week that’s a good thing: the fact that I’m more than certain that Shokugeki no Soma will return for another season. It’s not confirmed, of course, but seriously…there’s no way they can abandon things now.
I love the fact that the show is following the manga very closely, and not veering off in any other direction, like a lot of shows sometimes do. After beginning his apprenticeship and giving Hisako some very wise words, Soma’s now been shipped off to the kitchens of his main mortal enemy, Shinomiya. While Erina has been itching to get Soma out in her tsundere kind of way, Shinomiya has appeared now and then, but has clearly made his point across that he wants Soma gone. His reasons could be anything, from not liking cocky kids, to having some gripe with Soma’s father (and thus delivering payback to his son). Anyway, while the outlandish Shokugeki contests were key to the show, the viewers, I think, sometimes forget this is a coming-of-age cookery show, and kids in culinary school have to learn to cope with the pressure of working in a professional kitchen; something Soma hasn’t really had much experience in, what with only working amiably in his restaurant with his father.
A third season next year? We can only hope, but hey, not all of the shows I’m doing have ended yet.
So yeah, as I say, the upcoming shows sound good, but let’s all hope that they actually are. SHAFT is back with a new show and a new art style (which not everyone will like), the Strike Witches spin-off (it’ll be a total “love or hate” show), several other popular shows back too (Haikyuu!!, Gundam, Natsume’s Book of Friends), the Kancolle movie, the Patlabor remake, not to mention that Pokemon Sun & Moon show a lot of people seem to be raving about. Let’s not forget there’s the long-awaited and well-deserved second season of Hibike! Euphonium! as well!!
I’m talking too far ahead, I know. I’m just really impatient sometimes.