I have been moaning over these last couple of weeks about shows that seem unable to end, well I’ll tell you one thing: it will certainly seem weird beginning a new season in two weeks’ time. Except for you people itching for more Attack on Titan; that’s next week!
In the meantime, what happened at the end of this season? Sangatsu no Lion ended last week, and it was only then when I discovered it would get a second season in the fall. I enjoyed watching the show, but I will not return to it. Somehow I can already predict that it will be no different than its predecessor…or more likely, a little more boring. I know the drama was overbearing, and eventually put some people off this altogether, and yes I agree, it really did weigh down on me, especially in the second half. I appreciate the refreshing look at a sport that not everyone would want to immediately set their sights on, and I prefer metaphors and drama to what any other mainstream studio would do to a sports anime (and exaggerate match moves, expressions, and emotions not unlike what you see in, say, Haikyuu!! or Kuroko’s Basketball).
Moving on to Gabriel Dropout…well I’m supposed to say some pleasant things about an enjoyable show, but with the show being full of short and sharp jokes (something I wouldn’t pick straight away), what am I meant to say? Yes, several jokes were very amusing, the rapport between Satania and Raphiel was priceless, but since they, along with Vignette, pretty much took over the show, there wasn’t as much space to see the titular character herself, which was a bit of a letdown. Gabriel’s lazy behaviour just become old and boring to watch as well; it was way more interesting to watch the goody-two-shoes devil Vignette, the chuunibyou Satania and the cunning and sadistic angel Raphiel.
So yeah, ultimately, this was a struggle and a chore to watch. It’s a shame, because I normally praise Dogakobo, and this just didn’t quite deliver the quirky comedy that I’m used from them.
Speaking of disappointing shows…
…Fuuka. The show had so many holes that it was shocking. I originally was going to choose Scum’s Wish, but went to this because I didn’t have Amazon Video…so I’m rather annoyed that I made that stupid decision, because I’ve heard nothing but praise over Scum’s Wish. I have Amazon Video now, so maybe I can take a proper look at it in the Spring.
Anyway, the story ended up being torn apart halfway through, and it wasn’t a hasty decision by the studio either; the mangaka appeared to have weighted in to have some changes made to the adaptation and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing.
I was already getting frustrated by most of the characters (and naturally, turned to liking one of the secondaries instead), and the very atypical dull boy-meets-weird girl story that had added music, social media and semi-naked sisters.
This was my mistake show of the season, so when it came to this week’s final episode I just stopped caring about all of them when Yuu just kept being a bothersome little so-and-so by pestering Fuuka to return to band, and when it came to him confessing, I was like ‘Oh’. The two don’t match…but eh, this is just because I always go for the underdogs in romance shows.
I think the reason why Little Witch Academia hasn’t been in the spotlight as much as it should be is because of the fact that Netflix snapped it up as soon as they could, and with Crunchyroll/Funimation dominating in the West, it will only get the coverage it deserves in the summer, when the show is over. That’s almost implying that Netflix is doing a disservice to anime, which it isn’t. I actually quite like how it’s made it more accessible to its viewers, getting rights to shows that are both mainstream (Kill La Kill, Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul) and ‘leftfield’ (Knights of Sidonia, Ajin, Mushi-Shi). I understand it will also release the movie adaptation of Blame! globally in a couple of months too.
Back to the show, I’m so glad some solid progress has finally been made, and that Akko has more of a goal to achieve. She came to Luna Nova to be just like Shiny Chariot (the very person who is using an alias and is giving her special tutoring), but while aspiring to be your idol is one thing, it’s often a better thing to carve your own future, and that’s something that Chariot/Ursula is trying to do. The reason why she went off the radar 10 years ago is still a big mystery, and now with the Shiny Rod becoming a central part of the story, she will play a bigger role…but what kind of big role? I’m sure the second half of the show will answer all of the numerous questions I have.
Little Witch Academia is a family-friendly show that us adults are also enjoying immensely as it gives so many subtle references to modern society, and how the world of magic is dying a slow death, unlike Harry Potter which presents the magic world as highly superior to its pathetic muggle world.
This season is the first I’ve done for OASG where I pick an out-of-season show, and it’s been quite fun to do. Chihayafuru is a good show, but I wasn’t bought by the great hype that it got. It ended on a good note though, with the deciding matches for Master and Queen on TV for the club members to watch. Chihaya is still annoyed that she was slaughtered so badly, but on the bright side, this is a learning experience for her. Later Tsutomu looks at statistics and sees that Chihaya actually has one trick that she can use for future matches, so that’s something for season 2 already. Taichi is still uber-jealous about not having any special technique of his own, and Kana is beginning to chase the dream of being a official karuta reader (only to realise that she needs to be Class A to do it).
I won’t be watching season 2 though, so I won’t know if Chihaya becomes Queen, or if Arata gets the courage to see Chihaya again, or if Kana becomes a karuta reader. Chihayafuru had its good moments, great moments, emotional moments, but it also had some rather predictable and dull moments too. I was getting a little frustrated at both Chihaya and Taichi in places, at being too naive and too whiny, respectively. Nishida, Kana and Tsutomu kept at arm’s length, but were good secondary characters, and having Arata even further away made the story more…interesting.
Chihayafuru gets a thumbs-up from me, but I won’t be watching it again.