Another season over and once again there are some shows that end up succeeding that were off my radar. At least I’ll be able to catch up with Kaguya-sama: Love is War in the Spring season for this column; I’m sure I’ll find another time to watch The Promised Neverland, since that’s getting a second season next year now.
So Girly Air Force finally ends, and wow that was a non-ending if I ever saw one. The final episode brought us what we were all expecting, really: for Rhino to go psycho and turn against Kei and Gripen. At least they provided a scientific explanation as to why it happened (the USAF put safeguards on Rhino so she couldn’t develop her own personality, and so when they were removed, the Xi just took over her mind). Even with this happening, it’s like so much is missing from this show once it’s all over.
Even the antagonists themselves…who are they? We never find out who or what they really are when this show is over. Are they aliens? Or some super-advanced technology? At least with other military girl harem franchises like Strike Witches or Kantai Collection, we are given some kind of hint as to what they are fighting – here in Girly Air Force, we’re left shrugging our shoulders. And as for Minghua? Well, just being Minghua is the very definition of suffering in this show.
In this episode, she is reduced to 6 seconds of screen-time, and not even any lines.
My final verdict of this show is that it could have been so much better if the antagonists of this show had a bit more focus put on them. When this show is over, we are left wondering whether the studio would make the effort to do a second season, just so they can put more focus on the Xi or, fingers crossed, even some more screen-time for Minghua, but this has such a…non-ending…you end up not really caring if they make another one or not. Just give Minghua her own show already; that may be ten times better than whatever this was trying to be. This was just a disappointment, just as Domestic Girlfriend was…although I will say that I was highly entertained at how trashy it could get.
While in Girly Air Force, all we ever wanted was for Minghua to be happy (and did we get that?), and so with Domestic Girlfriend, we ended up with a divided opinion. I will side with Rui, always, but I know that there are some fans of the original Domestic Girlfriend manga who ended up siding with Hina (I can’t imagine why…). Anyway, she got caught…again. And it’s more of a big deal this time, because she has to choose between her career as a teacher or to be Natsuo’s long-time girlfriend/step-sister.
So yeah, this episode is what it all leads to: Natsuo finding true romance with the teacher he always had a thing for, leaving poor Rui to wallow in depression…oh, and not forgetting that Natsuo wants to be a best-selling novelist, he submits a story directly based on his suffering, and wins an award for it.
I won’t lie: I will miss the hell out of this show, even if I cringed way too many times whilst watching it. I will miss how ‘mature’ the show was trying to be (right from two teenagers popping their cherries, to that suppository scene). I will miss how much of an adult Natsuo was trying to be to impress Hina. I will miss the Mom and Dad, and how sweet and caring they were to all their children, and how much they were willing to give up to make them happy. But most of all, I will miss Rui (and yes I did bold that). She has been the reason why I kept going with this show, but I still feel that this adaptation didn’t do her character enough service. The Rui from episode 1 and the Rui from episode 12 might as well be two completely different character designs, and the misanthropic Livejournal-owning, indie rock-loving Rui I loved from the beginning of the show is the kind of girl that I would personally crush over. And so would I watch a second season of this? No. This adaptation skipped out on so many things, but if I would say anything positive about it, I would say that it was an advert to buy the manga. Go read the manga, and discover every other little plot point and storyline that this adaptation decided to cut out and just not add in order to make 12 episodes.
Should I go through all the ones I missed out on, like The Promised Neverland, and Mob Psycho 100 season 2, and Boogiepop? Or even that Bermuda Triangle mermaid show I also mentioned last week? Well, I didn’t even end up getting around to watching any of the big-name shows in the end, so I’m afraid I’m unable to comment on them. The big word is that The Promised Neverland is a contender for anime of the year, so I suppose that ought to be something I should eventually get around to watching some time this year. As for Kaguya-sama: Love is War, well I’m already planning on catching up on that in the Spring season, alongside Fall’s Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. Ehh, so many shows…
In the end, I suppose the show I liked the most this season would have to be The Magnificent Kotobuki, since it was able to surprise us all.
Essentially continuing from last week’s episode, the crew make one final stand against Isao and the Union, despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned. Some would say they are only doing this as a matter of pride, but when another hole opens up above Isao’s city, the situation changes, and it becomes more than just pride. Since the hole is capable of so many things, letting an authoritarian madman like Isao have control over it would mean the rest of the world would be under his thumb.
Would there be another season of this? The ending definitely gives room for one, and considering how well the world design was done here, all sorts of new plot points could happen. I sincerely hope that this franchise continues, may it be in the form of new animation, or a mobage, or any other kind of media for that matter. The characters have all been immensely enjoyable, and while it has run on a real episodic manner, the story has been fun, and leaving you wanting more.
I did end up warming to all the girls in the Kotobuki Corps, after all, with Reona and Kate tied as my favorites. I loved Reona’s firmness and caring over her squadron, yet at the same time, she was so naive over so many things in the world she lived in. Kate, on the other hand, was quite the opposite, as she used her big brain every chance she could.
*this shot of her casually munching on a burger just cracks me up…for no real reason whatsoever*
While the likes of The Promised Neverland, Re: Zero, and That Time I Reincernated As a Slime all get new seasons greenlit, it’s a show like The Magnificent Kotobuki that really needs to return, and come back to entertain us all again.
Finally onto Kemono Friends, and that was a great finale episode.
Episode 12 carried on directly from the last, where we were left panicking if Kaban would survive being consumed by the giant Cerulean that has been plaguing the park for a while. Lucky Beast decides to bring in reinforcements (ie. every other Friend that Kaban & Serval met on the way) to continue with Kaban’s plan, to lead the Cerulean into the ocean so it can drown…not before rescuing Kaban, of course.
Kemono Friends has really been an enjoyable watch, and I’m glad that it’s something I can finally tick off the list. I have been told that season 2 (which came out in this Winter season) is nothing like its predecessor, with a completely different style of story, and Serval even forgetting all that happened between her and Kaban, which is rather criminal considering how central Kaban is to the show. What is just as criminal is that this show still has not been picked up by a Western distributor. Will it be part of a new ‘generation’ of anime shows that remain on the internet for everyone to see? That’s possible. It remains available on Crunchyroll, and Netflix Japan also have the rights to show it…meaning that Netflix might decide to bring it to their Western customers.
And so that was Winter 2019 for me. My thanks go to Justin and Kuuki for picking shows for me this season; this ‘experiment’ to leave what shows I watch largely out of my hands was an interesting one. We won’t be doing it again in this upcoming Spring season, however who knows? We may decide to do it again in a future season. I begin Spring 2019 very shortly, but I’ll be doing a preview post before that all starts. In the mean time, did you enjoy this Winter season? What sucked for you? What shows surprised you, if any? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…