Well I have my next season’s shows all locked in, even the classic/out-of-season ones…umm, except for the fact that one show, Carole & Tuesday, still hasn’t been totally confirmed for a Western release in April. Its Twitter account and website have given all the dates on when it’ll start on Japanese TV channels (from April. 10.), and it’ll begin airing on Netflix Japan at the same time too, but any news about its release outside of Japan is still missing. With only 3 weeks to go, in addition to it being a 2-cour show, this leads me to think that it won’t arrive until the Fall or even the Winter.
This sucks, as this was the only show I was genuinely looking forward to watching this year. So much about it sparked my interest, and the fact that even though it’s from the guy behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, the show has still effectively been shadowed by the new seasons of Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, and the return of Fruits Basket.
Well enough about that, and on to the shows of this season, while they are wrapping up.
With the arrival of ‘the hole’ in The Magnificent Kotobuki, Isao’s grand plans have become noticeable to more and more people. I love the fact that barely anyone knows anything about it (where it came from, where it leads, why it’s getting bigger, etc.) and yet the Brotherhood of Freedom Union already wants control of it. A lot seemed to be condensed in this week’s episode, but to be honest, that was okay. Isao’s proposal of ‘join the Union or be bombed’ is working for a lot of towns, and when Rahama refuses (just as the hole reappears above their town), the Kotobuki Corps and the Hagoromo step in to defend them when the bomber planes arrive. An interesting ending when it comes to the plot around the hole, but at least we know who’s been bugging Kylie all this time.
Word is going around that The Magnificent Kotobuki franchise will be something that will definitely carry on, whether it be manga, light novels, another season, or something else. Because of this, some would be skeptical of the arrival of a new character at this point in time, but if the Kotobuki franchise is to carry on as predicted, now is just as good a time as any. We learn that this pilot who has been tailing Kylie whenever she flies solo is a free spirit called Naomi, another apprentice of Ol’ Sab who got abandoned, just as Kylie was as a child.
I hope it continues, as this has really been an underrated success story, with the potential to have a huge following.
Speaking of success stories, it bewilders me how Girly Air Force can stick around for this long. This is a show that gives off the impression that it wants to be an super-duper show with plane dogfights and heart-racing action, but all we seem to get in each episode is a lot of average-to-mediocre dialogue, a not-that-interesting harem and leaving us questioning whether these Xi/Xai/Zai are the real antagonists or not.
Anima getting drunk with soldiers is pretty funny though, and it is the little things like these that, I suppose, keep me going here…as well as my longing hope that Minghua has a happy ending in all of this. But these are just little things; it’s the majority of this show that is so meh that even when they go through with their final plan to wipe out the Xi/Xai/Zai, I won’t even care who comes out on top. With this being such a propaganda piece, though, it’ll make out that the JDSF were the only ones who were able to defeat evil and leave their enemies lying in dirt.
Girly Air Force has only 2 episodes left – the show needs to get good, fast.
So, on to Domestic Girlfriend, where I finally understand why Diomedea chose to condense so much of the plot into 12 episodes: so it could lead us up to an episode like this…where these two are found out.
Oh, but these two deserved every moment of it though. While Natsuo has been out-of-action on a lot of things due to a broken leg, this has been the perfect opportunity for Rui (who still feels a lot for him) to nurse him in the way only anime girls do…or rather the way a lot of anime boys like to imagine anime girls do when they are crippled. It was all rather padded out to make it last 25 minutes though, but it was all worth it though.
Now there’s so much that I don’t care about in this show anymore. Not Natsuo and his teacher crush or his novelist dreams. Not the staff at this cafe that everyone likes to frequent. Not the other girls (…so much, despite how adorable they both are). And definitely not Hina the adulteress. Because there is only one person in this show that deserves true happiness, and that is Rui.
Now after what she’s learned about her sister and her new step-brother who she has a crush on, poor Rui can reactivate her Livejournal account, since she has so much to write about. But what can happen in these final episodes? Rui can do all sorts of things: tell the parents, tell the school (and get Hina fired), or even go all yandere and do all sorts of unthinkable stuff. Like I said, Diomedea are not known for being loyal in the writing of their adaptations, so for all any of us could know, something completely new (that didn’t happen in the manga) can happen.
Let’s all give some good vibes to Rui, as seeing her cry this week has flipped my switch completely. This show now officially belongs to her, and no one else. So, is Domestic Girlfriend totally trash? Well that depends on your own perspective, and how you like your romantic dramas. Right now I just want good things to happen to Rui, and I don’t care if this all ends up in Natsuo and Hina being disowned, or Hina getting fired, or Natsuo getting expelled. I guess some romances aren’t to be, huh?
My run of season 1 of Kemono Friends is also approaching its end, and at episode 10, it certainly is taking a more serious tone. More messages from Mirai start to appear just as Kaban and Serval arrive at a lodge run by Campo Flicker (a bird in real life), and the threat of a more dangerous Cerulean looms as well. Raccoon and Fennec Fox still haven’t caught up to them yet, and like I said last week, I don’t think that those two are malicious in any way. In fact, I’m sure that the two of them are just as curious to what kind of ‘Friend’ Kaban is.
Truth be told, though, I am ready for this season of Kemono Friends to end…although I’m ready for the other shows to end as well. Not sure if it’s a ‘please-end-already-so-I-can-watch-something-new’ feeling, or a ‘I-am-happy-with-the-way-things-are-so-there-is-no-need-to-continue’ feeling. Do any of you readers get this feeling just as shows are about to end, or is it just me?
I know I promised to get around to watching this weird mermaid show (Bermuda Triangle) this week, but I just couldn’t get around to catching up with it. Next week, I promise. Anyway, what did you think this week? Do you think The Magnificent Kotobuki has what it takes to be a big franchise? Do you think Natsuo and Hina deserve what was given to them this week? Do you think Carole & Tuesday will even make it to the West in April? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…