So the Overwatch League has returned, and I usually end up raving about my favorite team while it’s on. I won’t here though since I’d end up filling the whole column (hint: It’s not London).
Beginning with your favorite trash show this week (Domestic Girlfriend). The /r/anime sub-reddit strikes again, and has said something that I totally agree with:
“…This is like junk food. I know I shouldn’t be liking it so much but it’s a guilty pleasure…“
Just like a lot of soap operas then. The British soap Hollyoaks (which is notoriously trashy) comes to mind a lot each time I watch this.
I am a little disappointed that we have dived straight into a new arc so quickly though; I’ve since learned that Domestic Girlfriend is to be a single-cour show, which is just as disappointing, although I sort of understand. Not really sure if the public could handle 24-26 episodes of this. I was not only hoping to see more character development in Momo, but also something more in Hina’s adulterous activities. Instead we’re given two brand new characters: one who is as sweet as honey, while the other is as shady as hell.
Miu is the sole member of the Literature Club, which Natsuo is blackmailed to join by Kiriya, an ‘eccentric’ teacher at school…although eccentric isn’t really the best way to describe him. I think ‘cunning’, ‘manipulative’ and ‘creepy’ are better words. Miu later tells Natsuo that a lot of girls were members of the club until they eventually left. She acts quite innocent over this, but this sounds so incredibly fishy. Added to this, Rui and Momo decide to join too; Rui because it appears she’s gotten a little jealous on how Natsuo could potentially be spending a lot of time with another girl, and Momo because…well…why not?
Again, some more awkward moments happen this week, and again we see Natsuo be such a gentleman. It’s easy to dismiss this male MC as a dull kid, and in a way he is, but we see him treat the girls (and woman) in his harem so well, it’s very refreshing to watch. Like I said last week, the guy’s a bit of a catch. Poor Rui, as we see some more “why-do-i-feel-this-way-about-my-step-brother?” moments this week.
I don’t like to see Rui suffer like this; I ship her after all, and want her to have a happy ending. Sadly, there is no end to Minghua’s suffering in Girly Air Force. She does get some screentime this week, but of course the show gives Gripen, Eagle and Phantom priority.
With the introduction of Phantom last week, we see a little more of what she actually is: all sass and bravado. She may have the combat experience, but behind this mask of antagonism, she’s just a coward. Eagle is never ever going to change, and whether you like her or hate her, she doesn’t need to, as she is just the Anima ‘on the side’ who throws tantrums when she doesn’t get her way. Gripen, on the other hand, is just this helpless creature that protagonists like Kei feel they have to protect. Even after the three of them complete their first proper mission together, it feels like none of them are really going to win you over. Also, who on earth holds chopsticks like this?
At the end of this week’s episode, Kei makes a rash proposal to Phantom; we all know what will happen, but a part of me really wants him to lose. Like I keep saying that Minghua should do something rash to get Kei’s attention, something ‘big’ should happen in this show because even with these ‘plot points’ and encyclopedic knowledge of fighter jets, Girly Air Force is just meh.
The makers of Girly Air Force need to learn a thing or two from the makers of The Magnificent Kotobuki, as they have made a show with characters that gel, an amazing world design and even more exciting plane dogfights.
Episode 6 with a short epilogue of sorts from last week, as Kylie collects payment from Julia for the Kotobuki Corps’ services. She gets shot down on the way back to the zeppelin however, and lands on a barren isolated piece of land that she is actually familiar with, from her childhood spent with a cranky misanthrope.
Not everyone likes flashback episodes, I know, but I think it was rather fitting to have one at this point in the show, since despite having so much screentime, we know next to nothing about who the members of the Kotobuki Corps really are. And so here in this episode, we learn that Kylie was just a hyper kid with a huge imagination who wanted to see the world, and thought that the local weird guy could show it to her. One could even say this was more of a filler episode, leaving us waiting for something big to come.
Will something ‘big’ happen in Kemono Friends though? I’ve reached episode 6 now, and I think I can call this one a bit of a filler episode as well, although it does leave us with something that we knew already (but Kaban didn’t): she is a human.
She and Serval still haven’t reached the Japari Park Library yet, and so find themselves at a fort…of sorts, run by Lion. Here, this Lion enjoys facing off against a rival team run by Moose. This episode didn’t really entertain me, to be honest. So far, Kemono Friends has portrayed these Friends as intelligent folk, and leaving us as the viewer with a theory that the show could get darker in the future. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t; I don’t actually know this, since this is my first time watching this show. We were all expecting Puella Magi Madoka Magica to be a saccharine magical girl show, and then…well we all know what happens in that.
I left the Madoka Magica fandom a long time ago, as it was turning me into someone I didn’t like (more on that personal flashback story here, if you’re interested), and I haven’t been as obsessed over any show since, which is a good thing, I believe. But never mind that…
What about the shows you’ve enjoyed this season? Is Domestic Girlfriend a guilty pleasure for you as much as it is for me? Do you want Minghua to have some happiness at last? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…