I made the decision recently to return to a show that I slung a lot of mud at in a past season. I’ll be re-watching Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight with a more open mind, and will be documenting all of my trials and tribulations of it on my own personal blog here. Oh, and in the Fall, my favorite sci-fi show Mahouka returns for a second season, and although I won’t be covering it here on OASG, I’ll definitely be watching it, and not taking it seriously in any way whatsoever. Makes me want to marathon season 1 all over again (umm…).
Tamayomi Episode 10
Considering how much I ended up trashing Mahouka, I think maybe I just stick to the shows that I enjoy, instead of subjecting myself to that kind of torture; at least Tamayomi‘s something to kick back to. Saying that though, I get the feeling that this big game against Ryoyukan is the game that this show has been building up to since the very start.
It’s a two-parter for one…or it could well go on to the final episode. I may have had little experience in sports shows, and even though I can recognize epic games/matches, I still take them with a little bit of face value. With shows like Haikyuu!, Kuroko no Basket and Yowamushi Pedal, I guess we can really see and feel the emotions of the characters; the adrenaline they get when they push themselves to win, and the melancholy or anger they get when they’re at the point of losing, or have lost. Tamayomi might has made me really understand that now.
Ryoyukan is one of the best school teams in the prefecture, if not the best, and we see Shin Koshigaya really have to up their game if they have any chance of an upset game. With the entire crowd pretty much cheering on Ryoyukan, our girls have to do a lot. This has also been the first episode in a while where the focus has been on the team itself, and not on our main pairing of Yomi and Tamaki. In fact, a lot of focus has been put on Yoshiko, the newly appointed coach, who begins to feel solely responsible for the massive plays that Ryoyukan put out.
Yoshiko’s now down in the dumps, Ryoyukan is making big plays, and Yomi is a little oblivious to the kind of team they’re up against, so these final episodes of Tamayomi look to be something to enjoy. At least this show isn’t anything like what Wave, Listen to Me! has become in my eyes.
Wave, Listen to Me! Episode 10
After the events of the last episode, Minare has the look of death…the same kind of look I have when I tune in this week. A bit mean to say, I know, but I really have had enough here. In the eyes of Mato, Minare has done her part, and has called in some retired sound engineers to create special sound effects for the radio drama he has in mind, which uses what she recorded when she confronted Mitsuo and turns it into something entirely different – something I did not expect at all. It’s more like something you need to see for yourself to really understand.
In the meantime, in real life, Minare has made the decision to move out of Mizuho’s home, and is somehow still working at the restaurant, despite her boss having been discharged from hospital. However, as we see in this week’s episode, it seems that she is beginning to out-stay her welcome there. With Makie doing a lot more work there, and with Nakahara developing new dishes for the menu, it feels more and more like they don’t even need Minare there anymore. It almost feels like both Nakahara and Makie have acknowledged that she has become this great radio host, and so don’t need her now. But as we see this week, Minare is beginning to have more doubts whether she even made the right decision to do this radio show at all.
Despite getting her revenge on Mitsuo (sort of), Minare remains the disaster woman she was right at the beginning of the show, and even if she felt that this radio show would give her some level of solidarity in life, I don’t think that would change her at all. This is something she even addresses this week, in a conversation with Mizuho. She knows that remaining single will lead her down a road of chaos and unpredictability, and having a boyfriend will give her some kind of stability, despite the fact that she knows that said boyfriend would likely walk all over her, just as Mitsuo did. This attitude gives us a lot of mixed feelings on whether she is a likable main protagonist or not.
Oh, what to do here…I said about having the look of death whenever I tune in here, and to be honest, I would be surprised if we’re given a bit of a ‘meh’ ending to this show whatsoever.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2 Episode 9
Now we are definitely expecting what kind of ending this second season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War will be getting, since it hinted it to us at the prologue of episode 1. So the remaining episodes will be the lead-up for it all and unlike Wave, Listen to Me!, I’m really looking forward to the finale, despite already having a good guess on what it’ll be.
It’s been a whole 3 weeks since what I considered the best episode of the entire Spring season (on election day, when we saw through Miko’s perspective and debated Miyuki onstage). Of course I welcome the fact that this show has become well known for its crazy antics, and now four has become five, it feels almost like our sweet and innocent little Miko is becoming more and more ‘tainted’ now (is tainted even the right word to use?). This linear story is becoming more and more prominent now, I see. It begins with when Miyuki and Kaguya were locked in the sports equipment room, with the two of them close to kissing. This is something that has affected the both of them very much; with Kaguya getting more and more flustered around Miyuki and constantly having to turn to Hayasaka for help, and with Miyuki growing more and more concerned about Kaguya’s increasingly strange behavior.
The sports festival is getting closer and closer, and we’ll get a finale to all of this. But of course, we should be looking at everything else that has come in this season of Kaguya-sama. With the addition of ex-SHAFT staff, it really does feel like they are doubling down on animation quality, script quality, and off-beat moments with every ongoing episode. This week, for example, not only is the comic strip Peanuts parodied, but we see the show parody three classic upbeat songs: Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”, Madonna’s “Vogue”, and Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”. It truly is something to watch, and makes me so so glad I chose this show. This could even beat Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! as my top show of 2020; we still have two more seasons to come though, plus all the shows I’ve missed out on, like My Next Life As a Villainess and Sing Yesterday for Me. Let’s not forget the upcoming second season of Mahouka…oh and Interspecies Reviewers too; I just have to find a way to watch that crazy mess of a show.
Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku Episodes 10 & 11
I should say that the reason why I decided to cover the final two episodes in one slot was because I simply wanted this show out of the way but not because I totally hated this show, though. I should actually thank you all for picking this out-of-season show for me, since I had been wanting to catch up with this ever since it came out. Guess it was because of the fact that it went straight to Amazon Video that put a lot of people off, myself included.
Having seen episode 9, with the focus being away from the atypical otaku/gaming/etc., we go back to it in episode 10, but instead of seeing Narumi, Hirotaka, Hanako and Kabakura do their usual antics, Nao becomes center stage, meeting Kou at work. He notices that Kou is a gamer as well, and so invites her to join him, despite Nao being incredibly bad and needing to be carried frequently. Kou seems to be rather relieved that she’s finally found herself someone to talk to, having lived a bit of a hermit’s life for so long, although I’m not sure that Nao has quite realized that Kou is a girl gamer (which of course does not matter).
So moving onto the final episode of Wotakoi, which sadly, felt a little underwhelming for me. However, having all of these past episodes, I’m not really sure of how a show like this would even end anyway.
I mean these four characters’ antics are a mixture of casual gags and linear story, and so an actual end to said story isn’t something I can really imagine. Episode 11 takes a closer look at our two couples; Hanako and Kabakura argue about what’s the best manga genre, while Narumi goes to Hirotaka’s apartment to find him passed out after playing a game for so long without food or sleep. In the meantime, Nao continues his good relationship with Kou.
If we do ever end up getting a second season of Wotakoi, then it will be something that I won’t be watching. For me, the show had a lot of good things to like, but at the same time, had a lot of things I found really dull and uninteresting. I’m still glad I watched this though; I’m sure that those fans of this who caught it when it originally aired will be overjoyed if/when it returns…so the way I see it, it’s a bit of a win-win.
The summer is coming this month, and with so many shows having been delayed, where exactly can we go, and what new shows can we watch? Or will we just end up using those three months to catch up on old shows? That may be something I could well be doing myself. 2020 has really brought us some great shows so far; it’s just been this pandemic that has been holding us back on watching them right now. So, will there be any shows you’ll be catching in the Summer, or will you just put anime on hold until the Fall season starts in October? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!
And lastly, don’t forget to wash your hands and keep good hygiene!