With the return of Komi Can’t Communicate, news comes out that Netflix are losing subscribers. They have also increased the monthly subscription here in the UK too; only by £1, and so it’s not quite enough for me to complain just yet. I also said last week that I had begun to look at Summer season shows; starting to check them out around a third in is nothing new to me though. I want to avoid sequel shows for the summer, so there’s not much for me to pick. There is one I particularly have my eye on, Call of the Night, but because it’s a Liden Films show, my gut is telling me that Netflix might bag it. Oh and did you know that SHAFT are doing a 2D RWBY show, as well as a World Witches idol spin-off? Remember this was the studio behind Madoka Magica, March Comes in Like a Lion, and the Monogatari series…
The Demon Girl Next Door season 2 Episode 4
This is meant to be a comedy show, and so why have I been so keen on nitpicking it? This was the same thing I did with last season’s Slow Loop; I was very eager to find faults in a harmless ‘cute-girls-doing-cute-things’ show. And when that show ended, I realized what I was doing and figured out that I should stop doing it with every show I watch. I suppose that now I’ve covered so many seasonal shows, this is just something that has become so unconscious in me that I am no longer able to find it and truly get rid of it. Anyway…
…this week’s episode of The Demon Girl Next Door gives us Shamiko’s most daunting job ever: working as a waitress in a café run by another demon. A demon whose cooking brings customers into a magical trance. I don’t know about you but this whole experience of Shamiko finding work in this place and the fox-girl lacing the food with this strange stuff, and eventually lacing Shamiko…I just found it all a little awkward to watch. I know this is all meant to be progression in the main story of finding Sakura but…ugh, I don’t know.
Even with all the onscreen text and frenetic animation, this is meant to be a very chilled show. The kind of show I saw in the first season. At the end of that, Shamiko and Momo both found out a lot more about both of their families, and I know that this season picks up directly from that. I guess that it would be that because both these seasons were so far apart time-wise that viewers like me had nearly forgotten even key parts of the story. I’m in episode 4 now, and while I think this mission to find Sakura is a good one, it’s just the journey to it that is getting to me.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War season 3 Episode 4
What I’m enjoying in season 3 of Kaguya-sama is that it is staying true to one singular story, but in an extremely loose way. Episode 2 gave us the group date where Hayasaka decided to mess with both Kaguya and Miyuki’s heads, and last week introduced Maki (second cousin, twice removed) who I don’t think is going to be a third wheel in the show. This group date of episode 2 is still in their minds though, and is something that’ll remain there for all I know. But now some more has been added to that.
For this week, we are reminded of what happened in season 2, which has a really amazing episode about Yuu’s backstory that only their SHAFT helpers could make. Turns out that he has a massive crush on third-year Tsubame, in the cheer club that featured in that episode. And after receiving some love tips from Kaguya (of all people…), he works hard to better his grades for the upcoming exams. I thought this was a very good segment, as we don’t see a lot of Yuu and what his life has been like. He is portrayed as the gloomy lazy slacker, but the real truth is that he has a massive case of impostor syndrome. It’s as if he has accepted his place and knows to stay there. Is being on the student council going to better him in the future? Maybe the others think that, but the only one who can answer that is Yuu himself.
We then move on to something a little more comical but sticking with the overall story. Like I said, the group date is still the hot topic, and after a sleepover at Kaguya’s giant house (where Hayasaka switches roles and plays a male butler…yeah), some misunderstandings lead to the gang questioning who they really like. And just when we thought that now would be the time that either Kaguya or Miyuki would spill the beans about how they feel too…
I still admire how this particular style of comedy has been so intrinsically woven into these main stories. And at the same time, it knows when to take the story seriously. This is something that season 2 did in particular, and so I’m liking that A-1 Pictures (who may or may not have received some more help from SHAFT) aren’t doing anything wild or out-of-the-ordinary. I remember when I finished watching season 2 how I would be worried that a season 3 might go off the rails considering how awesome it was, so I’m glad it’s not doing that…yet.
And so it’s time. Komi and the dorks are back…
Komi Can’t Communicate season 2 Episode 1
If there was one thing I remember about the Fall season last year, it would be how much criticism I had on the shows on first impressions. I was undecided on whether narration was a good idea, I was unsure whether introducing Najimi would be seen as some kind of gimmick (when it wasn’t in any way at all), and I didn’t think Netflix needed to translate as much onscreen text as they did. But now that the show is back for a second season, it’s like all of those worries and that criticism has disappeared. As season 1 ended, I accepted the show for what it was, and with these new episodes, it’s like the show never left. Well if you check Netflix, it technically never did, as this first episode of season 2 is actually listed as Episode 13.
Anyway, the winter season has arrived in Komi Can’t Communicate, which means one thing…well several things in fact. We’ll be getting that Christmas episode, that New Year episode, and most likely a Valentine’s Day episode too. One thing I do know about this season is that the class will be heading out on a field trip, and I’m betting that that will take up a couple of episodes. Well the sketches we had from season one return, with the main story progressing further…similar to what Kaguya-sama is doing too. When it comes to Komi and Tadano, we know it’s there between them, so it’s just a matter of when, and not if.
While season 1 served as an introduction to Komi and gave us character development, I predict season 2 will flesh out the source manga’s original story much more. As an anime-only follower, I’m quite keen on what these winter episodes will give us; both the comedy sketches and the story itself. And Komi’s ongoing mission to find 100 friends. 13 down, 87 to go.
This is the Komi show, I know, but there is one thing I picked up on that I’d like to address here. I know that Najimi has become quite a character outside the show now; I see them in a lot of memes now. Upon first watch of this episode though, I initially thought that Najimi had had a new voice actor, as they sound just a little different this time, but no. I have also noticed one other thing: OLM have simply said Najimi in scenes, and not used any ‘they/them’ pronouns. There could be many reasons for this, but I don’t think I’m the one to go into them all. It’s how Najimi was created by the mangaka after all; their gender orientation means nothing because the character itself is the most important thing. So this is far from what I was originally thought, and how I was worried that the show would poke fun at it all, like what some other comedy shows have done in the past when it comes to non-binary/genderfluid representation.
As I look around online, I notice that there are some people who are still peeved that Netflix got exclusivity to the show. Maybe they are being that much more worried considering what is happening with Netflix right now, and them losing subscriptions. I for one am keeping mine, since there’s a lot of stuff I watch there, and I have no problem with paying an extra pound for my subscription. You people should know that we Brits have to pay a TV license on top of all this; our BBC channels don’t have commercials, so that’s the reason why. I didn’t have an issue with Komi Can’t Communicate being on Netflix, and I still don’t. I don’t believe in any ‘Netflix jail’.
Iroduku: The World in Colors Episode 4
Last week when I covered episode 3 of Iroduku, I ended up comparing the gang-of-five in this Photography and Arts club with the kids that we see in Glasslip. They may be sweet and well-meaning people, but are ultimately rather forgettable. Relationship triangles are more evident here in episode 4, but the biggest thing is that Hitomi’s grandmother, Kohaku, has returned home. Let’s all remember that she is high-school age here; this is Hitomi’s past after all. And as we see, she is the complete opposite of her granddaughter; happy, playful and outgoing.
We also see that she has already been told who Hitomi really is and how she came here, and is just accepting it like it is nothing. Here’s the thing though…I know that Kohaku will play a very significant part in the show, and so why hasn’t she won me over on first impressions? Maybe it has been because I have become so used to having Hitomi dominate the show. The two really are polar opposites, and yet while it could be seen as the perfect way of getting them together (and for Hitomi to find out why she was sent to the past), something still doesn’t feel right to me.
Episode 4 gives us the club’s first school project; nighttime shots of the nearby sea and bridges, and showing off how colors contrast at night. Club president Sho gets into some technical details in photography, most of which I know myself since it was something I covered in my degree. I didn’t even have a digital SLR camera back then, like what these dorks have. Anyway, this is also the episode where the cat is accidentally let out the bag, and the others find out that Hitomi is a time traveler. They initially say that this news will change nothing, but there’s something inside me that in later episodes, that might change. I mean, we can all see how Asagi sees Yuito interact with Hitomi…
I have to say one other thing about Iroduku so far: it has been a very difficult show to predict. For school shows like this, some might already have an idea of what the ending will be, but because of this very off-beat story, it’s hard to tell what the final episode will give us. Will Hitomi go back to her own timeline? And will this romance/not romance even happen? Ask me again later…
I continue to air my frustrations when it comes to The Demon Girl Next Door, and I’m finding my out-of-season show Iroduku very enjoyable, with small but fixable flaws. Is it really worth me re-watching season 1 of that show so I don’t get as frustrated as I currently am? Well I’m happy Komi Can’t Communicate is back, and hasn’t changed one bit. Week 4 has passed now, so I suppose it really is time to look at the summer shows.