This week is the start of a rather busy end-of-the-month for me, as not do I only have the shows I’m doing here for OASG to write up about, but Netflix have decided to release a bunch of shows around this time too, and so I have more epic anime to watch. Well…one of them is already not all that, and another has brought out a rather misleading trailer. I will still be the only guy, it seems, who will be defending Netflix’s interests in anime.
But enough about that, onto what I’m watching here, and we’ll start with Hanebado!, which wasn’t on last week because of the earthquake in Hokkaido.
This episode delay has actually made me think more about the character design in this show, and about what was initially frustrating to me (which was a lot). Truth be told, both Ayano and Nagisa are good character designs. Ayano originally wanted out of badminton because it was eating away at her mentally, but the people around her at high school effectively forced her back into it, and this original obsession that was spoon-fed to her as a child has come back and twisted her. Perhaps she’s not 100% sure on what it’s doing to her either…or maybe she is, and is about ready to give up on life. Nagisa, on the other hand, is the epitome of what hard work and practice can do; putting your mind to anything can accomplish wonders. She’s had her own trials while climbing to where she is now, and as she faces the girl who threw off her momentum once again, it feels like a “I-have-worked-all-the-way-to-this-point” occasion. And so now I’ve had some time to think, I like how the adaptation hasn’t really held much back on Ayano’s mental health, because they decided to change the mood of the story in the adaptation (from what it initially was in the manga), we have no idea what outcome we’ll see, and whether Ayano will fall further into that abyss or not. We are indeed either Team Ayano or Team Nagisa, and as I said in a past post, Crunchyroll ought to have coaxed some more money out of us by making their match a pay-per-view event.
It is this week’s episode that sees the beginning of the end though. While Ayano’s mom remains remarkably oblivious to the damage she has done to her daughter, Elena has finally realised that it was her insistence to join the badminton club that made Ayano become what she is now. The thing is though, this adaptation has missed out on a lot of things. It makes me think of another show by Lidenfilms that I covered here: Love & Lies. An important part of that story (how Yukari got the message that his future partner was his childhood crush, only for it to be made up by a bitter former friend of hers who is in fact a heiress of the ministry who runs the whole matching thing) was rushed through in one of the last episodes. Here in Hanebado!, Ayano’s character arc feels rather forced, and this writing that makes her the antagonist of the show is rather off-putting. This show could have easily been a contender for anime of the year, but it has been things like this that has thrown a lot of people off.
The match between Haruka & Kanata and Claire & Emily has decided to stretch on for a little longer though, which is a little…meh. The second and third set is the whole episode (and the match isn’t even over yet). Quite frankly, this arc in Harukana Receive has been entertaining, but it really needs to end, as it seems that someone is going to be facing Narumi & Ayasa, and I think either ending would be a good one:
Haruka & Kanata – We get that atypical anime ending, and Kanata will maybe get to reconcile with her ex-girlfriend.
Claire & Emily – We see the pros move on, but it would still be a moral victory for the others, as they know that some beach volleyball match won’t break these guys apart.
Personally, I’d be more satisfied with Claire & Emily taking the match, as this would show that beach volleyball is just a sport, and anime schoolgirl friendship is far stronger. Maybe those involved in Hanebado! ought to have taken some lessons from these guys.
We’re approaching the end of Asobi Asobase, and us fans are already calling for a second season. I think the studio behind this would be fools not to bring this back, as this has been a real pleasure to watch. Out of all the episodes that have come around, this has been a relatively normal one, with the return of our precious Oka from the Occult Club, and the elusive Vice President of the Student Council.
It was her who influenced the current president to follow through with her nomination quite a few episodes ago, and as this week shows, this Vice President is more calculated than she appears. While we are initially given the impression that she is just some airhead gal who only took on the job so she could get the excuse to go to the boy’s school opposite, we learn that there is a lot that she keeps from the president; not really out of spite or hatred…just because she can’t be bothered with the hassle.
The boy’s school opposite is colloquially referred to by everyone else as Opposite-san, and it’s pretty much accepted by the students that you either want to stay as far away as possible from them, or want to find any excuse to hang around with boys…just as the Vice President does; our narrator goes on to tell us that she is, in fact, sleeping with everyone in the Student Council at the boy’s school.
This next episode of Serial Experiments Lain (episode 11) has been a strange one. Not only is it presented as a sort-of ‘catch-up’ episode, but we are given more doubt on whether the material body has meaning or not. Here in this episode, Lain is being influenced once again to give up her material body and to move to where, it seems, she belonged…in the Wired.
Here we are also reminded of what happened a couple of episodes ago, where rumors at school go around that Alice had sexual fantasies about a male teacher. She returns in this episode, with Lain telling her about what has happened to her recently, and as if by magic, the rumors just vanish, as if they were never there in the first place. This proves to Lain that she is what Eiri is claiming she is: a sentient being in the Wired capable of anything.
Finale episodes will start to come next week, and it’s around this time where you start to think what shows to watch in the Fall season. Well I will not be watching 4 cours of edgy kid in the next Sword Art Online, and you cannot make me watch them…My Summer Review post will be next week, and I have also decided to pull the plug on covering Hanebado! next week too. I’ll also be ending my coverage of Serial Experiments Lain, and will be covering episodes 12 and 13.
This season is almost over now, and how has it been for you? Has it been as stressful to you as it has been for me? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…