Some time has passed since that tragic arson attack now, but we continue to pray that Kyoto Animation will heal and rebuild, despite having confirmed to have lost so much. In the meantime, ANN have since done some…questionable things regarding what happened at KyoAni, and I have made my decision on whether I should carry on following them. I won’t force my feelings onto you, as you have the right to form your own opinion whether they did the right thing or not.
Anime seasons must continue though, and I’ll admit that I’m already looking at the shows that are coming in the Fall. I’ll tell you one thing: if Summer 2019 was the season of the isekai anime, then Fall 2019 has to be the season of the franchises. The long-awaited third season of Chihayafuru is due in October, as are the next chapters of Sword Art Online, My Hero Academia, Psycho-Pass, Food Wars, Fairy Gone and Hi-Score Girl, along with this seasons’ Vinland Saga, Dr. Stone and Fire Force continuing on. Even We Never Learn is expected to get a second season in the Fall – and here was me thinking it wouldn’t even come back! As for what I’m watching that season? Well if it’s going to be chock-full of franchises I don’t even follow (or follow anymore), then I might even have to rethink my anime plans that season.
That’s then, though – back to now…and starting off this week with Astra Lost in Space.
If episode 2 concerning Quitterie and Funicia was that start of this show’s road to emotional drama, then this week didn’t just continue it, but made it better. I previously said that I thought Yunhua was a likely suspect in tampering with the ship’s communication equipment, but as we see this week, she wouldn’t find much benefit in doing it, as just being lost in space far from civilization is fine enough for her.
We already knew that she was an unwanted daughter, but it seems a little more complicated than we originally thought. Yunhua Lu is the daughter of a famous Chinese singer who had hoped to follow in her mother’s footsteps, much to the mother’s anger, who just wanted her to do nothing with her life and be as invisible to society as possible. It is this teaching that is drilled into her for her entire childhood. When the crew arrive on their next planet and find edible vegetables, Yunhua takes this opportunity to walk into the sunset with the hope of not wanting to be found again. Makes you think, as we saw last week, whether Yunhua’s family had a big say in whatever conspiracy is being bounced around by the 9 at the moment – that all of this was no accident, and that these 9 were all sent out into deep space on purpose, with the intention of never to be seen again.
I was originally very skeptical with this letterbox format (as well as not have a traditional opening and ending theme), but with mini-stories like this week’s one, I get it at last. The lack of chirpy/melancholic songs at the start and end and constant letterboxing/restricted view give off a real sense of isolation here. You can really tell that these 9 are on their own. No-one is coming to help them, and they have to rely on each other if they want to carry on with the hope of heading home, even if they don’t all get along, and even if not all of them are too concerned with being rescued, and characters like Yunhua reinforce this, I believe. While a good portion of the crew still treat this as some kind of school camping trip and make the most out of it, Yunhua doesn’t care. She’s one of a few characters who feel she was forced into this trip. This mysterious sphere of light that has catapulted them all far out into deep space plays into her favor.
I was also very skeptical on this combination of tense sci-fi drama and playful humor, but it’s beginning to grow on me. The two are being balanced carefully, with the hope that neither will take over the other. This week’s episode has a good ending, and now no-one is allowed to harm my precious Yunhua. No-one.
More murder mysteries in the Fate universe come in this week’s ep of Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files, although I genuinely wish I liked it more.
Another murder takes place in a mansion out in the hills, and the main suspect is the son, purely because he just so happened to be at the same place at the same time. I found this week’s story far more complicated than previous ones, and I think the reason for this is down to that there is so much Fate lore this time around. Fate lore that only the hardcore fans would probably understand, leaving us noobs in the dark.
I am glad that this story wasn’t all wrapped up in the space of 25 minutes, however, and that this murder mystery will carry on this week, no doubt with El-Melloi solving the case, and Gray doing more cool magical things. Speaking of cool things in this show, I believe that Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files might become a victim of style over substance. As I keep reiterating, this is a spin-off show that not only requires the viewer’s full attention, but them being knowledgeable of the Fate universe. Your average weeb can’t really dive into a show like this and be expected to know even half of what’s going on here…and that’s a bit of a shame. Should this show be more accessible? Well, it’s no doubt keeping the Fate fans happy, and I suppose that’s all it really needs to do.
Over in Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?, the girls have to adapt their exercise routines when both the gym has its peak hours over the summer season, and when it’s closed for unknown reasons. This all means they have to find other ways to exercise their bodies, and this show is cool in that it offers them (and thereby us) ways to do that. This show certainly is carrying on with this edutainment theme, but one also has to think whether any of us viewers will even remember any of this when this show ends in September.
It is this edutainment theme that has attracted a lot of people to this show, I believe, as it’s something that is actually rarer to see than you think. With interesting information ranging from gym equipment to all the various muscles in the body, characters in Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? break the fourth wall and teach us how it is all meant to be done in the gym. Heck, they could have the entire cast break the fourth wall and it wouldn’t really make that much of a difference.
It’s now become a bit of a routine when I tune into the next episode of O Maidens In Your Savage Season that the first thing I think of is: “What the hell is going to happen next?” We have the ongoing soap opera of Kazusa and Izumi’s long-time friendship becoming more than that, and we’ve had Rika losing her mind when a nobody in her class calls her cute. We’ve known very little about the other girls, Momoko and Hitoha, and so it’s good to see this week how their emotions are starting to take over them. Momoko discovers a boy at her cram school who noticed her in old school classes and admires how confident she looked, while Hitoha is somehow taken aback at how the teacher behind the alias she chased up on her erotic chat forums shows some true resentment over real human emotion. She could say that she troubles her because it somehow affects her ‘research’ as a writer, but it’s clear this week that there is something more than that. Curious to see how Momoko’s story will continue; she has already admitted that she is completely clueless when it comes to boys and relationships, and so finding a boy that takes an interest in her will certainly make her feel all sorts of weird.
Rika’s own journey takes a very sweet turn this week, though. Perturbed by the insults in class, she decides to change her image (not tie her hair, wear contacts), which makes her class do a 180 over her. Why she really wanted to do this isn’t known, but if it’s to make this boy she so obviously likes change his mind, it didn’t work. Out of the blue, and in a very typical Rika fashion, she demands a 50-page report from him on why he’s taken a liking to her, and much to her shock and surprise, he obliges.
The five different stories that’ll take place as this show carries on have all been woven together very well, almost without much effort. A lot of other school rom-com shows would likely use a lot of stereotypes, unoriginal anime traits and some added toilet humor, but O Maidens In Your Savage Season is different from this. While a story like that in, say, American Pie, which shows a bunch of high-school guys suddenly curious about sex and wanting to do it, would use a lot of cringe-worthy humor, O Maidens is starkly different, in that it mixes teenage humor with emotional drama that works on its own level and seems very hard to replicate elsewhere. The show has become both original and unoriginal at the same time. Why it hasn’t gotten more coverage is beyond me.
This week comes the news of when Carole & Tuesday finally comes to the West. Netflix announced very recently that the show’s first cour (ie. episodes 1-12) will arrive on August. 30, with the second cour released a few months after it ends in Japan (which is late September) I can only guess that one reason it’s taken this long is down to acquiring licenses for all the music…that and dubbing the show in English, French, Spanish, and other languages. No news on who will be dubbing who though, but it’s pretty normal for English VAs to keep their roles secret until the last minute.
More news came at Otakon this weekend as Discotek Media announced they have the NA license for Senki Zesshou Symphogear, which has made an awful lot of people extremely happy. As for me? Well I still have to plough through season 1, while my colleagues are losing their minds over this final season that is also airing in this cour. Still trying to avoid any spoiler I can…
Episode 4 carries on from the previous one, where we saw a mysterious girl with Symphogear armor ready to take on both Tsubasa and Hibiki. In this episode, we learn that she has been sent to capture Hibiki…or rather, I think they just want her armor. To prevent this, Tsubasa decides to sing her superb song to overwhelm the mystery girl and to send her on her way.
I’ll admit that I am a little worried. I’m worried that, when season 5 ends, a lot of spoilers will come out, and I’ll end up finding out more than I’d like to know. Because Symphogear has quickly become a franchise I’d like to get invested in. Maybe that was why I was initially so eager in this binge-watch of seasons 1-4 in the first place. Thankfully my brain stepped in, and so I’ll wait until I get the chance to watch season 5 (Symphogear XV) properly…where no spoilers have affected me.
As the anime community returns to some level of normal (if that is even possible), how has this week been for you? Has any of the news that’s come out impressed you, or disappointed you? Have the shows you picked this season been any better or worse? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!