This week is usually the weekend I head out to Atlanta to attend Dragoncon…oh yeah, and Crunchyroll Expo happened this weekend as well. Money being tight meant I had to miss out this year, but I’ve already told my US con buddies I’m going next year, and I can’t exactly go back on my word. I guess one benefit of me staying home is that I get to do my Otaku Theater column normally, as opposed to having to wait until I fly back home and do an extended catch-up post that covers two weeks’ worth of shows or something.
Astra Lost in Space Episode 9
Last week’s bombshell is the core of this week’s episode of Astra Lost in Space. The news that Quitterie and Funicia are biologically the same person hits everyone with surprise, none more so than the both of them. This can really only mean one thing: the two of them are clones, and it later emerges that they are. In fact everyone onboard (save from Polina…or is it Paulina?) are clones of original people living on Earth, and have purposely been shot into space to cover up their crimes (due to cloning largely being illegal in this show).
This is no filler episode. While they don’t touch down on any planet and find something that’s part of a plot point, or focus on one single character, the whole cloning story becomes the episode, and we discover how despicable and disgusting these people back on Earth really are.
However, the one thing that has got me thinking is: if the people they originally thought were their parents despised them all enough to send them into deep space, why pick Aries? We saw earlier on in the show that she has a mother who cares very deeply for her, unless it turns out that there is another reason entirely. Astra Lost in Space has hit us with plenty of bombshells over the space of these 9 weeks it has been airing, so where’s the harm in adding a few more?
While I say this is no filler, it is just this plot point that makes up the episode. Watching the despicable adults put on some secretive meeting to make them look like Bond villains, and watching Kanata walk around the ship to comfort the crew to make him look like Commander Shepard from Mass Effect was all pretty funny to watch.
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files Episode 9
I’ll admit that, for Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files, I’m a little concerned whether we’ll be heading into filler territory. Last week saw them finding the first body on the train and El-Melloi/Gray meeting one of their potential main villains. Here in episode 9…well…we’re still on the train, and they’ve ended up getting diverted (somehow) to a frozen forest that looks like some kind of underworld or purgatory. With the train at a standstill, and El-Melloi still out-of-action, a group sets out to find the forest’s Leylines and get the train started again.
Here, we begin to see some more how devoted and loyal Gray really is to El-Melloi, and it’s rather adorable to watch. Gray herself is still a bit of a mystery character, but she does remind me a bit of Mash Kyrielight from the Fate/Grand Order story. Mash began as a researcher at Chaldea who had only ever known the Chaldea building, and while we’re still not clear on where Gray came from, or if she’s a mage or servant or a bit of both, that sense of loneliness and isolation is something both Gray and Mash share, and the both of them find a sole shoulder to lean on and cling on to that shoulder for dear life. For Mash, it is…you, as the main protagonist, and for Gray, it is El-Melloi.
O Maidens In Your Savage Season Episode 9
As each week passes in this anime season, I wonder how long before I should treat O Maidens In Your Savage Season as some kind of soap opera. This week is the aftermath of the cultural festival, where the Literature Club’s urban legend ended up coming to life, meaning several couples ended up forming across the school. And we watch both Kazusa and Rika feel some kind of euphoria; the same kind of euphoria one might well get when they find themselves someone to go out with. It’s still extremely funny to watch both Kazusa and Izumi be extremely awkward with each other…as I imagine a lot of new couples naturally are. In the meantime, Rika is slightly taken aback when she learns that Amagi was chatting and laughing with other girls at the festival, which appears as if she has the feeling that she can’t stand Amagi being with anyone else but her, which is understandable.
As for Niina? Is she a plotter? Is she a schemer? Or is she just as sexually frustrated as everyone else in the show? Here, she discovers that Momoko listened in on the chat she has with Saegusa, and that she seems to believe she is destined to be alone, watching everyone else fall in love around her. Curious how The Little Prince is brought up this week, since as we learn, the book’s plot has great similarities with what is happening now.
With her making more moves on Izumi, and Momoko thinking less of her now, it’s interesting to see what us, as the audience, think of Niina as a whole? Right now, I just see her as a sexually frustrated girl who is just struggling with any feelings she has suddenly developed for Izumi, the one guy she knows she shouldn’t really be chasing.
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? Episode 9
Now that I’ve categorized Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? as my Official Summer Curse™ Show (all in capitals), I should trash-talk it non-stop, right? If it brought us naked tree climbing last week, what else could there possibly be? Well to my surprise, this week’s episode really did make me chuckle…a lot, as it calmed down a bit and introduced us to the guy who isn’t a villain after all, but instead the show’s parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger, complete with long filmography and punchlines. Although it’s notable that the show is quick to say that he doesn’t say “I’ll be back“, claiming that’s ‘some other guy’. Now I don’t know if Arnie himself holds some kind of right to that phrase or something, but regardless, it’s still pretty funny to watch. Even more remarkable is how I discovered this week that the narrator of the show and this guy’s voice actor is Tessho Genda, the very same guy who dubs Arnie movies in Japanese.
With this arrival of Barnold and Machio entering the bodybuilding competition, Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? is balancing its filler episodes with its pointless/cringe-worthy episodes in a decent manner. Maybe we’ll get something really stupid next week, maybe we won’t. Doesn’t really matter though, what with this being a slice-of-life show, and no real beginning-to-end story to speak of – just a lot of fan service, edutainment skits and unnecessary muscle flexing. Even Tachibana-sensei has started to ask whether stuff going on in the show is relevant.
Last, the classic/out-of-season show for me to watch in the Fall 2019 season has been chosen. I always end up doing this poll too early, but then I suppose I just like to know what I’m watching in advance. Oh well, the show of choice is Girls’ Last Tour. I’d been putting this show in the poll for a long while now, and so it’s good to finally get it chosen at last.
I do enjoy my bombshell shows, so it was good to get them this week. In the meantime, how has the anime you have been watching been going so far? Have you even decided on what shows to pick for the Fall 2019 season? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!