The Olympics will be ending soon, and any shows that have been affected will either do one of two things. Either show two episodes for one week, or extend through to the fall season. As I’m typing this, I’ve learned that everyone’s favorite overhyped franchise, My Hero Academia, has now become a victim too, with episodes being delayed to later on this month. Maybe these Olympics have been some kind of blessing in disguise for these studios, as they have extra time to work on making their episodes just right. Probably some overthinking on my part there. Thankfully, the shows I’ve been watching haven’t been affected.
The Aquatope on White Sand Episode 4
With The Aquatope on White Sand going on for two cours, we get to see a more detailed story. Would people add this to the ‘Working Girls’ series that P.A Works developed, with Hanasaku Iroha, Shirobako, and Sakura Quest? I think it’s still far too early to say, but it seems like it is.
While last week focused on Kukuru and her work ethic that is alienating the people around her, this week we turn to Fuuka. You see, she still hasn’t really told the others who she is and what kind of work she did on the mainland. And as they arrange a ‘touch pool’ event (where children get to touch sea creatures), we see how her past is starting to catch up with her when she gets recognized. Surely she knew it would happen sooner or later.
I like how this week’s episode finally talked about something that has been on the others’ minds ever since she arrived in Okinawa: why exactly did Fuuka come here? And not just this either. Why was she so desperate to work there? Does she even like fish and sea creatures? Why won’t she talk about her idol life? Is she just playing along here to run away from being an idol? Will she even stick around, and then fly back to the mainland when she gets bored?
Even with her opening up a little more to the others (plus new character Umi-yan, who originally took time off working at the aquarium due to back pain), I still felt that wasn’t that much resolution, and that none of these questions were answered that well. Fuuka really is an anomaly. It’s a part of the show that doesn’t exactly annoy me, but I do hope that we get some answers, especially now that Mother has arrived and is ready to drag her daughter back home, kicking and screaming if necessary.
One thing that I’ve only realized until now is how strange the pacing is in the show. Again, it is too early to call, with so many in the show who we know next to little about, but the other ‘Working Girls’ shows were pretty much separated into two halves. Maybe in this first cour, we’ll just get some character development, while the second cour will be about saving the aquarium itself. Also noticeable is how the supernatural elements of the show are near-absent. Will this be something else that’ll be expanded on in the second cour? So many questions, and it’s only 4 episodes in.
Remake Our Life! Episode 5
Now, considering how much story is in Remake Our Life!, would a second cour have made the show better? Hard to tell. I said last week that I’ve been wanting the show to get better, and now after watching this episode, that road is going to be a slow one. At least some progress has been made to the story as a whole. I mean, this is the school festival episode, so of course we’d expect emotions to run high.
The thing is, for me, school festival episodes have become more predictable and less entertaining as time goes by. Not that I was expecting anything out-of-the-ordinary when it came to this show’s one, but I was still very satisfied with this week’s episode. Just like last week, the episode was centered around Nanako, and her overcoming her fear of singing. While last week saw Eiko scold her for not pushing forward to what she is really good at by hiding behind the shadow of acting, here we see Nanako make baby steps to becoming the good singer she has always wanted to be, deep down inside. Later on in episode 5, she is forced to make the next step – an even bigger step. Some other school harem shows may have situations like the one here, but I could really feel much more here. We actually want Nanako to make that giant step, to succeed at it, and feel great about doing it.
Just listen to the song she performs in this episode and see if you can guess what it is, and where you’ve heard it before…
Despite the mild sci-fi elements that the show began with, Remake Our Life! is a school harem show, and this is the one episode where we have to decide which team to root for. Do we root for Team Nanako, who despite having a mild tsundere personality, is loyal and now committed to singing, or do we root for Team Shinoaki, the soft airheaded and gentle type? Will there even be a Team Eiko? So far she has been just a character who sets herself aside with the intention of being just a friend/rival to Kyouya. Those of us who follow these kind of shows fervently have our teams set in stone. Me? Well in We Never Learn, it was Team Fumino, in Domestic Girlfriend, it was Team Ruri, and in Amagami, it was Team Haruka. I don’t have mine, by the way, at least yet, but I will say that if you have yours, then I think it’ll be something you may well have to set in stone. We still have a while to go in the show, and a lot can still happen.
I still like Eiko’s character very much, and there may well end up being a Team Eiko but if there is, it’ll be something that will develop as episodes go on; teams Nanako and Shinoaki were there right from the very start. Yes, this was the predictable school festival episode of Remake Our Life. Yes, this has become the school harem show that we kind of guessed it would end up becoming. And no, I will not tell you what team I’m rooting for…
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S Episode 4
I can’t speak for others who are following this second season of Dragon Maid like I am, but now that we’re a third of the way in, I can’t help but have the feeling that something is missing. Perhaps that’s something to be expected; we become so used to what happens in first seasons that anything that goes on in future ones stand out that much more. And I think for Dragon Maid, it’s the different direction the show has gone on.
I touched on this last week, how we noticed how much free time Tohru has now when Kobayashi is at work and Kanna is at school, and so she is eager to find something…anything…to keep her occupied. One of her neighbors suggested that she find something both challenging and worthwhile. I hope that that will be a sub-plot in this season. In this week’s episode, though, we see a lot more of a character that has often been on the back seat in Dragon Maid: Elma.
I’ve always liked Elma, despite her being a secondary character, and so having her feature a lot more so than usual is very refreshing to see. At Kobayashi’s work place, where she goes under the name of Elma Joui, since she has to stick around and keep an eye on her longtime rival Tohru. Now we’ve had an extended backstory to new character Ilulu, perhaps we’ll get a little something on Elma, since anime-only viewers know next to nothing about her aside from two things:
- She is from the Harmony faction, and has a much better relationship with humans compared to the Chaos faction.
- She has a massive sweet tooth.
Having read a good portion of the manga, there’s actually so much more to her than just that, and I really hope that this second season will bring out that. For instance, this week’s episode sees Elma worry about how much Kobayashi has become a ‘pillar’ at her workplace by taking on too many tasks, and so learns to code so she can help out.
I don’t really like to call this a filler episode, because Dragon Maid isn’t really the type of franchise that would have filler episodes. I mean, it’s a short-skit show that constantly gives us stuff to laugh out loud at, and aside from Tohru’s massive crush and Elma’s voracious appetite, doesn’t just give us the same old jokes again and again.
Girlish Number Episode 4
In episode 3 of Girlish Number, we realized how truly awful Chitose is at voice acting. At least she made the effort to get better, and she has the veteran Momoko to thank for that. Well, the first episode of their show is on its way, and so their promotional event has to be perfect, right? It’ll be the perfect thing to boost her already huge ego. Well on the day of the promo event, we discover that the first episode hasn’t even been finished yet, with the storyboards still incomplete. The crowd are expecting an early-screening of the first episode, and so the staff are forced to show what is essentially an extended version of the original PV, and to make up for the lack of content, the 5 main characters of the show end up having to sing the full version of the OP theme.
But it’s funny how even something as disastrous as this ended up hyping the crowd up completely. Maybe that goes to show how little some anime followers seem to care.
It’s exactly as Kazuha says when the event is over — it was likely for the best that the author didn’t show up to the event, as he had probably already expected it to be such a disaster. You really do have to feel for him; he’s seeing his own work getting massacred by a studio who just haven’t got a clue, and are treating every mishap…and there have been a lot of mishaps already…as nothing to worry about. So I guess we as the viewer are just waiting for all of this to finally bite Kuzu-P on the backside, and make him realize that their show is hot garbage, and they’re only at the first episode.
If you ask me how many medals my country has won, I couldn’t answer you; I gave up following it, and picked the smarter choice of following my seasonal shows. Are you looking forward to seeing Mother drag Fuuka kicking and screaming back to Tokyo? Have you picked a team to root for in Remake Our Life? Or are you like me, and want to see a lot more of Elma in Dragon Maid? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!