I continue this season still feeling under-the-weather, which sucks majorly and so I am continuing to keep hydrated and eat healthily. Is Minamicon still cancelled for me though? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see; I mean, I still have the registration booked, and so it’s just a matter of whether I want to get around to book the hotel and transport. This will still be my final UK con regardless of whether I choose to go or not, though; I have just grown tired of the UK anime community, and what it has become in these past years.
But enough about that; onto some anime.
In/Spectre Episode 2
We get onto episode 2 of In/Spectre, and I am beginning to worry about whether this was going to turn into some kind of Monogatari wannabe show. I mean, while it doesn’t quite have the same kind of intellectual and somewhat convoluted script that the Monogatari series has, it shares a lot of the themes.
…I may have just angered a lot of Monogatari stans there; don’t worry, I still love the Monogatari series too…
Anyway, this week sees Kotoko pay a visit to a water serpent god out in the country, who has requested her presence after he finds a corpse in his lake. What appears to be an open/shut murder case turns out to be something far different when the killer turns themselves in to the police…leaving the water serpent god unhappy with the story around it.
I have grown to like the idea of occult and supernatural mysteries revolving around Kotoko, Kuro, and the assorted spirits and yokai that seem to accompany them. The only issue I really have in In/Spectre is that I’m not too comfortable with its execution. So far, the chemistry between Kotoko and Kuro hasn’t developed as much as I had hoped it would; by now, I would have hoped the two of them would have begun to develop a working relationship or something, regardless of whether he has feelings for her or not…but at this point, the chemistry around them is just a bit ‘meh’. Also, while Kotoko seems to relish interacting with these various spirits and yokai, Kuro just doesn’t seem to care. After last week’s episode where we learn he has regenerative powers after eating yokai flesh at a young age, it’s almost like he just wants to live a normal life doing normal things.
But will Kotoko and these assorted spirits and yokai let him? That remains to be seen.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Episode 3
Okay, time to properly talk about Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! I know that, in past Otaku Theater posts, I have held back on talking about this show, because I was still unsure what to make of it, and whether we should all be bitten by the Science SARU hype or not. Now we’ve reached the third episode stage, I have a better idea on what to say about this.
In Episode 3, we see the girls have developed their own club house, in the form of a worn-out warehouse, they have some idea on what kind of animation they want to make, and how they want to make it. We still see that these 3 girls all have varying and unique approaches to how they want to build Eizouken. Midori is full of imagination, yet not too much of a social person. This is something we certainly see in this week’s episode, where Midori’s imagination run wild when she imagines being an astronaut in space while fixing the Eizouken club house roof.
Everyone’s favorite character appears to be Sayaka though, purely because she has such a cynical yet realistic attitude towards film production. She is a girl who is constantly thinking about costs, and how to make this animation of theirs in the most efficient and practical way. Curiously, Sayaka doesn’t seem to have that much interest in anime…well, at least not as much as the others, but this lack of interest makes her the perfect person to play the role of producer. She doesn’t need to have an interest; she only cares about how to make a quick buck.
The girl I’ve warmed to the most, though, is Tsubame. She may be a famous amateur model and well-known in the school, but that doesn’t stop her from nerding out on anime. Also, Tsubame seems to show the most passion in the actual animation. As they form their anime idea of a machete-wielding action girl in a gas mask fighting a tank on a barren planet, she lets the others know how much she wants to animate the girl, how she wields her machete, how over-the-top the explosions in the film should be, and is even able to convince the otherwise unflappable Sayaka in making the action as the most over-the-top and ridiculous as possible…using the reason of ‘the-fans-will-like-it’.
The show’s OP theme has also grown on me a lot too, and so I’m very glad to see it available online, and to see the full version of the song on Spotify.
The question is: have I been bitten by the Science SARU bug? I still think that I need to watch more episodes of this show to answer that question. I wasn’t bitten by the bug when I watched Ride Your Wave or Lu Over The Wall or The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, and so I shouldn’t automatically think that watching this show will make me a Science SARU stan overnight.
Asteroid in Love Episode 3
I haven’t been bitten by any slice-of-life bug or Dogakobo bug either, but there’s a lot in Asteroid in Love that has made me regain my faith in the studio. One thing being that I have accepted that Suzuya has turned into this Winter season’s yuri protector. There is no contest in that, and regardless of whether you’re enjoying Asteroid in Love or not, she is someone who requires protection.
Onto the show now, and God bless this show. Really. I honestly did not think I would enjoy this very simple slice-of-life show as much as I do. I have watched a lot of slice-of-life shows in my time with The OASG; shows like Glasslip, Koufuku Graffiti, Sound! Euphonium, March Comes In Like A Lion, and I’m currently working my way through Flying Witch. So yeah, from someone who used to be hooked on fantasy and magical girl shows went straight onto simple and no-nonsense slice-of-life. And I have no issue with that whatsoever.
In this week’s episode, the club gets up to all sorts of activities, from catching up on schoolwork, to working part-time in Suzu’s bakery, to learning more about Ino-senpai, and how she got into the Earth Sciences Club. We learn that it wasn’t initially an interest in geology, but instead a keen interest in maps, making them, and going treasure hunting.
These are all very simple activities in a slice-of-life show, and yet they become very charming and adorable to watch. They become charming and adorable because we have fallen in love with all of the characters so quickly. Some of us may have even developed a slight interest in the hobbies and interests that they all have; I know that I have suddenly developed a slight interest in Earth Sciences…okay, so I may not want to rush out and buy a telescope or collect precious stones, but it isn’t like I’m not going to ignore what these 5 girls are all keenly interested in, in the same manner that I’m not going to ignore what all the girls in last season’s Houkago Saikoro Club got into.
This week, we also get a glimpse at some other secondary characters, like Suzu’s younger sister Megu, who is in fact taller and quite cute to boot, something that clearly troubles Mira – “How dare she be cuter than all of us?” Next week is teasing a summer camp too, something that is expected in a moeblob school slice-of-life show like this.
Flying Witch Episode 3
The other slice-of-life show I’m watching this season is Flying Witch, and again, I’m glad I’m getting the chance to re watch this and analyze it properly. Here in Episode 3, we see the introduction of Akane, Makoto’s older sister, and a far wiser witch.
As I have watched these past episodes, the one thing you do notice here in Flying Witch is that the rest of humanity seem to have acknowledged that magic exists in this world, and yet don’t react majorly to it, or treat it as anything heretical. Here we see Akane perform some beginner spells to Makoto, because she seems to have figured out via her cat familiar that Makoto hasn’t been practicing that much magic aside from using her broom. In this episode, we see Akane perform a spell using human hair to summon crows, and a teleportation spell.
Both of Makoto’s cousins, along with her aunt and uncle, seem to have acknowledged long ago that their cousin/niece was a witch, and needed training out in the country, and as we watch future episodes, we see this anime adaptation is more of the younger cousin Chinatsu and classmate Nao discovering, accepting, and learning more about Makoto’s skills as a witch, and the world of witchcraft she lives in.
These shows that I’ve picked for this Winter season are all ones that I don’t regret one bit, because I have found some level of interest in all of them, large or small. Asteroid in Love, for instance, is something I’m enjoying immensely, while In/Spectre is a show that, while I’m finding a few flaws, I’m still quite curious about. How about you? What shows are you enjoying this Winter season? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!
Oh, and while you’re here, take the time to donate and lend a helping paw to help wildlife affected by the horrendous Australian bush fires. All proceeds will go to Wildlife Victoria.