Every now and then there’s an anime season during which, by the time the halfway point arrives, I begin to question what I picked. Well everyone knows that it was definitely a bad idea picking World’s End Harem, and yet I’m still trying to find a legitimate sci-fi story in it, but what about the other shows? Well I’ve been enjoying the heck out of My Dress-Up Darling, and it turned out to be better than I expected. Slow Loop, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish (that’s a British saying to those who don’t know).
Slow Loop Episode 5
I think my gripe with it isn’t that it is trying to be two shows at the same time; it’s more like it’s trying too hard to make us really sympathize with the main characters. I didn’t really feel much for Koharu anyway, and the more Hiyori is warming up to the people around her, the duller she is getting. Well this week gave us some new characters, as they attempt fishing from a boat.
Some more focus is on the tiny Futaba, who we saw a little last week. She’s someone else who enjoys fishing on the level that Hiyori does, except she prefers boat fishing instead of fly fishing. Just like Hiyori, she has struggled with social anxiety, only this time she is stuck on how her classmates think of her as weird as the only one in class who enjoys what they perceive to be a more masculine pastime. Is this meant to mirror how Hiyori has been feeling about fly fishing, which is something she doesn’t really talk about herself at school?
In fact, as episodes have gone by, one thing I’ve noticed with each of the ‘main’ characters; they are all struggling with something inside. We all know that both Hiyori and Koharu are having to suddenly get used to being step-sisters after each losing a parent, but we’ve also seen how Koi hasn’t seen how much her father cares for the family, despite being so incredibly passionate about fishing himself. Now we have the tiny little Futaba, with some tomboy issues and being embarrassed about enjoying fishing. Will this be something that will keep me watching every week? Because right now I’m not finding much else.
For me, Slow Loop‘s characters have gotten duller as each episode goes by, and even despite these two new characters entering the show, it feels like I no longer care what happens to them. I’m still not calling this a bad show at all; it’s ‘cute-girls-doing-cute-things’ plain and simple and so my conflict is instead with how it’s trying to be more than that. The informational snippets about how to fish and cook that we get here and there don’t make me want to go out there and fish. It was different with a show like Yuru Camp where we had the same little snippets, because the rest of the show had a lot of awesome and redeeming qualities. I want to like Slow Loop, and so I’m the point now where I’m desperately hoping that there will be something that’ll make me jump out of my chair.
World’s End Harem Episode 5
For this week’s episode of this season’s favorite ‘incredibly dumb’ show, the more relatable male of the group (Shouta) has been phased out, and we’re back to gormless Reito. We get to understand this week that even though he’s working on a way to find a cure, he’s being extremely selfish by refusing to mate. And this selfishness of his has now cost Suou her job, meaning someone else has been drafted in.
Rea Katagiri is seemingly distrusting of all men, and it appears she only got his job because she was forced to. She is joined by a virologist, Maria Kuroda, who may know more about the theory of the virus being engineered than we thought. Well the show is only 11 episodes long (thank god), and here’s us thinking we’d actually get somewhere in the story. This episode is all about a trip to go and see the wife of the guy who was apparently Patient Zero of the MK virus, who is now ill herself.
This week’s episode ended up giving me more questions than answers. What does Kuroda really know about the virus? Why is Taniguchi (the wife of Patient Zero) in contact with Reito’s missing girlfriend? Why is Suou still hanging around Reito even though she’s been fired? Who the heck is this American woman who has appeared out of nowhere for no reason? And I think most importantly, with an episode as mediocre as this one, why am I still watching this?
This episode really did feel hastily put together and covered a lot of topics that probably were expanded into longer chapters in the original source manga. Now everyone else in the cast agrees with me in how selfish this Reito guy is doing by waiting for his long lost love who doesn’t even want to be found, I’m hoping something…anything…will happen story-wise. We’ve been introduced to all sorts of women with all sorts of different personalities – stereotypical anime personalities, almost. And we’ve now reached the “it’s-not-what-you-think”/”you’ve-got-it-wrong” stage in the show; it came later than I thought.
Oh dear. If there is one show that will keep me sane this Winter season, it’s My Dress-Up Darling I guess…
My Dress-Up Darling Episode 5
…and it was this episode that all of Wakana’s hard work has come to: the cosplay event that Marin had planned to attend. What did other attendees think of Wakana’s and Marin’s debut? Well you’d need to ask the people who actually formed a line for photos.
This was an extremely sweet episode, and even with its one theme of the cosplay event, it gave us a better understanding in what kind of relationship these two have developed so far, and will develop in the future. Last week, we had a bit of an instance where Wakana thought that he needed to complete the Shizuku outfit in a set amount of time, but misunderstandings on Marin’s end meant that she had to apologize, but this in turn got them closer together. Well I think we got the same thing this week.
Wakana believes that, as Marin has her Shizuku cosplay, his work is done and the two of them can get back to their respective lives. I think I understand why that thought came into his head straightaway; it’s because he sees himself as the lone wallflower and pushover of the class so much, he has gotten used to it completely. He is far more reserved with the emotions he has, while Marin is much more direct…and that’s definitely what has drawn them together like this, and not just the cosplay making.
There isn’t much in the way of spoilers for this week’s episode, so I might as well say that Marin is very keen in expanding on her hobby, and doing more cosplays. Now since we’ve only ever seen Shizuku in the promos we’ve seen of the show, I’m interested in what we’ll get to see. However if there was something I wanted to add about this week’s episode, it’s how concerned I am that the relationship between these two is going to end up going in a direction I’m hoping it won’t.
Just as episode 2 did, we had an extremely awkward scene where Wakana had to take care of Marin in a stairway so she wouldn’t get heatstroke, and it became one of those instances where you can only hear the audio and get the wrong idea of what is going on. So do I think these two should fall in love in this show? Well I’d be disappointed if the studio decided to go down that road, because I don’t think that’s the kind of relationship these two should have. They are fine enough as they are, as working friends. Anything more might end up ruining it.
The Helpful Fox Senko-san Episode 5
For episode 5 of The Helpful Fox Senko-san, another new character arrives, in the form of the fox deity Shiro. She and Senko are two different people, as Shiro seems to be more direct and haughty, with Senko being much more reserved. But it seems like she’s here for the same reason: to pamper Nakano. Here’s where I’m finding this show much more awkward. The fact that two young-looking fox girls arrived out of nowhere to pamper this overworked salaryman just feels more odd now. It felt different in the opening episode when Senko arrived, where we got a little more of an impression that there was a genuine reason why she came. Now with Shiro here, it’s all gotten a little muddled now.
One other thing that has gotten to me is how little interaction there was between Senko and Shiro. They are both there with the same purpose, and once he arrives home from work, he becomes the center of attention – not just for these two foxgirls, but for us too as the viewer. I would have least expected some slapstick skits or “I’m-better-at-pampering-him-than-you’ll-ever-be” moments. If Shiro is going to be here for the long run, then I hope future episodes won’t turn out like this one did.
The Helpful Fox Senko-san is still the lightweight and cutesy show that it began as, with the added fur muffles. But Shiro’s introductory episode could have been so much better, as her character design looks to be pretty decent, and it feels like the writers squandered on this one.
The latest generation of Pretty Cure, Delicious Party Precure, has started already, and not to my surprise, it doesn’t have a license here in Europe. I think this is more on Toei Animation’s end than Crunchyroll though. It is a shame, considering how well received Tropical-Rouge was in the West. Will Precure ever make it here? Well if we compare it to how popular the likes of Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica are, we begin to understand why they might not see a market for it on this side of the pond. Oh well, back to my chosen shows. And while I don’t think I’ve warmed to this season, I know for sure that the Spring will be completely different.