So. Funimation and Crunchyroll have evolved into one. Funi-roll, or Crunchy-mation. Sony changing the name of this giant new streaming platform isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Although saying that, there are plenty of people who would riot over that. They’re already uncomfortable with this merger as it is. As for me, well I’m not as fussed as some others are. Just as long as I don’t get any errors when I load up the players, all is good with me.
I watch my shows on either my computer and my tablet, and I’ve had my fair share of errors, meaning I’d have to wait until some time later to catch episodes. It’s just been something I’ve gotten used to. And so if this evolution of Funimation and Crunchyroll make one gigantic app (or just share the shows they have) means no more errors, I’d have no complaints. Or they could just not bother, and continue with two apps. We’ll see.
Slow Loop Episode 9
Last week’s episode of Slow Loop got my vote because it had some decent substance to it, especially when it came to Hiyori’s distanced relationship with her grandfather. This week however it became something different, with Koharu behaving like the little child that she is.
She makes the decision to go on a fishing and camping trip without parents, something that her father is understandably against. Hiyori meanwhile is just playing along and doesn’t seem to mind, while Koi has just been roped into going with them. Rin’s parents in Yuru Camp are all for her solo camping in winter because it’s been something they themselves have done, and they can trust their daughter with being responsible and careful. Koharu on the other hand is spontaneous, immature and still untrustworthy, and not the big sister model she is trying to be to her new step-sister. She shows herself off like this in every episode, and it does act as a counter to Hiyori’s more mature approach at life.
I mentioned last week how we have not really got anything when it comes to Koharu’s past, and we still haven’t. But it isn’t like I’m fussed about that, because she is someone that just hasn’t done it for me in this show. She feels like both a main character and a secondary character at the same time. And even with her dullness, Hiyori became something I could connect with more, largely because the show began with just her.
Slow Loop has for the most part been told from Hiyori’s point-of-view. While the two of them look cute together doing their cute things, there still feels like no energy is between them. Are they step-sisters? Or sister-wives? It feels more like just 2 girls (plus Koi every now and then) hanging out.
The show will be over soon, and considering the time we’re at in the show (fall), we might get some kind of Christmas episode as the last one. I wouldn’t be surprised.
World’s End Harem Episode 9
Now before I actually watched this week’s episode, I looked around to see what other people thought of it, and oh dear lord they had a lot to say. And then I watched it for myself…
You see, the actual plot of this show was the only thing that kept me going. I could have dropped this a long time ago and found something else, but I decided to persevere. I thought that some kind of decent or watchable plot would be here. But in the end, it had all been a waste of time.
All of Reito’s investigations into the artificially-created MK virus has whittled away into nothing, and I get the impression that the biggest reason he isn’t getting any screen time anymore is because he refuses to get it on with the women around him. The other main character Shouta has hogged the screen time instead, and has made his story into something even more uncomfortable to watch. From what was once a decent kid with morals, he has now turned into a really disgusting pest. We were told by the show creators that we’d get a watchable sci-fi story and main characters we could relate with, and instead all we are given is mindless sex.
This sex that was going on used to meant something in the story too. These men woke up from cold sleep to a world with a serious population problem, and so making babies was key to making humans not go extinct on the planet. We could understand Reito’s hesitation to it because of his long-lost girlfriend, Shouta’s shyness and awkwardness because of his age, and even the other guy (whose name I have still forgotten) with his eagerness to go at it like rabbits. But now it just becomes mindless.
I can no longer defend this show. I know I should have stopped weeks ago. It was definitely the show’s plot that kept me going, and now that it has gone all over the place, with many plot points left incomplete and getting more ridiculous. Just adding more secondary characters hasn’t helped one bit. I really liked the idea of Reito looking for a cure to this man-made virus, and finding the mystery behind all of it, and potentially meeting his long-lost girlfriend. And even though people turned to it to watch sex scenes, they could have still made the sci-fi story a priority. Instead this story has shriveled away and shifted our focus to the other main characters who are all having far much more sex than Reito. And it’s so much more of a cringe to watch than when it started.
This torture needs to end. Right now.
My Dress-Up Darling Episode 9
No torture here for My Dress-Up Darling; the opposite in fact. It hasn’t mattered whether we’ve had exciting episodes or more muted ones, because each one has been great to watch. I said last week that Juju’s sister Shinju had the potential to become a main character in the show, and as we see this week, she has done.
Shinju has watched her big sister become a high-profile name in cosplay, but instead of getting bitter or envious about it, she wants to join her with a cosplay of her own. And with Wakana being the sweetheart that he is, he puts his heart and soul in making her dream come true too. So he is not just content with making awesome cosplays for Marin and Sajuna, but he’s making one for Shinju too.
As for Marin, well she has gone beyond puppy love, and has been much more thoughtful about how she feels about Wakana. And even though he’s still pretty oblivious to it all (like a lot of decent and selfless male MCs in romance shows are), the banter the two of them have is adorable to watch. She is relishing in teasing him now; that same kind of teasing that is in pretty much every romance comedy show. But I’m hesitant in calling My Dress-Up Darling a dime-a-dozen rom-com anime, simply because I am enjoying it so much and I don’t want to lump it with some of the more forgettable ones.
Seeing Wakana feel content in what he is doing (and not just making Hina dolls like his grandfather does) is great to see, but at the same time I’m worried that the story in this is going to turn into a ‘loser-becomes-popular-thanks-to-pretty-girl’ kind of show. And that’s going back to why I don’t want to lump this show with other rom-coms. It’s ticked so many right boxes so far, and I really don’t want it to fall flat because of some story idea that feels wrong.
The Helpful Fox Senko-san Episode 9
For episode 9, Senko discovers that Nakano really loves eating cheese gratin, so what is a pampering fox deity going to do? Well not try and make it herself; instead she turns to Koenji who knows more about Western meals than her. It was in an episode like this where we see how the four-person unit in The Helpful Fox Senko-san have become so great together. But Shiro wanting to add sugar to cheese gratin? Ummm no.
I’ve been fine watching this show, but while looking around online, I’ve noticed that there are quite a few people who loved the original source manga who weren’t too keen on this adaptation. Episodes in the manga are being shuffled into a different order, it seems. As well as this, some aren’t so keen on the pacing of the show. Having not read the manga, this is something I can’t really comment on, but I still find it interesting that people pick up on things like this. I don’t know how this adaptation will end, but something inside me is saying that it’ll get a different ending than one that we see in the original source manga.
I haven’t finished the show yet, but even at this point I can say that Dogakobo have done a good job in making this. Even with the occasional fur fetishization moments, they have not made this show ecchi. They accept that Senko is a fox deity with traditions, and they have also not made Nakano into some lecherous creep either. Do I think the show will get a second season? I honestly don’t know. Would a second season even make it any better? I mean sequel seasons haven’t always done well, as we all know.
Still no news from Disney on when they will air Summer Time Rendering or Black Rock Shooter: Dawnfall, two shows I had my eye on for the Spring season. There’s still a whole month to wait for news of course, but those of us who are looking forward to these shows might have to accept the fact that they might not see release on Disney+ until much later in the year. I’ve already chosen some other Spring shows to cover for the next season of Otaku Theater, so those two shows would have been something to watch in my own time.