NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a is still off for the meantime, sadly. I have this feeling that when productions/adaptations are delayed at this point in a season, it’s never a good thing. Of course this was something that A-1 Pictures could not avoid, but even if the show turns out to be an excellent one, it’ll be this delay that will be the most memorable thing about it. Taking a look at what the rest of this Winter season has for us though, I’m pretty certain that I would have not reacted so well; Vinland Saga and Tokyo Revengers just aren’t my kind of shows, you see. But I’m happy with my show choices, and when NieR: Automata returns, it’ll be great to get back to covering it.
In/Spectre Season 2 Episode 5
Well we were expecting her to return, but so soon into this season…
This week’s episode was a filler/not-filler one, since it serves as a reintroduction to Rikka, and her returning to the story. The first half of this episode is told from her point-of-view. By the looks of it, it seems like she moved into this apartment not long after Kotoko and Kuro tracked her down after the Steel Lady Nanase arc. She plays the polite and aloof single tenant to the adorable manager and his girlfriend, and shrugs off the idea of her new apartment being haunted because three suicides took place in it. What I find so fascinating about her character is that she comes across as pleasant and calming, but vicious and cold at the same time – almost like you can’t really tell who is the real Rikka. She shares the same mutual love for Kuro as Kotoko, so is she really just some bitter cousin who was mad that another girl took his heart? Well as she shares the same powers as him, that just makes her all the more dangerous, and an even bigger reason for Kotoko and Kuro to find her.
Just as we had the short arc with the Yuki-Onna finding love with an unlucky mortal almost framed for his ex-wife’s murder, we have an episode-long case where Kotoko is able to weave a story to the manager and pretty girlfriend on how and why those three suicides took place. She even admits at the end that because she had so little information about the place, even she would never know the real truth. But creating some elaborate and highly believable story to put their minds at ease worked for sure.
I’m really liking the direction that this second season of In/Spectre is taking: continuing directly from the end of season one, and at the same time expanding the story by looking at other peoples’ points-of-view. This is not just Kotoko’s and Kuro’s story after all. Having not read the original source, I don’t know what future arcs will bring, but I’m sure that they’ll be just as fine as the short ones we’ve had so far. This one may have only been an episode long, but it’s given us a lot to work on:
- Rikka is still alive, and is playing the victim to the oblivious tenants she rents apartments with.
- Kuro is finally accepting that he is Kotoko’s boyfriend, so now their relationship isn’t as one-sided as we all thought it was.
- Future arcs may mean that while Rikka is likely to be the big bad this season, we’ll likely meet more mortals and yokai, meaning Kotoko will have to use her big brain some more and dish out more facts and logic to put their minds at ease.
It took me a while to warm to season one, and so I’m really glad that season two has hooked me in pretty much straightaway.
Tomo-chan is a Girl! Episode 5
This week’s episode of Tomo-chan is a Girl! was the ‘going-to-each-others-houses’ episode. We haven’t really been to Tomo’s house that much, although that’s something that might come later, but that isn’t so much the point. Sketches for this week included going to Carol’s, Misuzu’s and eventually Jun’s house. Unsurprisingly, Carol’s mom is just as ditzy as her, and Misuzu’s mom is just as cold as her. An episode like this was something we ought to see coming, as a lot of anime moms in romcom shows can already predict the future. Tomo’s mom has already thought about what her future grandchildren will be called, but we’ve yet to see Jun’s parents as they have conveniently disappeared on a trip just as Tomo stays over for a gaming night.
It’s at this point in the show now where I feel slightly conflicted. Because so much more screentime (in general) has been given to Misuzu and Carol, and not Jun, it is getting harder and harder to picture this as a romance show. Instead it feels far more than a buddy school comedy. It feels like Tomo and Jun have been ‘bros’, and by the time this show will end, they will carry on being ‘bros’ because Tomo will probably still be too scared to confess. If the show does end that way, viewers will perceive it as the studio paving the way for a potential sequel season. Of course this isn’t uncommon in any way; countless romcom anime shows have done this. I think it just feels all the more awkward because we don’t see Jun as much as we see the others, who are all there as either love doctors or for comic relief.
We are given tiny little teasers, but I think that because we only really see things through Tomo’s point-of-view, we can’t get that much of an idea of what Jun is thinking. Has he picked up on Tomo’s changing behavior? Is he still completely oblivious? We just don’t know, and that is what is bothering me about this show. If we get future sketches that are told more from his point-of-view, then perhaps I can picture this romance much more. But right now, I still can’t see much. These two just need a good poke, I think.
Dorohedoro Episode 5
I think things in Dorohedoro are progressing well, and going at a pace that I can follow properly. The previous episode saw Caiman and Nikaido arrive at a hand-made Sorcerer door made out of the flesh of murdered Sorcerers. Caiman’s plan is simple: kill as many as he can find, so he can discover who it was who gave him the lizard head. But Nikaido is conflicted, and I think that’s where this episode shines. This is where she originally came from, and ultimately escaped from. The reason why is something I’m sure I’ll find out towards the end, but as this fifth episode shows, Nikaido isn’t just any run-of-the-mill Sorcerer. The smoke she is able to generate is far much potent and powerful than many of the others in her realm. So the question of who she really is has just gotten that much more interesting.
Meanwhile, the disembodied head is able to identify itself as Risu, a dead member of the Cross-Eyes gang, who are pretty weak Sorcerers but still like to cause havoc in the realm. This leads us to suggest that whoever Caiman is was a member of the same gang too. And if that is the case, then surely he must be able to produce some tiny level of magic of his own, right? Of course that’s providing he can remember; his amnesia is still pretty bad, and for all we know, his real name may not even be Caiman.
Comparing this realm to the Hole, and the differences are massive. While both are chaotic urban sprawls, the Sorcerer’s realm gives off a far more gothic and grandiose atmosphere. And once again, it gets harder to determine who is in the right and who is in the wrong, given that En and all of his enforcers have been humanized so well. I will say that the pacing of this show (or rather from episode 4) has shifted a couple of gears, and now that Nikaido is back in her home realm, a lot more chaos could happen. While the pacing is running quickly, it isn’t feeling rushed or dragged out either. Plot points and scenes are told at a pace we can follow and understand, even if they are pretty quick. I had a few doubts about Dorohedoro when it began, but now the story has really picked up, I’m itching to know what happens next.
It sucks that the NieR: Automata anime is still on hold; these recent weeks’ column posts have been much shorter because of it. But those of us who are following it, and are hoping that it lives up to the hype, will be all the more excited when it does eventually return. Will it carry on telling the story from various angles? Will it add different story elements and not just be a direct scene-by-scene adaptation? We were left on a real cliffhanger in the last episode, which gives us that much more to look forward to, I guess.