Urusei Yatsura – 40 – The Young Man Dressed Like a Woman and the Sea

When the newly-resurrected Nagisa has no place else to go, Ryuunosuke and her dad invite him into their house, but he proves to be an annoying freeloader who sleeps in and eats more than his fair share. When Ryuu complains, Nagisa pretends to get upset and cry. Meanwhile, Ryuu’s dad considers Nagisa his “son’s” precious fiancée, and so offers Ryuu no relief.

Things take a turn when Nagisa invades Ryuu’s school life. Lum helpfully informs him that the crying schtick won’t work on Ryuu and a more aggressive approach is needed. When Ryuu evades Ataru’s advances and throws him into a wall, Nagisa does the same to her, displaying strength equal to hers. Everyone is shocked.

As the school day ends, Ryuu has had her fill, and decides to settle her little Nagisa problem with violence. Alas, beneath her girlish appearance, Nagisa is a man of the sea, and thus strong as a mule. Not only that, even the formidable Ryuu can’t land a single punch on him. She’s saved when Sakura uses a ghost-warding talisman on Nagisa, but doesn’t believe their fight to be over.

When Ryuu comes at Nagisa again and Nagisa makes use of her champion sumo skills to artfully dodge every blow, then bear-hugs Ryuu into submission, Sakura (who along with Lum and Ataru are enjoying the match while scarfing concessions) has no choice but to declare Nagisa the winner. Ryuu cries in frustration, telling Nagisa how little he thinks of her and saying she hates him.

In his defense, Nagisa tells Ryuu he could never hit a girl, especially one he has feelings for. He held back because he likes her, not because he doesn’t consider her a worthy adversary. Watching Nagisa sulk away, Ryuu softens her stance and agrees to let Nagisa stay with her. She then proceeds to immediately regret her decision when Nagisa can’t seem to stay in his own futon.

The second segment is all about Onsen threatening to prescribe supplementary lessons to Class 2-4 on account of their constant chatter during lessons. They collectively decide they won’t make a sound, not even when he calls upon them to read from the textbooks, deeming that a trap.

It’s an extremely rare instance of the characters of Urusei Yatsura actually being silent. Onsen is loving that silence at first, but soon it starts to feel mocking, and becomes a different kind of annoying, equally intolerable to their usual chattering.

When Ten shows up in a floating space Yankee bike to exact revenge on Ataru and his friends for ignoring him earlier, the students are put to the ultimate test. Can they maintain their vow of silence as they come under increasingly violent attacks from the tiny alien? The answer is yes.

They outlast both Onsen’s threats and Ten’s assault, and the bell rings announcing that class has ended. I must note that the scenes of the injured students slumped over their desks are a bit too evocative for my tastes, but as with the cute segment with the little fox who loves Shinobu a few weeks back, Urusei Yatsura proves it can still deliver the goods even when its characters aren’t constantly shouting at each other.

KonoSuba 3 – 06 – The Man in the Mask

When Kazuma and Iris switch bodies again, it leads to Kazuma being banished from the palace, which is when Chris meets up to discuss Divine Treasures. Kazuma tells her about the body-swapping necklace, and learns that it can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, as one can kill the person you’ve swapped bodies with and keep switching bodies to gain immortality.

This leads to Chris and Kazuma dressing up in cool clothes and go on a palace heist to steal Iris’ necklace. They gain access easily enough, but when Kazuma starts grinding on Chris under the pretense of maintaining the lowest profile possible, she raises her voice and they’re discovered by guards, leading to a chase through the palace.

The duo eventually ends up cornered by Claire and Rain, which is when Kazuma decides to finally “get serious.” With his Devil Army General-defeating powers, he’s able to easily dodge Claire’s charge and overwhelm her with magic that seems to deliver a pleasurable kind of pain.

When Kyouya shows up, he proudly proclaims the Steal ability won’t work on him anymore, so Kazuma uses Freeze instead to seal his sword in its scabbard and get him to lose his footing. Kazuma then gorges him with water, such that he and Chris can slip away when Claire and Rain are busy helping him.

Ultimately, Darkness, Megumin, and Aqua are the last line of defense between the masked thieves and Princess Iris (who even brandishes her own adorable sword, unafraid of combat). Alas, Megumin is completely smitten with the thieves’ style, and she and Darkness are quickly bound by Kazuma.

Even drunk, Aqua is able to lift the binding spell and rally Darkness, well aware that Megumin is no longer useful. But Kazuma and Chris are still able to slip past them and cast Steal on Iris’ necklace at the same time as they leap through a stained glass window and into the water below.

Darkness soon tracks the thieves down, and even when she learns it’s Kazuma and Chris, she doesn’t hold back on the face-crunching. That said, when Kazuma tells Darkness and Chris he only managed to Steal Iris’ ring, Darkness gets serious and grabs his arm.

That ring is only meant to leave Iris’ hand when it’s being given to her betrothed. She impresses on him the importance of protecting the ring at all costs, whatever trials come in the future. Trying to give the ring back could get him killed to protect the secret of how it was stolen.

At their farewell ceremony, everyone seems to adopt an opinion of the noble thieves similar to Megumin, only less intense: they are seen as impressive and admirable because they stole the ring to protect the princess. Kazuma gets the sense Iris actually knows he, her Big Brother, stole the ring, and that’s exactly the case, though he never confirms it.

As we saw in their flashbacks together, Iris has grown quite fond of Kazuma, as he alone doesn’t put on airs or dote upon him (though during their goodbyes she nearly gets in a brawl with Megumin for calling him Big Brother too much).

When Darkness tells Iris that Kazuma will defeat the Devil King and Iris’ face lights up with excitement, Kazuma just can’t quite move himself to contradict Darkness. She hopes he’ll return someday so they can continue their chess games and, perhaps, once he’s defeated the Devil King, so he can ask for her hand?

Yuru Camp△ 3 – 07 – Uphill Battle

While Nadeshiko, Rin, and Ayano were on their tour of trains, bridges, and dams, the OutClub “Leftovers” went on their own adventure. This week while splitting a huge number of logs into firewood, Chiaki, Aoi, and Ena regale their own camping trip to Nadeshiko. It does so by getting experimental and zany with the narrative structure, and … I’d call it hit-and-miss.

The idea of presenting us (and Nadeshiko) with not-100%-reliable memories of the three other campers results in embellishments like there being two dogs along for the ride (Chikuwa and a “WeTube” famous Samoyed named Hanpen), along with Nadeshiko always chiming in in a picture-in-picture like a Japanese variety show.

While Chiaki and Aoi are the two goofy comics to Ena’s straight girl, the fact remains I’m just not as invested in these three as I am Nadeshiko and Rin, or even Ayano, who is infinitely cooler. Chiaki, with her overly dramatic affectation, starts to grate when she’s in the spotlight, Aoi is a glorified comeback generator to Chiaki’s japes, and Ena is little more than “the girl with the dog.”

There is a measure of fun in watching their comparatively chaotic camping trip unfold, as it involved way more walking up steep hills in cold environs than they planned, and by far the shortest bathing session in Yuru Camp history (under 10 minutes!). Could they have upped the chaos and told the whole story of their trip in one episode? I think so. Alas, the Leftovers’ tale ends abruptly in the middle.

Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 07 – Embracing the Struggle

For all of her maturity in most other matters, when it comes to Kumiko Reina can be especially childish. Just take her pouting when Kumiko doesn’t immediately discern that Reina wants to go to the pool with her during the last summer break of high school. She even bought them matching swimsuits!

As the band cleans up the practice rooms, they’re visited by two former members: Yoshikawa Yuuko and Nakagawa Natsuki. While they’re now college freshmen, they still bicker like the old friends they are. They are also certain they made the right decision in picking Kumiko and Reina to be the next president and drum major, respectively.

On the first day of summer break, Kumiko decides to accompany Hazuki to a college fair, to try to get a sense of what’s out there. But while Hazuki has chosen to pursue a career as a nursery school teacher, Kumiko’s visit to the fair doesn’t result in any similar epiphanies. She’s as uncommitted as ever to her future path, though Hazuki says she’d make a great teacher too.

Since it’s Bon, Kumiko’s big sister Mamiko is home for a couple days, and both she and their mom agree that Kumiko should do what she wants. It’s not that strange that at eighteen Kumiko still isn’t sure what she wants to do with the rest of her life—there’s so damn much of it left to live! Ultimately, her mom and sister don’t tell her anything she doesn’t already know.

The big pool day arrives, as does the reason this episode gets at least an automatic four stars: Reina and Kumiko not only don matching swimsuits, but swapped the tops and bottoms to make it quite clear to all that they’re thick as thieves. The underclassmen are in awe of their beauty, while even Mayu, whom Kumiko invited out of the blue, loves how close they are.

Kumiko invited Mayu in part to try to get at the heart of why she causes her so much discomfort, despite being so kind and gregarious. When Mayu describes herself as someone with no real preferences, who goes along to get along, it dawns on Kumiko: Mayu is the kind of person she was in middle school. Floating through, fitting in, but lacking the same drive or enthusiasm for … anything that everyone else seems to have.

Not necessarily content but resigned to being the class “Mama”, Mayu doesn’t even like to appear in pictures. Kumiko insists she use the shutter timer and pose with everyone else, but when school starts back up and she distributes the newly developed photos, the only one with her in it just happened to be the one that “didn’t develop correctly”, according to her.

There’s just something not quite right about Kuroe Mayu, and that not-rightness is almost becoming a distraction for Kumiko from being able to properly balance band president duties with figuring something out for her future. There’s also the specter of Mayu making it through the prefectural auditions while Kumiko doesn’t make the cut, and not being able to do the soli with Reina.

That said, even if she’s not in the prefectural final cut, if that version of the concert band advances to the Nationals, the auditions will begin anew, and that’s the one in which Kumiko truly does want to play with Reina. We’ll see if she takes the L in the next round of auditions, or if something else happens that renders Mayu’s current attitude untenable for the band.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 06 – Finding Her Love

When Yori and Himari go shopping for clothes for the concert, it counts as their first official date, and they treat it as such. Himari’s outfit is adorable as expected, while Yori is as effortlessly cool-looking as ever. Himari has Yori try on a more girly dress, and is then scandalized by her bare, miles-long legs. Yori gets to pick the outfit Himari will wear to the concert, but it’s a tough choice as to her she looks good in anything.

While having ice cream, Yori tells Himari that she’s the reason she’s playing in a band, as having fun with her and wanting to be by her side gave her the push to take it seriously. Himari admits to having never gotten too absorbed in anything until Yori came around, and that being with her makes her so happy she’s able to lose herself. After walking Himari home, Yori can’t resist kissing her on the cheek.

Yori promised she’d win Himari’s heart at the concert, and armed with the confidence-bolstering earrings Himari bought for her, Yori proceeds to do exactly that. The SSGirls are finally animated as they play, well, not a whole song, but good parts of two songs, including “Sunny Spot”, written specially for Himari. As she listens, Himari finally finds “it”—that is, what kind of love she has.

After the last song, Himari is compelled to run to the stage, and she and Yori go outside to talk. Yori tells Himari that she wants nothing more than to keep being with her, listening to her beautiful songs and learning more about her. She believes this is what it means for her to be in love, so she confesses to Yori and asks her out. Naturally, Yori accepts, and as they embrace, her tears lead to Himari tearing up as well.

It’s a damn fine and cathartic confession scene, gorgeously performed and animated. Kudos also to the layered performance of Aki, who obviously harbors bittersweet feelings. Bitter because she lost Yori to Himari, but sweet because Yori is happy, and still considers Aki to be her very best friend.

And so, just like that, Yori and Himari are an official couple. But Yori is concerned that they way they’re hanging out as girlfriends is pretty much exactly like they hung out before. But when she voices her worries about wasting their precious time together, Himari asks why anything has to change.

Himari is perfectly happy with things the way they are. That said, she returns Yori’s earlier kiss with one of her own, and Yori is so flustered she sees the benefits of things remaining “normal.” Anything more might be more than her tender heart can take!

With the will-they-won’t-they dynamic of HimaYori decisively resolved, we move on to the next conflict: the SSGirls all agree to play in the cultural festival, but they learn they’ll have to audition to secure a slot. The former vocalist of SSGirls, Izumi Shiho, who seems like a real haughty bitch, watched Yori perform and didn’t think much of it.

She believes the band to be a bunch of amateurs, and with her new three-piece band she intends to claim the top spot at the festival. The battle to win Himari’s heart has been won. Now the battle of the bands begins.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 07 – Looking Ahead

When the non-truant JELEE members report that it’s time for career guidance meetings at school, talk of the future pops up. Yoru and Mei are likely headed for university after graduation, while Kiui intends to obtain the Japanese equivalent of a GED with the goal of becoming a middle school teacher. Feeling left out on the future fronrt, Kano decides to join Kiui at a motorbike riding camp. Maybe she can find out where she wants to go if she can get there quickly!

Mei is anxious about Nono-tan and Kiui spending so much time together, but this means she and Yoru get to interact more. They realize that after a period of not knowing what to do or why to do it, they’ve both been inspired by a certain someone and now find music and art to be a lot more fun than it was. I loved the cut from Mei saying how Kano pulls them along to Kano making a mess of the motorbike balance beam test.

As Kiui offers emotional support by watching Kano try and fail over and over, an older woman approaches her asking for a light, only to take a much greater interest in Kiui than having another smoke. Her name is Koharu, and Kiui and Kano later learn that not only did she get a boob job, but significant facial surgery to achieve her current cool and casual yet glamorous look.

One night after a hard day’s practice, Kano asks Kiui why she wants to be a middle school teacher. Suffice it to say, Kiui felt like her teacher didn’t have her back when she was struggling socially. If she was the teacher, she’d have told herself that “being normal” and “fitting in” aren’t prerequisites for life. She wants to help those kids who are alone, while also “saving” her past self from worrying about conforming to standard norms. Kano for her part, takes Kiui’s hands and tells her she’s not alone, and Kiui seems to genuinely appreciate it.

Kiui has to don a dark wig and her school uniform to pick up some documents at her school. When she overhears some former classmates recognizing her, she tries to pipe up to tell them off but doesn’t bother. Having made fast friends with Koharu, Kiui joins her for a bath and Kano tags along. They see her artificial Fs in all their glory, but also notice a large and unexplained scar on Koharu’s back.

Koharu tells Kano that the key to riding a motorcycle is keeping one’s eyes fixed on the road ahead. That might be scary, especially at first, but it’s not as scary as finding oneself in an unknown place with no way to turn back. Kano takes the advice to heart and passes the practical exam, though she flunks the written bit. As for Kiui, she tells Koharu her VTuber identity and the two exchange contact info, promising to meet again, at least online. As for Kano, she wastes no time whatsoever renting a motorcycle and riding up to Yoru, who is with her normal high school friends.

Kano can’t quite work up the courage to ask Yoru to hop on, Yoru hops on of her own accord, leaving the normies behind. It’s romantic as hell, and as someone who recently rode on the back of a motorcycle in Cali, I can attest to how fun and exhilarating it is. When Kano says she hadn’t really planned on going anywhere, Yoru smiles and tells her it doesn’t matter. The ride is what matters, and the fact they’re sharing it.

They end up by the waterfront overlooking the Rainbow Bridge, and Yoru explains that she’s planning to go to art college (like me!) because she wants to love the art she makes and make a “certain someone” happy. She makes it pretty obvious that Kano is that certain someone, and her desire to reciprocate after Kano helped her find herself when she was lost.

When Kano admits she’s not sure anymore why she wants to gain 100,000 followers, Yoru reminds her that she told her to draw for her. So Yoru tells her to sing for her. Then she spots a jellyfish in the water—the first either of them have ever seen in the wild—takes Kano’s hand, and runs along the beach with her. Daaaaaaw.

Kano confesses she might’ve gotten a motorbike license so she could ride with Yoru on the back, only she calls her “Mahiru.” Yoru gently teases her for being so sentimental and “heavy” all of a sudden, but it’s clearly not a sentiment with which she disagrees. At this point, if you’re not shipping Yoru x Kano hard, I just don’t know what to tell you!

Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 06 – Keeping the Peace

Kuroe Mayu didn’t appear in any of the photos of the Agata Festival because she was behind the camera, where she prefers to be. As they practice for prefectural auditions, she’s similarly concerned that she’s “in the way,” filling up a euph slot better suited to someone who’s been with Kitauji this whole time.

As Kanade notes in her Kanade way, Mayu seems to be presuming she’d be good enough to beat the others. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Mayu was from the midwest: all niceties and passive aggression. Kumiko plays the good president, telling Mayu that she needn’t worry: a band going for national gold will pick the best players, same as it ever was.

Kumiko wishes to avoid unpleasantness in the past when auditions were thrown so certain people were in and out. After school she happens to run into her old friend Azusa, and they get to talking about the future. Azusa agrees that Reina is an “ultra-rare character” for mapping out her future so precisely. As for her, she wants to stick with music for now, unsure if she’ll be able to go pro.

For her, quitting music cold turkey is unthinkable, and for what it’s worth, she can’t see Kumiko doing that either. Kumiko had been comparing her lack of future plans to Reina’s and felt them distressingly lacking, but in reality there’s a middle ground between having a general sense of where one wants to go and what they’ll ultimately end up doing. In this way, Azusa gives Kumiko some comfort from her future blues.

Before you know it, the auditions arrive, and while these are only the first of three for the three competitions, Kumiko neither wants to lose to Mayu nor beat a Mayu who didn’t give it her all. When Mayu goes in before her and starts to play, it’s obvious Mayu isn’t throwing her audition. Kumiko is not only relieved, but also motivated to give it her all.

When the positions are announced by Michie-sensei, Kumiko, Kanade, and Mayu learn that all three of them are in, while Kumiko will be performing the soli with Reina as they’d hoped. The only other big twist is that tuba newbie Kamaya Suzume beats out her second-year senpai Satsuki for a tuba spot.

Satsuki takes the loss in stride, but her friend Mirei goes to bat for her sake, voicing her dissatisfaction to Kumiko. Mirei does not resort to histrionics or excessive drama, but is firm and respectful. Kumiko takes a couple breaths, enters President Mode, and explains that Taki-sensei chose Suzume for a reason, and they should trust him.

Mirei stands down, but also issues a mild warning that the younger members don’t “revere” Taki-sensei to the extent of the third years. She’s also taken aback when Kumiko thanks her, but Kumiko is glad that an underclassman came to her with her concerns, and urges her to do so again if anything is bothering her.

It’s yet another instance of Kumiko, despite still lacking the confidence she’d like, actually being pretty damn good at this president business. Creating an environment where anyone can come to her with their concerns or grievances bodes well for the long-term emotional and musical growth of the band, even if there are two more rounds of auditions she must get through.

For now, she and Reina have what they want, and Reina couldn’t be cuter as she congratulates Kumiko for making it through the auditions with a playful spin and smile. No doubt Reina’s adorable exuberance reminds Kumiko why she does all this and why it’s worth it.

Mushoku Tensei II – 18 – Weighing Regrets

When he was a hopeless shut-in in Japan, Rudy probably felt that whatever else, at least he had nothing to lose. Now he has everything. He has a proper family and has found happiness. He’s made up with Norn and helps her study, and she agrees to help him with a chronicle of the Superd based on the stories Ruijerd told her.

He makes sure to spend time with Aisha too, and learns she could be a shrewd merchant if she chose to. Cliff is steadily working to ease Elinalise’s cuse. Zanoba’s figure carving has improved and now Ginger has joined him and Julie to form a found family. He continues to assist Shizuka and she makes progress. Then he comes home from his morning training to learn that Sylphie is expecting.

Rudy is overwhelmed by the news. As Sylphie says, he’s always wanted kids, and it must give her no shortage of joy to be the one to make that happen. His sisters are also congratulatory. Arrangements are made for Sylphie to get significant maternity leave from Ariel’s service, with Elise filling in as bodyguard.

At this point in Rudy’s story, there are no issues, except for the fact that they have not yet reunited with Zenith, Paul and Linia. He may have a family here and a child on the way, but the family will never quite feel complete without those three. Without them, Rudy wouldn’t be the happy, fulfilled man he now is, reveling in the routine of daily life and a routine happiness he never thought possible.

But this episode is called “Turning Point”, and so some shit had to hit the fan eventually. Mercifully, that turning point comes not due to Rudy losing anything (or anyone), but by the arrival of a letter. Rudy has had shit luck with letters (see Eris’) but this one isn’t so much devastating as it is foreboding. It’s a brief letter, written by Geese, declaring simply that Zenith’s rescue has grown “difficult” and urging him to “send help.”

The letter creates the titular turning point. As our wriggly naked Hitogami makes clear to a Rudy who is still dense about a few things regarding life, You Can’t Have It All. You can’t live a live completely free from regrets. The Man-God told him if he went to Begaritt he’d regret it, but now it’s evident that he’ll regret not going too. He must weigh his regrets to determine what to do, knowing an ideal situation is impossible.

If he goes, he will without doubt miss the birth of Sylphie’s and his first child, along with those key early developments. If he doesn’t go, Zenith’s rescue may fail and he and his sisters may never see her or Paul again. Nobody can make this choice but him, but as Rudy deliberates he gets support from all around him.

Elinalise offers to go in his place. Not only would this mean someone else would have to fill in as Ariel’s bodyguard, but for her it would be an excuse to break up with Cliff, whom she believes has the makings of a future Pope and thus feels she’s beneath him and a “youthful indiscretion.” No doubt this would break Cliff’s heart.

Zanoba promises to protect Rudy’s family should he go. Rinia, Pursena, and Luke would likely do the same if asked, but we don’t see him mention this to them. Sylphie tells him not to worry about her and do what he must. Eventually, Rudy decides that he can’t leave the family he’s made and is making to save the one that raised him. He believes he’ll regret leaving them more than he’ll regret not going.

Then, one morning after training, Rudy is resting on the porch when Norn steps out the door loaded down with adventurer’s gear, ready for a journey. She takes a couple of steps, rolls her ankle, and spills to the ground, all of her supplies spilling to the ground. When Rudy asks her why, Norn breaks into tears and tells him if he won’t go save Mom and Dad, she’ll have to.

But she can’t. No more than Zanoba can leave Julie and Ginger, or Elinalise can leave Cliff, Norn simply can’t got to Begaritt. She’d never make it. But Rudy can. He realizes this, and decides then and there that he’ll go. He helps Norn up and gathers her into a hug, telling her to look after Sylphie and not to fight with her sister while he’s gone.

It’s a choice Rudy makes that ensures he’ll have regrets, but he’s resigned to that fact. In order to achieve his ideal of having everyone around the table of his home eating, drinking, and laughing, he must leave the comfortable happy home he’s made and endure struggles and hardship. It’s a choice that demonstrates Rudeus Greyrat’s continued growth into an increasingly decent human being.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 05 – Just Down the Road

Once Aki asks Himari if she’ll let her have Yori, all of her frustrations come pouring out. It turned her stomach to hear Himari was withholding an answer, and that its turned Yori into a bundle of nerves. But while she’s coming from a place of care and concern for Yori, it also comes from a place of envy and resentment, since it’s Himari Yori fell for, not her.

While Aki’s harsh words have Himari feeling even more pressured to come up with an answer than ever, when she opens up to Momoka she gets some sound advice: everyone expresses and defines their love in different ways. There’s no wrong or right way to do either. In her case she loves being able to cook for those she cares about. Momoka assures Himari that precisely because she’s thinking and stressing so hard about this, she has nothing to worry about.

Hearing this brightens Himari’s mood and makes her feel more confident in herself, so that when she and Yori (who both miss each other) encounter one another by the lockers by chance, they have the same thought to walk home together. Yori even tastes one of the tarts Himari botched while worried about her, and just as Momoka told her, it’s not how it tastes, but the fact Himari made it that matters.

Now finally able to talk this stuff out, Yori tells Himari that if she’s anxious about delaying her answer, the solution is to abide by a deadline. Yori’s fine with Himari giving her answer after the concert. When Himari worries she may not know then, Yori confidently tells her she’ll sweep her off her feet with her music.

Yori’s time with Himari and the way she feels leads her to write a beautiful and pure love song that impresses her bandmates. Even Aki can’t deny the feelings behind the music, and when Himari is invited to the club to meet the band, Aki is quick to profusely apologize for being so scary. Himari, in turn, holds nothing against her: on the contrary, it was the cage-rattling she needed.

I’m glad Aki didn’t linger as a villainess for long. She knows she went too far, and the most important thing for her is Yori’s happiness. Himari is a big hit with Kaori and Mari too, but there are storm clouds on the horizon of a different kind. Their former lead singer, the one who Yori replaced and one of Momoka’s besties, considers the band to be a bunch of “casuals just playing for kicks.”

But she’s operating on old intel. Now the band she left has a front-woman who is genuinely head-over-heels in love and not afraid to express and share it through her music. Far from casual, she’s serious about making Himari fall for her, and she’s playing for keeps, not kicks.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 06 – Cutest in the Galaxy

When we first encountered Miiko, she had defaced Yoru’s mural with her posters and was singing a cover of one of Kano’s songs, a double-steal that didn’t exactly endear her to us. But to be honest, we only met “Miiko”, unaware that far from “forever seventeen”, Baba Shizue (Uesaka Sumire!) is a thirty-one-year-old underground idol in desperate need of a new viral song and working part-time at a yakitori joint. Since she served as a stepping stone for JELEE, she reaches out to them via DM to commission a song.

Miiko has been faking it for fourteen years, but hasn’t made it, i.e. “hatched.” But she already has achieved something far more precious than a successful career as an idol: her adorable daughter Ariel. She’s her mother’s top fan, and is extremely proud of her. Her mom helped her open up in school and make friends, and also supports her life. Miiko’s not just her idol, but her hero!

Watching such a lovey-dovey mother-daughter duo makes Kano jealous, since her relationship with her mom frankly always sucked ever since they became business partners, and especially since she was fired. Fortunately Yoru brings up Kano’s stolen kiss to snap her out of her funk. I like how the kiss is addressed casually instead of too much of a big deal, while also making clear it wasn’t as “spur the moment” as Kano claims.

Mei and Ariel bond over their staunch fandom of Kano and Miiko, respectively. Mei assures Ariel that stanning Miiko can’t possibly be wrong. Mei’s passionate heartfelt pep talk inspires Ariel to not only go out in public in the idol costume her mom made her, but even stands up to some asshole boys who are too cowardly to accept Miiko’s invite to her live show. The look of pride in Miiko’s eyes (smudging her eye shadow) is priceless.

Miiko is able to witness her daughter being a frilly badass thanks to JELEE filling in for her when she goes to Ariel’s rescue (which turned out not to be needed). However, it means JELEE (posing as a “copy band”) gets to have their first in-person performance. Kano knocks it out of the park with her pro idol charisma, while Yoru makes her triangle playing count.

Miiko takes over from there, and bares all to her fans, dropping the “forever seventeen” Miiko charade and even telling them her true age and her status as a divorced single mom. But with her own unique and seasoned charisma, she manages to convince those fans that she’s cuter than ever as Baba Shizue. Her video goes viral, while JELEE’s aquarium nears 1 million views, they’re drawing closer to their goal of 100,000 followers.

Yuru Camp△ 3 – 06 – I Told You So

It’s fitting that the first episode we watch after the end of our trip is about endings, specifically the bridge-and-dam tour. We camped for a couple of nights in remote Alpine County, CA using a lifted 4×4 to access a couple of gorgeous campsites in the mountains.

We watched the ISS transit the night sky, saw an extremely rare aurora, and got a clear view of the Milky Way once the moon set. In true Yuru Camp fashion we even went to a local nautral hot spring, and got a little fancy with dinner on the second night.

After a sumptuous breakfast of ham-and-cream cheese canapés, our camp gals head to the next suspension bridge, which is Nadeshiko’s first. She’s scared of the wobbliness and 8m height, but Rin and Ayano have braved far worse. The two also exhibit just what fast friends they’ve become when Nadeshiko surprises them with a selfie and they strike a coordinated pose.

As Ayano meets Nadeshiko’s train friends and observes her rapport with Rin, she remembers how scared and lonely Nadeshiko felt when they parted ways. Ayano assured her she’d make friends—she likens Nady to a dog: everybody loves her and she loves walkies—and sure enough she did. Not just ordinary friends, but good ones like Rin, something Ayano confirmed  while they biked together and survived the Bridge of Hell.

When Ayano tries but can’t quite commit to a quick goodbye, she joins the others for one more bridge. It’s not a suspension bridge, but it is the world’s longest footbridge, and it affords them a new view of their old friend Fuji-san. Its iconic snow cap serves as a perfect capper to a fun, chill, and different camping trip, one in which Nadeshiko mixed solo and group camping and may have found her calling in “train camping.”

Ayano also assures both Nady and Rin that wherever they’d like to go camping next time, she’ll be there on her bike … after resting her road-weary body, of course. Nady gets home late, but the bittersweetness of a finished trip soon gives way to excitement over where she’ll go next, and who she’ll go with.

Programming Note

Starting today and through next Friday it will be a bit quiet here … about as quiet as a campsite at dawn. That’s because we’ve been inspired by Yuru Camp to meet up with a childhood friend and go camping in the great outdoors. That means being as unplugged from devices as possible, so sadly there will be no anime. Everyone have a great week, we’ll be back the weekend after next!

—RABUJOI STAFF

KonoSuba 3 – 05 – Divine Treasures

Kazuma was soaking up the renown from everyone recognizing his name, deeds, and general awesomeness. But once the battle begins, all it takes is for one scared little kobold to lure him into a pit where a hundred kobolds are waiting for him to suddenly lose his life. Darkness and Megumin steal the show instead with their bravery and explosion, respectively.

Eris resurrects Kazuma once more, but tasks him with collecting the Divine Treasures, meant to be used only by the Resurrected like himself and extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. And while he unceremoniously dumps the still-recovering Megumin on the bed of his room at the palace he’s once again granted, they still get to have a weekly Sweet Megumin x Kazuma Moment.

They’re both ready to head back to Axel, but when Iris comes in to say hi, Megumin notices her golden necklace is imbued with ridiculous amounts of magical power. Iris shows them the inscription on the back, which turns out to be Japanese, and when Kazuma reads it the necklace glows and flashes, and suddenly Kazuma and Iris have swapped bodies.

I’m on record here as loving any and all body swap episodes, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Iris moves and talks exactly like Kazuma, the latter a testament to Iris’ seiyu Takao Kanon’s vocal talent. Fukushima Jun similarly does a great job sounding like Iris in Kazuma’s body with a higher pitch and far gentler and polite speech patterns.

Both Iris and Kazuma decide that now that they’ve been thus afflicted, they might as well have some fun. Iris heads into town without retainers for the first time in her life, in Kazuma’s body and with Megumin as an escort. Kazuma meanwhile gets to serve up a much more smug and haughty version of Iris that flummoxes Claire and Mitsurugi with her new attitude.

Kazuma also uses this opportunity to be a little perv, heading to the bath to wash Darkness and Claire’s back. Claire’s a little too enthusiastic about this, while Kazuma ends up emotionally unprepared for the sheer amount of noble skin that awaits him in the bath. As Iris gets his body’s ass beaten into the stone age by some toughs Megumin provokes on purpose, Kazuma blesses his luck and decides not to worry about tomorrow … until tomorrow.