Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 13

As it turns out, Charioce wasn’t being overconfident about his chances against the gods. Sure, it looks like a rout at first, but once the human king activates his secret weapon Dromos, the battle not only sways in man’s favor…Gabriel straight up runs with her tail between her legs, leaving her (very insubordinate) army to be wiped out. El tries to keep fighting, but he ends up being the overconfident one, and is rendered unconscious in a blast from Dromos.

It would appear the weapon worked almost too well, as Charioce doesn’t really seem to know what he should go do with himself after the gods retreat. That’s mostly because the winds literally blew Nina into his arms. When Nina sees that Jeanne, Kaisar and Rita are in danger (and who knows about Favaro; he’s blown elsewhere), she insists the king hug her.

Nina hopes she can appeal not to the cold, evil king, but the warm, kind young traveler who danced with her. He acquiesces to her demand, and before you know it boom, she’s a dragon again. This certainly seems to prove that only Charioce can transform her now.

The Black Knights try to capture her with a colossal golem, but Nina the dragon is far stronger than Nina the girl, and Nina the girl is redonkulously strong. As such, whenever it seems the golem has her number, she finds an extra store of strength with which to stay in the fight.

That fight ends when she finally dives through the golem, blasting a hole through it that deactivates it for good. Then the dragon approaches Charioce, who touches its head, casuing Nina to transform back into a (naked) girl.

Nina appears with the wagon to pick up Nina and Jeanne, while Kaisar distracts the guards, who quickly beat up and re-capture him. Favaro is still at large, which is why when the wagon is safely in the air, Rita jumps out to go “check on” the lads.

Left only with orders to look after one another, Jeanne decides her best next move is to head for the land of the gods, where she might be able to see El. She doesn’t know how to get there, but Nina remembers her granny talking about the place often, so they decide to head instead to Nina’s home village…which should be fun.

Meanwhile, Gabriel is a nervous wreck after having seen Dromos, which she didn’t think the humans would be able to build at all, let alone so quickly. That begs the question what the heck Charioce did to make that happen, and considering it’s the worst threat to the balance of the world since, well, Bahamut, it clearly falls under the category of “things safe in no ones’s hands.”

Tsuki ga Kirei – 12 (Fin)

Going into the finale, I held out a glimmer of hope that Kotarou would be able eke out a high enough score to get into Akane’s school, and even if he wasn’t accepted, they’d figure something out.

Well, the finale wastes no time giving us the answer, dropping the news that Kotarou was not accepted in the first minute. It’s a crushing blow, especially knowing how many “first loves” like this are ended by long distance.

Still, if he had passed and been able to attend high school with Akane, where would the drama be? Kotarou’s mentor tells him that nothing an author goes through is for naught; one could say the same of lovers.

One person who hopes long distance will change things is Akane’s sister, who reasonably asks Akane if she’ll take the move as an opportunity to break up with Kotarou and turn the page rather than endure the pain of the distance. Akane is adamant that that’s not what she wants…and that her sister is a jerk.

Another is Chinatsu, who is ecstatic when Kotarou is accepted to the municipal school and takes it to mean fate has worked out in her favor. She decides the time is right to confess to Kotarou; to tell him she’s always like him, and ask if she’s good enough.

And she’s just…not. Everything worked out in her favor except the most important thing: that Kotarou is able to return her feelings. He’s not. She accepts the loss (again) and tries to look forward to the next year with Kotarou as just a friend.

Chinatsu tells Akane about her confession attempt, but Kotarou doesn’t, which makes their last date together before her move more fraught. When Kotarou tells her all the ways HE will make this work—getting a job to afford train fare to Chiba as many times a week as he can manage—she becomes overwhelmed by the burden she believes she’s putting on him.

This is another case of these two being in uncharted territory with no map compass, or experience. Kotarou’s a great guy who loves Akane, but she needs more than for him to say HE’s got this; she has to be a participant in making their relationship survive, and because she’s anxious by nature (doubly so when it comes to him), his unceasing niceness actually works against him as she becomes overwhelmed, cries, kisses him, and runs off.

That meeting on the river is the last time they see each other…before the move, but Kotarou decides to take the advice of friends and start writing as a way to process his feelings. He posts the stories of his first tender love to an online board, where they resonate because everyone has been there, and many even wish they could go back to a time when love was so simple.

Ironically, he’s posting these stories at the end of those simple times. From here on out, things will get more complicated by all of the things in life that interfere or threaten what we want most: to simply be with the person we love.

Yet even though he’s too late to say goodbye to Akane in person either at her now-vacant house or at the train station, Kotarou’s feelings, and the fact they’ll never change, manage to get through to her, and they’re the same feelings she has for him: a deep, warm love that is poised to endure the challenges of growing into adulthood.

And so ends the first stage of the romance between Kotarou and Akane. It turns out not to be fleeting, as thanks to the magic of LINE they stay in touch almost constantly, and also meet up quite a bit once Kotarou makes enough money.

As the credits roll, we see the couple enjoying more firsts like movie night alone (with the parents coming home too early); their first trip together alone; missing out on chatting when Akane gets home too late; Kotarou having drinks with Akane’s parents; Akane being fitted for a wedding dress.

It may seem like jumping ahead, but Tsuki ga Kirei isn’t about these moments and days and nights years…it was the story of how these two found each other, fell in love, and never stopped loving. It was a foundation, and it was a damned strong one.

By the end, after the challenges of long distance and high school and entering the workplace and more hard work and more distance, Kotarou and Akane come out of it wonderfully, get married, and have a child.

It’s the happy ending I hoped for, but with the added bonus of having been earned due to the challenges endured and sacrifices made. And brothers and sisters, if any of you came out of this episode—and that beautiful closing montage in particular—with totally dry eyes, you may want to check your pulse!

Sagrada Reset – 13

After seeing the monster, and being told the monster is a monster by Dream Haruki, Kei wakes up…and that’s it for the monster this week. After a new, jauntier OP with a latin-inspired beat (replacing the old whispery one), the story jumps from place to place and opaque, metaphor-laded conversation to conversation seemingly involving everything and anything but the monster.

Kei talks with the revived Sumire about how he’s happy in the current situation (what with her being alive), but due mostly to his retained memories of the process by which she returned, it still doesn’t feel real to him, and he doesn’t see how he can stay living in that kind of world forever. Sumire reads it as a kind of rejection.

There’s also precious little Michiru in this episode, as Sumire visits her in the dream world and talks about things she’s not that interested in, and which Chiruchiru (in blue bird form) warns Sumire not to bring up around her. Chiru wants to protect Michiru by not upsetting her with things like the fact there’s a way to save her from her present state.

Rather than Michiru or the monster, Kei, Haruki, and Nonoo investigate the “Stray Cat House Man” (SCHM) who, the way he’s described, is nothing less than one of the most powerful beings in the world, as his ability is to write “The Script”, which governs all people, things and events in the world, even resets and predictions of the future.

He’s even ahead of the Witch or Sumire in that their ability is governed by his. There’s also the fact he’s more of a humble vessel for the ability than an arrogant braggart; after all, the pen in his hand moves on its own, filling books. His physical body has deteriorated to the point he can no longer write, so starting with Book No. 852, he’s worked in the dream world exclusively.

Nonoo remembers him (and he her) from their interactions about five years ago, when she was the only visitor to his house, and whom he tried in his own small way to guide her on how to exist, live, and be happy in the world. In the present she tells him he “saved” her, because now she has people like Kei and Haruki she can call friends.

Kei goes through the manuscripts for The Script, but can find nothing before No. 852, while Sumire instructed him to find and carefully read No. 407. That, and all manuscripts before SCHM entered the dream world, are in the possession of the Bureau, members of which arrive to basically cordially kick Kei out of the SCHM’s house.

Once Kei leaves, the leader of the Bureau members there isn’t coy about his true feelings about Kei: he thinks his ability is a nuisance, especially when used in concert with Haruki or others, and he’s generally an eyesore he’d like to “snuff out” if necessary. Who knows what that entails (he joked about stabbing him in the heart, but was that just a joke), but it’s clear this cour has a more reliable villain than Oka Eri.

Like many earlier episodes of the first cour and a few there in the middle, I only really understood a little more than half of everything that was said and done, but as I refuse to let my enjoyment of this deeply intriguing and offbeat show be governed by my level of understanding, that’s not really of great concern.

Still, moments like Kei calmly pointing out to Haruki and Nonoo that they should pay more attention to the fact they’re wearing skirts while crawling through a drain to get into the SCHM’s house, or Sumire’s apparent displeasure with how things are with Kei (hinted at in the new ED as well), are easier to understand and appreciated.

With all the different players and agendas in play, combined with the new dream world setting, Sagrada Reset is poised to have an even more ambitious, and possibly more baffling, second cour. I’ll be here to attempt to make some kind of sense of it.

Little Witch Academia – 25 (Fin)

Ya know, I re-read my review of last week’s episode, and started watching the finale form the same jaded viewpoint, until I said nah, “let’s just have some fun watching this play out,” not worrying about how much the finale owes to Gurren Lagann (just like Trigger’s aesthetic is basically Neue Gainax) or how crazy positive everything gets towards the end.

Say what you will about Trigger, at least—unlike the Evangelion film—series, LWA got an actual ending! And it’s one in which Akko finally takes charge and her words—combined with the believing hearts of all around her—are finally backed up by similarly lofty action.

Those like a version of myself that thinks the ending got too “cute”, may I direct you to the name of this show, which contains the words “little witch”? So yeah, I lightened up, sat back, and enjoyed it when Chariot and Croix gave the six girls their “final battle” outfits, and one by one the secondary trio falls off the mega-brom like stages of a rocket after expelling all their magic.

Eventually it’s just Akko and Diana, the ultimate demonstration of what is possible when airs are dropped and people come to understand each other. They’re fighting an evil, “magic creature”-ified ICBM that can basically do…er, whatever they feel like drawing it doing.

Needless to say, this is quite entertaining to the crowds, suddenly distracted from the fact nuclear war might have been started by one of the rival countries. The crowds start organically rooting for the two witches in the sky, being streamed online due to…something, and then goes superviral when Croix transmits the feed to the world.

The really boring, annoying old white dudes initially have a problem with these witches and it’s even suggested shooting them down, but Andrew, like the crowds, has come to believe in Akko and in witches and magic, (despite his fervent anti-magite upbringing).

Drew’s argument gains the endorsement of the prime minister, who’s a little person like the King in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, only he actually has all the power. Mr. Mustache is quickly cowed by the political chain of command.

Imbued with the positive vibes of their collected audience, Akko and Diana suddenly have a lot of surplus magic to work with, and Akko doesn’t waste it, as we get a visually arresting scene of their aerial battle in which complicated spells are flying left and right like the Siege of Hogwarts.

It’s frankly quite satisfying to finally see Akko put her money where her mouth has been all this time. She’s worked hard and gone through some things, and this is the fruit of her labor, as well as the fruit of the bonds she’s formed with her friends, including Chariot.

Heck, she even summons the legendary broom and saves Diana from falling. Diana! And she looks damn good doing all this in her “final battle” dress whites.

Eventually, it’s time for Akko and Diana to put their powers together, hold hands and point the Shiny Rod at the camera as they stare a hole in said camera, and shout GIGA DRILL BREAKER!!! (okay not those exact words, but something like that) at the top of their lungs, tearing the ICBM monster a new one.

Could I have done without the explosion becoming a smiley face that giggles like a little kid? Oh yeah…but whatevs. Akko finally proved not only that her believing heart is her magic, but everyone’s is…if that makes sense? Whatever, the soccer riots are now over, so it’s all’s well that ends well!

All that was left was to see Akko finally take off on a broom…without the aid of the Shiny Rod (which she allowed to disperse and for the stars to return to space and become the Great Bear). And…she fails, again.

Only, when Sucy and Lotte cheer her on and deliver that believing heart spiel, she’s suddenly laughing and joyful and hey presto she’s levitating all on her own! The damage Chariot did, it would seem, wasn’t permanent.

Also, Croix ends up in jail where she belongs…oh wait, no she doesn’t! She’s allowed to go out, fix the messes she made, and continue her research, presumably under supervision. Happy endings for everyone!

Summer 2017 Season Preview

Summer is almost here! While all of us at RABUJOI are looking a bit pale and are in need of Vitamin D, there’s a huge batch of new shows on the way, in addition to the second cours of three Spring shows. We’ve perused the Summer list and have made some tentative choices.

Note that as always, the presence of a show on this list does not indicate we’ll be reviewing that show regularly yet, we’re just taking some initial looks.

Aside from a new entry in the now massive Monogatari series and a Fate spinoff, it’s a fairly sequel-free Summer (at least for us), so there are a lot of unknowns on this list. We look forward to sussing it all over in the next couple of weeks!

Braverade

Fate/Apocrypha
Jikan no Shihaisha (Chronos Ruler)
Shoukoku no Altair (Project Altair)
THE REFLECTION
Re:Creators (Spring Carryover)
Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul (Spring Carryover)

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sesameacrylic

Hajimete no Gal
Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun (Cleanliness Boy! Aoyama-kun)
Koi to Uso (Love and Lies)
Netsuzou TRap
Owarimonogatari 2nd Season
Tsurezure Children
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou

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MagicalChurlSukui

Battle Girl High School: Battle Girl Project
Clione no Akari
Isekai_Shokudou (Restaurant to Another World)
Knight’s & Magic
Sagrada Reset (Spring Carryover)

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Oigakkosan

 

Eromanga-sensei – 12 (Fin)

Sagiri allowed Masamune to attend the data collection trip because Elf and Muramasa (without her knowledge, through Elf) agreed to “do whatever Eromanga-sensei wants them to do” afterwards. In the final episode of Eromanga-sensei, the bill comes due.

Sagiri’s “festival” ensues, where she boots Masamune, puts the two girls in swimsuits, and makes them play Twister so they’ll strike lewd poses she can draw. It’s basically heaven for Sagiri and hell for Muramasa and Elf…but a promise is a promise. Needless to say, the session is also an excuse for healthy amounts of fanservice.

When Tomoe shows up at Masamune’s door to congratulate him on the success of his new imouto LN, I feared the worst: that Sagiri, suspicious of this new girl and jealous of her interactions with her dear brother, would somehow get Tomoe into a swimsuit as well, or worse.

Thankfully, that doesn’t happen, and the girl who, in hindsight, seems like the best fit for Masamune leaves with her clothes intact, having delivered a doujinshi of the little sister novel that is actual, no-nonsense porn…then says if Masamune gets an anime and becomes famous, she’d be happy to be his wife.

Sagiri inevitably gets hold of the material not suitable for her, and immediately sets to work drawing her own erotic drawings based on the little bit she saw. When Masamune can’t quite put into words why her drawings aren’t quite anatomically accurate, she and Elf decide the best way to settle things is by stripping Masamune naked…

If they had succeeded, would have been only fair considering how many girls have had to strip for Eromanga. But before they do, Masamune gets on the horn with Megumi, who for all her talk is just as clueless as Elf and Sagiri. It takes Muramasa sketching Michelangelo’s David to show them once and for all how to draw…that.

With the sun low and Eromanga all lewd drawing-ed out, she and Masamune bid farewell to her models for the day, adding they’re welcome to come back anytime. And this time Sagiri opens the window and gives them a proper wave goodbye, showing further progress in her attempt to overcome her shut-in-ism.

As frikkin’ wrong as it may be, it’s thanks to lewd art—the lewder the better—that Sagiri can forget about the crippling fear of being outside or interacting with other people. Her digital life is a means of creative expression and a (surprisingly) safe space in which to have rudimentary human contact.

And thanks to her brother’s uncanny ability to draw girls into his orbit, she now has a slew of flesh-and-blood friends to laugh and have fun with…as well as draw in risqué positions.

Re:Creators – 12

For an episode that purports to have new urgency by doing without the usual OP, this was a jet-cooling return to the less-than-stellar form of some of Re:Creators’s earlier episodes, in which far more is told than seen, things we already basically known are repeated to us so the characters can catch up (almost never a good look), and stakes and details are painstakingly set for a pivotal battle…later.

First off, Souta completes his confession, which was a little puzzling to me, because we, the audience, learned nothing new about what happened to Shimazaki, unlike last week. We knew he chose not to do anything to help her, and that eventually led to her offing herself, and that he ran away and tried to forget about her.

There’s at least a little bit that’s new as we get more interactions between Alice and her creator, whom she’s even more disappointed in after watching Selestia’s creator demonstrate his love for his creation by quickly revising her in the battle. She wants the same thing for herself, so she can save the world, but her creator says it’s up to her.

As he dangles from her flying horse high over the forest, she gets him to admit an embarrassing truth: he actually does love his creation, doesn’t want it to be cancelled, and believes it’s a world that’s worth Febby sacrificing her blood to protect.

She releases him and tells him to draw what he wants for the time being. The bond they’ve forged may make it difficult for him to join the other creators, so perhaps she succeeded in taking a potential weapon against Altair off the board.

Speaking of that weapon, the static group in the boring beige conference room has a nice long chat about Altair’s power and myriad, constantly-multiplying special powers, thanks to fandom. Clearly many a consumer felt a connection to Altair’s aesthetic and background, and she’s all too happy to draw power from people living in the very world she intends to overturn.

There’s great discussion of some clever concepts, including using the resources and reach of the (dubiously reliable) government to build up their own levels and abilities, as well as construct a kind of “birdcage” in the story world with which to capture Altair.

To maximize their power and have any chance against her, they have to create a gripping narrative that will capture and, more importantly, hold the interest and stir passion in their audience. They have to save the world with a story.

Altair may be singleminded but she’s no fool, and wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s a plot afoot to stop her using the same means from which she draws power. But she’s confident she still has the upper hand in the situation (no doubt fueled by the deep-seated despair that brought her into existance in the first place).

She also has a new member of the team to replace the KO’d Mamika: Celestia’s partner, whom I highly doubt Celestia will want to fight. With his arrival, and the popping up of two or three more creations she hopes to get to first, Altair likes her odds in the battle that’s coming.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul – 12

The plot of this episode couldn’t be simpler: as Rita, Nina, Jeanne, Favaro and Kaisar escape the prison, the battle between humans and gods commences—and quickly turns into a rout, forcing Charioce to use “The Device”, a WMD cure that looks far worse than the disease and which I have little confidence he’ll be able to control.

Speaking of controlling unknown quantities, Sofiel continues to worry about how Gabriel is using El as the linchpin of their attack. Gabriel, apparently quite jazzed up about going to war, dismisses Sofiel’s wordless concerns with a sidelong glance. But Sofiel is still full of doubt and apprehension; we should keep an eye on her.

Down in the depths of the imperial prison, Rita has no trouble re-springing Nina and Jeanne, and the three women embark on a harrowing escape from an almost unreasonably vast and relentless garrison of guards.

The chase is depicted from a variety of different areas of the prison, and from many different angles, colors, and speeds, keeping things from getting repetitive. It’s a positively rousing adventure, and it’s especially satisfying to watch the ladies taking care of business without help from, say, Kaisar and Favaro, who are still locked up on the men’s side.

None of them escape before Gabriel’s giant celestial donut appears ominously in the skies over Anatae. Charioce has a giant, impressive and deadly-looking force waiting for the gods, but one piercing glance from a fully-operational El renders all the humans’ (and subjugated demons’) fancy toys inert.

From there, the heavenly shock troops are deployed, and waste no time demonstrating why You Do Not F*ck With The Gods. Each one of them is able to take on entire platoons and battalions. It’s enough to make Kaisar’s younger Orleans comrade essentially call for a timeout; though no such halt in the battle is forthcoming. The humans asked for a war, and Gabriel has given them one.

Our heroine trio eventually make it to the other side of the prison, and Favaro decides it’s ready to reveal the secret ability of Kaisar’s metal hand as an explosive device when the right gang sign is made and words spoken. Kaisar is, not unreasonably, quite cross upon learning his hand was explosive all this time, and would like the next one Rita makes him to not have that “feature.”

Both those means of escaping their cells and the moment when Favaro and Kaisar finally cross paths and team up with Rita, Jeanne, and Nina, makes for some warm and laugh-inducing levity in an otherwise intense outing.

Naturally, Favaro makes an inappropriate comment about Nina’s “development”, and Kaisar and Jeanne’s reaction upon reuniting made me a shipper on the spot. The band has gotten back together at the perfect time: when the sh*t is categorically and profusely hitting the fan.

Gabriel has backed Charioce into a corner, but he doesn’t waver in calling for the activation of the previously-mentioned “Device”, which rises out from beneath the prison (destroying said prison in the process…collateral damage much?) and resembles a Laputa core. It seems poised to fire upon the god donut.

It’s the kind of bahamut-like escalation it will take the maximum effort of our heroes to overcome—possibly even a sacrifice or two.

Tsuki ga Kirei – 11

Sooo…this episode was just about perfect, which doesn’t really surprise me at this point. Kotarou and Akane are on splendid terms, so Kotarou faces two new conflicts this week, which prove more complex and challenging than winning Akane’s heart. Gaining the approval of his parents, and being accepted into Koumei.

We know Akane’s grades are great and her family is the reason she’s changing schools, so there’s not much tension on her end; just whether or not Kotarou will like her hand-knit scarf (which…DUH of course he will).  So instead we delve deep into Kotarou’s small, quiet family, and navigate the treacherous waters with him.

Like Kotarou and Akane’s romance, Kotarou’s problems with his folks are portrayed with a heightened sense of realism and equilibrium. His mom may sound worse than nails on a chalkboard when nagging Kotarou, but she’s only nagging because she cares so fiercely about her son’s future.

That being said, I don’t decry Kotarou pushing back against the path she’s already laid out in her head for him. It is HIS future, after all. But just as Kotarou was initially so bad at communicating his feelings (or anything else) with Akane, he’s equally bad at explaining why he’s so hellbent on attending Koumei.

Hell, he never even seems to try, which works against him early on as his mother quickly dismisses his intention to follow a “girl he likes” as teenage caprice. We know better—Kotarou near-as-makes-no-difference loves Akane, and she loves him, but his folks have no choice but to work with the information they have, which is scanty.

Rather than hearing it from him, Kotarou’s mother comes to gather more information on her own, as she watches her son furiously studying late into the night. She can tell he’s working hard for something he believes in, so obviously she’s not going to come in and crush his dreams by forcing him into a municipal school. Instead, she adopts a wait-and-see approach, putting her faith in her son by letting him hold the keys to his future.

The constant studying wears Kotarou down, and his mock exams are, uh, nothing special, so it’s great to see Akane spearhead a Christmas meetup that serves as a much-needed break for both of them, as well as an opportunity to exchange presents.

It’s lovely to watch the couple so comfortable and warm around each other, especially the lack of hesitation when they lean in for another kiss. You really get the feeling, both here and after all we’ve seen, that this isn’t mere puppy love; these kids have a future together…even if they don’t end up in the same school.

One night, Kotarou’s father lays it out: they’ll let him apply for Koumei, but if he fails, he’s going to a public school. Kotarou accepts the fair conditions, then stands slack-jawed when his dad tells him when his homeroom teacher told his mom Koumei wasn’t a realistic choice for Kotarou, she fought back, leading to an awesome thunderbolt of a quintessential Dad Line: “She can be naggy, but…Well, there you have it.”

Sure enough, when heading downstairs at 1 am for a snack, Kotarou finds his mother there, making some fresh onigiri; forming the balls with love, care, and gentleness before heading off to bed. His mom is no longer an impediment to his dreams of attending school with Akane. She never was. She saw the effort he was putting in, and decided to support and even fight for him.

The morning of his big, decisive exam—the last true impediment to his happiness (though not really since as I said their love seems likely to endure the lengthy but non-permanent distance)—both Kotarou’s mom and dad are up to make sure he has everything he needs, to wish him luck, and to see him off. And Kotarou does something he hadn’t done all episode, but sorely needed to do: he thanks his mom.

These family interactions are so understated and relatable, and really form a nice little arc within the episode as understanding is achieved between the parties and the conflict is revealed only as a measure of concern. Kotarou puts in the work to assure them they needn’t worry, and they show him that they are and always will be on his side.

Now he just needs to pass that goddamn exam!

Saekano 2 – 11 (Fin)

Megumi and Tomoya go on a date, not just because it seems like the thing to do after the rest of the harem has cleared out, but to cheer one another up. It’s clear it’s not a one-sided case of Megumi cheering Tomoya up from the look of a soundless flashback in which she reacts dramatically to Eriri’s news she’s moving on from the group.

Megumi also seems to take great joy in shopping for clothes and shoes with Tomoya around. Even if he has no fashion sense or money to speak of, his company is appreciated and their instincts—like the one to hold hands in the crowded section—are often in sync.

By the end of the trip, Tomoya is feeling much better, as is Megumi, and the former makes sure they stop by a hat store so he can get her the same white hat she was wearing when he first envisioned her as his main heroine, as thanks both for her company and for getting him glasses last time.

Megumi is touched by the gesture, and when they return to that fateful hill, she tells Tomoya “she’s not giving up”. It strikes me as having dual meaning, as she intends to move forward with the doujin group even without Eriri and Utaha…and intends to make Tomoya fall completely for her.

Tomoya agrees they should move forward, but when his laughter turns to tears of loss, she reaches out to embrace him, only to then pulls back.

Now sufficiently cheered up, cried out, and ready to move forward, Tomoya takes it upon himself to see Eriri and Utaha off, surprising them both on the platform of their train to Osaka. Their looks say it all; Eriri in particular can’t believe he’ll forgive them.

But it’s not about forgiveness at all for Tomoya; it’s about wishing his two dear and wonderfully talented friends good luck on their exciting new venture. And I don’t think he’s putting on airs—one doesn’t turn down something like Fields Chronicle, and he thinks their “god-tier” talent can make it the best ever.

This sendoff, complete with a Megumi phone call with the same positive, concilatory intent, is enough to bring Eriri, Tomoya, and even Utaha to tears. It’s a bittersweet moment, one perhaps made a bit more silly when after Eriri removes Tomoya’s glasses, intending to keep them, then leans in to kiss, it’s Utaha who steals a big, long smooth with Tomoya, and Eriri is forced to whip out her twintails for the first time in a long while. They also miss their train in the excitement.

But no matter; they’re on their way. Post-credits, Tomoya and Megumi are both on first name terms, now seniors in school, chattering away with their usual excellent chemistry and bonhomie. Then, to their surprise, Hashima Izumi appears, a recent transfer, and Tomoya understands Iori’s words about sending his sister to a place where her talents can be put to best use.

Will Izumi be the artist for Tomoya and Megumi’s game? Perhaps, but it’s a certainty that Michiru will score the music once again. Hey, remember Michiru? The show makes sure to let us know it’s in on the joke regarding her absence for the back half of the season (which, frankly, was fine).

But notably, Michiru is conversing with Eriri and Utaha, who are watching Tomoya from afar. Eriri is still enrolled in the school, but the graduated Utaha is there because “it’s a free country.” The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Sagrada Reset – 12

Last week was seemingly an indication that Sagrada Reset was content with a quiet end to its first cour, as it has an entire second cour with which to work. It slowed things way down to allow us to spend some more quality, non-perilous time with Haruki—as well as inside her head.

There was no indication in the episode that “Something Big” was looming in the shadows or lurking around the corner…that was just Mirai stalking Haruki. The question is, would the twelfth and final Spring episode of Reset maintain that casual tone, or would that Something Big turn up after all?

Ah…well…Something Big it is! Let’s get right to it, shall we?

The episode sure does, having more of a connection to the tenth than the eleventh with its Souma-heavy opening. Now that Kei has brought Souma back, he wants her to live a normal life as a normal girl…in the normal world. That is, he means to send her away from Sakurada. Only then, he believes, will her death disappear, both from the world and from her memories.

It is then Souma, not Haruki, who primarily drives Kei’s latest mission. That mission is a little nebulous at first, as we start off with that mission in progress. Sakuin has instructed Kei to investigate Katagiri Honoka, a girl who has been asleep for nine years, but whose ability has created a dream world in which she now resides.

Because it’s a dream world, and thus not “real”, Kei believes it’s the perfect “test facility” to experiment with his theory about sending Souma away. After all, there are no do-overs in the real world; in Katagiri’s world, he can simply wake up, Reset, and try something else the next time. And it just so happens Kei goes on a long date with Haruki on the day they reset.

Before starting off on this journey to the dream world, Kei receives an unexpected visitor, Nonoo, who was sent by Souma to make contact with…someone who may well be…another Souma. But before that, she, Kei and Haruki go to the hospital and fall asleep in a room adjacent to Katagiri’s. It’s notable that we never see her in the real world.

There’s a Wizard of Oz-like quality to the trio nodding off then awakening in another world…a world where left and right, east and west are reversed. Kei is actually the last to arrive, while Nonoo doesn’t appear to have come along for the ride. Along with Haruki, there’s a new person in the room: a girl who goes by Michiru, with a bluebird on her shoulder.

 

Ebulliently voiced by Uchida Maaya (this show has great casting), Michiru insists she’s Michiru and not Katagiri Honoka, and asks Kei and Haruki if there’s anything they wish they could have. She’ll contact “Chiruchiru” who will then grant that wish. It’s a case of Katagiri, a god of her own world, abdicated her power to a surrogate, so that she could feel the joy of having her dreams granted by a god.

The bureau doesn’t approve of the “fake” happiness such a “closed eden” provides, perhaps fearing its grip would cause people to lose their grip on reality. That certainly seems to be the case with Katagiri. After Kei and Haruki leave the hospital to explore this mirror image of the real world, they discover a wall of fog that surrounds this version of Sakurada, ostensibly preventing Kei from performing his experiment.

As for Souma, she shows up in the hospital to read Chiruchiru’s future, which looks the same as always. “Michiru” never changes (this is an Eden, after all). Chiruchiru voices his frustration with the apparent pointlessness of his efforts, but Souma tells him they’ll be rewarded—but it’s up to Kei, not her.

Kei and Haruki encounter Ukawa, sent by the bureau for an initial report, who states ominously that, depending on the circumstances, she’s supposed to “crush” the dream world. While having dinner with Haruki in a restaurant the reverse of the one in the real world (like everything else), Kei gets a call from Chiruchiru, warning them not to go out at night.

Since they’re already out, Chiruchiru teleports them to Kei’s bedroom. Kei manages to get him to answer two questions: the white wall is an “isolated birdcage” for the “blue bird”, and Michiru is definitely Katagiri Honoka, only she’s forgotten that fact.

With that, Kei and Haruki start yawning and rubbing their eyes, meaning it’s getting to be time to wake up in the real world. After Kei frets a bit over the proper sleeping arrangements (he offers Haruki the bed and takes the floor, but Haruki wants to be on the floor too), Haruki dozes off before him, just as she did in the real world.

But she’s not asleep long, as a tremendous racket emanates from outside. Kei watches with quiet awe as a colossal, grotesque, slimy monster emerges from the white wall and starts wreaking havoc in the town. A suddenly awake Haruki calls the monster a monster, which appears at night to “destroy the world”.

Reset’s second cour starts off an episode early, with style…and in Top Bizarro form. With an ability user apparently trapped in such a world, does it fall to Kei to free her and restore the memory of who she was, even if it means destroying the Eden she created? Is Chiruchiru the monster? How will this mission further his desire to “finish saving” Souma?

It seems we’ve got three more episodes of this arc to sort through it all. I don’t doubt things will get stranger before they get…less strange.

RokuAka – 12 (Fin)

Rock Bottom: Leos threatens a frightened Sistine into submission; if it means protecting Rumia, she’ll marry him; sure, whatever. Rumia visits the absent Glenn, who say’s he’s got this. But then the day of Sistine’s sham wedding arrives, with no Glenn in sight. Sisti is resplendent in her nuptial white, but her face is a mask. Rumia and Re=L aren’t fooled; Leos is a Bad Man. But where the heck is their hero?

Ah, there he is. Just when Leos is about to plant a kiss on Sistine’s lips to seal the deal, he bursts in to object to and cancel the wedding. Sistine, who had worked so hard to steel herself, and isn’t convinced Rumia will be safe if she doesn’t do as Leos says, is initially upset about being saved.

But Glenn insists he’s got this. When hordes of Angel Dust addict puppets appear, things start to feel a lot like the battle he fought years ago; the one in which Sara died. Meanwhile, Sisti gets a front-row seat to some bloody, intense professional mage shit…and she’s not steeled for that.

When Leos turns out not to be Leos, but a former fellow Mage Corpse Executioner, Jatice Lowfan (dumb name), who tells them the real Leos died horribly, Glenn again orders Sistine to get the hell out of here; she doesn’t belong in this world.

She obeys, but after slipping in her long, bloodsoaked gown, she remembers how much she cares for Glenn and isn’t willing to let him kill himself in some random fight for which he already carries emotional baggage.

She tears away excess fabric so she can run and saves Glenn from a critical hit in the nick of time. She knows she doesn’t belong in this world…but neither does he. She’s taking him back where they both belong.

Glenn and Sisti form a two-man cell and proceed to hand Jatice his ass-tice, even ruining his lovely summoned esper, Justia. Jatice straight up wasn’t expecting Sistine to join the battle; not when he was sure he’d sufficiently messed up in the head with the Leos wedding ordeal.

So yeah, it’s another villain who simply underestimates the power of Sisti, Glenn, or the combination of the two. He admits defeat this time and strolls off…but of course, This Isn’t Over…Jatice is after the titular Akashic Records that allow their owner to essentially rule the world, and he thinks he has to get rid of Glenn with his own hands to do so.

As bad guys go, Jatice is pretty lame; as his his name. But the threat he poses will surely drive a chunk of a second season, if RokuAka ever gets one (I’ve heard no plans). Nevertheless, the re-reconciliation between Sisti and Glenn, and in particularly Sisti overcoming her fear, saving Glenn rather than vice versa, and fighting by his side made for a satisfying tentative conclusion.

RokuAka was far from perfect, but it featured a great core of highly likable, rootable characters which kept things entertaining and made it easier to overlook the fact the show’s not that great-looking. Not only that, but starting with its first episode, it’s always had a great way with its audience, balancing comedy, drama, and outright peril with wry aplomb. If a Season 2 ever surfaces, sign me up.

Little Witch Academia – 24

Show of (virtual) hands (that I can’t see because they’re virtual):

Who kinda knew going in that Naruto Palpatine Croix would ultimately succeed in activating her “Noir Rod”, only to find the world reconstruction magic she sought so vehemently would still not available to her, and that the technology she had developed would overload from all the bad soccer vibes and turn on her, requiring Chariot—who spent the first part of the episode fighting her—as the only person who can rescue Croix, and does so, because, well, she’s a good guy?

I mean, it all pretty much unfolded how I expected. Did it look great? Well, it’s Trigger on Red Bull: it’s usually gonna look gangbusters. But was it a great episode? I gotta say…no. It was merely good.

And lets start with the good. Obviously, the visuals stood out, as everything got crazy in a hurry. Watching Chariot fighting while keeping her emotions (which Croix can use against her) in check was also fun. Heck, it was also kinda fun to see Croix succeed (if only temporarily).

You really get the sense her unending quest to gain the Triskelion (and her long-standing resentment she wasn’t chosen by the ‘Rod) slowly twisted her until she became the supervillain she is today. And Chariot knows she shares some blame for the creation of the monster Croix has become, for the reasons laid out last week.

But in its quest to put on a big, bad, exciting Trigger Brand Dramatic Climax™, the beats just feel too familiar. “Borrowing” the Star Wars lightsaber, then escalating the battle to near-Kill la Kill or Gurren Lagann levels of lunacy, only invites comparison to those better Trigger works—a comparison that doesn’t favor LWA.

I know it sounds ungrateful or even hypocritical to accuse LWA of going too far with the weird, wild special effects, but it’s somewhat disheartening to see characters who felt so big when we heard their stories earlier, scaled down to the size of ants before all the great big crazy stuff going on.

That’s why I appreciated Akko & Co. arriving at the scene where Chariot was desperately trying to save Croix from her self-made mess. After taking out the Noir Rod with a Shiny Arrow, it’s just Chariot and a forgiving Akko excited and elated to finally be meeting her lifelong idol.

Not only that, her dream has come true, she thanks everyone who helped her get here, and she’s hopeful Chariot will continue to teach her how to be a great witch.

With that, the Shiny Rod indicates the Final Word is ready to be unsealed, granting Akko the power to transform the dark and dreary surroundings into gorgeous, colorful scenery – the “world transformation magic” Croix could not access, seems to be available to Akko.

We’ll see the extent to which that magic will be able to stop the ICBM of negative emotional energy that has launched as a result of civil unrest hitting an untenable fever pitch. Andrew finds himself in the halls of power, among people who want to use war to their advantage.

From the look of that alert on Croix’s phone, the menacing missile soaring high in the sky, and a red-hot steaming populace, we’re probably in for a Trigger-brand Finale of Exponential Escalation™.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t totally eclipse all the little witches.