In / Spectre – 13 – Things That Go Thump in the Night

When In/Spectre last aired, I said I’d hope we’d get more of the adorable duo of Kotoko and Kurou as they investigate and resolve more supernatural cases. Thirty-three months later here we are. There’s a lot of expository dialogue between a ghost and two youkai that bring us back up to speed on what this show is about, and Kotoko and Kuro’s abilities.

This is the same old In/Spectre, which means it is absolutely packed with scenes of people doing nothing but sitting or standing and talking. If that was fine with you in the first season, it will be fine here, as it is with me. There are three things that makes this not only tolerable but enjoyable for me, and that’s Kotoko’s magnetic charm, Kitou Akari’s firm yet affable voice, and Manabe Akihiro’s beautiful accompanying score.

The spook-of-the-week initially seems to be artificial, Kotoko tells the ghost and youkai discussing it that the scary thumping in the night wasn’t a supernatural phenomenon, but the sounds of an escaped monitor lizard illegally owned by the building manager. The truth is that an ancien cursed sumo doll was making the sounds.

Kotoko not only works out a deal with the manager that gets Kurou a cheap new place for them to live, but she and Kurou take the doll out to the isolated woods. There, she instructs Kurou to fight with the four-armed, horned sumo demon that manifests. This doesn’t go well at first, with Kurou suffering a number of gruesome deaths.

Of course thanks to eating of both mermaid and kudan flesh, Kurou is immortal and can see and choose the future. In between death and revival, the future he picks involves basically pinning the sumo down, exposing his back and enabling Kotoko to stab him through the throat with her cane.

It’s a victory, but not an ideal one for Kurou, who had hoped Kotoko could have been kept out of harm’s way. But Kotoko remains steadfastly unafraid of dangerous situations, and knew she could score an easy blow against a being that would not attack her due to her goddess status.

All of the various supernatural beings that dwell in the woods come out not just to gaze upon their kawaii Goddess of Wisdom, but thank her for dealing with the sumo doll. They all still consider Kurou a terrifying monster, but as long as he’s by Kotoko’s side and she’s vouching for him, they’ll accept him.

As for me, I’ve long since accepted that this is one of the talkier anime out there, and that more often then not that’s an asset and not a liability. And with all the reintroduction out of the way, next week’s dialogue will be less about what we already know and more about what we don’t.

Tenten Kakumei – 01 (First Impressions) – A Bundle of Unexpected

We start with a pretty girl who looks like she’s in trouble, surrounded by horned wolves. A young adventurer rushes to her aid, but she tells him not to butt in, then hops on her broom, whips around, pulls out her magical swords, and ices the entire wolfpack. This is Anisphia, the Princess Maurader, and no one comes between her and her loot—not even the inability to use magic without tools!

But while Anisphia’s loot is her own, she also believes it her duty to protect the smiles of her subjects. Her straight-laced royal family would disagree, and find her to be a huge pain, even if some of the court is intrigued by her  development of magical items (called “magicology”). Her tomboyish expliots are distasteful to both her father the king and her brother, Crown Prince Algard.

He is prince because Anisphia renounced her claim to the throne. The episode doesn’t go into exactly why, but the end result is clear: she is allowed far more leeway to live her life as she sees fit than if she were next in line. Far more than ruling, she’s always been chasing her dream of flying.

She also believes the kingdom is in good hands with her brother Algard, who is marrying Lady Euphyllia, the genius daughter of a powerful duke. She doesn’t share this with her goth friend and fellow researcher Tilty, but the day she met Euphyllia may also be the day she fell in love!

But is the kingdom in good hands with Algard? The sight of him flaunting a relationship with a girl born a commoner at school would suggest a lack of judgment, and when he grudgingly shows up for tea with Euphyllia, he couldn’t possibly want less to do with his fiancée, whom he describes as “so perfect it’s disgusting.”

Here is Euphyllia, established as a genius, doing her duty as a duke’s daughter and making the best of the situation to try to engender trust in her future husband and learn more about him. But Prince Algard finds his royal obligations and lack of free will intolerable, and her obedience to hers only make him loathe her more.

Algard is a huge piece of shit, as exhibited when he shows up to the big academy graduation ball with a reluctant-looking Lainie Cyan in matching white. He then declares to all assembled that he’s calling off his engagement to Euphyllia, and then accuses her of plotting a campaign of bullying and other horrible atrocities against Lady Lainie.

By assassinating an unprepared Euphyllia’s character, Algard hopes to smooth over the fact that he’s rejecting the arrangement his father the king had made for him. I could almost sympathize for Algard’s inability to choose someone he loves, and the fact his sister left him with the responsibility of the throne.

In other words, I understand his motivations and frustrations. But when he pulls shit like this, it’s pretty hard to take his side!

This sudden series of developments comes as such a shock to Euphyllia that she can do little but fall to her knees and start crying. After all, she hasn’t actually done anything wrong, and believed she was doing exactly what was expected of her. We may have just met her, but I felt horrible for Euphyllia, and hoped that she could find some comfort, even if revenge is farther off.

So color me tickled pink when Princess Anisphila, who loses control of her broom on a test flight, flies right through the window and lands between her brother and Euphyllia in a most unladylike way possible. Anisphila may be eccentric, but she reads the room pretty darn fast, and decides that the best thing to do is toss the distraught Euphyllia over her shoulder and get out of there.

When Euphyllia is done screaming from the shock of suddenly being in flight, she asks where they’re going. Anisphila told her brother she’d be reporting what she saw at the ball to their father to see what he thinks about it (thus potentially ruining Algard’s careful planning to get what he wants).

But she also wants to meet with Euphyllia’s father Duke Grantz, to ask them if she can keep her! It’s a beautiful subversion and reversal of rescuing the princess from an unwanted marriage, and the start of a revolution for both girls. After all, it looks like the wrinkles in the broom project are being ironed out.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady is way too long a title, but otherwise, this show, and its first episode, ruled hard. It looks great, its lead is a seething ball of energy and vivacity (wonderfully voiced by Senbongi Sayaka) and her friend-and-maybe-more?-to-be equally charming, and the evil prince is the kind you love to hate.

Each of these three characters is very effectively introduced so you know their personalities and goals, which of course all butt up against each other. The animation and direction is attractive and clean, and the writing is solid. Definitely looking forward to more!

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement – 01 (First Impressions) – Making the Best of Things

Yamano Mitsuha’s parents and older brother were killed by means the show doesn’t get into, but suffice it to say, she’s alone. When she fights some aggressive flirting guys and is pushed off a cliff, she doesn’t want to die. But instead of landing on the rocky shore, she wakes up in a soft, sprawling grassland. The giant moon is a dead giveaway: this is another world.

She wanders across the vast plain until she reaches a forest, and there she encounters another human, and passes out from exhaustion and hunger. She comes to in the girl’s home, and while she learns her name is Colette, she speaks another language. For the time being, Mitsuha lives with Colette and her fam and helps forage for mushrooms and the like.

When Mitsuha and Colette are stalked by wolves, Mitsuha shows her mettle (partially inspired by her late, brave and confident otaku brother) by getting Colette to safety and getting the wolves to follow her. But while she’s willing to put others before her, she still doesn’t want to die, and she doesn’t: she transports back to her house. Turns out she can go back and forth at will!

Mitsuha arms herself with her brother’s slingshot, kitchen knives, and pepper, and returns to the other world, and is successful in fighting the wolves off, killing the biggest and intimidating the others before passing out again. Then she has a conversation with a “being of pure energy” taking the form of the lucky cat her brother gave her, and explains her situation.

Frankly, the explanation is fairly half-assed and played for laughs, and isn’t even necessary. All that matters is that Mitsuha can not only travel between worlds, but take items with her. Items like gold.

If she can create a lucrative market for Japanese goods in this other world (a good bet) she figures she can make enough money—roughly 2 billion yen—to retire early and comfortably in either world should she lose her power.

I’ve seen isekai series with enterprising protagonists, but I cannot recall one in which they are able to move back and forth at will, and without any apparent catch. Another factor in this show’s favor is that Mitsuha is a girl, which just makes this feel fresher than if it was another Taro-kun.

Also, while typically a sister would be embarrassed by her otaku big brother, Mitsuha remembers him fondly, and his inherited wisdom proves useful to her on multiple occasions. Mitsuha’s design is fine, but the general animation and art is uninspired and underwhelming. But the series has enough going for it so far to make up for its visual shortcomings.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – 12 – School’s Out for Winter

As the Dawn of Fold attack continues, the Dads are on the move. Vim Jeturk decides to pilot his Sol Dilanza rather than be Shaddiq’s puppet any longer. Delling finds Miorine, but true-to-character, his first words aren’t “Thank God you’re alright” but “What are you wearing?” since she’s not in an evac suit.

Poor Suletta is still shut off from the rest of the plant by the emergency bulkheads, but Sophie spots her, and shoots around her area to try to goad her into running off to the Aerial. When Dominicus tries to subdue her with Antidote, Sophie goes up to Permet Level Four … nearly killing herself in the process.

Like the bloody epilogue that got Witch from Mercury off to such a stirring start, this season one finale really accentuates the essential frailty of human beings. Delling is seriously wounded by a piece of errant shrapnel, while using his body to shield his daughter. For all his abuse and neglect, when the chips were down, he chose her over everything else.

When Norea spots GUND-Arm’s spaceship—with Earth House still on board—she takes aim and prepares to destroy it as part of the mission to keep anyone from escaping. She only stays her hand when Nika flashes the correct code with a signal light. Nika saves everyone on that ship, including herself, but Martin sees her signaling to the enemy. The gig is up.

When Guel overhears that a Gundam from Asticassia is on Plant Quetta, he pilots a mobile suit and heads out, determined to move forward “after Suletta”. But in the heat of his first real space battle, he almost loses it. He’s able to do what is necessary to survive—i.e. kill someone—but the one he ends up killing is his own father, Vim.

Suletta manages to crawl her way through the plant and make it to Hangar 78 where Aerial is—just as Lady Prospera knew she would. Mercury gets there first, and is about to be discovered by Dawn when Prospera arrives and kills them all. Mercury is shocked, but her mother lays out the calculus. All she did was move forward and gain two by killing others to save her.

There’s a beautiful, heartbreaking shot of Prospera and Suletta on opposite sides of a doorway, splattered blood between them. It can’t be any clearer: this is where moving forward means you can’t go back. Suletta, so easily manipulated by her mother and their credo, steps onto that blood and crosses the threshold.

When Sophie arrives to play, Suletta is already in Aerial’s cockpit and deflects her attacks with her Bits, then fires up her rockets and shoves Sophie the hell out of the hangar, scolding her for behaving in such a crass manner. That said, it’s my assumption Sophie may never have had a mother to scold her.

Suletta doesn’t know it, but as she scuffles with Sophie and then Norea, she’s buying time for the authorities to arrive with reinforcements. Once an entire patrol fleet enters the area, Naji gives the signal to retreat. While she complains, even Sophie doesn’t disobey, and hopes to see her “Big Sister” again. I’m sure she will.

Shaddiq gets word that the Dawn’s operation failed, and he doesn’t really react, wearing the same serene smile as usual. While I’m sure he’s been careful in trying to keep distance between himself and Earthian terrorists, the fact he doesn’t have Aerial and Delling isn’t confirmed dead will surely come back on him in some manner.

But there’s is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing more shocking and upsetting than the final scene of the season, in which Miorine is cornered by one straggling member of Dawn while pushing her injured father on a makeshift gurney. Before he can kill Delling, Suletta blasts through the bulkhead and smashes him with Aerial’s hand, turning him into a fine paste of blood and guts just inches from where Miorine stands.

Suletta hops out of the cockpit with her usual chipper demeanor, and even jokes about being such a klutz when she slips on the blood and guts. She reaches out her hand—which again, is covered in blood and guts of a man she just killed—to her bride. Miorine is quite rightly absolutely aghast and terrified at the Suletta before her. “How can you smile right now,” she asks, before declaring her groom a “murderer”.

All season Witch from Mercury had been lulling us into a false sense of security by showing us duel after bloodless duel at space high school. Well, graduation has come early for Guel, Nika, Miorine, and Suletta, in a cruel blast of twisted metal and a spray of blood. Nothing will be the same going forward for any of them. In other words, it’s Gundam being Gundam.

To be fair to Suletta, I’m not sure what else she could have done in that moment when it was either the shooter or Miorine. But now Suletta’s innocence is gone forever, Miorine will never look at her the same way again, and she isn’t even aware. For all she gained by following her mother’s motto to the letter, we’ve yet to see what she’ll lose. That will be revealed in season two this coming Spring.