Yuru Camp△ 3 – 12 (Fin) – Under the Cherry Blossoms

The final Yuru Camp for a while starts on a somewhat foreboding note, as Chiaki, restless on her first night of solo camping, has to pee, but hears rustling sounds outside and fears it’s a bear. Last month when I was camping in California, it definitely sucked leaving the warmth and relative safety of the tent to relieve myself, but at least I was rewarded by a truly stunning view of the Milky Way in the sky.

Chiaki may be all alone at the campground, but Aoi checks in via a link to a webcam of one of the mountain fire symbols. She shoots the breeze with Chiaki, who discovered that the rustling was from cats, to her relief (and relief). There’s a coziness even to the expansive vista Aoi is treated to, thanks to the contrast between the calm lights in the distance and the brighter street lamps.

In the morning, Chiaki is joined by everyone else, including Aoi’s sister Akari and Toba-sensei, who has brought both marinated lamb and pork for jingisukan yakiniku, which is supposedly the perfect meal for cherry blossom viewing. She also took a little risk and bought some frog meat, which the girls make into karaage so it looks less like frog. It tastes like chicken, but they’d also have preferred chicken.

Hey, frog isn’t for everyone. I know; it’s not for me! That said, I have had snails, alligator, and even emu before. As for the yakiniku, when Aoi and Akari taste the lamb jingisukan , it tastes unfamiliar, while the pork jingisukan tastes exactly like their grandmothers. Aoi calls her gran in a panic, and her gran confesses—their family has always used pork, not lamb. Will Aoi and Akari ever learn to trust their family again? That’s for another Yuru Camp!

Once the food is scarfed down and the dishes are cleaned, the camp girls bundle up in their cozy-looking patterned blankets, put their lanterns together to illuminated the cherry blossoms from below, and lie together on a tarp for some night viewing.

They take some photos, then compare their favorite cherry blossom photos from their phones. At first everyone is confused by Nadeshiko’s photo of a tree with no blossoms, but she keeps swiping to reveal she’s taken a photo of the same tree since March, including when it finally exploded with pink blossoms.

Everyone shuffles off to their tents to sleep, and when Nadeshiko emerges yawning and dreary-eyed, Rin is already up, and offers her a mug of cocoa. Mornings just might be my favorite part of camping, and this scene illustrates why; it’s just so calm and serene.

Rin is still trying to find the right time to invite Nadeshiko camping, but Nadeshiko beats her to it, asking her where they’re going next. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who asks who, there’s no keeping these girls from camping together. And when everyone’s back to school, Nadeshiko, Chiaki, and Aoi are eager to recruit new members and make the OutClub official.

With all that material for future episodes, there’s no reason Yuru Camp can’t just keep going on. I also realized that they’re merely second-years, not third-years, so there’s still plenty of time for these resourceful camp girlies to build the club and experience more of the great outdoors together. I eagerly await their return.

Urusei Yatsura – 46 (Fin) – The Spat That Never Ends

While I intrinsically knew that Ataru and Lum would end up back together by the end of this episode, I was able to suspend that inevitability and exist in complete suspense, if not that they’d reconcile, than how. Lum implies she’ll only let Ataru catch her in their game of tag if he confesses. The three simple words “I love you” are all she wants to hear, and Ataru is the one person who will never say them.

When Rupa realizes how valuable such words are to Lum, he wonders why in all the years he’s known Carla, he’s never managed to say them to her. It’s only when he locates her atop a mushroom that he learns how hard it is. But he can still express the feeling of those words by telling Carla they should go home and get hitched. Carla doesn’t need to hear the words like Lum. She’s fully on board with marriage!

When Lum’s parents’ ship arrives in town, Benten and Oyuki inform Ataru and Lum’s friends that if Ataru fails to confess to Lum, she’ll use the memory scrubber aboard the ship to wipe the memories of any earthlings who interacted with her or any other aliens. In effect, she’s willing to punch up “clear” on the entire Urusei Yatsura series. Even when Ataru hears this, he’s not saying the words. She can go ahead and wipe his memory now for all he claims to care.

He also happens to believe Lum is bluffing, but it’s not Lum who launches the scrubber, it’s Benten, accidentally slamming on the activation switch (which really shouldn’t be a table with tea service on top). Even though it launches, it won’t wipe everyone’s memories until the end of the tenth day of the game of tag. Ataru wakes up in his mushroom-infested bedroom glad to have not forgotten Lum.

Shuutarou, Shinobu, Ryuunosuke, and Inaba don bee jetpacks to intercept the scrubber and shut it down, with balls provided by Ten. On the last night Ten even visits Ataru and in not so many words tells him he doesn’t really want to leave Earth because Ataru and Lum couldn’t settle their differences. And on the tenth day, a battered and exhausted Ataru won’t stop chasing Lum, to the point she really should start to realize that his refusal to give up is his own twisted expression of his unspoken love for her.

When Lum tears up and asks him if he’s really okay with forgetting her, Ataru shouts that there’s no way he’d ever forget her anyway. He also revealed he’s been holding on to the horns she lost since the day she lost them, carrying them with him even as he fruitlessly pursued her. Finally, Lum gets it: this is the man she loves: someone who will always cherish her, but without ever explicitly admitting it.

Lum doesn’t get him to say the words, but more important to her is knowing that he does care about her, no matter what a pain in the ass he is. They embrace in mid-air, Lum places his hand on her horn, and declares him the winner. The scrubber shuts down, and Rupa sends in the pigs to take care of the mushrooms (something he was going to do regardless of the game’s outcome.)

As their friends and family declare, this was one particularly annoying lover’s spat, one that for a brief time was tied to the fate of the earth. I for one am glad those stakes gradually fell away and focused more on the uniquely messed-up Lum-Ataru dynamic. The status quo is restored, and Ataru still hits on other girls, but Lum vows never to give up until he says the words she wants to hear.

KonoSuba 3 – 11 (Fin) – A Nice Story

Kazuma knocks over a big vase full of the two billion Eris owed to Aldarp, then scoops Darkness up and starts to book it. He makes the mistake of telling Darkness she’ll pay every cent back “with her body,” when he meant she’d pay it back doing adventurer duty, not something more … literal. Regardless, Darkness gets all hot and bothered, especially since she’s in a bride carry.

When Aldarp still orders his guards to apprehend Darkness and restrain her “kidnappers,” Megumin suddenly dazzles the stage, Yunyun by her side, threatening to Explode their pursuers if they advance any further. She’s happy and relieved that Kazuma came to save Darkness after all, but she can’t quite hold her Explosion spell, and ends up Explosion-ing all over the place.

Thanks to the chaos caused by the Explosion and the cooperation of all of the guild adventurers, Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin manage to escape with their friend. Their first stop is her manor where Darkness’ father lies near death. A very serious and poignant scene plays out, as Lord Dustiness asks Kazuma to “take”—as in “take good care”—of his daughter. But thankfully, he doesn’t die, as Aqua identifies he’s being cursed by a demon and purifies him, restoring his health.

That demon is Maxwell, whom Aldarp summoned with a Divine Treasure. When Aldarp is beating Maxwell for failing to secure Darkness for him, Darkness suddenly enters the room … but it’s not Darkness, it’s Vanir. Vanir is here to bring Maxwell, whose contract with Aldarp is over by Aldarps own words, back to Hell. But first he lets Maxwell “feed” on Aldarp’s particular emotions, specifically despair, of which he’s something of an afficianado, unlike Vanir.

When Aldarp’s nefarious plans and crimes come to light, Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin no longer have to leave town, and even Kazuma’s two billion is promised back to him, though not his patent ideas. Darkness is the source of this good news, but she’s still hesitant of entering the house, since she believes technically she left the party and has no right to come back like nothing happened.

Fortunately for her, her friends don’t give a hoot about her perceived transgression. For all they care, she can go out there and end up in as many toxic engagements as she pleases; they’ll never abandon her, and always fight with everything they have (and own) to get her back. They welcome her back with open arms.

Ands while Aqua and Megumin are later scandalized upon hearing what went on in Darkness’ bedroom with Kazuma, the bottom line is, Darkness is an irreplaceable element of their party, and all of them couldn’t be happier that they’re back together. That camaraderie—that love between these four—has now endured through three seasons, and I wouldn’t complain if there was a fourth.

Yuru Camp△ 3 – 11 – Jiunji.

This week Aoi’s cool Auntie gives her a bike. And not just any bike. A nice bike. Lightweight. Fast. Highly effective disc brakes. It’s a bike unlike any Aoi has ever ridden, and the experience of riding it for the first time reflects that. I myself own a reasonably-priced gravel bike (kinda between a mountain and road bike) and while it’s versatile, it’s also heavy and pretty slow.

I yearn for the day I can have a lightie like Aoi’s in my possession, so I can fly as she flies here. At first, she’s scared and off balance, as this machine is so different from the bikes she’s known. But once she gets the hang of its speed and stopping power, she’s blowing past the konbini and riding 18 miles all the way to Chiaki’s campsite. Just to scare her in the bath!

Did I mention Aoi is wearing super cool and practical cargo pants during her bike ride? Well, she is. And Chiaki is happy to have her friend stop by during her solo trip. She offers her her super-spicy ginger ale (getting back at her for spooking her) and also offers her paracord bracelet to lock the brake and keep the kickstand-less bike from rolling away. She’s got a lot of paracord, after all.

Aoi eventually bikes back, but they’ll be reunited the next day. Meanwhile, Rin joins Nadeshiko and Sakura on some more pre-camp cherry blossom viewing at Jiunji Temple in Koshu, home to 300-year-old cherry trees. Nadeshiko points out how satisfying it is to say “Jiunji” and Rin, Sakura, and even the narrator concur by repeating the word.

Rin then shares with Nadeshiko a view she remembers from her youth: that of a giant symbol created with fire on a nearby mountain. Sakura details the brutal battles between temples that led to the tradition of the fires, but mostly Rin is happy that she gets to view this nostalgic place in a new context, with possibly her best friend by her side. It’s as sweet as the twilight is gorgeous.

When they part ways (Sakura and Nadeshiko in the car, Rin on her moped) Rin suggests another mountain fire symbol they’ll see on their drive home. Sure enough, Nadeshiko spots it, but it’s not quite the symbol they expected. Regardless, Sakura is happy to go on another cherry blossom and fire symbol viewing adventure next year with her little sis. Until then, Nadeshiko has a group camping trip to attend. Let us hope Toba-sensei bought enough meat!

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 24 – The Strong Do as They Please

When Mitsurugi reveals himself as Lancer, the Dragon of Swords, who can turn anyone into a sword that he can then wield, it’s clear Shiki AKA Larva-dono is up against one of his toughest foes. I say “one of” because Shiki has trained with three individuals stronger than Lancer: Mio, Tomoe, and Makoto. However many tricks Lancer has up his sleeve doesn’t matter.

For Shiki, this isn’t just about following orders and protecting Hibiki. It’s a matter of pride. He’s not about to fall to someone like Lancer after the training he was privileged to receive. He may be the weakest of Makoto’s three main followers, but he’s no slouch, as evidenced when he summons the legendary poison dragon-slaying sword Ascalon.

Lancer actually puts up enough of a fight that Shiki has to use a bit of subterfuge in order to defeat him. “Larva” was only ever a decoy Shiki was using to fight him. He then uses his Larva form to distract Lancer into thinking he’s defeated him, only for the real Shiki (in Hyuman form) to slice Lancer clean in two. After that Shiki heals Woody and accepts Hibiki and her party’s vow to repay him and his master someday.

As for his master, Sofia Bulga is also one of the toughest opponents Makoto has ever faced. That much is clear when she inherits Lancer’s power as the result of a bet they made: If she had died first, she’d have become his sword, and he probably could have beaten Shiki with it. She transports herself and Makoto to a “Separate Space”—the Prison of Swords.

But while Sofia thinks she has her foe right where she wants him, Makoto uses his Investigative Kai to immediately assess the situation, and finds her whole enterprise rather normal and dull. He then reveals he’s neither warrior nor mage, but a kyudoka, or practitioner of traditional Japanese archery. With his arrows, he destroys huge swaths of Sofia’s inventory of inherited swords, each of them once a great warrior.

Even when Sofia locates a Japanese katana that proves more powerful than any of her other swords, Makoto doesn’t allow her to hope she has any chance of victory for more than a moment or two. He switches archery style from kyuudou to a fantasy style, using his mana matter to create a great stair which he ascends faster than Sofia can react. He shoots her with one arrow, then another, and shatters her Separate Space.

Once that happens, we don’t see Sofia again, and I assume she’s no more. She put up a good fight, but like Lancer against Shiki, she was destined to be boatraced. Mind you, that doesn’t take away from the entertainment value o watching both Shiki and Makoto at their best, which was brought out by their opponents.

After Makoto somewhat nonchalantly destroys the newly-evacuated Fort Stella with one shot from a vantage point a few thousand feet in the air, he allows himself to fall—something he’s grown used to by now—and lands right near Shiki. He’s told about the debt Hibiki and her party promised to repay, and Makoto admits she knows Hibiki, but they can discuss it later.

Suffice it to say, Makoto is glad to have completed the task the Goddess gave him, and believes Limia will be just fine with Hibiki as their hero. All that’s left is to head home to the Demiplane, where Tomoe and Mio are surely awaiting their return.

Mushoku Tensei II – 22 – Flail Hydra

Thanks to the addition of Rudy, Paul’s party is able to reach the final level of the labyrinth where the guardian dwells: a mammoth, many-headed hydra. Behind it is Zenith, encased in crystal. Paul can’t keep his cool, and rushes in, but Rudy and Roxy’s ranged magic bounces right off the hydra’s scales, Lize is injured, and the heads Paul lops off soon grow back.

The party retreats through the teleportation circle used to get to the boss, and Paul isn’t happy. He grabs Rudy by the scruff and can’t understand why he’s so calm. Rudy simply says losing his temper won’t help matters. The party members sit in a circle and discuss things. Roxy believes the boss to be a manatite hydra; magic will only work at close range.

So be it. The party returns to the hydra, and while Paul hacks at the heads with Lize and Talhand, Rudy draws much closer and uses flames to burn the stumps, hoping the Greek legend paves the way to victory. Sure enough, once the stump is burned the heads won’t regenerate, but they have to be vigilant that the hydra doesn’t bite its own neck below the burned part in order to regain its lost heads.

It’s a brutal, kinetic battle; one of the best Mushoku Tensei has animated, and it’s an absolute barn-burning thrill ride. Rudy has to draw far closer than he’s used to to the target for his magic to be effective, and at one point he’s a sitting duck for the hydra when Paul kicks him out of the way and takes the blow in his place. Eventually, the last head is chopped off, and Roxy does the honor of burning it, resulting in the body of the headless hydra falling to the ground.

It’s a victory, but a costly one. Paul is dead, using his last moments to smile as Rudy stands nearby. Rudy’s left arm was ripped off, and while he’s able to use Shining Magic to close the wound, regrowing that hand is either impossible or extremely difficult, and in any case beyond his current means. More pressingly, he rescued his mother at the cost of losing his father. It’s not so much a victory as a trade.

The return trip to Rapan is understandably a somber one, as the party walks without saying a word to each other. Even though it’s clear Roxy wants to say something to comfort Rudy, she remains tight-lipped. As the credits roll, Lilia welcomes the party back and is delighted beyond believe for her lady Zenith to be back. It’s only when she asks where Paul is that her expression changes to one of excruciating grief. It’s a heartbreaking tour-de-force of showing, not telling.

What did Paul and Rudy’s left hand buy them? His mother is alive and after four days she wakes, but she seems to have lost the her ability to speak. It’s also arguable whether she recognizes her firstborn son, on whom she hasn’t laid eyes in over a decade.

But it has to be enough. Rudy may be an extremely powerful mage, and may even get his left hand back, but he can’t turn back time or bring Paul back.  He simply has to be content with the fact that one of his parents still lives, and neither she nor Rudy would be alive without Paul’s sacrifice. But for one brief and fleeting moment, the Greyrat family was fully accounted for.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 11 – Their Selfish Wants

First things first: The prefecturals. Did Kitauji High win Gold? Why yes, they did, but Euph still made us hold our breath along with Kumiko, Reina, and the band members. This part of its storytelling is never not effective, especially when we see Kumiko’s face resolve into joy and relief on the stage with Shuu behind her, along with Reina’s.

Now there’s no doubt our girls have a chance to play the soli part together for National Gold. Here’s the thing: there’s a lot of buzz around the soli that featured Reina and not Kumiko, Mama Mayu. At their next practice, Kumiko congratulates Mayu on nailing the soli. Mayu wonders if she really means it.

When Kumiko returns the practice room key, Taki-sensei tells her she gave a speech before the concert that was “exemplary of a president.” This is coming from someone who admittedly has a habit of being cold in such situations.

Kumiko may not have played in the soli, but without her speech I don’t think Kitauji wins Gold. They were so out of sorts, and she locked them into a space where they could relax, focus on the music, and excel.

We get deeper into Taki here than ever before this season, as he once opined to his late wife that teaching school concert bands with high turnover is “as futile and thankless as stacking rocks on the River Styx,” to which she responded “they’re not rocks, they’re people.”

Kumiko, Reina, Hazuki and Sapphire have drinks together, and Kumiko admits to still having no freakin’ idea what she’s doing after high school, even though it’s late September. Sapphire has a really nice little spiel about how they’re all “sowing seeds for unknown futures in all kinds of places.” She really is an old soul.

On the train home, Reina asks if Kumiko wants to go with her to a university orchestra concert featuring their old senpai , oboist Yoroizuka Mizore. Yuuko, Natsuki, and Nozomi will also be attending. Before they part ways, Reina does the right thing and apologizes for calling Kumiko a failure and pushing her away.

In response, Kumiko asks for a hug for Reina to prove her love for her, and Reina obliges. KyoAni does proper justice to the event, as Reina is initially reticent, but once Kumiko’s arms are around her, she puts hers around Kumiko and the two smile in sweet, sweet reconciliation.

Kanade makes it clear (if it wasn’t already) that she wants Kumiko to play the soli part with Reina. Kumiko practices so hard she starts to cry in frustration like Reina. Kumiko admires how Reina has never changed since they met in regards to being so unwavering about musical excellence.

This time around, Mayu comes up to a practicing Kumiko and tells her, once again, she’ll be forfeiting the soli part. She repeats all the same chestnuts: she doesn’t want to rock the boat, she doesn’t want to cause anyone suffering or misery.

She knows both she and Reina want to play the part one last time together, so she’s fine with stepping aside. She even says she flat out doesn’t care about playing the soli. Kumiko repeats what she’s always said: let the best euphonium player win, but Mayu doesn’t believe her. Mayu doesn’t think Kumiko really wants the best player to win.

Kanade overhears the exchange and warns Kumiko not to take Mayu seriously. She’s certain Mayu would never approach Kumiko and talk to her if she was truly serious about forfeiting. This is a battle between Mayu’s selfish wants and Kumiko’s.

In preparation for the fancy orchestral concert, Mamiko glows up her little sister and drills it into her head that she’s cute as hell, something we’ve clearly never disputed! When Mamiko asks if Kumiko is going to go to music school, she says probably not. When asked why, Kumiko simply says “just because,” and Mamiko accepts that, because “just because” is the hardest reason to dispute.

As Mamiko lovingly fixes Kumiko’s hair and makeup, Kumiko opens up about the central issue: she wants to play a soli; in the last round, she lost to another player; and she wants the role back. If nothing else, Kumiko looks cute as hell for the concert.

So does Reina, as the two meet up in their lovely fancy dresses with Yuuko and Natsuki (who are a full-fledged couple) as well as Nozomi. Kumiko and Reina admire Yuuko and Natsuki staying so close after graduation; they’re a model for what Reina wants.

Mizore is already playing solos in her first year of college, and Kumiko imagines that while Reina was watching Mizore, she was imagining herself also playing at greater heights. But when Kumiko asks Mizore what she’d think if she ended up in her college next year, Mizore admits she can’t picture her there at all. Neither can Kumiko!

When Kumiko and Reina are once again about to part ways to their respective homes, Kumiko comes out and tells Reina: she’s not going to music school. She may not know what she’s doing, but she won’t be doing that, and she feels that strongly in her gut. Reina quickly accepts this, but then says she’ll be promptly “ending things” with Kumiko after the Nationals.

Her rationale for this is that if they don’t have music in common, they’ll gradually drift apart. She’d rather “end it now” and “hold on to what they have’. To this, Kumiko bursts into laughter. Reina tells her not to laugh, and Kumiko takes her hands into hers and assures her it will be fine; they won’t change. Kumiko tells Reina she’s her special person, and Reina’s grip on Kumiko’s hands tightens as she tells her she’ll go and become “even more special.”

Kumiko and Reina are without doubt one of my favorite couples in anime, and this episode put on a clinic for why that is. Reina is scared about their future, but Kumiko knows that their bond goes beyond mere music. That said, Kumiko still intends to beat Mayu fair and square so they can play the soli together. If they can’t, and if after graduation Kumiko never touches an instrument again, it won’t matter. Because nothing can destroy their bond.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 11 – Carpe Nox

With over two Million with an M likes, Mei’s heartfelt bout of terrible singing went unexpectedly viral, but despite Mei hating her singing, the vast majority of comments are positive, supportive, and excited for the new song that’s now back on. Mei’s courageous stunt got Kano wanting to sing again; but the question that still eludes her and holds her back is knowing why she’s singing … or for whom.

I thought it had already been established she was singing for Mahiru, just as she was drawing for Kano, but whatevs! Maybe after their little kerfuffle they’ll need to rediscover that. In the meantime, Mahiru is not having a great one at Hayakawa, delivering some concept art that Yukine immediately rejects as not Umitsuki Yoru’s art, and nails her assessment of Mahiru as someone who doesn’t love their art.

After watching a demonstration of how the mocap system will graft her art onto virtual SunDolls, perhaps to give her more motivation and inspiration, Mahiru ends up in a car with Mero, who asks her what she thinks of LookIdiot’s videos and methods. Mahiru is quick to denounce them, but also admits sees a bit of herself in Look, only someone who took their “griping” to the extreme and ended up hurting people.

Mahiru/Yoru only emerged to the point where she’s even drawing again thanks to Kano, so she can’t judge someone who doesn’t have a similar lodestar. Whatever else Yukine is to Mero, she’s not that!

After Mei tells Kano she’s not singing like herself and suggests she rewrite the lyrics so she’s singing about something she wants to in the here and now, Mahiru hits another snag in her relationship with Yukine: She’s now out of time. Yukine claims to want to give her more, but there are deadlines to meet, so she marks up Mahiru’s art and tells her to adhere to a prescribed style—an art style entirely not Yoru’s any longer.

Mahiru has a little monologue on the street pretending she’s okay with all this, but the truth is, she’s not, and she’s not going to give up on her art, even if Yukine ordered her to do so and may well fire her if she defies her. To this end, she travels to the storage unit with Kiui that contains both of their art from when they were little.

Kiui was a great artist, and admits she picks everything up quickly and gets good at it, only to be overtaken by those with genuine passion and drive. It was the case with Mahiru’s jellyfish mural idea. She jokes about always quitting before getting overtaken so she never actually loses, but eventually Mahiru can sense that Kiui was lying about not having people message her about being outed as Nox.

Kiui has gotten a lot of nasty comments from her former classmates, ruining all the work she did to reinvent herself. She’s also weary of going to the old arcade with Mahiru for more inspiration. She uses Kiui’s own superhero posing and meter to list all the great things about her that make her, to this day, an “ever-shining superhero” in Mahiru’s eyes.

Kiui gains the courage to accompany Mahiru, but soon retreats to the bathroom when she sees other classmates. Then the two that were sending nasty messages encounter Mahiru, congratulating her while shitting on Kiui for being a liar. Mahiru comes loudly and proudly to Kiui’s defense, assuring her she’s cool as ever. When they mock her for what they deem as not “growing out” of that admiration, Mahiru holds her ground.

Kiui can tell Mahiru needs some backup, so she confronts her naysayers, who start laying into her incessantly and nastily. They even make fun of the fact Nox is a guy and wonder if she wants to be one. This is shitty teenagers at their shittiest, but Kiui weathers that shit and declares she hasn’t changed one bit from the person she was.

Kiui was ostracized for unapologetically being who she was, to the point she “let the world get the better” of her. But she created the Nox persona as a way of continuing to love her genuine self, and won’t let anyone deny her that identity. We don’t see how the normies react, but it doesn’t matter. Kiui isn’t going to let their normie bullshit stop her from loving who she is and always was.

Witnessing Kiui put herself out there among the wolves and not only survive but thrive re-energize’s Mahiru’s desire to find the Umitsuki Yoru art she loves. Kiui took a huge, courageous swing without worrying about the ramifications, and Mahiru follows her lead by defying Yukine.

Mahiru starts off by telling Yukine about her friend that she loves, and the ideal persona they created to keep loving who they are. Then she unveils new art for the Virtual SunDolls that dazzles with the same playful energy as that jellyfish mural. Yukine dresses her down for not doing what she was told (and not speaking to her with respect), but then smiles and tells her that this is precisely what she wanted: the art she loves.

It was a risky-as-hell gamble, but because it works out, Mahiru has a teensy little bit of leveage with Yukine, and she decides to use it immediately for JELEE’s sake. She asks that Hayakawa find a way to squeeze a performance from JELEE into the same end-of-year event as the SunDolls.

If Yukine agrees, Mahiru will have given JELEE a huge boost just when it felt like she couldn’t be any farther from the group’s current activity. That activity includes all-new lyrics by Kano. Lyrics she won’t sing by just following the notes (something Mei was once accused of by her parents), but in a way that takes the listener of a vivid journey. If Yoru succeeds, JELEE will be able to go head-to-head with SunDolls—and with Kano’s mom.

Urusei Yatsura – 45 – The End of Darlingelion

While the overall execution of this episode is outstanding—I really will miss Urusei’s gorgeous and inventive retro visuals and its vast ensemble cast—I still felt the need to dock a half-star from last week’s outing. First, because so much relies on Ataru feeling genuinely hurt and betrayed by the Fake Lum. Things happen so fast there’s no time to clear up the misunderstanding. Then Ataru just makes things worse by “settling” for Carla, which infuriates Rupa even though he claims to hate her. The bad vibes never really let up, which hinders enjoyment of the episode.

When Ataru rushes to save Lum from falling, the two end up having an emotional and literal falling out, which is pretty clever (and funny). But again, there’s no doubt that Ataru and Lum care for each other a great deal, and probably Rupa and Carla do to. It’s just that they’re so busy being in denial and posturing and reacting to slights and such that they achieve nothing but making each other extremely angry at each other, and the wrong guys end up with the wrong girls.

Despite everyone telling him about the misunderstanding, Ataru isn’t willing to apologize to Lum, while Lum sees his reaction to the fake Lum as proof he doesn’t trust her, and never did, and probably never will. When he leaves, it breaks her heart, but she soldiers on. The Moroboshi home is then overrun, not just by the rescue party and Carla, but Sakura, Shinobu, Inaba, Cherry, and the Kotatsu cat. It’s fun watching everyone dining together, but it just doesn’t seem right without Lum there.

The reason Sakura & Co. are there is that she saw another vision of the future in her crystal ball: not only is Lum consumed by the darkness, but the entire Earth as well. That’s all due to a careless mistake by Carla providing Dark Dominion mushrooms for the hot pot (Ataru’s mom didn’t have enough food otherwise). The mushrooms grow to immense size in the presence of light and heat, which Earth is full of, and they soon grow out of control.

While I could have sworn Rei had the appetite to eat each and every mushroom, once they release spores it becomes too large a meal even for him. With the fate of the world at stake, the only solution is to contact Rupa, whose flying pigs will make quick work of them. But as soon as Carla and Ataru face Rupa and Lum, their bitterness reignites and they verbally spar with one another, and no deal is struck.

Don’t get me wrong: I know this isn’t going to remain this way forever. I know because stubborn as he is, Ataru does love Lum, and even kept the horns she shed (and then re-grew in a fit of rage he caused). He just doesn’t think he should have to say it. But no progress is made in healing their wounds this week. Instead, we’re left in the deep, dark bottom of their arc.

Eventually Rupa sends a swarm of his pigs to start devouring the mushrooms, and in a giant holographic projection Lum (not donning a dark cloak like Rupa) challenges Ataru to a game of tag, not unlike the one that brought them together. She says she’ll be easier to catch if he tells her he loves her, but he insists there’s no chance of that. Even so, I’m certain they’ll find a way back to each other in a way and looking forward to watching how that happens.

KonoSuba 3 – 10 – Keeping the Miracle Going

While Kazuma inflates bubble pads to pop in order to relieve his stress, Megumin and Aqua try various methods to stop the wedding. Both only serve to annoy the Dustiness family and get Megumin three days in jail —pretty light sentence for essentially calling in a bomb threat! Megumin is angered by Kazuma’s stubborn insistence that he won’t do anything unless Darkness begs him.

Megumin isn’t about to give up, even when Kazuma warns her she’ll become a criminal. But when she asks how he can’t care about what might happen to their friend in the clutches of that pig Aldarp, Kazuma’s composure cracks and he tells her of course he cares. Regardless of how awful Aldarp is, the fact is it’s a high-security noble wedding.

They don’t have any moves. Instead, he’s glad he and they got to spend as much time as they did with someone of so much higher station like Darkness. He considers that a miracle he’ll always treasure. Megumin’s stance softens, as she now realizes Kazuma has thought long and hard about this. But she still promises to do something even if he doesn’t.

The day of Darkness’ hastily scheduled wedding arrives, and Kazuma receives an unexpected visitor: Vanir, armed with a giant suitcase of gold. He, the All-Seeing Demon, knows full well what Kazuma wants to do and what he wants to ask. Before he can answer those questions, Aqua takes him out with a holy spell and when he recombines she starts trash talking him.

After Aqua settles down, Vanir tells them that the debts the Dustiness family has incurred were due to collateral damage done by their party. They saved the city from the Destroyer, but it still trampled a great deal of farmland, while the flooding damaged a great number of buildings.

Kazuma’s party paid some damages, but the Dustinesses fronted the rest, resulting in their present precarious financial situation. The gold Vanir has brought is to pay for the rights to all of Kazuma’s invention ideas (more recent ones being an apple segmenter and a Jenga tower). That gold, combined with most if not all of Kazuma’s remaining assets, should be just enough to repay the debt the Dustinesses are owed.

As Darkness prepares for the wedding, she’s flanked by kind maids and an even kinder guard who keeps Aldarp away before the ceremony. They all probably wish she’d be giving herself to someone she chose. She contemplates how Megumin and Aqua would react to learning about the debt, and then resigns herself to the fact Kazuma won’t come for her, but simply sulk in the mansion they built together.

Just as Kazuma was grateful for the “miracle” of getting to live with and go on adventures big and small with Darkness, Darkness is equally grateful for those times, and believes it would be too selfish to ask for more, regardless of what she wants. She believes, even as she walks down the aisle with her butler, that she is doing what she and only she can and must do: her noble duty.

Then the officiant at the altar starts talking, and uses vows that constantly insult Aldarp as a fat old bear-pig of a man, and Darkness realizes it’s Aqua in disguise. Before she can react, one of the officials takes her hand, throws off his hood, and reveals that he’s Kazuma, who has come to her aid after all.

Presumably, he made a deal with Vanir that he knew was a bad one under any other circumstances but the one that matters: it’s the one and only deal that will help him get Darkness back. Whatever she might say about the Dustinesses obligations, the fact is she’s unfairly shouldering the burden of the damage done by all of them during their adventures.

Aldarp will get the money he’s owed, but he won’t get Darkness’ hand. Kazuma, Megumin, and Aqua may end up broke as a result, and have to move out of the mansion they worked so hard to attain. But all of that is just stuff. None of it matters compared to getting their beautiful, perverted, muscle-headed, fantastic-abs-having tank back—to continuing the miracle.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 23 – Time to Focus

Sofia is rearing to fight Kuzunoha when Rona appears, and gets super upset with Io, who she clearly cares about, for first using his Rose and then not telling him right away that Kuzunoha already broke the Rose, so his death is not guaranteed. Sofia also informs Rona that Kuzunoha is the famous “Sorcerer”, a fact that comes as news to Makoto himself!

Sofia may be brimming with confidence, but as expected, her attacks aren’t effective against Makoto’s Mana Matter. I get it; Sofia is one of the toughest bastards in this world, so her arrogance isn’t unearned. It’s just probably not a good idea to just start hacking at an enemy you haven’t come close to understanding!

Despite saying she’d fight him with her full strength, it’s clear she’s holding back from the start. Once she determines she can’t do anything at that level, she summons more of the four-fold greater dragon powers she’s absorbed, and her appearance becomes more dragon-like. And while she’s able to slice through Makoto’s matter, he can instantly rebuild it.

When Sofia starts complimenting the Empire’s Hero as not only having better offense but also more charm, Makoto plants the idea in her head that she might just be subconsciously under his influence, though he hasn’t personally met the guy. I hadn’t considered that, as it would mean his powers work in a more subtle/insidious way than I’d thought.

Souped-up dragon powers or no, Sofia isn’t able to worry Makoto enough for him to even remove any of his mana-suppressing rings (they still do that, right?). Not only that, she seems to be under the impression that Mitsurugi will come to back her up, but Makoto informs her that Shiki, who is guarding Hibiki, is far stronger than Mitsurugi, AKA Lancer.

Their battle will have to wait until next week, while Io was Rocket Punched out of the area and Rona, suddenly terrified of Kuzunoha’s sudden focus and maturity in this situation, decided to withdraw, leaving Sofia to her own devices. Having learned from past battles that could have gone better, Makoto does seem to be taking all of this seriously. Anyone who opposes him should be very worried about that.

Mushoku Tensei II – 21 – Two Swords

Upon finding and embracing his former master Roxy Migurdia, Rudy is suddenly shocked to the point of having to vomit, because Roxy says it’s “nice to meet” him, and asks him his name. But later while they’re exiting the Labyrinth, she clarifies that she does remember cute little Rudy, not the tall, strapping lad before her.

After she rests and regains her mana, Rudy paces around her as she studies the teleportation book, so she asks him to help her out with certain sections. Throughout this, Rudy is an eager-to-please Golden Retriever that kind of throws Roxy off. That said, their deep-seated rapport soon returns because it never left, like riding a bicycle.

As the party returns to the Labyrinth and Roxy and Rudy work together to support the front line of Lize and Paul, Roxy asks if Rudy will take on another Labyrinth with her, just the two of them, after they retrieve Zenith. Rudy agrees without thinking, as his goal was to return to Sylphie and his unborn child as soon as possible.

Rudy also doesn’t mention that he’s now married to Sylphie and that he’s about to become a father; perhaps it never came up, even during his and Roxy’s Rapan shopping trip in the three days before their next Labyrinth journey. Instead, over drinks Roxy reiterates how grateful she is to Paul and Zenith for hiring her, and how instructing Rudy helped her overcome what was holding her back from becoming a King-level mage.

Rudy and Roxy’s reunion is a gentle and affable one; thankfully they don’t drink too much and end up in an awkward position. But it’s clear from all of Roxy’s little expressions and glances that she likes this new bigger, more adult Rudy. Paul notices it too and is about to tell Rudy about it, but with Roxy in earshot, he instead simply tells Rudy that he himself has gotten used to “two swords”, each one having it’s own role.

The “swords” he refers to, of course, aren’t just the ones on his belt, but Zenith and Lilia. While the particulars probably vary by continent or nation, it’s a good bet that having multiple wives or husbands isn’t a taboo in this world. Naturally, Rudy remains oblivious to Paul’s hints as well as Roxy’s shifting feelings, but that’s unlikely to remain the case as they progress together through the Labyrinth’s strata.

Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 10 – No Filter

Kumiko walked into the faculty office wanting to ask Taki-sensei why he chose Mayu for the soli, but couldn’t do it. Instead, she asks why he chose four tubas. He basically says because winning gold in the Nationals is the goal—everyone’s goal.

At the next practice, a complaint from one of the trombonists sets Reina off. Reina has no time for anyone who questions Taki-sensei’s decisions, even Kumiko. But after practice she and Shuu have a loud argument, and Kumiko, in Kurosawa Tomoyo’s most timid, mousey tone, says “the others can hear you.”

At that practice, Kumiko tried to be the mediator, telling the other execs to get along while telling anyone frustrated she’d hear them out, but otherwise she simply wasn’t presiding the way a president should. It was a big mess, and even Reina isn’t about to ignore a request to talk it over.

On the riverbank at sunset the light is gorgeous, but Kumiko and Reina can’t enjoy it, and sit noticeably further apart than usual. At this rate, Kumiko isn’t sure they’ll make it past regionals. Reina, not incorrectly, says things will only get worse if Taki-sense speaks up about the auditions. His decisions must stand, without qualification, or it all falls apart.

But it’s falling apart anyway, and Kumiko doesn’t know how to stop it. Fortunately, she has the equivalent of “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” option: the sunflower postcard from Asuka with her address. When she arrives, Kaori welcomes her in, and she learns Asuka and Kaori are living together.

Kaori knows exactly why Kumiko is there: Asuka told her if she used the postcard to visit her at this address, it would be because she got in a fight with Reina. Asuka may look more mature and glamorous, but she’s the same Asuka through and through, which comforts Kumiko.

To Asuka, the matter can be as simple as twisting the top of an Oreo off: Let Mayu step down and take the soli part. When Kumiko says that throws the whole concept of the auditions into question, Asuka once again knows Kumiko game to a tee: she’s being selfish. She desires closure.

Asuka is also certain that “that kid” (i.e. Reina) and Taki-sensei are just as stuck and frustrated as Kumiko feels. In Taki’s case, he made his decision, and now has no choice but to stand by it. Just as Reina basically said, if he hesitates, he’s screwed and so is the club.

Asuka doesn’t have any answers for Kumiko about what to do, saying “not my problem” in a sardonic tone. However, what she’s always liked most about Kumiko is not going along to get along, but speaking her mind without consequences.

Bottling up her frustrations until they explode in a filterless tantrum in the eleventh hour. Asuka leaves Kumiko with those observations and heads to the shower. Before she leaves, Kaori tells Kumiko she got through to Asuka, and Kumiko tells Kaori to tell Asuka she got through to her too. After sprinting through the night, Kumiko decides how and when things will go down.

The regionals arrive, and during one last brief practice, Taki-sensei cuts their performance short and says they sound excellent and are ready to go. Kumiko raises her hand and stands before the club. She starts muttering to herself, thinking out loud, until Kazuki calls her name, causing everyone to laugh and loosen up.

It also snaps Kumiko out of her hesitation, and she proceeds to have her last minute “tantrum”, speaking her mind without filter. She tells them that she, along with Reina and Shuu, decided that these auditions, hard as they’ve been, were the change that was needed to get over the National gold hump. They stand by that decision, but Kumiko also bows her head in apology. Reina and Shuu, who were notified about her desire to speak before the Regionals, also bow their heads.

Kurosawa Tomoyo puts on yet another one of her best vocal performances in Kumiko’s speech, which is partly Kumiko’s own selfish desire to say what she wants to say, but also a very necessary speech for a band that was still feeling tense and awkward. It also enables her to make up with Reina, who never said out loud but probably believed that there was a great president within Kumiko, and that she had to let it out. Here, Kumiko does that, and Reina raises a fist in satisfaction of this fact.

Now that the winds of Kumiko’s impassioned speech have blown away the discontent and hesitation, she calls for a “Kitauji, GO!” cheer, and the band marches out to win the goddamn Regionals and move on to the Nationals. There’s no way the exhausted but pleased faces of the band members after the credits weren’t the faces of those who knew they’d be advancing on.

And in the next round of auditions, I just know Kumiko will get her soli with Reina back when it matters most. It’s an episode full of satisfying certainties, and a proud acknowledgment that the best Kumiko, whether she’s acting in her capacity as president or not, is the loud, selfish Kumiko who gets out of her head and lets it all out, consequences be damned.