Urusei Yatsura – 38 – SisTerminator: Dark Futility

A date between Shuutarou and his androphobic betrothed Asuka was never going to stay normal for long, but it’s impressive just how quickly things go off the rails. While making Shuu tea, Asuka’s whisking turns the cup into a pile of clay dust, to which she adds hot tea and fashions a new cup. Shuu’s incredibly forced-polite reaction is perfect.

When one of his bodyguards interrupts, a frightened Asuka gloms onto Shuutarou tight and like the teacup, his ribs are turned to dust. Ataru, disguised as one of Ryouko’s ninjas, uses this as an opportunity to get closer to Asuka by manipulating the KO’d Shuu in a Weekend at Bernie’s-type situation. The puppet sound effects are exquisite.

Once Lum reveals Ataru’s disguise, Asuka sends him and Shuu flying, and Shuu regains consciousness (and his ribs miraculously reconstitue) in mid-air. They watch in the distance as Asuka, essentially trapped on an island, launches every bodyguard she encounters into the air.

Lum lends another helping hand, showing Asuka a tank in the Mendou family’s possession. Rather than hop in, she tears the tank to pieces with her bare hands and fashions a new suit of armor to protect her from scary men. Ataru and Shuu secretly watch this quirky, steampunk twist on the “changing scene” with disappointment.

Ryouko, who is determined to keep her brother away from Asuka, lures her to her room and prepares to fill her head with nonsense, which is Ryouko’s specialty. When Shuu comes in with Ataru still attached to his back, Asuka smashes them both into a wall, but then her mother arrives, and despite her face locked in a placid smile, she’s not happy.

Convinced Asuka isn’t taking this date seriously, her mom (who, again, is one of anime’s all-time worst moms for what she did to Asuka) decides that Asuka will go on a date with Ataru. If she can survive such a repellant man, she can survive any man. The logic is sound, and of course Ataru is game.

When Asuka resists and threatens to fight her mom, we see where she got her superhuman strength. She’s no match for her mom, who effortlessly places her in a hold, chains her to Ataru, and then brings in her brother Tobimaro as a hostage: if she breaks the chain, Ton dies. This family sucks!

Even if Asuka wanted to obey her mother, her instincts and body act all on their own. Despite being connected to Ataru, she still tries to run from him, and nothing—not wood, bricks, mortar, or ballistic steel—can stop her. She cuts through all of them like butter, causing untold millions in damage to the Mendou household.

Asuka’s mom meets them on a bridge with a final warning, but Asuka still isn’t willing to relent, repurposing Ataru as a chain weapon and attacking her mom, who uses the bound Ton as a shield. Yes, a mother and daughter are fighting using her son and forced date, respectively, as weapons.

Just when you thought we’d reached the height of resourceful absurdity, Asuka starts spinning Ataru around so fast he becomes a helicopter rotor, then nabs Ton and starts to float away. Asuka’s mom asks Lum, who doesn’t want her darling taken away, to intervene, so she flies up and cuts the chain.

Asuka falls in the drink, and when she emerges, all she can do is prostrate herself before her awful, victorious mother and beg forgiveness. But of course, all of this was for naught. Asuka is no less afraid of men than she was at the beginning of this fiasco of a “date”, and the next morning she’s right back in Ton’s bed. No progress was made, and no lessons were learned. In other words, it was classic Urusei Yatsura!

Urusei Yatsura – 37 – SisTerminator 2: Misjudgment Day

Mizunokouji Asuka’s parents deserve jail time for the abject neglect they’ve subjected to their daughter Asuka. At the same time, Asuka has quickly risen to become one of my favorite Urusei Yatsura characters. That’s simply because she’s such a chaotic force of nature, even more so than anyone else, due to her superhuman strength and obsession with her “Big Brothers.”

Because she fundamentally misunderstands what “big brother” is, she believes it’s okay to bathe and sleep with Ton. When his nose spurts two-thirds of his blood, her solution is to embrace him so tightly she crushes his ribs. Eventually their mother realizes that it’s not Ton luring Asuka to his bed, but Asuka inviting herself.

Deciding that now is the time for her to meet other men unrelated by blood, she sends Asuka on an errand to deliver a letter to Shuu at his school. This goes about as well as you’d expect, as every time the fully-armored (though in a smaller suit than her first appearance) Asuka encounters a man she lashes out and causes generous amounts of collateral damage.

When she ends up in Ryuu’s lap, she assumes she’s a man like most people, but Ryuu isn’t about to let her get away with misgendering her. Ryuu chases her around the school until Asuka ends up in a tree, where her mother and Ton urge her to try to open up to the strange man who “seems different.” But once Ryuu watches Asuka snap a medium-sized tree like a toothpick, she ends up running from Asuka.

The bit is completed when Asuka finally lays her head on Ryuu’s chest, but when she notices that Ryuu’s chest is bound, she doesn’t realize she’s a woman, but another big brother, like the similarly bandaged Ton. Asuka is so sheltered she has no idea what anything is. On the one hand, this is deeply tragic. On the other, it’s freakin’ hilarious.

Asuka’s mother isn’t about to keep letting Asuka get away with glomming onto her blood brother, so she beseeches Shuu to go on a date with her. Ataru happens to be there too, but not because he invited himself: Ryouko invited him, because she’s just as obsessed with her brother as Asuka is with hers, and won’t allow him to date or marry the likes of Asuka.

Nevertheless, Asuka arrives in a grand procession led by her mother, and is dolled up in traditional garb very similar to FFX’s Yuna. Shuu is initially excited to go on a date with such a cutie, but when she charges at him like a locomotive, his survival instinct causes him to dodge her, and she shatters a giant stone piece of decorative Mendou art instead.

Since Asuka has absolutely no concept of letting off the accelerator or lessoning the force with which she does things, Shuu is in for a world of pain. But he won’t be alone. Ryouko is watching nearby, Ataru has disguised himself as one of Ryouko’s bodyguards, and Lum has disguised herself as one of Asuka’s bodyguards (the ladies in safari garb). I’m greatly looking forward to a chaotic, action-packed date!

7th Time Loop – 06 – The Princes Who Wanted to Disappear

I figured Theo using Elsie and Kamil to kidnap Rishe wasn’t going to go well for him. What I didn’t necessarily see coming was Rishe facilitating cathartic reconciliation between the two brothers, estranged on purpose by Arnold.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I can’t tell you how cool it is to see a smiling Rishe barge in on Theo, just when he thinks he has Arnold on the ropes, not five minutes into the episode.

We actually began back at Rishe’s villa. She was only pretending to feel the effects of the sleeping drug, and confronts Elsie and Kamil. She realizes they’re not doing this because Theo threatened them, but because Theo is the slums’ top benefactor.

Then the episode uses Rishe’s detailed 3-point lesson in how to properly imprison someone to Theo as a framing device for showing her totally badass escape, which was inevitable considering her past lives’ experience and Theo’s failure to check any of the necessary boxes for a successful capture (including breaking the captive’s limbs and keeping at least two sets of eyes on them at all times).

Theo may have though he had this grand plan, but seeing it all turned to dust so quickly should be a hint to quit putting on the Unhinged Evil Younger Prince act. Rishe has already seen through it, just as his brother has: Theo doesn’t hate his brother, nor does he want him to suffer.

Rather, this whole overblown act was to create such a commotion and disgrace himself, giving him cover to abdicate his place in the line of succession. She’s done a little research, and can tell while his public acts of charity in the slums have cease, he continues to funnel his own money there. The Theo we’ve seen isn’t the real Theo: a kind an generous prince who also has a major brother complex (okay, that part we saw).

Ise Mariya does phenomenal work voicing the young prince as he insists that his brother hating him, despising, him, casting him out, even killing him is preferable to not being accepted. To this, Arnold only coldly repeats what he’s already said: he doesn’t care about Theo one way or another.

After Theo runs off, it’s time for Rishe to call out Arnold’s BS: he does care about his brother, otherwise he wouldn’t have ordered her to stay away from him. She also finally understands what he meant by her not needing resolve to be his wife—he intends to abdicate and disappear.

Arnold finds it “adorable” that Rishe can’t read his intentions, and that he’s better off not understanding, but whether he likes it or not, Rishe is someone who will never seeking understanding. She asks him to consider a possible future in his brother disappears, and to live a life where he has no regrets.

As for her, she fully intends to live her life (even if it’s her last) as his wife, with no regrets. And while her body is starting to give out after all that running and fighting, she still feels she has one more thing to do before going to bed, and climbs to the top of the tower where she finds Theo.

Theo was thinking about the one time Arnold praised him, after he used his own body to protect his vassals in a field hospital. Arnold is proud of him, but warned him never to put his life at risk like that again. Rishe confirms her suspicions to the one who has watched Arnold more closely than anyone: he’s trying to leave the throne to Theo.

Ever since that time he was praised, Theo watched his brother for the express purpose of determining the best way to be useful to him. He believes Arnold disappearing rather than ruling is a mistake. Even if it means disappearing before Arnold can, he’ll do it.

Rishe doesn’t believe that, and says she’ll need his strength as Arnold’s only little brother to keep Arnold from disappearing. But Theo’s mind is already set, and he falls backwards over the tower. Rishe lunges out to catch him, but her muscles finally gives out. It appears that Theo will fall to his death, but his brother catches him.

Once Theo is safe, Arnold slaps him, then repeats what he said in that field hospital: Don’t put your life at risk again. That his big brother remembered that moment brings tears to Theo’s eyes, and he reverts to a sobbing mess.

When Rishe sees that all is now well with the brothers, she finally lets herself pass out. Theo is concerned, but Arnold simply smiles as she rests in his lap, the scar from the wound he sustained saving Theo’s life fully exposed.

Moments after Theo sees his brother looking happier than he’s ever seen him look, he also gets to hear his brother say “I leave it to you,” referring to arranging the carriages. Becoming his big brother’s strength starts with making sure his fiancée gets home safe.

When Rishe wakes up the next morning, Arnold is writing at her desk, having stayed with her the whole time. He delivers a letter from Theo apologizing for how he treated her and telling her he’s in her debt. He’s also agreed to join forces with her (with the power of the slums at his back) her in ensuring Arnold doesn’t fuck off somewhere, but ascends to the throne, because he’s the best man for the job.

The episode ends on a cute romantic note, with Arnold asking her to think of something else he can do for her since he couldn’t resist kissing her in the chapel. This makes a flustered Rishe retreat within her sheets, and Arnold thanks her for looking after “his little brother.” Rishe smiles and tells him not to worry about it, since he’ll be her little brother too.

This was another fantastic midpoint episode that gave Theo a lot more dimension and further deepened Arnold and Rishe’s bond. We also got to see Rishe not only be a badass fighter, but use the interpersonal skills she’s learned to mediate the conflict between the brothers. All of this bodes well for a future where she’ll live beyond the limit of her past lives.

Urusei Yatsura – 28 – The SisTerminator

Mendou is having a lovely dream where he’s about to marry Lum, Shinobu, Benten, Ran, Ryuu, Kurama, Oyuki, and Sakura (phew) when suddenly a giant suit of armor crashes the ceremony, turning all the ladies into SD versions of themselves and running back and forth. It’s a hilarious and absurd dream, and just a small a taste of the madness that’s to come.

When Mendou learns this isn’t just a casual meeting but the actual engagement ceremony, he tries to flee, but his servants catch him and deposit him at the Mizunokouji manor. Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu rescue him—Shinobu because she likes him, Ataru because he likes the girl in the armor—but their plan fails when Ataru’s half-assed disguise fails and Shinobu is caught.

The ceremony proceeds as schedule, and when Mizunokouji Asuka is wheeled in behind a curtained cage and wearing her suit of armor, Mendou’s dad starts with the dad jokes. Ataru manages to enter disguised as a tea server, but when he pounces on the armored Asuka she smashes through the cage and walls and flees outside. Her commando maids try to eliminate Ataru with suppressive fire, but his speed and agility is comparable to Asuka’s.

When Lum sees him clinging to the armor, she zaps him, but the zapping affects Asuka as well, and her suit of armor shatters, revealing a normal-sized girl with a ponytail wearing a yellow leotard, black tee, and fuchsia leggings, looking every bit like the 80s workout enthusiast, but with strength that would put all-time Olympic Gold Medalists to shame.

She’s able to elude Ataru, who returns to the manor with Lum and Shinobu, both of whom mention to Mendou that under the suit of armor there’s a cute girl. Now he knows why Ataru was helping. Turns out Mizunokouji women aren’t allowed to see any men—not even their father or brothers—until the age of fifteen. Her mother went through the same thing, all in the name of “family custom.”

Asuka’s flight from Ataru leads her to land in the same tree as Tobimaro, and when she sees he has the same eyes as her, her first thought is that he must be a girl like her. In fact, it’s because they’re brother and sister. Remember, Asuka was only recently given a rushed and inadequate explanation for what a “man” is, but since her maids said a “brother” is a special type of man who won’t attack her, she’s immediately smitten with him.

When Mendou and Ataru start chasing her and she starts pulling fully-grown trees out of the earth like they’re popsicle sticks, her maids shoot her with an elephant tranq dart. When she comes to she’s chained to the wall, but so are Mendou and Ataru. The dads let the kids sort things out, with Lum and Shinobu trying to demonstrate that boys aren’t scary, but that fact is dubious considering the scary faces they’re being made to make.

The group tries to explain to Asuka that she can’t marry her brother, but she doesn’t know what marriage is. Then Ryouko, who heard her brother had been captured, launches a guerilla operation (love her combat gear) that results in heavy damage to the manor. When Asuka overhears Ryouko calling Mendou “onii-sama”, her whole attitude towards him changes, because she thinks brothers aren’t men.

The strength of this episode lies in the attention to detail with regards to Asuka’s feats of strength, the similar feats Ataru and Mendou pull off trying to keep up with her, and a commentary on blind arranged marriage, extreme family customs, and other rich people nonsense. Also, it’s true: Asuka is cute as all-get-out, and voiced just as cutely by M · A · O in her triumphant Urusei debut.

Shin no Nakama – S2 03 – Time for Her Happiness

As I suspected, “Esta” is actually Theodora. I appreciate that she’s staying close to the new Hero Van, and when she hears that he might be headed to Zoltan, she  sends Albert there first to inform Red of the situation. I seriously don’t want Van anywhere near Ruti!

Zoltan, meanwhile, is ablaze in festive spirit as the day of the Drake Rider and Saint Licinius’s Solstace Festival is in full swing. Red and Rit close up shop and head out hand-in-hand in their festival best. Celebrating the repelling of the Winter Demon, it’s a day of eating, drinking, dancing, and partying for the whole village, none of whom will be going in to work tomorrow.

The only blemish on the day is a confrontation between two elves accusing each other of cutting in line, but the younger of the two is going through the awakening of his blessing, and a grown (and huge!) Ademi defuses the situation. Yarandrala is living her best festival life, and joins Red, Rit, Ruti and Tisse for a luxuriant udon dinner by her fellow elf Oparara.

After the reenactment of the repelling of the Winter Demon (played by a visiting Danan), there’s a bonfire dance. After Red and Rit have a dance, Rit gives way to Ruti, who gets to dance with her dear brother for the first time since before he was a knight. When she asks if she’s truly allowed to be this happy, Red says he’s fine with it. So am I: Ruti has suffered enough; it’s time for her happiness, without qualifications!

That night, Rit looks forward to spending next year’s festival with Red, and the one after that, and the one after that. And while he was unable to secure a blue sapphire for a ring, he presents her with an engagement necklace for the time being. Declaring him not fair, Rit tells Red they’ll be sleeping in tomorrow, for some sweet, sweet lovin’ is about to ensue.

The evening is less fun for Tisse, and not just because my Tisse x Ruti ship remains in drydock: she overheard some bandit-looking types talking about the Demon Lord’s airship, and later that night she confronts them. While Mr. Crawly-Wawly manages to trap them in a web, their accomplice cuts them free, throws a dagger Tisse’s head, and books it. Whatever these guys are up to, I don’t like it, or anything else that upsets Zoltan’s laid-back vibe!

Chained Soldier – 03 – The Mistress’s Nemesis

Yuuki joins Kyouko on his first scheduled R-and-R, and gets to see Kyouko in civilian going-out clothes for the first time. A quasi-date ensues, starting with a somber first stop at the memorial dedicated to Kyouko’s village, which was massacred by Shuuki led by one high-level monster she calls Unihorn. She won’t rest until she’s found it and taken it out, properly avenging her village.

Perhaps in part because he wants to cheer her up and in part because he’d rather their “date” last a little longer, Yuuki convinces her to join him at a café that’s supposed to have killer parfaits. Sure enough, they taste as good as they look, and Yuuki experiences another first with Kyouko: he gets to see her smile. It’s a great smile, and I’m glad that we get to see this more joyful version of Kyouko.

Unfortunately an alarm from the 7th’s barracks cuts their day off short. Kyouko saves time getting back by having Yuuki transform and riding him, but later has to give him a reward by having him to remove her stockings. As fortune would have it, the Shuuki that caused the alarm are led by Uniforn, which is being ridden by something even Kyouko hasn’t seen before: a humanoid Shuuki that talks.

And this “Shuuki” (if that’s really what she is) talks abou her dear little brother, “the most handsome boy in the world.” The keen of ear will recognize Kusunoki Tomori voices her, and also voiced Yuuki’s big sister in an earlier flashback. Further, when she gets a good look at Yuuki’s beast form, she reacts as if she recognizes him.

Kyouko slashes through her prehensile hair and arm, causing her and Unihorn to begin to withdraw. Kyouko prepares to chase them, but Yuuki snaps her out of it when he fights off the Shuuki threatening Himari and Shushu.

Himari and Shushu will be fine, but as Kyouko delivers another reward involving stepping on his crotch with her booted, then bare foot. The juxtaposition of this … activity while she talks perfectly soberly about what just went down with that new kind of Shuuki is the best kind of absurdity, and the staff responsible for foley deserves some kind of award for the lingering sound of Kyouko’s boot on Yuuki’s crotch. Yuuki later gets help preparing dinner from Nei, is ambushed in the bath by a naked Shushu, then accidentally walks in on Himari changing. Just a day in the life of the 7th squad’s caretaker.

While Himari chases him around the barracks with a chainsaw arm, their spat is interrupted by the opening of a portal right there in the hallway. From it emerges Izumo Tenka, commander of the 6th squad, and her lieutenant, Azuma Yachiho.

Tenka takes an instant interest in Yuuki, getting right up in his face with the look of a cat that’s just cornered a bird. Methinks Kyouko may need to watch out for servant poachers, but I must say enjoyed the twist of Yuuki’s beloved big sister being the bane of the Demon Defense Force.

Shin no Nakama – S2 02 – Uncut Gem Beast

Yarandrala is happy to be reunited with Gideon, and also glad he and Rit are a happy couple, but she also fells like injustice was done to both of them, and that they could be betrayed again. To that end, she invites them to live in Kiramin, the land of the high elves where it’s always spring. They decline, assuring her they’re perfectly happy in Zoltan. In fact, they invite her to move there for a time so she can see for herself why it’s not a bad place.

With the extreme cold of the mountains getting to everyone, Tisse leads them to an invigorating hot spring with a killer view of the sea. When Yara learns Red is all alone at a smaller spring, she runs off (naked, of course) to join him, followed closely by Rit.

When Tisse, whom I have no doubt likes Ruti (again, they’re practically wives in the OP) asks if she’s okay with Rit, Ruti exposes her brocon side by saying Rit can be his wife, but she’ll be his “number one lover.” I love how the touching music suddenly stops at this point, and Ruti leaves her all alone. Poor Tisse!

When the group encounters the Gem Giants and finds them in a bad way; they have no gems to trade, and are indeed starving to death. Red, Rit, and Ruit offer the rare Zoltanian glass they were going to use as barter, an act of charity that makes the Gem Giants lifelong allies. But the source of the gem shortage must be dealt with if the Giants are to survive.

The source is a Gem Beast, a gargantuan monster that eats gems and turns them into poisonous lead (which is why the Zoog forest is also hurting; the poison is in the water). The Beast is no slouch either, as Red has read of High Elves trying and failing to defeat it. It shatters Ruti’s sword and rots away Yara’s vines, then reflects their magic spells back upon them.

Red determines that the beast must be relying on multiple blessings to support its weight and launch such powerful attacks. But he happens to have a bottle of potion crafted by the Wild Elves that reduces the level of the blessing. Red, Ruti, Yara, and the others all keep the beast at bay while Rit leaps up and tosses the bottle in its mouth. With its blessings reduced it collapses under its own weight, and Ruti provides a devastating hero punch to defeat it.

The group returns to Zoltan, with Morgrim acquiring the earth crystal he needed (though it doesn’t seem Red found a blue sapphire for Rit’s ring … oh well). Yarandrala decides she’ll come live in Zoltan with them after all, since she wants to learn about a place where Gideon found so much joy and contentment.

Unbeknownst to them, their quiet life looks to be threatened by the approach of the Demon King’s airship, which we learn is heading to Zoltan in the closing scene with Van, Esta, Ljubo and Lavender. While the hero and his party won’t be headed there (for now), Ljubo is dispatching someone named Kiggith to investigate. We’ll see if this Kiggith causes any problems for our laid back friends.

Eromanga-sensei – 08

Whether she likes it or not, Sagiri can’t have Masamune all to herself, not matter how adorably she dresses. And though he technically rejected her, the fact Masamune compares Sagiri’s yukata to Muramasa means she’s still in his thoughts, because she was the first person to say what she said about his novels.

Elf also tries to nab her share of Masamune’s attention by dressing like Muramasa; in her case, a school uniform. But despite the fact she and Muramasa are rivals in love and novels, Elf offers the advice she’d offer Masamune even if she didn’t like him: stop worrying about what may or may not be, and have one little chat that settles it all. Of course, she’s clearly not happy at all when he says he wishes she was his big sister.

She is, right, however, that being direct with Muramasa is the best strategy, as her feelings for him haven’t changed since he turned her down, nor is she too uncomfortable to attend the short story competition wrap party he’ll be hosting. They also both acknowledge that they’ve only met each other three times—not enough to get to know each other—and so would both welcome a fourth, fifth, and more.

The fifth wheel, Shidou, arrives first, and has no idea what he’s walking into until Elf and Muramasa arrive at the same time and start immediately fighting over Masamune until Sagiri starts pounding on the floor above them. Elf is also sporting her most ridiculous outfit yet – a frilly lolita-style yukata and flamboyant hairstyle.

The initial awkwardness of the party eventually smooths out, especially when Masamune breaks out all the festival themed food, hoping to create a festival-like atmosphere for Sagiri, who can’t go outside. Everyone shares their ultimate dreams, including “Eromanga-sensei”, who says she wants to be the bride of the one she loves. Oh, girl…

After everyone else files out to go see the fireworks, Masamune stays with Sagiri, and confesses that he’s always been afraid of being alone ever since his birth mother died in an accident. He’s also truly thankful for Sagiri, his new family, for putting up with such a pathetic brother, but she feels no less pathetic for losing the will to leave the house.

As they watch the fireworks from the window of her room, Sagiri reiterates that she never considered Masamune family or her brother; her love has always leaned more towards romance, insomuch as she knows what that is.

Still, if Masamune wants or needs her to just be his little sister, she thinks she can “pretend…for a bit”, only to later remark somewhat ruefully to herself while lying in bed how she’s “gotten much further away”, presumably from her dream of being the bride of the one she loves.

I dunno if that’s a bad thing, Sags! Get over him, get out of that bed, that room, that house; go to school, meet someone whose father didn’t marry your mother. Is that so much to ask?

P.S. Kuroneko Sighting. Repeat: Kuroneko Sighting!!! With her adorable sisters too. That confirms Masamune, Sagiri, & Co. live in the same world as Oreimo, whose MC also had to grow a spine and pick someone, anyone, as long as it wasn’t his damn sister. Obviously, Kuroneko was his best choice.

Eromanga-sensei – 07

Senju Muramasa doesn’t back down on her intention to crush Masamune, and easily dispatches Elf by having the editor inform her just how many more sales she has (14+ mil vs. 2 mil), forcing a quick Elf retreat. Masamune responds with a challenge to his “senpai”: whoever loses the contest will have to do whatever the victor says.

We knew this was the challenge that was coming, it’s just a matter of what Masamune will write, and whether it will be good enough to beat a platinum powerhouse. He decides he’ll convert his little sister novel to a short story, but short stories aren’t his forte.

Enter Elf, who uses her expertise gained by her own strong sales and puts Masamune through a gauntlet of drafts, until he’s got a “passable”, if not yet good enough, manuscript.

Then the enemy pays him a visit, intentionally wearing a school uniform in order to “make a better impression.” You see, she wants Masamune to surrender, and instead agree to “be hers”, i.e. write novels just for her.

Elf and an on-screen Sagiri are suspicious of her appearance in the midst of the contest, but it would seem Muramasa isn’t trying to sabotage her kohai, just make him pivot to something she sees would benefit both sides. She also doesn’t flinch at Elf’s claim she and Masamune are living together.

She comes in, and after briefly getting distracted by a sudden jolt of inspiration forcing her to stop her conversation in the middle and start writing (and she’s left-handed!), tells Masamune what her dream is: to be able to go beyond writing stories she’s rate 100-out-of-100, and create something even she, not just a fan, could rate 1 million out of 100.

She only writes at all because of Masamune, whose battle novels were the only things that moved her to the bottom of her heart. When he shifted to rom-com with the little-sister proposal, and stopped writing her favorite novel, she became a wreck, and only by writing her own stuff could she keep going.

So Muramasa, certain her dream is more important than Masamune’s, once again pleads with him to become “hers” and write only for her, promising she’ll support him and his sister the rest of their lives if that’s what it takes. But Masamune’s dream isn’t just his own, and Sagiri leaves her room to tell Muramasa as much.

Also, Sagiri won’t accept any scenario in which she gives up Masamune for anyone else. She earlier says he’s not allowed to date other girls ever after seeing Elf’s tweet. This is highly unreasonable behavior, but younger sibling jealousy is nothing new or abnormal. Masamune shows a united front with his sister and declines Muramasa’s author, saying he’ll instead get her hooked on his rom-com.

I mean, that’s great and all, but surely Masamune realizes he can’t keep indulging Sagiri’s possessiveness, right? And that any future romantic partner has to be chosen from among girls he’s not related to by marriage? Just asking for a friend…

Masamune ends up winning the contest, because even though Muramasa got 15 more votes, her short story ran double the allowed length, and she was disqualified. Whether this was intentional on her part, or if she simply wrote the number of pages she had to write and didn’t care what happened afterwards, the story was all about her and Masamune.

Like Masamune’s story about his sister, Muramasa’s is a love letter…to him. So now Muramasa is not just in love with his novels, but with him in general. Masamune doesn’t have a satisfying answer: “there’s [already] someone I love.”

It leads me to wonder if Muramasa’s only purpose on the show was to be defeated twice in short order and retreat as Elf did upon hearing about her sales…or if the battle has just begun. Either way, he harem has become really crowded.

Eromanga-sensei – 06

When Megumi repeatedly calls LNs “creepy”, Ishikawa Yui breaks out a more Mikasa-esque voice for Tomoe, going at Megumi as if she were trying to hurt her beloved Eren. Masamune avoids blows, but Tomoe enacts her revenge by getting Megumi totally hooked on the books she once so cavalierly looked down upon.

Megumi’s original purpose for checking out some novels was to get closer to Sagiri, and she gets closer than she bargained for, not only being allowed an audience with Muramase’s sister, but serving as a lewd model, bound and blindfolded.

Sagiri is so excited and inspired by her new model, she can’t help but impulsively relieve Megumi if her shimapan, an effective if dated way to blow up her “lewd girl” persona. That being said, Megumi gets what she wants: actual contact with Sagiri, and a promise of continued novel exchange—the foundation of a friendship.

When Masamune’s publisher tells him they won’t be publishing his little sister LN for a year (because the younger, more popular Senju Muramasa snatched his earlier publishing spot), Yamada offers to help him get published. But they’re both early for the meeting, so they have a little date that both know is a date but pretend it isn’t.

Yamada, who is surprisingly not the most irritating girl in the show, and has grown quite a bit as a character in her last few episodes, explains how book sales are like the ultimate game, so it makes sense to always keep score. Despite losing to Senju like Masamune in that department, she dismisses Senju as someone playing a “one-player game” with different rules.

She doesn’t believe Senju would be disappointed in the slightest if Yamada crushed her. Yamada accidentally tells Masamune she loves him, because she knows he would be disappointed, and thus a more worthwhile opponent. She quickly walks back the “I love you”, but the vulnerability and honesty of that moment, along with an earlier scene where she stops when she realizes she’s acting tsundere were nice touches.

The date over, the two mosey to the publisher, and encounter a girl who like Yamada is not dressed in normal modern attire, but traditional Japanese garb. Yamada assumes she’s a rookie when she spots her manuscript and is back to the haughty self she was when she first met Masamune. I guess this is just how she initially interacts with peers in her field? The girl doesn’t give her much in return, but accompanies them to the offices.

There, Masamune’s publisher denies his request to go with another house for his novel, but does suggest an alternative: he’ll enter a short-story competition with four other young authors, and the winner will get published not next year, but in September. Masamune emphatically expresses his intense enthusiasm and signs right up, claiming it’s the first brick of the road to realizing his dreams.

Perhaps a bit too emphatically, as the yukata girl finally speaks up, and not in a docile tone, announcing she’ll be the one to crush his sentimental, shonen-esque little dreams in favor of her own dream. She’s no rookie, after all…she’s Senju Muramasa, and she won’t have Masamune speak her name without the -senpai honorific.

So…Senju is a cutthroat, competitive maniac, eh? Well…I guess that’s probably better than what I expected (someone who is pre-in-love with Masamune / his work despite being more successful than him). In any case, the whole group of girls has now been introduced; we’ll soon see if and how Masamune interacts with the newest and most hostile.

Eromanga-sensei – 05

I wasn’t really serious when I stated last week that Sagiri saying “she’s in love with someone” meant a rejection of Masamune. This week Sagiri barely hides her brocon, and if anything is brassed off that her brother won’t return those feelings, because he doesn’t want to admit he’s a siscon. What both can agree on is that if Masamune is going to write a novel about a little sister, she’s going to illustrate it.

Masamune ends up ignoring Elf’s initial pleas to be rescued by her fastidious editors, so caught up in planning the look of the heroine with Sagiri (the more it looks like her, the better), but Elf manages to finally get his attention with a barrage of arrow fire, and he catches her in a manner she later romanticizes when she finally gets to meet Sagiri, and has fun both playing video games and posing in lewd positions until Masamune gives her up to the editors.

While working on his project proposal, which if approved will get the fast track to publication, Sagiri is eager to show him her completed work using Elf as a model. The illustration inspires Masamune to put an Elf-looking character in the novel, which I thought would really irk Sagiri (since another girl is intruding on her life with her brother and now their art) but she takes it well, and wants to continue inspiring him by drawing different kinds of girls she can only draw if she sees in the flesh.

That would create a problem for Masamune…if he wasn’t surrounded by girls. While I still loathe Megumi, at least her role as the only “otaku outsider” becomes clearer, as she so blithely looks down on the kind of books Masamune and the others create and adore.

The final member of the harem also comes a little more into focus, though she’s only mentioned by name: Senju Muramasa, sharing her name with the legendary student of the legendary swordsmith Masamune; fitting since it’s implied she’s younger. With Elf now a neighbor, friend, and collaborator, Masamune needs another distant rival…at least until that distance suddenly closes, which on this show is pretty likely.

Big Order – 02

Well, that was an…err…interesting sequence of events. If the plot of Big Order continues to be as erratic and silly as this week, watching a lot more of it is going to be a tall order. We start with Eiji successfully achieivng “domain” over Rin by making it impossible for her to kill him, which is the only damn thing she wanted to do by wishing to be immortal.

One could ask why she didn’t simply wish the person who destroyed the world would die, full stop—but I guess she wanted to do it personally, and now it’s backfired on her big-time. By the way, I’ve gotta wonder if the directors told Mikami Shiori to scream in such a way as it sounds like equal parts pain and pleasure…because that’s what came through.

While Rin can’t kill Eiji, she still wants to, desperately, and so after they’re both taken prisoner by one of her comrades who can stop time (which, like Eiji and Rin’s powers, seems way too powerful a power), and she busts him out, they take the most dangerous route out of the bowels of the government office, so that she can try several different methods of killing him indirectly.

Her numerous failed attempts to cheat are one of the highlights of the episode, as it’s servicable black comedy to see Rin try and try again to get Eiji killed, only to get killed herself in almost every way imaginable, then restore herself. I gotta hand it to the creator: having an immortal sidekick who wants to kill the MC but can’t is a pretty delicious premise.

Unfortunately, the episode quickly gets glommed up with all kinds of other shit, and the Eiji & Rin show I was enjoying is pushed to the sides in favor of a larger scheme by Rin’s superiors, the Group of Ten.

Under their orders, time-stopping guy Fran has Sena in stasis, holding back her six-month shelf life. In exchange, they’re prepared to finish what Eiji started, naming him their puppet king, declaring their jurisdiction (Kyushu) an independent nation, and declaring war on the rest of the world.

After introducing all ten people with graphics and their plan with lots of explanations and maps, my head was spinning a bit, wanting it all to just stahp for a second and let me regroup.

But like Eiji, the Group of Ten’s plan would not wait, and he sees no other option but to put the Ten under his domain, sticking them with his tendrils (including in a naughty place for one of the female members) and officially making them his.

Their fates would now seem to be tied together, though considering how Rin acted after he domain’d her, and the knowing smirk from his new chief of staff Hiiragi, I’m inclinded to doubt Eiji’s reign will be a long and smooth one.

‘Smooth’ is not a word I’d use to describe this episode. More like crude, rude, and chaotic. The snowballing plot is mildly goofy, there were too many character intros packed in, Eiji’s not particularly likable, his interactions with women leave a bad aftertaste, and the CGI monster-packed action is often too abstract. We’ll see if any of this improves next week when Eiji’s rule begins in earnest.

Big Order – 01 (First Impressions)

From the artist behind Mirai Nikki comes a story about people called Orders who can turn their wishes into powers thanks to the mysterious, annoying Daisy. Ten years ago, Hoshimiya Eiji believes she made his wish to become a TV antihero come true, leading to the near-destruction of the world, the death of his parents, and the hospitalization of his brocon sister.

One day a ridiculously out-of-the-entire-school’s-league cutie transfers to his class and follows him home, claiming she lives above him and broke her key. When he opens his door, she shocks him, then reveals her true face: she’s an assassin sent to get rid of him. Or wait, she’s there for revenge for her dead parents.

In any case, the initially pure and innocent cutie who turns out to be sadistic and homicidal is nothing new, and I’m not sure at this point what if anything Rin adds to the conversation. I will say that I did not expect Eiji to inadvertently kill her with her own blade via the more focused use of his power, visualized by a glowing medallion on his hand.

Rin steps out of Yuno’s shadow a bit by later revealing she can’t be killed; she’s an Order to, who gained the ability to instantly regenerate from even serious wounds. She shows more cold cruelty by stabbing Eiji’s sister Sena in the back, using her as bait to draw Eiji to her and her assembled army dudes.

(Rin is part of some military/paramilitary cadre of Orders, who all look like a bunch of weirdos. She’s a second lieutenant, so pretty low on the food chain).

After Eiji’s initial rage at seeing Sena maimed subsides, Daisy visits him and makes a slight mod to his powers, reducing their range considerably so he won’t lose control like ten years ago (why ten years had to pass for any of this to come down on him isn’t clear).

Eiji is done being Mr. Nice Guy. His wish, which had remained a secret the whole episode, is revealed as “world domination.” As such, his powers give him dominion over anywhere he goes, and over anyone or anything in that vicinity. Unfortunately for Rin and her troops, that includes physics, which means bullets fired at Eiji do not reach him.

Now that the beast has been awakened, he gets his ‘tentacles of domination’ into Rin (in a fairly suggestive cut to black), I suspect he’ll have dominion over her as well.

I mean, this show is awfully on-the-nose and trying too hard to be edgy at times, but is better-looking and has more interesting (and far fewer!) characters than Mayoiga, plus I enjoyed Mirai Nikki well enough…so I believe I’ll give this late starter a try. At the very least I’m interested to see if Eiji joins Rin’s little org…or simply turns them into his peons.