Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 07 – Meanwhile, at the Demiplane

Makoto returns home to find a huge, majestic new house and a banquet being held in his honor. To his shock, Mio has cooked almost everything, and it all tastes great! His praise brings tears to her eyes, but rather than drag him to the bedroom like I expected, she hurries back to Tsige to try to wring more recipes out of Hibiki.

After dinner Makoto, Shiki, and Tomoe exchange reports. Tomoe hasn’t found out much about the person who created the lake with an arrow (which was Makoto himself), but does report her encounter with the “scumbag” hero Iwahashi Tomoki. She believes someone like him might attack fellow Hyumans once the Demons are dealt with. Shiki also owns up to the monster Mio and Hibiki encountered being a discarded experiment of his from before he met Makoto.

Hibiki informs Mio that she can’t teach her anything else, as she must return to Limia at once. She thanks Mio for saving her and her party in the Wastelands, and also asks if Mio will join them. Mio refuses before Hibiki can even finish talking: even if the world is at stake, the Young Master is all that matters to her. That said, Mio isn’t against at least going to Limia someday, and Hibiki tells her she’ll teach her new recipes then.

Makoto’s next order of business is deciding which of the three new species recommended by Tomoe, Mio, and Shiki. Of the three, only two are approved: the winged Wingkin, and the bodacious Gorgons. The latter were worried about their stone gaze causing havoc, but Makoto is able to nullify the petrifying effect so they don’t have to walk around wearing masks. The only rejects are a race of faerie-like creatures that Emma feels were being too disrespectful to Makoto (Emma is on one all this week).

Back in Rotsgard, word spreads that two infamous sisters are returning to the academy, having “recovered” from some kind of disaster that earned them their infamy. They are the Rembrandt Sisters, no doubt related to the trading company Rembrandts. We’ll see if they join Makoto’s unique, high-difficulty class, which seems right up their alley.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 06 – A League of Their Own

Two weeks since he became a teacher and the Rotsgard store finding success despite the Ogres running it, Makoto has to fend off incessant political marriage proposals from students, suggesting his status at the academy has risen.

But more importantly, Tomoe and Mio are back, and with significant screen time! In fact, most of this episode is evenly split between them, and something happens I did not expect: they meet the heroes before Makoto! First up is Tomoki meeting Tomoe.

It does not go well for our silver-haired power-drunk young friend. In fact, Tomoki shows his whole ass this week to be nothing but a pathetic twerp who has tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants.

Tomoe doesn’t waste too much breath on him, and what breath she uses is able to dispel his Magic Eye effect on Lime (she herself is immune). When Mora reveals she’s a dragon tamer, Tomoe demonstrates the gap in their power by destroying her staff.

Tomoki wants Tomoe’s katana, then Tomoe herself, but the answer to both is no, and he doesn’t have the power to make her. In fact, she uses illusion magic to cast him, Lily, and Mora back into the forest with the warning that he won’t last long as Gritonia’s Hero if he tries to pull this shit again.

I’ve come to loathe Tomoki, so seeing him cut down a size or two was deeply gratifying, and there was no one better to do it than Tomoe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Tomoki will give up on her.

On to Mio, who is trying to discern kelp from seaweed on the beach when a giant wolf shoves her into the surf, soaking her kimono. She prepares to kill the beast with a flick of her fan, but a girl leaps out to help the wolf dodge: it’s Hibiki! Mio is impressed by her contrition and decides not to kill her or Horn.

More importantly to Mio is the fact that this hyuman knows her sea grass, which means she probably has some cooking pointers for her. What neither of them realize is that they once met before when Mio was the Spider Disaster, the first battle Hibiki fought that she couldn’t win.

Just as Tomoki is no match for Tomoe, Hibiki is no match for Mio. She and Tomoe are in a different league, power-wise. But while Tomoe’s encounter with Tomoki was thoroughly unpleasant, Mio and Hibiki have a much more positive, cordial, and productive encounter.

A giant mantis monster maims Hibiki’s tank and she’s forced to ask Mio for help, only for her and her party-mates to watch dumbstruck as Mio beheads the boss with one flick of the fan. When it tears her precious kimono in a last-ditch attack, she unleashes a devastating explosion.

Mio puts Hibiki and her party to sleep, and when they wake up, they’re in their intended destination of Tsige. A note from Mio brings Hibiki to the Kuzunoha store in Tsige where she and Mio come to an understanding. Beren will forge the equipment they’ll need to survive the wastelands, while Hibiki will teach Mio how to cook.

Woody notes that Hibiki has concealed her identity as hero and descended into despair ever since the loss of Navarre, who was clearly more than a friend or a sister to her. Her meeting and befriending another strong woman in Mio is an opportunity to cheer up, heal, and move forward.

Six episodes in and Tomoe and Mio, my two favorite characters in the show, have finally been integrated into the season arc. Hopefully Mio and Hibiki’s friendship endures, and the next time Tomoki messes with Tomoe will be his last! But first thing’s first: when Makoto returns to the Demiplane to check in, something is very off. What could it be?

Synduality: Noir – 16 – Part of the Family

Kanata & Co. are back in Rock Town none the worse for wear, while Tokio AKA “Licht” has gone off to, I suspect, reckon with his former family. While conscious, Noir has come to the conclusion that Kanata will be better off with Mystere, because she makes him stronger, like a Magus is supposed to do. No matter how many times she hikes up her coat, it falls off her shoulders.

Kanata believes the self-repair program will be complete in five days, but he’s mistaken: it will only take two days. Not only that, but when the program is complete, Mystere will completely take over the body Noir has controlled throughout the series, and Noir will disappear. All her memories, gone in a poof. Mystere asks her if she truly accepts this, and Noir gives her the logical line.

Noir has totally bought into the fact she’s a “dud”, the useless opposite of Mystere. But even though she accepts her death as necessary, she wants to do one last thing, on her own, for Kanata. After Ciel makes her and Kanata dinner, Noir goes to Ellie and Ange and asks them to teach her how to cook. Ellie … doesn’t really cook either, so it’s up to Ange-sensei to steer them right.

But first things first: in order to procure fresh meat and vegetables from Michael, Noir must deliver his entire inventory of green bell peppers, which he hates but the rest of the town love. Something else the town loves? Noir. Her pepper delivery is also a method of demonstrating just how beloved she’s become. From Ma’am and the merchants to the bar staff and Maria, everyone has accepted her as a true Rock Towner, and they appreciate her and Kanata helping to protect them.

Ange’s cooking lesson is genuinely heartwarming, with her, Noir and Ellie having a blast together. Each time Noir interacts with people this week, she has a photo taken to commemorate the moments. No photo hit me more in the feels than a softly smiling Noir flanked by brightly smiling Ange and Ellie. None of the people in Noir’s photos know she considers these to be the last photos they take with her.

Kanata is so surprised Noir is cooking that he can’t help but loiter outside the kitchen, worried about her cutting or burning herself, until Ciel tells him to sit back and, well, let Noir cook. Both Kanata and Ciel find the resulting dish to be delectable. Believing she was finally able to do something for Kanata, Noir proceeds to keel over, shocking her two friends.

As her body starts to slowly transform into Mystere, Noir explains how she’s a “bad Magus” who hasn’t been helpful. But Kanata tells her he doesn’t care about that, he’s just happy to have a family again, thanks to her showing up in his life.

His words, spoken to Noir in such a delicate state, end up interrupting the transfer. Noir starts to weep, because she no longer wishes to disappear, and fights against the transfer, causing her to basically crash, leaving Kanata and Ciel to fear the worst.

I’m not ready to accept that we’ve seen and heard the last of Noir, but if ever there was and episode that showed how much she meant to everyone, and that she’s not a dud, and that she would be terribly missed if she were gone, it’s this. Hopefully Maria can fix her and Noir and Mystere can come up with some kind of alternative to one of them being consigned to oblivion.

7th Time Loop – 04 – Tricks of the Trader

Despite knowing Aria’s Kaine Tully in a past life, he sees right through her entreaties for procuring her wedding, turning her down flat with the excuse that his wares are not becoming of an imperial crown princess. While initially bewildered by such a stonewalling, Rishe remembers the opening Kaine gave her before departing. Kaine said he and his men will remain in town for a bit, so Rishe dyes her hair and sneaks out of her villa.

Rishe drinks all of Kaine’s men under the table before he even arrives, leaving the two alone for negotiations. Rishe obviously can’t tell him her overarching plan to prevent her death, but she can tell him she wants to be a trading partner and ally, not merely a customer. Kaine agrees to give her a week to come up with a business plan that’s worth his while.

She sneaks back into her chambers to find Prince Arnold waiting for her. He’s not mad—he made clear she can do what she will with her time—but isn’t enthused about her going out alone in the dead of night unescorted. If she has future business in town, he’ll accompany her, without interfering in that business. She prepares him a midnight snack of soup with medicinal herbs, lamenting that she’s a terrible cook, but he enjoys it and they eat it all together.

Before bidding her goodnight, Arnold asks Rishe if she’s met his younger brother. She hasn’t, and he warns her not to entertain him if he shows up. One minute we see this brother smirking in a seedy tavern, the next he’s waking up in Rishe’s garden plot. Introducing himself as Theodore, he has the face and voice of an angel, but gets close to Rishe and tells her he intends to “save” her from her hostage status.

Rishe would like to dig further into what exactly Prince Theo’s Whole Deal is, but she only has a month to come up with her business idea for the Chief, so she tables that for now after her bodyguards are unable to even tell her how the brothers get along. She does accidentally walk in on Arnold ordering the armies be brought into the city to protect the commoners. She notes that this Prince Arnold, who seems to be forcibly enacting policy to benefit the commoners, isn’t the same prince who killed her.

Upon retiring to her chambers, Rishe finds a sealed note ostensibly from Arnold summoning her to the chapel at midnight to “tell her a secret.” But Rishe wasn’t born yesterday, and when she arrives dressed down in mourning black, she fully expects Theodore, not Arnold, to be there.

Honestly I would have been content to watch Rishe get into the nitty gritty of researching the capital in order to develop the most profitable plan, but Theo makes for an enticing wild card, adding palace intrigue to what has so far become a not-very-laid back seventh loop. But let’s be real here: Rishe isn’t one to just laze about, as much as she says she might want to.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 01 – Answered Prayers

Moonlit Fantasy’s second season picks up where the first left off, as Makoto is on his way to Magic Academy with Shiki by his side. They make a stop in the town of Obitt, and Shiki searches for the very best inn for the young master (fearing Tomoe and Mio’s wrath if he doesn’t).

Makoto chooses not to wear his mask in town, which gets him some looks. When he stops by the guild, he finds a woman begging in vain for aid against a group of bandits called Moon over the Ruined Castle, which is the same name as a famous Japanese song and one of Makoto’s faves.

Back in the Demiplane, Mio is attempting to cook for everyone, but the first attempt leads to serious casualties as her “curry rice” contains ingredients inedible to demihumans, such as soft emeralds. The camera panning to various characters suffering ill effects of having tasted the curry is a clever way to re-introduce the large cast of supporting characters.

Makoto has decided to follow his heart when in doubt, so when he sees the girl from the guild being harassed in an alley, he rescues her and her werewolf friend. She introduces herself as Lana from Tapa Village; the wolf, whom Makoto heals, is Eto. Makoto introduces himself as Kuzunoha.

Tapa may be a long way away, but that’s no problem for Makoto, who picks up Lana and Eto and flies there, arriving at the gates before sundown. Once there, Lana heads into the village, which Makoto can sense has been attacked again by the bandits. When Eto asks why he’s helping them, Makoto says he doesn’t like a bandit group having the same name as a song he likes. Simple as that!

Mio fares no better in her second attempt. While she uses nominally edible ingredients (meat, fruit, and vegetables), the ways in which she prepared the dishes render them just as inedible as the emerald curry. Tomoe suggests Mio travel the world and hone her skills, and to her surprise, Mio is all for it. So are the others, who are sick of being poisoned!

Makoto “takes a walk” into the forest where the bandits dwell, uses Silence Kai to eliminate all sound in their radius, then uses the confusion to pick off a few of them with arrows. By the time sound returns, Makoto has a lot more targets, so he decides to take them all out with fire, fondly recalling when Emma first taught him.

He doesn’t kill the bandits, but he does make them change their name, and makes it so they won’t threaten Lana or Eto’s villages again. When next we see him he’s back in Obitt, checking in with Shiki, who has found a passable (and expensive) inn in which to stay.

Before heading to bed, Makoto looks up at the moonlit sky and considers when he’ll encounter the other two heroes from Earth the Goddess summoned into this world. That should be interesting! Moonlit Fantasy delivers a quiet first outing in its return, but reminded me why I loved the first: that colorful special-sauce balance of action, comedy, and a smidge of drama … with no melted pot handle aftertaste.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 06 – Claire Brûlée

No sooner do the Academy Knights’ newest members attend their first meeting does President Kruget (Claire’s Flunky #1’s big bro) announce the upcoming Foundation Day Fair, which is for all intents and purposes the school’s culture fest.

They usually do a café, and Rae both appreciates how having maids and butlers wouldn’t be that novel in this world. Thankfully, Rod and her think alike, and his suggestion of a cross-dressing maid cafe (with the girls dressed as butlers) is voted through, as Claire and Misha wouldn’t mind seeing Thane and Yu in maid’s outfits.

That said, there are other Knights matters to attend to, and a gung-ho Claire accepts, with gusto and an ojou laugh, a new job from the vice president (Lene’s brother) without knowing what it is.

Turns out the job is to stake out the kitchens after dark in order to investigate reports of a weird, possibly slimy ghost. Claire may want to back out, but her honor forbids it, so she and Claire head to the kitchens that night. When Rae emerges with a tasty chocolate dessert, Claire puts two and two together.

Rae is the “ghost”, working into the night after her maid duties are complete. As for the “slimy hand” another student felt on her shoulder? Claire feels it too, and rushes into Rae’s welcome arms. It turns out to be simply Relaire, who is practicing transforming and tagged along with Rae.

With the mysteries solved, Claire is ready to split, but finds the hallway too creepy, so she curls up in the two-person bed Rae made for them. As she sleeps, she dreams of a sad memory, perhaps the worst of her life. Upset that her mother was ditching her on her birthday, lil’ Claire told her she hated her and stormed off.

That was the last time she saw or spoke to her mom, as she died in a carriage accident on the way home. Claire was devastated, as you’d expect, and her father was nowhere to be found, as you’d also expect. But Lene and the other maids were there to comfort her and tell her it’s not time for her to join her mother yet.

Rae watches Claire crying in her sleep and calling for her mother, and in the morning, Claire finds Rae clutching her hand and slaps her. But Rae wasn’t trying anything, she was merely comforting her in the night.

As the Foundation Day Fair approaches, Rae enlists the help of Lene, Claire, and Misha to try out some dishes for the café, including one with mayonnaise. Like the chocolate desserts, Claire believes them to be from the high-end eatery Broumet…and they are. But it’s Lene who discovers that it’s Rae who is supplying the new-fangled recipes to Broumet, in exchange for cash.

Lene doesn’t tell Claire this, but she can’t keep Claire away from trying out another new recipe: Crème brûlée. It’s an instant hit, and Claire wants perhaps more than a high-class young lady should have in one sitting. She also notices Rae and Lene have become fast friends, and can’t quite hide her jealousy.

As for Rae, she takes Lene aside, slips her a recipe for mayo to memorize and then burn as “insurance.” Rae then narrates the end of the episode, saying how blessed she felt for these days when not much of anything happened, and wished—past tense—that they could last forever.

Even with something as lightweight as a cross-dressing maid café coming up, these ominous words portend some kind of reckoning or dark times on the horizon for Rae. Combined with Claire’s past tragedy, the show is looking to balance the comedy with more serious drama here at the halfway point.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – S2 02 – The Taste of Home

While en route to Morgenhaffen via carriage, Sei is gently woken up by Albert, and the two exchange admiring looks, all before Sei wakes up for real. Turns out Albert couldn’t join her on the trip, but she’s here with Jude and Wolff, and Oscar also shows up.

Nevertheless, the Saint can’t just wander around a foreign land in public, so she adopts the disguise of a merchant’s daughter. Anyone who hoped to see a light brown-haired Sei with glasses gets their wish this week—I don’t hate it!

The market is full of interesting wares, but before Sei can come across any rice she learns that a crew member from a ship in port was seriously hurt in an accident. We see his leg has been crushed and mangled, and potions aren’t working.

The captain—who incidentally is hot—calls out for help, and while Jude and Wolff advise against Sei intervening with her magic, she still finds a way to help out those in need. She offers the captain one of her potions she keeps on her “in case of emergency.”

It goes without saying the potion saves the sailor’s life, and the captain, one Seiren from the Empire of Zaidera, tracks Sei down and insists upon rewarding her. After they go back and forth insisting and declining, Oscar finally comes between them and suggests Seiren offer Sei a discount on the wares he’s brought to port.

The wares from Zaidera end up being the motherlode: not only do they have shiso and chili pepper and miso paste, but also rice, sweet, beautiful rice. Sei’s little Naruto run and reaction to finding the rice is adorable, and as soon as she’s home she invites Aira and the guys to a Japanese feast she’ll be preparing…just not while Johan watches intently!

While Johan waits impatiently, Albert also shows up, answering Sei’s “modest” invitation. Johan makes clear to Albert that as Sei continues to rise in the world it’s only a matter of time before she receives suitors for her hand in marriage. Al needs to make a move soon, or he might lose her.

This sudden urgency is on his mind when he joins the others for Sei’s completed feast of rice, miso soup, and other Japanese staples. You can tell both she and Aira are over the moon; now this strange world feels a little more like home with their soul food.

When Sei spots Albert, she smiles and waves with a subtle blush. There’s no way he could know she was dreaming about traveling with him to Morgenhaffen and making eyes, but that’s precisely why he has a good shot at her: she likes him too, at least on a subconscious level.

He just needs to find the right opportunity…before that hot captain tracks her down again and proposes, lol! Seiren’s already sending a letter to the emperor regarding the miraculous potion a random young woman gave him, and remaining in these lands to search for the alchemist who made it.

My Happy Marriage – 09 – Arata Wormtongue

Miyo’s first interaction with Tsuruki Arata is being caught by him when she suddenly collapses in the hot sun, so naturally she’s deferent to him as a kind stranger. Little does she know Arata knows more about her than she knows herself. And boy, is that messed up!

Kiyoka is extremely concerned and actively trying to track down the Usudas, and tells Hazuki that the nightmares she’s having likely have to do with her bloodline. Meanwhile, the grave grotesqueries are moving faster than predicted, attacking civilians as they near the capital.

Thanks to the encroaching threat, Kiyoka is stretched too thin himself, while Miyo is trying way too hard to become a refined lady on no sleep. She even eschews more rest to make lunch for Hazuki and Yurie. This is when she learns that Hazuki is terrible at cooking.

So emotionally scarred is Miyo, that her evident talent for cooking and other disciplines doesn’t feel like anything for her to be proud of. But Hazuki tells her that her marriage ended after one particularly bad fight rooted in a lack of understanding, and she’ll always regret that it led to divorce.

After meeting with his detective, who has found all of the women in the area named Sumi, Kiyoka and Miyo get to have some alone time. Kiyoka wants Miyo to not just scoot closer to him physically, but emotionally as well. He assures her he’ll help her with anything, but she has to tell him what’s troubling her.

The next day, infuriating pest Tsuruki Arata arrives at Miyo’s door and proceeds to manipulate her, using her wan appearance and exhaustion to call into question Kiyoka’s fitness as a fiance. This upsets Miyo and makes her even weaker. Arata then hands her his card, saying he has a job for her only she can do.

I don’t believe for a second Arata went to Kiyoka’s house thinking he’d be there. He wanted to get Miyo alone so he could say those things. Then after the meeting at Kiyoka’s HQ, he takes him aside and calls him out for Miyo’s poor condition. Kiyoka is infuriated, but he cannot deny Arata’s claims, because he simply hasn’t been home that much.

When Kiyoka gets a call from the detective saying the only Sumi with no birth certificate has the surname Tsuruki—the same as Arata’s. Kiyoka races home to find Miyo in the kitchen, cooking up a storm in the dark while in a semi-catatonic state from the lack of sleep.

It’s here where Kiyoka not only loses his cool, but shows his lack of experience as a fiance and a partner. He takes hold of Miyo, castigates her for not telling him about her nightmares and the deleterious effect they’re having on her health, then draws blood by saying he never should have let her take lessons with Hazuki.

This wounds Miyo deeply, and she’s so upset she faints again. Kiyoka is beside himself; he did the one thing he swore he’d never do: treat Miyo the way the Saimoris did. With no other option in sight, Kiyoka puts Miyo in the car and drives to Tsuruki for answers. The two are like putty in Arata’s hands, and I fear he’s only driving into greater danger.

Horimiya: Piece – 02 – No Slacking

With the fall sports day as a backdrop, this episode tells a number of vignettes that focus on the group’s shortcomings. Izumi and Kakeru may be boys, but they’re not athletic and have always loathed sports days, to the point they do a rain dance in the StuCo office. Sakura joins them, because she’s just loathing having to cheer as she’s singularly uncoordinated.

That said, Izumi becomes motivated when Kyouko tells him she won’t accept slacking. Whoops, my bad; he’s motivated when Kyouko tells him she’ll cheer for him. Even over the phone, Kouichi can tell that’s why. As for Sakura, she knows Tooru might be watching, so she accepts an offer of help from Yuki and ends up having fun practicing with her.

Poor, poor Sakura, always being grouped up with Remi and Sengoku for cooking class. The pair may make a cute couple, but they are downright hazardous in the kitchen. Just unspeakable, obscenely bad at everything having to do with cooking. They couldn’t cook rice in an automatic cooker.

Even so, Sakura tries her hardest to herd these two culinary cats and get them to make something. When that predictably fails, the rest of the class contributes a portion of their curry for them, out of pity. When Remi and Sengoku admit it will be hard for them to find spouses with their piss-poor skills, Sakura tells them if that happens she’ll marry them both. Now that’s friendship…and bigamy!

The final segment involving shortcomings deals with Kyouko’s tendency to get murderously jealous whenever Izumi so much as speaks to another girl. Her aura is so hostile both Izumi and the girl who forgot her textbook feel compelled to look back at her.

At her house, Izumi dodges and evades Kyouko, who isn’t angry and doesn’t want to hurt Izumi, but…just doesn’t want him looking at or talking to any other girls. Is that so much to ask? Probably!

The tables turn when Mizouchi notices Kyouko is a little chilly while painting a sign outside, filling in for Yuki. Mizouchi offers his jacked to cover her legs. When Izumi spots the jacket, he asks whose it is, and when he learns it’s Mizouchi, he takes it off Kyouko and replaces it with his warmer sweater.

He makes a quick swap when Mizouchi returns, but when Mizouchi leaves again, Izumi wishes he’d just keep walking forever. It’s then that Kyouko realizes Izumi is jealous, and that puts a huge charming smile on her face.

I don’t love these characters, nor do they love each other, because they’re perfect. I love them because they’re flawed and yet always ready to support one another; to lift each other up when one of them is down. That’s the Horimiya magic, and I’m glad to have it in my life.

Insomniacs After School – 11 – Invincible Peas in a Pod

An episode full of bliss begins with the worst morning of Ganta’s life, when he wakes up to find his mother has suddenly gone without a word. That feeling of abandonment must have been hard to shake for years, but the hole his mother left in his heart has gradually become filled by Isaki.

This is a little masterpiece of an episode, which never cuts away from anyone other than Ganta and Isaki, highlighting just how well they coexist together; how happy and at peace they are together; how well matched they are. When Ganta’s natural inclination to worry or eschew kicks in, Isaki is there to give him a little nudge. When he stumbles, she’s there to catch him.

I made note of two finally being able to play house after Isaki’s sister skedaddled, but I wasn’t prepared for just how beautifully Ganta and Isaki settle into a little slice of life together, whether it’s going on their little daily adventures, nightly photography sessions, or things like laundry, shopping, and cooking. It’s all presented so sweetly—so idyllically.

In the rare moments they’re alone, Ganta and Isaki are both thinking of one another, and the situation they’re in, and how far they can or should take it. Isaki is proactive in setting a “mutual boundary line” past which neither of them can cross in the night, but when the two start exchanging funny texts and hearing each other laughing through the walls, Isaki cracks the sliding door, thus bridging their artificial gap.

Having survived a night without giving in too recklessly to their steadily simmering feelings, Ganta and Isaki get right back to it the next day, having a blast photographing all of the gorgeous spots they visit. That night they break out the watermelon and spend some time in silent bliss. Ganta wishes it could stay this way forever; Isaki concurs.

Having heard Isaki’s secret about her tenuous medical past, which he knows from her sister she doesn’t just tell anyone, Ganta decides the time is right to open up about his primary source of insomnia: a crushing fear of a tomorrow that is far worse than the day before. This is the fear instilled in him since his mother left.

In bringing up such a delicate and painful topic, Ganta breaks down into tears, but in the midst of drying them, Isaki leans in close and kisses him. She then draws back and notes that her first kiss “tasted salty”, due to Ganta’s tears. Ganta is so shocked—and happy—he doesn’t know quite what to do, so he runs outside and falls into the sea.

Of course, Isaki is there to pull him out, and in ensuring he’s not hurt, the two make eye contact for the first time since their kiss…and start laughing at the fact that the eye contact feels different. The kiss was a physical affirmation of the feelings the two clearly have and have had for each other since shortly after meeting. But it also opens a door that can’t be easily closed.

Isaki says they should “leave things how they are” until they reach the finish line of their trip. This isn’t a retraction of the feelings expressed in the kiss, merely a practical suggestion. And Ganta intends to honor it. But once they do reach that finish line—the Mawaki Site—he fully intends to confess to her. To that, all I can say is Attaboy!

Rarely has a couple spending time alone together for an extended time felt so real and so immersive, and their understated yet momentous first kiss will go down in my anime watching history as one of the very best. Hopefully Ganta can seal the deal by making his feelings for Isaki plain, and Isaki can accept and return them. The times they’ve enjoyed don’t need to be a fleeting dream; they can be their reality.

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible – 08 – Learning from Hamburger Mistakes

When Nagisa, Akina and Saki go shopping for their cherry blossom picnic, Nagisa spots Junta with his little brother Seita and greets him warmly. Saki, possessive of Nagi-chan, is then utterly disarmed by the adorable-as-hell Seita, who regards her as a big sister.

That’s when Akina decides to invite Junta and Seita to their picnic. This means Nagisa, who was originally going to leave the cooking to her cousin and sister, wants to cook something for Junta.

That something turns out to be hamburger steak, which she knows he likes. But when even peeling an onion is a baffling ordeal, it’s clear she needs a lot of help. Saki is happy to guide her, but when Nagi nicks her finger with the knife, Saki asks Nagi to leave the cooking to her.

That’s when Akina comes in, sees Nagi sulking on the couch, and tells Saki to give her one more try. Nagi was careless and made a mistake, but she says her sister isn’t someone prone to repeating them, and in any case, mistakes are crucial to learning.

Nagi and Saki end up making a successful steak, and the next day the cherry trees are resplendent. Junta eyes the steak, but it’s a little far away, so he prepares to eat something closer until Nagisa serves him.

When he says it’s delicious, Nagi is on Cloud Nine-gi. But then Akina gets drunk on beer and starts hitting on a guileless Junta. This pisses Nagisa off, and she storms away to buy some yakitori at the stalls.

Seita urges Junta to make up with Nagisa at once, but when he walks up to her and apologizes, she says it wasn’t his fault and keeps walking away. That’s when Seita grabs her hem and directs her attention to Junta sulking on the ground, and asks again with his childish innocence if they can make up.

They do, and while Junta isn’t sure why Nagi got mad and apologizes for being dense, the fact he thought about her so much makes her happy. Seita suggests they hold hands, with the lil’ peacemaker as the conduit between Junta and Seita from blushing brighter than the blossoms.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World – 07 – Laid-Back Adventure Camp

Mitsuha invites the adventuers Sven, Zepp, Gritt and Ilse to her store for tea and to hire them to be her bodyguards as she accompanies them on their next trip into the wilderness. Mitsuha impresses the others with her preparation, strange clothes, and general toughness.

While she’s paying them for protection, a nice side benefit of the adventuring trip is that Mitsuha gets to demonstrate a number of products that make camping and hunting easier, from a pop-up insulated tent to a firestarter. She also gets to show off her marksmanship as she manages to kill a bird with her crossbow that Ilse missed with her bow.

That night, Mitsuha also shares some more cheap, easy-to-prepare food from her world that nevertheless is the best-tasting food the adventurers have ever eaten. She vows to make the food and other equipment affordable enough for hardworking mercs like themselves. That said, when she dons a bikini to take her bath, she scandalizes her new friends; apparently this world is a lot more modest when it comes to coverage!

Other than that little snafu, the only snag in an otherwise educational and problem-free trip is when Mitsuha does into the bushes to go to the bathroom and encounters an ornery boar. When she runs, it gives chase, and she unloads her 9mm pistol at it. Luckily, it’s just enough stopping power to bring the beast down before it gets her, but now she knows to pack larger ammo in the future.

When the group celebrates a job well done at the tavern, Mitsuha breaks out one more artifact from her nation: a gravure mag with pictures that confirm that the swimsuit she wore is perfectly normal where she’s from. While Gritt and Ilse concede that point, wearing that kind of thing here is a different story.

The episode wraps up with Mitsuha trying to create large works of art to sell by teleporting to a quarry and teleporting back while thinking of the form she wants the stone statue to take. But since her art sensibilities are limited, the resulting statues are assumed by customers to be ugly on purpose so they’ll ward off evil. Ah well…you can’t excel at everything!

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World – 06 – Visiting Friends

Mitsuha raked in 260 gold for Adelaide’s debutant ball, which she converts to 26 million yen. That’s nearly $200,000—not too bad! That also means 1 gold = 100,000 yen, or about $760. It also means 80,000 gold is worth $60,871,200. I guess Mitsuha will be spending her retirement in Beverly Hills!

In any case, the success of the feast in particular had every noble in attendance to order their chefs to step up their game, or else. That’s why Baron Turk’s chef is perhaps a little on edge and overly aggressive in his demand for fish, which Mitsuha makes clear she doesn’t sell direct.

Fortunately for Mitsuha, Lady and Duke Bozes enter the store and scare the chef off. Unfortunately for Mitsuha, she must close her store for the day because Lady Iris drags her back to their manor in the boonies for a long-delayed visit.

Beatrice in particular is jealous of being the only one not to attend Adelaide’s ball, and gets Mitsuha to commit to planning her ball when she comes of age in two years. That night Mitsuha is feted with a celebratory feast, the quality of which she does not comment, and also has to come up with some pretty wild explanations for how the logistics of Adelaide’s ball played out.

Mitsuha talks for so long, she ends up staying the night, and Beatrice visits her late at night to get her to reaffirm her promise to handle her debutante ball. Beatrice impresses upon Mitsuha how ladies are engaged at 10 and become adults and marry at 15.

Beatrice also starts asking pointe questions about Mitsuha’s love life, which we know to be non-existent. At one point Mitsuha wonders if Beatrice has the hots for her, then finds notes under her sleeve from both her brothers and her dad, who paid her to pump Mitsuha for info.

Mitsuha agrees to provide Beatrice with intel, but she’ll pay her for it as well (never doubt Mitsuha’s ability to make a profit from any situation!) Also, the information will be completely manufactured, in order to best mislead the Bozes men and maintain her intriguing, mysterious persona.

When Mitsuha returns to her store, a fight between a fugitive and a bounty hunter bursts inside. Mitsuha takes a quick check of her armaments, but ends up wisely using a non-lethal pepper spray. When the fugitive runs out with one of her knives, she gives chase along with the swordswoman.

She then meets an archer girl, babyfaced spearman, and grizzle greatsword-wielding veteran: the perfect fantasy adventurer/mercenary guild party. Liking the cut of this quartet’s jib, Mitsuha immediately hires them for a mission—the nature of which we’ll no doubt learn next week.