Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible – 05 – Keep His Name Out Yo Mouth

Kubo goes on the offensive numerous times, with Shiraishi mostly bemused, confused, or flustered each time. He’s used to and even enjoys eating alone, often in a different spot every day. But Kubo’s been lookin’ for him so she can eat with him. When she offers her tamagoyaki to him with the standard “say ahh” gesture, he doesn’t take the bait, but when he offers her his, she takes his arm and noms it right out of his chopsticks.

Kubo’s gotten to the point where both her sister and her best friends can tell something is clearly up. She simply looks cuter than usual, and is noticably glowing. Ruling out contact with radioactive material, they ask her if she has a crush, or is interested in anyone. She admits to them it’s Shiraishi, and when Tamao starts ragging on he guy, Kubo firmly shuts it down, saying she knows his good qualities…which she then keeps confidential.

That increased possessiveness of the person you like continues when Shiraishi arrives at school extra-early, for no particular reason than he likes the vibes. Kubo beats him there, which is either coincidence or she guessed right. She puts one of her earbuds in his ear, sits right beside him on his chair, and they listen to her music. For a minute the two simply exist in their own little world.

She then asks Shiraishi what kind of music he listens to, and when he says it’s mostly anime music, it doesn’t deter her from wanting to listen with him. He then goes on and on about the anime based on the manga she borrowed. Moved by his passion, she starts watching the anime, which Akina clearly and correctly deduces is not because her girlfriends told her about it.

Akina wasn’t born yesterday, but sometimes it seems Shiraishi was. He manages to actually go and buy a White Day gift, but remains ignorant as to the identity of the one who gave him a cookie. Since Kubo is the only one he talks to, he asks her to come with him somewhere secluded where he explains the situation.

You can see the subtle moment of panic washing over Kubo when he says he wants to give it to “another girl”, but when he says he doesn’t know who that girl is, she’s relieved. She also gives him plenty of additional “hints” to help him realize she is his Valentine. I used quotes because when directly asked who gave him the cookie, she says her damn name.

I’m not under any illusions that Shiraishi will finally awaken to the fact that Kubo likes him and wants him to ask her out—at best, I’d expect any meaningful step forward for him will come in the last or next-to-last episode. But that’s okay, as there’s still plenty to enjoy: Kubo’s face’s, Hana-Kana’s voice work, the general nice vibes.

Those are key, since we all watch Vinland Saga around here, this is a welcome salve from that excellent but somewhat bleaker story!

Zombieland Saga – 07 – A Truly Shocking Performance

(Apologies for the horrible pun that titles this post.—Ed.) Last week’s episode proved ZLS is far more than just a venue for Miyano Mamoru’s manic voice performances or a showcase for idol-dancing CGI. It can also do serious character drama. How would it resolve the generational rift between Franchouchou’s dual aces?

With Junko unwilling/unable to continue in this new and scary idoling world and holed up in one of the mansion’s many rooms, Ai commits to doing Junko’s part as the days to Saga Rock count down, even as the strain causes her head and limbs literally fall off (kudos to the foley artists for appropriately gross sound effects as the zombies move about).

Even Lily admits there may be nothing any of them can to to convince Ai to come back. Sakura asks Tatsumi for help, but he shouts her away. Even so, Tatsumi later breaks down the barricade Junko had built over the door and, surprisingly enough, provides the sober voice of reason. He acknowledges Junko’s fear of how things have changed in the last thirty years, but assures her the calling of idol is no less noble than it was in her time.

He also suggests something Junko didn’t consider a possibility: that if she doesn’t want to get so close to her fans…that she just shouldn’t. She can still sing and dance with the others while continuing to carry the Showa flag and live the life she’s most comfortable with.

He also reminds Junko that she’s not the only one with fears as a result of waking up a zombie in a strange time and place. He informs her how Ai died, and the weather forecast for the festival, and how Ai is going forward to face her fears. Considering she’s already dead, what harm would it do Junko to give this idol thing one last try?

With that, Tatsumi leaves Junko with her outfit for tomorrow’s festival…and a casual order to fix the door he busted (hey, this is still a comedy first and foremost). The next morning everyone waits as long as they can, but then pack into the van without Junko.

Just as they start off, Junko heroically leaps over the mansion gate lands in front of the van…which absolutely pummels her, in such a similar fashion to Sakura’s own demise it sparks a vague memory for her. Like a zombie horror movie, Ai slowly gets up…but not to eat brains; to join her fellow members of Franchouchou, all of whom but Ai run to embrace her.

Still, Ai decides to bury the hatchet as the group prepares for their show, promising Junko she’ll have her back. Tatsumi liberally sprays shoe waterproofing all over the girls so their makeup won’t melt in the coming rains.

The others join Ai as she watches her old group Iron Frill knock it out of the park (without anyone getting roasted by lightning). Why the more popular band would open for unknowns like Franchouchou, I have no idea, but that plot contrivance is only one of a long chain of them that, IMO, somewhat mar the group’s biggest moment yet.

While Iron Frill’s dancing and singing was 2D animation, the show breaks back out the smoother-moving but still far creepier CGI models of the Franchouchou members. I remain mostly unconvinced this was the best way to animate them performing, as it really pulls you out of the otherwise 2D world of the show.

Technical aspects aside, I liked how the storms made Ai so frightened she couldn’t sing properly, threatening to make their big break a disaster right from the start (the rain also forces much of Iron Frill’s crowd to flee, combined with the fact they don’t know who Franchouchou is). I liked Junko having Ai’s back even better, especially when Ai said she’d have hers. Junko may have nerves too, but they don’t relate to performing in a thunderstorm.

The idols regroup and finish out their first song strong, but the entire stage is suddenly destroyed by lightning, making real Ai’s worst nightmare: a repeat of the events that killed her. However, due to them already being dead and zombies (and perhaps the thick coats of spray Tatsumi applied), their exposure to lightning only makes them glow, and makes their voices distorted.

The group proceeds to perform their last song in “autotune” remix mode, their bodies providing the only light on the stage, and occasionally shooting lightning beams out of their fingers. This sequence of events represents a new level of preposterous-ness for the show.

While a show about zombie idols already demands one to suspend disbelief about quite a number of things, the piling on of absurd events culminating in glowing idols shooting lasers while singing autotune…was just a bit much.

The attitude that created this sequence seems to be: “So we carefully crafted a nuanced character conflict between Junko and AI rooted in generational differences…but SCREW ALL THAT—Anything goes when they take the stage; nothing has to make sense!” Never mind the fact that there were zero consequences for Junko not practicing with the group for weeks. I know she’s one of the best from her time, but no one’s that good!

All that criticism aside, the festival, ridiculous as it was, had the intended effect of getting Franchouchou much-needed publicity, as news of their “illuminating” performance at Saga Rock ends up published in a magazine. We’ll see how that translates into cash to fund their operation, but more importantly how it heightens their statute in the idol world, and how they’ll respond to that increased fame.

3-gatsu no Lion – 35 – Cookie Burn

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Kobuku, the bullying in Hina’s class has ceased. The ringleader Takagi Megumi and her five co-conspirators were exposed for all to see and made to apologize to the class for their actions. Yet Kobuku remains unconvinced that Takagi in particular shows any remorse for what she’s done.

In an interrogation-style scene, he tries to get past Takagi’s limp excuses (“it’s society’s fault”) to get to the root of her troubles. Takagi, we learn, is deeply frustrated with always being told to study and work hard by people who won’t take responsibility if all that studying and working amounts to nothing.

That’s a valid frustration! More importantly, as all those people were dishing out those platitudes, they never made any real effort to ask Takagi how she feels and what she wants. But now that she has Mr. Koboku’s undivided attention, she no longer has any excuses.

Whether Takagi’s apology was hollow or not, Hina is happy the darkness in her class has been excised, even if she remains terribly hurt by the actions of Takagi and her henchwomen. That especially applies where poor Sakura Chiho is concerned, which is why Hina is so overjoyed when she finally receives a letter from her.

In it, Chiho tells Hina that after initially being a bit lonely, she’s made friends and found peace at the remote farm surrounded by mountains and forests and full of animals and kind people. Tears well up in Hina’s eyes as she reads, tears of both enduring heartbreak over what went down in their class, and relief that Chiho is okay and wants Hina to visit sometime.

Rei, perhaps feeling like Hina is slowly stealing his show (he’s not wrong!), arrives at the Kawamoto residence to find Hina lying supine and fast asleep in the sun. She has an ethereal, almost angelic aura about her that makes him feel extra self-conscious about entering the room. So he waits in the genkan, only to be woken up by Hina when he nods off.

Hina tells him, simply, that “it’s over”, and eagerly describes the day her classmates cried and apologized to her, then invited her over to make cookies. These were the same classmates who, with the threat of retribution from Takagi and her ilk removed, finally felt safe enough to tell the teacher what happened and talk to and hang out with Hina again.

Later, Hina opens her mouth wide to show Rei the minor burn caused by a freshly baked cookie bitten into too quickly, Rei lamely decides to make this about himself: Woe is he, who wasn’t able to do anything to help Hina in her time of need. Oh wait, he didn’t do “nothing” during that time…he did a lot!

Hina sets him straight on this point by listing everything he’s done for her, then adorably doles out punishment in the form of several love bites. Then she starts to dance and twirl under his arm as they walk briskly beside the river, happy as you please. Which begs the question: Is Hina merely the Best Girl in the galaxy, or the entire universe? I’m gonna go with the latter.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 34

Wait, I don’t understand, what the heck is going on?

It’s really quite simple, Fuka-san: Momo and Beni activate a new search app on the smartphone that shows them the treasure they’re looking for is directly beneath them, despite the face they were standing on a totally random spot. Also, Touri has a thing for Sasami. Upstairs, Ryouko destroys Hachiko’s swords, inadvertantly turning her into a bawling child. I guess she hadn’t overcome that weakness after all!

They dig and hit paydirt: a Juria Sword, which when grabbed by both Momo and Beni completes the tripartite sword that unlocks the Jurai starship buried below; the very ship that brought Momo and Beni to the planet to begin with. Now we’re getting somewhere!

Like Ryouko, Ayeka has no trouble making her opponent tap out (and swear fealty). Then they feel the upheaval going on downstairs as if it were and earthquake. The earth does indeed quake and rend below, and Beni must make a choice between grabbing the sword and ‘taking back who she really is’, or accepting Tenchi’s hand and accepting who she is, who Momo loves regardless. She choses the hand, and the ruins and the building above them collapse. Perhaps it was for the best.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 33

Hachiko and Hana take on Gouriki, demonstrating that x-acto knives and wooden swords are curiously effective against killbots while allowing Momo and Touri to get to the caves.

Down there, the Science Club and Tenchi’s crew join forces to try to find the treasure, whatever it is. Yuki points out that while she just wants money, the treasure is more important to Beni. Also, as things would work out, Momo happens to land her tush on Tenchi’s face and bounce into Beni’s arms.

Above ground, Ryouko and Ayeka take up arms against Hachiko and Hana in Tenchi’s name, and Hana even pisses off Ayeka by calling her ‘Auntie’. Down below, having seen the photo of Tenchi and Sasami, Touri throws the smartphone at Tenchi, but misses. It ends up in the hands of Momo and Beni, who start to glow, then Washuu elatedly reports that “It’s happening!”

What’s happening? Not sure. Temporal re-alignment? The reveal of the treasure? We must watch on to find out.