Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 04 – Odd Girls Out

It’s a Band (or more precisely “Art Collective”) Coming Together episode, interspersed with scenes of the SunDolls, about to start their comeback push with Kano replaced by a new pint-sized center. Kiui meets Kano and Mei, and quickly learns that they’re nice, cool girls she doesn’t have to worry about. Yoru wants to celebrate with trending tiramisu cups, but th JELEE girls have work to do.

That said, Yoru still understands the need for team-building, so she gets pizza and gives everyone a chocolate egg with a different sea creature prize. While she ends up with the jellyfish, she gives it to Kano, declaring her the leader of JELEE. But when Kano presents an ambitious plan that culminates in their releasing a second music video by next Wednesday, everyone, even her superfan Mei, balks. School and lessons are starting back up, while Kiui has her VTuber work.

Kano skulks out, and already, the group has hit a snag. Mei discovers the reason for the specific deadline: the SunDolls are also doing something that Wednesday and Kano wants to compete with them for buzz. Kano’s tipsy older sister Mion adds more context, as their mother is actually SunDolls’ manager. Despite not wanting to be an idol, Kano was a good soldier, but after the punching scandal, Kano’s mom had her “retire”. That’s rough!

While Mei thinks Kano may be headed to a SunDolls pop-up, Kiui doubts she’d go there, knowing her emotional state. Sure enough, she suspected Kano felt bad and went to the tiramisu spot Yoru suggested, and there she is. Everyone makes up and heads back to her apartment, where Yoru has cleaned and cooked what might be Kano’s first homemade meal in years.

After stew, the girls have tiramisu and share their secrets. Having previously owned up to lying about attending school, Kiui further opens up about her fall from grace. Mei owns up to being a terrible singer. Kano … admits she likes someone, but doesn’t say whom.

Once everyone has shared and knows a little more about one another, JELEE gets going and pulls an all-nighter together to get their second music video out ahead of schedule. While they all collapse from exhaustion not ten seconds after hitting “Publish”, and we once again watch the video run over the end credits, upon waking up they learn they’ve gone viral!

A Condition Called Love – 03 – Unlimited Overtime

A commenter in the ANN forum on this show made a very good point that made me want to reassess the show so far: this show is clearly aware that Hananoi’s more obsessive behaviors are problematic. Fortunately, while he does loom over her at the end of last week’s episode, he ends up collapsing due to his fever from waiting in the cold for Hotaru all morning.

Hotaru calls his grandma and goes home, and feels awful for asking Hananoi to do something that means so much to him, just to see if she’d feel anything. I think she’s being a little harsh on herself, but like Hananoi, that’s something she needs to work on. She’s always thought she was just some NPC, but to him, she’s a princess.

A couple of days pass, and the day their trial run ends arrives. It’s Christmas Eve, and they were supposed to go on a date, but Hotaru assumes it’s not going to happen, either because he’s still ill or because he’s sick of her. She recalls a past instance of unintentionally hurting a friend of hers, but missing the opportunity to properly apologize and drifting apart.

When her little sister’s ice skating costume rips and she needs Hotaru to rush to the skating rink with a sewing kit, Hotaru is resigned to having the same Christmas Eve she always has with her family. But then Hananoi arrives there, having remembered her mentioning her sister’s skating. He still wants to take her out on a date, and Hotaru is surprised by how relieved she feels to see him again.

She may not be aware, but the longing she felt those past two days … well, that’s pretty much love, isn’t it? She felt bad about what went down at his place, but she also missed him. After she presents him to her family (whose jaws drop at the hottie she scored) they go out on a cute, fun, low-key date with food, shopping, light viewing, and skating.

When the lights temporarily go out, Hananoi describes all of the reasons he likes Hotaru, and points out that those things aren’t normal. Not everyone is as kind and curious and generous as she is. She’s special, and he wanted her to have a special day, because he managed to find out that Christmas Eve is also her birthday.

When she slips on her skates, she catches her in a princess carry, and the lights come back on. Hotaru is struck by how many new things she’s started to feel since her trial with Hananoi began, and isn’t ready for it to end. So after he escorts her home, she asks if they can keep the trial going. Naturally, he’s fine with her extending it indefinitely.

Hananoi felt notably less creepy this week, even if he still tries way too hard sometimes at the cost of his own well-being. But I think the more time he spends with Hotaru, the more even-keeled he’ll learn to become, just as the more time she spends with him, the more she’ll learn about what it is to love.

It’s just a shame this was not a particularly nice episode to look at. I fear I’ve been so spoiled by the likes of No-holds-barred powerhouses like Dangers in My Heart that I probably won’t be continuing with this one.

Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen – 03 – Let’s Dance

The Cross Academy Festival is upon us, the main event of which is a dance that causes a flurry of couples and mad dash of asking out. Apparently, there has to be a boy and a girl couple to attend the dance, which is definitely the source material showing its age (like the cross-dressing last week). Heteronormative much?

Shima thought he was being proactive, but gets rejected over twenty times. Izumo, like Bon, has no interest in frivolous activities when exams are so near (a rare thing they agree on). Even her friend Noriko is already spoken for. Even so, Bon make a girl cry when he rejects her, while Yukio uses his status as a festival staff member to gently let down his would-be dates.

You might be asking, why doesn’t Rin just ask Shiemi out? Well, she’s not a student at the academy, so she’s ineligible … until she suddenly shows up one day as a transfer student. All that tutoring with Yukio was so she could enroll. Surprise! It only took thirteen years (our time) for it to happen!

This shocks Izumi, who suddenly finds herself eating lunch with Noriko and Shiemi. As Noriko is telling Shiemi how good the timing of her arrival is, and how most of the school is pairing off for the coming dance, Rin stops by to ask Shiemi to come with him.

Rin is prepared to ask her out to the dance, but Shiemi wants to say something too: she’s going to ask … Yukio. Mind you, this out of any romantic interest in Rin’s brother. It’s just she’s spent a lot of time with him and can see that he’s been burdened with stuff of late, and thinks he could use a break from that stress.

Rin doesn’t quite grasp this, and believes this is Shiemi rejecting him for Yukio, who gets to Win Again. He’s devastated, and decides to give up on the dance and work the onigiri stall. Unfortunately, Yukio gently shoots down Shiemi the exact same way, word for word, he declined other girls’ offers. That leaves both Rin and Shiemi without dates for the dance.

Shiemi decides to participate in the haunted house, and puts her all into it, but Noriko points out to her that Rin definitely intended to ask her out, and asks who she likes more: Rin or Yukio. Shiemi answers she “likes” both as precious friends, but Noriko is only interested in who she likes romantically. Shiemi laughs and says it’s simply “too early” for her to be thinking about that stuff, which just reinforces how pure, innocent, and inexperienced she is about such things.

We know Izumo has feelings for Rin, but is too stubborn to do anything with them but let them stew. It occurred to me that no one actually asked her out to the dance, they just accepted she wasn’t interested. But Rin does end up asking for her help at the food stall, presenting her with an cute working outfit to wear.

When she tells him there are plenty of women he can ask for that, he tells her because this is work it has to be a woman he can trust. The words It can’t just be anyone ring in Izumo’s ears a lot differently than Rin intended. Izumo gives in, but tells Rin he should “learn to see people’s hidden sides,” then telling him she doesn’t trust anyone as they part ways.

That night, as Noriko is heading out for the dance, she tells a studying Izumo to be honest about her feelings. She’s late to help out at the stall, but they’re doing fine anyway, to the point Rin gets a break. He wants to bad to dance with Shiemi, and just like magic, there she is, resplendent in her yukata, the crowd parting around her like a sea as she comes into focus.

He approaches her, she explains what she’s doing there, he tells her he ended up making rice balls, and she laughs and starts to tear up, so ridiculously happy she’s able to talk to him like this again. That’s when Rin asks her, straight up, to dance with him. She blushes and clutches her garment, thinking about how this means he feels “that way” about her, and recalling Noriko’s question of which brother she likes more.

But while she does admit in her thoughts she likes Rin, he taps her forehead, having inferred her wish. He takes her by the arm and they both approach Yukio and ask him if he’ll dance with them. They all take each others’ hands and spin around to the music, happy as clams. Shiemi’s beaming smile is everything. In the end, everyone got to enjoy their youth!

It’s a good thing, too, because this festival is most definitely a Calm Before the Storm™. In the stinger, the Vatican reported that there are Illuminati spies among the exorcists, including one in the Japan branch, and Shura is charged with discovering who it is. There were times I suspected Yukio, but the silent but omnipresent Takara Nemu emerged as the prime candidate.

That was only reinforced at the lovely mood-killing final scene. Izumo, using the excuse of not wanting to break her word, put on the outfit Rin gave her and is headed down to work with him. I was worried she would see Rin dancing with Shiemi (and Yukio) and feel crestfallen or betrayed, but something worse happens.

She doesn’t even make it to the festival before Nemu stops her and presents her with “Kamiki Tsukumo’s precious mascot”, a stuffed fox spirit. Izumo’s furious reaction confirms this is some messed-up shit, and the season’s storm is about to arrive in earnest.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 17 – Emotional Support

When the party must wait out a month-long cold wave in a village, Sein seems partly relieved, because it means he gets to spend that much more time with these lovable goofballs. The days and weeks pass with little incident, until Fern and Stark have a “fight”.

Frieren enlists Sein’s aid as priests specialize in mediation, and he learns that Stark was just getting back at Fern touching his cheek with her freezing hand. He learns that Fern was only being stubborn; she didn’t mind Stark touching her, but was momentarily scared by how strong his hands felt.

The two quickly apologize to one another and make up, leaving Sein to go to the tavern wondering why they don’t just date already? In this particular instance, Sein is very much an audience surrogate! Then he asks Frieren why she urged him to go on an adventure and shows so much concern for him.

Aside from not liking “her own kind”; i.e. someone who like her initially resisted striking out into the world, she simply wanted to do for Sein what Himmel would have done, and what he did do for her. Thanks to him, Heiter, and Eisen, Frieren learned how good it feels to spend time with friends.

Of course, it’s because Sein’s friend Gorilla is still out there, in the opposite direction, that he must bid farewell to Frieren, Fern, and Stark. The final goodbye is appropriately quick and understated. And while Frieren is right that as an adult Sein will be fine, he still notes how quiet it is traveling alone. Hopefully he’ll find his friend soon.

Frieren, Fern, and Stark continue towards Äußerst, but one day Fern won’t wake up. Frieren determines she has a fever, then uses her Holy Scripture (she apparently has one) to identify it as a simple cold. They manage to find warm shelter thanks to a kind woman who appears to be one of the only remaining residents of what was in Himmel’s day a bustling village.

Frieren prepares to head out with Stark to gather ingredients for medicine, but Stark observes that Frieren has scarcely let go of Fern’s hand this whole time. Frieren says that ever since Fern was a little kid, she’s always held her hand like this. An embarrassed Fern wrests free from her grip and turns over in bed, not wanting to be treated “like a child”.

It occurs to Frieren that Fern is right; in just two years, Fern will be a full-fledged adult. She was once so tiny, but in the blink of an eye—an elf’s eye, especially—she grew up. And yet because it felt like so short a time, Frieren suspects Fern will always be a child in her mind. She probably doesn’t know that virtually all mothers feel that way about their kids.

After some fun obstacles, Frieren and Stark make it to the majestic icicle cherry blossom tree she sought. While it bears her favorite winter-blooms, she actually came for the giant mushrooms growing at the foot of its trunk. Before she does, she tells Stark the real reason she held Fern’s hand.

She held it because looked like Fern was in pain, and she wanted to relieve that pain. She also remembers that she herself was once in bed with a fever, and it was Himmel who introduced her not just to the concept of holding the hand of someone in pain, but as means of offering emotional support, which even grown-ups need and appreciate.

After returning to the house, making the medicine, and administering it, Frieren takes Stark’s advice to “do what she wants” and takes her hand. Fern again protests, saying she’s not a child. Frieren keeps holding her hand and tells her she knows. Fern understands and smiles. Eventually, she’s fully recovered, thanks to Frieren, Stark, and the kind lady. Now it’s off to Äußerst.

Frieren’s winter cour starts off strong, underscoring the chemistry and warmth of its characters, while Frieren continues to honor absent family by savoring her new journey. Fern and Stark continue to be the cutest, there’s a new OP with lots of new characters, and a new ED with a fresh arrangement of the tender, tear-jerking song by milet.

Kimizero – 12 (Fin) – Their First Time*

* No, not that first time.

Runa and Ryuuto are once again inseparable, with Runa loudly proclaiming her feelings for him to everyone around. Honestly, I wouldn’t be embarrassed. She speaks the truth! When talk turns to Christmas Eve, Ryuuto considers if Runa may actually want to have sex. But she has a new project in mind: setting up a surprise dinner for her and Maria’s parents.

While an extraordinarily bad idea that could easily blow up in her face, it’s classic Runa: she loves both her parents and wants them to be happy. Back at school, Isshi returns after a lot of time off and has transformed due to weight loss. Now he looks jut like Akari’s favorite K-pop idol but she daren’t ask him out lest she look like a pathetic loser.

Nisshi tries to hit on Nicole, who instantly calls him out on it, but he rightly says that nothing will happen if he just sits back and does nothing. But Nicole hasn’t given up on Sekiya, so she tells him “Sorry, I have a boyfriend.” While asking someone out right after a breakup can work, I fear the difficulty level is far to high for someone with no courtship experience.

As for Runa and Ryuuto, both are nervous about the impending dinner. They have every right to be, as it ends up blowing up in Runa’s face. Because Runa didn’t tell her dad her mom would also be at the dinner, he brought a date. And because Runa is going to introduce him to her boyfriend, he thought he’d introduce her to his new fiancée.

Poor Runa! Ryuuto takes her home, and her dad told her he’d be out late, so they’re alone. Ryuuto, who at least realizes the mood just isn’t right to stick around, prepares to leave, but failed to grasp how much Runa wanted him with her, especially this night when she feels so alone.

Runa “wants Ryuuto to have [her]”, but there’s a problem: Runa is a little redder and breathing a little heavier than she should be, even under these circumstances. When she virtually passes out in his arms, Ryuuto takes her temperature (102 F!) gets her into bed, puts a washcloth on her forehead, and stays by her side through the night.

Meanwhile, Nisshi is somewhat creepily hanging around Nichole’s workplace, wanting to more directly ask her out even if it means getting rejected again. But he hesitates, and in those hesitant moments, Nicole runs right past him to the cram school.

She blows by the receptionist, opens every door to every room until she finds Sekiya, then tells him she’ll wait for him until he’s through his exams, even if he tells her not to. She then runs off, but Sekiya chases her down and puts his scarf around her. Even this gesture brings tears to Nicole’s eyes. There is truly no one else in her heart but this guy. He’d better effin’ step up!

Ryuuto eventually falls asleep beside Runa, so they technically spend the night together. In the morning, Runa’s feeling right as rain, and particularly happy to be spending Christmas morning with Ryuuto. They exchange gifts: he gives him a slew of good luck charms (not just for studying), he gives her moonstone earrings to match her ring.

In an extra florish, Ryuuto dresses up as Santa, which is the same thing Runa’s dad used to do. But now she realizes she has “a new santa”—a new source of happiness, in Ryuuto.

That night Runa chats with Nicole, who is still riding the high of having sucessfully re-bagged herself a Sekiya. Runa asks if it’s weird that Ryuuto didn’t try doing anything dirty with her last night. Nicole correctly posits that it was due to her having a fever.

Nicole, who could make a great therapist if she hadn’t already chosen a dream, thinks Runa’s disappointment in the lack of on-gettin’ is a sign that she may finally want have sex with Ryuuto. That makes it the first time she’s actually wanted to have sex with someone, as opposed to feeling obligated. If and when they do do it, Runa and Ryuuto will be sharing firsts.

In the epilogue, Runa takes Ryuuto to a print club where she cosplays as a maid and does a shoot with Ryuuto. In keeping with her new policy of being direct about her feelings, Runa tells him she wants to turn him on, probably because she’s coming around to wanting to be physical with him.

With that, she plants a smooch on his cheek for the final photo captioned “I love Ryuuto,” and we close the book on Kimizero. While it never knocked my socks off in any particular aspect, this was an all-around solid rom-com exploring an experience gap that turned out to be mutual: Ryuuto’s inexperience in sex, and Runa’s inexperience in love.

Kimizero – 11 – Foot On the Gas

It’s been two weeks since the festival, and things are going great … for Nicole and Sekiya. Runa and Ryuuto seem cordial, but distant, as if the chill of coming winter has infected their relationship. Their conversation is polite but comes in fits and starts. As they go their separate ways for the day, Runa looks back and sees Ryuuto isn’t smiling, and neither is she. The vibes are bad folks! I’m nervous.

Then the unthinkable happens: Nicole comes to school with eyes raw from crying all night. She’s been dumped! When asks what the frikkin’ deal is by Ryuuto, Sekiya says he could see that Nicole wanted to go all the way in short order (making up for lost time) but he felt if they did it once they’d be doing it all the time, at the cost of their exam scores and, possibly, their futures.

I know Ryuuto is a mild-mannered fellow, and I typically abhor violence, but goddamn did I want him to punch Sekiya right in his pretty face. All of his concerns could have been discussed with Nicole. She’s reasonable, other than loving only one person ever!

Dumping a girl who was pining for you for three years because you didn’t want her to waste her precious high school life? Dude, taste the knuckles, all of them. When Runa calls Nicole to cheer her up, she ends up talking about her and Ryuuto and how distant he feels.

So what does Nicole do? She runs to Runa’s house to give her a hug they both need. Sekiya: don’t ever darken the frame of this show again unless it’s to apologize like you’ve never apologized before, and take Nicole the fuck back. He certainly doesn’t deserve her, but that doesn’t matter.

When Ryuuto and Maria end up crossing paths at the station again, Ryuuto is direct, saying they shouldn’t be seen alone together from now on. Maria is in full agreement, not the least of which because she doesn’t want to cause trouble for Runa. She may not be over Ryuuto, but the last couple weeks have left her realizing she likes Runa even more. She doesn’t want her and Ryuuto to break up because of her.

Before they part ways, Ryuuto tells her he may not be that experienced, but he has been in love, and the first person he felt it for was Maria. He doesn’t know how happy that makes her as she walks away in tears. Ryuuto then calls Runa, wanting to hear her voice, but they both hear a scream on Ryuuto’s end, then Runa hears him calling out to Maria and then saving her from a mugger.

Ryuuto wanted to explain why he was with Maria yet again, but Runa asks that he wait until next Saturday before his cram school, as there’s “something she needs to say too.” Uh-oh. That Saturday arrives, and Runa tells him she thinks they should break up. Surely he must agree that things aren’t working. This is a first for her, but it doesn’t make her happy.

She thanks him for dating her, as it made her so happy. He thanks her two, and the two sit there, stewing in their broken-up-ness, until they start seeing nothing but couples around them. Each one represents an experience they shared, and then they see a couple with their kid, still being lovey-dovey, representing the future.

And Ryuuto, like a real man … starts to cry. He cries his manly little eyes out. He doesn’t want to break up. Not here, not now, not ever!

Seeing him cry, Runa starts crying too. She doesn’t want to break up either, but she’s come to like him so much, it made her scared he’d start hating her. Ryuuto makes clear he would never ever hate her, and from now on she should feel free to tell him anything and everything she wants, no matter how awful or painful it is, he’ll listen, and won’t hate her.

Ryuuto gathers Runa into a hug and reminds her that they are still in high school, and it’s okay to make mistakes, as both of them have. Runa admits she was wrong, and the breakup is off. The episode title was technically accurate, but they were only broken up for about a minute! It was a minute too long, honestly.

After I breathed a huge sigh of relief, there was still a bit of pent-up tension, which is then released beautifully when Ryuuto is beaned in the back of the head with a toy car (the same Toyota Supra Ryuuto compared Runa to) by the little boy. No Truck-kun incident for Ryuuto! His parents are apologetic, but Ryuuto and Runa simply laugh heartily, tears still streaming down their faces, but now tears of joy.

Ryuuto blows off cram school (good man) and spends the rest of the day hand-in-hand with Runa. As the sun starts to set, they share a kiss to officially mark the resumption of their romance, having gone through their first trial-by-tears. Ryuuto assures Runa that she doesn’t have to worry about slowing down her feelings. To this, she wryly tells him to “buckle up!”

Ryuuto still has to apologize for not being able to help Runa with the Friendship Project anymore, as he’s no longer friends with Maria. She’s okay with that, as she really wanted to be sisters with Maria more than just friends; if only she didn’t hate her.

Ryuuto tells her that Maria doesn’t hate her at all. Maria even transferred to make her happy. When Runa brings up the fact that she gave one of her moon-and-star earrings to Maria, Ryuuto remembers Maria missing it after she was attacked. He returns to where they were, and sure enough finds the matching earring: proof positive for Runa that Maria still cares.

The next day at school, the teacher presents Maria with an English award. The class applauds, but Runa stands up and makes sure everybody knows that they’re twin sisters.

An upset Maria takes Runa by the hand and takes her into the hall to ask her what she’s thinking. Runa produces Maria’s earring, and tells her she’s only doing what she should have done a long time ago: acknowledge her as her sister to their class, give her a hug, and declare that her transferring did make her happy.

So while poor Nicole got hosed, things end well for Maria, Runa, and Ryuuto. The final short scene of the episode has Runa and Ryuuto very close in the dark together, and Runa declaring that she wants him to have her. So let there be no doubt that that one particular experience Ryuuto has yet to have with Runa will at least be addressed in the finale. We’ll see how far they go now that Runa’s taken her foot off the brakes.

The Apothecary Diaries – 09 – Sweet and Salty

One evening at a drinking party, a clearly sloshed older man doesn’t even finish one jar of booze before letting it shatter to the ground and asking for more. Someone whose full face is obscured offers him a new jar after adding something to it.

Gaoshun eventually gets Gyokuyou to “stop laughing uncontrollably” long enough to explain that Maomao didn’t sleep with Lihaku, she merely set him up with a star courtesan. While surely relieved, Jinshi remains in an unproductive childish mood and his work piles up.

This only adds fuel to one of my working theories that he may be an actual prince—perhaps the emperor’s brother?—and may not even be a eunuch. There’s plenty of show left to confirm or debunk this theory, so we shall see.

In the meantime, when Jinshi meets with Maomao by way of Gyokuyou, Maomao assumes an open-shut case of the older Sir Kounen simply drinking himself to death, as alcohol is a poison when abused. She can’t muster much sympathy for someone she never met who apparently did himself in, but she also notices Jinshi isn’t his usual “excessively shiny” self.

Upon sampling the booze at the party (something she’s very excited about) she finds it has a distinct taste: sweet, but also very salty. Examination of the broken jar reveals considerable salt buildup. When Maomao learns that a change in tastes from spicy foods to sweet eventually led to Sir Kounen losing his ability to taste salt.

Perhaps someone who wanted to play a prank started adding more and more salt to his drink, and the salt is what killed him. But unlike your Holmeses or Poirots, Maomao is weary of pointing the finger at a specific culprit, loath as she is to be responsible for their execution. She may call herself a coward, but no decent person would want that burden.

Kounen became a different man after his wife and child were lost in an epidemic. His resulting unbalanced diet, stress, and alcoholism led to his loss of salt. When Maomao also learns that Kounen played a key role in Jinshi’s upbringing, Jinshi’s dour demeanor makes more sense.

Maomao is delighted to receive the reward of a bottle of booze for her investigation, but when Jinshi teases her about it, she tells him to get back to work. When he tells her that work involves a bill setting the legal drinking age at 20, complete with peace sign and return of his shiny smile, Maomao freaks out.

She grabs his cloak and pleads with him not to pass such a bill, and he watches her squirm in his lack of response. Call it revenge for her getting one over on him with Lihaku, but we see later that evening that Jinshi’s mood has improved considerably. Maomao didn’t need to make a medicine for him; she just had to be herself.

The second half is considerably more dour, as guards retrieve the corpse of a tall servant woman with bound feet (the first time that unpleasant custom is mentioned in this show) from the moat. When the doctor is summoned with Maomao, he is terrified of the corpse, while Maomao notes the cold weather slowed the decomp considerably.

We learn that Maomao’s dad forbade her from handling corpses, as her innate curiosity might well eventually lead her to use “human ingredients” for her apothecary work, leading to grave-robbing. That she heeds this rule even in her dad’s absence speaks to how well Maomao knows full well who she is and what she’s capable of.

But more than any previous victim, Maomao internalizes this woman’s death, even thinking about how cold the water must’ve been. While the guards believe the woman climbed the wall and threw herself in to off herself, Maomao notes the difficulty (though not impossibility) of someone with her bound feet scaling the wall. The possibility exists she was thrown in by someone.

The victim’s red and bloodied hands also suggest she clawed at the wall trying to get out after falling in, either because she had been thrown in against her will, or threw herself in and immediately regretted it. In this case, Maomao can’t say for certain whether it was murder or suicide.

But as she admires a fruiting plant in Jinshi’s office, she thinks about how impossible she would find it to try to kill herself. She likes living, because it means she gets to test poisons and make medicines. She’d never take that away willingly.

At the same time, as the faces and bodies of all the people who have ended up dead around the palace, she thinks about how delicate and cheap her commoner’s life is. Death can come for her at any time, even for making a mistake, so it would come down to how she’d meet her end.

Assuming Jinshi would be the one to make the call, she considers what poison she’d use to die, and asks that he use that potion if he ever had to execute her. Needless to say, all this morbid talk upsets Jinshi, who’d never considered the possibility he’d have to kill her.

But even as he tells her he would never do such a thing, he tells him it’s more of a can or can not issue. If the emperor told him she had to die, could he a.) do it, and b.) do it the way she preferred?

Maomao is probably being realistic and pragmatic with this kind of thinking, as despite her current high station as lady-in-waiting to the emperor’s favorite concubine, this society still assigns a low enough value on her life to at least consider the details.

Meanwhile, Jinshi is looking more and more like someone of such high birth his true identity is being concealed. That said, part of me still believes Maomao is of far less “common” blood than she’s been led to believe her whole life.

As all of that simmers in my mind, we learn the drowned woman was present at the garden party where the poisoning took place, while Gaoshun has finally found someone with burns on her arms, as instructed by Jinshi. That person is none other than the head lady-in-waiting for Concubine Ah-Duo, whom we have yet to formally meet, and who has purplish hair and eyes reminiscent of Jinshi’s. Coincidence?

Horimiya: Piece – 10 – Scent of a Soulmate

This week we’re (re-?) introduced to Watabe, Izumi’s not-so-secret admirer. He liked the longer-haired, glasses-wearing Izumi, but doesn’t mind this new fun-loving version. One person who does mind all of the attention and affection Watabe is showering on Izumi is Kyouko, who doesn’t like how he arrives at her house with Watabe’s “scent” all over him.

Izumi can’t fathom discerning different people’s scents, such that Kyouko assures him that if she cheats, she’ll let him know. The next day, Izumi sidles up to his friends and smells them one by one, but still can’t really tell one smell from another. When he returns to Kyouko’s house after school, she’s furious, as he smells even more like Watabe.

When Izumi turns around and hugs her, she gets mad because she thought he was finally going to “be rough” with her; marking this the first S&M Kyouko sighting this season. Izumi was never 100% comfortable being rough with her in the first season, but knew that she liked it so indulged her.

She slaps him out of frustration, then runs straight into a wall, and the next day they’re both wearing bandages on their faces and their friends are concerned. It then starts becoming annoying to those friends when Izumi and Kyouko act distant and ignore each other, despite not being able to say exactly why they’re fighting.

That’s just how it goes with couples sometimes, especially when one of them is a stubborn as Kyouko. But when she genuinely starts to worry that Izumi hates her, she withdraws outside in the cold and skips class. Thankfully, Izumi finds her, and assures her that he could never hate her, and in fact he likes her much more than she may realize.

Izumi pulls her arms around from her face and describes her red, embarrassed, tearful face in great detail. Many other women would be quite put off by this mocking, but Kyouko is loving it, and shows a sign of her gratitude by kicking Izumi in the gut. In their own weird way, they’ve made up, and all’s well in Horimiyaville.

The next segment follows up on Kyouko’s obsession with people’s scents, as Izumi comes to class wearing a hoodie since the rest of his clothes are in the wash. Shuu likes the new look, even if it’s copying his own style, while Sengoku warns Izumi that he’s violating the dress code (Shuu is a lost cause).

Kyouko stares at Izumi all day, and he’s not sure why until after school, when she takes him by the hand into an alley and smells his sleeve, and smiles widely because now he “smells like himself” now that he’s wearing his usual cardigan. Kyouko looks so cute in her joy that Izumi kisses her right then and there.

Kyouko admits she’s not the best person, but that doesn’t matter. You can’t choose who you love, and Izumi loves all of her—the good and the bad.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades – 03 – A New Way to Live

Ophelie and Cyrus could probably achieve terrible things together if they joined forces, but each finds the other’s methods (her promiscuity, his necromancy) repugnant, so they fight each other with huge summoned monsters. Ophelie actually gives birth to hers; judging from her ahegao she seems to get a kick out of doing so.

When Cyrus blocks the underclassmen with his wall of bones, Nanao arrives to give them cover to escape. She also makes it sounds like she’s been looking for a place to die, and has found one. Oliver is ready to follow her into battle when Ophelie and Cyrus’ duel is cut short by the student body president, Alvin Godfrey.

Backed up by school prefect Carlos Whitlow, Alvin orders the two villains-in-training back to the depths of the Labyrinth, and escorts our first-years to safety.

Once there, Oliver gets in Nanao’s face and asks her what all the suicidal talk is about. Chela pulls him away, but is just as curious to know what’s up with Nanao, so she asks her to please tell them all if she can. That’s when Nanao looks back to the last and worst battle she ever experienced.

Even with a seemingly hopeless deficit in numbers, Nanao is able to easily carve her way to the enemy general, and dispatches his son, who was purportedly one of the finest warriors in the land, before she even knew it was him.

When the general orders his armies to kill her without learning her name, their spears are suddenly stopped dead…by a western mage on a broom. He invites Nanao to Kimberly, and here she is. But ever since being plucked from that battle—and from her certain death—Nanao has felt like she’s strayed into a dream.

When Nanao fought Oliver in class, she experienced shiawase, a moment of clarity and shared admiration and respect when locked in mortal combat with an opponent. But the battle was cut short, and Oliver pushed her away. Attempting to join the battle with the upperclassmen was her way of ending that dream on her own terms, before it ended on its own, worse terms.

Oliver thinks Katie is speaking out of turn when she says that, basically, Nanao is saying she’s heartbroken after Oliver rejected her entreaty of love and happiness (i.e. shiawase). But Nanao admits that yes, whether she fell for Oliver the person or his sword, to a warrior like her, there’s little difference.

This is when Chela asks Nanao, as a friend, to consider living her life in a new and different way than she did before. One need not cover themselves in blood or glory to thrive at Kimberly. Chela wants to spend more time with Nanao, and all of the others feel the same way. Indeed, it was clear Oliver was only upset with Nanao because he thought she was being too reckless with her life.

When everyone else chimes in agreeing with Chela, Nanao bows her head in apology and vows not to put her life in danger again. She also admits she’s happy she has friends at this school, since she hasn’t been able to learn much of anything in the classes so far. They all agree to help and support one another. If any dangers cross their paths, they’ll face them together.

It’s the Oliver-and-Nanao making up scene I’d hoped for at the end of last week, but I won’t knock the show for interrupting it to demonstrate how dangerous the school can be when our first-years are fractured. The next morning, Nanao clings to Oliver, who is both embarrassed and flattered. I love the varied reactions from the others to what is basically a newly formed couple.

Back in Garland’s Sword Arts class, Richard Andrews isn’t done with Oliver, and wants to fight him one-on-one. Oliver agrees, but before they get started Nanao grabs his arm, sensing he intends to lose on purpose. When Richard hears this he gets even more angry. Thus Oliver needs to give it his all to satisfy Nanao, and not humiliate Richard into desperation.

Chela takes Oliver aside to tell him she and Richard were childhood friends, always compared to each other by their elders, hence Richard’s inferiority complex. She’s not entirely sure how Oliver should proceed, only that some kind of fight is inevitable.

This dilemma is interrupted by news that Katie has rushed to the defense of the troll who went on a rampage at the parade. It’s about to be executed by faculty member Darius Grenville, but she stands fast in his path. Unamused by her insolence, when he learns she’s a “civil rights activist” he mocks her parents.

When she refuses to step aside, he uses an extreme pain spell on her, cementing his status as a real sonofabitch. Her friends come to her rescue, and thankfully don’t have to fight Grenville, as he’s told to stand down by fourth-year Vera Milligan, backed up by Professor Garland.

They inform Grenville that not only is there an ongoing investigation that demands the troll stay alive for now, and that it wouldn’t do to anger the growing pro-demi civil rights political faction, but the use of pain spells by faculty were banned five years ago.

Vera formally introduces herself to Katie as a fellow pro-demi advocate, and tells her she’ll be happy to help her in her efforts going forward as they share the same cause. Even though she’s still feeling the effects of the pain spell, Katie leaves the confrontation with a big smile on her face, having found a strong, cool upperclassman ally.

While the good vibes are somewhat marred by an inevitable duel challenge from Richard to Oliver, I still enjoyed this episode immensely from start to finish. Oliver and Nanao made up and may be an item, and we learned that Kimberly isn’t just a school full of perverts and assholes outside of the friend circle. In Alvin, Carlos, and Vera, there are good seeds looking after them too.

It’s a testament to the character writing that Garland’s explanation of the titular Spellblades (there are apparently only six of them at the moment) is the least interesting part of the episode. I’m sure they’ll come into play soon and a seventh will emerge, but for now I care more about these lovable kids.

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.

Skip and Loafer – 06 – Every Now and Then

When Fumi reports that there’s a boy she likes, Mitsumi does a milk spit take. She then asks Fumi how she knows it’s love. Fumi gives all the usual answers: you find ways to be closer to him, but also worried about saying the right thing, to the point that sometimes you have to run away. Mitsumi feels left behind, and wonders if she’d recognize love if she experienced it.

That day, Sousuke is out sick. Mitsumi believes the timing is terrible, as the syllabus for the final exams will be distributed today. But when she texts him he tells her not to worry; he simply overslept. One of his friends from middle school says he’d often quietly skip when it didn’t bother anyone. Other girls in the class bring up all sorts of rumors about his playboy past.

Those rumors are churning through Mitsumi’s head that night, and she dreams of Sousuke arriving at school in a purple suit and bozozuku bike to ask her to hand in his notice of dropping out. The next day he’s not there for roll call, and Mitsumi seems genuinely low until he hears him come in late.

When they’re put to work stapling printouts after class, things are a little awkward. Sousuke asks if Mitsumi is mad at her. She’s not, but she’s concerned about him skipping school after hearing the things she heard. That gets Sousuke miffed, as he surely detests such rumors.

As such, when she says stuff like studying for final exams is important, he fires back “maybe for you,” which oddly echoes something she said to him when they first met. Mitsumi runs off blushing.

That night she finds it hard to study, as she ponders whether Sousuke held a grudge from way back on that first day. Sousuke stops by an actor friend’s house to ponder if he was holding a grudge, and asks his friend for advice. His friend is shocked, as this is the first time he’s sounded so serious about a girl before.

The next day, Mika instantly assesses Mitsumi’s situation: that she and Sousuke are having their first little tiff. That said, she doesn’t help her too much. Mitsumia and Sousuke are class officers together, she has ample opportunities to figure out the best way to make up. But she does tell Mitsumi if “she said what she wanted” at the time, there’s no reason to go back on it.

Mitsumi thinks on that, and determines that she didn’t say what she wanted to say. So after class she takes Sousuke aside. He tries to cut off a lengthy discussion by apologizing for coming off as harsh, which wasn’t his intention. She in turn, apologizes for getting on his case. She also explains the reason she did: the bottom line is that school is more fun when he’s around.

As she walks off, Sousuke moves without thinking and grabs hold of her wrist. And then he opens up about what’s going on at his home (it’s very “uninvolved” at the moment) and that he hated the idea of her believing stupid rumors about him. He tells her to ignore them, and she says she will, blushing as she does.

The palette of the scene brightens considerably as the clouds outside part and the mood improves, with Sousuke laughing about how he hasn’t “made up with someone so dramatically since grade school.” But that’s precisely the kind of pure earnestness you get when you’re friends with Mitsumi!

Mitsumi rebuts that it’s okay to do stuff like this “now and then”, and starts feeling things that seems similar to the things Fumi was describing about realizing she liked someone. When Sousuke gives her a sheepish smile and tells her she’s the first time he’s been “real friends” with a girl, her face gets even redder and she has to withdraw.

As she runs home at top speed, Mitsumi calls Fumi to declare that she believes you can feel “that way” about a friend too. But I’m not entirely convinced, and nor do I think Fumi will be, either.

If this is the episode where Mitsumi finally realizes she might like Sousuke as more than a friend, then it’s also the episode where she first denies it, in favor of maintaining their easy, breezy status quo.

However things turn out—and if they were to go in a romantic direction, I don’t necessarily see Sousuke being opposed—there’s one constant with these two: they are immensely fun to watch!

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! – 10 – Turning Point

It’s the class marathon, and no one is happier or more fired up than Tomo and Jun. Jun in particular loves nothing more than to compete against Tomo, and the two end up far ahead of the pack, and even threaten to overtake their teacher…who is on a moped! When they reach the turning point for the girls, Tomo runs straight through it, because she’s not racing the girls—she’s racing Jun!

Alas, her intensive training the previous day (which left her lying face up naked in the bathroom) gave her a fever, and when she collapses, the race is over. With no phone and no one around, Jun finally gets to put the body he’s spent years building up to good use, carrying Tomo on his back to the finish line. Tomo wakes up with Carol snuggling with her and Misuzu freaked out that she’d actually get sick.

Both girls insist that Tomo make use of her rare “moment of weakness” to let Jun pamper her. She even gets him to carry her on his back again when she’s awake to enjoy it! They both note how they’ve grown in this moment of closeness.

He gets to say the words she once said to him: if you’re in trouble, of course I’ll be there. And, to his shock, she uses this opportunity to give him back his handheld video game. After all, he was the stronger man than she was…if only today!

Getting his video game back is a much bigger deal for Jun than Tomo probably realizes…so much so that the second half of the episode is a flashback to when Jun first learned Tomo was a girl when he saw her in a girl’s uniform when middle school started. The two were so close, rumors immediately spread that they were going out. Jun, who believed those rumors would cause trouble for Tomo, decided to start ignoring her.

A whole damn year passed without Jun having the guts to approach Tomo and apologize, and they devolved into mere acquaintances. Meanwhile, Misuzu was having a friendship crisis, unsure if she’d be able to stay close to Tomo when she was continuing to jock it up like their earlier years.

Misuzu and Jun’s individual crises brought them together into that brief weird fling. It’s nice to see Jun grappling with the sudden reality that Misuzu is his girlfriend (accompanied by shots of her looking cute) and even Misuzu admits it feels good (at least until the grueling exercise started). It was, after all, the first time either of them had dated anyone.

Misuzu’s hope was that Jun could “slow Tomo down”, but after their dates, she determined that he might have the opposite effect. It really brings her down, and when Tomo asks about her in class, Misuzu plainly declares that they may not be able to stay friends.

Tomo takes her aside to get her to clarify, then tells her athletic prowess has nothing to do with their friendship. Tomo tells Misuzu that their time together is far more precious to her than all her guy friends. This immediately brightens Misuzu’s day.

After dumping Misuzu (who is devastated by the fact he beat her to it), Jun finally speaks to Tomo, but as he walks behind her, can’t seem to find the words. Finally, Tomo opens the conversation with her fists, angrily and tearfully demanding to know why he’s been ignoring her for so long and only now deigned to talk to her. When he tells her the reason, he asks her why they should give a rat’s ass what anyone thinks if they want to “be together like they’ve always been”.

Jun admits he wants to be with her like always, so she tells him to be with her already…a-as friends, j-just friends, yeah? Jun wants to be together with Tomo forever. The both of them may have changed, and their relationship has changed with it.  In the present, Jun wants to find a way to still be with her forever. That he was able to make up and get back with her in middle school gives me hope he’ll manage to find a way in the final three episodes.

P.S. I almost forgot to mention that after nine episodes of the girls singing the cute ED, it’s the boys turn to sing this time, and it’s awesome! It’s also good timing, what with Kou x Carol being codified last week and Jun seeing Tomo as a romantic partner more than ever this week. As to whether Misuzu will ever agree to a date with whasisname…I won’t hold my breath but that would be sweet too. BFs for everyone!

Tenten Kakumei – 09 – A Warm Hand

It was always held out before him: an invitation to fun, trouble, or both. Algard never quite knew exactly what he’d get when he took that outstretched hand, but he still remembers how warm it felt in his, and that he knew no matter what, he wouldn’t be bored. And yet, a time came when that very same hand felt as cold as ice.

Now Al wields ice in bullet, spear, icicle rain, and hammer forms in order to stamp out the sister he loved so dearly. Never again can their hands touch; not while both draw breath. A fight ensues between the unstoppable force of a super-regenerating vampire against the immovable object of a magicologist blessed with dragon powers. It starts out a stalemate. Yet Al can tell Anis is holding back. He might be too?

All this time, Euphie, the one person who could turn the tables in an increasingly brutal duel, is still busy trying to keep Lainie from dying of a stolen heart. Once she’s healed enough to speak, Lainie reminds her healer that as a vampire, she needs blood to wield her own magic. Euphie prepares to cut herself, but Ilia stops her, bites through her lip, then delivers her blood to Lainie mouth-to-mouth, healing her completely.

Now Euphie is free to intervene in the sibling fight just when both it and tempers are getting well and truly out of hand. By continually healing the wounds Anis causes and throwing everything he’s got her way, Al gets Anis to a state where she thinks killing him for real is the only way to stop him. And yet, she’s still able to hold back her killing blow when she sees the look on Al’s fast-approaching face is no longer rage or resentment, but resignation and even relief that his wretched existence is about to end.

Anis doesn’t like that face one bit, while Euphie knows Anis doesn’t really want to kill her brother, but is just doing it because she thinks there’s no other choice. So she creates another option by plucking Anis out of midair and tacking her to the ground, tells her that she and her brother are acting like a couple of damn fools, and they both basically need a good long time out.

Anis’ attack did enough that Al is lying in a defeated heap on the ground. He recalls a beautiful day when he looked up and found Anis up in the sky above him, smiling on him, before reaching out with that warm hand. When the two of them broke out of the castle to go on an adventure, they encountered a monster. Anis told Al to run while she dealt with it, and he obeyed, hiding in a tree hollow.

Al idolized Anis more than anything at this time in his life. But then horrible rumors spread that Anis was trying to off his brother to consolidate power, and Anis unilaterally decided the best way to prove to everyone that she had no desire for the throne was to renounce it and bestow it on Al. Little did she know that was the last thing Al wanted.

Both the day he slapped her hand away in response to her rash decision, and every day since, he resented her for giving up a throne that was rightfully hers, while cursing a world for being so cruel to her that she felt she had to. He hated this world that rejected his sister so much, he believed destroying it and starting over was the only way.

But Al shot his shot and failed, and accepts the consequences. His only “defense” to his father the king is that he was a fool, straight up, and will accept any punishment. His father disinherits him and exiles him to the borderlands to work for the kingdom until he “turns to dust”. His mother tries to bear some responsibility, and perhaps she does, but he says his sins were his own. Rather than her being a bad mother, he should have been a better son.

Anis also feels responsible for creating the monster that was Crown Prince Algard, saying if only she’d “lived a normal life” in this world (which we know to be an isekai for her) maybe he wouldn’t have suffered so much. Of course, during their battle, she said all she could ever be was herself, so she’s being too harsh on herself here. This time, Al holds out his shackled hand, and a tearful Anis shakes it to make up one last time.

In the following days, Lord Chartreuse and his son are executed for their role in the attempted coup, while both Anis and Ilia remain bedridden. Lainie has fully recovered, and she and Euphie are the only ones up and about the day Algard is shipped off. Lainie takes the opportunity to tell Algard that she’s convinced there’s true kindness in him that she was lucky to experience, she also won’t forgive or forget what he did to her.

When Euphie approaches him, he tells her not to put up a front, even if it’s second nature so the duke’s illustrious genius daughter. He gets in some final, half-joking barbs about her fitness as a fiancée, and then she gives him a well deserved yet oddly formal slap across the face that Al accepts happily, as he was just as deplorable a fiancé.

Here the two are able to be simply a man and woman, realizing that they were always terrible for each other and it was a wonder they were engaged as long as they were. And then, Al asks Euphie, quite solemnly, to please take care of his sister.

Just as only Anis can be the next queen, even in a kingdom where nearly all the nobles condemn her as a heretic, only Euphie can be the one take care of her. With Ilia still recovering from her injuries, Euphie makes nursing Anis back to health her primary responsibility. When she hears Anis muttering in her sleep about Al and being sorry, Euphie tells her to dream happier dreams, and kisses her on the forehead.

Even if the ill effects of the dragon tattoo eventually clear, the fate of Algard will continue to weigh heavily on Anis like a ball and chain. In that regard, her and Euphie’s roles have now fully reversed: Euphie is now the freer one, with her clean conscience and strong sense of purpose. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial she stay by Anis’ side to help her climb out of the deep dark morass, just as Anis helped her. Euphie must take her warm hand in hers, and never let go.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST