Oshi no Ko – 11 (S1 Fin) – O Children of the Star

I like how this Oshi no Ko starts out from the POV of two strangers; first an idol from another group who is curious about a “cutie” in B Komachi, then from an older idol otaku who is the only one in his circle who remembers the original B Komachi, and how special Ai was.

Those who saw Hoshino Ai could never forget her. That’s what Ruby, Kana, and MEM-cho are up against. Their first song in their first concert goes off without a hitch, but the otaku is #notimpressed. Then Ruby hits him with the same kind of charismatic look Ai once made, and he immediately reassesses his skepticism.

As the the trio transitions from the first group to the second, Kana takes note of the color of the lightsticks in the crowd. Most are for the famously online MEM-cho, while a smattering are for Ruby, who is a natural idol. None are white for Kana, and she descends into a spiral of despair even as she performs competently.

All she wants is for someone to look her way, to need her, to praise her. When a single white lightstick shoots up, it’s in Aqua’s hand. He shows off the same lightstick dancing skills he had both in his previous life and as a baby with Ruby. Not only does he almost make Kana laugh in the middle of her set, but more importantly he cheers her up.

Right then and there, Kana decides she’s going to make Aqua fall in love with her. Her performance kicks into another gear entirely, and she not only starts holding her own against Ruby and MEM’s charisma, but truly comes into her own as the center. Aqua can’t help but take notice. Indeed, he can’t take his eyes off Kana.

On the car ride home, the seating arrangements in the van are crucial. MEM is riding shotgun as Miyako drives, while Ruby and Kana are in the middle row, the former fast asleep. Behind them is Aqua. Kana asks how they did, and he says pretty good for their first time. She wants him to give them—give her—more props, but he does her one better, saying he’s only withholding loftier praise because he knows they’re only going to get better.

Miyako expresses relieve Aqua and Kana are talking again, but to MEM’s eyes, they don’t get along at all. Miyako then lays the perfect bait: asking Aqua how things are going with Akane since the show. Aqua responds exactly how she expected: honestly. He hasn’t seen Akane since, and it’s only a work relationship. Kana hides her glee by mocking Aqua’s bad luck.

Watching Kana’s reactions, it dawns on MEM that Kana has feelings for Aqua, causing her to draw a diagram of the love triangle of Aqua, Kana, and Akane in her head. Since MEM considers herself Akane’s friend, she’s not sure who to root for. She’s a great audience surrogate, because I’m not sure either!

Right on cue, Akane receives a piece of correspondence that indicates to her that she and Aqua will be working together again very soon, but in the meantime, Kana takes full advantage of the fact she and Aqua are talking again to poke and prod him, which Ruby tells MEM is the only way to really get to her brother.

She notes that Kana brings out the “old” Aqua, before his personality became twisted. Like MEM, I leaned more towards Kana here, as Akane will have a steep hill to climb. But I also know Akane is perfectly capable of climbing it!

As we watch Kaburagi having another opulent dinner with a younger, more flamboyant producer Sumiaki Raida, we learn why Akane knows she’s working with Aqua: they’ve been cast in a 2.5D stage version of the popular anime Tokyo Blade. Selfishly, I wished the story would have been that Starship Troopers-style ED of Kaguya-sama: Ultra Romantic.

But I’ll admit, Tokyo Blade looks cool too, especially when Akane, on a date with Aqua to take Insta pictures to lend their relationship legitimacy, describes the cast. She’ll be playing Princess Saya, while he’ll be playing Touki. She goes on to say fans love speculating whether Touki will end up with Saya or his associate, Tsurugi.

As soon as I saw Tsurugi’s character design, I knew what was coming even before Akane wondered who would be cast to play her. Of course, it’s Kana! Kana herself tells Akane and Aqua, interrupting their “work date” to warn them not to livepost in identifiable outdoor locations unless they want stalkers.

As it happens, Akane and Kana know each other…and do not like each other. They exchange barbs, and Aqua is powerless to stop the sparks that the two emit towards one another. The two are perfectly cast as two women in a love triangle with Aqua, playing characters in a love triangle with Aqua’s character.

Kana’s little visit is a declaration of war, but we know Akane, whom we know to possess obsessive tendencies, isn’t going to back down, and fully intends to win such a war, as she harbors feelings for Aqua too. Add to that the fact that Akane, while acknowledging Kana’s talent, still resents her for stealing all the good roles back when they were child actors together.

The solidification of the love triangle and the announcement of the Tokyo Blade play are excellent setup for the second season, which is definitely coming; it’s only a question of when. As for Aqua’s quest for vengeance, he’s agreeing to the role because he knows becoming a famous and successful actor is the only way he’ll learn more about his target.

In this case, working with Akane on this production will get him closer to Lala Lai, where Kaburagi says Ai fell in love with someone. He’s still determined to find that someone by any means necessary. But it’s my earnest hope that between Akane and Kana doing their best to win his heart, and his and Ruby’s careers taking off, he’ll one day ditch the quest and enjoy his life, as Ai would surely want him to.

Urusei Yatsura – 12 – Little Trouble

With Urusei Yatsura’s second half comes a new OP and ED (neither quite the equal of their earworm predecessors) and another new character: Lum’s tiny cousin, Ten. He’s discovered stuffed into the mailslot by Ataru, who is fleeing his parents fawning over having a girl in the house. Ten is a sweetie-pie to everyone but Ataru, on whom he breathes fire with regularity.

Ten accompanies Ataru and Lum to a formalwear get-together at Sakura’s place; her uncle, Ran, and Shinobu are also in attendance. Ataru is predictably jealous by all the attention Ten gets from the ladies, while Ten burns Ataru’s hand when he abuses the ensuing game of karuta as an excuse to caress the girls’ hands.

Ataru then loses his temper and grabs some cookware with which to attack and defend, but everyone is uniformly embarrassed on his behalf for fighting so seriously with a tiny little kid. Sakura judo-tosses him into the zen pond to cool his jets. It’s gotta be hard to keep your cool when Ten is literally burning him!

In the second half, Ten is writing a love letter to Sakura, who like many a man finds that she has stolen his heart. Ataru decides to offer him some advice as a self-professed casanova, and Ten, while weary of his cousin’s lame human husband, is also just young and naive enough to buy into Ataru’s experience.

Ataru ends up ghostwriting the love letter, which is full of words that can’t be said during normal broadcast hours. Sakura is furious, and waits at the agreed-upon meeting place just so she can slug the author. When it turns out to be Ten, she kinda just goes with it, knowing she can’t very well beat on a little kid.

That said, when Ten tries to take her to a seedy club, goes to see a raunchy film full of double entendres, and intends to end their evening at a love hotel, Sakura starts to get suspicious. Lum gets overexcited by the film, which confirms to Sakura that Ataru was behind this questionable date.

When the evening ends, Ten goes for broke and asks Sakura to marry her. She turns him down gently but firmly, which isn’t anything Ten didn’t expect, considering, ya know, he’s still just a little kid. But also Ataru and Lum are surprised that Sakura is wearing what looks like an engagement ring. Ten then consoles himself by flambéing Ataru once more.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex – 06 – Arbitrary with the Friend Bar

Yume was always at the top of her class until one day her position was usurped by Mizuto. She was devastated, and studied without sleep to beat him at the next round of exams—only for it to look like he couldn’t care less when she did. But when they met in the library, she learned that the rivalry wasn’t in her head; that he was only pretending not to care, and he really was watching her. That was when she fell in love with him.

It’s a desperately sweet story, just the latest in a string of them that make one wonder what was really so bad about these two dating (though to be fair we haven’t seen much of the “dark times” that ultimately led to their breakup). In any case, Yume is reminiscing about class rankings because she and Mizuto find themselves locked in a new battle as high schoolers for the top spot. When she sees him taking it easy in the living room, she assumes he’s taking her lightly.

Then the first day of exams passes. With her self-grading she determines she probably got a 96, which is good but still leaves the window open for Mizuto. She sneaks into his room to try to find out how he did, and is so outraged that he left the last few questions blank that she abandons all pretense and angrily confronts him in front of their mom, who has to stop her from striking Mizuto.

Mizuto tells her that yes, he did skip those questions, because as she’s so fond of saying, he doesn’t care what anyone says or thinks, so it’s fine if she has the top spot. Of course, Yume doesn’t want it that way, and storms out of the room in tears. The next two days of exams pass with her trying to focus on her studies and not her jerk of a “little” brother.

When the scores are revealed, Yume finds she’s ranked second below Mizuto, and momentarily has an existential crisis. After all, she’s believed up until now that a key facet of her high school “rebirth” is maintaining that top spot, and anything less would be failure.

But when her friends treat her no differently, and in fact congratulate her for almost beating Mizuto, she realizes that the top spot wasn’t a defining characteristic upon which her entire high school life relied. In short: she’s going to be fine.

Yume assumes that Mizuto beat her to send her that message, and she’s grateful for it, and for his ability to understand her when no one else does. That said, when she races to the library to talk to him, he’s already in a conversation with another girl, one very much like the kind they’d engage in in middle school.

This girl is Higashira Isana, voiced by Tomita Miyu, and she and Mizuto get along like lobster and garlic butter. Even Mizuto is somewhat astounded by just how beautifully the two of them click, completely comfortable being themselves around one another. Isana, who prefers to read barefoot, even asks Mizuto to put her socks on her, and he does it, because what are friends for?!

Foot play aside, Isana is as uncomfortable around others as she is comfortable around Mizuto, as evidenced when the two of them encounter Yume and Akatsuki after school. Isana reverts to a six-year-old hiding behind her dad, but Mizuto, irked by this whole enterprise, heads home without comment.

Yume figures she must be jealous, but considers that wrong now that they’re no longer dating and stepsiblings. So she pretends everything’s fine, and then over-compensates by being friendly, kind, and thoughtful to him at every turn. This, of course, vexes Mizuto to no end.

He brings it up to his new bestie Isana, who suggests that everyone a set of criteria for how they think their life should go, and when that’s threatened, some, like her, get up in arms. When she admits she’s never been one to go with the flow, that triggers in Mizuto the problem: he’s been going with the flow too much around Yume. He needs to be more active and sincere in their interactions.

That said, he doesn’t miss an opportunity to tease Yume by arriving in her room in a fetching vest, drawing near, feeling her pulse, and noting how it’s double the normal heart rate. Yume was just talking about how forgetting about Mizuto made her life easier, only for that house of cards to come crashing down.

Instead of continuing to go along with her “unreasonably calm, sincere, and understanding” attitude, Mizuto asks her what’s up. To her credit, Yume tells the truth: she thinks she feels a little jealous of Isana. When she in turn asks why he was bothered by her not acting snide and sarcastic, he tells her it felt as if what they went through in the past didn’t happen.

Being honest with each other helps Yume and Mizuto make up, and the next time Yume meets Isana, she greets her as if she was Mizuto’s big sister. Isana comes out of her shell a little and shakes her hand, and the air is cleared vis-a-vis Mizuto and Isana, namely that they’re just friends. That said, the more Yume and Akatsuki see them interact, the closer they seem.

At the halfway point of the series, I’m happy about the introduction of Isana. I like her; she’s weird and cool, Tomita gives her a husky lilt that’s a nice contrast to the squeakier girls, and her chemistry with Mizuto is sublime. I’m looking forward to their future interactions.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex – 05 – The Moon Is Beautiful

One night, before they started going out, Mizuto and Yume were in adjacent rooms on a middle school class trip. When they both looked out their windows at the full moon, Mizuto said Tsuki ga kirei desu ne, which means “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” but can also be an artful way of saying “I love you”. It’s a night Mizuto still hasn’t forgotten…even though it must’ve been more than what, two years ago?!

Fast-forward to the present, and Mizuto is being a big ‘ol jerk about not wanting to go shopping with Yume for Mother’s Day, even though they had plenty of fun on their date the other day. Yume convinces him to come with a fetching ” ooting” outfit, and when they’re on a crowded train and a bump causes Mizuto to pin her between the side of the car and him, she tells him not to pull away, as it will only keep happening with every bump.

The two settle on a bouquet of carnations, which is a pretty standard go-to Mother’s Day gift. But their mom is so happy to receive them that she runs away in tears. As we know, these are good kids, and making their mom/stepmom happy makes them happy. Mizuto may put out Ayanokouji vibes, but he’s nothing like that sociopath!

That evening, Yume notices the door at the end of the hall is open a crack – a beam of the setting sun gleams through, lighting motes of dust in the air. She finds Mizuto inside, praying to his mother’s shrine. Mizuto’s mom died when he was very small, such that her shrine photo is is only visual link to her.

Not only aware this is no time for sniping but genuinely wanting to support Mizuto during a lonely moment, she cuddles up next to him, like a “big sister” should. That’s when Mizuto says that since their parents are newlyweds, they should give them a night alone sometime. That of course means the two of them would have to spend the night…somewhere else.

Yume turns all sorts of shades of pink and red as Mizuto runs by what’s possible and not possible, even admitting to looking into love hotel rates. But since they both know that might just be taking things a bit far considering their history, Mizuto instead asks Kawanami if he can spend the night at his place.

Yume, in turn, can stay at Minami’s…because Minami and Kawanami are not only childhood friends as we all suspected, but also next-door neighbors. Due to that prodigious amount of time so close to one another, they’re basically more siblings than Yume and Mizuto.

Kawanami has a little fun with the paper-thin walls by acting like Mizuto is talking about Yume’s boobs (causing her to attack the wall), while Mizuto gets payback by reading Kawanami’s elementary school report on wanting to be a police officer so he can marry Minami (causing her to attack the wall).

Kawanami and Minami’s easy, lived-in rapport carries over when they both independently pick the same family restaurant to take Mizuto and Yume to dinner. Kawanami and Minami each know exactly what the other is going to order, while the two even have a shared laugh at the stebsiblings’ expense when they both show they have no idea about soda fountain protocol.

After dinner, Minami gets all cuddly with Mizuto about tutoring her in Japanese, but Mizuto shuts her down by declaring that Yume is the far more appropriate choice for a tutor since she “works so hard” for her grades while he puts in very little effort.

Later that night, Kawanami is bored that Mizuto is just studying, so he texts Minami, which again seems like a common occurrence. They may say they have nothing to do with each other, but they’re fooling absolutely no one—including themselves.

Kawanami and Miniami are so in sync they even fall asleep at the same time, while Mizuto and Yume go out on their respective balconies to admire a full moon. When Mizuto hears Yume on the other side he peeks over to find her in cute frog jammies Minami “made” her wear.

Then Yume says “Tsuki ga kirei desu ne”, confirming she too remembers that night of the school trip when he dropped that “pretentious come-on”.  That said, she basically admits that was when she started liking him. Mizuto says there’s no point in telling him that now, but it’s clear he was happy she remembered that night as vividly as he did.

They both ponder whether all the time Kawanami and Minami have spent together “means” anything, being so close together for so long. As for the two of them, Mizuto believes it isn’t likely their folks will split up, so they’re “stuck as stepsiblings until the end of time.” While he tries to make that sound like the same “hell” Kawanami claims living beside Minami to be, both of them are vastly overstating their torment.

Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! – 16 – A God Doesn’t Need a Reason

With Kyouko following Jahy around everywhere she goes, it was only a matter of time before she and Druj crossed paths, and the two are far too alike to get along…at least at first. Druj’s Hanazawa Kana and Uesaka Sumire’s Kyouko proceed to yell at each other over, while Jahy is caught in her web of lies.

Alas, they care less about calling out Jahy than proving to each other who is the better underling/friend, and Jahy is powerless to stop them from changing into their battle gear and storming out of the café to see who can collect the most crystals for her. It seems like a good deal to Jahy until she realizes she was left with the bill, and has to wash dishes.

Kyouko and Druj seem well on their way to gaining a reluctant respect for one another, only for the next segment to nix Druj altogether, and shoehorn in the Magnificent Saurva. She seems to have given up on potions and has gone full Wile E. Coyote to Jahy’s Road Runner, using her knowledge of metallurgy to create not one but three bear traps she calls “Chompy-Kun” Marks I-III.

Rather than Jahy, Kyouko gets caught in two of the three and ignores the third…to which Saurva simply forgot to add bait. While not Saurva’s best work, it was pretty funny for her to mistake Kyouko for an ordinary human only to witness Kyouko utterly destroy the two traps after only pretending to be hurt while caught in them in the hope Jahy will come to her aid (she doesn’t).

The Kyouko-heavy episode continues with a peek at her mornings with the Dark Lord at her creepy house, which consists of making herself and the Lord a lunch only for the Lord to inhale it before Kyouko walks out the door. Worse still, the Dark Lord stows away in Kyouko’s bag while she’s at school.

Kyouko eventually determines that the Dark Lord came to bring her the lunch she forgot, but the rice grains on the Lord’s face should be a dead giveaway the Lord is simply handing her an empty bento. That said, Kyouko has reached a state where her dark and threatening aura is gone, and friends want to eat lunch with her.

Kyouko’s no longer alone at home, at school, or at work, which all but completes her establishment as the series’ deuteragonist, complete with an arc containing highs and lows. But having spent a fair amount of time with the Dark Lord, she wants to know from Jahy if the Lord is really as powerful an entity as Jahy has always claimed.

Jahy will brook no disrespect from her Lord, whom she believes is no different or less significant than a god…her god. But her “story” about how she and the Dark Lord “came to be”—in which Jahy simply spoiled the shit out of the do-nothing Lord—exposes Jahy as not much different than not only Kyouko, but Druj as well.

At the end of the day Jahy doesn’t care if the Dark Lord was, is, and will always be a layabout, bone-idle NEET who only eats, sleeps, and leaves messes for others, and plays pranks. She is the Dark Lord, and that is the one and only fact that matters to Jahy as far as her devotion is concerned.

As Jahy and Kyouko head to their shift at the pub, the episode seems poised to end on a sinister note, as the Dark Lord follows Kyouko in her energy form, then perches herself atop an electric pole in wait. It’s a fake-out; when Kyouko returns home, the Dark Lord is asleep in the middle of the main room, surrounded by the remains of all of Kyouko’s snacks. Why would a god ever change?

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World – 12 (Fin) – Traipsing in Place

Iska can’t protect Sisbell from Masked Lord and the Empire’s Object, but thankfully he gets an assist from his fellow members of Unit N07. He buys time by hacking at Object until Nene can launch a rocket barrage that disables the mecha dragon, all while Sisbell wonders why these supposed enemies are protecting her from their own superweapon.

Meanwhile, Jihn is able to keep up with Masked Lord, despite the fact the guy has backup mages and the ability to teleport weapons and himself. After a brief knife fight, Masked Lord decides to limit his attacks to fire-based, which are nullified when Mismis activates her Astral Crest. Jhin blasts Mask’s Mask off, and he withdraws for now, having not looked particularly powerful.

Since Object is a final boss of sorts, it stands to reason it has multiple stages; in its second, it has a quick-recharging mega-cannon that causes a great deal of collateral destruction. Sisbell finally contributes to the battle by using her time magic to conjure a sandstorm from the past, which Iska uses as cover to shatter Object’s core. However, that just unlocks it’s third and final form, in which it sucks Sisbell into its core and starts babbling in the ancient Astral language.

This third stage proves too much even for Iska, which provides the perfect opportunity for Alice to show up. They once again put aside their individual rivalry to fight side-by-side, and with a bunch of acrobatics and ice magic they manage to destroy the final form and free Sisbell.

It’s all pretty by-the-numbers, really. Masked Lord is basically nerfed in his fight with Jhin, while Iska and Alice don’t do anything that different from their previous team-ups. Also, the fact their main opponent was a mostly mindless giant monster meant their victory doesn’t really move the needle where their peace process is concerned.

All it does is take one of the Empire’s weapons off the board…and the Eight Great Apostles aren’t even that miffed about it! Alice and Sisbell have their obligatory fight over Iska, with Alice in the uncomfortable position of pretending she doesn’t know Iska while protesting Sisbell’s familiarity with him. Iska rejoins his unit, who helped make sure the civilians were safe off-camera.

Then there are a whole lot of scenes of things the show didn’t have time to cover in depth: Mask’s plans for Kissing to enter the election, the Queen bringing Elletear before her and asking if she’s the real Elletear (?), Risya and Nameless tipping their hats to Iska’s skill. Perhaps most relevant to Iska and Alice’s hopes for peace is the meeting of Salinger and the Emperor, but neither character was that well developed, so who knows what that fruit if any that team-up will bear.

Actually, we do know: no fruit at all, because this is the end of the season! It ends with one more scene of our two heroes sharing a bench in the neutral city, promising each other not to let anyone else know they know each other and looking forward to their next meeting, where they’re tentatively planning to finally have their decisive fight, but probably won’t.

The show ends with an ellipsis and a bunch of question marks rather than any full stops, leaving me similarly noncommittal to engaging with a second season. Better shows have done more with just twelve episodes, and looked much better doing so. If I could use Sisbell’s ability and go back in time, I’d probably just skip this.

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina – 07 – Walls Were Meant to Fall

Elaina fondly remembers a story from the Travels of Niké about a country separated into two halves by a wall. She shows the chiefs on both sides how to market themselves as the superior side: by having tourists and visitors etch their praise into the wall with blades.

Seeing Niké in this flashback resembles Elaina, I’m inclined to consider it further evidence her mom and Niké were one and the same, especially as her mom encourages Elaina to visit the country to find out who won the contest.

The thing is, over a decade later it’s Saya who makes it to this split country before Elaina. By then the outer coating of the wall has been weathered away by tourist praise, but the chiefs want to shake things up. Saya ends up etching her undying love for Elaina into the wall, and suggests that the townsfolk on both sides should do the same…it’s their wall, after all!

A little later, Elaina finally arrives, eager to see the wall and the results of the ongoing contest of the two sides…only to find a giant heap of rubble where the wall was. Turns out all that etching and erasing of messages by the townsfolk on both sides eventually causes the two sides to break through and meet each other.

By then no one remembered the source of enmity, and so decided to finish demolishing the wall.. This is great, right? Witches of two different generations (Niké and Saya) ended up being the catalyst for reunifying the country. The wall may be in ruins, but everyone looks happy. The sole exception is Elaina, who is disappointed she never got to see the wall, and also that the final score was an exact tie.

In a way, you could say Saya ruined Elaina’s childhood dreams. And in a final mark that the two are fated to reunite someday, the piece of rubble Elaina claims as a souvenir just happens to be a piece Saya etched “ELAINA” into!

A community separated by enmity is the basis of the second story, though instead of tracing history back to Niké, Elaina’s story is being told by a village chief who met her to his young son, while his wife stomps grapes in the background. Back when Elaina visited, the village was split into two: This and That. A bit on the nose, but fine!

Now of legal age, Elaina visited to sample the area’s famously delicious wine, but learns that That has begun dominating sales with a new label featuring Rosemary, a beautiful, buxom Grape-Stomping Maiden, and declaring the wine in the bottle to be made from grapes “lovingly stomped” by her.

Simply put, the villagers (or rather the male villagers) of This wish to recruit Elaina as a rival Grape-Stomping Maiden. Why don’t they just pick one of their own maidens? That’s never explained, though the women of the village are always in the background stewing ruefully (I imagine if they all agreed to withhold sex from their men, this childish nonsense would stop pretty quick!)

Elaina is given a charming red outfit to counter the green of Rosemary’s, but when she stops by the This side with a retinue of loyal That men carrying her on a litter, she most heartily laughs at Elaina’s “childish”, “thin” figure, deeming her unsuitable to lovingly stomp on grapes. That’s when Elaina’s confidence and competitive spirit kick into gear.

Technically, Rosemary is right: Elaina doesn’t lovingly stomp on the grapes…she hatefully stomps on them while screaming “DIE!”, as if she were stomping on Rosemary’s head. After a whole day of stomping, Elaina’s legs and feet are a wreck, but she only stomped enough grapes for maybe half a cask.

That’s when she becomes Witch Detective Elaina, thinking it fishy that That’s wine sells in so much higher numbers. Even if Rosemary stomped all day, every day (and she clearly doesn’t, since she had time to stop by This and trash talk them) she wouldn’t be able to stomp enough grapes. Elaina and the This Chief discover she’s sitting back and relaxing while all the men stomp the grapes at factory scale.

With Rosemary’s verbal barbs still stinging in Elaina’s side, she has a little revenge by tying up Rosemary and exposing the scam. But as she samples That’s wine for the first time, she admits it is indeed delicious. Then has another glass…then another, and before long, she’s drunk.

By this point the villagers of This and That have begun a grape-tossing fight, and when she’s hit in the grapey crossfire, she responds by launching a magical counterattack. Surely there are regulations against witching-while-intoxicated, but thankfully Elaina’s “grape bullets” only knock everyone out; no one is killed!

The morning after the grape fight, Elaina is gone, but the villagers of This and That eventually reconcile. The chief of This and Rosemary fall in love and marry. In the present-day where he’s telling the story to a kid, Rosemary is still stomping grapes, as beautiful as ever, and the grape-tossing festival is a tradition.

While Saya ended up essentially tearing down walls with her intense and heavy love, Elaina does so by getting lit and escalating an epic food fight. The grape maiden fetishism aspect is pretty gross all round, but both tales are lightweight, fun, and the visuals, as always, were beautifully executed, earning the episode an extra half-star.

Crow’s Episode 7 review is here!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 29 – The Great Japanese Baking Show

Sakura is on a cake-baking kick since learning she’ll be baking them in home-ec class. One of the many many things her dad is good at is baking cakes, so he gives her a few pointers. Sakura especially wants to bake a cake for Yukito to try, while Meiling simply wants a wedding cake for her and Syaoran to share. Since they’re definitely getting married. For sure.

Syaoran and Sakura actually have the same idea to observe professional cake-makers at one of the local bakeries, and happen upon Yukito, who lets them know that he’s down for any cake, any time. I must admit it’s been a little disheartening to see Sakura and Syaoran both expend so much energy trying to woo someone who isn’t interested in either of them. Meanwhile poor Meiling is so eager to have a cake ready for Syaoran when he comes home she ends up burning it, earning nothing but his ire.

When the big baking day comes, everyone seemingly brings their A-game…only when everything comes out of the oven and is ready to taste, it’s all way too sweet. Sakura doesn’t understand how she and Tomoyo screwed up, or how everyone could have screwed up at once. Back at Chez Li, Syaoran finally gives Meiling some kind words, telling her it’s not her fault the cake was too sweet.

He’s not just saying that; he sensed a Clow Card in operation, and eventually so does Sakura—and Mizuki-sensei for that matter. When their home-ec class bakes another round of cakes, the Sakura and Syaoran hang back, and eventually get a glimpse of the Sweet card.

She may just be the most adorable card yet, tiny and fairy-like, and able to not just turn cakes sweeter, but turn anything into sweets, from the chalkboard to the stools. Sakura devises a plan with a trail of salt in order to trap Sweet without hurting her and then sealing her back into card form. To her and everyone’s delight, everyone’s cake turns out great as a result.

Sakura also ends up winning the Yukitostakes-of-the-Week by getting her cake to Yukito first, causing Syaoran to glare ruefully at the two through a fence. It’s a shame, because Yukito would have likely accepted cake from him and enjoyed it just fine. We’ve seen how the kid can pack it away!

Meiling comes to comfort him, but he’s got a one-track mind, and that track is Yukito. Honestly I felt pretty bad for Meiling. Granted, Syaoran never asked her to follow him to Japan, and she can be a haughty pest, but his aggressive indifference towards her borders on cruel here. Despite being an episode full of sweets, that fact left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 21 – On Your Marks

I tellya, if Sakura doesn’t start taking her rival seriously, this could soon turn into The Meiling and Syaoran Show! In all seriousness, since arriving Meiling has done all she can to take over Sakura’s spotlight. Despite the fact Sakura isn’t actually trying to compete with her for anything (or anyone), Meiling is committed to beating Sakura at every turn–even a 2.5k when all the races she’s ever run were sprints.

It’s all too apropos that “reserving your energy” is a foreign concept to Meiling; it takes both Syaoran and Wei to convince her that she needed go all-out at the beginning of the race, and she should focus more on her breathing. Going for a run after a big meal is also a bad move, but Meiling is determined to cross that finish line 1-2 with Syaoran, so she’ll weather any stomach cramps or other hardships.

When the day of the race arrives, Tomoyo injures her foot, but that just means she gets to record Sakura running. She even employs Kero-chan as an aerial spotter. Meiling shows off how much she’s learned by keeping pace with both Syaoran and Sakura—who are both motivated by the fact Yukito is watching them run with Touya.

But as the race progresses, the theme song transitions to more ominous music, indicating something’s not quite right. Sakura, Syaoran and Meiling cross Tomoyo twice…in the same direction. As Sakura notes that the tree-lined road seems longer than usual, Meiling trips and hurts her ankle. No matter how far they run they can’t seem to get to the finish line. That means a Clow Card is in play, and sure enough Kero-chan identifies Loop as the culprit.

Once Sakura literally stumbles on the seam between “real” space and the loop’s spacial distortion, she and Syaoran each produce swords with which to cut said loop, which takes the form of a red ribbon. Sakura seals the card, and despite Meiling’s insistence Syaoran cut it first, it passes into Sakura’s possession. Syaoran finally relents and carries Meiling on his back across the finish line, thus achieving the spirit if not the letter of her dream.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 20 – A New Challenger Has Appeared!

Everybody Loves Sakura, right? Why wouldn’t they? Easy: if you thought she was trying to steal your fiancee! That’s where we’re at with Syaoran’s cousin, Meiling, who transfers not just to his school, but his very class and immediately shoots daggers at Sakura at every turn. Syaoran, meanwhile, just looks exhausted and defeated.

It’s clear Sakura isn’t used to people not liking her (again, why wouldn’t they?) but let’s get real: she is a bit of a goody two-shoes, so I’ll admit to finding Meiling’s ruthless single-mindedness refreshing. It doesn’t matter whether Sakura thinks she’s in the fight of her life for Syaoran’s heart, that’s what Meiling believes, so she’s going to do everything she can to defeat her.

Sakura is just happy that the new trimester has started, her dad made her a yummy bento, and then prepares a steak feast with Yukito joining her fam. During dinner she learns more details about a serial assaulter who is targeting martial artists by challenging them to fights and then winning. My first thought is that it was Meiling taking her frustrations out on unwitting bystanders, but it’s a Clow Card.

That means Tomoyo is on the scene with a new pink battle costume for Sakura and a fully-charged camcorder. The card, Fight, is one of the cooler-looking designs, but Sakura isn’t sure what to do since she doesn’t know any martial arts. Enter Meiling in her battle costume, who decides to take Fight on all by herself. At the start of the fight, Meiling makes it look easy, and the strikes, kicks, and dodges are all beautifully animated.

Eventually, however, Fight ups her game and Meiling has to be bailed out by Syaoran, who is furious she stole the compass to locate the card and fight it by herself. You see, unlike most members of the Li clan, Meiling has no magical powers, so she can’t detect Clow Cards without help. Turns out even Syaoran isn’t a match for Fight; I was certain this was one card the Lis were going to collect running away.

What Sakura lacks in martial arts knowledge, she makes up for by releasing Power after Tomoyo suggests it. The result is that while she flails about in a far less graceful and controlled way than the Lis, it’s the punch her staff packs that matters, and it only takes one well-placed blow to the head to knock Fight out cold, netting her another useful offensive card.

Meiling is extremely frustrated to have lost this round with her new rival, but she clings to Syaoran to make clear that she won’t have green-eyed hussies stealing her fiancee. Sakura ends the episode with an exasperated HOEEE, clearly preferring if everyone simply got along, while Tomoyo notes that the relationship chart has gotten a bit more complicated.

I, for one, really like Meiling; she had a hell of an entrance and can’t wait to see more of her!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 17 – ERASED (Temporarily)

It’s CCS’ first beach episode! That means ample chances for Sakura to show off her talent for swimming as well as potato peeling during dinner prep. Turns out Syaoran is pretty good at swimming (and chopping) as well, giving the impression that everything involving him and Sakura is an competition, unspoken or otherwise.

For all of Sakura’s strengths, she’s an incurable scaredy-cat—far more than any of her friends—so when Naoko tells a chilling ghost story about a shrine in a seaside cave where students vanished, she can’t sleep and wanders the grounds after lights-out. That’s when she encounters Syaoran, who is relatively nice for once! The two are able to simply sit together on the beach and talk, keeping each other company.

The next evening is the class test of courage, which ends up bearing an uncanny resemblance to Naoko’s tale. A skittish Sakura must cling to Tomoyo in the cave at all times, and lets out a blood-curdling HOEEEE when a teacher jumps out of the shadows wearing a sheet. But things get scary for realty when Naoko, Rika, and Chihiru all vanish before their eyes!

Soon even Tomoyo disappears, leaving Sakura all alone and a terrified wreck—until Syaoran shows up to help her calm down and gather the courage and focus needed to detect the Clow Card responsible for the vanishings. Using Float to cross the burned bridge, she manages to capture Erase, and even offers it to Syaoran, stating that she’d have remained a mess had he not helped her.

However, Syaoran declines, saying Sakura earned the card fair and square. He may still be a pompous jerk at times, and the two may still be crushing on Yukito by episode’s end, but this was another key early episode in their steady development of their relationship as friends and allies (and someday more!) who can rely on each other in a pinch.

Oresuki – 12 – The Problem is Ongoing

A week after involving Hose, Cherry, and Tsukimi, the library has been saved. But while the more bustling atmosphere doesn’t bother Pansy, continuing to deal with Hose does. Joro hasn’t figured out a way to help her in this matter, so reaches out to Tampopo.

He’s learned through Asunaro that she’s in love with Hose, and thus worked hard to get Pansy a boyfriend so she’d be off the board. She’s too busy with baseball to visit the library after school, so advises Joro to ask Pansy out immediately.

Joro still isn’t emotionally equipped to do that, and so the problem lingers and becomes more complicated. We learn that Sun-chan’s exchange with Pansy last week was to ask her to be his girlfriend if his team made it to Koushien. In the library, when Joro asks to talk to Pansy she tells him she’s accepted Sun’s offer, to the shock of both Hose and Joro. She also tells Joro to stay away from her…”for a while.”

When Joro meets with Sun-chan, his best friend confirms what Pansy said, adding that he’s been a good best friend thus far, and now it’s Joro’s turn to return the favor and “do what he’s supposed to do.” Tsubaki overhears this and grasps the situation, but Joro is still lost in the weeds.

He stays away from the library, working at Tsubaki’s family’s restaurant, he still gets to interact with her, Himawari, Cosmos, Asunaro, and yes, even Sasanqua (who works up yet more courage to offer support to him, but just can’t quite help herself from going Full Tsundere whilst around him).

Joro rightly considers this to still be a pretty sweet deal, and resigns himself to a Pansy-less life. The thing is, Joro read Pansy wrong in this case, and the ever-reliable Tsubaki is there to set him straight. Pansy may have called him a useless nuisance, but she said that and agreed to Sun’s offer to protect him from getting caught up in her problem.

It’s Joro’s choice whether to get caught up, and the “for a while” (rather than “forever”) was a small SOS to invite Joro to choose to help her despite the trouble. And he does just that, strolling into the library as the arrogant jerk Pansy fell in love with in the first place, just as Hose asks her out in the even Sun’s team doesn’t make the cut.

As expected, the unflincingly loyal Cherry and Tsukimi run interference for Hose, but Joro powers through, and Pansy lets him speak. Joro devises a challenge to Hose, giving each girl one of the excess barrettes Tampopo acquired while trying to win his heart. The barrettes represent votes: the girls should give the barrette to the guy they think should be with Pansy.

Predictably, this backfires for Joro, and he’s the only one who didn’t see it coming. Cosmos, Himawari, and Asunaro give their barrettes to Hose, not Joro, and take the opportunity to profess their love for Joro. Since he gave them the choice, none of them are willing to be runner-up. Cherry and Tsukimi actually inspired them to strive for love and friendship.

Hose also rescinds his friendship with Joro, as he cannot be friends with anyone who would keep him from Pansy. That’s kind of false equivalence, however, as it’s Pansy who doesn’t want to be with Hose, and has made it pretty clear! If Pansy and Joro love each other and want to be a couple the two of them need to break some hearts, full stop.

Hose, Cosmos, Himawari, and Asunaro need to be rejected in no uncertain terms. Sadly, so does Sasanqua, while Joro and Pansy need to clearly define their relationship going forward as one of a boyfriend and girlfriend. There can be no more half-measures creating hope for the others.

Will they take those difficult steps in the series-concluding OVA? One can hope. Joro wants to “leave all rom-coms in the dust.” One surefire way for Oresuki to stand out from a crowd is to have an unambiguous final couple.

Assassins Pride – 05 – Just a Step in Front

Keira Espada tells her underclassman Salacha Shicksal that she’d rather an inter-family fued like the Angels’ not interfere with the Luna Lumiere Selection Tournament, but there’s nothing she, Melida or Elise can do about it. White Night’s ongoing investigation into Melida’s ability and Othello’s insistance on Elise’s superiority means there’s no way the tournament won’t be affected. Indeed, it already has.

That’s thanks both to Othello’s rigging of the cadet selection and the fact that Black Madia is not only on the loose in the school, but assuming the form of a student, meaning she is everywhere and nowhere. Still, the host school’s headmaster would apparently prefer both a tainted final result and the mortal danger of a lurking assassin rather than cancelling or even postponing the tournament. She puts tradition and propriety before truth and the safety of her students. Shame on her!

Anyway, the show indeed goes on, by which point Melida has been encouraged and galvanized by both her tutor Kufa and her teammates Nerva and Shenfa, who buck the trend of believing Melida will never measure up to Elise. When the two finally meet for the fateful duel, Elise finally expresses that she didn’t want to win against her “big sister” because she didn’t want everyone’s assumptions—including her own—that Melida was weaker than her to be true. She wanted to continue being second-best.

Deeming that to be impossible to keep up the charade any longer, all Elli can do now is prove that which everyone assumes and which she always feared: that Melida can’t beat her. Only…Melida hasn’t been sitting idle all these weeks with Kufa. She’s learned quite a few new tricks that optimize her mana, and Elli has been too busy with her own preparations to keep up with her big sister’s training.

Turns out Melida not only believes she can beat Elli, but she goes and does it. With everyone watching, Elli doesn’t take the fall, she loses fair and square to a disarming attack, and Melida makes it clear she’s determined to stay a step ahead of her little sister…if only just a step.

While the sisters’ fight didn’t last long, it did pack a punch, and I appreciated that Ishikawa Yui got some spirited dialogue to sink her teeth into, almost channeling her best-known role, Mikasa Ackerman, in the process (both Mikasa and Elli both being cool, powerful, yet reserved beauties).

As they fight, Kufa is on the lookout for the disguised Black Madia, and thinks he’s found her when he encounters her all alone with something suspicious in her bag. Turns out he’s mistaken: it’s not Black Madia at all, but a student from the other school who spoke with Melida last week: Mule la Mor. Her mana-absorbing Diabolos class is too high a class for Madia.

Soon after Melida and Elise’s big catharsis, Madia steps in to try to finish the job Kufa won’t on behalf of White Night, who disguised herself as Nerva to get as close as possible to her target. The glass palace’s giant sentries initially stops her, but she destroys their weapons. Turns out that’s an unforced error, as it allows other non-cadets to enter and save the day: specifically Kufa, with Rosetti backing him up.

Kufa slashes away all of the Clown-class’s illusions until she’s stripped down to a revealing outfit that makes her self-conscious. At this point she completely loses her nerve and becomes submissive to Kufa, almost acting like she likes him, which may be the case. In any case, Kufa suggests a compromise: she can return to their boss with his “supplementary report”, thus not returning empty-handed in shame. In exchange, she’ll withdraw without further trouble.

After the credits, however, Madia is right back at the school, this time entering the front door as an instructor. Her transition from fearsome adversary to potential ally and supporter of Melida is awfully quick, but I’ll allow it. As for the tournament, Keira Espada wins, and Mule la Mor shows Salacha Shicksal a “mana analyzer” containing all the mana info of every girl who fought in the palace—including Melida’s—for Salacha’s brother. As the OP hinted, looks like we’ll likely see more of Mule and Salacha.