The Apothecary Diaries – 20 – The Hidden Spare

Maomao’s fine, everyone! If anything, she looks even more like a chuunibyou from the future with her new face and leg bandages. But there’s no rest for the recently beaten and wounded: she must make a full report to Jinshi, Gaoshun, and Basen about just how she knew that pillar would fall.

Maomao lays out Suiren’s conspiracy, much of which I had already inferred last week. Jinshi & Co. having to catch up, combined with Maomao’s subdued reaction to learning how important Jinshi is, kind of takes the air out of the room and feels recappy, even if we needed verbal confirmation. Basen constantly angrily interrupting was also annoying.

Things pick up a bit when Lihaku, who is apparently Maomao’s police informant now, tells her that Suirei was found dead of poison in her room and is scheduled to be cremated. Before that happens, Maomao asks Jinshi to allow her to inspect the corpse, remembering the “resurrection” medicine Suirei mentioned at her hilltop garden.

Maomao opens up the coffin to reveal the corpse of an entirely different woman. The doctor who examined Suirei, and knew her personally, is shocked, but Maomao indulging her curiosity has blown this case wide open: Suirei, the one with the intellect, courage, and cojones to pull off such an intricate conspiracy, is still at large. Maomao wants to catch her so she can teach her that resurrection medicine.

However, the “Suirei incident” is swept under the rug for now, which is probably for the best considering how many people ended up dead. The episode re-focuses on Jinshi, and the revelations continue to trickle out: He’s not a eunuch, nor is he twenty-four. Rather, he’s the nineteen-year-old brother of the current emperor, and he takes drugs to suppress his manhood.

The Empress Dowager gave birth to him the same time Ah-Duo gave birth to the current emperor’s firstborn son, who died soon thereafter and resulted in Ah-Duo being unable to have any more children. The younger brother’s identity was concealed as “Jinshi the eunuch” to run the Inner Palace and ensure the emperor produced a son to replace him as heir apparent to the throne.

Thus far, the emperor has had a son with Lihua, who passed away, and a daughter with Gyokuyou, who can’t be emperor. That said, things may soon be changing: Jinshi informs Maomao that Gyokuyou’s cycle has halted, a sign she’s pregnant again. Perhaps this time the emperor will get his son and heir and Jinshi can get his own life back…maybe a life with the brilliant and cute apothecary??

Jinshi dispatches Maomao, whom he trusts over any other physician, back to the Inner Palace to tend to Gyokuyou. She’s happy to be back in a place where she doesn’t have to worry about bumping into Lakan, and seeing the emperor play with his daughter, her opinion of him as a lewd lecher is starting to soften.

What with Loulan being the daughter of a high-ranking official who is no doubt trying to ascend the ladders of power, and the loss of his longtime friend and most trusted advisor Ah-Duo, even the emperor’s got his problems, and isn’t just an old dude who loves big bazongas.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 02 – Wax On, Wax Off

At the start of this week’s episode, Utena is fantasizing about the naked Tres Magia when she’s called out by the teacher for not paying attention. After class, Sayo (who is Magia Azure, but Utena doesn’t know that) tells her she can come to her if there’s anything troubling her. Utena turns down the help, but is happy Sayo spoke to her.

Utena should have taken Sayo up on her offer, because I don’t know if she can fight this sickness on her own. She prays at a shrine for the strength to stop doing stuff to Tres Magia and to keep Venalita away. She wants to be good. But then she discovers a trail of BDSM magazines (left by Venny), gives in to her curiosity, and starts reading.

Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with BDSM. Your kinks are your kinks and I ain’t gonna shame you. But one of the key tenets of the BDSM community is mutual trust and above all consent. The things Utena reads about are done between consenting adults. Utena and Tres Magia are not adults, and nothing she’s done was with their consent.

That makes her, well, a villain. A more contemporary term is sex offender. I have to think that if Utena knew Azure was her classmate Sayo, she’d probably reconsider covering her face with a fox mask and caressing her up and down her body. But she doesn’t. Doing this to Sayo here and now feels good, and she’s been given the power to do it, so she does it.

While Venalita presses Utena to come up with a Villain name, Haruka and Kaoruko can tell something’s off about Sayo. She maintains what happened to her “wasn’t that bad”, and she’s preoccupied with the villainess saying she’ll “have more fun” with her another time. But it’s automatically bad by dint of her having no choice in the matter.

When the three part ways, Kaoruko, who seems to be the shrewdest of the trio, sets a trap for the villainess, with herself as the bait. That means getting restrained by a giant candle monster, having the front of her top ripped off, and the villainess dripping candle wax on her chest.

Magia Sulphur then breaks out her giant metal fists, declaring that playtime is over. She gets a couple of licks in, but villainess is able to dodge serious damage, and creates wax clones to escape. Sulphur is fine with the result, but makes clear she won’t be falling for the same trick twice, then asks the villainess for her name.

Utena tells her she’s Baiser … Magia Baiser, with baiser being German for meringue. Like that confection made from egg whites, Baiser’s smooth, striking exterior masks a brittle (in her case moral) interior liable to crumble to dust. Venalita’s blackmail and manipulation aside, Utena still has the choice whether to act on her fantasies. As long as she chooses to do things to Tres Magia sans consent, She’s the Baddie.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 01 (First Impressions) – Magical Churl

Hiiragi Utena is an average girl who keeps to herself. Her town is protected by the Tres Magia, a trio of strong, beautiful magical girls. Utena loves them very, very much and wishes she could be them. Someone heard her wish, and decided to make it come true … with a twist.

That someone is the Kyuubey-like Vinalita, who presents Utena with a talisman that switches out her school uni for an extremely risqué get-up complete with star pasties. When she comments that the look doesn’t scream “magical girl”, Vinalita lays it on her: she’s going to be a villain.

When the Tres Magia spot them and think they’re up to no good, Vinalita blackmails Utena with video of her transformation and hands her a crop with which to turn a flower into a monster that binds the magical girls into compromising positions with its tendrils.

Utena admits that watching the girls squirm makes her feel “funny”, but it’s not a feeling she hates. Venalita, not content to let her simply watch, tells her to take an active role, and she does, spanking the girls repeatedly with her crop-like wand.

Venalita believes that Utena’s feelings for magical girls isn’t love, but a twisted delight from watching them suffer, and an even greater delight in administering that suffering. In other words, Venalita believes her to be a pure sadist—the perfect new recruit for the evil organization, Enormita.

Utena wakes up in bed, relieved it was just a dream (albeit one she somewhat enjoyed), only for Venalita to shatter the idea it was a dream. Due to magical interference, Utena doesn’t realize that the Tres Magia are in the same class as her, nor do they recognize her as their torturer.

Haruka, greets Utena warmly at school and and compliments the flowers she tends to; Utena is surprised Haruka even knows her name. Throughout the day Haruka and her comrades Kaoruko (blonde hair) and Sayo (turquoise hair) suffer the lasting effects of their lashing and vow revenge against the evil perpetrator.

They get the rematch they wanted, but it doesn’t go the way they want. Venalita lures them to an abandoned warehouse to fight low-level baddies. Then when Utena shows up, she creates monsters out of mannequins that once again restrain the magical girls.

This time, the mannequins tear away their sleeves and boots and start mercilessly tickling them. The display once again gets Utena’s juices flowing, and she joins in the ticklefest, once again giving in to her darker impulses.

When Sayo breaks free, Utena has to retreat. Back home, she continues to wrestle with the outrageous, previously unthinkable fact that she has tortured the magical girls she loves more than anything not once but twice now, and can’t even deny she enjoyed it.

As a bad guy, I’m sure it’s Venalita’s goal to hone Utena into a more confident villain by steadily flushing away her shame with more close encounters. The OP and ED also indicate she’ll be gaining two villainous comrades, so we’ll eventually see how a 3-on-3 battle will shake out.

Utena definitely engages in objectionable, villainous behavior. At the same time, there’s the question of whether this is who she was always meant to be. Before she met Venalita, she was a loner with no power. Now she’s about to gain friends and has gained lots of power. We’ll see if it ends up being worth it.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades – 06 – Mask Off, Mask On

My thoughts going in were They got this, right? Sure, Vera’s an upperclassman and mad scientist, but it’s 2-against-1 and we clearly haven’t seen all that Oliver and Nanao can do. And yes, indeed, they got this. But the boss battle is still steeped in danger throughout.

Oliver and Nanao prove a very effective duo, as Nanao launches forward attacks and Oliver bails her out when she’s too reckless. He also keeps Vera off balance with a creative array of spells. Nanao even shows she can deflect spells with her blade, as if it was truly the extension of her body she believes it to be.

Vera has a little too much fun against her kohais, allowing Nanao to slip behind her using a well-placed bounce spell from Oliver. She then reveals she has a second eye in her left hand, but faced with this unexpected tactic, Nanao continues to simply charge forward.

Rather than getting petrified or injured, her blade cuts through space and time to close what should have been an impossible distance and cleaves Vera’s hand clean off. To Oliver, this undefendable ability is none other than a heretofore unknown (and titular!) seventh Spellblade.

Godfrey and Whitlow arrive too late on an anonymous tip, interrupting Nanao’s attempt to get Oliver to give her a victory kiss. Oliver and Nanao both fine and will be fine, but worry about how Katie will take the betrayal of a senpai. But after she recovers in the infirmary and they tell her what happened, her reactions surprise them both.

Rather than despair in this betrayal, she turns the other cheek, then kisses Oliver and Nanao on theirs—simple tokens of gratitude for saving her. She then declares that she’s not going to let this get her down, nor is she willing to wash her hands of Vera. She forgives her, and vows to speak to her properly.

Vera’s betrayal only galvanized Katie’s resolve to continue toughening up while remaining quintessentially Katie Aalto: empathetic, emotionally intelligent, forgiving, and kind. She aims to graduate from a school a little kinder than when she first arrived, a declaration that brings tears to Oliver’s eyes.

Those tears are understandable; who wouldn’t be moved by Katie’s resilience in the face of face of betrayal? But I wouldn’t understand their additional meaning until later in the episode. As he expected and as Richard warned, Professor Grenville approaches him. Oliver leaves his friends to go with him, and on a path for which there may be no return.

Grenville explains the reason for summoning Oliver as they descend back into the Labyrinth. It was pretty evident by now, but the road of magical discovery is soaked with the blood of mages. When a powerful spell is too much for a mage, the spell absorbs him, and becomes even more powerful.

That makes it an enticing prize for the mage or mages strong enough to master that spell. Call it magical scavenging with a hint of magical cannibalism. It’s an interesting, and appropriately brutal mechanism for magical development, and explains why the mortality rate at a school is so high.

In keeping with the darkness of this magical world, we simply haven’t known Oliver’s Whole Deal all this time…until now. “Oliver Horn” is a persona; a mask he wore to stand out as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none student who might prove a useful assistant.

Little did Grenville know he was recruiting someone who had a major vendetta against him. Oliver asks him where he was on a specific date and time seven years ago. When Grenville deflects, Oliver draws his athame and steps to Grenville. He then reveals that he is the Fourth Spellblade, using it to defeat Grenville with one move.

But he’s far from done with the man who murdered his mother. Adopting an entirely different demeanor, Oliver proves he’s both masochist and sadist when it comes to his bloody goal of revenge, explaining how he made sure to endure all 128 types of pain that were exacted upon his mom by Grenville and others seven years ago. That allows his own pain magic to exhibit those same 128 forms, which he uses one by one to torture Grenville.

Once Oliver gets to 57 (is the writer a Heinz fan?), Grenville finally says “the magic words” he wanted to hear: Please…end it. Reduced to begging for his life, Oliver obliges with all due haste. Immediately after, his older brother Gwyn, his sister, and his bodyguard Miss Carste appear before him, congratulating him for getting rid of the first of their mother’s murderers.

A whole army of young mages file in and bend the knee before Oliver, whom Gwyn calls by his real name, Noll. He places the mask from the OP over his eyes, the symbol of his right to lead the family, presumably as the inheritor of their mother’s Spellblade. But there is still much work to do. There were seven people involved in their mom’s demise, and six remain.

As he lists them like a magical boy Arya Stark, w learn they consist of other Kimberly professors we’ve met, who similarly don’t seem to suspect who Oliver is and what he wants. The fact he doesn’t look much like his mom, as well as concealing his true power, has helped him maintain anonymity.

Chief among those names, and likely to be Oliver’s final target, is Esmeralda, the current headmistress and someone who literally stabbed his mother in the back seven years ago. Notably, and crucially, it doesn’t seem like Emmy enjoyed having to do so one bit.

That makes me wonder: were these seven assailants simply Bad Guys trying to steal Oliver/Noll’s Spellblade, or is his family actually a serious threat to the magical world, making his mom a kind of WMD that couldn’t be allowed to live? Considering all the twists and turns I’ve endured thus far, I can’t help but consider all possibilities.

Oliver/Noll proves he’s no different from Vera: driven towards a singular goal: in her case, a future where demi-humans have equal stature and rights as humans; in his case, revenge for himself and on behalf of his family. And that’s where those tears at Katie’s words come back into play.

He wasn’t just moved by her resolve, kindness, and forgiveness. He wept because he believes he is beyond those qualities do not, cannot, and will never apply to him. He wears his royal mask with pride and conviction, but I can’t say with certainty that his Oliver Horn persona was merely an act.

And then, of course, there were Nanao’s prescient words: there is no joy in a blade wielded for revenge; only one wielded out of mutual love. I want to think Oliver and his siblings’ mom would not want them to sully themselves with the bloody business of revenge, which may offer some comfort and justice in the immediate, but is ultimately self-defeating.

Noll’s greatest enemy is himself. I believe Nanao, Katie, and the others have the power to deliver him from his ruinous path, but they have to somehow be made aware of it first. I don’t see Noll revealing who he is to them anytime soon, but at some point professors are going to start dropping, so one of his friends will surely catch a hint at some point.

Until then, this episode caps off the first half of Seven Spellblades by dropping some enticingly volcanic plot and character bombshells, and promises that the next seven (ha!) episodes will be must-see anime.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 07 – If You Give Up, Then That’s That

Nyanko Big, Pillar of the Tada family since the loss of its mom and dad, is missing. Mitsuyoshi’s little sister Yui takes center stage in the search for him, riffing off of her favorite manga that chronicle the cases of Hercule Poirot’s half-Japanese granddaughter…which doesn’t sound like a half-bad anime!

Everyone joins in the search, even Sir Charles, who was the one who saw him last with his “girlfriend” (a raggedy foxtail toy). During the search, Yui is happy to be partnered with Yamashita Dog, on whom she’s been maintaining a crush. (Hinako and Hajime sit this one out).

When we first see Charles reacting to something earlier on, and Yui’s gramps mentions how pets “take a trip” when their “time has come”, the episode is trying to tint the proceedings with foreboding, but while the thought briefly occurred to me they might kill off the cat, that thought didn’t last due to the search’s lighthearted tone.

Sure enough, they find Nyanko attempting to woo the disinterested Cherry, who happens to be the pet of “Chia-nee”, a lovely woman who knows Yamashita and pats him on the head as he coos. The joy of finding her cat is replaced by the revelation the guy she likes likes someone else, and says as much later when they’re enjoying celebratory festival snacks.

Teresa knows something’s up, and when asked what’s up, Yui cannot hide her tears of frustration, asking Teresa if falling in love with someone is always so painful. Like Nyanko Big, Yui is meowing up the wrong awning, but Charles later confides in Nyanko that he senses he may be doing the same with Teresa.

That aside, Teresa is the one who once told him “if you give up, then that’s that!”, when he tried to give up looking for his cherished gold bracelet (perhaps given to him by Teresa). She didn’t give up, ended up finding it, and he still wears it to this day. He, in turn, won’t give up, and neither will Nyanko and Yui.

As for Mitsuyoshi? Well, once again he’s a non-factor, only managing a momentary awkward meeting of eyes with Teresa. You can’t give up something you haven’t started, and with only five episodes left, he’s running out of time to do so.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 06 – Teresa Can’t Fall in Love

For a show called “Tada-kun Never Falls in Love”, it’s somewhat stunning how little romantic development there’s been between Tada and Teresa, not to mention how little Tada-kun there’s been.

His interest in Teresa has been so…peripheral (one or two moments excepted) that the sudden appearance of Prince Charles—Teresa’s fiancee back home—feels premature. Why throw a wrench into the works when there have been barely any works?

Thankfully, Charles isn’t a tumbling dickweed despite his status and his Aventador rental(?); he seems to genuinely care about Teresa, and he has the looks and charisma to win over every skeptic at school. He doesn’t even make the mistake of blurting out the blindingly obvious fact that Hinako is HINA!

You get the feeling Charles isn’t interacting with Teresa’s Japanese friends out of obligation or a sense of royal patience. Even if his coming to Japan flies in the face of Teresa’s original intent for going—to get away from her other life—one can appreciate how her trip there might’ve felt to him like a warning sign, and how coming there allayed those concerns.

When Ijuuin invites everyone to a fancy celebrity gala and neither Charles, Teresa, nor Alec can attend, only for their previous engagement is that very party, seems to be the universe once more working in Teresa and Tada’s favor, even if the two have done precious little with such opportunities (with good reason, considering Teresa’s obligation to marry Charles).

It’s here at the party where it should be plain that Teresa isn’t just a mere foreign transfer student, but someone quite a bit more…important. Nevertheless, Tada treats her like he’d treat anyone else, and when she wanders off on her own after washing a drink off her dress, and she and Tada are caught in the rain, he does the appropriate thing and give her his jacket to keep her warm.

As Charles and Alec dance to pass the time, Tada and Teresa simply shoot the breeze, enjoying one another’s company. But while Tada is being as open and honest as someone who “never falls in love” can be, Teresa basically continues to sit on a throne of lies (or at least omissions).

Teresa and Tada look for all the world like star-crossed lovers, what with the fact they both stared up at the same North Star as kids. And Tada is once more swept into the background when a panicked Alec arrives to scold Teresa.

Charles is not nearly as worried (unlike Alec he recognizes she’s an adult, if an easily-lost one), but the sight of him taking Teresa by the shoulder and walking off is the first time we’ve seen anything resembling anguish from the oh-so-stoic Tada.

What Tada has yet to learn (and will he ever?) is that Teresa has already decided that when she’s done this Japan trip, she’s going back home marrying Charles, and becoming queen once the present monarch kicks the bucket. It’s all set in stone.

With this episode, the title of the series can be viewed in a different light: it’s not that Tada isn’t capable of falling in love—he’s on his way to doing so with Teresa—but he never falls in love because in the one instance he did, it’s with an unattainable woman.

But as Teresa looks up at the North Star after retiring for bed, one gets the feeling she might feel lost, despite her stone future. After all, that’s what people do when they’re lost and the North Star is in view!

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 05 – A Good Meal, a Nice Bath, and an Unexpected Guest

The first minutes of this episode of Tada-kun are, in a word, heartbreaking. A grown Mitsuyoshi and Yui pray at their parents’ grave with their gramps, and we’re taken back to the rainy day their dad suddenly has to hop on a flight, and their mom drives him to the airport.

As they pull away, his dad pokes his head out the window and snaps a picture of his kids. Mitsuyoshi is sullen. Yui is cheerful. It turns out to be the last picture their dad took; he and their mom were killed in an accident, and would never return.

Back in the present, Kaoru blasts into the Tadas’ cafe to announce the “Tenth Annual Ijuuin Kaoru Show” is on, and it’s live. This year, all are welcome, from Hajime, Hinako and Yamashita Dog, to newcomers Teresa and Alec. Kaoru asks them all to sit back while he utilizes his not inconsiderable culinary skillz to prepare all their favorite dishes.

When Mitsuyoshi and Teresa are tasked with putting some food away in the fridge in the upstairs apartment, she’s drawn to that last photo Mitsuyoshi’s dad took, and when he explains the context, she remembers when she fell in the drink and was saved by Alec around the same time Mitsu and Yui lost their folks. She considers both times when they decided they had to try to become stronger; in her case for Alec’s sake; in his case for Yui’s.

The exchange is interrupted when Kaoru announces he’s completed everyone’s dishes and it’s time to dig in. Everyone agrees Kaoru (who comes from a restaurant family) is damn good at cooking, even if, in Alec’s case, she doesn’t outwardly say it. Instead, she merely polishes of every last bit of her katsu bowl and asks for seconds.

The Kaoru Show continues after dinner with a trip to a bathhouse he’s rented out for the evening (he’s a young man of means, after all), and the two genders split off to their respective sides of the bath. Since they’re in the bath, there is talk of boob size on both sides, as well as Yui thinking out loud that Teresa would be a great girlfriend for her big brother. Alec says Teresa already has one, only to dismiss it as a “joke.”

Over on the boys’ side, Yamashita pines for an “older girl” presumed to be Hinako, while Hajime overheats and slips on a bowl, nearly cracking his skull. When the two groups reunite, Hinako is right there by Hajime’s side to help him, for which he’s grateful, even if he told his friends in the bath that his getting romantically involved with her would never happen (likely because he’s still mostly convinced Hinako and HINA are different people).

After the bathhouse, the Tenth Annual Ijuuin Kaoru Show comes to a close, and we learn about it’s raison d’etre: ten years ago, when Mitsuyoshi lost his folks, Kaoru, who was his classmate but never got along with him before, took pity on Mitsuyoshi, and made cheering him up at any cost his life’s work from that point on.

In other words, or more accurately in Alec’s words, Kaoru is a “pest”, but “has some good points too”, one of them being he can always be relied on to cheer you up when you’re feeling low. He’s never failed to do so with Mitsuyoshi (and Yui!) for a decade and counting.

After everyone goes their seperate ways and the credits roll, we move on to an entirely new development: the arrival of Teresa’s apparent fiancee/suitor/betrothed, Charles, who not only can stop Alec’s attacks with one hand, but confirms that Teresa is not only a princess of “Larsenberg” (maybe not Luxembourg?), but its future queen.

That makes things a bit more complicated for her and Mitsuyoshi, now doesn’t it?

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai – 04 – A Daifuku is a Daifuku

I’m compelled to preface this review with a bit of a rant: I simply couldn’t buy Hajime not knowing that his childhood friend Hinako is his favorite idol, HINA.

Most anime rely on a certain degree of suspension of disbelief, but I can tell quite plainly that Hinako is HINA, and so can Alec. Both of us have just met her. And the only elements that “disguise” her are glasses, a big braid, and hair that magically changes color (what’s up with that?)

Therefore it’s nigh inexcusable that someone Hajime has known since they were little kids, and seen nearly every day, could not discern the resemblance, unless he were “face-blind” like Oliver Sacks or Chuck Close. Since there’s no indication he is, his inability to see HINA in Hinako makes him look stupid, and made me feel stupid for going along with it.

Now, an amendment to that rant: I wrote it before I watched the entire episode, pausing it after the cold open. And here’s the thing: once I did watch it, the show managed to not only restore my suspension of disbelief, but reinforce it.

By the end, the charm of the episode convinced me that maybe it’s okay, for now, for Hajime to be an oblivious dolt. Perhaps because, for the time being, it’s okay for Hinako herself, and that’s what matters here.

When Hajime announces to the club that he’s won one of only 100 passes to a live meet-and-greet with his beloved HINA, it suddenly places Hajime in a bind: there’s no way he won’t recognize her when they come face-to-face, bereft of the filters of photos on glossy paper or the scan of television screens and the internet.

Moreover, Hajime is an emotional wreck, and cannot fathom coming face-to-face with HINA at all without collapsing in a puddle of flop sweat. His club members suggest he “practice” how to interact with one of them, and that one of them ends up being Hinako.

It’s definitely interesting seeing the two interact together, as Hajime lists all the weird ways he loves HINA, and Hinako outwardly saying no girl wants to hear those things while being inwardly flattered. She also tells her childhood friend the best way to calm oneself: write the character for “person” on his hand and “swallow” it.

Somewhat dragging down the perceived intelligence of the entire cast, Alec and Alec alone is the only one who clearly and immediately realized that Hinako was HINA. Thankfully, it’s something Teresa also realizes as soon as she’s told the truth, giving Hinako two allies in which to confide.

She tells them how a one-time deal taking the place of an ill model suddenly snowballed into a side-career, and when Hajime announced he was a fan of “HINA”, Hinako felt it impossible to tell him. It’s clear to Alec and Teresa that Hinako likes Hajime, but Hinako wants him to figure it out for himself that she and HINA are one and the same.

When Alec calls Hajime “an unfortunate man” for unknowingly worshiping the girl right in front of him, Hinako objects, as Hajime’s oldest and dearest friend has every right to. As she puts it, he may be “stupid and a little perverted” but he’s also a shy sensitive boy with a gentle heart who will always have her back when push comes to shove.

Hinako is worried Hajime will be “disappointed” if he learns the truth, and wishes he’d simply take a stronger interest in the “real her”, but Teresa objects to that: HINA is a part of the real her; she shouldn’t forget that.

The day of the meet-and-greet arrives, and despite their earlier grumblings, everyone turns out to support Hajime (except Hinako, who had “errands to run”). Sure enough, Hajime overcompensates for his shyness by dressing way too…too much, and the boys play rock-paper-scissors, resulting in Tada having to swap clothes with him.

He heads in, and it’s all over so fast. Hajime lost his precious notes in the clothes he gave Tada, and is initially a nervous, sweaty mess with the clock ticking. But HINA asks him what he should do when he’s nervous, and he remembers Hinako telling him about writing “person” and swallowing it.

That just barely does the trick; the staff is about to shuffle him off, but he makes contact with HINA and says what he came to say: to thank her for being born. He’s then taken away by security, leaving Hinako wondering if he finally noticed who she really was.

I’m of the mind that perhaps it did…a little, subconsciously. But Hajime plays his cards close and maintains the belief that Hinako and HINA are two different people when he calls her up later. He first describes how amazingly beautiful HINA was in the flesh, then thanks Hinako for the advice that ended up saving his ass.

While initially disappointed, Hajime’s heartfelt thanks put a smile on Hinako’s face, and she later confides in Teresa and Alec that she’s fine with things the way they are, at least until she summons the confidence to tell him herself. I’m totally fine with that; the ball is in her court. I’m not holding my breath Hajime will ever take the initiative, even if the truth fully comes to him.

As for Teresa, she laments to Alec that she’s kept something from everyone else in the club—namely, I suspect, that she’s Luxembourgian royalty—but Alec tells her not to sweat it and just to enjoy the time they have in Japan, because, after all, it’s only a study abroad trip, and one day it will end and they’ll return to Europe.

As Teresa quietly develops feelings for Tada, she can’t help but relate to Hinako’s dilemma, as Tada perhaps hasn’t shown as much interest in her as she’d like. Only one thing for it: more time and more interactions together.

Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen – 05

Oshutaru/Ukon has taken a shine to Haku and Kuon, to the extent that he assigns them the very open-ended, important misssion of protecting the capital and the people “in his place”, which assumes he’s busy with other matters. Haku and Kuon are intrigued, and a big sack of money cements their acquiescence.

Haku then embarks on a strenuous cycle of manual labor by day and learning to read and write by night. Nekone is surprised to find how quickly he learns, but also comes to understand why her big brother is so interested in him.

Just when Haku is at the end of his tether, Kuon awards him a day off for all of his hard work. Unfortunately, the same day he has off is the day one Atui-sama, daughter of Soyankekuru-sama, the Ouro of Shahharo, decides to run away from home seeking love.

Atui may be a bit naive, but she’s a good enough character to trust Haku, who is indeed a good sport as he shows her around the city, all while she’s being hunted by Kiuru, an acquaintance of Nekone tasked with bringing Princess Atui home (though the arrows suggest a dead-or-alive scenario).

Hara Yumi, who also voiced Albedo in Overlord, brings a very distinctive affectation to the royal yet rebellious (and flirtatious) Atui. And whether by accident or by intention, Haku does manage to keep her safe.

At the same time, Atui wrongly assumes Haku and Kuon are a couple; they are, but not the romantic type. Interestingly, Haku doesn’t seem to want to get involved with anyone, from Kuon and Rurutie to Atui.

When Kiuri, Atui, and the others meet up to discuss things, Atui decides to return home; she doesn’t wish to cause more trouble for anyone. She thanks Haku for a fun day beyond the palace walls.

When Haku meets with Ukon, he tells him about a rumor spreading across the capital of “a man who hears the people’s voices, no matter how small.” Those rumors are actually about Haku, performing good deeds for his fellow capital-dwellers, while gradually gaining renown in return.

Haku agrees to go along with Ukon’s plan and be “The Righteous Man”, at least until a better-paying job shows up. Then Atui moves into the same inn where Haku and Kuon are staying. He may not know quite who he is (or was), but his allies continue to multiply.

Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen – 04

In the big capital, Haku, Kuon, and Rurutie meet Ukon’s little sister, Nekone, who has her doubts about Haku for most of the episode until she realizes he’s actually a pretty nice and interesting fellow, and learns from observing him not to worry so much or overthink things.

As far as baths are concerned, overthinking is definitely not a problem for Kuon: Clothes come off, Kuon gets in the water. Kuon also makes sure Rurutie and Nekone are as God made them that they might fully enjoy the experience of bathing. When talk that Ukon is with Haku on the men’s side, Rurutie’s inner fujoshi comes out. We even see Maroro without his white base mask.

The next morning, Haku is very refreshed, and Nekone invites him, Kuon and Rurutie to join her on a tour of the capital, during which she’ll determine whether Haku is worthy of being a friend to her brother. On the tour, they catch sight of the hugely-popular general Oshutaru, and Nekone clashes with Haku on what she perceives as his arrogance, ignorance, and general dimwittedness.

The girls find him a job waiting tables, and to Nekone’s surprise, after a rough start, Haku starts to fit right in. No one has a problem with him the way she does, so she starts to wonder if her perception of him is the true problem. Stepping back from her preconceptions of him, she starts to see the odd but comforting charisma he exerts, and which Kuon, Rurutie, and even her brother Ukon have come to like.

After a hard day’s work and with the cost of his mistakes subtracted, Haku has made barely enough money to buy a meal, let alone a room at an inn. Nekone is still dubious, but delivers an invitation from Ukon to Haku and the others. When they arrive to find Oshutaru, he reveals “Ukon” is merely a false identity he uses on occasion. With Ukon and Oshutaru being one and the same means he and Haku are already good friends.

Seeing how much her brother truly trusts and cares for Haku, Nekone takes a page out of Haku’s book. She, Kuon and Rurutie have already hit it off, so she decides, without overthinking, to simply regard them as friends, as they clearly already consider her one.

Meanwhile, two cloaked messengers report Haku’s presence in the capital; news that is very well-received by a venerable elder-type whose face is concealed. We saw Haku as a simple waiter this week, but it’s clear there are many people whose existence he’s not even aware of who have far grander plans for him.

Rolling Girls – 02

Alright, I’m calling it: Rolling Girls’s second episode is the Best Episode of the Winter so far; beating Saekano – 01 by a hair. So it’s fitting that it’s called “The Center of the World”, because that’s where it felt like I was for nearly twenty-five minutes.

It was, quite simply, The Complete Package: an addictive blend of Kill la Kill’s hypercaffinated, escalating battles and back-stories; One Off’s motorcycles and attractive character design; Zvezda’s ‘Power of Youth’ element; and finally, Amagi Brilliant Park’s eclectic collection of lovable characters, punchy dialogue, and a story that’s equal parts Swiss watch and Rube Goldberg machine.

All of those shows I listed that remind me of this had their flaws, but RG manages to avoid most or all of them. Frankly, if there were any, they’d bee quickly lost in dizzying yet controlled pace of the action. Things seem on the edge of flying completely off the rails, like the roller coaster of non-combatant hostages.

But rather than do that, RG rearranges the coaster’s track and keeps the ride going. Considering just how much was thrown at my eyes and ears, it’s a wonder I can tease out a simple synopsis, but that’s the beauty of controlled, well-organized chaos.

So here goes: Nozomi learns Maccha Green is Masami, and Masami created the persona so Nozomi wouldn’t risk her life trying to save her like she did in the past.

Only this week Nozomi and Shigyo end up dueling so fiercely, they end up taking each other right out of the peacebrokering game for two months. But while the battles get more and more intense and ridiculous as the episode progreses, they also gain more and more thematic resonance.

The shit that goes on is simply unreal, but nothing comes out of left field, even what seem to be the most absurd occurances. Masami’s secret weapon is the Ramen Vomit Stream (from their eating contest earlier) that comes up after Shigyo beats her up, and a man wearing a croccodile mask gets accidentally punched. How do you confuse that face for Nozomis?!

Particularly impressive is when Masami gets some shots in on Shigyo, it seems to conjure up long-lost memories for Shigyo, about how she once idolized and trained to become a superhero she learned was a fraud when he appeared in a magazine unmasked. The amount of visual information is stunning, and while it sure looks like a mess in these many many screencaps, it just wasn’t.

The show also making use of every cubic inch of the space the two are fighting in, with the Giant Maccha Robot (which was only a giant inflatable dummy, but still fooled Shigyo last week), springs a leak when a big bird tries to steal octopus balls from smaller birds perched on it.

Masami seems to have more pure dumb luck on her side, both with the vomit and with the blimp crash landing right where Shigyo stands. Masami’s toughness is also on full display, as she’s able to shield Nozomi from the blimp in the nick of time, despite having just taken a crushing blow from Shigyo.

Getting back to that full use of 3D space, when the duel reaches the level in which all the non-combatants on both sides are simply blown away by the sheer force of the Bests’ attacks, we get to see it from Nozomi’s POV.

But as we said, the battle eventually does end—off-camera, ironically—with the two combatants laid up in the hospital for a couple months. As Masami can’t protect her in there, Nozomi figures it’s time to protect her, and decides to be a peacebroker-for-hire in her place.

From the way her cool dad convinces her mom to agree to it, to Nozomi mounting her super-cool motorcycle in super-cool light and then hurting her leg on the starter, this progression from battle to Nozomi’s next move is as heartwarming as it is hilarious.

I thought, then, that the next few episodes would be spent gathering the other three members of the titular Rolling Girls. Nope! She gathers them all up (both intentionally and by chance) in the final minute of the episode, as she’s riding out of town! After a maximalist battle, a minimalist team-build. I loved it.

And these weren’t random people, either: Nozomi and Yukina had already bonded (and gone through hell together) and Yukina simply likes the idea of going for a ride, Hibiki Ai was the enemy Rest who was kicked out and needs a ride, and Misono Chiaya was a customer at Nozomi’s fam’s restaruant. So off they go, to settle disputes and hunt for the rare Moonlight Stones that give Bests their powers. I for one am PUMPED.

Samurai Flamenco – 03

Rumors spiral that Hazama is Samurai Flamenco, but he insists he isn’t when Ishihara asks. Konno has offered a bounty the one who unmasks the superhero, and while on the Wow! Show, to Hazama’s surprise, his childhood hero, Kaname Joji (AKA Red Axe) poses as Samurai Flamenco, resurrecting his stalled career. Hazama sends a challenge to Kaname, and they meet at a superhero show stage after dark and have it out. Hazama insists he won’t allow Red Axe sully his good name by lying. When Kaname goes back on the air, he tells the world Flamenco is his student. Goto poses as Hazama on live TV so Hazama can “prove” to Ishihara it isn’t him.

Starting out as a kind of buddy comedy, another dimension is added to the series with the introduction of the impostor, who is actually Hazama’s boyhood idol and about as close to a real superhero as you can get. Don’t get us wrong, whether he’s Samurai Flamenco or his teacher, Kaname has a lot to gain by staying involved with Hazama, who’s younger and more popular with the young ladies. But the episode does a good job showing that he isn’t just a haughty ass of a celebrity. His emotional reaction and pivot in mission after Hazama challenges and confronts him is a combination of genuine concern and good improvisation. A lesser show would make Hazama and Kaname duke it out week after week as rivals, and to be honest, that doesn’t sound that interesting.

Instead, Kaname makes a compromise that keeps him in the limelight and also lets Hazama preserve his identity. Even though Kaname didn’t remember Hazama after the first time he met him, he will certainly remember him from now on. We also think he appreciates Hazama’s dedication to him as an admirer of Red Axe, and having a weakling reproach him for what he knows to be conduct that’s beneath Red Axe. And then there’s Goto, who actually agrees (offscreen) to don SF’s costume, pretend to be him – and actually enjoy it. Combined with Ishihara’s confusion about whether Hazama is telling her the truth and Mari’s awareness of who he is, we’re really enjoying how all of the relationships are turning out.

Rating: 8 (Great)