Urusei Yatsura – 22 – Darling, I Shrunk Myself

When Ten buys an innocuous glass bottle from a scarecrow inventor in the trippy “4D Forest” then points it towards Lum, it sucks her in and shrinks her to just a few inches tall. She decides to use this mishap as an excuse to get Ataru to pamper her, but Ataru suspects something is up. When he overhears her owning up to it, he stashes her in a birdcage so he can (fail to) pick up chicks.

Ten, who “rushed” off at his normal leisurely pace to purchase a “big bottle” to restore Lum to her normal size, learns that the scarecrow has become disillusioned and has started to destroy all his bottles, he “rushes” to grab his scooter so he can actually rush with Ataru and Lum back to the forest before the last big bottle is smashed.

They just make it in time to restore Lum, by which time a tearful Ataru is relieved. Lum, who had finally decided she couldn’t trust Ataru, isn’t sure how to react to his affection, except that it’s what she wanted all along, so I guess it worked out. She punishes him by making him wear the birdcage on his head while they walk to school arm in arm.

The next segment features an adorable little sentient fox who takes one look at Shinobu and falls desperately in love, only to find her walking with Ataru. Identifying his rival, the fox disguises himself as a diminutive Ataru and goes to school, convincing everyone that something has happened to Ataru until the real Moroboshi arrives with Lum.

The fox’s gig is up, and the boys go after him, worried he’s a fox demon trying to possess Shinobu. But it’s Shinobu herself who stops them, insisting he doesn’t mean any harm and was only paying her back for picking him up and taking him to the authorities when she thought he was a lost pet. The fox then transforms into a miniature version of their teacher, with which all the students are on board.

After the credits, a show-within-a-show called the Tomo-1 Queen Contest  begins, whittling down eight candidates for the title of Queen of the School down to Lum, Shinobu, Sakura, Ran, and Ryuu, to be picked up next week in at least part of next week’s finale. What Urusei Yatsura may have lacked in serialized development, it mostly makes up for with its vast variety of characters, entertaining situations, effective voice performances, and slick retro visuals.

Summertime Render – 24 – Everything Mattered

Ryuu and Shinpei are able to catch Ushio before she falls to her death, and she’s reverted to a child since her hair wasn’t quite enough to fully restore her. She’s well and truly out of gas and can no longer fight, but has one more ace up her sleeve.

If Ryuu and Shinpei can buy her two minutes, she’ll turn herself into a hacking shotgun shell that, once fired at Shide, will sever his connection to Hiruko and delete him. While stalling that long won’t be easy, it’s far from impossible, especially as Shide is the loquacious type and enjoys toying with his prey.

Ryuu and Shinpei do battle with Shide, who in addition to being very annoying with his monologues is also a tough customer due to three centuries of honing his shadow skills. Neither of the boys can match him for pure creativity, and Shin can tell they’re not going to make it if they don’t do something drastic.

That something is having Ryuu possess Shide’s armor, depicted as Ryuu literally wrestling with a mass of mud with eyeballs, resulting in Shide being frozen in place. The downside is that now that Ryuu is out of Shin’s body, Shin can feel all the pain Ryuu was suppressing. He nearly passes out, and then his body starts to disintegrate.

However, all this rash, all-or-nothing action pays off, as Ushio is able to finish the hacking shell. This leaves Shin having to get to the shotgun two meters away before Shide (who isolates Ryuu and tosses him away in a glob of mud) can charge and kill him.

He won’t make it, and Ushio can’t move the shotgun as she’s the shell inside, but Haine can, and moves the gun right into Shinpei’s hands. Ushio helps him hold it steady, they get the shot off, and Shide finally, finally bites the dust. His plans to both cause and witness the end of the world come to nothing.

This leaves Shinpei, Ushio, Ryuu, Haine, and lil’ baby Hiruko, whom Ushio attempts to delete. Instead her and everyone else’s data is transported to the real world of over 300 years ago, the very day that the original Haine finds the dead whale that is Hiruko on the beach.

Realizing that Hiruko sent them back to break the cycle, Shinpei scares Haine off before she reaches the whale, and then Ushio deletes it. Baby Hiruko vanishes, finally able to rest. Haine vanishes shortly thereafter, hoping that she and Ryuu can be friends again somewhere, someplace.

That just leaves Shinpei and Ushio on the beach, and what we know must be one more tearful goodbye. Ushio is a shadow, after all, and with Hiruko gone she’s not far behind.

Shinpei wants to disappear with her, but she throws a characteristic “dummy” his way; the time they got to spend together in the past few days made her—made them both—so happy, but she wants him to live on. Not to mention everyone is waiting for Shinpei back home in 2018. Ushio vows to use her remaining power to transport him back to his proper time, but that’s not all she aims to do.

It would seem she’s inherited at least some of Hiruko’s power, with which she plans to overcome the loops and re-draw the summer. So as Shinpei ends up on the boat to the island, his face landing in Hizuru’s chest, maybe it’s not goodbye, but more of a see you later situation. We’ll find out in the finale.

Made in Abyss – S2 12 (Fin) – The Cradle Falls

As tends to be the case with momentous episodes of Abyss, I’m still a bit overwhelmed with emotion, but I’ll do my best here. As a resurrected, better-than-ever Faputa and a game Juroimoh prepare to battle the invading beasts, we’re taken back to simpler, more innocent times, when Faputa first found Gaburoon.

Buried and covered in flowers, Faputa brought bits of scrap to him to enable to repair himself, while he tought her language, specifically that of her mother Irumyuui. What looked like an upside-down person turns out to be the symbol for haku, or that which matters most to someone. We watch, this time from Faputa’s perspective, as she encounters Riko, Reg, and Nanachi.

Gabu teases Faputa for resorting to subtler, more indirect methods that only served to confuse our lead kids—call it a measure of the shyness she inherited from her mother. Back in the present, while Faputa presses the battle, a transformed Majikaja serves as an escape vehicle for Riko, Reg, and Nanachi, as well as Moogie, Pakkoyan, Maaa, and other Hollows.

Maji takes them to Wazukyan, from which Vueko has already escaped and who is near death. In his usual friendly way he warns Riko that there is nothing ahead for her but despair, but she tells him as he crumbles to dust that things won’t necessarily go the way he’s foreseen.

As Riko is reunited with another page from her mother’s journal, the freed Vueko ascends a staircase while thinking about the one solid decision she made in her life: the choice to become Irumyuui’s mother. Unfortunately, she forgets the Sixth Layer’s curse is loss of humanity.

A quick-thinking Pakkoyan sacrifices herself to keep Vueko from being killed, but she is still transformed into a non-verbal hollow. Nanachi takes Vueko and brings her aboard Majikaja with the others.

Reg shocks Faputa by joining him in battle—this time on the same side—and apologizing for challenging her. Riko blows Prushka once more (causing her to pass out with a bloody nose), and Riko goes into Overdrive, allowing him to dispatch one of the two turbinid dragons who pose the greatest threat to Riko and the others.

This also gives Faputa time to go to Moogie and the other surviving hollows with the goal of consuming them and their value so she can do what she came here to do: put her long-suffering mother to rest. Just as they had no problem giving parts of themselves to resurrect Faputa, they have no problem becoming the nourishment Faputa needs.

After sending the black-turned-white goo throughout the structure of IruBuru, causing it to crack and shatter, Faputa is drained of energy an no longer able to fight. A piece of falling rubble wallops her and she begins to fall. She thinks of Vueko, the one person she has no memory of. She also thinks that the end is near; that she’ll die when she reaches the bottom. But she doesn’t; Reg snatches her with his extend-o-arm.

The rubble does a number on Majikaja’s body, and when he can no longer move, his true, semi-gaseous form emerges and briefly possesses Faputa. When he too passes, Faputa is able to come face to face with Vueko, her spiritual grandmother, and while Vueko can no longer talk, Faputa can hear her lucid thoughts.

Vueko tells her the kind of girl Irumyuui was, how Faputa is similar and how she’s different, before passing away peacefully, full of nothing but love and gratitude for the little girl that changed her forever. Faputa sheds tears for Vueko, despite her not “belonging” to her, and Riko, Reg, and Nanachi gather around to offer comfort.

The village borne from Irumyuui is now a pile of rubble, and Faputa’s mother is finally free. Following the customs she learned from Gabu, Faputa gives Vueko a proper burial, then sets up some companions with some smooth rocks so she won’t be lonely. After this, Faputa seems unsure what to do next, freed from “value” and now having been given the choice to live her life as she sees fit.

Reg suggests she join them. While he still can’t remember her or the details of their promise, he still wants to know her now, and go on an adventure with her. Faputa isn’t at all opposed to this, but does not agree right then and there. That’s to be expected of someone who has only very recently discovered such a thing as free will beyond an now-fulfilled genetic duty.

What I’ve described so far are the myriad events that unfolded in this double-length season two finale, but there’s no substitute for experiencing this episode and all of its nuances for yourself. It was one of the finest episodes of anime I’ve had the privilege to watch, and like Vueko with Irumyuui, I’ll never forget it.

There is sure to be another film or a third season that will continue Riko, Reg, and Nanachi’s journey still deeper into the Abyss, into darkness warm and cold, cursed by love and longing. This sequel had large shoes to fill and filled them ably. So too will the next sequel.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

 

Isekai Ojisan – 05 – Another Region Code

It’s clearly become a daily habit for Fujimiya to come by Takafumi’s place where they watch video of Ojisan’s isekai adventures. They’re basically couch potatoes watching fantasy reality TV. But hey, if it’s entertaining, and there’s no other way Fujimiya knows of to hang out with the oblivious Takafumi, so be it!

The latest “episode” they tuck into is when Ojisan was “nearly assassinated” The identity of her assailant in the night is made plain by her ice sword and silvery blue bangs. It’s Mabel, whom Ojisan scorned by ignoring the hints she dropped and defeating the Blaze Dragon without the god-freezing sword.

No sooner does Ojisan express worry about whether Mabel is eating well does she pass out, and she wakes up in an inn. When he asks what happened to her life of leisure, she says the village cut down the tree she lived in and gave her an ultimatum: get a job, or become the village pet. She chose neither, and instead froze everyone from the hips down and dropped icy water down their backs before fleeing.

She now finds herself aimless, but Ojisan tells her she already has the means to live the life she chooses, not just with the ice sword, but with a Cosmite ring he slipped on her finger while she slept. When Mabel considers reforming her gloomy personality, Ojisan rejects the notion that being an introvert is a bad thing, and says her eyes are attractive.

Between the ring and the compliments, Mabel has the distinct feeling she’s being proposed to by Ojisan. She offers him the ring back, but her claim about having no romantic feelings is debunked by the fact the ice seal on the sword (and thus, her heart) is melting like gangbusters behind her.

When Ojisan insists she keep it and that they should turn in for the night, Mabel’s first instinct is to ask for change for the public bath. That’s when Ojisan breaks her misunderstanding by saying once she sells the ring she can get change for the bath and everything else for the remainder of her life. Realizing this was not a proposal, her heart and the sword freeze so violently Ojisan takes defensive action.

When Elf hears the commotion and comes in the room, she finds what looks like Ojisan magically tying Mabel down to have his way with her, so she snaps his chains and lets Mabel free to encase him in ice for the night. The two women find kinship in their mutual emotional suffering at the hands of Ojisan. Mind you, he isn’t doing this intentionally…his brain just has a different region code.

The idea of being able to translate body language, sarcasm, and innuendo is expanded as the story continues, with Mabel and Elf chatting while Ojisan stands frozen. Takafumi and Fujimiya are intrigued when they hear Mabel say the word “Japan”, and starts to tell a story of another traveler from Japan who came to their world and was greeted by a god who bestowed upon him a divine power.

Mabel creates beautiful visuals for her story with ice and tells the story well, but it’s a story Elf has already heard, and she harshly cuts her off, resulting in having to comfort her with hug when she breaks down into tears. Back in our world, meanwhile, Ojisan feels cheated: when he ended up in another world, he wasn’t greeted by a god or given any divine power.

That leads his audience of two to insist that he rewind his memories all the way back to 18 years ago when he was 17 (and actually young looking!) and first arrived in the other world. While rewinding, he passes by dozens of instances of him being hunted, captured, persecuted, and nearly executed in a number of different ways, underscoring how rough Uncle has had it and how amazing it is he’s as well-adjusted and untraumatized as he is.

But the elegantly set up joke is that a “god” did in fact speak to him when he first arrived…he was just too busy being beaten up by adventurers who thought he was an orc to hear. Also, the “god” in question was simply a recording in Mandarin, which when Takafumi translates with his phone, reveals that when Ojisan was being beaten, he wished to be able to understand the language of his attackers, and that wish came true.

While we know from his misadventures over the next eighteen years that this didn’t make life in this new world much easier, it did make it possible, such that when he did come upon a couple of souls like Elf and Mabel who were willing to see him as more than just a hideous orc variant, he gained companions.

Of course, with Ojisan’s brain region coded as it was, simply speaking the language wasn’t enough. He missed the nuance and context of their words and actions and almost always completely misinterpreted them. One wonders if Elf and Mabel themselves were bestowed with divine patience to endure his infuriating conduct without murdering him!

Isekai Ojisan – 04 – A Pinch Is a Chance

In one of Takafumi’s memories from grade school, he’s bullied by some boys for reading an innocent fantasy LN, only to be bailed out by Fujimiya, who may still looks like a demon to lil’ Takafumi’s eyes, but he’s genuinely moved by her support. Present-day Fujimiya remains mortified that this is how Takafumi viewed her, especially as she became more girly in middle school.

But that was then and this is now, and Fujimiya has high hopes for her newly-rekindled relationship with Takafumi. When she learns he got cash from Ojisan for his birthday which he spent on a coffee grinder and some fancy beans, she decides to send him a “gift” of her own.

This comes in the form of a photo of her in a swimsuit from middle school, which while cute, even she realizes in hindsight might’ve been a questionable choice. But hey, watching your crush’s childhood memories in which you’re a loathsome devil spawn does weird things to the mind!

That said, Takafumi couldn’t be more tactless when his first instinct is to ask Siri how to delete the photo from SM, and then he gets an alert about a sale on coffee beans and once again leaves Fujimiya with his uncle. When he almost spills his coffee, he casts an ice spell that freezes her, then melts her with flame.

The result of all this is that Fujimiya is soaked and needs to take a shower to warm up. Ojisan leaves the apartment to give her her privacy, but Takafumi enters when she’s wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. Again, after watching a younger Takafumi portray her as a monster, seeing him react to seeing her inspires her to uses this “pinch” as a “chance”, in Ojisan’s words.

Unfortunately, Takafumi proves as dense about Fujimiya’s feelings and intentions as Ojisan is about Elf. He considers it shameful that he should feel this way about looking at a “good friend”, and when Ojisan arrives on full battle alert (due to Takafumi using the wrong flag signal) Takafumi asks him to delete his memories of seeing Fujimiya. Of course, Fujimiya stops the spell, and warns Takafumi she’ll dress like this again if he wipes his memory.

When Fujimiya turns twenty, she and Takafumi and Ojisan have a modest but warm celebration drinking their preferred choice of canned alcoholic beverages and watching more of Ojisan’s misromantic adventures with Elf. Elf is astonished he was able to restore the city barrier, and also recalls when Ojisan (or “Orc Face” as she calls him) saved her from a venom dragon.

After a bit more of their usual repartee, Uncle suddenly takes her by the hand and draws her to his side as they walk through the town market. Elf is shocked by this sudden bout of lovey-dovey behavior, but she can’t hide her enjoyment of it either. When it looks like he’s ready to take her up to his room, it isn’t until he gets his door open that it’s revealed he only needed someone to lean on.

He slams the door in her face, locks said door, and falls immediately asleep. The next morning Elf shows signs she cried herself to sleep. In short, Ojisan’s an unintentional villain, and Fujimiya must do everything in her power to keep Takafumi from turning out the same way.

In the present, Ojisan demonstrates how he can in no way hold his liquor, and then offers to take Fujimiya home via flight. Ojisan, Fujimiya, and Takafumi end up flying through the air upside down, with Ojisan merging the fantasy of the game he was playing with reality, and his nephew and his friend are simply along for the ride.

The end credits are cut short by an extra segment in which Ojisan once again gives Elf the wrong idea by sucking out poison that turns out to have aphrodisiac effects on Elf. When his doting closeness gets to be too much for her, she merely socks him in the face with a swift kick. Fujimiya asks Ojisan if he still has some of that poison so she might be able to use it on Takafumi…because a pinch is a chance!

Isekai Ojisan – 03 – The Things We Do for Views

Takafumi returns home to find Fujimiya and what looks like Elf from the other world where his Uncle lived. It’s definitely an effective hook, and then the episode rewinds an hour and change to a stark reality of YouTubers in February 2018: if you didn’t meet a certain subscriber and view quota, you’d be cut off from what had been a nice little revenue stream.

Takafumi discovers that one reason their channel is struggling is Ojisan’s tendency to type elaborate but ultimately awful replies to each and every commenter, many of whom are then put off and unsubscribe. This current dilemma reminds Ojisan of when the barrier of the Sealed City fell and 1,000 beasts arrived at the walls.

Naturally, his nephew wants to see and hear about this, so Ojisan switches on the ol’ memory recorder and plays back the events of those days. Notable is how pretty much everything Elf says to him could come across as verbal harassment (rather than the tsundere flirting it is).

When Ojisan nonchalantly shatters the barrier and the beasts arrive, Elf is resolved to fight them all herself while he runs—she likes him that much. But after a serously badass weapon unsheathing sequence and blasting herself towards the walls like a missile, she ends up splatting on the newly-formed barrier, the result of Ojisan asking the spirits to repair it.

No matter; Elf doesn’t tell any of the townsfolk that he dropped the barrier to begin with, and in exchange simply asks him to buy her dinner. But Ojisan, who always interprets her words and body language the wrong way, instead leaves the city without her.

Takafumi hugs himself in despair, and this is what Fujimiya sees when she arrives, trying to make a habit of being around her old friend. The thing is, Takafumi remains disturbingly oblivious to her affections, and even leaves her alone in his apartment to take care of some random errand.

Ojisan may not have much real-world romantic experience, but he can tell Fujimiya’s a good girl and she wants to be closer to his nephew. Unfortunately, Fujimiya does not want to talk to some frumpy uncle about this, so Ojisan borrows Elf’s appearance and voice and insists he’s Takafumi’s “aunt” so they can engage in girl talk. That brings us back to the cold open.

In order to get to the bottom of why Takafumi stubbornly only thinks of Fujimiya as a friend, he taps into his memories and then visualizes them. in them, a cretinous child mercilessly beats upon a helpless young Takafumi. Fujimiya asks where she is…and then it dawns on her: she’s the cretin. Form her perspective back then they enjoyed a “bittersweet” relationship, but just like Ojisan with Elf, Takafumi saw it more as bullying and abuse.

Elf!Ojisan marvels at how his nephew even managed to recognize a grown-up Fujimiya on the street, but Takafumi says he’d never forget her, and holds up a fist for her to bump while blushing profusely. Takafumi then decides that he and Ojisan should record a video of “her” playing Guardian Heroes.

Ojisan is naturally psyched…until he sees the final product: the video doesn’t show any of the actual gameplay—just Ojisan in the form of a sexy elf girl in a long hoodie playing off-screen video games. Ojisan is shocked and appalled, but the video goes viral, with 200,000 views and counting. Takafumi celebrates the great success of his hunch, while Ojisan reverts to his normal appearance before a terrified Fujimiya. I could honestly watch this offbeat, eccentric dynamic packed with amazing reaction faces all day!

In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki – 03 – Adversity is the Greatest Uniter

Tsubaki is almost at the end of her kusari-fundo regarding the near-constant bickering between Sazanka and Asagao. That’s when Uikyou and Kikyou, the polar opposite of that pair, show up. Their speech and movements are so in sync, they might well be identical twins. They also offer the secret to getting along in scroll form.

The only catch? The scroll has to be taken from them. Tsubaki makes things interesting by tying Sazanka and Asagao together by the leg so they have no choice but to work together against their far-better coordinated opponents. Uikyou and Kikyou have no trouble slipping out of their grasp and making them look foolish.

Ultimately, Sazanka and Asagao stop arguing and start doing something that will help their odds. That means Sazanka clinging to the larger, stronger Asagao so the latter can move freely without worrying about the rope. Alas, the twins use sleep bell jutsu, and the two have to punch each other to stay awake.

In their dreams, it works, and they manage to defeat the twins. But in reality, they fell asleep despite all the pinching. Nevertheless, the twins report to Tsubaki that they worked hard, and together, while also admitting the scroll containing the secret to getting allong was blank. Ultimately, the only ket to getting along is practice, like any other skill.

In the second half, Hana-senpai is fed up with the girls constantly making fun of men. She cancels classes and announces that there will be a game of tag. She’ll be “it” an will play the role of a male, while anyone she catches will go without dinner. Every girl knows they’re no match for Hana, so the exercise seems to pay immediate dividends.

Hana is able to catch just about every girl, and when an overconfident Benisumomo comes straight at her, she reminds her of the still yawning gap of ability between them. After seeing Beni and Tsubaki fight on pretty much equal ground, Hana is on a totally different level…which makes you wonder why she fears males so much and insists the others do the same.

Whiel Asagao quickly falls victim to an all-too-easy caveman meat trap, Tsubaki has a plan for defeating Hana. It involves Sazanka using transformation jutsu to let Hana’s guard down. When Hana notices Sazanka’s imitation of her fellow teacher Konoha is not quite right, Sazanka is captured by the “real” Konoha…but that’s really Tsubaki in disguise.

Because Tsubaki’s transformation jutsu is far more convincing, Hana speaks to her as if she were speaking to the real Konoha, and lets slip that the men being scary is merely a lie they must uphold at all costs. Tsubaki is so shocked by this she transforms back into her normal form and darts away.

When Hana tries to give chase, her bad back starts barking at her, and the real real Konoha comes to help her. Hana tells her to find Tsubaki, who heard something she shouldn’t have, and is now all mixed up.

My Dress-Up Darling – 09 – You Can Be Anyone

As Wakana and Marin collaborate over how her Black Lobelia cosplay will come together, Marin snaps a pic of herself in a swimsuit, the bottoms of which will need to have a high waist to resemble Lobelia’s. The thing is, she didn’t really need to wear the swimsuit top as well…that was for Wakana’s benefit!

When she comes to his place wearing that imported high-waisted swimsuit, she’s also fully prepared to change in front of Wakana, having even worn a fancy bra she wants him to see her in. Her teasing makes Wakana supes uncomfortable, but the tables are turned nicely when it turns out she wasn’t wearing the bra she thought she was.

If Wakana and Marin haven’t quite established boundaries for how much Marin should show Wakana, this incident should at least temper her forwardness in future, especially seeing how upset Wakana got, even insisting she not touch him and leave him be. It’s not explicitly stated, but I assume both the pics she sent and the in-person teasing was making him…let’s say overly aroused, considering how he tries to keep his back to her. As he puts it, “…a lot happened.”

I’d be, like, deffo shocked if this series didn’t get a second cour, but the fact there are only three episodes left after this one means it had to fast-forward to the completion of the Shion and Black Lobelia costumes. Sajuna is amazed and delighted at the craftsmanship, fit, and attention to detail Wakana brought to the table. Being a cosplay veteran, Sajuna can also give Wakana clear and detailed feedback regarding things like the floofiness of her skirt and the weight of her cape.

Marin is in awe of Sajuna’s commentary, wishing she “sounded like [she] actually knew what she was talking about”. Indeed, when she tries on her Black Lobelia corset dress, she pushes herself too hard to come up with constructive comments and ends up going with various forms of “super insane!”, which while not overly detailed, is still accurate!

Sajuna proves a valuable source of information for all-things-cosplay, recommending Marin switch to a lighter foundation and blue color corrector, as well as giving Wakana the idea to use cosplay tape to make her eyes look more Lobelia-ish. Once her makeup, white wig and contacts are on, Marin is so shocked by her appearance, she asks if she was alwaysBlack Lobelia all along!

The day of the group shoot at the old hospital, the weather is dark and gloomy, but Sajuna assures Marin that it will all work out, and the two chat about their mutual love of Flower Princess Blaze! and take a selfie together while waiting for Wakana and Shinju, who are later than they expected. When the two finally arrive, Marin and Sajuna are shocked at what they see.

That something harkens back to the day they scouted the hospital, after Sajuna and Marin took off for the day. Before Shinju leaves, Wakana asks her upfront if she actually does want to cosplay after all. Sure enough, she does, but is so self-conscious about her body size and shape she was worried her sister would hate her.

Wakana may not have known Sajuna long, but he’s awfully sure she’d never judge Shinju for wanting to cosplay. He says if she really wants to cosplay,  he’ll do everything he can to help her, and even keep it a secret from the others until the day of the shoot. Here’s the twist: the Blaze! character Shinju wants to cosplay is Shion’s big brother, Souma.

This presents a new and unique challenge for Wakana in more ways than one. First, Shinju’s feminine curves and substantial chest needs to somehow disappear to make the cosplay work. Second, Shinju is just a middle schooler and has no part-time job to fund this cosplay, so they have to pinch pennies where they can.

Fortunately, Wakana’s school uniform resembles Souma’s from the show, and with help from a traditional sarashi wrap, a surprisingly inexpensive chest binder, and dollar-store makeup, the project price was successfully kept down. Where they can’t really skimp is the wig, and while Sajuna initially thinks he’ll cut and style it without hesitation, she lets out a relieved laugh when she realizes his nervous about messing up.

Wakana assures her that there are plenty of things he can’t do, but when it comes to cosplay, he’s learning how to do a lot of new things. That’s not just thanks to Shinju and Sajuna, but Marin, who got him into it in the first place. Like Shinju with him, Wakana put Marin on top of a high pedestal, assuming she didn’t have troubles like he did. Then he got to know her, and learned she has the same feelings he does, both happiness and frustrations.

Wakana’s extended love-rant of Marin (who goes unnamed) leads to him assuring Shinju that while you may not be able to look inside people, practically everyone “has a lot going on”. With that, he takes the scissors to the Souma wig and has at it, then takes the pointers he’s learned from Sajuna to transform Shinju into a real-live Souma.

I love how a clear look at the final product is kept from us, and Souma!Shinju is only revealed in all his cool manly glory when Wakana and Shinju show up to the shoot. For a second, Sajuna and Marin think Souma has come to life to join them!

When Sajuna realizes it is indeed Shinju, and Shinju’s hands tremble as she starts to explain how she wanted to cosplay too, Sajuna takes those hands into hers like the loving, caring big sister she is and proceeds to lose all of the eloquence she had about describing Shion’s cosplay. Instead she sounds more like Marin, overcome by amazement such that she can only say Shinju looks amazing…also accurate!

Marin joins in the simplistic but heartfelt and ebullient praise, asking Shinju point-blank “where’d your boobies go?” Shinju answers in her cute, delicate Shinju voice and her girly smile, which causes further amusement and delight from Marin. Just as when she cosplayed the stoic Shizuku-tan and put her own stamp on it with her big Kitagawa Marin smile, the Souma cosplay matched with Shinju’s individual traits make for a unique and irresistible look.

Marin snaps a group selfie to commemorate this amazing day when not only she gets to cosplay with the legendary Juju-sama, but Shinju finally joins her sister like she always wanted to but was too scared. All she needed was a little gentle nudge from someone who didn’t want her to deprive herself of becoming someone she loved (Souma) out of regard for someone else she loved (Sajuna). As expected, Sajuna couldn’t be happier her sister is cosplaying beside her.

I’m also glad the photo includes Wakana smiling proudly in the background, his quality handiwork on full display. It’s truly beautiful and heartwarming to see all four main cast in the same pic, having an absolute blast. Not that he’d ever abandon his hina doll calling, but if for some reason that didn’t work out, he already has a lucrative fallback job in the custom cosplay business!

My Dress-Up Darling – 06 – True Wuv and Black Lily

First Marin was called beautiful by someone who doesn’t use that word lightly. Then it dawned on her when she looked into Wakana’s eyes while they were washing her wig in his laundry room, one of the most adorably domestic things to do imaginable. That “it” is the realization that she’s developed feelings for Wakana. That’s how it goes sometimes!

That closeness she feels towards him only gets closer when she meets his gramps (who is clearly relieved the stockings weren’t his grandson’s) and is welcomed to their table for dinner. There, Wakana and his gramps learn that Marin’s idea of “eating well” is…a bit of a stretch! But watching Wakana interact with his gramps about her outfit and also being an ace cook only endears him to her more.

We also learn that both Wakana and Marin’s moms are dead, and since Marin’s dad is always away for work, she basically lives by herself. Gramps invites her to come by for dinner from now on, and Wakana doesn’t object. Just like that, the two are so much closer than they were even when he was taking her measurments. On the train ride home, Wakana’s words “we weren’t doing anything inappropriate” linger in her thoughts. “What if we did, though?” she rebuts.

I like how this episode didn’t just jump into the next cosplay project for Marin, but instead explored how quickly they’re becoming the most important people in each others’ lives. It’s also the opportunity to introduce Inui Sajuna, whom Wakana meets in the worst possible way. Wakana, likely unaccustomed to knocking in his own house, is also worried his gramps let a con artist into the house. Instead, he let a soaked Sajuna use their bath so she wouldn’t catch cold…and Wakana barges right in and sees everything.

The two seem to get over that initial unpleasantness when Sajuna asks to see the “outfits” and Wakana, like gramps, assumes she means those of the dolls. Sajuna is charmed by the etheral beauty of said dolls, but suddenly changes gears and gets back on track for her true reason for visiting the shop: she wants Wakana to make her a cosplay outfit.

She starts by threatening to report him to the police for being a peeping tom, only to explain she found out where he lived by stalking him and Marin. So really, Wakana has the stronger case should the police get involved.

Fortunately they don’t, but Marin does when she shows up for her now regularly-scheduled din-din with the guy she’s decided she not only loves, but wuvs. Her shock at Wakana hosting a tiny girl wearing his shirt is soon dissipated when she realizes Sajuna is “Juju”, one of her favorite cosplay idols, who is actually a year older than both of them despite her size.

Sajuna wants Wakana to craft for her the outfit Black Lily, from her favorite magical girl anime. To Sajuna’s surprise, Marin is not only a big fan of Black Lily, but also knows everything there is to know about said anime. Marin further endears herself to Sajuna by assuring her she’d never cosplay as Black Lily, because she’s the kind of cosplayer, like Sajuna, who only chooses characters she resembles in both appearance and demeanor.

When Sajuna first saw the pics of Marine-as-Shizuku-tan, she assumed that Marin was just an “annoying bitch” who dressed up as characters she thought were cute. Now that she knows they share a deeper passion for the practice, Sajuna openly sobs in apology, though of course Marin has no idea what’s going on.

Marin also wants to be Black Lily’s sister and arch-nemesis Neon, and while Sajuna quickly shuts down the idea of cosplaying together in a heartbeat, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ultimately do collaborate not too far down the road.

Sajuna is also the indispensible “third character who can see what’s going on,” as she assures Marin she only wants Wakana’s contact info for the purposes of making her outfit. She assumes, this time not unfairly, that the two are dating. Upon hearing this, Wakana turns beet-red and loses it, telling Sajuna he’s never “gone steady” with anyone.

Hearing this is music to Marin’s ears, as she also assumed (for some reason) that Wakana was spoken for. She’s absolutely delighted that he isn’t. While things didn’t start smoothly (or G-rated) for Wakana and Sajuna, I’m looking forward to, well, all of this: Marin dealing with her powerful crush, Wakana hopefully coming to some kind of realization of his own vis-a-vis Marin, and Sajuna continuing to barely tolerate the pair’s blinding adorableness.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Entertainment District Arc – 10 – (Be)heading for Trouble

As Tanjirou lies in the rubble, bloody and exhausted, he’s briefly transported back to his snowy home, where a pre, then post-demon Nezuko tells him to stop blaming himself (as if) and keep fighting. The vision is at least enough to wake him up, but he’s almost sorry he did.

That’s because the scene around him is a hellscape of flames, and among his allies, he’s the only one still conscious. Gyuutarou spends a good half of this episode taunting him and laughing at how “disgraceful” he is, especially to have to be protected by his demon little sister. It’s a welcome change of pace from the unrelenting battles of the past few episodes, with no score and only the flickering of flames accompanying the dialogue.

When Gyuutarou eventually falls, he’ll regret wasting so much time toying with Tanjirou, who was simply playing possum and waiting for a chance to stick a poison kunai in his opponent’s leg, then using Hinokami Kagura to attempt to slice off his head. When Gyuutarou counters with his blades, they’re deflected by Zenitsu, who while still asleep is back in the fight.

As Zenitsu continues to battle Daki, Tanjirou is bailed out by Uzui, who stopped his own heart to keep the poison from getting there, and can also double-wield even with just one hand. Daki, with his second wind, goes in for the win, having charted the musical “score” of Gyuutarou’s moves. Tanjirou keeps up as best he can as Uzui and Gyuutarou exchange slashes with increasing speed and ferocity.

When Tanjirou jumps into attempt another beheading, Gyuutarou stabs him through the jaw with his poison blade, meaning there’s just that much less time for Tanjirou to fight before succumbing that poison. Still, Uzui has him where he wants him, and Gyuutarou’s neck is exposed, so Tanjirou finds yet another higher gear, his scar seemingly spreading across his face in a flame pattern.

After a lot of screaming, Gyuutarou’s head is finally sliced off. At the same time, Zenitsu, with help from Inousuke (who moved his heart so it didn’t get impaled) slice off Daki’s head. The two siblings’ heads fly gracefully through the air, then fall to the ground, bounce, and roll to a rest right beside each other.

The battle is seemingly over, and the Demon Slayers have won…but then Uzui shouts “RUN!”, for Gyuutarou self-destructs, enveloping half the district in a massive fireball. As those flames die down the credits roll with a certain finality, until the post-credits omake is handled by pre-demon Nezuko.

Assuming Gyuutarou was destroyed in that blast, the question becomes who survived. Obviously Tanjirou, Nezuko, Inousuke, and Zenitsu. I find it hard to believe two straihgt arcs would end with the death of the Hashira, and the three wives haven’t quite gotten enough development (or screen time) for their deaths to make much of an impact…so we’ll see.

My Dress-Up Darling – 05 – I Seriously Can’t!

The longer Kitagawa is in her new Shizuku-tan cosplay, the more she notices how perfectly Gojou got all the details, and the more giddy she gets. She’s just overflowing with pure joy to the point she starts shouting “I can’t! I seriously can’t right now!” until Gojou helps her calm down. Dude did good!

Invoking Kitagawa’s unbridled elation means its hard at first for her to pose as Shizuku-tan for the first series of photos, since her natural inclination is to flash her trademark gleaming smile and a peace sign. While she deems these photos “sorta hilarious”, once she gets Shizuku’s more serious look down, she gets a bunch of great shots she immediately posts under the hastily chosen cosplay alias Marine.

She’s so happy and excited, she decides she wants to attend tomorrow’s cosplay event after all. And why not? Gojou got the job done on schedule! At first he’s extremely self-conscious and even on the verge of panic when suddenly being among so many people dressed as their favorite characters. Kitagawa gets it, and once they go to a more chill section of the event, he begins to enjoy himself, surrounded as he is by people doing what they love.

He did such a good job on his first try, Kitagawa soon gets a huge line of photographers, many with much nicer cameras than her phone. Kitagawa is so incredibly psyched that people want to take her photo. Gojou hangs back, suddenly realizing that with his promise fulfilled, this will be the end of hanging out with Kitagawa…the big dork! But then Kitagawa suddenly looks panicked, looks around, then flashes a huge smile and starts running towards Gojou when she spots him.

Not only was she worried he’d disappeared on her, but she kinda messed up, deciding to wear two “NuBras” to enhance her bust even more, resulting in her boob bag being close to bursting. Add to that the summer heat and the thickness of the higher-quality fabric, and Kitagawa almost gets heatstroke. Gojou gets her into some air conditioning, and there Kitagawa demonstrates the trust she has in Gojou by having him unzip her back and even wipe the profuse sweat from her back.

Gojou is understandably nervous about such close contact with Kitagawa, but notes that this is no time to panic; Kitagawa is so hot she can barely move, and is relying on him to help her. Once she’s feeling better, she shows just how nice a person she is when she returns to the plaza and tracks down the last woman in line so she can get some shots…including some unplanned upskirts that show the tally marks Kitagawa hand-drew on her inner thighs for extra Shizuku-tan authenticity (the lady deletes these shots).

Kitagawa and Gojou are blessed with a near-empty train car on their way home. Gojou, feeling bittersweet about their last day together coming to an end, formally thanks Kitagawa for everything. She thanks him back…then subverts his assumption by asking what they should do for her next cosplay. Obviously, this was never the end of anything; it’s only the beginning for these two.

As the sun gets lower, Gojou betrays his fatigue by starting to nod off. I was expecting him to fall into Kitagawa’s lap, but instead, he drowsily tells her she was “very beautiful” at the event, thinking not about her posing as Shizuku-tan, but when she spotted him and ran to him beaming. Kitagawa remembers Gojou saying he never uses the words “pretty” or “beautiful” unless he “absolutely feels it from the heart”, realizes it’s no casual compliment, and cannot mask her bashfulness.

Fortunately for her, Gojou has nodded off and doesn’t see this face. But if he did, he’d surely turn just as red.  So ends another tremendously sweet and uplifting episode of one of the most joyful and beautiful animes of the season. Honestly—and I mean this in the same way Kitagawa does—I can’t…I seriously can’t with this show!

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Entertainment District Arc – 09 – Mixing it Up

Perhaps realizing it hasn’t shown that much of Uzui’s life with his three wives, the show takes us back to when the four visited Uzui’s family grave and enjoyed a meal together under the cherry blossoms. Hinatsuru cements her role as the “mature” wife, while Makio and Suma are more childish.

While it doesn’t make much sense to include these moments right in the middle of a crucial battle with an Upper Six demon, I nevertheless appreciated an extra look at the mostly-absent wives, and Hinatsuru’s mature personality explains her presence fighting by her husband’s side.

The problem is, Hinatsuru is not a Demon Slayer, and while her kunai attack momentarily turns the tables, Gyuutarou soon shakes it off and grabs her. I’m baffled why he doesn’t simply kill her right then and there, but he loses his chance when Tanjirou, finding what seems to be his eighth or ninth second wind, swoops in to save Hinatsuru from Gyuutarou’s clutches.

In a move that acknowledges she’s a liability on this particular battlefield, Hinatsuru finally departs to hide. With Inousuke and Zenitsu having no luck closing in on Daki, Tanjirou leaves Uzui’s side to help them out, in hopes that three demon slayers will be able to break through her shield of belts.

Inousuke uses Beast Breathing to launch himself at top speed towards Daki’s neck, completely disregarding defense, which is provided by Tanjirou and Zenitsu and their water and lightning breathing, respectively. It’s great to see these three kids not only near the top of their game (though Tanjirou is pretty beat up) but working as a cohesive unit.

And it works! After some effort and more Beast Breathing, Inousuke manages to saw off Daki’s head, and decides to run around with it like a rugby ball so that it won’t be able to reattach. But while Daki’s head is extremely weakened, Gyuutarou is not, and he’s mad, quickly catching up to Inousuke and stabbing him through the back.

Tanjirou, wondering where the heck Gyuutarou came from, spots Uzui lying unconscious in a bloody heap, one of his hands chopped off. Now Inouske has been gravely injured, Tanjirou has got to be running out of even his final reserves of stamina, and Zenitsu is the only member of their party not injured…but you have to think it’s only a matter of time.

Will Hinatsuru return with Makio and Suwa to try to save their hubby? Will Nezuko have to wake up and bail out her brother once more? Will another Hashira have to save the day? Will Inousuke finally have to throw out that boar mask now that it’s been stained with his life’s blood? I have no idea how many more episodes this arc runs for, but it definitely feels like we’re nearing the end of this battle.

My Dress-Up Darling – 04 – Artificial Deadline

“The next cosplay event is in two weeks”…these words (I’m paraphrasing) from Kitagawa are assumed by Gojou to be hard deadline to complete his very first human-sized costume. He’s not sure he can do it, and that’s even before his gramps sees the fancy stockings he bought and the shock makes him fall and hurt his back.

Life happens, and Kitagawa would certainly understand if Gojou said “I’m not going to be able to get it done”—especially by his standards—in the limited time allotted. But he doesn’t. All he can think about is Kitagawa being sad and disappointed in him, so he presses on. The two exchange contacts, but he throws himself into the project without giving her regular updates.

Even more life piles up for Gojou when he and Kitagawa learn that midterms are imminent, and precious afternoon hours are taken up by an impromptu tour by someone who is only in town for one day. Kitagawa stops by the shop with dinner without confirming Gojou is there, and assumes, as she has this whole time, that he’s spending time with his gramps after school.

But he’s not; he’s putting everything he has into getting the costume done on schedule, which results in him suffering exhaustion and nausea and the messes of the apartment piling up. When he spots his Hina doll brushes and remembers how his gramps uses them every day to stay sharp. He’s initially doubtful he’ll ever be good at making Hina dolls, but his gramps also said “loving something doesn’t mean you’re any good at it.” That love just helps you tough it out when times are rough.

Gramps tells him it’s all worth it to see the happy faces of the customers for whom he makes the dolls, and Gojou thinks of all the happy faces Kitagawa has made for him. They fuel him to keep going, and he manages to finish the costume on time. It’s only when Kitagawa arrives and is totally shocked by his achievement that he learns the two-week deadline…was never a real deadline.

This was nothing but a good old-fashioned lack of proper communication, with Gojou not letting Kitagawa know about the progress and Kitagawa not letting Gojou know she was waiting for him to finish it in his own time, especially with midterms and his gramps to worry about. When she sees Gojou’s ragged, fatigued appearance, she begins to weep and apologize. Gojou apologizes too, but he doesn’t want to see her tears…he made the costume so he could see her smile.

When Gojou brings up his doubts about becoming a Hina doll maker, Kitagawa assures him that if anyone can do it, it’s him. Bouyed by her support, he helps her prep her hair and makeup, and then changes into the costume, both to see if any adjustments need to be made and to see his work in the way it’s meant to be seen.

When Gojou comes back into the room, he finds she has has been transformed into a perfect Shizuku-tan, in the flesh. Kitagawa flashes her biggest grin yet, and Gojou grins right back, so happy to have made her so happy. It’s a new beautiful, adorable, emotional high for these two, who I hope have learned a valuable lesson about staying in touch!