We get to the third week of this Winter season where I will cut down some slacks and settle in with the ones I pick. In general, this season has been a solid one for me. Mob Psycho 100 in particular hasn’t had any bad episode yet, Kaguya-sama keeps sharpening its claws, and even something nobody care for like Rinshi Edoka-chan still delivers with grace (the only reason I don’t include Edoka-chan here is because it’s only 3-minute short, WHAT CAN YOU SAY OF A 3 MINUTE SHORT EVERY WEEK?). Anyways, read on to see which shows that still make the cut for the rest of the season.
Domestic na Kanojo (ep02-03)
Curiosity got a better of me and I checked out Domestic for my own dose of suffering. Needless to say, I’m still on the fence whether I’m going to watch it or drop it. There’s a clear set of what I enjoy in the show and what it falters. In a positive spectrum, the situation the older sister Hina finds herself in is frighteningly real and weighty. Having an affair with married person is messy, as in the three-way central romance, and what she’s suffering through is grounded and believable. In addition, I found Rui and Natsuo’s chemistry to be solid so far, as both have the same concerns towards their sister’s affair. On the opposite spectrum, the comedy bits are distracting and most often the time they feel awkward. Natsuo’s best mate is the worst offender as at no point I feel he belongs to this story or even feel like real person. Natsuo’s behavior can be grating at times and I know it will get worse as the story gets messier.
W’z (ep04)
Well, this episode marks the end for me with this GoHands’ show. While I’m still curious in its visual oddness (it’s the one show where it’s so bathed in blue hue it’s actually refreshing to watch), the fact that they reintroduce all the old cast for Hand Shakers kills it for me. I’m already not that fond to the original cast, and here it uses them to the extent that W’z can’t be seen as a standalone project. It leans heavily on the concept, and characters of the original. Add to that we have a story that moves very little in the past few weeks, and no overarching plot whatsoever.
DROP!
Revisions (ep03)
Revisions continues to march on with more techno-babble and the entire cast who has no idea what to do and suddenly jumps into a random mecha and already become an expert of fighting. Count me out!! The main lead gets more annoying and full of himself as the story goes. I know this is the show’s intention but boy does he make my blood boil every time he appears on-screen. There’s one tiny bit of information that I really like, however, is that the kids all remember what Milo said differently. My theory for now is that they all come from different dimensions so that Milo’s versions vary. The rest of the action doesn’t look good, both figuratively and aesthetically speaking.
DROP!
Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka (ep03)
Along with Domestic, I still can’t decide whether I drop this one or not. Also like Domestic, I’m expecting it to blow up at any moment, yest so far they don’t give me a full reason to make me hate them yet. The story is a bit slow this week, as we get to Asuka’s normal daily routines and see some psychological impact to her new classmate. For now, I’m glad that they still “restrain” themselves on the more brutal scenes, hinting on these instead of excessively displaying them. Can’t say I care much for the characters as they’re more functional to the plot than fleshed out as someone worth caring for. Probably gonna give it another try before the final verdict.
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (ep03)
We reach to the end of the first arc of Shield Hero with The Wave comes and goes like… well the wave. While it’s a pretty serviceable story, I have a fair shares of conflicting opinions regarding the episode. First, it’s great to see how far the Slave Girl Raphtalia has progressed since… last episode. She becomes more confident and can speak for herself. The tiny bit of issue regarding that is her attachment to Naofumi. It makes sense that she could die for him, given the Master – Slave status, and even put that aside she knows that he truly cares for her. But I wouldn’t like it if she becomes another “Mikasa Ackerman” clone where every moves she makes has to be revolving around Naofumi. She’s not that level so far but there are symptoms that she would in the future. Secondly, I do feel the hate our Shield Hero has when he meets the other three Heroes, but I also feel a bit manipulated by that. It’s easy to write one punchable character who we all love to hate, but this show multiplies that to every single one in the kingdom who gives Shield Hero a hard time because they want to. Lastly, I enjoy the way that he thinks of the villagers’ well beings as his first priority, as opposed to other heroes who just want to take the spotlight. It’s still an smooth watch for me in general, but hopefully the show doesn’t try too hard to make us hate other characters or fall back to the very tropes it avoided during the first episode.
Endro! (ep03)
This fluffy show just breezes through me every week. Granted, it’s not a show that shout “important” or even the show that has much going on, but I don’t lie when I say that its charms have charmed me week after week. This week, the band goes for their first official quest, and it’s… cats finding. Not only the show pokes fun with the normal hero quest tropes, it consistently plays that up by having the cast get so used to the mission that they become experts of that. One thing that works against this show this week is the absence of my favorite loli devil lord.
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. (ep03)
Another winning episode for Doukyonin. So far the show has 1 formula, first introduce the situation in the writer’s point of view and explore his inner feeling: be it his social awkward or his feeling towards his late parents, then hitting sort of climax where he and the cat reaches some form of mutual feeling, then tracing back to the cat’s view to complete the picture. It’s the two sides of the whole painting and it works mostly because the cat’s view is totally different from what the writer thinks about him, yet their feeling for each other grow and the emotion resonance stays true no matter what. This week, we have a solid story from his grieving process, something he has been looking away until now. Grieving is often a long and gradual process and it’s neat to see how he finally expresses it. But the brightest moment comes right after where the cat licks his tears and assures him that she’ll always be there for him. This truly is healing. My corrupted mind has been healed by the lick of a cat now.
Gotoubun no Hanayome (ep03)
Finally, Gotoubon remains one of the most entertaining series of this Winter season. It might me the most formulaic show but it also wears its established tropes with pride. This week it’s the fight between our poor hero and the oldest sister Ichika, who actively ruins the tutor meeting. One big strength of Gotoubon so far is that each sister has so distinctive personality that they all shade different colorful vibe and it’s fun to see how these personalities clash against Fuutarou and against each other. Then of course things get complicated quickly as he sees her alone half-naked and of course he would fall over her. Look, it’s by the book of all harem show but somehow these still work because they timing it delivers. It’s a pleasure to watch an old school harem show that does almost everything right so far.
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