Remember that thing I said about Ami episodes a few weeks back? WELP.

Oh hey, lookie there, I mostly enjoyed SuperS this week! Funny how those weeks so often coincide with Ami episodes, innit? And, I mean, anytime Sailor Moon does an episode about artists, it usually ends in a good time. Although it’s always super(S) unpleasant when the show decides to make cracks about Usagi’s weight. For a series that’s usually so good about empowering young women, it has a rough track record when it comes to body image commentary, that’s for darn sure.

Still, most of the events were pleasant enough, although we’re still deep in Filler Territory, meaning there ain’t much to talk about other than what’s in the recaps themselves. So hit the jump and let’s get to it!

The Recaps

Episode 144 – Life’s a Beach

The gals are celebrating what I believe is their fourth summer in two school years (Time. PSSH. What even IS that?) and have hit the sands in search of hawt dudes. They also brought Li’l Brother Shingo (remember him?) along to fend off any dudes they don’t deem hawt enough. Four out of five scouts are rather shallow this week. The fifth (predictably) is Ami, whom Shingo is crushing on because she’s an older girl who treats him like an actual person. And since Ami thinks of him as a good friend, his crush is cute instead of creepy! Yay, I can enjoy this one without reservations!

Madame Zirconia’s also got her eye on Ami, or at least on her dreams. Ami is a pickup artist’s worst nightmare, what with all that caution and perceptiveness, but Tiger desperately needs the approval of others, so he volunteers for the mission in an attempt to please the Madame. Hawk and Fish come along for moral support.

Sorry, did I say “moral support”? I meant “the noodles.” They came along for the noodles.

Tiger tries the Ol’ “I’m sorry I spilled your sno cone, let me make it up to you by inviting you to my private beach” Strategy, but while the other Moonies are all a-flutter, Ami isn’t about to wander off with some rando, so she politely turns him down. The girls wanna know what up with that, but Ami says she’s not interested in seeking out love. If someone comes along and love blossoms, awesome, but if not then that’s okay, too.

Later, when Ami and Shingo take a raft out into the ocean, Shingo broaches the topic again and Ami clarifies that while becoming a doctor is her dream, she also likes the idea of having a “lively family” like the Tsukinos, so she isn’t ruling out the possibility of “chasing family over work.” And y’know, that’s okay by me. Keep your options open, Ami! Follow your bliss!

And you know where that bliss DOESN’T lead? Anywhere near this guy:

This is his sexy face.

Tiger befriends a dolphin and approaches Ami and Shingo when they’re out rafting. He thinks drowning Shingo will really set the mood, and is very confused when Ami ignores him and instead dives in to save the drowning child (although seriously, why would you let someone who can’t swim go out into the ocean without a life vest?! IRRESPONSIBLE, Sailor Moon.)

Although in Tiger’s defense I’m reasonably certain he helped Ami and Shingo make it to shore, given that they all three wind up in a cave quickly enough for Ami to administrator mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. In between saving Shingo’s life, Ami explains that he’s her “important friend,” and Tiger wonders what these “friend” things are.

#sadtrombone

In the end Tiger decides he doesn’t need friends as long as he can please Madame Zirc, so he busts out the Examining Table. Shingo defends Ami long enough for the Moonies to arrive and force Tiger to beat a retreat, leaving his Lemures “Ponko the Pandemonium” to handle the rest.

Possibly the oddest monster to date, it plays a slightly bawdy gambling game with the Moonies that involves exploding balls and the world’s least comfortable breast implants. She’s a handful (pun SO intended), so it’s a damn good thing Tuxedo Mask can teleport.

I heard my best gal pal was in trouble and I was all “NOT ON MY WATCH, SON.”

Usagi Stages it Out thanks to a clever one-two punch of Ami Strategy and Tuxedo Hatterang, leaving Mamoru to hitchhike his way back to Juuban (his teleportation power only gets him to Usagi, not away from her) and the rest of the team to enjoy the evening fireworks. Ami thanks Shingo for his bravery, and the two share a cute little moment on the beach as the credits roll, and my “It’s Scientifically Impossible to Write a Bad Ami Episode” theory lives another day.

Episode 145 – Sailor Tutu

I’m really sad Sato didn’t direct this one, ‘cause then I could’ve made a bunch of Princess Tutu jokes that would’ve gone over most people’s heads but would’ve made ME pretty darn happy. But he didn’t, so we’ll stick a reference in the title and just focus on the recap from there.

So, yeah. This one’s about ballet! Yamagishi Studio offers free lessons to beginners, as well as a chance to be in their upcoming production of Giselle. The Bunnies jump right on those lessons (as do their Moonie pals), and Usagi even gets offered a role in the show. Given Usagi’s famed grace, I figured she’d get cast as a tree, but the truth is even better:

Typecast for life.

That doesn’t happen until later, though. For now, everyone has aspirations of landing the lead role, most of all Fish, who’s joined the class to chase their next Dream Target. Fish is graceful and otherworldly, just like the fairy (wili, actually) Giselle is supposed to be, and Yamagishi’s enchanted. He asks Fish to stick around and help him “expand his image” of Giselle.

Kiriko, the current Giselle who’s struggling to get into the role, assumes she’s being replaced and storms off in a huff. “I’ve been betrayed by my beloved, just like Giselle!” she cries, because no one on the show has actually read the synopsis for this ballet.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I thought it was about antelopes.”

Both she and Yamagishi are short-sighted and a bit silly, but I ended up liking them because they realize this about themselves and try to correct it. Not long after the blow-up, the Bunnies find Kiriko regretting her outburst and admitting she overreacted. She vows to support her beloved even if he doesn’t return her feelings, just like Giselle, because NO ONE ON THE SHOW HAS ACTUALLY READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THIS BALLET.

Meanwhile, Fish’s attempts to woo and/or Dreamcatch Yamagishi hit a snag when they realize Yamagishi never actually intended to give them the part at all—he really was just dancing with Fish to get a better idea of how to direct Kiriko in the role. This was very poorly explained on Yamagishi’s part, but he apologies and admits his mistake right away, so he’s okay in my book. He tries to explain why it’s so important that Kiriko have the role, but Fish is all:

And attacks! Usagi was heading to the theater for her own “rehearsal,” so she and Chibiusa intervene in time to meet our latest Lemures, Kurumiwario the Nutcracker. He promises to turn these two into PRIMA BALLERINAS, so Fish leaves him to it, whereupon he… huh. He does in fact train the Moons to be prima ballerinas! Sometimes I forget the circus thing isn’t just a cool aesthetic—these guys are actual performers and take their jobs SERIOUSLY, dammit.

Although to be honest, it goes on way longer than it needs to and isn’t particularly funny since it devolves into everyone fat-shaming Usagi because she’s developed some slight love handles. Usagi’s response to this is basically a big ol’ fuck-you, so good on her for sticking up for herself, but it’s still pretty mean, especially when Mamoru gets in on it.

It’s two steps forward, one step back with this guy, I tell you what.

But once that unpleasantness is out of the way, it’s on with the show! Our director and his star reconcile and Giselle is a smashing success, thanks in large part to the Moon watching over them both. Casting Director of the year, that Yamagishi.

This, That, and the Other

• Minako runs slap-bang into her Dreamcatching ex-boyfriend and has NO IDEA it’s him, even though Tiger recognizes HER right away. Can we just say it’s canon now that everyone in Juuban has face-blindness?

• I’d like to direct your attention to these two screenshots: This one because the girls appear to be playing volleyball with a melon, and this one because I just really dig the cartoony art style.

• Aaaand Yamagishi cast himself as the leading man. He runs a local theater company, all right.

• The Sensei Next Door: I thought I’d come in here and shed some light on Ponko the Pandemonium, but quick searches have yielded nothing and I don’t have enough time this week to go questing, so it remains a mystery for now. I can tell you that the reason she was too embarrassed to talk about the “golden balls” (kintama) is because it’s a euphemism for… well, the same thing “balls” is usually a euphemism for. Naughty Sailor Moon.

• Hark! A plot character point! Is it just me, or do the Amazon Trio appear to be, like, learning things this week? Or at least attempting to? Tiger has a minor crisis over the concept of friends, and even Fish engages with Yamagishi in a way that suggests he’s trying to understand the “heart” behind Kiriko’s dancing. It’d be a loooong road to redemption for these three, but I’d be interested in watching it play out, at least.

The Noragang is back after nearly two years away, but it’s like they never left.

The first season of Noragami was one of those that snuck up on, sucking me into the world and characters a little more each week, and despite a somewhat rocky anime-original final arc it ended up being one of my favorite shows of 2014. I started snagging the manga once Kodansha brought it stateside, so needless to say I was pretty stoked when BONES announced a second season in the works. (Oh, and if you haven’t seen the first season yet, it’s available on Funimation, Hulu, and Netflix in various sub/dub formats, so you have plenty of binge-watching options.)

I’m covering this one over at Anime Evo, so same drill as we did the past two seasons with My Love Story. The posts will wind up here in their entirely a few weeks down the line, but for now you can click here to get reacquainted with some old friends.

Off to the races once more!

As a reminder, I watch every licensed premiere and do at least a brief writeup about them. I’ll do full meet ‘n’ greets for shows that caught my interest enough to warrant it. Everything else gets a blurb explaining what I liked, didn’t like, and why the show might not or didn’t make the cut.

The fall deluge of new shows has begun, and despite that exciting tag line, it’s been more like a five-car pileup than a “race” at this point. I like to include at least one full meet ‘n’ greet in each of these, and it took a whole lotta panning before I found one. Hit the jump for a flicker of potential, a half-naked doctor, and a pile of light novel nope.

Comet Lucifer

Studio: 8-Bit
Original Series: Directed by Nakayama Atsushi (Absolute Duo) and Kikuchi Yasuhito (Infinite Stratos); written by Nomura Yoichi (Eureka Seven, Darker Than Black)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for a list of regions)

In a Sentence: Young miner Sogo and his friends stumble upon a rare strain of the crystal, Giftium, as well as the feathered girl sleeping within it.

How was it? A bit confusing, but competently directed and with the potential for plenty of future story lines.

Overall
Comet Lucifer had one of those premieres that’s difficult to judge because a lot was introduced and very little fully explained. After the deluge of awkward exposition I had to handle from the other shows this weekend, I was frankly relieved to find a series that trusted its audience enough to throw us into the world and let us work out what’s going on as we go. Whether it can make good on that trust remains to be seen, but I’m willing to come back and find out.

For now, we’ve got multiple characters and plot points in the air. A planet called “Gift” and the Giftium crystals buried within it. A government/military organization mining for red Giftium and a protagonist doing the same. A girl trying to escape an arranged marriage and a fiancee determined to see the wedding through. A sleeping feathered girl who came from a crystal and seems to have the power to summon a mecha of some sort. Again, I couldn’t tell you where this is going, if the story will hold up, or if the characters will prove compelling, but so far there’s nothing to hate and a lot to pique my interest. Comet Lucifer, you have my attention.

On the Fence

Young Black Jack

Based on a manga that is, in turn, based on Osamu Tezuka’s classic Black Jack manga, this is the story of a genius maverick medical student in the late 1960s and his miracle surgeries. I’m familiar with Black Jack, though I haven’t seen more than a handful of episodes something like a decade ago, but the series is newbie-friendly, using a young female intern as a perspective character to help introduce the story.

The premiere is absurd, full of self-serious melodrama, exceedingly detailed abs and pecs, Christ imagery, and dubious medical procedures. I laughed a lot, and I don’t think I was supposed to. Even so, I wouldn’t say I disliked it—it’s entertaining in its sincerity, and the historical setting is an inherently interesting one. It didn’t quite earn a full meet ‘n’ greet, but depending on how the rest of the season shakes out, I might come back to it.

Dropped

Lance ‘N Masques

A checklist of cute girls and a boy raised as a knight given to overblown chivalric speeches, it’s the kind of premise that leaves a bad taste in the mouth right from the get-go, but mostly? It’s just boring. The director makes some attempts at bouncy animation and framing, but the dialogue and characters are so bland that all the chibis in the world can’t make them amusing or endearing. I bailed at the 10-minute mark when my eyelids started to droop.

Heavy Object

The first five minutes are a masterclass in how not to write organic world-building, and the next five feature even more awkward exposition, this time in the form of a clunky conversation interspersed with voyeuristic shots of a girl taking a shower. Then my video froze and I took that as a sign from the anime gods to move on to something with actual competent writing. Heavy object too heavy. Dropped.

The Asterisk War (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk)

Supernatural school stories are a dime a dozen in the anime world these days, as are series that begin with the hapless male protagonist accidentally stumbling upon the main girl/love interest in her underwear, her freaking out, and the two duking it out in some kind of superpowered battle. Combine all that, add some accidental groping, and you’ve got the most formulaic and least likable series on the market. I’m out.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan)

See above. No, seriously. They’re basically the same damn show. The male protag has a little more personality and the female love interest is a little more insufferable, but supernatural school? student battle system? dude meeting girl in her underwear and girl freaking out about it? Check, check, and check. I wasn’t kidding about that “formulaic” bit, y’know.

After an early stumble, Fall may be climbing up again.

The anime gods heard our complaints yesterday and saw fit to grace us with three series that are a vast improvement over the majority of the others I’ve watched thus far, packed with great animation, distinctive characters, and competent (or at least passionate) writing. In truth, these were the three I pegged as potential goodies going into the season, so it’s mostly just a relief that they weren’t total clunkers. Hit the jump for all the exciting details.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans)

Studio: Sunrise
Original Series: Directed by Nagai Tatsuyuki (anohana, Toradora!) and written by Okada Mari (anohana, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine)
Streaming On: Hulu (U.S. only), Daisuki (click here for the list of regions)

In a Sentence: A group of orphaned soldiers working for a private security company get embroiled in an interstellar conflict after a young activist hires them as her personal escort.

How was it? A strong blend of character beats, conspiracy theories, and nicely choreographed mecha battles.

Overall
I’m not a huge Gundam fan and often have a tough time getting into mecha shows in general, but I came into this one with a lot of curiosity because of the creative team behind it. Nagai has some good-to-great YA coming-of-age stories under his belt, and Okada is… famously divisive, but at her best she does riveting character drama and sharp emotional honesty (at her worst she goes Full Soap Opera, but hey, at least it ain’t boring). Which seemed like an odd team to bring to the Gundam franchise.

While I wouldn’t say I was blown away by it, this was a solid premiere that set the stage for a political drama interested in social inequality and exploitation. IBO introduced us to a lot of characters, but their personalities were distinctive enough that it was pretty easy to keep track of them (just don’t ask me to tell you their names), and featured key moments of intimate interactions between all the political scheming and bombastic mecha battles that helped put human faces on the conflict. Still too early to say if I’m in it for the long haul, but I’ll give this unusual creative team three episodes to hook me.

Concrete Revolutio

Studio: BONES
Original Series: Directed by Mizushima Seiji (Fullmetal Alchemist, Oh! Edo Rocket)
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada), Daisuki (“worldwide”)

In a Sentence: In a world packed with magical girls, aliens, giant monsters, and other superpowered forces, one organization works to watch over the watchmen.

How was it? Stylish, frenetic, messy, and a whole lot of fun.

Overall
I had tentative hopes for this one going into the season based purely on the animation studio and cool cover art, and what I wound up with was the most energetic (and my favorite) premiere of the season thus far. It’s basically Agents of SHIELD meets Samurai Flamenco after it lost its damn mind, existing in a cartoonish, over-the-top universe where superpowers are common and superheroes (and villains) (and all the grandstanding that entails) are public knowledge.

CR is a wild, disorienting ride at times, and it’s hard to say if that’s intentional or not. It throws a whole lot of powers and characters at you in a very short amount of time, and bounces between two time lines without giving the audience much of a heads-up. Coupled with the oversimplified, halftone backgrounds, it evokes the feeling of flipping through a superhero comics anthology and reading every series at once. While I could see that being off-putting for some, I dig the aesthetic, and BONES does a nice job making the many transformations and fight sequences pop with color and motion.

Hopefully all this wild style is intentional and will form itself into a compelling story in the coming weeks. Whatever it does, I’ll be here to see it happen. I had too much fun not to come back for at least a couple more episodes.

One Punch Man

Studio: Madhouse
Based on: The manga written by ONE and illustrated by Murata Yusuke (Eyeshield 21)
Streaming On: Hulu (U.S.), Daisuki (click here for a list of regions)

In a Sentence: The strongest hero in the world can defeat any opponent with a single punch, and boy, has it made his life boring.

How was it? Hilarious, thrilling, a little tragic, and of course fantastically animated

Overall
Now might be a good time to teach any of you kids who don’t know it the word sakuga. Simply put, it refers to in-between animation (as opposed to key animation), which is essentially all the frames that connect one major pose or motion to the next. Among anime fans, sakuga has come to be shorthand for “smooth motions and dynamic animation.” Space Dandy had a fair amount of it. Haikyuu is full of it. And this One Punch Man premiere goes to freaking town with it.

But c’mon, that’s not a surprise. Everyone knew from the previews that OPM was going to look damn good, and it does, using a combination of clean and messy/distorted shots to evoke a sense of chaotic intensity and speed during the fight sequences. And that’s awesome, don’t get me wrong. But what earned this premiere a meet ‘n’ greet wasn’t its style, but its substance. It’s as much a parody of the superhero genre as it is an homage to it, filled with absurd villains with absurd motivations, and both the series and its protagonist have a deadpan delivery that’s laugh-out-loud funny.

OPM also seems to have something to say, addressing both the inability of a single person to prevent crime and destruction regardless of their individual strength, as well as the disconnect and apathy that comes with having no goals to struggle toward. As funny as it is, there’s also an undercurrent of sadness that creates tonal tension between the goofy superhero veneer and the thoughtful, somewhat cynical interior. If it can maintain that balance, we’ll have a fascinating superhero tale on our hands.

They sure are throwing a lot of, uh… different stuff at us this season, I’ll give ’em that at least.

Got an odd batch for you here. Only one of them is technically a new series, but the others aren’t really sequels in the proper sense, either—more like spinoffs or reboots. We’re also heavy on the comedy this time, with mixed results, but there were some moments that tickled my funny bone. Hit the jump for laughter and crickets alike.

Attack on Titan: Junior High (Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou)

Studio: Production I.G.
Based On: The manga written by Nakagawa Saki
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: A spin-off parody series that takes the characters from Attack on Titan and throws them into a high school setting where the Titans are still a horrifying threat…er, sort of.

How was it? Incredibly silly, and that’s kind of all I needed it to be.

Overall
This unlikely spin-off is one-part school comedy and one-part AoT parody and works way better than it should. It relies on the audience’s familiarity with the original AoT anime, as there are loads of references and riffs on well-known scenes, so I wouldn’t recommend this one to anyone who isn’t familiar with the source material. I also wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s seriously dedicated to the original, as you may not appreciate the way it pokes fun at the story and cast (especially Eren, who’s pretty mercilessly mocked).

As for me, my opinion of the AoT anime is a resounding “It was fine,” and I found Eren more-or-less insufferable, so a series that drops giant erasers and protractors on his head is A-OK in my book. This premiere has a good sense of humor and energetic animation, using super-derformed slapstick and expectation-reversals to great effect. Production I.G. isn’t just cashing in a check here; they put some effort and passion behind this, and it shows in the little touches. The conceit may get stale as we go, but I’m happy to stick around until it does.

Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)

Studio: Pierrot
Original Series: Inspired by Akatsuka Fujio’s manga, Osomatsu-kun, and directed by Fujita Yoichi (Gintama, Good Luck Girl!)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll

In a Sentence: The 1960s anime Osomatsu-kun returns to the airwaves, but can its Showa-era cast find popularity among a modern-day audience?

How was it? A little tiring in its hammer-a-million-jokes-at-you pace, but had a lot of great laugh-out-loud moments

Overall
I have no idea if I’ll watch this one past the second episode, because I’m still not sure what kind of show it’s going to be. The first episode went Full Meta, as the characters celebrated the new anime series and then worried if they could appeal to modern audiences with their dated designs and jokes. So they spend the rest of the episode gleefully trying out modern trends (and animation styles), from idol groups to BL to sports dramas to Titan-slaying. If you don’t get the references I suspect this won’t do much for you, but I did and I found the majority of the episode hilarious.

The callbacks to the original Osomatsu-kun flew right over my head, mind you, and by the end of the series we’d ditched the “be ALL the animes” gag and settled into a new premise: The sextuplets at the core of the story are adults now, and trying to do something with their lives. So who knows what kind of show it’ll be from here on out! But that premiere worked well enough for me to come back and find out, at least.

Dropped

Peeping Life TV

I suspect this is the most unusual premiere I’ll watch this season. Essentially it’s an improv series where they bring in a couple actors, give them an “mundane life” scenario with classic anime characters (“Black Jack Goes to the Doctor,” “Doronjo Gets Her Bike Fixed,” etc.), have them ad-lib a scene, then add some cheap-looking, mostly static CG animation to go along with the dialogue.

It relies on you knowing the characters to get the jokes, and most of it fell pretty flat for me (though the doctor diagnosing Black Jack with chuunibyou disease because of his “emo hair” was kind of the best thing ever). If someone had taken the time to dynamically animate it a la Rick & Morty’s channel-surfing episodes, there’s a chance this could’ve been a lot of fun. As it was I giggled a few times but found my attention wandering through most of it. Ah, well. Dropped.

Starmyu

I know, I wanted it to be a Pokemon spinoff series about Misty, too. Actually it’s about cute boys at an academy that specializes in the performance arts. They sing! They dance! They… are pretty unremarkable, blandly drawn and characterized. The dance animation doesn’t look half bad, but I need more than absurd random musical numbers to keep me hooked. Series like this pretty much have to have a sense of humor or tongue-in-cheek self-awareness to work, and Starmyu is sadly lacking in either. There are far better bromances to be found in the anime world, so I’ll leave this one here and go watch those instead.

There really is no accounting for taste, I s’pose.

The stream’s slowed a bit in recent days, but we’re still clipping along at a pace that lets me give you another trio of series, and two have even earned themselves full meet ‘n’ greets! One surprised me by how much I enjoyed it, while the other I was surprised I didn’t enjoy more. Hit the jump to read on and shake your head at my questionable judgment.

Dance with Devils

Studio: Brain’s Base
Original Series: Directed by Yoshimura Ai (Blue Spring Ride, SNAFU Season 1) and written by Konparu Tomoko (Kimi ni Todoke, Uta no Prince-sama)
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: Self-proclaimed “ordinary girl” Ritsuka gets embroiled in the StuCo’s supernatural after-school activities after a group of devil-worshipers target her family in their quest to find a fabled Grimoire (but, like, WITH SINGING).

How was it? Um. Just. Here:

Overall
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I got a… uh… little excited about this one, and for good reason. Dance with Devils is a shoujo harem paranormal anime MUSICAL, and it is just as ridiculous as it sounds. 15-Year-Old Me would’ve thought this was pretty great; Present-Day Me thinks it’s pretty dumb, but still enjoyed it a lot. There’s a devil-worshiping premise that has the potential to go some entertaining directions, a priestly brother studying in England, and a female protagonist who’s fairly passive but has a spark of spunk, at least.

All the harem dudes seem to be your dangerous-but-sensitive bad boy types, and they give off some predatory vibes that I normally can’t stand in my fiction, but when you set it all to BROODING J-ROCK it highlights the absurdity and makes it easy to view the whole thing as a big, bombastic joke. If it can keep the creeper vibes to a minimum and CRANK THEM SHOWTUNES, this could very well be my next Chaos Dragon, and the best worst thing of the season.

Beautiful Bones -Sakurako’s Investigation – (Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru)

Studio: TROYCA
Based On: The light novels by Ota Shiori
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Latin America)

In a Sentence: High schooler Tatewaki Shoutaro goes on archaeological day trips with Sakurako Kujou, a woman obsessed with collecting bones, and winds up in the middle of a crime scene.

How was it? Stylish, morbid, and off the beaten path from your typical light novel adaptation, but…

Overall
I’m giving this one the full meet ‘n’ greet more because I wanted to enjoy it than because I actually did. On the surface it appears to be doing its own strange, macabre thing, treading a line between playful and unsettling (particularly when it brings in some discomfiting sexual tension between our leads). There are some neat little stylistic touches involving butterflies and bone-o-vision that may expand into proper visual motifs at some point, and barring the excessive rainbow lens filters it looks pretty decent.

Where it struggled was its characters, because once you peel back the concept, these people sure do seem familiar. A long-suffering, blandly pleasant protagonist boy gets dragged around by a pretty and brilliant but self-centered girl woman? I’ve seen that story in various forms before, and those at least involved two high school kids. The plot (such as it was) didn’t have much meat on it either, although my disinterest here may just be because straight CSI-type stories aren’t really my thing. If you like Sherlockian deduction, this one may work better for you. As for me, I’ll give it another week out of respect for the odd premise, but no promises past that.

Dropped

Shin Atashin’chi

Based on a long-running manga that already had a lengthy anime adaptation a few years back, it’s the silly tales of a strong-willed mother and her family. It’s cute enough as far as domestic, family-oriented kids’ shows go, but never made me laugh and didn’t do anything all that interesting. This might have worked as a fun little 5-minute short, but as a full-length episode it loses steam quickly. I’m out.

{Insert witty subheading here}

What do you get when you cross fall anime season premiere week with fall allergy week? A very fuzzy-headed blogger, turns out. I had a ton to say about Episode 147, but I blazed through 146 to make up for it, and I have exactly nothing of value to add in the opening remarks except “It was a good week and neither episode made me throw my tablet out the window, yay!”

And if you wanna read the SuperSubstance I managed to scratch out before the sinus meds wore off, hit that jump and dive right in!

The Recaps

Episode 146 – Total Monanarchy

Queen Rubina from the Amethyst Kingdom is in town and, as expected from someone from the Amethyst Kingdom, she’s big on personal freedom and is HERE! TO! PARTY!

The Bunnies get roped into taking her around a local festival, where she hides from the police, gives the cotton candy guy a heart attack ‘cause OMG boobs on his back!, and rewards a screaming brat by handing him the balloon he wanted. She also robs a hardworking merchant in the process. The monarchy is THE WORST, you guys.

When Grumpy Balloon Man demands payment, Hawk flies to his latest Dream Target’s rescue. But she wasn’t born yesterday, son! She knows you’re here to take her back to the embassy, and she’s having none of it! So she runs off again, leaving Hawk to pay her tab.

Okay, I guess the monarchy has some redeeming qualities.

Meanwhile, Diana recognized Rubina from the news and gathered the rest of the sidekicks to do something about it. While Luna and Artemis look on, Mamoru approaches Rubina and encourages her to go home soon, because “the people who care about you are worried,” quietly reminding her that she should find a balance between personal freedom and responsibility. She develops a ferocious crush on him and agrees.

But first, fireworks! Well, at least until Hawk swoops in again while the Bunnies’ backs are turned. Rubina confronts him this time, which is good for her character growth but bad for her life expectancy. Good thing there are some Moons around the corner to take on our latest Lemures, Elephanko the Ball-Riding Elephant TraineEEHEEHEEHEE.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

Recycling a character design that will NEVER GET OLD, NOT EVER, Sailor Moon has more fun with spinning balls and “Ze Roses, zey do nothing!” gags until Tuxedo Mask busts out his EXPANDO!cane and hits our minion into the corner pocket. Then all that’s left is to take Rubina to the embassy, have her blush happily at Mamoru again, and carry on with our story.

Episode 147 – Take My Dance Dance Revolution

Down at Cirque du Ombre, Madame Zirconia is replaying the Amazon Trio’s string of failures IN EYE-POPPING 3-D!

She wants them to use their brains to find the most likely Dream Candidate instead of just picking hawt randos, so Tiger sees her scolding and raises her ALL the hawt randos. He’s off to the local college mixer to peek into as many cute co-ed dreams as he can! In his hurry he drops a photo belonging to a certain judo-flipping sailor scout. Has Mako slipped through the Dreamcatcher’s net?

For a time, yes. Said mixer is happening at Mamoru and Motoki’s university, so Mako and the Moonies (and Unazuki) show up ‘cause THEY WANNA DANCE WITH SUMBUHHHDEHH! THEY WANNA FEEL THE HEEEEAT WITH SUMBUHHHDEHH! But nobody wants to dance with the tall girl (those jerks), so Mako’s stuck playing the wallflower until—

UM

YOU GUYS

IS THIS REALLY

AHHHHH

…Okay, half-joking (buttotallyhalfserious) non-canonical ‘ships aside, I actually adore this scene, not only because it continues to prove that Ami is just SO THE BEST LIKE HOW I CAN’T EVEN, but because it’s played as such a sweet, genuine moment between friends. There’s no awkward ‘baiting or forced fanservice like you’d see in a lot of fiction—it really is two good friends having a fun time on the dance floor. And half-joking (buttotallyhalfserious) non-canonical ‘ships aside, that is a beautiful thing.

A less beautiful consequence of this magical scene is that Mako’s slick moves catch Tiger’s eye, so he decides to use her as “bait” so the other girls will notice him. It works, but along the way Mako has herself a wonderful, fairy tale-like dance and falls head-over-heels for her partner. He says he’ll dance with her again once he’s danced with all the other ladies mobbing him.

So Mako waits. And waits. And WAITS. And when the dance is over she sees Tiger leaving the hall. She reminds him of his promise, but he says he hasn’t finished dancing with the others yet, so he STILL has to take a rain check. Mako promises to stay right by that door ‘till he’s finished, and Tiger…

…Okay. So. Here’s the thing about Tiger this week. We’ve already established that he’s a possibly literal animal lacking empathy or respect for human life and agency, so he can’t exactly get WORSE, which is why this week he seems to almost… get better? He actually kind of likes Mako and wants to dance with her again, and only lies to her because he has to focus on his mission—and he darn near looks guilty about it, too. I dunno, you guys. I think Tiger might be developing a conscience or something.

This doesn’t excuse his leading Mako on, mind you. She waits until it’s late in the night and raining, and eventually some member of her household we’ve never met calls Usagi in an attempt to track down their loved one. Usagi activates all the Moon Friendship Power in her arsenal, has Mamoru PEEL onto that college campus, and pretty soon all the Moonies have arrived. When Mako (who’s actually in pretty high spirits) refuses to leave because “I’ll regret it if I don’t at least try,” Sailor Moon gets A-DAMN-DORABLE on us again.

It’s been a while since we had a proper friendship episode, so ‘scuse me while I flail gleefully.

The campus festival continues the next day with a beauty pageant. Fish enters and wins (OBVS), but Tiger is not happy to see another minion honing in on his territory. Fish gives Tiger the photo of Mako that he dropped, questions his ally’s seduction skills, and Tiger makes a big show of boasting about all the girls he can woo.

The Bunnies overhear and are ready to turn this no-good dirty playboy into a tiger-skin rug, but he dashes off to find Mako before they get the chance. Mako’s overjoyed to see her trust rewarded. Tiger wonders what this “trust” thing is, as well as these, er…

“Feel…ings? Is that what they’re called again?”

But Fish gets impatient and swoops in to help with the Dreamcatching. Tiger reveals himself and UGH, VICTIM-BLAMES MAKO, THE JERK (although the great Okiayu makes it sound more like he’s struggling with this weird new “guilt” stuff rather than actually mocking her, so nice nuanced vocal work, there). He does the thing, but Mako’s heart is Pegasus-free.

Tiger leaves the cleanup work to Fish, and Fish leaves it to his Lemures, the Sorrowful Card Master. He stacks the deck against the Moons and our deuce is soon on tilt, but their trump card recovers before the final hand, transforming into Sailor Jupiter to reveal her ace in the hole and take this minion for everything he’s got.

Oh, don’t look at me like that, Mako. We’ve been together for 147 episodes, you HAD to know those puns were coming!

After the battle, Mako muses on whether she loved Tiger or just dancing with him. She answers her own question when Unazuki shows up to tell them about a nearby high school that’s having a dance party NEXT weekend, and Mako jumps all over that shindig.

And that’s Mako for you: She falls hard and jumps right back up again, barely noticing her skinned knees. As an overly-cautious person who tries to be less so, it’s hard for me to fault her for wanting to trust people and take risks (although she should probably learn the difference between “trusting” and “being taken advantage of”). But hey, fortunately for her, she’s also got some great friends around to apply a few band-aids when needed.

This, That, and the Other

• The constant side-eye the Bunnies throw at Rubina during the festival sequence is a thing of running gag beauty.

• Speaking of which, Episode 146 was full of great animation that had an oddly throwback feel to it. Sailor Moon is sort of quintessential ‘90s anime to me, but it got a little old-school with the wobbly mouths and eyes this week, and it made for some noteworthy (if not a bit out-of-place) artwork at times.

• Also great animation: That dance sequence. Somebody get me some animated gifs, stat! I want to put them in my, um, “Cool Animation Gifs” folder. Not my “Non-Canonical ‘Ships” folder. No no, certainly not. ¬_¬

• So what happened to all those other Dream Targets Tiger was after, anyway? I mean, he was out with them all night… the, uh, same night the Moonies were giving moral support to Mako, actually,… so… aww, hamburgers. Tiger. TIGER. How many people did you murder last night?!

• Hark! A plot character point! Tiger nopes outta Fish’s “let’s kill Mako” plan so fast the animation team didn’t even have time to draw him moving his feet. YES, GRADUAL BUT SIGNIFICANT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, VERY GOOD, SAILOR MOON. Redemption arcs are coming, team, I can feel it right down to my fancy sailor boots.

We’re just diving right in this season, ain’t we?

It’s another strong (albeit painful) outing for Noragami this week, as various relationships are strengthened, frayed, or shattered altogether, characters confront the tenuous bonds of memory, and a particularly nasty antagonist sets his plans into motion.

Oh, and speaking of that antagonist—well, I pretty much called it last week, but as soon as he started mustache-twirling I realized I story-predicted myself into a predicament. So to clarify something important: Yes, I did start reading the Noragami manga, but I stopped at the end of the Yukine arc, meaning that everything happening in Aragoto is new to me, too. So you don’t need to worry about me giving away any plot points. (And if you have read this part of the manga, no spoilers in the comments section either, please!)

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

Throw another potential gold nugget in the season’s li’l pile, at least.

I sat on this post for a bit because there are still technically a couple premieres left, but none of them are available for legal streaming as I write this and I’ve got a packed weekend ahead of me, so I figured I’d go ahead and queue this up now. Consider it the last batch of new fall shows—I’ll throw up a post tomorrow for the extensive number of sequels (and “sequels”) I’m watching, and that’ll wrap up for the madness that is premiere week. If any of the stragglers catch my eye, you’ll hear about it in a Rule of Three.

As for this final batch, it features one of my favorites of the season and two more to add to the stack of unremarkable-to-ohGodwhy LN adaptations flooding our streams this season. Hit the jump for praise and headshakes alike.

The Perfect Insider (Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider)

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Based On: The novel by Mori Hiroshi (The Sky Crawlers)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for the full list of regions)

In a Sentence: A group of college students and professors plan a trip to a remote island where the brilliant but reclusive scientist Magata Shinki resides.

How was it? Smartly written and directed, if not a bit slow-paced and difficult to know exactly where the story’s going at this point.

Overall
I had tentative hopes for this one given the source material and some of the talent behind the project, so it was good to see those hopes amply rewarded (for now, at least). The characters are realistic and recognizable (if not always likable) individuals, and their dialogue snaps with a stylized realism as they sometimes talk to each other but often just talk at each other. The exchanges between Saikawa-sensei, a misanthropic “genius” professor, and Moe, a bright but down-to-earth college student, are particularly sharp, with Saikawa going on broad philosophical rants about humanity and Moe boiling them down to the petty personal issues they really are.

The camera work is more similar to a live-action film than an anime, using a lot of straight-on shots, and the art is desaturated and subdued, with animation focused largely on subtle but detailed body language. The story has the heady, character-driven pace reminiscent of a Nakamura series (Lain, Kino’s Journey), which will either bore you or suck you into its dimly lit, mystery-laden world. I’m in the latter category, so I pretty much loved this thing start to finish. It’s too early to get excited, but… yeah, I’m a little excited for this one.

Dropped

Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon (Tamaidou Gakuen 5 Shilken Shoutai)

It’s another light novel adaptation about a school full of people with special abilities, although in this case instead of magic it’s martial arts and technical skills used to combat witchcraft. It has exactly every tired and distasteful stereotype you’d expect, but the camera is slightly less skeevy than usual and the director hurries through the worst of the tropes, seemingly more interested in the combat than the crass fanservice checklist.

Don’t get me wrong: It’s bad, but I actually got through the entire episode, so it was less bad than the other LN adaptations this season. And, I mean, any project that lets Shinichirou Miki vamp as an eccentric headmaster can’t be a total waste. So, you know, I guess if you have to watch a crappy LN adaptation this season, this is the one I’d recommend.

Shomin Sample (Ore ga Ojou-sama Gakkou ni “Shomin Sample” Toshite Gets-Sareta Ken)

Aaaand here it is, the LN adaptation that crosses the line from generically offensive to aggressively offensive. The first 10 minutes are awash in classism, homophobia, and that “impressive” brand of sexism that manages to be insulting to every gender under the sun. It thinks it’s a wacky comedy and is really just lazy and off-putting. I didn’t stick around long enough to learn anything beyond that, and you know, I’m really okay with that.

♪ Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back~ ♪

While the fall premieres haven’t been quite as dismal as I’d originally feared, this is one season where most of my excitement was reserved for sequels, and so far they’ve done a solid job of not disappointing. Two 2014 favorites are back and just as fun as ever, campy vampire fiction makes its triumphant return, and we head to a familiar setting after nearly a decade away.

This season’s a little odd in that we have some sequels in the traditional sense (i.e., stories that pick up right where the previous season left off) as well as some “sequels”: stories taking place in the same universe but with different characters, locations, and time lines, making them fairly accessible to newcomers. I’ve divided them up accordingly below, so hit the jump for familiar faces, or locations, or both.

Sequels I’m Watching

Noragami Aragoto

Studio: BONES
Based On: The manga by Adachitoka
Sequel to: Noragami (12 episodes)
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: A near-death accident renders ninth-grader Iki Hiyori stuck between the human world and the afterlife, capable of seeing and interacting with kami and spirits—including the down-on-his-luck “delivery god,” Yato.

Overall
I’m covering this one in weekly episode posts over on Anime Evo, so clearly I’m a fan. As I said in my Episode 1 recap, Noragami is close to my ideal action series, and this Season 2 premiere slid us seamlessly back into the world, story, and characters, as well as began setting us up for the next major story arc. So, yes. Noragami is still Noragami, and that’s a very good thing.

Haikyuu!! – Season 2

Studio: Production I.G.
Based On: The manga by Furudata Haruichi
Sequel to: Haiykuu!! (25 episodes)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll

In a Sentence: Undersized spiker Hinata Shoyo joins the Karasuno High School volleyball team, where he and a group of lovable dorks must learn to work together in order to return their school’s team to its former glory.

Overall
Like Noragami, Haikyuu!! returns with an episode that hops right back into the lives and trials of our Karasuno team and never skips a beat. Expressive body language and fantastic sports animation add to the characters’ already distinctive personalities, and the series (like its protagonist) continues to barrel ahead with optimism and sincerity.

I enjoyed the first season an awful lot (it even made Honorable Mention for my best of 2014 list), but I don’t think I’d realized how much I’d missed my Sakuga Volleyball Dorks until I pressed play on this one and spent most of the episode with a big, silly grin plastered across my face. New rivals and new matches await, and I’m looking forward to every one of them.

Seraph of the End – Part 2 (Owari no Seraph: Nagoya Kessen-hen)

Studio: Wit
Based On: The manga by Kagami Takaya (Legend of the Legendary Heroes)
Sequel To: Seraph of the End (12 episodes)
Streaming On: Funimation (U.S./Canada)

In a Sentence: After a virus wipes out most of the human population and unleashes monsters on the world, vampires come out of hiding to capture children as their own personal blood farm.

Overall
Seraph is back with its usual blend of clunky exposition, amusing character interactions, stylish (if not always well-animated) action sequences, and gorgeous backgrounds. It is what it is: A campy vampire drama that takes its cast just seriously enough and its story just facetiously enough to make for an entertaining ride. Also, Shinoa. Any story with a Shinoa is worth having around in my book. If you didn’t like it before then this episode isn’t going to change your mind, but if you’re like me then you’re happy to have the dumb thing back, and excited for whatever twists and turns part two will bring.

“Sequels” I Might Be Watching

Utawarerumono The False Faces (Itsuwari no Kamen)

Studio: WHITE FOX
Based On: The tactical RPG/visual novel by Aquaplus
“Sequel” to: Utawarerurmono (26 episodes)
Streaming On: Crunchyroll (click here for the full list of regions)

In a Sentence: A young man gets “adopted” by a traveler named Kuon after he wakes up in an underground bunker with no memory of who he is or why he’s there.

Overall
I barely remember the original Utawarerumono except that it featured a dude with a mask, animal people, a surprisingly entertaining combination of harem humor and battle strategy, and a twist at the end so absurd my brain has wiped the details from memory. But, hey, this sequel takes place so far into the future (probably?) that it doesn’t seem to matter if you’ve ever seen the original, so we should all be okay, here.

For now, I’m in a place where I liked it but didn’t find myself actively excited for the next episode. It was mostly pleasant and occasionally quite funny (even the normally creepy “peeping” scene sort of worked because it avoided leering manservice in favor of a helicockter gag) (yes, really). The two leads have enough personality and quirks to make their interactions snap with chemistry, and the story is more mystery than proper plot at this point, but hey, at least that gives us some questions to answer in the coming weeks. Again, nothing that wowed me, but good enough that I’ll stick around for another couple, see where this one wants to go.

Garo: Crimson Moon (Garo: Guren no Tsuki)

This one’s more spin-off than sequel, taking the central magical concept and moving the story from medieval Europe to Heian Japan. In truth this premiere didn’t do all that much for me: The story was a rote “defeat the possessed dude who’s been killing women” affair, the art is old-school but not particularly attractive, and the animation is pretty flat at times.

That said, I didn’t give the original Garo more than an episode either, and based on fan chatter, ended up wishing I’d tried it for longer. Plus I dig the Heian setting, I like the studio (MAPPA) and creative team, and it’s hard to say no to a series with a female lead full of swagger played by Romi Park and a scar-covered villain voiced by Seki Tomokazu. I’ll give it at least one more to see if it can weave a story worth sticking around for.

Carryovers I’m (Probably) Watching

Just one: Ushio & Tora, and even as I type this I’m already two episodes behind and wondering when (read: if) I’ll have time to catch up. I spent a lot of last season almost dropping it and then coming back and enjoying it again, so it’s straddling the fence, but assume I’m more-or-less keeping up with it until I tell you otherwise.

Sequels and Carryovers I’m Not Watching

So many they aren’t worth naming. All of them are in the “didn’t see the previous season(s)” status (so, sorry, no Monogatari hot takes from me), with the exception of K. I didn’t love the original but I did finish it (I think? I may never have seen the finale, actually…), so I figured I’d at least give the sequel a fighting chance. Then I stared at the season two premiere episode in my queue for the better part of a week, and every time I went “…Nah, let’s watch something else.” So unless I hear rave reviews, it’s looking like K and I will be parting ways here.

Forget Freytag pyramids—this dramatic structure is all about Amazon arcs.

Redemption arcs, that is, and wouldn’t you know it, Sailor Moon pulled off another magnificent one. If I had to name the single, primary element of anime that got me to fall in love with it, it’d be its interest in telling stories like these: about sympathetic antagonists and all-too-human villains, and the underlying belief that even those of us who seem the most hateful or hopeless can and often do learn, grow, and improve.

It was just so different from the all-good and all-bad morality of the Disney films and most of the cartoons I watched growing up, and that interest in nuance for both heroes and villains struck a chord of truth in Preteen Me that’s resonated ever since. There’s value in creating ideal characters for audiences to seek to emulate, to be sure. But for my money, the stories about flawed, selfish people nevertheless learning how to move towards empathy and altruism are the really uplifting ones.

That was a long way of saying these episodes were great and I loved them. The even longer way of saying that is below the jump.

The Recaps

Episode 148 – Animalcontents

The Trio are doing my favorite thing: Hanging out at Leers! and complaining about their jobs. Zirconia chewed them out again, and Fish is worried there might actually be, like, consequences for their failures. Tiger and Hawk remind Fish that they haven’t technically failed—they’ve peered into lots of dreams, there’s just never an Alicorn inside—so they’re fine, right? …Right?

You know what you need, Fish? A hawt dude, that’s what. And lo! Zirconia’s Flying Eye (Flye?) drops a new photo in their laps! And it’s everyone’s favorite unmasked gentleman, no less! Fish is all set to seduce him, but Mamoru charms them with basic human compassion, and the woo-er because the woo-ee, which isn’t a word but should be ‘cause it’s really fun to say.

“Woo-ee!” is also the sound of Fish’s internal monologue here, so it’s multipurpose, really.

When Usagi storms over to shatter these soft focus shenanigans, Fish declares themselves Usagi’s “rival.” Later, they corner Mamoru on the street and go for their tried-and… well, their tried method of throwing themselves at people, but Mamoru wastes no time in turning them down. He loves Usagi because she’s “full of dreams,” which gives Fish pause because y’know, come to think of it, where have the TRIO’S beautiful dreams been hiding?

Meanwhile, back at Cirque du Ombre, Zirconia is catching up with the Shadow Girls.

“Do you know? Have you heard?”

The Girls are ready to take over the minion game, but Zirc figures she owes the Trio a proper ultimatum at least. Fish has just enough time to try to yank Tiger’s Dream Mirror out his chest (there isn’t one) before Zirconia calls them into her office to look at their figures for this quarter. The numbers ain’t good, team. Not good at all. They HAVE to find Pegward this time, otherwise the magic she’s put on them will wear off by the next full moon.

To which the Trio reply:

Oh, right. Surprise! Y’all aren’t actually human! You’re animals given human form through magic! And unless you wanna go back to a life in the zoo tent, you need to capture Pegward and use the power in his Golden Horn to turn yourselves human for realsies! K thx enjoy your existential crisis now buh-bye.

While the boys quietly freak out, Fish struggles with their desire to remain in human form and their worry that it’s all an illusion anyway, since they don’t actually have any dreams. Coupled with their genuine affection for Mamoru, Fish is in one massive glass case of emotion here. Desperate, they approach Mamoru with an offer: I’ll protect you from the people who are trying to hurt you, and in return, stay with me until the next full moon.

And if this face doesn’t just MELT YOU

Then you should probably close this tab ‘CAUSE IT’S ALL FISHFEELS FROM HERE TO END, FOLKS.

Mamoru turns Fish down because “there’s no dream” in a fake relationship, so they give up on a week of pretend happiness and go for the Dream Mirror instead. But Fish’s heart isn’t in it, and neither is Pegward, making this pretty much the worst day ever. The Moons arrive to play with a trampoline Lemures, and while they do Fish… sigh. They pull a Season One Tuxedo Mask and kiss an unconscious person.

If I squint my eyes I can pretend they kissed him on the cheek and it’s not as creepy, buuuut… :/

Although, to be totally honest, I feel so bad for Fish at this point that I barely have the strength to disapprove. The Moons Stage Out the Lemures without any trouble, but the day ain’t over yet. On her way home in the rain, Usagi stumbles across sad Fish, who is SO SAD. Usagi reminds us all of the kind, thoughtful human being she can be as she offers up her umbrella, gently chastises “her rival” for not taking care of themself, and…

Episode 149 – Highway to the Amazone

…AWWWW, takes Fish home to dry off! Usagi, I’m remembering why I like you again! She still gives Fish grief for mackin’ on Mamoru, but the two bond because Fish admires Usagi’s love for him and her dream of their future together. As they chat, Usagi accidentally reveals her secret identity when she describes Mamoru the same way Sailor Moon did earlier that day. Gasp!

Fish barely has time to process this shocking development before they stumble straight into another one:

“Kidnap a little girl, or spend my life swimming in circles in an aquarium? CONUNDRUM’D.”

Unsurprisingly, Chibiusa immediately goes missing, and Fish returns to the Circus to tell Zirconia they’ve found Pegward. What IS surprising is that, rather than reveal Peg’s location, Fish demands answers first. Unsatisfied with “pretend humanity,” they want to know if the Golden Horn will turn them into real humans, complete with their own dreams, or if they’ll continue to be animals in human skin.

Zirconia responds with a Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, almost killing Fish and scaring the living hell out of Tiger and Hawk along the way. Zirc had her Flye spying on Fish anyway, so she uses the footage to (incorrectly) deduce that Usagi’s the one hiding Pegward. Fish makes an honest effort to defend Usagi, but Zirconia sends Hawk after her anyway, and he’s too terrified to say no.

No clever caption. I just wanted an excuse to show Tiger and Fish being cute together.

Tiger tries to take care of Fish, but they push him away and run off to help Usagi. Zirconia’s had it up to HERE with their insubordination, so she gives the Shadow Girls carte blanche to handle things. They giggle creepily. It does not bode well.

Fish stops Hawk before he has the chance to look in Usagi’s mirror—and accidentally calls her “Sailor Moon” in the process—but before the Trio can have a proper sit-down over a cocktail and hash this whole thing out, the Shadow Girls’ creepy-ass clown, Mr. Magic Pierrot, shows up to “get rid of what’s unneeded.” He chucks some flying spades at the Trio, which they manage to dodge nicely except OH HELL that can’t be good.

Then while Fish is freaking out about his new and now possibly dead friend, the clown attacks again, and OH HELL this is even worse.

Hawk says he took the shot meant for Fish because “we’re expendable” and “the way things are now… our lives are pathetic,” WHICH IS SO… Look, I’m not entirely sure when it happened, but at some point over the past 22 episodes this trio of bumbling, insecure, self-centered, predatory alcoholics burrowed their way into my heart and I am NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME RIGHT NOW, YOU GUYS. Not. One. Bit.

Fish and Tiger realize they can’t defeat the clown on their own, but they don’t want to die meaninglessly, without even avenging their fallen comrade. So they decide to release Chibiusa, use the magic in their orb to fix Usagi’s Dream Mirror, and let Sailor Moon and her Pegasus Powers take care of the rest.

So they do. Because that’s how much they love each other.

YOU SEE, Tiger, you didn’t know what a “friend” was, BUT YOU HAD THEM ALL ALONG.

Usagi and Chibiusa both revive and transform as the rest of the scouts arrive to help Stage Out the creepy clown. Usagi realizes with a start that Fish was the girl she befriended earlier—just in time for the Trio to turn back into their animal forms (“Get Fish a tank!” your blogger may have shouted from her couch). And then…

…they…

…die?…

They actually die?!

But wait! Pegward’s got his glitter wand out!? And he’s turning them back into their human forms?! And he’s—OH PEGWARD, YOU BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL.

And then my heart exploded from the overload of emotions and it was 100% WORTH IT.

The trio dissolve in a shower of sparks, transforming into what I’ve decided to call will-o-the-wisps. Peg assures us they’ll be all right because they possess dreams, and he takes them back with him to live in his forest.

Then the end credits rolled and I sort of oozed back into my seat and applauded for a while. Sailor Moon is firing on all cylinders again, team! Let’s hope it can last, even without the Trio around to trick me into falling in love with them.

This, That, and the Other

• Fish wonders why Mamoru keeps pet fish, seeing as how they’re so “boring,” which may be the saddest thing anyone on Sailor Moon has ever said.

• Oh SURRRE, it’s fine when Usagi shares HER umbrella someone else, but when MAMORU tries to do it…

• At the bottom of my notes for Episode 149 I just wrote “Tiger ❤ s Fish,” and I believe that covers my opinions on the matter quite neatly.

• I considered the possibility that Fish’s strong desire to be “fully” human could (given their own gender-flexibility) be read as a metaphor for gender dysphoria or even SRS, but I don’t feel like I’m properly qualified to lead that discussion, so I’m just going to set it down in this bullet point if anyone else wants to pick it up some time.

• Hark! A plot point! The Cirque du Ombre is run not by Madame Zirconia, but by Queen Nehelenia, “the most beautiful person in the universe.” Given the way she treats her minions, I’m gonna go ahead and say that beauty doesn’t go much deeper than the skin.

The characters’ worlds may be unraveling, but Noragami‘s narrative is as tightly woven as ever.

Three episodes in and Noragami shows no signs of slowing down its full-steam-ahead plotting, yet there’s never a moment where things felt rushed or confusing. This is partly thanks to the wise inclusion of short lulls between the conflicts, moments that allow the cast (and audience) to digest and react to the conflict that just took place, but it’s also a testament to the show’s confident, character-driven storytelling style. Events don’t just happen because the plot needs them to—individuals make them happen, interacting with and affecting one another in ways true to their established strengths and flaws alike.

Simply put, this show’s firing on all cylinders right now, and it makes me groan every time the end credits roll and I have to wait another week to see how Bishamon and Yato’s rapidly accelerating crises are going to turn out.

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

Time to mech it or break it.

Some day I’ll do some serious soul-searching and figure out exactly what it is about the mecha genre that generally doesn’t appeal to me. Something about the way they handle militarization and aggression, maybe? I’ll keep thinking about it. Whatever it is, it means both of these series were going to be something of a hard sell for me regardless of general quality. I needed characters I could latch on to or a plot I could sink my teeth in. So, did either of these make the cut, or at least do well enough that I’d recommend them to people who do generally enjoy mecha series? The thrilling answers below!

Comet Lucifer

There’s nothing about this one to actively hate, but there’s also not a lot to get excited about. As much as I like the color palette and character designs, in terms of content, it’s something of a “what you see is what you get” kind of series. The main trio are perfectly pleasant, with distinct personalities and agency, but there’s not much in the way of depth from any of them. They’re just sort of nice, making them likable but not especially compelling.

The story appears to be meandering its way to a clash between Team Sogo and Team Gus, presumably over the power (and giant robot) Felia wields, but we’re three episodes in and have spent so little time with the antagonists that the story is seriously lacking in tension or direction at this point. Again, it’s not bad, it’s just not doing anything that demands I come back for the next episode. I haven’t officially dropped it yet, but don’t be surprised if the midseason review comes up and this one isn’t on the list.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans)

I was worried I was going to have to come in here and tell you that IBO was a well-written and good-looking show that I just couldn’t seem to care about, but the third episode did a lot to sell me on the characters and overall story, so I think I’ll be making this one an official part of the watch list. It’s a thoughtful mecha series that’s quite good at big robot battles, but is just as interested in exploring its characters’ motivations and psychologies.

The main trio have a sharp dynamic and play off each other well, as Orga’s steady-handed pragmatism, Mikazuki’s blunt cynicism, and Kudelia’s passionate idealism combine to create arguments both verbalized and subtextual about the nature of war, social hierarchies, and how the ruling class views the combatants. There’s a careful balance being managed between showing the callousness and brutality that a life of fighting can create without turning those same fighters into pitiable victims. It forces Kudelia (and maybe the audience) to reevaluate their own naivety and privilege, and lends the show’s darker moments a real punch.

That said, I confess that, while the mecha fights are competently directed and animated, they struggle to hold my attention. Giant suits of armor duking it out will never be a genre that appeals to me on a gut level, I think, which is why it’s so important that the plot and cast be strong enough to overcome my disinterest in the general concept. So far, IBO has managed to do that. If the series can keep developing its characters with this much care while also expanding its bigger political story line and military campaigns, this could turn into one compelling space opera, and the first mecha series I’ve completed since Majestic Prince. We’ll see how it goes.

Can these do-gooders power their way onto the watchlist?

If mecha is a taste I’ve never quite acquired, then superhero is one that I find myself enjoying more with each year. Give the MCU ample credit for that, as well as new western lady-led comics like Ms. Marvel or The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, for sure, but magical girls and powered rangers have had a place in my heart for a while now, too, and that place grows a little warmer all the time. So it’s no wonder that both of these shows received glowing premiere reviews not too long ago. As for whether or not that glow has worn off… well, that requires a few more paragraphs than this one.

Concrete Revolutio

I won’t deny that ConcRevo is kind of a mess. It dashes back and forth between time lines at breakneck speeds, tearing us through cause-and-effect by contrasting present-day characters with their not-too-distant-future selves so quickly that it can be hard to stay oriented or catch all the dialogue flying across the screen. Characters are defined more by how they react to sudden crises rather than by relaxed conversation, and discussions about the nature of justice or what it means to be human occur on the fly, interspersed with plot points about building unrest and an impending war.

Even so, there are enough connecting threads that I feel confident saying there’s a method to all this madness. Director Mizushima seems to be creating a very intentional tension, taking us from a clear-cut, black-and-white present to an increasingly grim and morally gray future. I can see how getting whipped around through time and comic-booky conflicts with a group of brightly colored superhuman watchdogs could get tiring for some, but I find the aesthetic wildly entertaining and the smear-animated fight scenes a blast.

Better still, the series is peppered with enough beats of emotional honesty and existential musing (such as the android detective’s insistence that he’s human, not “superhuman”) that I’m starting to get invested in the characters, and curious to see what dramatic events changed them so significantly from Present to Future. It’s not the most polished show of the season, but right now, I think it just might be my favorite, and the one I most look forward to each week. Lead on, Mizushima. I’ll be running along frantically behind you.

One Punch Man

I’m going to make a seemingly bonkers comparison and say that One Punch Man reminds me a lot of Snow White with the Red Hair. Not because their stories or characters or ideas are in any way similar (they are not), but because both are developed by talented creative teams who had a very specific look and feel they wanted to bring to their adaptations. Both sought to imbue every element of their production with that particular tone, and both by and large succeeded.

OPM is the story of a basically normal guy who becomes the strongest man in the world, and about how empty and boring his life has become because of that. It always looks good and often looks downright stunning, using thick black lines and stretchy animation to great effect, and the music adds to the scenes without overpowering them. The main character is a contradictory combination of apathetic and hopeful who fills the series with deadpan comedy and an ever-present hint of melancholy. In effect, OPM manages to both be a send-up to and a parody of the superhero genre, full of GAR fights and self-aware humor alike.

But, much like Snow White, as well-made as it is, it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. The adherence to the “good guy fights bad guy(s)” formula can make it predictable on a macro level (despite all the great humorous twists at the micro), and the lack of a clear central story line means the series needs to rely on its cast or comedy to convince the audience to come back each week. Which is where the problem arises, because so far, there’s not enough depth to either individuals or relationships to make them people I’m dying to hang out with each week, and I’m struggling to find a compelling reason to keep doing so.

All of which is to say that, well, One Punch Man is a fine series, but it might not be for me. I’ll probably check in for one more to see if the next story arc can give me something to look forward to, but much like Comet Lucifer, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t make the Midseason Review. Ah, well. To each their own, I s’pose.

Give me something to sing about~ ♪

I knew nothing about either of these series and was expecting even less than that, but both have managed to hook me with a hefty dose of the ridiculous. Although, arguably, that’s only intentional for one of them. Read on to learn about fall’s surprise guests, and to hear why both have managed to sink their silly hooks right into my heart.

Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)

I have zero knowledge of the original manga and anime that this series is honoring, but it doesn’t seem to matter, because the show’s sense of humor has aged it nicely into the modern era. Loosely, Mr. Osomatsu is about identical sextuplets, now young adults, struggling to make ends’ meet in the real world. The series does a smart job of establishing each brother’s distinct personality and vocal tics, making it easy(ish) to keep track of who’s who even if you’re not familiar with the source material. There are also a number of side characters who, while a bit more hit and miss than the core family, provide bizarre skits and conflicts that keep each sketch separate from its buddies.

Really, though, Mr. Osomatsu‘s job is to make you laugh, and for me it does that exceedingly well. Running the gamut from highbrow to lowbrow humor (the second episode skewered soulless corporations and the idealization of familial love, while the third episode was awash in slapstick and dick jokes), the series bounces from sketch to sketch with a nod and a cheeky wink like a Japanese, PG-13-rated Animaniacs. It doesn’t always hit, but when it does it’s downright hysterical, and easily the happiest surprise of the season thus far. There’s no proper plot or character development, so my investment in the series is going to be in how well it makes me chuckle, but so far, so good. Here’s hoping it can keep it up.

Dance with Devils

This is either the most or the least self-aware series in history, but either way, it’s pretty incredible; an awesomely bad shoujo MUSICAL! that’s just ridiculous and campy enough to work. Unlike our recent string of shoujo anime, this is in no way a “good” series, or something the audience should seek to emulate. The female protagonist is a passive ball of bland who gets bounced from one creepy, seductive, possibly-literally-a-demon “love” interest to the next, all of whom are interested in her for reasons unknown, and all of whom (with the possible exception of Rem, and maybe also the dog) she should run from screaming.

The thing is, none of that seems to matter, because Dance with Devils is so committed to the absurdity of its premise—singing, dancing, supernatural bad boys trying to obtain a legendary grimoire from a self-proclaimed “ordinary girl” and her exorcist older brother—that it’s impossible to take any of it seriously, or to even think that the creators want us to take it seriously. Despite its frequent forays into boring and trite “romance,” there’s an escapist charm to the silly spectacle of it all, a giddy enjoyment to watching a bunch of over-the-top jerks duke it out via Gothic-inspired musical numbers. What can I say? It leaves me with a big, dumb grin on my face. As long as that keeps happening, I see no reason to stop watching.

Out with the old, in with the who?

I’m on the road for the next couple weeks, so I was already planning on this post being on the short side, but, er, well… I may have left my notes on these two episodes at home (yes, I take notes on paper, like some kind of peasant). And, what with all the running around, I did not have time to rewatch the episodes. Meaning that all I have to remind me of what happened this week is a series of screenshots and whatever plot darts stuck to my brainspace. So today, we’ll be playing a new and exciting game: Josei Vs. Fallible, Faulty Memory! And a 3, 2, 1…!

The Recaps

Episode 150 – A Minion of a Different Color

Keeping with Sailor Moon’s ongoing themes about adulthood and maturity, Chibiusa and her friend Momo dream of growing up (and meeting boys or whatever), but a quartet of brightly colored girls at the Arcade think this is the dumbest. The best dreams are those of children, they say, over and over AND OVER again. You will be unsurprised to learn that these new characters vehemently against adulthood are, in fact, antagonists. Yes, last week’s Shadow Girls have stepped out of the shadows to become the Amazoness Quartet, and their names are…

…Yeah, nope, I’m drawing a total blank. So we’re gonna call ’em Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue for now. Blinky is marginally the leader, because red is always the leader. Pinky puts on an air of refinement. Inky is the most childish. Sue is…green. I dunno. She didn’t really stick out to me past that.

Unlike the Trio, who were more your long-suffering middle-management just trying not to get fired, these gals are insubordinate and power-hungry, willing to climb over Madame Zirconia’s corpse to reach the top if necessary. They’re strong, too, but also immature, impulsive, and uncoordinated, meaning Zirc is still top dog for the time being. She intimidates them into following her orders, so off they go after the next Dream Target: Chibiusa’s friend, Momo.

Oh, also, Ikuhara’s finally back in the director’s chair after a very long absence, which means mantras, thematic progression, and AWWW YEAH, MORE EERIE CIRCUS IMAGERY.

And even MORE eerie circus animation when Blinky lures Chibiusa and Momo (and their Sailor chaperones) to the Dead Moon Circus and hypnotizes Momo with a nightmare trapeze act!

My cup of weirdness runneth over!

Momo wanders outside and straight into the Quartet’s trap, but she’s got a concerned bestie on her tail, and a whole mess of scouts behind her. The gals show up just in time to watch Blinky pool-shot Momo’s Dream Mirror out of her chest and—

OHHHHH, that’s RIGHT! It turns out the Dream Mirror containing Pegward will shine gold, meaning all those people the Trio painfully and uncomfortably spirit-groped over the last half-season? Yeah, TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.

Momo’s mirror is normal, but Blinky’s Lemures’s tummy is makin’ the grumblies that only dreams can satisfy, so she has her Snake Girl swallow the mirror whole. Chibiusa responds to this in the most hardcore fashion possible, running right up to the snake, jumping into its mouth, and trying to drag the mirror straight out of its throat. It doesn’t work, mind you, but I have to get Chibs mad props for the attempt.

In the end, Sailor Moon’s able to Stage it Out, and the Quartet decide to beat a retreat to their favorite massage parlor to plan their next step. They all think Pegward is dreamy in every sense of the word, so they’re now more than willing to hunt down his hidey-hole. And thus the new antagonists being their quest in earnest!

Episode 151 – Harper Better Faster Stronger

Ami episode, y’all! Get hype. She’s discovered this cool series of tubes that connect computers to one another (one might call it a wide web of tubes connecting the entire world, in fact), and she’s been sticking her ear against those tubes and listening to piano music as it wafts up from the labyrinth. She’s got a major talent crush on the composer, with whom she’s been chatting through one of those tubes, and has even written lyrics to match his music.

The Moonies mistake her admiration for affection, but they’re supportive as ever, encouraging her to show the lyrics to the composer. By virtue of crazy random happenstance, they even stumble across said composer playing at a local restaurant, so Ami can give those lyrics to him in person!

“Your avatar led me to believe you were a kitten standing on a keyboard. Can’t say I’m not a little disappointed.”

Thrilled to meet his online pen pal, the composer (no notes = no names, womp womp) invites the girls back to his studio and introduces them to his girlfriend(?)-slash-co-writer, and tells them about the pair’s dream to share their music with the world. They’re excited to see Ami’s lyrics, but, insecure as ever, she changes her mind and flees, convinced that she, an amateur who’s only doing this as a hobby, doesn’t have the right to show her work to such passionate professionals.

Her escape lasts all of 30 seconds, as Blinky shows up in the studio and goes after the composer’s Dreams, and the Moonies (Ami included) all have to spring to defend him. They face off against a tadpole-turned-Frog Girl who, for some reason, has the power to trap them inside a computer, where Blinky attempts to hack (ba-dum tish) them to pieces.

And that’s when shit gets metaphysical.

Also naked. But, like. Tastefully so.

Ami passes out and meets herself, who encourages her to have courage, and to realize that her identity can come from more than just one thing. She can keep her dream of becoming a doctor and pursue her passion for music and songwriting! After all, the blood of both artists and scientists runs in her veins (her dad is traveling the world and sending her pencil sketches of where’s he’s been, BT-dubs).

It would have been nice to see Ami’s interest in music expressed prior to this episode (I can’t really remember a time when she seemed interested in artistic projects), but it’s such an empowering realization that I can’t be too upset at Sailor Moon for not laying the groundwork sooner. Plus it leads to an awesome new attack involving a typhoon-spouting harp, so bonus!

Suddenly my jokes about Ami being the group’s bard during Season One seem eerily prescient. Well done, Past Me. Well done indeed.

Mercury breaks them out of the computer, freeing Sailor Moon up to Stage Out the Frog Princess. After the quickest of quick changes, the girls return to the studio, and this time Ami has the confidence to show the composer her lyrics. He and his partner-in-’80s-fashion are so impressed that they vow to work even harder themselves in order to make their dream a reality. And so we can all warm our hearts on the soft glow of another Ami episode as the end credits roll. 

This, That, and the Other

• Yes, I recognize the irony of forgetting my notes for the episodes that chanted “never forget to remember” over and over again.

• And yes, I also recognize that I could have Googled all the characters’ names and casually pretended like I hadn’t forgotten my notes. But that would be dishonest to you, dear readers, and I’m cultivating a culture of trust over here at JND. Plus. I mean. Let’s be real. Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue are pretty solid nicknames.

• Sailor Moon usually does a good job of not dating itself, but its ’90s were showing somethin’ fierce this week during that wonderful “OMG INTERWEBS” conversation. That said, I confess to really liking their description of it as a digital bulletin board, as well as the way they optimistically focused on its ability to help aspiring artists reach audiences they wouldn’t have been able to before.

• Is it just me, or does Queen Nehelenia kinda look like what Queen Serenity would look if we were in the darkest timeline? Sans goatee, of course.

• Hark! A plot point! …Sorry, I still can’t get over the fact that the Trio went around sticking their heads into dreams FOR NO DAMN REASON for 22 solid episodes. What the actual fuck, Nehelenia?! Seriously.

Storm’s a-comin’. A-yup.

We’ve been heading toward this godly showdown since season one, so it’s no surprise that last week’s kidnapping(s) serve as the spark that finally sets the whole thing ablaze. Yato’s on the warpath, Yukine is right there with him, and Bishamon is only too happy to cash in that Revenge Card she’s been carrying for centuries. Too bad they’re all pointing their weapons at entirely the wrong person.

Click here for the full post on Anime Evo!

In murder as well as mystery, execution is key.

In keeping with this season’s trends, I’m going to start another post by saying that X genre can be a hard sell for me. The genre this time is mystery. I love a good mystery integrated into my stories, mind you—who’s this strange person, what’s the relationship between these two characters, why’s all this weird stuff happening in town, and so on—but your straight “whodunit” stories? Not so much. The question “who committed this crime?” simply isn’t enough of a draw.

So, if you want to hook me with a mystery, you need to accomplish at least one of two things: Compelling character drama, or an atmosphere so thick you can cut it with a knife. Fortunately for the rather sparse fall season, The Perfect Insider is two for two in that regard.

In summary form, Perfect Insider doesn’t sound all that new or compelling: A brilliant professor and an equally bright student go to a private island to visit a genius (this one with a criminal record) and stumble across an intricately posed dead body. Locked rooms, powerful computers, possible past grudges, and complicated family histories are all present, and none are exactly new territory for a murder mystery. Yet where PI may not dazzle with its premise, it more than makes up for it in its execution.

The narrative is tightly controlled and polished, establishing its characters through key scenes and dialogue before moving us into the central plot, and those characters continue to form the crux of the story even after the corpse turns up. Memories and journal entries tease out new details about individuals both living and dead, as well as draw some curious parallels between the protagonist—19-year-old Moe, bright in every sense of the word and harboring feelings for the cynical professor Saikawa—and the prodigy scientist Magata, who may have been in a relationship with her own doctor as a young teen.

As a result, the mystery is as much about (a) murder(s?) as it is about figuring out what makes our characters tick, and what events led them to this moment in their lives. I’m a little concerned about how the series intends to deal with the potential statutory story line that’s developing via flashbacks, as the young Magata is being credited (by a highly subjective and unreliable narrator, mind you) with a lot of power and agency in a situation where she really doesn’t have any. Still, while it’s worth mentioning for content warning’s sake, it’s thus far been handled with a steady blend of tasteful and unsettling, which bodes well for the story as a whole.

As deftly as it handles its well-written cast, all of whom are at least a little self-contradictory and struggle to communicate or interact with one another, Perfect Insider‘s greatest strength is the atmosphere it’s building a little stronger with each episode. Elements of the production seem to be carefully crafted to contrast with other elements to lend an air of eeriness, a sense that everything is just a little “off,” to pretty much every interaction, even the seemingly benign ones in the first episode.

The character designs and animation are more restrained than in a lot of anime, leaning towards realistic expressions and movement. Yet the color palette is muted and washed out as if under the sterile white lights of a morgue or interrogation room, making those “realistic” characters pale and ghostly, corpse-like. Add to this the camera’s propensity for straight-on shots, which feel intimate at first and then become intrusive, like we’re constantly staring at people, scrutinizing every change in their body language, and it lends the story an air of the surreal, an unreality painted over the real one.

Touches of strangeness and absurdity sprinkle the canvas at increasing frequency. Characters who initially seemed warm and open react to a dead body with almost emotionless calm. People shout at a helicopter pilot over the sound of whirring blades and the pilot acts as if he can hear them. A corpse stands in a hallway with a sheet draped over it. And computer monitors and television screens take over the scene at skewed angles, looming large over others.

The story itself is fairly quiet—more discussion and deduction than blood splatters and chase scenes—but that encroaching sense of wrongness soaks each scene with increasing unease, and encourages the audience to keep their eyes open for clues about both the murder(s) and the characters. We’re early into what’s looking to be a fairly complex story, so I couldn’t tell you where it’s going at this point, but I’m buckled in for the rest of the trip, that’s for sure.

Shooting for the moon and landing among the… Mars?

Yes, it’s that time of season again: Time for our scouts to get there level up on and try out some cool new abilities (and animation) so they can help Usagi win the day against the newest Big Bad. I always enjoy these episodes, not just because they force the series to spend time with the other Moonies (although there is definitely that, especially given the heavy Bunny focus of SuperS), but because they often feature nice morals about self-confidence, individuality, and friendship.

And then sometimes, wedged in there, you get an episode about Usagi and Chibiusa going to the dentist. But, hey, nobody bats .1000. And at least there was a hefty amount of silliness and fun scenes (such as the one in the screenshot above) to pad both episodes in enjoyable character interactions.

The Recaps

Episode 152 – The Girl Who Is on Fire

Rei has become the shrine maiden cover girl in Juuban, and the locals can’t get enough of her (love) charms. Business is booming, so much so that Zirconia’s Fly-By Eye Spy is hovering around the area, seeking out beautiful dreams. Enter Nanako, an enthusiastic kid who’s literally starry-eyed over Rei. She’s got it in her head that Rei is a refined, selfless, humble soul dedicated to making other people’s dreams come true, and she wants to be just like her.

MAJESTIC.

Rei is both flattered by Nanako’s praise (her “Big Sister” attack is downright deadly) and respectful of Nanako’s dream to live her life as a shrine maiden, even if it isn’t a dream Rei shares with her (Rei, as we know, has her sights set on world fame and true love). So she plays along in order to encourage Nanako to pursue her goals. And, I mean, if it can help her grandpa’s shrine make a few extra bucks along the way, bonus, right?

Things hit a snag, though, when the Bunnies approach Nanako and find out she’s decided to mimic Rei not because she personally wants to be a shrine maiden, but because she’s given up on any of her own dreams and has opted to mimic somebody else’s. When Rei finds out, she’s all:

And goes off about how Nanako is belittling shrine maidens. Nanako overhears her ranting to the Moonies and runs off in tears. This episode does a really good job of making this conflict understandable from both sides, as I’m sympathetic to Nanako’s fears, but ultimately siding with Rei in that Nanako shouldn’t let those fears rule her life. Plus, it really is pretty insulting to actual shrine maidens to see their job as some kind of “safety school” option.

Ves-Ves (the Amazoness formerly known as Blinky) is pretty upset herself. Zirconia sent her here to Dreamcatch a wannabe shrine maiden, but when she shows up, Nanako insists she doesn’t have any dreams.

“I’d even take the one where you’re naked in math class! Throw me a frickin’ bone here, kid!”

When Nanako relents a little, Ves knocks out her Dream Mirror just as the Moonies arrive on the scene. She sents out Mane-Mane the Monkey Girl, who is the epitome of “monkey see, monkey do.” After some good old-fashioned Face Stealing, she swallows Nanako’s mirror and echoes her dreams to the world: And heeey, they’re just as ambitious as Rei’s!

When Rei hears this, she… Well, you know how Ami went on a metaphysical dream quest to find her inner warrior and unlock her hidden potential? Yeah, no, that shit takes WAY too much time. Instead, let’s just get SO ANGRY that we produce a badass fire bow with our minds. Rei gives a speech about how girls’ dreams are unlimited and how important it is to be yourself and walk your own path, and burns this mother down.

Or, to summarize:

The Lemures is dead, Ves has retreated, and Nanako decides to trade in her hakama for a burger joint hat. Feels like a step down to me, but eh, everybody’s gotta start somewhere. And the important part is she’s doing what she wants, not merely copying somebody else.

Rei episodes tend to be pretty hit-or-miss for me, but this was a great one, just good old-fashioned inspirational storytelling, and Rei’s straightforwardness and ambition make her the perfect character to tell it. Was it subtle? Oh, no, not even remotely. But I’m more than happy to sacrifice subtlety for positive messages in my YA fiction. Heck, even I’m feeling encouraged after this one! So thanks, Sailor Moon!

Episode 153 – The Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

Look up the word “filler” in the dictionary and a screenshot from this episode would sit right next to it. I always figured the dinosaur episode would win that award, but at least it had the WTF-ery of dinosaurs going for it. Tales about The Terrors of Dentistry are dime a dozen, too, although I will say that I’ve ever seen an anime tackle it before. So maybe my western lens is making it seem less original than it is.

At any rate, the story is a simple one: Zirconia’s getting pressure from Queen Nehelenia, so she goes to the Quartet and finds Palla “Inky” Palla playing with her dolls. She is scatterbrained, childish, adorable, and terrifying.

“Well, you might feel a teensy twinge in your neck, but it’ll pass in a few seconds, just like you will, TEEHEEHEE ♪”

Zirconia talks her into playing a new game called “Check all the Dream Mirrors So the Queen Doesn’t Rip Off My Head,” and Palla agrees. She uses her Evanescence Orb to turn her toys into a real dentist’s office. Then she gives a bunch of neighborhood kids illusory toothaches, lures them to her cute office, and dream-murders the crap out of them.

Thanks to dessert overload and general hygiene laziness, Usagi and Chibiusa are two such neighborhood kids. They’re also terrified of the local, ancient dentist, so they get Mamoru to take them to this fancy-pants new office instead. Everything with Mamoru this week is ridiculous gold, by the way, from his increasing exasperation with his future family to his rehearsed “don’t be jelly, Usa, you know you’re the only girl for me!” speeches to his inevitable “fight” with Palla-Palla.

“Aaaand that’s it, I’m fresh out of fucks, I have no more to give.”

So, yeah: Palla tries to snag both Bunnies’s Dream Mirrors, but Tuxedo Mask interrupts her before she has the chance. The two “spar” while Palla’s Evil Dentist Lemures pins the now-transformed Moons to a wall and tries to drill the cavities straight out of their skulls.

All of which is to say the Moons have this monster RIGHT where they want her, because there’s nothing more formidable than a dentist drill… nothing but a SUPER ULTRASONIC TWO-PRONGED CRYBABY SHRIEK, THAT IS! Yes, the Moons bust out their little-used ultimate weapon, TIMES TWO, shattering their manacles, the decorative fish tanks, and everybody’s ear drums.

Then it’s all over but the… well, the crying already happened, so I guess it’s all over, then! Time to Stage these suckers Out and shatter Palla’s illusions, turning the dentist’s office back into a dollhouse and leaving Mamoru with a perpetual ringing in his ears.

“Damn you, Tinnitus! You’re a cruel mistress!”

And that’s it. The Bunnies still end up having to go to the dentist, and Mamoru still gets dragged along to hold Usagi’s hand. It was mildly amusing, but nothing worth talking about beyond Palla being scary as hell and Mamoru being a big dork. So you can leave this one off your Essential Sailor Moon Watch List, and merrily we dance to the next one.

This, That, and the Other

• A shrine episode and not one sign of Teddy? I am disappoint. And also a little concerned. Sailor Moon, if you kick him out of your cast the way you did all my other favorite anime-original characters, there will be WORDS between us. WORDS, I say!

• Ami is the kind of character who can whip out a mouth mirror in the middle of a picnic and no one bats an eye. Self included.

• So I guess defeating the Lemures returned the Dream Mirrors to that pile of comatose children? Either that, or Sailor Moon just took a much darker turn than expected.

• Hark! A plot point! Zirconia promises that soon she’ll be able to welcome her queen to “this earth.” Alternate universe theory: Acquired. I can’t wait until Rick and Morty cameo.

So I have good news and terrible news.

Another action-heavy episode of Noragami this week, not that I’m complaining: Slick-looking supernatural fight scenes are one of the elements that give this series its appeal, and as usual, they don’t disappoint. Yato and Bishamon continue to duke it out with well-directed choreography under gorgeous skies and along to great background music, the kind of tracks that enhance the scene—adding both tension and a whiff of tragedy—without distracting from it. (I’m looking forward to snagging the soundtrack when it comes out, that’s for sure.)

And lest you think I’ll have nothing to talk about this week, rest assured that “action-heavy” does not mean “plot light.” A whole mess of events went down this week, which brings us back to that good news and terrible news I mentioned before.

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