#Chesarka watches Grimoire of Zero

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Grimoire of Zero 10 - 11 | Royal Tutor 11 - 12 (FINAL) | Kado 10 | Boku no Hero Academia 25 | Tsukigakirei 10 - 11...plus summer 2017 anticipated anime.

Just gonna put this here so it gets more attention while it’s open.-> http://www.strawpoll.me/13311671

Grimoire of Zero 10

Geez, the staff pulled a Kado 0 - 1 on us here…i.e. the ending of one ep is the same as the opening of the next ep. It’s just to a lesser extent than Kado did.

Seriously, who is Him??? They still haven’t told us!

Welp, there’s my answer. It was too obvious to centre a 12 episode series around, I would’ve given a plot point like that about…3 or 4 eps, tops.

Grimoire of Zero 11

The thing about this show is that you can just turn your brain off and watch along. It’s a tad slow, but enjoyable and that’s why I’ve stuck with it.

LOL, I understand what it’s like to have “messy, wormlike handwriting”…

I don’t believe a wisp of that karate chop, Holdem. The hand was at the wrong angle.

Finally, the show gets funny again. There’s the Zero we know.

I love the sense of scale the animators have demonstrated with the spells. Just saying that before I have no more chances to.

Ooh! Oh, that man. I actually side with Holdem on this one, he deserved that punch.

“I-“ – Ooh, at that moment I got completely engrossed in the cliffhanger. Normally shows don’t cut off in the middle of a sentence, do they?

Royal Tutor 11

I can’t believe they forcibly took Gregor. Isn’t there some kind of legal offence for-oh wait. That’s called kidnapping. (partially sarcastic)

I’ve always found it interesting that the princes have to refer to the king as such, rather than “dad”. That seems to be a problem in every single piece of media you get about royalty, although these guys have a conscious sort of “I am no longer the king, but your father” (and vice versa) switch which is controlled by Viktor.

Oh, so it’s basically all the Dickensian stuff you get in Oliver Twist…(I haven’t read it, but you know how it is with classics *rolls eyes*).

Heine’s movements are believable, but there’s some suspension of belief needed for Viktor’s (because he faints a little too fast, I think).

Welp, this ain’t quite crying material, but I can tell there was a “climax” where the audience was expected to cry. Knowing this is anime-only material keeps my eyes dry, I guess. However, knowing that Heine’s resigned as Royal Tutor really made my heart drop…after all, this is the second last episode, and I’ve really had fun watching these princes and their diminuitive tutor.

Royal Tutor 12

Bruno really likes Gendo poses, doesn’t he?

Heine’s voice is great for a noob VA. It really sells the character.

I always thought “hai-neh” was a weird pronunciation, but that’s what it says in the katakana.

Seeing Heine tell others their strengths really makes me feel like I’m missing them already, in a good way. I’m not tearing up yet, but it’s real heartwarming and I know if I were in the same situation, I’d cry too.

“Goodbye” isn’t quite “excuse me”, but I guess it works context-wise.

This is one of those shows where “show, don’t tell” works well and I think the show’s nailed it for the most part.

University degrees don’t necessrily make good tutors. Any student knows that, especially in uni.

I can see why even the author cried at this now, even though I’m still not crying.

W-Who’s that? With the dark hair? Eins???

Ah, there’s my answer. It was indeed Eins. Why does he have dark hair???

Welp, there’s one finale for the spring season over. The anime staff really couldn’t have done too much about Eins, though, which sucks. Come back another time for a different show, ‘kay?

Kado 10

I’m in that weird stage where I want to like Kado, but because everyone’s jumped ship, I won’t want to like it either…what a weird thing peer pressure is. *feels like crying*

I feel like I’m in Superhero Project (one of my stories) where protag Keisuke wakes up in a white expansive room to be trained in his powers. Only this time, they gave the room fractals.

Interesting. It’s like an alien LINE convo.

Sarasouju tree…apparently, it’s this thing. Commonly known as “sal”. I’ve never heard of it, though.

“Humans are ephermeal creatures.” – You remind me of Haibara (Detective Conan).

“There’re guns everywhere in America!” – LOL, that sure ain’t the truth, as much as America has gun problems.

Let’s play another common anime game. It’s called “Spot the Main Character from their Hair Colour”.

(SPOILERS for White Parasite from now on!) zaShunina’s still teetering on “cuckoo” from his facial expressions here. It’s sad, because I wanted him to be mysterious and beautiful like La Luna forever...that’s why I killed La Luna off!

*sigh* Okay, evil mastermind pretender, put your hands back on and please just negotiate like you wanted to in the beginning. (*on the brink of tears* Hey, I realised something. I keep making comparisons to White Parasite, but people find it confusing. By making those comparisons, I seem to have almost jinxed Kado to be this way.)

*crying because Shindo* La Luna’s force of living was the goodwill that it used to create its powers. Does that mean the anisotropic run off trust in the same way? (By the way, please don’t resurrect Shindo. That would break the laws of reality as we know it – even anisotropic laws.) (end spoilers)

Welp, I guess not. B-But, my dreams just got ruined by Saraka kissing Shindo (although the Kado tag spoilered it for me anyway)…

Pffffft. Okkkkkkay, Captain Shang, hold up!

Shindo’s angry face at Saraka wearing his shirt had me dying. He really is Captain Shang.

Kado. You were so beautiful at first. I placed my faith in you. B-But you changed, and now all I can do is see you through as you become a cliché fest I could have easily created with my own hands. In fact, I did create a Kado with my own hands - White Parasite. So I am the one to blame…I will have to see this through as I have seen through White Parasite.

Boku no Hero Academia 25

Well, that certainly threw me for a loop. Between two forces of roughly even power, it’s unpredictable who’ll win, but the ability to humanise a character comes with weaknesses. I know that already, as a writer and reader of hero stories.

All Might is such a fatherly type. I don’t think I could write a character like him – both OP yet grounded at the same time.

Plus Ultra!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait, the woman with red streaks is his…aunty? Sister? I’m not sure at all.

Aw, this Shouto segment was just too good. I’m worried about Iida though, because from the Stain stuff I’ve seen floating around, he will not take the defeat of his bro lightly. Also, amazarashi is coming in the next part of BnHA! I loved Speed to Masatsu, so it’s good to meet him again here.

Tsukigakirei 10

“An Encouragement of Learning” is a Fukuzawa work.

From Kawagoe to Chiba it really is about 2 hrs. Look.

Oh great. Bad CGI people strike again…

Monzenyokocho.

Did Hira have kawaii eyes just as the other people thrust trash at him?

Imokoi is a Kawagoe specialty involving…wait for it…sweet potatoes. That’s why the sweet potato mascot makes sense.

My eyes!!!!!!!! Bad CGI people stand out more in night scenes (compared to day scenes, of course).

Toki no Kane, apparently also known as the Bell of Time.

The “game” in question, that rock paper scissors, was probably a batsu (penalty) game.

I guess I should’ve guessed Kotarou would’ve gotten angry at Hira eventually. I just didn’t think it would be now.

That shot of Kotarou walking down the street looked a little awkward because it looked like he was walking on a flat surface when it’s actually slanted.

It’s not just my video, is it? Akane’s crying got sped up and that pulled me out of what was meant to be an immersive scene.

Chotto matte means “wait a bit”, but I feel like “I’ll be right there” is warping the meaning a lil’ too much.

Well, I never expected this show to portray anger. It pulled Kotarou’s anger off really well.

I never thought I’d see the day where Kotarou would rely on the potato mascot, either. I like a show that goes out of its way to be unpredictable like this. Too bad it came a little too late in the game.

Tsukigakirei is all about following the heart and not necessarily the mind, so this is a pefect way to show it.

Oh! That was another good unexpected thing, but then they’ve been teasing that since the fireworks. Too bad they kept part of Kotarou’s face hidden right after it.

This end of ep LINE convo is about a couple that can’t sleep, so one of them starts talking about their part time job…then it gets cut off.

Oh, so that’s how Sakura is related to the main events…okay.

Tsukigakirei 11

“To decide that I’m hopeless before I even begin is nothing but laziness.” - Wise words, Dazai.

Were there always two potato mascots at the top of 13.70? I think one appeared there when Kotarou first received his, actually, although I’m not bothered to look…

The people aren’t CGI now…or I’ve somehow gotten used to them…? Either way, they’ve stepped up their animation game (in exchange for ep 12 being late, according to a note on the CR page).

That’s a cute jumper, Akane.

The fact Kotarou changes his message is something I can relate with. Even one forum post can take hours to type, even though time is always never on my side.

What’s that purple thing on the onigiri plate? A pickled plum? No, those are red…

A “root for the underdog” story is a classic, so I can see why Roman’s rooting for Kotarou.

Hahaha…yeah, let’s just sat I can’t understand the science for the life of me and leave it at that. That stuff’s chemistry, I haven’t touched it since I was 14 or 15.

The stuff about circles appears to be on segments, equal angles and so on (you know how you find the angle of a triangle based on where it is in a circle? Yeah, stuff like that).

Oh yeah, I never thought this but…Kawagoe Seminar. It’s named like Sailor Moon’s Crystal Seminar, and for good reason – both are cram schools.

There’s a grade score near Kotarou’s wrist, so understandably he got an A in Japanese.

Parents aren’t like that, Kotarou. They don’t always hope for your failure, they just hope you’ll do well in life…says someone whose parents have aways supported them.

Instead of having CGI people moving, they’ve finally done 2D people. However, the tradeoff is that now the people are not moving, which is just as weird if not even weirder.

“PoPo” is such a weird name for a shop, LOL.

No wait, I take part of my comment about 2D people back. There is still CGI, it’s just less prononced now they’ve bothered to put in 2D background people as well.

That scarf goes well with his outfit…says someone who sucks at coordinating outfits.

Why not just talk with her when you’re ready, Kotarou? If The Royal Tutor taught me anything, it’s that it’s always good to talk things over if you can’t understand each other.

Aitai can mean “want to meet”(like you’re meant to do to make the fish a heart), but the ai is in hiragana (so it doesn’t mean anything) and the kanji for tai used means “red snapper”. As in, the fish.

There’s a lot of ganbaru (try your hardest) used in this ep, and Kotarou says benkyouganbaresou in this “Sorry it didn’t turn out so great” convo. The nuance is therefore lost in the translated version, “I feel like I’m ready to study again starting tomorrow”, although I can’t suggest a better alternative.

Yeah, Kotarou’s mother is right. If you have a normal sleep schedule, you’re able to work better, despite how great it may be to sleep in.

I get easily lost on public transport, so I understand the vibe Kotarou’s parents are giving off.

This ep’s ED LINE convo is two people (one’s a guy, the other I don’t know the gender of) talking about studying and, at the start of the convo, the guy’s mother being angry. At the end of the convo it turns out the guy’s notebook was blank (and that’s the punchline to the convo).

Well, I’ll confirm my lineup for summer here and now. Licensing’s already being doled out as we speak so some of the lineup’s set in stone already. In order of hype:

Definite hype:

Boku no Hero Academia 2* (carryover)

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu*

Reflection*

Nana Maru San Batsu

Kaito x Ansa (already binged Nazotokine to prepare)

Nobunaga no Shinobi ~ Ise to Kanegasaki-hen ~* (see below, carryover)

Medium - low hype:

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan

Princess Principal 

Jikan no Shihaisha (seen the first chapter or so of the manga)

Isekai Shokudou* 

18if

Youkai Apato

Clione no Akari

Konbini Kareshi

Zannen Onna

Asterisks mean licensing’s been confirmed already for me as of this post - I’ve asterisked anything confirmed to be by CR this season, because that’s likely to be worldwide bar Asia. Katsugeki is the only known show out of the asterisks that isn’t a CR stream. 

Funi’s opened up its services to my region (due to the CR x Funi merger), I could probably watch 18if there, but 1) I feel like Funi doesn’t have a good enough player, and 2) I feel like it’ll show up on a service that has a better player.

You’ll notice Nobunaga no Shinobi, a carryover from the last season I previously didn’t care for, is on the list. I was looking at YouTube videos of people’s favourite OPs and I fell in love with Shirayuki (by Renka, it’s the OP for the current season) recently, so I binged the existing content in one day. However, it being a short series means it’s not eligible for simulcast commentary and I’ll have to make a separate ranking for short series once I make my year-end rankings (to include ~ Ise to Kanegasaki-hen ~, and because watching Kenka Bancho Otome has screwed my rankings over enough as it is). After all, my 2016 ranking policy was “a show I saw at least once over in 2016 and had at least one seasonal entry in 2016″, which if applied to this year would make Nobunaga no Shinobi eligible, but it would be unfair to pit it against any shows with standard 24 min eps.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Kado 11 | Boku no Hero Academia 26 | Hina Logi 1 | Grimoire of Zero 12 (FINAL) | Tsukigakirei 12 (FINAL)

I’ll just leave another reminder for this straw poll here, because I need a tiebreaker vote.

Kado 11

Even anisotropic beings have dreams? Welp, that was unexpected.

Uh, hey. Kado staff. Algerian people don’t all look like Asians, y’know? Google says Algeria is in Africa…

So, staff. Why is Shindo the only man/person/human who can stop zaShunina?

Oh yeah. Shinawa knows a way to stop the fregonics!

Basically how I feel about Kado is how Hanamori feels about the situation + Saraka right now – confused and torn.

(laughs) Thank…(face falls) you, Hanamori, for making me laugh with your mapo tofu comment and remember why I loved this show in the first place. It was fleeting, but good…Wait, but isn’t abduction against the law?

Uhhhh. Kado staff. The fregonics suit has boob space. Meaning a woman will wear it…awkwarddddddd…

Finally, we get back from our “shonen battle” roadtrip to drive to the final battle.

zaShunina’s like an old lady now, LOL. Reading on a rocking chair and enjoying the sunset.

Yeah…please just keep your lips away from each other, guys. I was here for the negotiation, remember?

Oh. That wasn’t a boob plate. I was LOLling at their idea to give that to a woman, because the one woman who needs that plate is Shinawa, whose job is already over. Good thing I was wrong there, then. It’s also interesting to note this suit looks like a gladiator suit…like humanity has reverted itself to medieval times to fight zaShunina, who represents the future. (I’m still laughing though, because I knew Shindo was hot under that shirt, but damn, I did get more than enough eye candy this season just by this one gladiator suit…and zaShunina’s butt.)

Well, I kinda did get what I wanted by having the Hanamori/Shindo ship broken, but even though I got a het ship (which I’m normally more supportive of), I don’t support this het ship at all.

It’s cute to see a floating pink cube act like a phone. Or one of those annoying fairy companions…

Welp, it’s almost over. See you next ep for the final simulcast commentary.

Boku no Hero Academia 26

Apparently BnHA’s on break this week, meaning I’m caught up after this.

There was a thing called work experience that we had to do at one point – that’s how I got the experience needed for One Wish They Never Wanted’s bookstore scenes.

It’s cool to see Eraserhead and Present Mic in the same situation as Deku and everyone else. Aizawa looked kinda bishie then, which is unexpected.

I don’t get the reference involving acid blood…

That’s nice. I already knew the names everyone was going to come up with due to the time I’ve spent on the wiki, but the homage becomes much more significant when you see it in context.

Dangit, Midnight. You stole my explanation thunder.

I always wondered why Shouto never got a better hero name. So he literally just used his own name, huh?

I wanna cry at the Iidas’ plight but I have no tears, dangit!

I don’t get it- what’s the “air chair exercise”?

Gran Torino. I’ve watched the movie that has that name, it’s about a vintage car (Ford Gran Torino), an old guy called Walter (Walt for short) and racism. I always suspected Walt was the reason Gran Torino (hero) was named thusly...but until Horikoshi says something about it, we’ll all have to keep speculating…(By the way, the racism perspective in that movie resonated with me, despite my not being a Hmong person. Maybe I’m not properly acknowledging it, but it might be one of my inspirations for Half-Paid Heroes…?)

Hina Logi 1

I have come here to hate on this magical girl spinoff, because man, Luck and Logic squandered what could have been a very good plot – it was “pretty but no substance”, to quote a past me. Indeed, it’s because magical girls are my passion that I have high expectations of new entrants into the genre…

Okay, what is this? Hogwarts???...Actually, the best match, right down to the white turrets, would be Alfea of Winx Club.

It’s stoic girl, Ojou-sama + companions and Shinawa-lite. See? Stereotypes, although I ribbed the names from ANN (having read it a few weeks before I got here). However, before I read ANN, I’d already predicted this would be a pile of road apples.

I feel like I should know who Nina is (from ANN), but I didn’t get far enough to familiarise myself with Nina in the original Luck and Logic, haha.

This genki glutton girl is basically gender bent shonen cliché, y’know? Serve me something slightly different, and I’ll be a happy camper.

I can’t believe I laughed at Nina going “my teacher told me to”, because I expected it.

The humour isn’t funny in this for the most part…the eyecatch says, “16th May. Fluffy! (Fuwaafuwaa!)” “Fluffy” of course being in reference to the messed-up hair.

Urgh, this fanservice is driving me up the wall and giving me a headache…

Ooh, nice transformation sequence!

Enough with the yuri between Nina and Lion! Gah!

“May 16th. From this point forward,  [Kagura] became very angry.” (I had to Google the teacher’s name. She’s so insignificant this episode, I can’t even remember it…)

Lion’s face is getting more annoying by the second…

“May 16th. Everyone ate heartily.” (I used the word “heartily” because I didn’t have a better substitute for oishii in this case, but *shrugs* I don’t care either way.) The use of itadaku I’m still fairly new to, so hopefully someday I can use the word with confidence…

“…reminds me of my mommy.” – Gah, Lion. Are you a toddler? I imagine you with a toddler’s tone when the subs say that.

“Send your beloved Hina on a journey.” – It’s actually a reference to something. Check this article’s title for what it is. That’s a Japanese proverb which says to not baby your kids too much.

I feel like this is a pretty clean drop. After all, if I rage for all the wrong reasons (and come out with a slight headache in the end), you know that the show is a drop.

Grimoire of Zero 12 (FINAL)

Thirteen’s with the crew at the end of the OP. Huh.

I have the feeling that Holdem will never kill Thirteen, even though that dogface is trying to stab the sorcerer right now.

Intruders,much? It’s an army!

It seems like these animal fights were meant to be a big spectacle but observe the background animals and see how off model they are. That’s how much care was put into what was meant to be the show’s climax this ep.

I would’ve loved to see Mercenary do a Batman backhand. Those are always cool and sometimes funny.

The cloud and white-frame animation look gorgeous in a sakuga way! Now we’re talking!

Having someone die solves nothing. It is only those who need an outlet for blame that require needless death, am I right?

Ohhhhhhhh! One kiss made at least 2 or 3 people jealous, LOL.

I wanted to see Mercenary as a human. He could’ve been real hot…dangit.

The ED song is real cute and iyashikei. I don’t think I’ve properly listened to it until now, so…good on me for doing so, haha.

Tsukigakirei 12 (FINAL)

Tsukigakirei’s been a middle ranker for me most weeks, so to suddenly get better around the time when Kado fell was practically begging for the two to switch places…(Note: I’ve made a personal ranking for each ep in a document I’ve kept all to myself, and I haven’t posted them online. That’s why I’ve had comments that indicate where shows are on that ranking at the start and end of an ep’s simulcast commentary.)

That sparkly shot of the river is in the OP too, so when there was a shot of Kotarou and Akane, I was disappoined I wasn’t seeing the OP (even though I still think the live-action bit is a lil’ weird). It’s cute how those guys are wearing the same jackets, though.

There’s a water thermos in the back of Tachibana’s (glasses guy’s) bookstore.

Kotarou’s dragon background is so cool. I want one.

The thing with the rhino doesn’t translate well. The word for “goodnight” here is oyasuminasai and rhino is sai, so…yeah. I think it would be better to call it “sleep rhight” (including typo) to convey that pun better, but hey. I’m not going to major in Japanese.

When Chinatsu revealed she got into the same school as Kotarou, I verbally went, “Oh no!” Don’t you remember how I was with ep 7???

Even Chinatsu has that black jacket, so it seems to be a school-issued one.

My heart just broke a lil’ bit as Chinatsu hugged Kotarou…I’m not sure what to make of it…

I’ve never seen “graduation” being abbreviated to “grad” unless it’s “grad school” and the “grad” in that stands for “graduate” (noun). It’s a very American term, so I never use it, but…the term translated to “grad” is “graduation ceremony” (sotsugyoushiki). Seriously though, CR. Enough with your Comic Sans translations.

The translation of the prologue misses something. The first sentence has da to omou at the end, meaning “I think…”.

A novel board. Y’know, like Honeyfeed. I’ve got quite a lot of experience with ‘em, because I don’t intend to be a person who gains money from writing…not fulltime, anyway.

There’s a site called Syousteuka ni Narou which is basically Honeyfeed for a Japanese audience, with the added bonus of possibly getting your works into print and then anime. The recently announced Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari, as well as Re:Zero and a lot of its kin, have come from that board. It’s pretty clear that Syousetsuka is being parodied here, that’s all…even though the titles of the websites are completely different phrases.

What’s that bird with the long neck called? The one standing in the water? I wanna know…

Normally with anime tears, it’s like me and CGI - I bash most efforts. However, I think this is the effort that I commend the most so far…this anime season is full of surprises…Well, Kotarou? Can you keep up with a girl that does track?

Everyone cries when someone leaves, so long as that person has made an impact. I know that all too well…

Dangit trash CGI people. Just as I got used to you, you become obvious again! Grah!

I admit I shed a few tears there…I’m not crying, you’re crying! (Also, if you haven’t paid any attention to what I’ve been writing, One Wish They Never Wanted was based on similar experiences to Kotarou and Akane’s graduation, although a lot of it happens outside Takuma’s point of view and so I didn’t write it.)

Oh! Hey, these are the end of ep LINE convos from previous eps, coupled with pics of the ones who typed them! The “seaman” convo would’ve made more sense if the translator would’ve bothered translating the word “semi” (short for “seminar”) as it was, because that makes more sense. I really don’t get the “marr” one though.

Well, any show that makes me cry on its first run is a show I don’t regret. I still feel weird putting Kado below it, because Kado was betted than Tsukigakirei for most of its run (as I’ve said at the start of this commentary). Regardless of what happened though, I guess…I’ll see you all for the next show then! Bye for now!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Tsukigakirei 4 | Kado 4 | Boku no Hero Academia 18 | Grimoire of Zero 4 | Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 5

Tsukigakirei 4

By the by, episode 5’s title (Kokoro) is a reference to a Natsume Souseki book, just in case you were wondering when we were properly going to get to the Souseki stuff.

That gold dragon case Kotaro has is cool as. I want one…

There’s one scene with a lot of iron poles that I can’t quite decipher in regards to whether it’s CGI or not…(around 4:56 on CR).

Why is it that every time characters do Touristy Things ™, there are slow pans of scenery? It kinda pisses me off ever since it happened in Blue Exorcist…

Selfies are still popular with people, I see. Thought they’d died out already…

Oh gosh. The CGI got so obvious in this, it’s about the same level as cars in Alice to Zouroku (which look hella blocky)!

(when Akane walks out of the store) I know the feel, Akane. I know the feel too well.

Why is getting on the scale such a big deal in Japan? I get it for Akane’s friend who does it here, since girls are conscious about their weight more than boys, and I get it for Atsushi (Boueibu) as Boueibu’s a parody of content targeted at girls, but the scale is in such an obvious place in bath places…

Although the show has passed the Bechdel test already (unlike some of my works…ouch…) I feel that even with the “honesty” thing Tsukigakirei has going, it does kinda fall into a stereotype of “girls talk about boys” if it’s not focussing on the track stuff and that feels kinda disappointing. Girls can be more multifaceted than that, just like boys can.

The girls are eating dango. You can see those in Touken Ranbu all the time.

The CGI people makes this look like (what I know of) Ajin, and that’s bad.

Do you know about that Japanese graffiti where you put two names under an umbrella as a sign of love? Yeah…this is kinda like that.

“I want to talk wih you more” does not equal “I want to be your boyfriend/girlfriend”, kiddos. Remember that.

Kado 4

I’ve noticed between the start of the Sports Festival Arc (BnHA), Kado and Tsukigakirei, I’m yelling “hurry up!” at my screen a lot. Considering how great the latter two are despite their slow pace, I don’t mind those ones being subjected to my yelling, but BnHA is meant to be a fast mover by virtue of its genre. Also, since the three are received in the same 2 day period, it’s inevitable they’ll continue to get comparisons to each other.

29th of what month?

I should’ve known…Shindo would’ve decided to release children and mothers first, because it makes sense. *nods understandingly*

Oh, it’s the 25th of July this stuff started on. Okay. On the subject of Kado, I must say the artstyle of both the adaptional manga and the Railgun one (for after ep 5) don’t do the show any justice. Shindo and Shunina’s faces are too squashed on the Railgun promo image (plus the dot style is weird), while the adaptational manga’s faces for those two don’t look as beautiful as the merch images (exhibit A is the cover page for the linked chapter, the noses don’t look right there). (Then again, I can be very picky about this stuff, considering I am a lover of bishies and I tend to have high standards of “beauty”…)

The manhug was unintentionally suspenseful (when it happened) and funny (after it happened).

I’m not sure if bob girl (forgot her name) should be happy about this, because she sure looks happy.

Why Hanamori, the incompetent one? Then again, there must be a reason why Hanamori hangs around with Shindo and I can understand Shindo’s need for movement.

Wowee, Shindo. I can’t believe you just fired yourself…

They’re focussing on the UN, that’s rare…! I should’ve known it was coming due to Shindo belonging to it, but anime is normally very Japan-centric and never moves from that sphere.

I’ve never been to Haneda (as of this commentary), but what’s up with that dancing girl statue?

It’s quite interesting, not as a fellow person but as a viewer of this show, to note Shindo overworks himself and that he operates off adrenaline. He seems basically superhuman with all his negotiation skills.

A senpai is getting scolded by a kouhai tsundere. Never thought I’d see that in my life. Also, when Saraka thrusts the iPad at Shindo, notice how fluid and fast the motion is. That truly is evidence for how good the CGI is.

“Yahakui zaShunina is hot.” “I love the pattens on the side of Kado.” – *nods* I agree with these people. Two of many reasons why I’m in Kado hell at the moment. However, do note the exact word used for the Kado statement is ステキ, not “love” (suki) but rather “wonderful” (suteki), i.e. “The patterns on the side of Kado are wonderful”, there appears to be an unsubbed statement saying “あれプロジェクションマッピング？” (“Is that projection mapping?”) and the Shunina statement appears to say “Yahakui zaShunina is cool”, rather than saying “he’s hot”, so the “hot” is an implication at best, nonexistent at worst. If you find these words familiar, it’s because I copied them for this post.

Hey, it’s this guy. No wonder the staff needed ep 1.

Google-sensei says plastic is not conductive normally, but since it’s organic, it can be made to be conductive. Hence conductive plastics. Also, NMR appears to be this.

Senbei. After all the big sciency things I’ve noted for this show, senbei is a real laugh.

So basically speaking…it’s kinda like nuclear bombs all over again...

La Luna (White Parasite) was into human stories, and it had a collection of storybooks which gave it inspiration to make the magicians themed after fairytales and itself after a kitsune. The Kado staff applied a similar concept to Shunina and I must say they’ve done it much better than I ever did.

It’s heartbreaking to see the bromance end. Just seeing Hanamori in tears makes me wanna hug him, dangit.

It’s an odd choice to note China was one of the countries highlighted in the explanation of “countries”, as Japan and China don’t have the best relationship in history.

Even if the Japanese fought in self-defence using the JSDF, they wouldn’t be able to fight against international military action…and the Japanese Constitution said they renounced war after World War II…*gulps* (You can really tell I brushed up on 20th century history before getting here, eh?)

Seeing Shunina using a phone is just…*laughs* fabulous! It’s something I never would’ve thought of for La Luna, although I did accidentally stumble across a spoiler for it on Tumblr last week (…so I knew it would happen eventually, but that’s my fault).

What in this dimension and Shunina’s do the government people want with Kanata??? Man, these cliffhangers every week are really getting to me, dangit! (Sidenote: I love, love, love shows that make me want to watch the next ep every week, but simulcasts do give you the unique hell of waiting one week to find out what happens next, assuming you don’t want to get spoiled in the process.)

Boku no Hero Academia 18

“Yaoyorozu’s Creation is too hard to deal with!”

Interesting to note Bakugou only says “Kirishima”. (I noticed it last time but only made a note of it this time.)

I knew this from spoilers already (in fact, Monoma was how I learnt the Japanese word for “to copy” – monomane suru!) but Monoma is a copycat guy. I didn’t know how the Quirk was introduced though, so that was great.

Wowee, Monoma really likes provoking people, eh?

It’s the small things, like the knocks on Kirishima’s head, that make this show a delight to watch.

Small sidenote, but I think Endeavour’s flaming beard is great. As I said, the small things are what makes it a delight to watch…because it’s so unique.

Grimoire of Zero 4

Oh great, this merchant again…

Those apples are so misshapen, I sometimes think they’re pears.

At first I thought the subbers were lazy but then I realised…it’s a montage. D’oh.

“The sky is so blue.” – Yeah, and the rainbows are all rainbowy. (sarcastic)

At least Albus knows where the fish is, LOL.

It’s a bit dizzying to have a sudden cut to a rock, but at least that makes for a unique humour experience. Not ina metaphorical sense, mind you – I almost felt like I was going to be dizzy because of the suddenness of thecut.

I have a bad feeling about Latette, because of what Albus said. It’s kinda like that point in Mulan where they’re singing “A Girl Worth Fighting For” and suddenly, bam! You get my drift?

A burnt doll. See? Mulan de ja vu all over again. The only difference is how the houses are intact this time.

Grimoire of Zero isn’t bad, and I still want to know what happens next in it, but it could aim to be less cliché. The chemistry of the characters really sells it, so maybe the show should learn to focus on that in the future while continuing its worldbuilding and theme exploration (instead of going on about, say, Zero having romantic interest in Mercenary).

Royal Tutor 5

In this one shot of Viktor on a horse, it’s like someone crossed Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure with Napoleon…and that’s funny(!)

Ooh, who’s this guy with the green eyes? He looks a lot like Sebastian (Michaelis, Black Butler) or Pad-kun’s human form (Classicaloid).

Was that green statue CGI? If it was, the CGI was pretty obvious.

I never explained this earlier, but I found the word oushitsu in a Japanese-English dictionary. It means “royal family”, despite the second character meaning “room”.

Ooh. The King. Such pretty, such wow. (I like him.)

Hmph. This sort of plot is what you’d see in something like Masamune-kun’s Revenge. (In fact, I bring that name up because in one of the episodes, a plot like that does indeed happen.) Does this mean this show’s getting sloppy? I hope that’s not the case.

I guess the feeling of defeat setting in means the battle’s over before it’s even begun, eh? So don’t feel down, get motivated, Leonhard…or something like that.

One plus one can equal 11 or window, depending on how you look at it.

Wuh? That’s just your interests, Licht.

Oh! Sachertorte. Didn’t think of that, even though Kai did foreshadow it.

I think all teachers (and then some people who are not teachers, me included) understand that sentiment already, Heine. It’s called the “growth mindset”, to use some buzzwords from a former teacher of mine. (Speaking of “growth mindset”, I got a poster about it from said teacher. That’s why I still remember the concept.)

I think the animators aimed for a determined expression (at “Hurry up and teach me!”) but Leo’s frown makes him look like a sorrowful puppy.

I think this anime would benefit if it had more of that thick line style Leo took on for a second there.

Oh. The palace is CGI in those sky shots. No wonder I thought it was off somehow. The CGI actually makes the palace look realistic. It’s a very Kado way of applying CGI and when Kado is my standard of CGI that I like, that is something this show should be proud of.

Oh! Another foreshadowed loophole I should have seen coming.

There is a strange object in the back that appears to be CGId. It looks like it’s shaped like a fireplace, and it’s a good thing that it follows the Kado application style. (Then again, me noticing weird CGI things is just a habit…)

Well, this is a new interesting development. Hopefully we can get to the truth behind Heine’s past without having the anime be sloppy or cut off in the middle of the developments (like Nanbaka).

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Grimoire of Zero 9 | Royal Tutor 10 | Kado 9 | Tsukigakirei 9 | Boku no Hero Academia 24

Grimoire of Zero 9

“You genius ball of fluff!” – LOL. He’s fluffy, but not a ball of fluff.

I always thought the clothes man was weird, but not this level of weird.

“…Dawn Tower.”

“Fair trials” are never fair when done by people. After all, people have bias.

This blue night sky…I saw it before in Hataraku Maousama. This is by Studio White Fox, right? You can tell why.

Royal Tutor 10

Note for later: this.

Wut??? I didn’t see that twist about the cousin coming. That was a fact with not much payoff though, because while the staff milked it for a gag, the colour schemes of the characters mean it was a deus ex machina of a gag – not completely believable.

Why does this feel like they’re playing endgame cards too early??? Maybe it’s so that the storyline can focus on Heine and only Heine, but I worry about this anime only ending (see link above if you still don’t know about it) not working.

“Unfortunately, I have no girlfriend.” – LOL, ouch Bruno. Self deprecation is hard to pull off sometimes…

“I’m the super hot prince of charisma!” – LOL, Licht. No you’re not. That’s the king’s job (for me).

Er, dudes? You’ve been sitting on this plot point for almost an entire season. You should have noticed this already.

What the actual flap. Because Royal Tutor is so much like Kuroshitsuji, you never expect more stereotypical anime things like sentai teams to be parodied, but that just pulled it off so well. Plus, I’ve seen a shot of Leo dressed like this making the rounds on Tumblr, so I knew he was going to dress like Yato.

Go! Pick up all the items, Yato-dressed-Leo!

It’s literally a Pandora’s box. (Or maybe a Heine’s box, to make a lame pun on Heinz.)

Cleaning fanservice stills. Well, never thought I’d say that.

LOL, Kai’s sleeping on the job.

I kind of had the suspicion the “criminal in the palace” was Heine ever since the article was introduced, but I still went “oh no!” anyway.

Kado 9

Please don’t let Shunina be evil. Pleasedon’tletShuninabeevil-oh hi. You’re still here? You’re still bothering with Kado? Thanks for snapping me out of my mantra there.

“The world continues to accelerate.” – What powerful words…breathtaking stuff.

Please don’t get Shunina drunk, Shindo. On another note, they appear to have shredded squid as a snack.

I never noticed this until now, but Shindo has yaoi hands.

Interesting to note that Indians and Africans appeared in that cutscene. This is a truly international work, even if the action’s in Japan.

For some reason, when Shindo goes, “What are your thoughts?” I’m reminded of this post by Scott from Mechanical Anime Reviews. I used almost the exact same words in talking about the show itself, coincidence or not. Speaking of which, I may get that article out someday so look forward to it.

What’s the third object, Shunina?!

I’m not sure what a signifiant (sic) is.

At least the spinning effect wasn’t something seizure-inducing (like Pokémon’s Porygon ep)…was it?

Back to “science I don’t quite understand” – here’s the law of conservation of angular momentum. Never learnt it myself, so Shindo’s intelligence is already a league beyond my own.

Even Hanamori’s in on Tsukai’s tsundere-ness, LOL. Wait – where was Tsukai’s mother?

“I love him too.” – I thought the biggest ship base in the Kado fandom was Shindo x Shunina, so now the Shindo x Hanamori fans just got some major bait.

B-But Hanamori, don’t take advantage of Natsume’s drunkkenness! Even if it’s just asking her how she feels on Shindo, can you please keep it to when she can (not drunkenly) admit her feelings?

So Tsukai isn’t with anyone. *hollers into the void* Tsukai shippers, you can take her now!

Uh-oh. So zaShunina’s speaking in the language I understand – computer terms – but that face he’s making looks like this anisotropic being’s gone mad, and I don’t like the look of that.

I thought Mifune would introduce a philosophical element to this. He did, just not in a way I predicted (which is good).

Sericulture = the cultivation of silkworms to make silk, apparently.

The “thread” reminds me of Akutagawa’s “The Spider’s Thread”.

(Trigger warning for death in this next comment) Shindo, lying on the ground…that’s either exhaustion or death. I’m scared to think Nanomis-hein can revert death.

The more Shunina smiles, the more creepy he gets…and simultaneously, the more I become enraptured by this show. It’s strange.

It seems as if Shunina is expressing regret for the first time. I don’t like his sullen face, I’d rather a creepy face I could love than a sad face I can’t love. Besides, this mysterious black figure was in the end-of-ep preview last time, I bet he’s another universe’s Shindo.

Well, my guess was right and…ovibvrnvlk! Saraka?! What in flip-flap are you doing? T-This isn’t a superhero show! W-Wh-What? That’s one killer end-of-ep hook! Does this mean Saraka is a Sailor Moon of the anisotropic?! (My brain just got bent in so many directions, I think I’m seeing the anisotropic…but man, I still want more Kado…)

This ED sketch of Tsukai is new, it seems. The shots of everyone else are familiar to anyone who’s visited Kado’s official website and seen the character descriptions though.

It’s an apostrophe. I thought that was a typo, but it’s there in the titlecard! Also, I worry about bleeding Shindo and how this may become a shonen fighter (despite “shonen fighter” being my style of expertise, writing-wise)…

Update: Apparently Shunina’s “too many belts” outfit is inspired by a king in the storybook the child from ep 2 is reading. Also, random thoughts, but Tabiuta is anime’s equivalent to the Big Bang Theory opening. (brought to you by Reddit)

Update 2: The turtle apparently appeared in ep 7, although I don’t think I noticed it. (brought to you by ANN)

Tsukigakirei 9

The Wind Rises. Isn’t that a Ghibli movie? Yeah…it is, but it’s also a story by Tatsuo Hori, apparently, from which the movie is partially based. The Setting Sun is a Dazai work, by the way.

No OP, huh? They’re dead serious about getting their plot over and done with, which is good.

You can see Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) and Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human) on Kotarou’s shelf, alongside Pandora’s Box (Dazai), The Restaurant of Many Orders (Miyazawa), some work by an Arishima Tatsuo (although the book is credited to Arima Tatsuo in the show), Kokoro (Souseki) and Goodbye (Dazai). The one with the blue spine I presume is The Setting Sun/Pandora’s Box (Dazai) – I remember trying to spin a poem for Bungou Stray Dogs’s Dazai using the title of The Setting Sun as inspiration.

Frumpy man on Kotarou’s magazine kinda looks like what the actual Dazai is shown to be like in photos. I thought for a second the LNs were Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, but like Grimoire of Zero and Re: Zero, they only bear partially simlar titles.

I’m hollering! As much as I know how much LNs can be good, you know how the anime community sees LNs and that’s why I’m laughing so much.

I had a character called Daisuke once (he was the uncle and consultant for Tetsuya in Ro.Te.O, as well as being Katsuo’s dad), so I was startled to see this older brother figure is also called Daisuke.

It’s such a strange reversal – Kado became a shonen battler, losing the faith of most of the people who still watch it (not me, though!) and Tsukigakirei actually got good. It’s an almost sad change. Tsukigakirei also almost lost its bad CGI, which is good too.

Ike, LOL. I think that company’s shown up previously.

Dokidoki is a heartbeat onomatopoeia, so it’s not quite OMG.

Aw, Chinatsu. Please don’t make me all sour inside again. I already had that when I saw people jump ship on Kado.

I wrote on similar experiences for One Wish They Never Wanted, so to see Akane weeping over the end of one period of schooling is something I know well.

So hayashi isn’t rice in this case? It’s that dance from the OP?!

Huh, that’s interesting. My parents gave me the exact same talk for the experiences I wrote on for One Wish They Never Wanted (hence there’s a similar scene between Takuma and his father), so suddenly…Tsukigakirei has become a Kado replacement (although I still don’t love any characters in Tsukigakirei as much as I do Shunina, haha). Strange thing is, I thought I’d never go where I’d want to go and…I went where I wanted to go. *tries not to cry* Dangit, Tsukigakirei. You’re so good at bringing feels right now…it was good to wait 6 eps for the good stuff.

I only read the back half of the ED convo and it doesn’t make much sense without context…

Boku no Hero Academia 24

I read the ep synopsis…and when it says “Todoroki vs Bakugo” as the next ep title, you know Iida’s gonna lose.

Interesting how everyone loses interest in competitiors that lose. it’s kinda like those rankings people do for anime episodes per week, which I admit I enjoy watching quite a bit, but this almost makes me feel guilty for ranking anime (which is a weird sentiment to have, I know, I know).

Well, there’s something new. I guess it’s only natural for All Might to be Quirkless beforehand, that’s how this show works.

Physics 101: When an unstoppable force hits an immovable object…[fill in the blanks].

I see. The best offence is a good defence and vice versa, which is why the two are so evenly matched.

The girls are wearing summer uniform shirts in the ED now. Were they like this last time? I don’t remember.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Boku no Hero Academia 22 - 23 | Grimoire of Zero 8 | Royal Tutor 9 | Kado 8 | Tsukigakirei 8

Boku no Hero Academia 22

I never saw that “meteor shower” coming! BnHA keeps the surprises coming, eh?

Hey, he used Uraraka’s name! He’s serious now!!!

I gotta admit Denki and the other hero trying to defend Uraraka only because she’s a girl is an outdated idea (but the patriarchy demands I only get irked about this a bit), but defending Uraraka because she’s almost out of commission is something I can understand.

Oh, the tough realities of herohood…the suckiness of failure…I gotta touch on this more in Half-Paid Heroes. Better pay attention!

It’s kinda clear Shouto vs Izuku is gonna get cut off by the time limit, but it’s interesting to note that there are 2 rivals close to Midoriya. Normally a shonen hero only has one fixed one.

Boku no Hero Academia 23

I’ve seen people comment a tonne on episode 22, so episode 23 should garner a lot of attention too as the highlight of this season.

I always thought by saying Shouto could be a hero, it implied his mother could no longer be one. Why? Possible trigger warning for this, but I think it’s “enduring Endeavour’s abuse”.

The bandage on Uraraka’s face reminds me that BnHA is good at consistency.

Poodle girl, who tried to defend Uraraka last ep, is still in the crowd. Another good touch of consistency.

This is rare – Bakugo’s introspective and showing off why he’s top of the class simultaneously.

Looking at this from a strategy point of view, Deku still has his legs, potentially his head if he wants to risk it, (uninjured) parts of his arms maybe, or overexerting his arms again. If he gets very creative, maybe his torso. It still looks like Todoroki’s going to win nonetheless, even though he seems to be showing some signs of fatigue too.

I thought he’d overexert his arms again, but I guess I never thought of the more logical path, which would be “overexert the fingers again first”, huh?

That threw me for a bit. 1) Todoroki never says “now I’m angry”. He’s the cool guy, to make a lame pun. 2) That’s a cliched line only bad guys say. Then again, it could be a “you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back” moment.

Ice is powerful. So powerful, there aren’t many ice Pokémon, and I originally planned to have an ice-skater be the 6th ranger in Half-Paid Heroes, only to find that since I kept restructuring the lineup, the skater became too OP. (Also, because Half-Paid Heroes used to be a strictly girl-turns-into-magical-boy affair, the 6th ranger - Yuki - was a great big hinge on what came afterwards, so I’ve struggled with the storyline now that I’ve given it a more workplace SoL baseline.)

I always thought ice was also a salve to some extent, but with more destructive power comes a lessened ability to heal.

Todoroki looks like Bakugo now. Guess it can’t be helped, seeing as “explosions” are associated with “fire”.

“Such a doting father.” – I laiughed, because we just found out that’s blasphemy. It’s ironic, to use the proper term.

Block rubble is a sure sign that this is a sakuga fest. Wowee, last time I saw block rubble was ConRevo (as far as I can remember)! Thank you, BONES!

Hmph. Fanservice. If you like Shouto’s fanservice here, you’ll definitely like Free!, but I’m neutral on it. 15 year olds shouldn’t be so muscular…sure, it’s part of a hero’s job to be muscular if they’re physically fit, but fanservice of 15 year olds ain’t my thing, y’know?

Grimoire of Zero 8

I’m of the idea that Albus is a dude for commentary purposes, but I’ve seen lots of comments across the ‘net saying Albus is a girl. It seems this episode will get rid of whatever misconceptions I have about Albus’s gender once and for all.

When the wolf says she is closest to Him, who’s “she” exactly? Sorena? Sorena’s granddaughter?

The wolf is behind the main trio at the end of the OP…!

I get the feeling this stitch-up scene is just for some manservice on the wolf’s part…but at least it holds some revelations for those that don’t want manservice of the muscle kind. (In terms of bishonen, I don’t dig Dragon Ball or Free!-style muscles anyway. *shrugs*)

That is one young grandmother…but dangit, why was the wolf hot as a man???!!! (It’s distracting, and I already have too many husbandos…but he’s only hot when he has his clothes on.)

Wuh…? Just when I decide he’s worth staying for, I find out his name…and it’s Holdem? Like, Texas Holdem?

Sometimes belief is all one needs to fight for a cause, Holdem my previously-handsome man.

Grimoire of Zero is lucky its CGI is only noticeable when the show is paused…

“Who knew he was Sorena’s granddaughter…”

From the pronouns used in the subs, it seems that even the subbers believed Albus was a dude and stuck to their guns even after the explicit revelation.

Royal Tutor 9

Fancy gakurans…if you already have a gakuran lying around, it’s pretty easy to cosplay the princes, I guess.

Why are those guards so excited?

This thing just went all ACCA-shaped. That’s not a bad thing, I’m just saying guns are normally used at the climax of shows like this, like in ACCA.

I think the “I am a grown man” jokes are getting a lil’ old at the business end, but that’s because when I see drama I expect consistent drama.

The camera scene was so ludicrous that I ended up laughing anyway…

As an action writer, that butt-kicking Heine did was perfect (albeit a tad slow). Then again, this show’s specialty is a SoL-style pace and I wouldn’t change that about it.

That trick Ludwig did was basically what Alciel did in Hataraku Maou-sama!, but because it was compressed into a shorter amount of time, it had little to no payoff.

“The stupid-seeming fellow is right.” – I never thought Maximilian seemed stupid…

I noted Fuchs said, “Take me away,” which is a very interesting point.

Well, now we really can’t neglect Heine’s past. Get hyped, Royal Tutor fans!

Kado 8

Shunina’s reading something called Ningen Manzai. According to this website, Ningen Manzai is about a god from space who comes to earth and becomes human…then something about angels and another god. Even if you don’t learn the entire synopsis of Ningen Manzai, the book is very relevant, ain’t it? Also, Shunina’s using his seahorse bookmark from last ep, which is cute.

The discussion on Sansa reminds me of the Porygon incident…

“Hail to Humanity”? So that would mean…the title is actually Ningen Banzai…

It’s Kado Skype, powered by Wam. That…that’s great! We can finally see Wam being put to use around here.

As someone who’s studied IT, I understand Gonno’s words on networks well.

Google Satellite. Yep, it exists.

Kado is unintentionally hilarious sometimes, like the “Dad! Dad!” bit there. The chestnut bit I found vaguely disturbing but that was because Shindo looked like he was gasping for air. For the “Dad! Dad!” bit in particular though, Kado’s gone all Summer Wars and that’s why it’s funny.

These jellyfish are really lifelike…but you get a sad feeling from this “date” scene. As if suddenly the staff finally give us a look into why Saraka is correct…you feel like this is all just an “all according to zaShunina keikaku” thing, and suddenly you see the tower known as humanity was knocked down as soon as Kado came.

So Saraka’s saying…the tale of Kado (the show) is a tragedy? Well, that’s a new take on this whole scenario…hey, wait. So Ward and Gonno (to a lesser extent) are the evil ones here?

Grumpy Gonno…haha.  

Does SETTEN need to learn how to “not be evil”, as per its inspiration’s philosophy? Hmm.

It’s Shunina, on a TV show, like a celebrity. The world is evolving in ways I thought were unimaginable.

Is it possible to watch Sansa because of peer pressure, because Shunina could be seen as a “cool” guy? I wonder…

LOL, so you’re going to get him to talk with drinks? I can’t imagine a drunk Shunina…but I can understand that with drinking culture, it’s probably the right way to go to get closer to someone. (Even if that “someone” is an anisotropic being.) Shunina may not understand “food” after all.

As much as I love the alien dork, he’s getting more and more sinister as the show goes on. From what I’ve read on Kado all over the ‘net, people have distrusted him since episode 1, but hey. That’s what we’re here for.

Shinawa was absent yet again, thank goodness.

The round object in the preview (it looks like a white sphere surrounded by blue chunks) is probably a Nanomishein, knowing this show.

Tsukigakirei 8

Welp, we’re finally back to Dazai after referencing Souseki.

Huh? That part with the dancing guy with the mask has gone from live action to animated…so it seems like the staff of Tsukigakirei give an effort now.

The OP seems to evolve more as time goes by, which is interesting. A few eps ago, the sheet only said “title” but the title of this work that’s evolving is called 13.70. However, it seems to be by Azumi Osamu, and not Kotarou. (Or maybe that’s just a penname of Kotarou’s, based on his love for Dazai?) 13.70 is 75 mai (sheets) long.

Love is hard to describe, and I guess when you love someone it’s hard to put into words because of that.

Is the video going slower or did the animation budget get cut in half?

I’d assume “hayashi” refers to the rice.

So it’s not my imagination…the budget got skimped on! You can tell because they did the same almost still scene thing twice this ep.

Noting how dark the potato is, I’d say it’s sweet potato (purple).

Ahahaha! So that’s where the potato mascot come from. They’re sweet potatoes then…now I get it! (It’s just that when you say “potato” on its lonesome I think of the one you make ordinary chips out of.)

Now that we know Kotarou’s birthday, I know she’s going to buy him a present. That’s what anyone would do…and of course, I was right.

That shot of windchimes from the OP. I like it, but I know it’s recycled from there.

Well, for all the budget skimping they’ve done, they’ve churned out some really good festival shots. They’re so lifelike.

I didn’t think geta were annoying enough to give you blisters. Guess I was wrong.

You’re so stealthy, Akane (sarcastic).

Finally, here are the development we’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately, they’re paired with some really bad off model shots. Fortunately, they bother to give us the first kiss.

The fortune tags both say “I wish to be together forever.” (<-paused specifically to translate before subs came up)…CR tells me I was pretty bang on with my translation.

This ep’s ED convo is just a lovey-dovey couple fighting and saying “I love you more. No, I love you more” sort of thing, so don’t bother.

I got bored of these a few eps back, but since I have time right now, I went, “Why not?”.

Well, as much as I dislike the humour in these, I have to admit the moral in the Aira one was pretty good.

Well, finally Sakura gets some happiness. Good on her.

I don’t think I’ve seen a girl being called ippiki before. Ippiki is normally used with small animals, like dogs or cats.

The Roman and Ryouko (Sensei) ones are the worst of these, I just can’t ship them because the age gap is about 10 years. That’s a little too big for comfort, y’know?

That “Kotarou’s Parents” one actually made me laugh. It’s also a good insight into characters that don’t get developed much in the series. If I were an author (which I am, I just haven’t got any properly published books out there yet – the closest book I do have out there has no words…*hides in corner of shame*), I would have bonus content more along these lines.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Kado 7 (includes notes on Kado 6.5 + Tsukigakirei 6.5) | Boku no Hero Academia 21 | Grimoire of Zero 7 | Royal Tutor 8 | Tsukigakirei 7

Kado 7 (includes notes on Kado 6.5 + Tsukigakirei 6.5)

Some notes on the recap: It’s interesting they styled the title card to be like a silent movie, but the embellishments in the top corners are high-tech. Tsukigakirei’s recap was a slog because it awkwardly cut, but because of all the indications of time and the fact there’s already a narrator, this show fits a recap style much better (but the titlecards and changing of the eyecatch make this ep feel fresh, which is great!). Also, it seems I was wrong about how it had been three days since Kado’s appearance (see ep 5’s commentary), because the counter hits 5 days when the first passengers are released.

Wait…that “brain” was a device???

“Hi Setten”, LOL. Also, I found out “kado” (with this combo of kanji -> 過度) can mean “excess” or “immoderation”, and “setten” means “settings” or “options”...I first remember seeing the word in the Boueibu game, where “setten” of course would refer to things like “volume on/off” and that.

Apparently, the Google CEO’s name is Sundar Pichai…I thought it was Larry Page and Sergey Brin as co-CEOs, but I guess I was wrong…Also notice Ward’s iPad says “ihou sonzai” (anisotropic being).

Oh flap. Adam’s pulling a Great Fitz here…

I’ve seen the “I can’t dry my laundry!” screenshot before, but seeing it in context is funny all over again. In fact, it makes it even funnier.

I was worried about how the show might get a little too philosophical after ep 6’s end, but it’s good to see Hanamori retains his sleeping capabilities. *stifles laughter* They even rendered Hanamori’s bedhead.

“Kado comes here, and instead of running, they find a way to market it.” – It’s an interesting, yet extremely obvious point that we tend to ignore because we’re so used to it. That’s why tourism – even fake tourism - sells. Why do I bring this up? Because I want to, for one, and because I hope to exploit this angle for Half-Paid Heroes. (I wanna know how to make Kado cake, too…)

CR subbers, I thought Gonno’s first name was “Takumi”?...

That’s cute, it’s a helicopter landing spot, complete with “H” marking.

If I didn’t know any better, I might’ve called Shindo zaShunina’s sidekick. (LOL)

This “stacks of books” scene is something like what I imagined when I wrote White Parasite’s La Luna’s hideout in the mountains…that’s one of the reasons I’ve been able to give Kado and zaShunina an unyielding love. Also, I thought the promo 2D Shunina looked creepy, so this 2D shot of Shunina stole my heart!!!

The cube seats remind me of those child corners in libraries and that, where you have mini stools for playing pretend. Oh. Speaking of which, it reminds me of this Rubik’s cube.

Okay. I thought Kado would be a show devoid of such things, but let’s play the game of “What drugs were the producers on today?”

Okkkkkkkkkay. (stifles laughter) Did you realise the Shunina heads made a heart, with the “real” (existing in the normal dimensions) Shunina in the middle? Hahaha…

Wait. That screaming thing in episode…2, I think it was? The bit where Shindo grabs his head in agony?...was Shunina giving him (Shindo) the sense of the anisotropic? Ahhhhhhhhh. That makes sense now!

“They were good humans.” – Just in case you didn’t forget Shunina is an extradimensional bishie being. I guess it’s kind of along the lines of Kai’s (Royal Tutor’s) “You’re all good boys!”, which is true both there and here. In most cases (except maybe Shunina and Ward), the boys of Kado are good boys.

A bookmark. For an avid reader like Shunina (or myself…haha), it’s a perfect gift. Just make sure they’re not so heavy they fall out of books, because then they’re useless.

They put the festival scene in 2D! (It would be a cost cutting measure for sure, but…you know what I said about 2D Shunina previously? Yeah, that.) Also, it just goes to show you even a high concept sci-fi show like this goes for the jugular in depicting fanservice for the “people who like hot guys” and “people who like tsunderes”. However, did Shunina change his own clothes? Did Shindo or someone else get the yukata for him? Does Shunina even have the concept of “changing clothes”???

Fake Nintendo Switch. I’ve also seen this screenshot making the Tumblr rounds before.

LOL, giant turtle. I like turtles.

Haha, negotiating even at a festival. I LOLled too hard at the line, “What is buttered potato?” (but I also like buttered potatoes…I like a lot of things).

“Saraka-san, zaShunina, you, and the turtle will be in group B.” This typo’s the same case as the Gonno one earlier this ep.

“Are there any negative effects?”

How do you lose an anisotropic being at a festival? I actually hope he isn’t being rabidly devoured by a bunch of girls who think he’s hot.

Just seeing the credits reminded me that Shinawa was absent this ep (which was good). Also, has Natsume appeared in every ep’s credits so far? I don’t remember because I normally don’t watch credits.

Boku no Hero Academia 21

“Sparking Killing Boy”, LOL.

The more I watch Mei, the more I feel like I’m watching The Truman Show (where there’s one woman who advertises things near the beginning of the movie).

The belt transformation refers to sentai heroes.

Hmm…I agree with Deku on Aoyama’s strategy, since his laser is best used from afar.

That was an unexpected (for me) win for Tokoyami. I knew his Quirk was good all around, but I thought Yaoyorozu would win for sure. It’s just the difference in confidence, eh?

“…focussing on the shield Yaoyorozu made.”

I kinda get what Uraraka’s saying. After all, she might end up dragging Deku down one day by relying on him too much.

Grimoire of Zero 7

It annoys me how tavern girl looks so similar to Zero.

Why do fantasy travellers (or Brock in Pokémon, for that matter) never have big packs? You’d think they do…

The colour of the night sky in this episode is pretty.

This wolf’s like Sonic (One Punch Man). Such a sore loser.

Hey wait, did Thirteen see her…uh, assets? Did he dress her wounds?! Eep! I do not ship this. *shakes head*

Royal Tutor 8

Ouch, Licht, you got burnt! On the other hand, I agree with Bruno that he should sleep forever, noting past comments I’ve heard him (Licht) say.

Ah, the zoo. What nostalgia that brings. I’ve been to the closest zoo at least twice…thrice…four times…? I don’t remember anymore, but the zoo is always a fun place.

It’s smiling, ReLIFE style!

Braunbar (with umlaut over the second a) is German for…wait for it…brown bear.

Bunnies can bite you when you least expect it. From my experience, they don’t draw blood though. (How do I know this? There’s one outside my window as I speak. He’s probably someone’s stray, although no one’s come for him so my family have had to take care of him.)

Shut up, Licht! That’s not comedy, that’s just killing time!

I still wonder…how does Kai actually wear that jacket? It must be troublesome to put on if he’s always wearing it like that.

Ahhhh! Dangit, Kai’s too good for words. The only thing that can quell my “fan of bishies” heart is fangirl screaming.

Those “tricks” of yours didn’t work, Licht. Get out. Besides, Bruno, I barely remembered that brick joke.

My heart sank a little when I saw they weren’t using the cheesy live-action version of the ED. Still the next episode looks like it will address some plot-critical things, and I’m worried for Kai because he’s the sort who can’t get over his problems easily. (As a sidenote, a similar tabloid article shtick was used in SGRS, so I welcome this plotline.)

Tsukigakirei 7

Vita Sexualis is a Mori Ougai work, so I’m kinda on edge about it…knowing Bungou’s Ougai, that is.

Why does this ep’s title sound like it should be a Boueibu one instead???

These (mostly still) shots of theme parks just make it seem like the staff are scrounging for money.

According to the omake at the end of one ep, you’re meant to ship Roman with the teacher (as ick as that is), so I can understand why Roman’s on his lonesome.

Stop egging her on, Hira! She’ll get nervous! (I say that because I don’t like roller coasters much.)

I feel like the word “viva” is being overdone, attendant person. Google-sensei says the word means “live (verb)”, so it doesn’t make sense at all.

Hira’s freckles really don’t seem to be a mistake. Also my brain can’t make sense of “sorabune” – the word for ship/boat is “fune”, but it doesn’t become “bune” when attached to another word...not that I know of, anyway.

Yamashina? We’ve never been told Roman’s surname before…

Potori Water, LOL. Parody on Pocari Sweat if you didn’t know that.

It’s nice that they didn’t do the full-on “can on face at aumsement park” thing I’ve come to expect from romances, because Detective Conan kinda solidified that as the norm for me.

The Big O in this case isn’t an anime, it’s a Ferris wheel.

Josei Next Door did a CR article where she suggested people needed to talk to each other more, and while it was on The Royal Tutor, sometimes I wish Akane and Kotarou would talk to each other properly too…welp, I spoke too soon (sort of).Why “sort of”? Because Kotarou is speaking to Hira, but he ain’t speaking to Akane.

I feel a twinge of guilt in that I wanted Chinatsu’s and Hira’s dreams to be shattered to make way for the canon couple, and Chinatsu’s tears exacerbate that feeling. I guess this is what it’s like to be a shipper, eh – to ignore the feelings of couples in order to get your own way, knowing your dreams may not even become reality? (But can’t these kids all be happy??? It could easily be a “pair the spares” situation, now that I think of it.)

The takoyaki’s nice, but that background with the screaming girl is creepy…It appears to be a parody on Beavertails, for some odd reason. Why is there a Canadian product being used as product placement in an anime (and why a product I’ve only ever heard of from a Canadian TV show, to boot)???...*record scratch* Okay, I’m weirded out, and I admit defeat. Beavertails exist in Japan.

Couple selfies. That just goes to show how much trends can permeate culture…hey, does that mean people may one day use memes in anime? (Even though anime creates memes?) It’s meme-ception!

It seems live action footage was used for this show, if you look closely, and it’s not just the OP I’m talking about…

Finally, a part of Tsukigakirei I can get behind! These night scenes are so real! If it weren’t for Kotarou and Akane, I’d think these scenes to be photos and not animation at all.

I get this feeling that we’ll end with either their graduation or them as adults, with Kotarou telling their kids “…and this is how I met your mother.” Which would be awkward as all get out, but okay. (I haven’t seen How I Met Your Mother by the way, although it sounds like a scenario that would happen in it…)

Aw, dangit. They got their kiss interrupted. At least it wasn’t by Chinatsu, that would’ve caused more tears on her end.

Mireta (used in “Did you see the fireworks?”) seems to be an odd formation of mieta, but in slang, people break the grammar rules all the time, so I’d suspect people break the spelling rules too.

I was surprised to find out this ep’s ED LINE chat is a wife to a husband. That confirms my How I Met Your Mother thoughts, somewhat. (The husband had overtime and got the wife juice. It seems they were going to an event, because the wife says to check the invitation guest list...and so on, so forth.)

Oh? There are more omakes? I’ll watch ‘em someday when I’m bored…I guess.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Tsukigakirei 6 | Kado 6 | Boku no Hero Academia 20 | Royal Tutor 7 | Grimoire of Zero 6

Apparently there weren’t 2, but 3 .5 episodes (i.e. series recaps) this week (although after Tsukigakirei and Kado, I haven’t found the 3rd series that was affected by such a thing)...with Boku no Hero Academia’s Hero Notebook, that makes a few recaps too many in one season. Still, it does (sadly) mean a break from Tsukigakirei and Kado for one week in regards to simulcast commentary, and it’ll be noted in the next commentary post’s title too (as I’ve done previously for Erased).

Tsukigakirei 6

Wait, there’s a 6.5? I don’t know about you, but a lot of times the .5 ep is a recap. With Tsukigakirei’s current track record of Very Bad CGI Background Characters, I’m not sure I need a .5 ep.

Kinako.

Aren’t there firearm laws in Japan? I’ve heard it’s the safest place in the world…

The piano here (I turned on the volume around here) is quite nice.

The mascot is part of Akane’s background. I guess I should’ve known.

Leaving out the fact Chinatsu likes Kotaro is going to damage you, Akane. That’s how it always goes in these sorts of shows…

I didn’t think Chinatsu would be so understanding…

I didn’t notice Hira had freckles. Or maybe someone added them by accident?

I wouldn’t recommend ditching friends who like the same guy as you (just as a pointer from someone who cuts off relationships a lot).

“Boxes”? Isn’t there a Box app out there or something?...There is indeed a Box app, but it’s for business and FTP. Boxes is then a parody of Dropbox.

I also wouldn’t recommend being sorry for falling for someone. If your feelings are genuine, then that’s all that matters.

Apparently there’s a LINE convo in the ED that changes every ep. I’ve never noticed it because I skip the ED of this show most times. This convo seems to be about finishing exams, at least for the top half or so, and it seems to be a convo with “Kanojo-san”, which could mean “Girlfriend” or just “Her/She” (more than likely the former).

Huh? Never seen this before, this “Sakura’s Fantasies”. It seems to be an omake, appended to the show itself. However, it’s kinda boring…Sure, there are good things about this show, but the show hasn’t actually tried its hand at humour until now (not to my knowledge) and this shows exactly why.

I keep forgetting who Roman is, so…Roman is pink-haired dude? Okay then.

Roman is definitely referring to a wedding dress, I know, but she’s already wearing a dress while looking at the mag, so the wording makes the joke fall flat for me.

Kado 6

Uh-oh. There’s a .5 episode on this show, as well…(it means we get more Kado, sure, but it may be a cost-cutting measure).

I found a guide on the Anisotoron language used for the ep titles while looking for spoilers (because I heard Shindo was forcefully promoted to a higher state of existence without zaShunina telling him…but since that’s an event that occurs in this ep, that doesn’t require a spoiler tag).

Well, it makes sense that those who are more “go with the flow”, like Shindo, would be able to…no, that’s not the right words for it. I think the key component of making a proper Wam is empathy.

Get your hands back on, Shunina. By the way, why’d you take Shindo’s Wam?

Note for later: Kado movement on Aug. 6th 2017. Kado is set in our current year…(I wonder what’ll happen if the anisotropic do arrive in our universe in the future? Would they laugh at zaShunina?)

Amplitude…after all of Kado’s physics, here’s one thing I happen to know about…if you don’t know about amplitude, check the explanation here). What does Kado have to do with waves…?

…Maybe it’s the amplitude of the ground…? That would explain why Kado can conform to a lake’s surface.

Notice there’s a red marking on the map for where Kado is and will be. Not sure if the demo cube is magentised…it’s definitely not velcro though.

Lookit Asano, sleeping on the fold out chairs…LOL.

There’s a box near the mother (on the counter) that says “Delicious Eggplants”.

For some reason, they chose to make the “visiting mother” scene in 2D, and…you know what I’m going to say, right? Knowing me and my gripes with CG? Yeah, you guessed it – it looks a lot better than if it were CG. It would’ve been costly to render the sunglasses and face mask too, I bet, and it seems to give the scene some gravitas due to the sudden contrast.

Octopus tentacles are meant to be snacks, in case you didn’t figure that out from the size of the serving.

…er, CGI Shindo drinking beer completely causes the gravitas to be lost. Welp, it was beautiful while it was happening.

I wonder what it means to show the origami turtles as a trio…it’s gt to be foreshadowing of some sort. Either it’s saying Shindo’s dad is dead or Shunina’s going to reveal how he breeds…well, those are my thoughts, but I heavily lean towards the latter as being true. (By the way, I always thought Shindo was a guy with siblings. Did anyone else think the same thing?)

I know your feels about having to get up early, Hanamori, but why were you running like you were trying to get away from Godzilla?

BVLCARI? Well, Asano’s watch seems to be roughly of that brand (as in, I may have gotten a letter or two wrong).

They’re going to drag Kado by the corner? I’d never think of that, but now that they’ve revealed this, Shindo made it (figuring out how to move Kado with least ground contact) seem a little too easy.

Kado spinning, with all those clouds around it, took my breath away…

Visually speaking, it’s interesting they showed kids on cube-like structures in a park. If I were an anime scholar, I’d want to analyse things like that. Unfortunately, there is no such title as “anime scholar”…

Geometrically speaking, it’s interesting they put Kado, a cube, next to a Ferris wheel, a circle. It’s almost like minimalist art.

*lowkey tries to stifle laughter* That’s not a brain! It’s an egg, or a pill or a lozenge, with brain-like designs in it!...Er-hem. Well, I knew this from the spoilers, but basically, what they implied with the “brain” was “Shindo hasn’t had to sleep since he got anisotropised (or whatever you call it)”.

Boku no Hero Academia 20

“Nabooh” is apparently a Star Wars reference. I hadn’t caught on to that sort of thing until my second watch through of the first season, where Deku cleans up Tatooin Beach and I thought, “That name is a little weird for an anime”.

Brainwashing. I’ve tried that sort of thing in stories before (it was in Conquest Dreams before it got deleted), but seeing the pros and cons of powers is something only the user can really see.

The static was a nice idea, visually speaking.

Ojiro, that’s not selfish at all…

Deku’s looking scary right now. Be careful not to become a villain, or else you’ll fall into the Nietzsche trap*! * - Nietzche once said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

The judo throw seems to be a favourite of Deku’s, eh? We saw it in his fight with Bakugo in s1.

I think I get Shinso, actually. The power of stereotypes is a harsh mistress.

I see…Shinso was pointing out Midoriya’s gullibility, in a way.

If Shouto wants to win over his dad, he should face off against another ice user. That’s how these things work, y’know. I should know because I tend to write these sorts of things (see White Parasite for one).

There’s a person in a tiger onesie…well, their onesie kinda looks like a tiger.

Royal Tutor 7

Make sure to keep your torte properly, Leo, or else…ew…

Aw, Bruni. Sad though it is, I know exactly how you feel. I used to be good at a lot of subjects, and in the advanced classes for them, but now I’m average, potentially even struggling in things I thought I was good at.

I have fond memories of a certain show where they’d have home improvement stuff that I’d watch on Friday nights with my dad. It’s still going as we speak, but it’s a shell of what it used to be in my opinion. Why do I bring up this show? It’s because this flashback reminds me of that nostalgia.

Why does Viktor want to have a “backup” successor then, if Eins is so good?(!)

I could see that “I will not have you as my apprentice anymore” line coming, although the line straight after it roped me out of dropping the show.

Dat Bruno sleeping at his desk. That would be me, if I were capable of sleeping at my desk.

Yeah, silver-haired man. In the words of the Who, “Who are you?”

*does double take* Smirdy-what???

(when Dmitri’s drinking his wine) Why do I have the feeling something’s about to go very wrong?...(when Bruno is asked to go away from Granzreich) Yep, must be that dastardly Count…

So Mr Fancy Hat (Heine version) is Eins’ high steward??? You pulled me right back into watching for at least the third or fifth time.

Ooh-wee, Mr Fancy Hat. That’s some soft power, carrot Machiavellianism you’ve got going on there.

Wuh? An old man making a Sailor Moon gesture is funny, but it does make me question exactly how drunk he is. It also makes me question stereotypes again (see Boku no Hero Academia above for the first time).

Ah, Bruni. I don’t just understand you, I grok you (as much as I’d hate to admit it). Back when I was writing Ro.Te.O, the demon of envy (Skyrua/Astaroth) was the easiest to write…

Smirdy-man, you do know what “sophistry” is, right? For reference, here’s Google-sensei to the rescue.

Borscht? I heard of it once, through Cooking Mama…(LOL. Shows how much I suck at recognising cuisine.)

For one second, I thought Heine was a mini ninja, not a mini teacher.

*ROFLs* They’re actually using the live-action version of the ED??? That’s a surprise I never saw coming! (Note: Prior to this ep, I saw the teaser version of this ED on ANN.)

Grimoire of Zero 6

“Grimoire of Zero” is shortened from “Starting the Magic Grimoire From Zero”…or something along those lines…

Thirteen’s name is actually a title, “The Thirteenth”.

How does being an animal correlate with “Because I’m eating, I won’t die?”…?

The thing about the clash of ideologies is that both sides can be as correct as each other…

I have the feeling the final opponent Albus and Mercenary will have to face (I think they’ll regroup) is not necessarily Thirteen, but Zero herself…*shivers*

Ah, the Machiavellianism strikes again! (See Royal Tutor above for the first time.)

A woman (Taichi You) voices Albus, and Takehito Koyasu voices Thirteen…hmph. What a cast.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Tsukigairei 5 | Kado 5 | Grimoire of Zero 5 | Boku no Hero Academia 19 | Royal Tutor 6

Tsukigakirei 5

Ep 6’s title is “Run, Melos!” (走れ、メロス！), a Dazai work.

Bad CGI strikes again.

Oh, I forgot to mention this last time when I explained this ep’s title, but Kokoro means “heart” for those of you that don’t know. That’s its literal meaning, though. It can mean a lot more than that.

That taiko near Kotaro (when he drinks his Pepsi) seems to be CGI.

Glasses guy is basically an older Kotaro…I know I’ll have problems telling the difference between them…

Did they pay Yahoo! for this product placement?

One of Kotaro’s posters seems to be about Muhammad Ali.

Having the screen intentionally the wrong orientation really is one small detail I appreciate from this show, like what I said with Boku no Hero Academia a bit back.

I can feel Kotaro’s heart sinking as student council pres calls him “Curly-kun”. I do admit I have done this sort of thing in the past to someone though (what Akane’s doing), so maybe I shouldn’t be feeling it.

There’s a book called “Delicious Curry” on one shelf, but it has a small green box near the “delicious”. I heard today that mango jam tastes good in curry, as a side note.

I guess it’s well established by now that both members of the couple will have romantic rivals, but only now is their potential to disrupt the couple actually coming in…just goes to show you how much I prefer Ore Monogatari! to this stuff, eh?

That cram school Kotaro goes to reminds me of one I used to go to on Friday nights. Again, the atmosphere’s really been captured by Tsukigakirei and that’s why I’m watching.

More money = more dates and vice versa. That’s kinda obvious if you think about it.

I LOLled at how Akane says she used Maps. Kids these days can’t get around with an ol’ paper map, it seems.

When Kotaro looks at Akane’s face, I remember some words from Arata (ReLIFE) – “You want to hold hands. You want to kiss her…” etc. etc.

I know how Japan is with these things (hugging, kissing etc.) – more so than the West – but still, get a move on, kiddos!

Kado 5

Wow, if Kado appeared on the 27th and it’s the 30th, it’s 3 days in 4 episodes.

The camera guy falling over was a laugh, at least.

Why is there fanservice of an army guy in Kado? (That’s something I never thought I’d say…) Please get some clothes on, (army) man.

Whatever you do, Kanata, please don’t touch Shun-she ate Shunina’s hand?

Kanata’s eating Shunina’s hand, and yet he deems her “appropriate”? *eyebrow raised*

Mifune uses a Windows OS. Well, it looks mostly like a Windows 7/8/8.1.

The slow pan really showed how they cut corners…

Notice Shunina has his disembodied hand on the handrest. It could be a sign he’s getting used to humanity.

If Kanata’s investigating placement of the Wam, I have the feeling this has to do with quantum physics.

Spinodal decomposition.

The mini-Kado explosion was so pretty! Like real fireworks!

Saraka’s eyes are really off model in this ep, eh?

Knowing how many people have died as a result of nuclear fallout and nuclear wars, Wam fighting would involve more than just one death, Shunina. Just a note.

It’s not 5 days ago, it’s 3. Didn’t I just calculate that? (Assuming it’s still the 30th of July, that is.)

I have a bad feeling about this…

I’m actually laughing right here. Everyone’s going “ohmigawd!!!”, even the UN. I did see a tweet saying you could make a Wam prior to watching this ep, but I never knew they meant it this literally. As for deciphering Kanata’s words (if they still need deciphering), I think Wam are like mini black holes in reverse...

Grimoire of Zero 5

I think they’re trying to be mournful, but when you have a guy suffocated by a cube of soil? That’s actually pretty funny. *cue Dumb Ways to Die*

They’ve never answered this, but why does Zero not have a band around her neck?

The still shots are probably the most striking. Certainly, there’s only been a ebelboar and a Mercenary one, but man, they look great.

The final spread has never been on a double page before…clearly this is ramping itself up. It looks like an ending…in the middle of what appears to be a 12 episode series. Unless the staff have something even better up their sleeves for the actual climax, I’m not sure this show is going to be a worthwhile investment from now on.

Boku no Hero Academia 19

It’s quite clear even though he’s being trained to surpass All Might, Shouto still admires the top hero, eh?

Notice Kaminari is eating a battery pack of some sort.

I’ve never seen meta go against someone like Todoroki…(re: Midoriya’s comment about how he’s normally the main character of a manga).

Chanbara. It’s the kind of thing you get with Rurouni Kenshin, apparently.

Aoyama (is that sparkly bellybutton guy’s name?) got his face squashed when Ashido came into the screen…

Todoroki looks a tonne like Yato (Noragami) if viewed from certain angles and not taking colour into account…

Kyouka isn’t even particpating in the cheerleading. That’s so her.

Basically, All Might is saying, “Fake it until you make it.”

Seiji Mizushima’s on econte (sorry, I don’t know what econte translates to)? Oh my glob! I’m not good with directors, but I know that name (from ConRevo)!

Royal Tutor 6

Einspanner. Apparently, it’s a kind of Viennese coffee.

Kapuziner? Hmm…lessee. Google-sensei’ results say it’s “a small black coffee with a bit of whipped cream…so that the coffee takes on the color of a monks hood” (sic).

Dobos torte. Apparently it’s topped with caramel…*drools* *retracts drool* But I ate not too long ago, so…on with the show!

Viktor is so hot when he’s disappointed! Agh! *almost dies from fangirling*

Richard…wait, I get it, actually. Licht is “ri-hi-to”, therefore Richard is “ri-chaa-do” (or something like that, or Richie (similar to what he wanted the professor to call him when he was introduced) for short.

Ooh. That pool shot took my heart away too. Licht really does take after his dad, to the point where I like him with a ponytail, but without the glasses. (His annoying comments from episodes past are still unforgivable, though.)

The “dramatic hair drop” thing really works on Licht. I can actually feel suspense from it.

Dangit, yaoi hands! You ruined my perfect image of the king!

I never saw that coming. What a turn of events, to see the king working in a café. Come to think of it, I once tried to write a story where a fallen angel and a constellation spirit work in a café (it was called Zodiac Conspiracy) but I’ve never worked in a café, so it fell through rather quickly.

The off model in this episode really snaps you out of the cosy, fun mood of this episode. It’s simultaneously the best (because it doesn’t debase women) and the worst (because I think this is the worst effort they’ve made with being on model so far in this show).

Gotta love a good man in a good suit.

I’m LOLling so hard. It’s like Viktor’s a host, not a waiter! Then again, I feel (somewhat) like they’re trying to capitalise on the Black Butler movie (Atlantic) that’s coming out soon and because that’s meant to be a (SPOILERS for non-manga readers! -> )big zombies-on-a-ship spectacle, they’re filling up that now vacant space with actual butlering from the closest subsitute...this show.

A franziskaner appears to be a type of beer, while a linzertorte is a latticed pie-thingy.

That “puis-je vous aider?” line appears to be French for “how can I help you?” (says Google Translate). By the same token, “ou est la gare?” is “where is the station?” and “je vais vous dessiner un plan” is “I will draw you a map”. (You can tell I don’t speak French…)

That Licht pose reminds me of one taken in Atarimae Taisou (it’s at the end of every exercise in that video, so you won’t miss it!), which I saw a few days ago but suddenly it got stuck in my head today…argh.

So…it’s yet another misunderstanding? I can see why people fall out of love with this show, but I’m still a firm enough fan of it that I’m sticking around with it…until the anime’s end, at the very least.

Shouldn’t Licht put his glasses back on and his hair back to a ponytail????

Oh yes, while I was reading this, I remembered something I forgot to mention earlier. Why was Viktor, a person who Heine may or may not have only had contact through mail, the first person Heine could trust? Is Heine from a criminal background, a loner who lived in a cave (like Grimoire of Zero’s title character) or something? (…Okay, I joke about the cave, but otherwise I’m serious.)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Grimoire of Zero 2 - 3 | SukaSuka 2 | Royal Tutor 3 - 4 | Kado 3 | Tsukigakirei 3 | Boku no Hero Academia 17

Advance warning for Royal Tutor 4′s commentary: I made a lot of bad jokes about sausages.  (Yeah...sometimes I can be too immature for my own good...)

Grimoire of Zero 2

So…dudes are called witches, too? Never seen that before, but who’s “He” exactly? Thirteen?

“I was a mercenary like you once. Then I took an arrow to the knee.” – Intentional meme insertion sub, or actual translation? Or it was in the original, and they’re playing it straight without knowing that’s a meme at all?  

The thing about fantasy shows is…couldn’t they at least have learnt how to make electricity in quite a few of these fantasy shows, if they have magic and whatnot?

Now all that’s left is to see whether SukaSuka can top this, because Grimoire of Zero has certainly made a good case in order to stay on my watchlist.

Grimoire of Zero 3

“I hate getting sweaty,” says the girl only wearing a dress and a cape/jacket thing. (clearly sarcastic)

Did this get pseudo-ecchi? That one statement makes even less sense than the massage/kiss scene in SukaSuka ep 2! Unfortunately for me though, I laughed at how sudden it was…

Seriously, is Albus a girl or a dude?!

This Formicum reminds me of Magical Otoge Ciel. (By the way, if you like slow meandering fantasies with a dash of romance, then you should try that game.)

Albus is a dude…welp, there’s my answer.

Well, I never. The show pulled a Heine on me.

“Throw that old thing away.”

I raise my eyebrow at exactly what that trader was up to with that jacket…

I think “brother” is in a non-blood sense. Like a “brothers in arms” sort of thing.

Technically, a wolf is from the dog family…

Well, even if this has a slow leisurely plot pace, it’s funny and that’s fine with me.

SukaSuka 2

So they’re all girls? Geesh, this setup looks kinda fishy (but I’ve wandered around enough recs that say this is not a lolicon setup, haha).

I went to some spoilers on this episode, thinking that it wouldn’t harm me too much since I was going to have to watch this episode anyway…well, I learnt about Ithea there.

Pudding? Or crème brulee? Not sure what it is exactly, but I’m rather partial to both myself, haha.

The thing about children, even weapons like these, is that the way to their heart is through food. Like most types of people.

Sometimes I forget this is a light novel (and I think it’s either an eroge or a romance game for dudes), but then I see the title…haha.

Which of these girls is Ren again? Redhead cat girl = Ithea, so I take it Ren is the purple one?

SukaSuka finally shows its true colours. It’s a shame it’s the top contender for putting on hold…

There was a Japanese part of the title, but to translate it along with the English would make the episode title seem like a light novel too. Either that, or the subbers were too lazy…haha. I know your feels, guys. Translating’s a hard job.

Even CGI keys are enough to start making me gripe, y’know.

Wait, so the swords have multiple names? Wasn’t one of them called Percival or something?

Willem isn’t much of a character, but Ithea is. I’m really taking a shine to her personality (in this case, personality < charisma, so do be mindful of that).

Is Kutori meant to be a tsundere? She’s shown shades of it before, but she’s not a severe one. The thing with tsunderes is striking the right balance between “obnoxious” and “endearing”.

If Kutori says “go out with me again”, then I’m slamming this thing on to the drop pile because it’s no better than Masamune-kun’s Revenge initially was.

…That’s close enough to count. I know every girl dreams of having a perfect first kiss, but really…even leprechauns do that? After all the fuss about “expendable lives” they just made?

There was a quote I made up once, and it’s the reason Angel’s Soliloquy exists. “Before I go, I want to make a mark on the world.” It mirrors Kutori’s scene perfectly…

Eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh, pseudo-ecchi is not quite what I’m in the market for. However, this venenum move is an interesting bait and switch.

Oh right, sometimes I forget “brave” = “hero”, even though it makes sense to think so. Then again, Rokka no Yuusha should’ve gotten me into that headspace. It really hasn’t, has it?

The pseudo-ecchi is what makes this show underperform for me. Even though the show has perfectly logical reasons why it needs to do such things and it has immense potential right now, I think it’s better if I let my feelings about the pseudo-ecchi simmer for a bit.

Heine 3

Ah, the glorious war of sibling rivalry…

These are familiar feelings I’m dwelling in here. As to why…well, what siblings I have, if any, will stay a secret between me, myself and I, okay?

I think that dramatic wind was meant to be…well, dramatic. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work when there was no wind in the room. I’ll forgive it since it’s highly entertaining otherwise…

Sworn to secrecy? Is that a royal tutor thing, or a teacher thing?

“…running will not change things.” – I am painfully aware of that, as the writer of One Wish They Never Wanted.

How do you even spell “numbskull”? Was that a typo in the subs?

Well, it does seem like Leonhard is falling into a common pattern of “I hate the tutor!”, but at least he’s softening up now. (Update: I mentioned on the Boueibu chat that if he’s not “I hate the tutor!”, he’s all “Sachertorte!”.)

Heine 4

Awwwwwwwww no. They went and did it. They named a town Weiner. They’re going to go to the capital, Weiner!!!!!!! *Insert obligatory “Please excuse the interruption” sign here while the blogger laughs their butt off*

…okay, now that I’ve recovered from my laughter, back to the regular program. Don’t go gratuitously naming things in foreign languages if you don’t want to incur laughter (I once named a town “Mawashi” in one of my stories, only to find out a mawashi is a sumo loincloth…) Plus, I randomly skipped to a shot in the OP where the princes look smug as all get out. It’s kinda scary, actually, seeing them smug.

If Princess and the Pauper taught me anything, it’s that royals need to know what the commoners’ lives are like so they can give the people what they need.

Heine is much more stick than carrot when it comes to Leo, if you get my drift.

Nice hat, Leo. (semi-sarcastic) But mmhm *nods*, I like myself a dude in a suit. That’s probably part of the reason I like Kashuu (Touken Ranbu), eh?

The Ring…? *thinks of stringyhaired ghosts* Nah…

Such Genos, such wow, Bruno…

Weiners strike again…actual ones this time. *snickers*

Kasekrainer - apparently it’s a weiner *snickers* with cheese.

“It’s so…vulgar.” Says the one holding a weiner. *snickers*

Oh. I don’t think any show I’ve seen before has pointed out the Kabuki rule (aside from Boueibu, which coined the term). Plus, Licht is pulling an Akoya (see ch 8 of the Seifukubu manga). I always thought he was more Ryuu than Akoya, but now that I think of it, he’s fairly equal parts of both.

The lesson is that it’s the people you were meant to pay attention to, right?

…I was right on the mark! (Fortunately for this show, it’s been enlisted into the taglist for this season and it’s strong enough that I can disregard this one niggle I have with the show. Predictability has killed a show before, y’know – see my take on Divine Gate.)

Get out, Licht! Out of the carriage! (I get at what you’re hinting at, but I take it to be objectifying women.)

Is it Heine’s birthday soon or something?

Exaggerating Heine’s size seems to work in the show’s favour somewhat by giving it something viewers can remember it by. Also, it means they can make tiny Heine plushes for fangirls.

The sweep of the room and CGI’s kind of obvious, but it works well in this case.

Well, it seems I was somewhat on the money for this guess too. Really, predictability’s not much of a niggle for this show, actually – the predictable and non-predictable parts put together actually are the source of its strength, since the viewer goes in, knowing the brothers are intended to be stereotypes. The predictable parts give it a “path that’s been well-trodden” feel, if you get my drift, but it’s executed well and that’s all that matters.

How did Kai manage to keep a bird without suffocating it?

The show’s hit its stride right now, but you can still tell there’s something brewing under the surface – either political intrigue, Heine exploring his past or even both – so I’m willing to keep this show on until it shows its full potential. If that means keeping it on for its entire run of 12 episodes, I’m fine with that.

Kado 3

Gonno (the reporter): unintentional point of hilarity in this show. Does Gonno or his crew even deserve CGI? I guess we’ll find out.

Another point of unintentional hilarity (for me) is when Shindo explains human concepts to Shunina, but at least those make sense plotwise.

Anisotropy. (…by the way, I admit most physics concepts are beyond me - hence the Wikipedia pages.) Those kanji are apparently pronounced ihou, by the way.

The snarls of translation, showing up in a show like this…y’know what? I keep loving this show more and more.

I bet Saraka’s a tsundere…

“The plan is that all passengers will be released in a month.”

Oh, Shunina. Now you’ve gone and done it…You know the implications of introducing something stronger than nuclear tech to the human world? Absolute warfare.

Ooh, man. The stakes just got raised…!

Tsukigakirei 3

I LOLled so hard at Kadoyama, since I think Kadokawa does stuff like that writing contest…

Kagura? Not the one from Gintama, is it?...Nope, it ain’t. Not this time.

Shiatsu? Wuh?...Okay then.

I was just thinking how it’s odd I chose Tsukigakirei over something like SukaSuka, since I used to reject everything that had romance as a major genre in it. I almost got caught up in a romance myself after I started changing my mind on that front, so maybe that’s why I’m now a fan of otome games now…Then again, if there’s one thing I have horrible tolerance for, it’s ecchi and pseudo-ecchi is almost as bad as the real deal.

Notice Akane is in red, while her name means “madder”, which is a type of red.

This N.book runs Windows…? I think so, at least.

Akane has a koi cover. It’s interesting, because most shows I cover don’t involve phones with covers.

There appears to be something on Azuchi Castle behind Kotaro.

There seems to be one shot of the track where the people all look CGI…

I don’t know about athletics much, but why do people need to record the tailwind? Unless it adversely affects the runners, I don’t see why they have to do that.

It was obvious the staff skimped on the budget with that one still shrine scene.

Panaconic, LOL.

I’ve never seen anyone drum on tyres before. Must be taiko practice.

Did I just see a blue Jibanyan in the Macca’s? Well, well. Wonders never cease…

“I’m starving.”

Ike shoes, LOL.

As soon as I saw the glasses guy (the one that teaches Kotaro drumming) look upon the duo (Kotaro and Akane’s) meeting, I was like, “I bet he ships them.” Then again, not everyone’s a shipper, eh?

People online have stated it’s Souseki, not Dazai. Just a tip.

I just wonder…why is it the dude who asks first, all the time? (That’s just a gripe I have, speaking from experience.)

Boku no Hero Academia 17

It’s fine to have a recap once or twice, but this is the third or fourth time…shonen really does have a problem with this stuff, and it’s sadly pretty much built into the genre…

I actually don’t know how to read that kanji (strategy), LOL.

Oh yeah, you’re not meant to smoke on all types of school grounds.

I thought it was Uraraka and Iida right from the start of team-making time. he knows those guys’ Quirks best, so it’s easy for him to make strategies with them.

Huh? Not Iida? What a twist!

Tokoyami, eh? Just what I wanted. (i.e. I said I wanted to see more Tokoyami in the past – not sure if I said it to the Boueibu Skype chat or here – but here he comes!)

Interesting set of moves they’ve made in this episode. It just goes to show you why I keep this at the top of the list – it’s kinda laggy while it gets itself set up, but once it starts rolling, it never stops! Yah! Yah! Fight, Midoriya! Fight, everyone in the cavalry battle!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Grimoire of Zero 1 | The Royal Tutor 2 | SukaSuka 1 | Tsukigakirei 2 | Kado 2 | Twin Angel Break 2 | Boku no Hero Academia 16

Grimoire of Zero 1

I mistook this as Re:Zero at one point (because of the Zero Kara Hajimeru… start of the title). However, despite my having never seen Re:Zero, I’m always open for a good fantasy title.

At least this show is funny, that’s for sure.

Eh, this plot seems like Bungou’s a tad – if you think about why Atsushi was hunted down and such – but then who’s going to be Zero in a Bungou Stray Dogs x Grimoire of Zero AU?

This seems a little cliché in how it handles its humour, but I have a feeling it’ll go above and beyond.

What struck me was that they chose the name Plasta as the capital’s name. A capital city called “Plaster”, pretty much, LOL.

The ED reminds me of Flip Flappers and the book motif reminds me of Deltora Quest, so it’s quite the nostalgic feeling. It’s a keeper, although if it becomes an endless bore of a quest then it may hold less potential than I think it does.

The Royal Tutor 2

It seems Bruno is one prince everyone with a strict study regimen’ll relate to. (Or at least, those who’ve had a strict study regimen at least once in their life.) Even if this is an exercise in drawing out humour to the fullest, it’s relatable and that’s part of what gives this show its personality.

I haven’t seen anyone this enthusiastic to have a master since Yotaro (SGRS)! LOL.

Heine used watakushi. He’s very polite.

Yeahhhhhhh…this, as you may know from how I treated Love Tyrant and Armed Girls, is not going to go down well. Just when the show had gained my favour, too…

I think the girls might’ve referred to Heine as Heinecchi. Update: My mistake, it was Heine-chan.

Behoove? Welp, I learnt a new English word from the subs. It’s not every day that happens, although I tend to pick up cultural things a lot from subs (hence these notes).

Creepy CGI door is not to be taken lightly too. The camera angle was a bit weird there, to boot.

Eeeeeeee! Kai is the one I want to know about the most! (Not just ‘cos he’s handsome, mind you. It’s because he doesn’t talk.)

Shadow? A name for a white dog? Doesn’t make much sense, but it makes me laugh, so okay, I’ll take it. *beams*

Just antisocial, eh? All the more reason to like ‘im.

SukaSuka 1

There aren’t too many promising debuts this season (I only really have my eyes on BnHA, Kado and The Royal Tutor at the moment) because “shows potential” is very different to “I want to keep watching!” for me, but maybe SukaSuka will do the trick.

Why does every fantasy world these days involve animal people? Who knows?

Intereting to note there was Scarborough Fair in English (yes, I had the volume on this time). As a side note, the song was sung by a Tamaru Yamada. (Around when the juggling Pac-Man appears, there’s credits for it.)

I would’ve asked where she was going if she said she had to go, mate. Ask her!

Ny…troll girl is pretty typical for this kind of anime, but Willem seems like he could be a spanner in the works.

Butt shot no. 1.

That oddly placed camera angle (the one where you see into the room from the window) was weird. Seriously though, how does Willem know Nyllathgo (or whatever troll girl’s name is)? Update: her name is Nygglatho. It was close, but not quite it…

Reptrace appears to be a made up cuisine.

I can only see the kids as shippers in the making, but I guess that’s YoI’s fault…?

I remember from pre-show material her katakana name is Kutori, so I’m gonna go with that spelling.

Lemme guess: it’s because the weapons are the kids?(!)

Well that was new: I can normally guess a new point for a show that plays it safe like this, but Kutori is a weapon too? That I didn’t guess. That automatically means I keep it on, at least for another week.

Tsukigakirei 2

Tsukigakirei is sitting somewhere pretty high on the list of “shows to go on hold this season”, so it’ll have to perform well to not have to get that treatment. Considering I can be fairly strict with my 5 show quota, I need to put 2 shows on hold (since out of 8 shows, the third is Kenka Bancho Otome, which automatically goes out of the running), 1 if I use a space I just freed up.

Was the live action OP really necessary? Considering this is anime, it is a bit odd. (Then again, didn’t I raise that gripe with Kado too?)

I don’t normally think about staff much unless they’re familiar names, but Seiji Kishi is a name that’s come up before – with Rampo Kitan.

It just so happens the girly boy is the one with the horns on his headband…for some reason, I find it suits him, since he’s the devil’s advocate to Kotaro. Also, why isn’t Kotaro wearing his headband?

Hey, this feeling. I’ve never really participated in these sport days (if I was forced to do stuff, I’d shotgun shotput since no one really took it), but I know the feelings around them real well. Once again, Tsukigakirei excels in recreating a teenage experience…

I has a small sneaking suspicion Akane’s toy would have gotten lost, and it seems like that’s coming true.

I laughed a really derpy laugh at devil’s advocate boy liking the teacher. Even though I had a small squick moment that it may have been romantic, suki is quite the broad term compared to how Akane and Kotaro’s romance is laid out so…it can’t be said for sure that the boy’s “like” is romantic, too.

That pink thing is a potato mascot?! I’m not angry, just hella surprised – that pink thing is so not a potato.

I gave a little “aw!” at when Kotaro told Akane she was fine the way she was. Now there’s a sentiment I can get behind.

Why does he box the light string? I don’t get it…but at least it makes him more dynamic than, say, Haruki (Sagrada Reset).

Haneteru-kun? So that’s how you say it in Japanese?

The style of the ED is unique, that’s for sure.

I think Tsukigakirei just proved itself. Sure, it’s not a complete “turn genres on its head” sort of thing, but it’s competent at what it does, and that’s all it needs right now. That’s all it’ll ever need. Then again, that does beggar the question: what goes on hold instead? There’s only one way to find out…

Kado 2

I was surprised to find out Shunina was voiced by none other than Akoya (Takuma Terashima)!

The OP is a rather odd choice (in regards to the music), but it does at least set the atmosphere well.

WPAN? I know of LANs and WANs, so WLAN makes sense (kind of), but not that…Okay, I learnt something.

“…we’re touching the ground…”

When the plane looks better than the characters…you know you’re doing CG wrong.

I want the OST of this, that song when Shindo touches the bottom of the cube really creates the feeling of a “foreign space”.

Erm, while Shindo and Shunina are negotiating, Shunina seems to have forgotten he’s buck naked…? Not that I mind, and it completely makes sense for an alien like him, but…yeah. He’s naked.

Base 10 = decimal, base 16 = hexadecimal, base 2 = binary. Shunina seems to be expressing the time in binary, but time is in base 60 (because 60 seconds = 1 minute and so on, so forth).

That bread doesn’t look too appetising, LOL.

I know Kado is much prettier flat, but when it’s just slow pans…you can tell they skimped on the budget. CGI is costly, sure, but…make sure you have proper budget before you make an anime, people, please. (On the other hand, I like 2D!Shunina.)

Is there any significance as to what order people appear in the ED?

Kado’s been my top contender ever since episode 0. While it does have its visual flaws, it’s an intelligent anime that takes its time to explain things and build suspense.

Twin Angel Break 2

I ended up keeping this on because I have no access to Twin Angel: Twinkle Paradise…

I never knew Sumire was such a sucker for her brother…I’ve never seen such a trope in magical girl shows before, and normally when you see it in anime, it’s a dude lusting after his younger sister, not the other way around. Just another sign this is aimed at pachinko-playing guys…

Gah! Fanservice shots! In my magical girl anime! *points* Another sign this is for dudes. By the way, ari can mean ant.

People don’t move like conveyer belts when solving maths problems.

Welp, such is the mark of a society that wants extroverts…

Meguru appears to have a red bean bun, although I’m not sure of its name aside from “red bean bun”.

Wait, where’s the ball?!

I always thought “Pochi” was a common name for a dog in Japan, kinda like the Western world’s “Spot”. Or “Hachi”, if you want your dog to be like Hachiko.

An event about animals at Tokyo Big Sight? Well, I’ll be. Wonders never cease in this show.

During the pan, the screen seems to jolt a bit. It’s kinda awkward for a show that is otherwise good visually.

Who has a porcupine as a pet? Sometimes I can’t tell if this show’s for little girls or older men…Well, Google says it’s possible to have a porcupine as a pet, but still I bet a pachislot-playing man wouldn’t know you can have a pet porcupine.

I was most displeased when I realised Sumire has a Gainax moment in her transformation sequence. Yet another fanservice spot to add to the growing list of annoyances in this show…

Geddit? It’s Me-ari?

It’s the ol’ duplication trick. Saw it in Smile Precure, so I guess I’m kinda numb to it already.

I was not expecting that for the ED. I really didn’t.

Well, I’ve had enough gripes about this show. It’s going on hold so I can figure out my feelings about it. That being said, there’s a lot of “middle ground” anime this time - if SukaSuka or Grimoire of Zero don’t get the boot from their next ep, I’ll have to deal with 6 simulcasting anime and leave the space open. (Luckily, there have been so many full seasons that I have a little too much bingewatching material available, regardless of whether I have the space open or not.)

Boku no Hero Academia 16

Not sure if chicken race means this or actual chicken racing, since Google tells me actual chicken racing exists.

I’ve wanted to know more about Tokoyami for a while, so here’s hoping for character development!

A-ha! Exploiting landmines’ propulsion – not many would think of that, but Midoriya certainly would.

All Might, Thirteen and Present Mic ganging up like that looks ridiculous, but it’s hilarious and helps to break up the suspense. *thumbs up*

*laughs* Oh man, this is what makes this show so good. It manages to strike hard and well with both its humour, strategy and action – it never misses one beat. That’s the spirit, Boku no Hero Academia! Keep going just like this!