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UnevenEdge

What Anime Are You Watching Right Now?


BUU8800

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Nichijou 13-18
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 6-12
Showtime! Uta no Onee-san Datte Shitai 6/7
takt op. Destiny 1
Good Luck Girl! 2

Yup, I'm keeping busy.

I want to go in-depth in Villainess for a bit, because this show surprised me in multiple ways. Actually, the only reason I started watching it was because Poke did content ratings for it. My policy on this stuff is that if either an official network or someone else who does formal ratings has seen it, I don't need to do them. So it gave me a cheat I could use while I settled into the habit of rating (as in, typing out my reasons for) everything else. And yet, I ended up loving this show. Totally obsessed with Catarina and the rest, to the point where I've been looking up merchandise of the series. Who knows if I'll actually buy any, since this stuff would be imported from Japan and probably only palatable to countrymen and weebs with big salaries. But given that I've bought limited merch before, we'll see.

Finer points:

  • I came into this show not knowing that "reincarnated into an otome game villain" is the most popular flavor of isekai for women. So it's weird to think that a parody of the genre ended up getting an anime first, unless there's another show I don't know about. Not that I care, although I kinda want to pretend that this is a totally original concept for a series that nobody's tried to imitate. And guess what? They're making a ComicFesta show with this premise, which I find even more awkward. Good thing we're getting a second season of the Songstress show to go with it.
  • A lot of the doom flag stuff feels corny to me, like trying to force RPG mechanics into every other isekai story. Still, the moments with Catarina's inner monologue were cute, on top of being a voice acting showcase for Maaya Uchida.
  • All of the characters are great. Most of them have a particular trait that stands out, but then you've got Mary, who... well, I can't remember what her deal was supposed to be, aside from probably being a royal. But she has great comedic chemistry, just like the rest of the cast, so I cut her some slack.
  • Seriously, this show is funny. Episodes 7 and 8 were my favorites, but the latter stands out for its fun premise, doing the sort of "wild take" humor that Nichijou trades in maybe better than Nichijou itself, and a wild climax.
Spoiler

The last two episodes were interesting because I wasn't sure if this show would have a dedicated villain. But then the Sirius/Raphael plot happened, and I thought the show handled it surprisingly well for being so compressed. All the characters talking about how Catarina made their lives better was delivered with gravitas, and probably could've made me cry if I was a normal person. I also enjoyed the look into Catarina's past life (I would say it's a rather novel approach, but I'm not well-versed enough in isekai stories to be an authority), and Acchan giving her past self the key bit of info Catarina needed to find Maria could've gone over poorly, but the show did a good enough job setting it up that I didn't care. Then they squished the parts of the Sirius plotline that mattered into half an episode, complete with Catarina using the power of radical empathy to make him better. Aww.

There is one thing I'm iffy about, though. If Catarina knew all along that there was a friendship ending... I mean, she's probably just that dumb after all. 😎

In short, lookin' forward to S2. And the dub, since Sentai is putting this one out on Blu-ray.

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Showtime! Uta no Onee-san Datte Shitai 8
The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 7
Cowboy Bebop 1-7 (rewatch)
Good Luck Girl! 3
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X 1/2

Well, that was fun. And by "fun", I mean that while I did like it, it was the first ComicFesta show I've seen (out of three) that managed to be genuinely titilating, made even better by a few particular acts in the final episode. I suppose I could critique the actual plot, as I had a few reservations with it (most notably, the Songstress... doesn't really sing in this show), but given that this is porn and I'm sure most people know what they're getting, that would be a foolish enterprise. Happy it's getting another season.

The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 7: "I wonder where I find the light I shine…"

Spoiler

Hey, here's something we haven't talked about: TakeP sucks at his job. Turns out he let a few Cinderellas get away, per the monologue of someone older and wiser, and it's reciprocated in the form of Mio going all emo. Even after he goes to her house and rings the doorbell, wanting to know how she's doing, she won't budge. On top of that, Rin has finally had it with TakeP spouting a bunch of vague platitudes. It's not explicitly stated that she's quit, but the episode description on Crunchyroll says so, so I'm in no mood to disagree. All the while, Uzuki is out with a cold.

Really, there's not a lot to talk about with this one. It's well directed, starting off with the broken glass slipper, plus flashbacks to the end of the last episode. Business at 346pro is overlaid with rain and scarce lighting. I especially like the repetitive, twinkling melody prior to the title card (no OP this time; just white on black), even if it sounds more like a horror movie. The other idols in the Cinderella Project express their fears that New Generations might be breaking up; Mika thinks it's her fault for inviting them to be her backup dancers, Miku is sad this is happening right after she dropped her rival mentality, and Anzu is as lazy as ever, probably secretly hoping the snowball rolls downhill to the point where she don't have to work anymore. Ultimately, TakeP regains his chops, talks to the idols individually, and manages to assauge their fears. The clouds soon part, just as they always do. The real question is, does it all feel warranted?

I would say... eeeeeh, I guess. I blame myself for being spoiled on key plot points from the series but not knowing how the show progresses as a whole. I was hoping that this plot of getting the members back in NG would last for more than one episode. But what I'm really disappointed in is that the plot point of TakeP having bad experiences with idols in the past is totally glossed over. Curse you, CR episode blurb! I think that would make for a great plot in any idol show, even if it risks exposing the dark side of the industry. PROTIP: Never expect any series that is part of a larger franchise to go against what it's selling. But anyway, how cool would it have been for them to actually show the idols TakeP was producing before? They could've been part of Cinderella Girls as a whole, or maybe not. After all, Shinkan Shojo was a thing. But instead, we get the wise old idol dude who looks like a journalist waxing lyrical about how TakeP is going to be silent chariot guiding these girls to the palace while he braves public transit (and more rain) to get to Mio's house in order to knock some sense into that girl. And he does, by showing her pictures of the crowd smiling as they took in their new song at the mall. And then he goes and talks to Rin (with Mio in tow), explaining that she can still find the reason she wants to be an idol with the time she has. Finding that light, strangest of places, yadda yadda.

So in the end, good vibes. And the episode ends with the three idiots returning to the scene of the crime, epousing their hopes to take the next step... and yelling "Fried chicken" again. CR's stream actually ends right here without showing a "next episode" card; don't know if that's intentional. Look forward to the next episode, which will be a lot happier and more upbeat than this one. And the memes will be back, of course.

Rated TV-G.

[a hormone collector]

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