18if Episode 9: Crash and Burn

Review:

While I’m not overly easily offended by content in anything, this week’s episode of 18if just seems incredibly unnecessary. There’s nothing wrong with the show wanting to highlight some of the issues idols have to deal with and looking at gender expectations, but this episode doesn’t actually take its own subject matter seriously and plays some fairly sensitive material for cheap shocks or laughs.

Even then I probably would have just moved on from the episode thinking that next week we’ll get a new witch and a new problem, except that even the story this week didn’t really make sense. Was she stabbed in the real world? Was she not stabbed? Is Haruto actually her fan in the real world or did he just pretend because he was investigating her as the witch? So many questions that just make the endless montages of idol training this episode presents us with truly pointless to watch.

And then after a short torture sequence (though more suggestion than actual presentation) and an incredibly stupid escape that continues to just kind of dismiss any kind of serious issue raised by this episode, Haruto shrugs and everything is fine.

I’ve actually enjoyed this anime so far but this is one episode I will happily skip if I ever watch this series again.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.