This has been one exhausting week and I have really felt relieved most evenings when I have finally been able to watch an episode or two of anything. A few shows moved down the list this week, though it seems almost a race for the bottom of each level and some shows that should have dropped found their position saved simply because they didn’t bug me as much as other shows. That said, I’m really glad that this list I do each week is just a guide because I know that week’s when I’m tired I get far more critical and impatient with shows that probably didn’t go as far wrong as it felt while watching them.
As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on the shows of the season so please leave me a comment below.
Must Watch
Episode 33 gets us right back on track with the students returning to school all fired up after their internships and about to go into final exams before Summer training camp. There’s some good reveals in this episode and continues the story very well.
Princess Principal (Episode 7)
While not an amazing episode, episode 7 delivered an interesting enough story with the girls hunting down a soldier’s uniform in a laundry. I’m kind of hoping that this show still has a few surprises in store for the viewer but even if it continues in this episodic fashion, it is still fairly quality viewing.
Usually Entertaining
I know, that’s quite a jump from ‘They Made This’ to ‘Usually Entertaining’ but my thoughts on this show are fairly confused. Individually, each episode is pretty terrible in terms of pacing and the way the characters are portrayed. But, it has remained consistent in the way the characters have been constructed and more importantly, as a narrative the ending is proving the worth of all of that set up. While it still has time to fall apart or into the trap of pulling a win from nowhere, it really feels like everything prior has had some sort of purpose now and that is making my overall impression of the series far more favourable than it was at the mid-season mark where mostly I just wondered what the point of all of this was.
Okay, I Guess
Pointing out I am still personally amused by how cliché ridden and filled with teen drama (exaggerated enormously) this has become but to be honest I just don’t think I can actually call this show better than okay. Realistically, it just isn’t very good and the need to repeat the same one second interval four times just to get every character’s internal monologue into the mix kind of proved how poorly this show is constructing its characters that they have to narrate their current feelings for it to make any sense at critical moments.
In Another World With My Smartphone (Episode 7)
Thank-goodness we moved on from slimes. I’m not sure what we moved on to other than continuing to establish the harem, but the sense of fun and entertainment was back and we even got a dragon fight (even if it did seem to be thrown in for the sake of having a cool fight sequence with Touya’s magic). We then had a fight with a beastman, some poorly undercover spies, a random 600 year old fairy, and a few new magical applications. This show remains totally cliché in every sense of the word, but I’m still highly amused.
Another random witch and her dream, but this time Haruto doesn’t really do much of anything in the narrative. The story just kind of unfolds while he watches on. As he’s the only character that has consistently appeared (other than cat guy) this seems like an interesting choice and I’m not sure what it means.
Fastest Finger First (Episode 7)
All hands on deck as they prepare for the regular meet and learn more about quizzes and each other. This show isn’t trying to be much more than watchable but it is succeeding at that and those into random trivia are still going to have a lot of fun each and every episode.
Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight (Episode 6)
With this episode, I think the fourth season of this show is actually going to end up being my favourite. I’ve really enjoyed these mid-season episodes and hopefully the show can continue to build on this.
Clean Freak Aoyama Kun (Episode 7)
Nothing changing here. Still pleasantly watchable but not good. Occasionally funny and at other times I am pretty sure I’m missing something that maybe was supposed to be a joke. Overall, watch if bored, otherwise you are not really missing much by avoiding.
Last week I said the story here was kind of average. I’m going to retract that statement. The story is starting to appear to be missing in action. That doesn’t mean this isn’t fun to watch but at eight episodes in there’s no clear enemy/villain/antagonist/problem and there’s no actual focus other than Ernesti can build robots. While that works well enough for twenty minutes, it isn’t exactly leaving a lasting impression.
Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (Episode 8)
“I really wish this was better, but it isn’t.” – This continues to be my main thought about this series. There is a lot of potential in the idea of the show and it remains watchable, but basically isn’t doing much.
They Made This
Katsugeki Touken Ranbu (Episode 8)
At episode 8, this show is boring. That’s the only way to put it. It’s pretty, the character designs are nice, there’s some good music and when they fight it gets exciting, but the story and the characters have been painfully dull. It is nothing wrapped up in shiny packaging and getting worse in terms of emptiness as the season progresses.
Vatican Miracle Examiner (Episode 7)
This week shows that once again the writers of Vatican Miracle Examiner just like clutter in their narrative. A simple mystery is being overloaded with references and ideas and the problem is to resolve the mystery is going to need an ending at least as crazy as the one we got for the first mystery and to be honest I’d prefer they didn’t repeat that.
When a show starts its episode with the main characters standing on top of an aeroplane in mid-flight and then they proceed to have melee there, you just know the show has officially run out of ways to keep you interested and is now just throwing whatever scenario it can at you to make sure you don’t realise the plot is going nowhere.
Tried and Dropped
Restaurant to Another World (Episode 1)
Centaur’s Life (Episode 1)
Convenience Store Boyfriends (Episode 1)
Saiyuki Reload Blast (Episode 1)
Battle Girl High School (Episode 1)
Hina Logic (Episode 1)
Tsuredure Children (Episode 1)
Fox Spirit Matchmaker (Episode 1)
Aho Girl (Episode 1)
The Irresponsible Galaxy Tylor (Episode 1)
This week I’m wondering who you think the best female character of the season is. Let me know below.
Thanks for reading.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
Hope the coming week will be a little bit less stressful for you. I have had a pretty exhausting weekend, but that was only two days, so I can imagine what a whole week must feel like 😊
Hope you have a good week as well.
Completely agree with you on Sakurada Reset. Individually, the episodes haven’t been all that good up until now. However, now it feels like things are falling into place. All the events, theories and one time characters are appearing again and now I can see why each was introduced in the first place. It’s still too early to say how this ending will play out, but as it stands, it was worth sticking around this long!
It is one of those shows where teh overall picture might end up being fantastic even when individual parts weren’t. Then again, it could fall flat still, but I like to be optimistic sometimes.
Boku no Hero’s next arc will blow your mind! Mark my words on this 😛
Glad you are also enjoying Isekai Smartphone too!
Your Katsugeki Touken Ranbu link is repeated and linking to the wrong post! Just wanted to let you know that.
For me, the best female character of this season currently has to be Yumeko from Kakagurui. Biased, as always, but she is the embodiment of both knowledge and craziness, which attracts me immensely, just like how Shiro and Sora attracted me as characters. Although I already know what’s going to happen in the show, the voice acting and animation still never ceases to amaze. I’m looking forward to much more from every show 😛 Although I can’t watch as often anymore.
Thanks for letting me know about the link.
I’ll hopefully get to see Kakagurui at some point so looking forward to seeing her.