Last Week in Two (Winter 2018 Anime Weekly Review #4 – Side A)

This post covers January 29th, 2018 to February 1st, 2018.

Monday:

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (episode 4) – Takagi shows some genuine concern towards Nishikata for once and the three stooges actually interacted with our two main leads which makes them actually relevant for once.

Youth really is a big deal for Japanese students, isn’t it? It gets brought up in so many anime series, including this one. I guess it’s because the working world is so rough.

Tuesday:

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (episode 5) – the episode expands upon the relationship between Mari and Megumi, who has been rather discontent for quite a while, while doing an excellent job with shot composition. Not much else to say other than the fact that it was an emotional episode and that the girls are finally starting their trip. Farewell, boring everyday life!

Thursday:

Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku

Koi wa Ameagari no You ni (episode 4) – immediately following Akira’s confession and Masami’s half-hearted response, the series sheds some light on Ryousuke, one of the chefs at The Garden, who blackmails Akira into accompanying him on a date. As a result, manipulative, pushy, and touchy Ryousuke (who is clad in flashy androgynous clothes) is painted as a foil to bumbling and considerate Masami (who is wearing masculine clothes such as a polo and chinos and dress shoes). The fact that Akira essentially repeats the date with Masami accentuates the comparison.

Masami is also confirmed to be a flawed adult who is nostalgic and bitter about his younger years. The fact that he pushes Akira away partially because he is conscious of such feelings (and partially because of the reasons he mentioned in the previous episode) contrasts heavily against Ryousuke’s motivations, who is specifically interested in high school girls. That doesn’t mean Ryousuke isn’t insightful, however, since he spells out the likely reason why Akira is chasing after Masami, which is something that Akira refuses to acknowledge.

In the end, Masami comes across as being a better man than Ryousuke, which is probably what the episode intended for the viewers to believe, but he also has his own hang-ups. I don’t think that the series had to go that far to “sell” Masami since he’s compelling enough and because I found Ryousuke to be throughly unpleasant, but the series has opted for an interesting turn.

You can find more of my thoughts in the tweet thread below, but I’ve basically restated everything in this post other than Akira’s conscious decision to dress up and act more girly (she tries to look terrified while rewatching the movie and she orders a more “girly” drink instead of a conservative cup of coffee).

Märchen Mädchen (episode 4) – the tournament continues to be delayed and will probably not happen until episode 6 at the earliest. Märchen Mädchen has also resorted to the typical miscommunication issues in order to pad things out. I’m left feeling less than impressed even with the advent of nefarious character alignments and reveals (which is also frustrating since one particular girl is doing shady work for a goal that could easily be realized if she didn’t actually do said deeds, but I digress). At least the main character is undoubtedly gay. At this point, it’s the only reason why I’m watching other than to see the interesting powers everyone has.

Miira no Kaikata

Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san

Violet Evergarden (episode 4) – I care very very little for Iris so I was not particularly invested in the episode. With that being said, I was very pleased to note how Violet is taking baby steps towards becoming someone who actually understands emotions and feelings. The letter she wrote towards the end of the episode was actually really well-written!

If it weren’t for that small development, however, then I would have felt compelled to write a satire post in which I claim the same thing has happened in the series for 3 episodes in a row: someone with issues interacts with Violet and Violet solves the day by being Violet.

Yuru Camp△ (episode 5) – Beautiful backgrounds. Very easygoing as usual. Not much easy to say about this episode other than the fact that I almost fell asleep watching it. Which could be considered good or bad.

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That’s all, folks! See you in Side B!