What a week! Near computer exodus, a slew of so-so episodes with only a few of them sticking out. And then, near the finish line, Sunday delivered four glorious episodes!
It seems I have narrowly escaped computer exodus. At least I hope so since I have no desire to declare victory too early. So far it seems to hold and has been holding since Friday, so...
This week featured a lot of episodes that just didn't quite do the trick so close to the end. Surprisingly it was Fairy Tail for once with a strong filler episode, along with Assassination Classroom and the glorious Sunday quartet (including World Break, yes) that saved the week.
Note: My judgments for KanColle and Testament may be colored considering they fell right into my near computer exodus period and I couldn't fully enjoy them without looking worriedly to my left (at my PC) every couple of moments.
Go Princess Precure: While I am really, still liking this season so far, I am not too sure about Haruka as a main character. After two seasons of overachievers as the group lead/Pink Cure, we are back to the somewhat clumsy, tomboyish female lead. She reminds me a bit of Tsubomi only that Tsubomi was really much better at it (in fact, a lot of things here remind of Heartcatch, except the theme with Dreams that was taken from Yes). But it's just starting and I also found Megumi to be annoying at first, so no worries yet. Battle scenes are still great, especially for a Princess theme. Pure Precure stuff as it should be right off the bat. Thank you, Toei, for keeping up the good work from the last stretch of Happiness Charge here. Question... If there are more Dress Up Keys might we see different Cure forms? Probably not, but one can hope.
Absolute Duo: So... more big info dump. At least SOME things make a little more sense now. It's still very jumbled and frankly Miyabi's actions lack proper motivation. I get the inferior complex and getting rejected just when she worked up the courage did its thing surely, but still... She has a very supportive partner who she seems to just be forgetting in all this. Poor Tomoe, really.
Yuri Kuma Arashi: THAT was a fast end to the principal. So apparently she isn't the end to everything (like Akio was). Which leaves one to wonder what the next twist will be. Obviously this ties back to the scene with Ginko at the beginning and the true ending of the book. Looks like Kureha's challenge is not finished yet.
Shinmai Maou no Testament: As I don't want to rant about the censorship every episode anymore, I won't. Seriously, Maria went from loli to fulfilling her role as succubus in this one. I don't really know what to think about this anymore. This episode was a tad better again since, despite the attempted seduction from Maria it was rather less on the fanservice sight, had a few nice battle elements as such. I do, however, agree with Rebecca on ANN that this anime is becoming too sex-centered. And that is precisely why – and now I have to say it again after all – the censorship really hurts (and no amount of creativity in the actual censors helps). If these elements are so much emphasized, censoring means you are practically cutting most of the "content". Still emphasizing on it despite that hurts plot and all other things which could have been focused on otherwise. The censor does a very good job at undermining fanservice and one of the main themes of this anime just as much as still emphasizing both hurts any other development.
Kantai Collection: I am not really sure if I liked this or not. One question was posed in the ANN forums that I pondered as well, even before this episode aired and was on my mind while watching it. What was the point of Fubuki being told that her unit was disbanded and she was to return to HQ in a manner that was bound to be misunderstood? In fact it practically had no room to be understood, especially by someone in her position. Why wasn't she told about the real reason? A lot of this really makes no sense. I also didn't like just how easily she bounces back here... And after all that badly orchestrated drama – not the execution of emotion, that was alright –, what does she even get to show for it? That end was a tad disappointing. It looks like Wednesday is now reserved for the ultimate potential-wasting anime this season (not that there aren't enough others) which still do somewhat good but could do so much better.
Assassination Classroom: What a fun episode! A very different approach to the rather humanoid robot girl everyone may have expected from this scenario. The show's humor just as much as its quality has slowly wormed itself into my heart. I still wouldn't say that I am hyping it but it is now an actual delightful experience every Friday compared to the beginning of the series.
Fairy Tail: I said last week that as a two parter I'd actually would like this. I got my wish, thankfully. And I think that was a good thing. The last filler arc had the problem of drawing out an already weak concept out to epic proportion and making it boring. In these two episodes, we got honest emotion, action and a Fairy Tail-like feeling that I have been missing since that awful arc. This was the type of filler that I actually like.
Rolling Girls: Okay, look... This is what happens when a show doesn't know what it wants to do. For 2 episodes it was a colorful spectacle of overpowered girls beating each other up. For 6 more episodes it was straight-forward road trip with a supposed main cast that probably will have the title for worst-developed main cast in anime history at least in their reach. And NOW, in the last episodes we suddenly get dumped the actual plot behind everything on our heads, the main characters actually try (read: try) to be main characters and it all feels so... weak because we are expected to feel anything for all this while there was no proper buildup, no pacing. Personally, as much as it wasn't what I expected, Rolling Girls grew on me as a road trip show. But just when I arranged myself, it's already over and the anime tries to squeeze in all the important plot bits into the last episodes. All the neat art in the world cannot really excuse this. So... no, I do not agree with ANN's reviews that everything suddenly connects. I'll quite frankly go in direct opposition. This anime is overrated still, despite all the critique that is there already. Maybe I'm just not invested too much into this genre to see the finer points but these last two episodes and the sudden acceleration from (near) zero to (past) hundred in terms of core plot is not a good thing. It is not. In the end, quite a bit of the blame could perhaps be laid at the feet of the short runtime. A short One-Coeur just doesn't cut it for what the show has been trying to do. 24-26 episodes could have easily addressed and cured most of its horrible pacing problems.
Dog Days: So... eh, what happened there at the end? That came out of nowhere. Of course, I can see there it is going and it's just a little disappointing. Then again, Dog Days isn't exactly known for being unpredictable. I wonder if one of these days we may actually see something akin to a real tension-driven plot and antagonist? Nah... probably not. I still like it. ^_^
Log Horizon: I found the sudden focus on a character that has been mostly on the side lines a little... awkward, especially this late into the season and close to the finish line. Despite that it was a decent episode, that much I agree on, especially after last ep's irritating revelation. Of course, ending it like this... now that's just mean.
One Piece: What an epic episode. THIS is why One Piece is so lovely to get something like that Theme Park Tower in Japan. Very hilarious, grand and just so... I fail to have words. All the little threads are coming together now and I am sure it will be a glorious finish, eventually. Definitely the best arc in a long time.
Seiken Tsukai no World Break: This week cemented my view that World Break has clearly established itself on the top of the fantasy-harem shows this season. If Testament would lose its censoring, there may still be a tie but as it is World Break is faithful, it doesn't try to be different and then just doesn't deliver properly. It's pretty standard, it's not particularly great but it does things right. And occasionally we get cool episodes like today which are just grand. I liked that at least Moroha's primary girls showed up to help in the end, even if it felt somewhat sudden and clichéd. However, it happened just at the right moment when I thought how much of a downer it was to have everyone establish their ties, get stronger and all that, just to stay behind when the hero goes to war by himself.
Nanatsu no Taizai: Superb. At first I was a little miffed that the confrontation that was set up at the end of last episode, ended so quickly, but I suppose it fit those two very well. And the rest more than made up for it with some epic battle moments and everyone finally able to show what they are truly capable of.
Maria, the Virgin Witch: This Sunday was really full of epic episodes. I can't recall ever having an evening watching four different anime with four different episodes and all of them being quite fantastic. Maria rounded up the set quite nicely. I loved the parallel unraveling of events here quite a bit. It made for a very dramatic, fast-paced setting which is really setting the show up for a great finale. I have faith that Maria will deliver on that as it has so far not disappointed me at all from start to finish.
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