Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (Ep. 9)

      Biba’s philosophy has been grounded by his actions, but I’m not sure if his perspective makes any sense. Yes, he’s a bad guy and I don’t agree with him, but his position doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, even in his point of view. Ok, he’s grudging over some past thing and because of that all the genocide should be seen as a revenge. Still, if he’s up to destroying all the cities, where would his resources come up from? How come none of his subordinates think anything about killing fellow humans and styling it as a liberation? Is it really worth to set Mumei against Biba himself – some brotherly love filled words and probably he would have had one more Kabaneri at his side. I’d think it as an advantage, even if Biba doesn’t give a fig about her. By the way, how could a giant pile of dead bodies smash down a brick wall? Well, all the action was here, but the progression of the story somehow didn’t move me very much. After all, all the massacre we have seen before and this episode brought in very few new developments. Probably setting Biba up as someone more of a tragic hero and not a mad villain would have been a more interesting choice.

Sakamoto desu ga? (Ep. 9)

     To be frank, I was bored. Comedy wasn’t the shiniest thing this time and apart from that… Well, I guess finding out how some girls (and Kubota, how without him?) met Sakamoto again speaks about his originality and not that ordinary way of thinking when it comes to helping others, but we’ve seen that. Yes, it may be cute, or worth some applause, but Sakamoto has done way more entertaining deeds than that. Moving to the second part, was I supposed to get emotionally invested into some middle-aged housewife chasing high-schoolers? Changing genders by different clothing without anyone noticing is possible only in fiction. And really, what was the use of this segment? Watching someone showing some restraint towards something they shouldn’t do seems a good idea in theory, but I just don’t care about our housewife. Sometimes the show manages to throw some quite well made  a tad emotional stuff or some ideas about morality between its usual bits of comedy, but this time I’m sorry – for me it didn’t work.

Flying Witch (Ep. 10)

     I must be in quite a grumpy mood this week, for even my favorite show of the season didn’t manage to impress as much as always. Somehow I just felt disengaged, especially in the first half. I think the best Flying Witch has to offer is interactions between its characters (which of course were present this time and were pretty enjoyable), some light-hearted comedy (which was not that apparent) and all the everyday life of a small town with all the nature and some magical stuff around. All these things were absent from the first half, so maybe that’s why it felt a bit filler-ish. All the apple-tree narrative was a lot closer to my liking, as all the lush scenery got time to shine, but it wasn’t really something as interesting as many things we have seen before. Only 2 episodes are left and I’d appreciate very much something a bit bigger in scale, to make a finale to be remembered, if it’s possible while not straying too far from the usual mood.

Joker Game (Ep. 11)

     For once Joker Game showed that the life of a spy isn’t always rose-colored. Even if that comes from a fairly unpredictable accident and not from some professional hazards. Also, another quite satisfying piece of news is some scraps of the true backstory of Yuuki. As if the show itself has finally thought that cheating its viewers isn’t the best way to attract them. On the other hand, I’m not totally convinced that all of this story could possibly happen in the real life. The show loves conveniences, and this time wasn’t different. I doubt that German agents would have searched all the body thoroughly and missed the microfilm. What about Yuuki coming directly to retrieve it? Would he do the same thing for another spy half a world away? And all the circumstances that allowed him to see the body alone are very fortune based. Yet, aside from all those ramblings the episode had its own flavor and wasn’t my least favorite one.

Flying Witch (Ep. 8)

     I didn’t expect a continuation from the last episode, but it happened, and as always, it wasn’t a disappointment. Well, it was not as interesting an episode as the last one for sure – the setting stayed the same, some random hosts and guests appeared and I would have loved to learn a lot more about those instead of just seeing them. I guess at this point the mangaka was still building up the world with many future possibilities so more characterization will be left for manga readers only. Well, not that I don’t enjoy the show. At least it was good to hear some references to past events – Harbinger of Spring and  the Mandrake incidents both. The fox scene was made a lot funnier to me by one particular song that also questioned the sound of fox-speech. I wonder if the mangaka has heard it.  The part after credits felt a bit random, but maybe that’s just Akane for you – playing with enhanced food coloring and stuff.

Joker Game (Ep. 9)

     I bet there was hardly a single person who would have questioned the survival of the D-Agency. As always, whatever the opponents think, Yuuki and his lads are just a step (or maybe more like a mile) ahead. Yes, it’s cool to have some intelligent spies, but when they succeed no matter what there’s no joy of accomplishment. I certainly wasn’t rooting for the other agency, but neither did I for Yuuki’s guys. Well, maybe a little, but just because in terms of likeable, charming and fascinating characters D-Agency scores 1% compared to 0% of their opponents. It’s not that I feel the need to empathize with the Agency, the show just mildly suggests that “well, if you have nothing else to do, then maybe, just maybe, you could like them. Please?”. Conveniences don’t help either – how would the “student” have known exactly what antidote to take? And that he needed an antidote or not say, a bullet-proof vest? I guess that was Joker Game probably at its worst. Surely next week there will be an improvement, right? Right?

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (Ep. 8)

      The conflict appears and escalates. A bit more about Mumei’s past is revealed, but even if she wholeheartedly accepted Biba’s philosophy back then, it doesn’t seem very bright of her to follow him unquestionably even now. Yes, he (in her thought) made her strong and therefore alive. Yet, Mumei has traveled a long way with the Koutetsujou crew and actually helped them. Her role as a bodyguard in this light doesn’t really follow the philosophy that only strong survive and you must become strong yourself to remain alive. Mumei has shown that she is not the most clever girl, but doesn’t her beliefs and her actions feel contradicting? Blindly serving a man and unquestionably following his orders while his reasoning doesn’t really work? If the brother himself was such a fan of strong people, why his whole train is not stuffed with Kabaneri? We know who the villain is, but still Ikoma’s judging a person only by one action without any context wasn’t the smartest decision. Apart from all the tension the most interesting thing for me will be the unveiling of what exactly happened all those years ago that made Biba wanted dead.

Sakamoto desu ga? (Ep. 8)

     Somehow this week I wasn’t drawn in at all. No matter what villains the show will try to throw at Sakamoto – be it his classmates at first, Mr. 8823 later and now this Fukase guy – there’s no question if they all will be defeated. Yes, there’s some intrigue in how exactly that will happen, but still, any attempt to build any suspense is doomed from the start. Yes, the series is a comedy and I know that logic is not the main aspect, but for example, those two bad classmates behave like a bunch of idiots – why would you blurt out anything before even looking who stands behind the door? Hayabusas’s rescue party appeared out of nowhere, not to mention no one even spotting Sakamoto’s disguise as a tree. I get it, that’s exactly the point, but that’s just not my kind of humor – it’s more silly than funny. The show is really difficult to become invested emotionally in when the main guy is just an all-perfect alien and among others there’s just hardly anyone with either enough brain or enough characterization. There’s just no one for me to cheer on, to identify as or just to feel like a friend with. I guess I just have a different mindset than any of them.