3-gatsu no Lion (Ep. 8)
Once again I have to complain about the unevenness of the show. Generally if you want to become really good at something, you have to train especially that skill and commit all your time to it. Otherwise you can master some things each a little bit but that comes with a cost of not being perfect at any specific thing. And that’s exactly what is happening with 3-gatsu. Dancing cats as shogi pieces? Is it a show for preschoolers? I don’t say it isn’t amusing to some extent but there is no way you can combine organically such segments with other darker character pieces like the second half of the episode. Maybe the anime just has too much time to deal with. Well, Kyouko’s appearance moved things a bit and watching her play with Rei’s sense of empathy towards an old man whose long career may come to an end was really entertaining. I guess if you are into sports you just have to accept that if you play, you play to win and that means that someone else has to lose – there’s no other way. If you can’t deal with it, you can’t compete. As someone who doesn’t really feel affection to shogi Rei looks to haven’t been able to deal with it so the next episode should be more interesting.
Natsume Yuujinchou Go (Ep. 9)
During the first moments I wasn’t impressed at all because there have been countless episodes that start by Natsume being chased by some youkai. Nevertheless, now I can count this episode one of the most moving ones of this season and maybe of the whole anime as well. Struggles of the little tsundere youkai must have affected Natsume himself much as he himself balances between the worlds and doesn’t always find it easy to cope with either of them. And we even don’t need to involve Natsume – the episode works perfectly to inspire anyone that hard work will inevitably provide results one way or another. Also, Nyanko-sensei this time did nothing (as he always has been doing for a very long time) but this time it was actually useful, and useful “meat bun” is always a treat. By the way, the anime might as well be called One Punch Natsume because again and again he manages to defeat some youkai almost effortlessly (I wonder whether Natsume is strong after all or the youkai tend to have some weak spot and why Natsume doesn’t use punching as a way out of difficult situations more often). What’s more, connections don’t end here – as some people pointed out, the director of One Punch Man, Shingo Natsume, basically used his book of friends to invite so many talented people to that project. Weird.
Yuri!!! on Ice (Ep. 10)
Finally an episode showing that the staff still know that life of ice skaters doesn’t consist only of ice skating. Ambition is a good thing but when I find myself cheering even if sakuga wasn’t as involved as previous times, there probably is something not quite right with the composition of the show. Anyway, this glimpse to the ordinary life of Yuri and the brief introduction of the last skater was pretty entertaining. I think the rings’ stuff was a bit over the top (oh well, maybe Yuri’s brain has completely turned off before the big event) but the scene of exchange between Victor and Yuri was rather memorable and well made. Returning to the beginning of the episode, for some time it was sort of a recap and it, paired with Victor’s all-knowing voiceover felt a bit out of place, but not as out of place as usual recaps go, so I guess it’s ok. Well, getting a short grasp of air before the final stretch is a good idea and if it pulls out something similar to the first episode, it will be an outstanding final showdown. …And… what am I supposed to think about the ED?
Fune wo Amu (Ep. 9)
If I have ever forgotten how I love this show, this episode strongly reminded me that. It’s queer how little things that can probably make no sense on their own in a specific context make a huge difference. First, I must praise the soundtrack again and again, especially at times with no dialogue. I’m very confused and enchanted how a simple and almost nonsensical scene of a dude examining a sheet of paper can be portrayed to convey suspension and very uneasy waiting for the results. Kishibe, although introduced only during the last episode seems to have become an established character since I was able to sincerely be happy about her date arrangement. The old guy seems getting frailer and frailer and even if he hasn’t done anything substantial, I’d feel really bad if he couldn’t live long enough to be able to touch the physical copy of the dictionary, speaking about which I’m very intrigued what could be the grand scheme of Nishioka. My guess would probably do something with his girlfriend but who knows. And finally, Majime’s letter once again paired with Nishioka’s wits to take photos of it adds just another opportunity to make my grin that didn’t dwindle all the episode even wider.
Aldael's Attic 