Fall 2016 Week 11 Recap

This post is a bit later than usual, mostly due to my penchant for falling behind on weekly anime, but it’s finally done. In addition, my post on Monogatari is finally done and typed up, and only needs a pass or two more alongside image additions to be published at long last. I took way too long on it, to the point that I just didn’t care about it for a few weeks, but I’m very happy to have it close to completion. Now I just have to work on a Simoun essay and 2016 top anime list. The only rest I get is due to procrastination it seems.

Flip Flappers – Episode 11

Another great episode. What stood out to me the most this time was the relationship between Mimi and Cocona. Mimi and Salt’s backstory was interesting and made me care a lot more about both of them, but since I didn’t care about them beforehand, it failed to make a major emotional impact. On the other hand, everything involving Cocona this episode was fantastic. Her tears of joy at meeting Mimi nearly made me cry in school, and I felt very, very uncomfortable watching Mimi try and turn Cocona into her clone, while at the same time being very happy when Cocona pushed back against it, something she wouldn’t have done before meeting Papika. The final sequence with Yayaka convincing Papika to act like herself and save Cocona was also great, especially since they made sure to have Yayaka call Cocona a friend while having Papika say she loves Cocona. All around, it’s another great episode from the best show of the season. I don’t expect the ending to disappoint anymore.

Vivid Strike – Episode 12

I don’t want to dwell on this series too long here, as it’s certainly going on my 2016 top 10 list, but this episode was fantastic. After all of the fighting that Rinne has had to do this series, it’s amazing to just see here relaxing with Fuuka, and the “I love you” was fantastic as well. Like I said, talking about this too much will make my end of the year post pointless, but suffice it to say that this final episode fits the series perfectly. Also, I love the intergalactic ship in the middle of the episode, it caught me off guard despite the fact that I should’ve known they weren’t on Midchilda, so I have to imagine those new to the series were very confused.

3-gatsu no Lion

Unlike last episode, where Kyouko’s taunting failed to amount to anything, everything she said this episode was entirely true. Initially her plan worked here, making Rei feel terrible about winning, but his realization that it isn’t his fault was a fantastic moment of catharsis. Rei has very low self-respect and self-worth, so whenever something goes bad involving him, he tends to blame himself, and Kyouko uses this in order to manipulate him. His realization that his opponent lost not because of his situation but because he’s simply a worse player was fantastic, as it really rebuts what Kyouko was trying to do in the first place. Feeling guilty is awful, and it’s fantastic that Rei is starting make it past that, at least in regards to his matches.

JoJo Part 4 – Episode 38

I don’t want to repeat myself too much from the last few weeks, but this is a great fight with a great antagonist. This episode was tonally fantastic, with Okuyasu’s return marked by hopeful music and a general tipping of the scales from Kira to Josuke. At its core this is a standard good vs evil fight, one that in many ways is less narratively interesting than the coming JoJo fights(especially part 7’s), but it’s so solid and entertaining that I can’t help but love it.

Yuri on Ice – Episode 11

This episode accomplished the amazing task of making me feel bad for JJ. JJ has been a dick all series, and certainly not someone who deserves any sympathy, but to see how hard he was trying in spite of the pressure, alongside the clear dedication of his fans and loved ones made me feel for him. Outside of that, this was a good episode, though it falls into the trap of being visually boring by using the same cuts. This show often feels a bit too repetitive, which makes sense due to the repeated routines, but causes the show to become quite boring from a visual perspective. The narrative is as strong as ever though, and I’m looking forward to the last episode.

Girlish Number – Episode 11

I liked this episode a lot. It was hard to watch at times, since we basically just had to see Chitose be depressed the whole episode, but that served to make it clear how much she’s matured already. The end of the episode was what’s really great though. Gojou manages to affirm Chitose’s personality and doesn’t ask her to change who she is. Sometimes character development leads to characters becoming different people, but Chitose isn’t so broken as to need that. She can subtly adjust her attitude and become a more likeable and skilled person, even if it won’t be easy.

Hibike Euphonium 2 – Episode 12

This episode wasn’t bad per se, but it wasn’t as good as the previous two. As opposed to Kumiko and Asuka’s conflict, Reina’s crush on Taki-sensei is wholly uninteresting. It’s been known from the beginning where it would go(nowhere), and seeing it go there doesn’t really add much. She needed closure at some point, but devoting an entire episode to it seems like a mistake to me. That said, if it absolutely needed a full episode this one was fairly well done. The flashback to child-Reina was adorable, and it was nice to see Reina resolve her crush without actually confessing. I just wish it didn’t take up this whole episode.

IBO Season 2 – Episode 12

Mika deciding to go full throttle on the Mobile Armor at the end with Barbatos is cool, but it just serves to show yet again how unhealthy his attitude is. He literally lives for nothing other than serving Orga, and it seems as if Orga himself is beginning to realize how bad that is. Still, this was a cool episode devoted almost entirely to fighting the Mobile Armor, and it’s nice to see after a few episodes of no action.

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