What a messed up pacing. To make room for dramatic conversations, the creators drag out certain events in a ridiculous way. How long can you keep talking while under fire? Apparently as long as you want – the insurgents will politely wait until you’re done, firing haphazardly in the meantime. There’s even room for a few flashbacks. The way they structured it actually made me laugh a few times. I’m really trying to like this show, despite its flaws, but this was too much
Whenever we get a look into the magic society of pointy hats, it feels so rotten. First the magic gestapo, now how discriminatory they are to people with disabilities. And it stings so much more because Coco proves that even a novice witch can make accommodations for people with accessibility needs
This was great for, like, half the episode, but then I started to feel like I was being forced to feel a certain way, and they overdid it again. This show would be so much better if they didn’t try to make me cry every episode and actually moved the plot forward instead of doing multiple flashbacks to the same event
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth - half of the episodes are so fucking dark that you literally can’t see shit
Here are my favorite OPs/EDs:
Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! - OP is really cool, and the anime has a different song for every ED – all of them are great too
Dandelion ED - “Goron to Doron” by Kocchi no Kento. Really makes you wanna dance
Daemons of the Shadow Realm OP - “Fly Away” by Vaundy (Full MV)
Daemons of the Shadow Realm ED - “Way Out” by yama (Full MV)
The artists who made OP and ED for this show (Vaundy and yama) have done something interesting here by performing each other’s songs – here’s Fly Away performed by yama, and Way Out performed by Vaundy
Liar Game OP - “Bubble” by Yorushika (Full MV). Personally, I think that visuals in the OP suck. I only really wanted to post the full MV. It’s hilarious, and I think this is one of the best songs of the season.
Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk OP - “Blooming With You” by yonige (Full MV)
Original Audio (Japanese) - There are a lot of series with great voice acting, but the one that always comes to my mind first is the Monogatari Series. The whole cast is outstanding, and it has some very memorable performances (Oikura Sodachi in Owarimonogatari, Sengoku Nadeko in Monogatari Series Second Season)
As for the dub, I have no idea. It’s been years since I watched an English dub
It was very nice to see the girls keeping in touch with the Agent of Summer and her sister via group chat. It seems Sakura’s reluctance to meet the Agent of Winter doesn’t stem from still being offended by past events, but rather from her own guilt over how she treated them back then. Previous episodes had me braced for another tragedy to strike Hinagiku, but instead the bombshell dropped not on her, but on the Agent of Autumn. Holy hell…
I’m glad they spared us the weird tone shifts in this episode. I like the comedy in this show, but the previous episode had it in all the wrong places.
The way everyone is acting makes it feel like we’re watching rival mafias competing against each other, rather than groups where one holds the moral high ground. This is also highlighted by comments like Jin’s from the previous episode, where he said that daemon skills are useful for raids, hijackings, and terror attacks, and in this episode, Haruo talks about torture as if it were a daily occurrence. Not to mention how easily they resort to killing. On the other hand, we have Higashi Village, which imprisons Asa and later sends assassins after her. Honestly, at this stage, the only person we can sympathize with in good conscience is Yuru, who has been deceived his whole life and whose main goal is simply to find his parents.
The anime music is a banger, I wonder if the anime is as good
Whether the show is good is always a subjective matter, but the general reception was very positive. It definitely has some really high highs. Personally, I consider S1E7 to be one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen. The song is from S2E6.
I’m glad that after the last episode they didn’t change the tone of the show for good, and we’re back to goofy shenanigans
It feels like it was designed specifically for Subaru. It would be unreasonable to assume that a random isekaijin would have the necessary knowledge of asterisms and mythology to solve this kind of riddle. Also, Subaru is a Japanese name for the Pleiades constellation - they literally have a Pleiades Tower / Subaru Tower.
They nailed the atmosphere and all, but I’m pretty disappointed by the lack of comedy in this episode
Still no explanation of what lies behind the village massacre, but it seems we might get some answers next episode. I like what’s being shown about the daemons – that they all come in pairs and have their own personalities, even if at first glance they’re something like dumb fish. And look at those art skills!
Everyone in the Village of Spring is a bunch of assholes, only thinking of Hinagiku as a pawn in a power play. The more we learn about them, the worse they look.
The way they portrayed Sakura’s and Hinagiku’s past and present makes me feel like there’s another tragedy waiting around the corner, and it makes me feel uneasy. And I don’t mean the kidnapping.
I’m happy to see the traumatic shit is back. This is what Re:ZERO does best
They made a live-action version before the anime
I’m having a hard time liking the characters in this show. So far, most of them have been presented primarily in a negative light. I probably don’t even need to mention Agott – she took on the role of the bully right from the start, and her ego led to a situation where Coco could have died. But I have a problem with Coco too. This episode in particular highlights her massive flaw: acting completely on impulse, which this time resulted in throwing the whole group into a very dangerous situation. Would it really have been that hard to notify Qifrey, who was in the same shop at the time? What was she even planning to do once she caught that witch? I know Coco is still a child, but she’s not a toddler anymore. Expecting some level of foresight, even just thinking one step ahead, shouldn’t be too much to ask. Especially since Coco already has experience with the consequences of her thoughtlessness. She could really use some self-reflection. I can’t even blame Agott for scolding Coco this time. From Agott’s perspective, she had to go to the shop for new shoes because Coco ruined her old ones, but instead, she gets dragged into a wild chase after Coco that ends with the whole group being teleported into a dragon’s labyrinth. And in the labyrinth, Coco destroys the sigil Agott was drawing to try and get everyone out of the trap. I’d be pissed off too if I were in her.
On top of that, we have Qifrey, who doesn’t strike me as a good teacher. His hands-off approach clearly isn’t working. He threw a new student into a room with a bully. He left them to their own devices, which resulted in a situation where someone could have died. After that, he didn’t impose any consequences on Agott. Not to mention how, at the very beginning, he entrusted a child fascinated by magic with making sure no one peeked at him while he worked. How naive is he? I don’t know the source material, but for some reason, I’ve seen frequent comparisons between him and Gojo Satoru. Maybe it’s just about the look and similar role, but at this stage of the story, Gojo was portrayed as a very charismatic guy, competent in what he does, and with a good sense of humor. He was extremely likeable. Qifrey, on the other hand, pales in comparison, stumbling at every turn. Of course, being a good person isn’t the same as being a good character, and I don’t intend to make the mistake of thinking these are the same thing. However, in my opinion, introducing characters this way from the very start doesn’t work as well as it could. They lack some balance.
It probably sounds like I hate this show, but I don’t. I just have high expectations for stories that carry so much hype, and the quality of character writing is always something I pay close attention to. Visually, the series is still a beautiful spectacle and the world presented is very interesting. I’m hoping that with the next episode, we’ll dive a bit deeper into the plot.
Oh, and why is it always the bad guys who have the superior drip? Their pointy hats are way better than these bland cones
There was a lot of exposition in this episode, but it was presented in a way that wasn’t boring at all. The Hana-Dera duo is really fun, and it’s nice to have a main character who is neither dumb nor a genius, just smart and level-headed.
I get the impression that Sakura has never killed anyone before and she’s actually afraid of doing so, which is interesting given her position as a guard
I think the show is finally finding its groove. The last two episodes were really good, and I think this comes with not narrating over the performances that much, which we might see less often going forward, given that the first part of this cour already served as an intro to rakugo terms and rules. I wasn’t very invested in this story but I’m slowly starting to like it