The end of the month is fast approaching, and what do you people have on your list of shows-to-watch in the summer? I might actually make the tough decision in stepping back from seasonal anime for an extended period when this season is over. Having covered it here on The OASG for 9 years has meant I’ve had little room to watch anything other than the latest shows. So I guess I have to put together my own shows-to-watch list, only it will be classic ones. Heck, maybe by the time the NieR: Automata show finally comes back, it will be considered a ‘classic’ one; there’s still been no word on when that returns, by the way. And to think it was meant to be a 2-cour show as well…
Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You Season 2 Episode 11
We kind of guessed that this season would end on this camping trip arc, but I was kind of an idiot not to realize why the others had planned this out for Nasa and Tsukasa: a makeshift wedding party.
This all goes back to much earlier on in the season, when the two of them began to think about what to do to celebrate their wedding, only for Nasa to realize how much a wedding actually costs. Now I have no idea if this was all something that had been in planning by the others for months, but you can clearly see how much effort was put into all of this. Kaname even made up an excuse that she would turn up late but in all reality it was coming to this site, setting all of this up, and even bringing a giant wedding cake.
But while we watch all of this humorous joviality, what is on Nasa’s mind is why people get married in the first place. His circumstances are very different to a regular couple, but it is still something that has recently weighed on his mind. The very concept of two people joining together like this has become so engrained in human culture now, that it is something a lot of people don’t really look deeply into anymore; it just is. Not being married myself, I suppose this is something that I can’t really understand, and so I won’t pretend to know either. But Nasa is just happy to be with the person he loves the most, and that is fine with him, and the same applying to Tsukasa.
Next week will be the final episode, but having finished this week’s one, I get the impression that the finale will act more as a wrap-up to the season, and not something that goes in its own direction. We won’t really get a Christmas episode or a New Year’s episode or anything like that; save them for another OVA, perhaps. I will say though that this second season did not really give off the same impact that the first season did, and I may be horrible when I say I’ll be glad when this is over. Not because it is a terrible show, but instead because I’m fine with the season/story ending here.
Skip and Loafer Episode 11
Having seen so many school festival episodes now, it often feels like they all blend into one another. Even with the little memorable moments we had in Skip and Loafer‘s one, it can unfortunately get tiresome. That isn’t to say that this was a bad episode though; far from it. This is just my jaded mind talking.
I was glad that the school play (that absolutely wasn’t The Sound of Music) wasn’t the main feature; it is actually only a small part. Instead focus is put on everything else. Mitsumi realizing that all her new friends have their own social circles with her still feeling like the country bumpkin outsider. Yuzuki getting frustrated at how the boys who have tried to hit on her at the school festival are acting so shallow and not bothering to look at her inner beauty. And Shima’s step-brother getting lost and the class having to run around looking for the mom, who had decided to show up after all.
Viewers will remember mini Shima for sure, but my highlight was actually the art club scene with Yuzuki. Boys glance at the painting she put so much hard work in, but they care more about trying to hit on her instead, which frustrates her. She has turned into a complicated character that doesn’t have as much screen time as, for example, the insecure Egashira or the self-conscious Makoto. She has good looks, and her rich parents mean she has travelled a lot, but she has zero interest in flaunting it all for the world to see. It was awesome to see her new bestie Makoto step in to show her middle school friends her painting though.
Hard to think that next week will be the show’s final episode. Whether it will get a second season or not is unknown though. P.A Works have rarely done sequels for their shows, but you never know. Well at least we know what the theme of the finale will be, given the cliffhanger we got at the end. Everyone online seems to call Ririka some kind of antagonist, but I think it is much more complicated than that. She has picked at Shima every time we have seen the two together, although some of her frustration may well be justified. It was her child acting career that was ruined thanks to the underage drinking allegations she got where Shima was also involved. Although saying that, considering how little we know about his mother and how she has taken to her son deciding to leave the industry to want a normal school life, we could see either a fight or tears…or both.
If anything, I would say that this episode acted as more of a buffer to whatever chaos we will see in the finale. Mitsumi and co wanted their happy memories of this school festival, and they got them alright. Now we just have to wait whether Shima is able to stand up for himself, or if Mitsumi is going to have to butt in and defend him against what I imagine will be a very annoyed Ririka. I mean think back to when we first saw her; she is mad because he gets to restart his life after that incident and she can’t. But they still had a good history together when they were younger. I must be the only follower of this show who isn’t screaming for her blood, but I know P.A Works have this in hand.
Oshi no Ko Episode 9
I look around on social media related to Oshi no Ko (and there is so so much of it!) and I see people begin to feel a little…jaded. They are enjoying the show immensely of course, but now we are in the final three episodes, viewers are starting to wonder if the story will move at a quicker pace or not. Oh, and there is something else. Because this week’s focus is on the formation of the new incarnation of B Komachi (Kana, Ruby and Mem-cho), the fact that Aqua is on screen much less feels so refreshing. This is because he is such a loathsome and unlikeable character, and having a much more upbeat episode this week is a real blessing. Ruby gets what she wants in being an idol just like her mother, Kana gets to be the senpai and boost her career outside of just acting, and Mem-cho is able to live her childhood dream instead of being an Youtuber and Tiktok influencer. Although knowing the general mood of the plot, is this upbeat episode meant to lull us into some false sense of security before something bad happens?
Well seeing Aqua less this week also means we learn more about some of the other characters. While Ruby is the epitome of innocence in the new B Komachi, we find out that the other two are actually rather more apprehensive and wary about their new jobs as idols. Mem-cho already has a sizable following on Youtube and Tiktok, and so she begins to wonder if the audience she has built up will even want to see her on stage in an idol unit. Also there’s the bombshell that she is in fact 25 years old, and had to leave high school early when her mother became gravely ill meaning she had to work to earn money for her care.
And then there’s Kana. Even with her being the main female lead in the show, there’s still so much we do not know about her and what kind of work she has done in the past. A couple of things are revealed this week though, the biggest one being that she has an amazing singing voice and has even released some songs online – something Ruby and Mem-cho only find out during a karaoke session. And yet Kana turns down the role to be the center girl in B Komachi. We know she is hacked off that Aqua now has to maintain a public relationship with Akane, but I think she is a far more complicated person, and not just some generic tsundere. In reality she is the only person who can lead the group. She acts as a good senpai to the incredibly naïve Ruby, and is able to tell Mem-cho that she should not be so self-conscious about her adult age. And she has an acting and singing history. I don’t think it is just adolescent jealousy that is holding her back here.
We still have 2 more episodes to go, and while Aqua is given a small lead on where to look next to find his father, I think the finale will be more on B Komachi’s debut on stage. Anything is on the table though, as since the general mood of the show acts as some dark cynical satire on the entertainment industry, I could be way off on what I think could happen at the end. And I say this given the fact that I didn’t expect episode 1 to hit me in the way it did. People are already crying for a second season, and given how hugely successful this has become, it’ll very likely get one.
Lycoris Recoil Episode 11
The cliffhanger we got last week was that Majima’s grand scheme wasn’t to destroy the new tower, but to instead arm the general public with the weapons we saw way back in episode 1, and let them do what they want with them. But I was curious to see that Chisato and Mika decide not to engage with any of them; instead they choose to go after Majima by themselves. Or rather Chisato does; Mika is sent home. And so how does Takina get involved in all this? Well she is back in DA and now her mission is changed to protect the public and the new tower…except now she finds out what Chisato is doing, and decides to abandon her station, knowing full well it’ll get her kicked out of DA.
Episode 11 is clearly acting as an entrée for the final showdown…whatever that may be. But there’s another thing that becomes a major factor in the story: Kurumi is able to find out that another artificial heart has been made, and a more advanced one. This nearly matches the idea I had a few weeks back in how the Alan Institute may possibly have been using this as some kind of leverage: make Chisato an unstoppable killing machine again, and she gets a better heart. I’m genuinely scratching my head in how this will all end. Majima has really given DA a task on their hands; they have to both take him down and stop the chaos in the general public who have been given a mixture of pistols and rifles and don’t know how to use them. Meanwhile Takina has thrown away her chance to be back in DA, but that just shows how much she has grown to care about Chisato. And will she ever get that new heart at all?
Next week I’ll be talking about the two final episodes in Lycoris Recoil to wrap the show up, since I’m that curious about the end. It’ll have an ending that leaves room for whatever this next ‘animation project’ they have already greenlit for the franchise. Also Skip and Loafer and Tonikawa will have their final episodes next week. This season is getting closer and closer to its end.
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