Weekly Seasonal Watches: 3/11/18

This past week had a very mixed set of episodes. Some were interesting, but others I am wonder why they are doing what they are doing or even why can’t they be consistent.

My week was pretty good though. I’ve gotten farther on the report I’ve been working on and I’ve got an onsite interview to do in a week and possibly another one from a local company. I hope this all goes well.

Mob Psycho 100 S2 Episode 9

I’m at a little bit of a loss for words to write about this week. Last week’s episode had a huge wow and omg factor at the end of it after so many heart touching moments. You know, because it seemed like Mob’s parents died. So this episode starts with Mob getting angry with dimple the ghost companion calming him down. Of course, he finds some people and beats them up, but is eventually taken somewhere where he is told his family is ok AND former claw members from last season with Riegen are waiting for him. That’s the first half of this episode. It’s nice that Mob is surrounded by people that like him or are terrified of his power. A tired Mob from emotional exhaustion in a calm, warm place is an exact representation of how I felt when that first half of the episode ended, so that was good.

The second half was focused on the raise of the Claw Organization…again. Finally, the Nazis with psychic powers are back to attack all of normal society and ruin everything. The good guys do have groups that are trying to break up Claw before they even attack, but the secret top five of Claw are more powerful, because this arc needs to happen, and not so fun things are going to happen. It all relies on Mob waking up to take on the threat. While this part was paced decently, I wish that Mob Psycho wouldn’t just randomly throw characters at the screen just for them to get defeated. While they are memorable, I still don’t remember their names.

The impact that the show needed to give us is there, but not much changes from having organization heads to secret organization heads from a relevance stand point. Maybe more time could be spent exploring the villains? Either way, what is coming is scary and probably going to be incredibly interesting. Not that this episode wasn’t, because it’s Mob Psycho, but can’t wait for the visual awesomeness to come.

Dororo Episode 9

The last two episodes were fun, but Dororo is so much better when it goes “war drama” for some reason. Maybe it’s because the dramatic chops are a little better? I’m going to lean in the direction of yes, even though I don’t know if that is exactly right. Either way, this episode is about Dororo’s backstory. Dororo gets sick on the road and Hyakkimaru does his best to find a place for Dororo to recover. So, Hyakkimaru eventually finds a shrine and while sick, Dororo talks about his/her backstory.

I always love the filters Dororo uses when giving it’s backstories. Especially this one where every color is washed out except red and green in pivotable moments. Dororo has never lived a safe life at all. She (ok fine, Dororo was revealed to be a girl) was parents to a leader of rebels who escaped from the lives of samurai. Of course, everything eventually goes down hill and the village and Dororo’s father is killed.

Then it’s just her mother and Dororo walking from place to another for food. There was a horrifying scene where Dororo’s mother holds hot soup in her hands so Dororo can have something to eat. Wow, talk about not having anything left to give your child, but you can tell there is so much love here. So you can guess what happens, Dororo’s mother eventually dies and Dororo is left to live all alone until meeting Hyakkimaru. It’s terrifying and realistic in this samurai laden dark world. Hyakkimaru and Dororo against the world.

Run With The Wind Episode 20

After the funny and not funny event of “Joji thinking about relationship things while running” and the rest of the gang getting him to run faster, I can only think “be still my heart.” Shindo is sick and seeing him keep going in spite of how he felt was heart breaking enough, but the fact that the show decided to show you how he felt by blurring up the backgrounds around him and only have the sound of him breathing coming through the speakers sent the message home. Shindo is really sick and shouldn’t be running, but he doesn’t want to stop his team from going the distance anyway and wow. That is some powerful stuff. You get infinite respect for this, Shindo.

The events following that run, which involved group chatting over cell phones and Haiji talking more about himself and how he wanted to run with people he liked, whether they wanted to or not. Kakeru’s response showed how far he’s gotten because he thanks Haiji for taking him this far. So much power in this show. Just damn.

The Promised Neverland Episode 9

I think it’s safe to say that Norman, Ray, and Emma are back to being just kids now. Without Isabella doing whatever they wanted, but nothing will ever the same now. After Isabella made her move last time, this episode was just the kids getting owned without Isabella having to do anything. Norman’s day off shipment is tomorrow, so Ray and Emma want him to escape and also talk about how Ray should break his arm so he can’t be shipped so soon. Such kid things to say, which was so wonderful and horrible at the same time. Unfortunately, Norman couldn’t escape because there is a cliff or more immediately after the wall. Just a symbol that no one child really knows what they are doing and adults rule because they have to.

The Price of a Smile Episode 10

This week, we got the opposite side of the story from last episode. Yes, both sides of this conflict lost an older, more knowledgeable figure in their respective groups. I feel more for this squad from Grandiga then almost everyone from Soleil though. At the same time, I feel like I’ve seen this episode before in a lot of ways from a few weeks ago, which is ok considering that orphanages of kids exist everywhere. This episode was a lot more forward though, because this squad knows about the damage they are causing everywhere. The “we are the kind of people who caused this sort of thing to happen means the commander is self aware and the fact that he runs an orphanage is very forward thinking. I’m said the guy had to die, because if he is so reserved, I like the guy a lot.

Also, some more of Stella’s backstory is revealed as well. After leaving her orphanage, the fact that she was living on the streets and only continued to exist by finding food from trash cans is extremely sad. It was pretty clear that the military the only place she could go to continue living. Man, that small element presented to us is more powerful then most of the scenes in this episode. sigh. So yeah, mostly solid episode with some repeated elements from last time. Only two episodes to go, so I hope Smile makes the landing.

Boogiepop and Others Episode 15

There were some fantastic introspective and relatable character sorts of things in this episode and I liked that quite a bit. All because of the distortion king taking the form of who characters wanted to see and the moon tower these people were stuck in. Those elements with the two females seeing characters that died previously for different reasons. Want to see some one who you used to be closed to after they died was extremely relatable to me. I’ve never been or ever will be a single mother with a child who doesn’t know who the father of their baby is, but I’m sure that will connect with a lot of people.

The last little arc centered on a tech kid who has a crush on Nagi, because who doesn’t honestly, was interesting because it showed how weird these dreams can be if you try to escape them. Especially with a giant monster that was questionably animated stomping all over the place. So fun episode for me with cool elements. I wonder where this will go with the next episode.

Kaguya-sama Episode 9

Once again, there are three segments in this episode that connect to each other in a consistent story, but the quality was very up and down for me. First segment, which was a game centered on Kaguya trying to give Miyuki a ride because the trains are stopped due to the high rains was pretty blah and basic. Couldn’t help but be bored from it because this show’s premise continues to be very uninteresting for me. I also don’t understand how Kaguya doesn’t understand technology and yet was able to quickly replace Miyuki’s cell phone batter with a dead one in a short amount of time like that. Consistency what is that?

The next segment where the rest of the student council play a memory game to visit a sick Kaguya and give her the homework to her house. Seeing Chika completely cheat, lose, and be placed in the same place Ishigami usually is with “I’m embarrassed, I want to go home” was funny. Miyuki ended up winning, so she gets to carry homework to Kaguya’s mansion.

Then I am not sure how I feel about the third part. It was revealing to see that Kaguya only has her and Hayasaka for an entire mansion. What’s that about? Also, seeing Hayasaka trying her hardest in getting Miyuki and Kaguya (who is practically brainless in her sick state) to do something was also interesting. It’s just that Miyuki and Kaguya don’t feel like they have chemistry to me OR they are just so bland that they just don’t feel like they should be together. So I guess I can say that I was partially entertained and partially not by this episode. Enough to keep going, yeah. I just wish I saw what other people saw in this show because I’m having a rollercoaster of a time.