Weekly Seasonal Watches: Spring 2020 Anime Week 3

This spring season is pretty perilous in terms of what anime may or may not continue. The coronavirus is at the door in Japan and Japan is finally going into lockdown which means some anime series are also going into lockdown. Some shows on my watch list have been hit and Appare-Ranman joins the anime haitus after episode three next week. I’m kind of nervous about what will happen as this continues? Will this mean all of this will eventually be delayed? If that happens, I’m going to have to think about what I will put in this weekly slot? Maybe I will treat some older anime shows like seasonals and go about it that way? What do you think? What would happen if Paranoia Agent started appearing here? Would that be strange?

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Fruits Basket 2 Episode 2

Leave it to Fruits Basket to utterly crush you and make you think about your own circumstances in a deep insightful way. This was clearly an episode about the character’s future after high school. You know, the uncertainty of it all, the hard to make decisions, and things like that. A lot of fun, sort of introspection happened in the first half with cool and intimate character actions. It’s so nice to see our goth and motorcycle girl have their huge character moments then thinking about what they want to do next. Of course, it seems like Tohru is the only character with a set-in plan at the moment. Not a fool proof one though.

The later portion of this episode focuses on Kyo, his future, and his real fatherly relationship. You know, the relationship between Kyo, his master, and his father who won’t change. It’s clear that Kyo went there with Tohru to ask his master to show up to his teacher’s conference. Also, to cook lunch apparently. Of course, between all that, the sensei and Kyo’s actual father meet and the father blames Kyo for everything. Even planning on locking Kyo up after high school. I’m so glad that his sensei/real father stood up for him. He’s a good kid. Also, poor Tohru questioning her own choices. . What another eventful episode in the history of Fruits Basket. Like most of them I suppose.

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Tower of God Episode 3

Honestly, this was the best episode so far. A lot of great character sort of stuff in this episode alongside the interesting tower of games like opening a door in a limited amount of time. Five minutes in a ten-minute time frame based on a riddle or death. Then that kings game afterward which is optional. We have some focus on Khun and his motivations. You know, beside seeing Him being betrayed by a princess causing his entire clan was ruined for it. That ruined his trust and normalcy with people. It’s going to be interesting to see Khun’s interactions with Bam, the very positive one of the group. Our bold of lightning. There were also some good other people interactions too. I hope to see more episodes like this as we move on.

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Tamayomi Episode 3

Same drill as last week. Another two girls, one competent one moderate, join the team. One who did a lot of Kendo is interested in baseball. Complete newb but has some muscle structure. The other one comes from a great baseball middle school, but is kind of shy of joining because of the team’s supposed chances of going anywhere important. Of course, then you see the power of the other players with the importance show off their strengths and she suddenly wants to join. There was also some important talk about Tama questioning how serious she wants to go with Yomi and Yomi being super motivational. I’m pretty excited for episode 4 where the girls actually play a practice game. At least we have a team now.

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Gundam Build Divers RE:Rise Episode 15

The lowkey start to this whole scenario here. Our new Build Divers team comes back to the land of the furries and things are different this time. The world is wrecked, the temple is damaged, and only 2 gundams out of four made it to this world. After a short reunion, it’s time to find other temples and ruins. Shizumi went for a wild ride with the older female furry (I forget her name constantly) and Parvis rides with the smaller ones to a temple in the sky while May and Hiroto defended them from the stronger gunpla opponents. All with some cool action scenes and May and Hiroto moments. A fun episode for sure. I’m glad this one is back. Waiting or this ramp up completely.

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Appare-Ranman Episode 2

Ok, I do have to make some jokes about how Japanese is the universal language in this anime. Our two protagonists from later 1800’s Japan just made it to L.A. and had absolutely no problem in understanding anything anyone was saving. That joke alone, this was a good episode. Appare and Kosame struggled to earn money on the streets, the intercontinental race is advertised, and we meet some new characters. Blah blah, convert the boat to a car, blah blah.

Jing, a daughter of a chinese immigrant is having a tough time reaching her dream of being a racer. Unfortunately, she faces the gender bias of that era (not the racial one) and is just a handy girl at the race track. We also run into a native american boy seeking revenge and Kosame constantly saving him. Of course, he’s made fun of for his race. Sigh That kind of hurts everything. There is a lot of good build up here with some questionable realism in how the world is constructed, but I am having a lot of fun watching this series.

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Sakura Wars (2020) Episode 3

I think we are seeing our main villains of the season. The Revue group from Moscow showed their undeniable power to the world. Well, at least to the flower group in Tokyo. Their appearance is really creepy considering they should be dead. I guess that might be why most of the revue members wear robot uniform? That usual evil thing. Those members want Clara back and the Flowers branch says no. Definitely an escalation in trouble here. Especially since I think they have demonic abilities and can just summon demons? A lot of fun, plot stuff and a small bit of character work here and there make this a solid episode. Fun stuff. Also, the cg is pretty good in this episode. Its not Beastars level quality, but still very dynamic and flowers incredibly well regardless.

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Listeners Episode 3

If episode 2 was centered on the dangers of the wilderness with the Three Witch’s mind attacks on Echo and Mu, then this episode is about the reforging of their relationship to wonder forth no matter what the cost. That and we get some backstory about humanity vs Earless. There was a concert that was held which was meant to destroy the Earless, but one of the Players went wild and ruined that plan. Jimi Stonefree in which Mu has a tool from him. The Valentines talked with both of our kids, got them back together, fought them, and sent them on their way to find the rest of the players holed up in their territories. I think we have our plot. Echos and Mu are cute together and they have an endless amount of chemistry together. Looking forward to where this goes.

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Hamefura Episode 3

This anime just has infinite bi energy. Catarina’s infinite confidence and stupidity really is winning over a lot of people. In this episode, she meets even more people and adds them to her developing harem. This week it’s Sophia Ascart and her brother, Nicol. Sophia is always, shall we say, is pushed aside by a lot of people because of her silver hair. Of course, Catarina stops people from gaining up on her on the way to the bathroom. Catarina has a lot of lucky, cool looking moments. With the love of romance novels shared between them, Catarina and Sophia become fast friends. Of course, it might be more then that and Nicol likes Catarina as a result of this friendship.

Jumping 7 years into the future where everyone is 15, Catarina is at a ball and still her very dumb, but loveable self. Geordo is still a creep and give her a hicky, but everyone still loves Catarina for sure. Boys and girls want to dance with her alike. I wonder what will happen once she meets the protagonist of this story. Will she join the developing harem too? This really is a very fun story to just sit down and watch. Easily the best part of my Saturday experience. Possibly this season’s Bofuri? I think so, but in a different way.

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