Seasonal Watches
This is a season where I am starting to get nervous about watching seasonal anime in this day and age. You know, with covid still running rampant and whether or not that is actually affecting the production of anime in this time period where companies want to churn out as much anime is possible.
Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 3
More Vinland Saga means more pain. Especially for Thorfin this episode. Why? Because his life just asn’t in his hands due to a rich kid listening to the dumb advice of his body guards to murder people just or him to become a man. You know, because that’ show it works. So yeah, Thorfin and and Einar are wrapped up Thorfinn doesn’t care one lick about his life. He gets cut apart and even has one of the tops of his ear cut off, Thorfinn doesn’t even flinch. He also had a nightmare too, so its just not a good day for him Luckily, the guys were stopped. This show is just going to continue being stress all the time isn’t it?
High Card Episode 3
Well, High Card definitely had a new episode which introduced another person in the cast, Leo. A boy that doesn’t care that he was kidnapped by people who were wronged by his dad’s business. Then Finn gets in the mix by playing a hero and causing a lot of damage by the trio that is obsessed with fire. So yeah, didn’t get a lot of things from this episode thematically. But Leo having the power to turn money into a weapon around a certain cost of money is hilarious and worth watching this episode just for that.
Kubo Won’t Let Me be Invisible Episode 3
I’m sad that this show is going into a haitus after episode 6 soon, because it is going directions that I didn’t think it would. For instance, Shiraishi hanging out with his baby brother Seita in the snow. That was so adorable and tells us more about Shiraishi then when he barely appears in school. Or him being worried about the cover of the manga magazine he is picking up having a girl in a bikini and then him being interested in checking out an adult magazine when he wants to put it back. Or the cute shopping trick on Christmas and showing how thoughtful he can be. The three different sides of Shiraishi help him make it a bit more complex. Like, I get why Kubo would be interested in him. So yeah, good episode.
Tsurune – The Linking Shot – Episode 4
Another down to Earth sort of episode that helped refine the characters a bit more. Especially actually watching the boys on camera in 4k to see their poses which will help them in a long run. Then Minato has that moment where he finally realizes, after struggling, that his pose to knock an arrow during the tournament and other places was different and that meant destroying the timing for everyone else. So yeah, good stuff there. Then there is Onagi’s sister who stole the episode by thing there for one minute. Also, the girls might be doing their own tournament soon and I hope we see it because mainly they are there for snark which is ok too.
Tomo-Chan is a Girl Episode 4
Ah, a cute episode once again. Especially with the focus on Gundo who might have a bigger relationship Carol then we thought possible. I mean, Carol was going to kiss her on the cheek before the duct tape came into being. So yes, the first two couple parts where cute with Tomo-chan learning to hug other girls to gain some sort of intimacy and her hugging Gundo in the end which felt awkward for them even if Gundo wanted it. Then the last part with Tomo-chan and Jun taking on bullies with some bit of escalation was pretty good too. Very comfy episode.
Bofuri Season 2 Episode 3
Fun times in this episode once again. Especially with Maple meeting Mii again in her cuter, non role playing state. Then Sally and Maple take on the level 6 test together against the developers was great. Especially since the developers actually put thought into how they would defeat Maple and some of it may have worked if Sally wasn’t there and just as much of a bad ass. So yeah, another good and cute episode for the right reasons. Another safe enough episode here even if its doing too much once again.
Urusei Yatsura (2022) Episode 15
Ran episode! Ran Episode! Ran, the pink haired troll, is my best girl for this show. Seeing her switch between the nice and calm personality to “I want to destroy you” on a dime that you can see coming. Especially with her relationship with Lum as Ran wants Rei and she has that internally jealousy of Lum. That part when Rei kissed Ran and she just shouted about it was so good. The backstory on why Ran is like that with Lum ruining her life at every turn including when Lum peed her bed when she was a child and Ran’s mother hating that. Poor Ran. The after credits scene of the Loud potion that makes people lie was good too. Just an excellent episode.
Trigun Stampede Episode 4
Oh hey, Nicholas D. Wolfwood is here after our three protagonist characters hit him with their car. You know, in the middle of the desert. Seems fine though. Very suspicious for this man to be here with a cross that isn’t a cross. Ok, fine. He’s very suspicious and we know why. But this episode sort of encapsulates the relationship that Vash and Wolfwood have in the og series. You know, in the middle of an episode where we see a little bit of Dune (worms) and a child that can control insects and is apart of the Gung Ho guns. Every step along the way is monitored and controlled and I kind of enjoy it. It’s still a good show and it probably will be all the way.
And I think I know who Robert De Niro is in this series. The dynamic between him and Meryl is different then Milly and Meryl. Robert De Niro is showing his experience by being almost 100% spot on with all of his assumptions and his glimpses of the world while Meryl is obviously the optimistic new comer who still has hope for humanity. Yeah, I can dig that. It just isn’t as interesting as Meryl and Milly from the og Trigun, but it works for Stampede.
The Fire Hunter Episode 3
Ok, this episode was a lot more relaxed and actually looked quite a lot better then the last one too. This is an episode where some of the softer bit of direction and intrigue carry a lot of the world building. Mainly because this is a Koushi episode and he is introduced into this rich house hold to hopefully weaponize fire and the small bit of family intrigue that is happening with who recently adopted him. The dinner scene that was all character acting and animation is the main center point of this episode for me because it says everything without a single line of dialogue.
Touko didn’t do as much in this episode besides be a point of view character for a bride who is about the live the train and see how a bit of the world outside is, but she’s a cute kid and I am glad she is good at having things happen to her unfortunately. I really liked this episode and I hope that the production team found a good balance between the first episode and the second episode now with the production behind it all. No more massive short cuts please.
Weekly Ratings
Last year, I started a small graph system that I used to rank the weekly episodes I’ve watched. I’m going to bring it back for this season and see how it goes. I just want to make my opinions a bit more clearer other then “I really like this anime episode that did those things?”. If this helps at all.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the episode on the bottom is bad. Just that that it wasn’t as good as the others. That’s it really. In the end, this is all arbitrary after all just like most of what I blog anyway. It’s just another thing, what is the difference?
Mechanical Anime Reviews 
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