AKB0048 Next Stage - Episode 10

Stranded on an unknown planet with a damaged ship, things are looking a little tricky for the AKB0048 crew as this week's episode begins.  Still, it could be worse - they might have ended up on a junk planet having to sing along to Dare To Be Stupid.

Beyond that, it isn't all bad news, as the planet has a breathable atmosphere if nothing else, leaving the successors tasked with exploring and finding out what they can about the planet while repairs are on-going.  This brings them some interesting encounters with the land's flora and fauna, whether it's hallucinogenic mushrooms or Pokemon rejects.

Indeed, it's once such Pokemon-lite making friends with Orine that leads us to the real revelations about the planet, as an aggressive turn from the parents of Orine's cute new friend leads onwards to an attack from Zodiac Corporation forces, who it seems are using the planet to mine dualium.  When it comes to placating those angry beasts however, there's only one thing for it - to sing at them!  Between this and a little fighting action, the danger passes, although not before Chieri and Nagisa send themselves on a seemingly suicidal stowaway mission.

I suppose I have to give some credit to this week's AKB0048 Next Stage for turning what looked like it was about to become a throwaway episode into another opportunity to reveal some additional details about the show's wider world and pertinent plot points - admittedly this wasn't done in the most spectacular fashion, but it just about worked well enough to be passable before giving us a fascinating twist in its closing moments that could well make or break the series.  Needless to say, I'll be watching on to see where this show is ultimately headed.

Space Brothers - Episode 48

There's no more time for preamble, as this week sees training kick off in earnest for our astronaut candidates - at least, it will if Mutta can stop pondering the potential bad omens hinted at in last week's episode.

Indeed, his foremost concern should probably be one of his two instructors, as Vincent Bold continues to bemoan the demeanour of the non-military candidates in the group.  On the flip side of this, Mutta seems to have taken an immediate shine to Bold thanks to his intense nature and, more specifically, a promise to complete the course six months faster than the two years allocated to it.

All of this is in stark contrast to Bold's fellow instructor Larry Bison, who has a reputation for being a "luke warm" character with none of the intensity of his colleague.  It's Bold that sets the tone for the early days of the group's training however, spying an opportunity to improve efficiency by combining a couple of tasks and thus sending the whole group packing on a survival trek across the Texan desert on the way to Amarillo (cue Tony Christie).  Although spirits are high as the group set off, we can rest assured that it won't be long before fractures appear, particularly within the JAXA-led Group E...

While I'm not entirely sure about Mr. Bold's suitability as an instructor of any kind - cutting off questions curtly and looking to get things done faster than they need to be don't seem like good traits for such a position - I'm willing to let it slide as we move towards another period of character-centric drama from Space Brothers.  It's something that the show has done unfailing well throughout, no matter the scenario constructed around it, so I'm ready for such more top-notch material this time around - hopefully it won't let me down.

Robotics;Notes - Episode 20

Despite all of their recent adventures, I very much doubt that "being held at gunpoint by a little girl" figured Aki and Kai's expectations, but that's exactly where we find ourselves as this week's Robotics;Notes opens.

Thanks to this and a face-to-face encounter with the AR avatar of Kou Kimijima, we get to learn the truth behind Misaki's behaviour - how she saved Aki and Kai amongst others during the SS Anemone incident by killing the living, breathing Kimijima, only to find herself haunted by his virtual presence to the point where he effectively turned her into his slave.  Even in the face of all of this information (oh, and that gun being pointed at her), Aki still refuses to have her enthusiasm for justice dimmed as she swears that she'll do whatever it takes for her sister and beyond - a stirring monologue made all the more pertinent by the fact that the whole thing was streamed across the Internet.

It's thanks to that bit of surreptitious streaming that the entire Robotics Club team are quickly reassembled
in the hangar that houses GunPro-1, and what begins as a milling of friendly faces (joined ultimately by Kai and Aki in spectacular fashion) soon begins to morph into a coherent plan to use the GunPro-1 to foil Kimijima's plans to launch a black hole bomb and eradicate humanity.  Can they really do that using a clunky old robot?  Well, that's the point of the show's finale, so let's hope so shall we?

Although this is very much Robotics;Notes in top gear as it blends friendships, robotics, conspiracy and the like into its mix, there's something that's still not particularly satisfying about the whole thing, largely revolving around the fact that a lot of the major points of its narrative don't make much sense - it feels rather like a "join the dots" picture where all of the dots connect up soundly enough, but the picture you reveal once you've done so is a jumbled mess.  Perhaps it's because I've struggled to become fully invested in its characters or scenario, but there are too many logical or character-based holes in what I'm seeing (particularly surrounding Misaki) to work for me - maybe I can put that to one side and at least enjoy what should be a rip-roaring finale, but it seems guaranteed that the show as a whole is going to be no classic in my book.

Minami-ke Tadaima - Episode 10

On a cold day, the experience of sitting under a warm kotatsu is like heaven... at least, it is until the electricity bill arrives.

In light of such a bill, Haruka decides that it's time to be more "eco-friendly", which is of course nothing to do with being cheap at all - a decision which leaves Kana and Chiaki figuring out other ways to save the environment; and of course some cash.  While sharing body heat to keep warm is all good and well (if a little too much for Mako), it doesn't work particularly efficiently when someone is hogging the duvet, so before we know it Chiaki has come down with a cold at the worst possible time, that being the day as a planned "snack party".  With her friends rallying around bringing food-based gifts that they believe should help her recovery, we end up having a party anyway, albeit one which revolves around sukiyaki rather than snacks.

From here, Haruka's insistence upon eco-friendly living sees Takeru effectively press-ganged into inviting the Minami family out to dinner, which is course an expensive mistake to make, before the episode closes out with Mako having another visual overload as "she" walks into the midst of a "pyjama day" which proves to be an over-bearing strain on his senses.

One or two little moments aside, this certainly wasn't Minami-ke at its funniest, getting by instead on that sense of light-hearted entertainment that pervades everything it does to make for a soothing start to any day, whether it involves the copious wearing of pyjamas or not (and that sure is tempting on a lazy Sunday).  Even when it isn't firing on all cylinders, I get the feeling I'm going to miss this show once it's gone from my viewing schedule again even if it isn't an outright classic.

Chihayafuru 2 - Episode 9

Although Chihaya and her comrades' team national tournament is in full swing, it's to Arata that our attention turns for the first time in quite a while within this week's Chihayafuru.

While Arata's focus might be on the individual tournament, he's decided that he might as well at least watch his old friends Chihaya and Taichi play in the team tournament before that begins - a decision that sees him bump into a few familiar faces, not least current Queen Shinobu, who has nothing but disdain for the team tournament as something that is "for people who don't like karuta".  Arata's own feelings might not quite match that level of contempt, but he clearly doesn't much care for the team version of the game either himself.

In spite of this opinion, a chance meeting with a former school friend somehow leads to him being press-ganged into illegally joining their team for a match - with one of their three-man team running late, it's the only way to avoid instant defeat.  Thus Arata finds himself disguised and without glasses, facing off against an opponent without really trying too hard lest he give himself away.  However, seeing the determination and distress of his temporary team-mates, and the passion of his opponents, not only changes Arata's mind about team karuta but also leaves him unable to reign in his instincts, leading to him once again donning its glasses and getting serious his game - a decision which looks set to have even more serious repercussions.

After so long away from the limelight of this series, I wonder if I'm the only one who struggles to care about Arata's part in Chihayafuru's proceedings at this juncture?  Hopefully he'll be integrated back into the series more fully in the future, but for now he seems a little too much like a spare wheel, which left me struggling to get engrossed in his particular scenario throughout this episode especially given that some of his decisions felt rather out of character.  That said, there was still a certain amount of interest to be found here in the skewed opinions of players about team and individual tournaments, which at least added a little frisson to proceedings in the build-up to the major cliff-hanger which the entire instalment seemed to be built around.

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai - Episode 9

Confusing those last week's adventures might have been, facing off against a nine-tailed demon fox (no, not Naruto) is a pretty clear focal point for Sasami-san@Ganbaranai's ninth episode as it kicks off.

Thankfully, exactly what is going on is explained in short order, as it's revealed that said demon fox actually attached itself to Sasami over a decade previously, waiting for a moment of sufficient regret on Sasami's part to unleash its powers by feeding from the Amaterasu within Sasami with a view towards changing history, the effects of which we can see before us.  Can Sasami alone confront and stop this monstrous presence with plans for world domination?

Luckily for her she doesn't need to, as her mother is brought back into the picture and, thanks to Tsurugi, we take a jaunt through both Sasami and (more specifically) Juju's past - it's a journey that gives Sasami more context and knowledge about those feelings of regret and what she should do with Amaterasu's power moving forward, which in turn gives them the upper hand when it comes to defeating the enemy currently facing them.  Thus, the day is won, Sasami and her mother are back on good terms, and all is well in the world - at least, until some new "friends" for Sasami turn up...

After such a muddled episode last week, this latest instalment of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai at least feels a whole lot more satisfying when taken as a whole - parts of its narrative were (necessarily, perhaps) jumbled and some of its supernatural elements are still far from being particularly compelling, but there was enough humour and verve to offset that to at least some degree and some of the important core points of the show's wider story were also resolved reasonably well.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I prefer it when this series is trying to be a comedy with supernatural elements than a supernatural story with comedy elements, but the series seems determined to go down the latter path.  I'm not sure that it has an interesting enough premise to succeed in convincing me that this is the right path traverse, but at least the show has enough flair to make me want to watch it while it tries to do so if nothing else.

Vividred Operation - Episode 9

Understandably given that the relationship between Aoi and Akane is now well established, this week's Vividred Operation instead switches its focus towards the friendship between Himawari and Wakaba instead.

More pointedly, much of the episode's focus stems from a shopping trip undertaken by this duo, with Himawari dressed up to the nines at her friend's request.  This choice of clothing certainly means that our normally quiet heroine receives no shortage of attention, but while the usual surfeit of male attention is quickly brushed off it's rather a different story when a representative of a high profile fashion magazine approaches Himawari with a view to a photo shoot.

Once this one-off shoot turns into something more professional, Himawari is left torn between her normal (well, normal for her) interests and this potential new career path - despite Wakaba's enthusiasm, Himawari is rather less impressed with the whole thing; a lack of interest which leads to her bending her friend to her will.  When Himawari loses the hairpins given to her by Wakaba however, we see just how close the relationship between the two of them can be, and not a moment too soon with a new Alone quite literally falling from the sky.

After putting some meat onto its bones over the past couple of weeks, it's a bit disappointing to see Vividred Operation offering up another throwaway episode - there was nothing within this episode regarding its character interactions that we couldn't have extrapolated for ourselves, and even the obligatory Alone attack did little to impress this time around compared to the stand-out moments of previous instalments.  Although it feels like this should be the point where the series is driving home everything that makes it impressive, instead we were treated to the most unimaginative episode yet - a state of affairs that the series will hopefully resolve as we enter what should be its end-game.