The shoe at least partially dropped in this week’s Girlish Number, forcing Chitose to… well, quickly learn how to act at a light novel-ready level and thus avoid much personal growth altogether. I was still happy to see this episode challenging Chitose, even if its resolution was pretty convenient, and I assume this means things will hopefully get tougher for her going forward. Chitose is a jerk, and jerks who are unchallenged by the world don’t make for the best protagonists. As long as Girlish Number doesn’t let her get away with being herself, it’ll continue to be a very entertaining show.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
The first conference here feels more real, likely because Kuzu talks less. The original creators’ anger is understandable, as is the perspective of the anime staff
Chitose’s arrogance already a problem
More great jokes about this awful source material
Chitose’s voice acting is really stiff and terrible – even in an awful scene like this, you can tell
Chitose is the worst. “Can’t everyone see how valuable I am”
Chitose really doesn’t want to believe she’s not special
Chitose learning that people don’t always mean what they say – she’s ostensibly cynical herself, but she’s always taken the complements of others at face value. And now she’s realizing sometimes it’s just easier to say she’s doing fine when she isn’t
The background art is pretty bad for this show
“Do you know any trick to get better super fast?”
She has to get into the character’s head
And of course, she gets lucky and immediately improves. That’s kind of the balance you have to go for with a character like Chitose – bruised enough to stay relatable, lucky enough to stay arrogant
I really like the pro mentioning how the studio actually just wants dull acting
I can’t decide whether I like this kind of thing – the constant anticipation of something bad happening. There are a lot of reasons I like stories like this; that Chitose didn’t immediately change her attitude and overcome her problem is not what I usually see (though perhaps that means I need to find other things to watch). I just don’t know what to expect from Girlish Number, though: I doubt it’ll end with Chitose unchanged and having made a huge mess of everything, but that a lot of other people are also horrible makes me wonder.
The first thing it reminds me of is Gatchaman Crowds: Insight, because though I liked just about everything else about it, I couldn’t help but think that it was like watching an 18-wheeler crash and skid down a sidewalk in slow motion. You knew Gelsadrump was going to become a dictator, and that the people were going to form angry oppressive mobs, but it just took so long for it to happen. At the same time, you knew Hajime was probably going to Jesus a solution – though maybe not that she’d actually pull a Jesus – so we did understand that things would turn out okay. That things were so drawn out was still painful. This is also the thing that makes Watamote sad, because Tomoko never actually changes, and at least when I read/watch it, I feel like I really want that to happen. Araragi is kind of the same – you knew he was going to ruin everything when he went back in time to save Hachikuji – but Monogatari is about teaching those lessons, and I’m more at peace with it (I’m also probably too Araragi-ish so I don’t mind as much when he’s stupid). I guess I trust Monogatari to do a good job with him, because it makes thinking about and caring for people’s problems its job.
Does that make sense at all? You know, I suppose in Watamote, you know things won’t change, and in Monogatari and Gatchaman you expect they will. I feel like with Girlish Number you just don’t know. Yeah, that’s how I feel. I guess that’s interesting.