Fine recovery from Rolling Girls this week – to make up for last week’s slowness, this one kicked into narrative overdrive, pushing pretty much the whole cast along a variety of story tracks. There were some funny jokes, a great fight, and just a general sense of energy that kept momentum high even when the show attempted to dramatically overreach. Hopefully things stay this fun through the end!
My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!
Scientists investigating an alien planet! The Moon Hall! Only accessible once every several centuries!
So of course this must be where both Chiaya and the moonstones came from
So yeah, the President and her daughter are from an alternate universe, and the “Moon Hall” is our earth
Ai got caught by a master fencer, Haru Fujiwara, while stealing peaches
The Okayama Demons taxes are oppressing the town of Okayama
Great backgrounds as usual. I like this rose window behind the Best
The captain is Ura Kukino
Ai just thinks Haru should beat up the Best. Ai thinks all problems can be solved through strength, of course
“Extreme Double Super Moon” goddamnit Rolling Girls
“I don’t care what planet you’re from, but is it true that Otonashi from my squad was the one kidnapped?”
Ah, the stars are used as fuel for the engine units to get Chiaya back
And Nozomi’s looking for Yukina
The assistant sneaking in the pirate den
And now Yukina is just wandering around in the pirate base herself since her sense of direction is so bad, and even putting up Chiaya fliers. That’s pretty great
And Yukina actually ends up getting herself captured trying to stop Otonashi from escaping. Great stuff
“Can we really fight with these?” “I think it has more practical use than a lucky charm.” Again pointing to the way moonstones are less important than personal resolutions
This episode is also low-key, but it has more structure than the last one, at least
“The Mimasaka Peaches have decided to eliminate the ogres.” so they’re riffing on a classic story here
Ura Kukino once protected Okayama from the Ishizukuri Stones
Ah, Momo’s the daughter. So there’s the whole peach thing
Momotaro befriends a dog, monkey, and pheasant. We’ve got a dog and an ostrich, so is Ai the monkey?
The old Hiroshima leader is getting his license beaten out of him by the pirate queen
This is like a hyper-extreme version of Rolling Girls’ usual problem – why do I care about this guy at all?
Kuramochi’s the old leader
AW SHIT THIS BAMBOO FIGHT IS SWEET
Kaguya is the woman. Kick ass
And Nozomi’s trying to stop her
Nozomi finally gets yelled at for trying to interfere, as she needed to
ono they’re gonna cook chiaya
Momo joined the Peaches
Nozomi’s feeling overwhelmed. “I want to eat Mom’s dango… I miss Dad…”
Chiaya’s actually a much better negotiator than Nozomi
These backgrounds are so good. The multilayered cut paper is reminding me of Madoka Rebellion
Aw, she does have a monkey – it’s like a weird sloth hanging around her ostrich’s neck