We’re clearly in the Just Because! endgame now, with this episode taking us all the way through Mio and Eita’s misguided exams. I’m still too annoyed by their inability to communicate to really root for them, but if you were rooting for them, this episode was extremely gracefully constructed, contrasting their two journeys and smartly building towards their simultaneous exams. BUT ENA, THOUGH.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Let’s continue our journey through A Tale of Memories! Last episode was a serious spirit breaker, with its first half dedicated to the seeming dissolution of Renji and Chihiro’s relationship, and its second half diving deep into Miyako’s heretofore unknown childhood trauma. The sudden reveal and immediate consequences of that trauma were a little clumsy, but the visual execution was terrific, and the episode overall placed us in a fraught dramatic space for this here eighth episode. I’m not exactly sure how things could get worse at the moment, so I’m hopeful we’ll see some actual, much-needed honest communication between our main pairs. But then again, ef is an unabashed melodrama, so things very well could get insanely worse in any number of ways. Let’s find out!
Today I’ve got a streaming review of Recovery of an MMO Junkie! The show was one of the most engaging romances I’ve seen in a while, and in general just a very welcome ray of sunshine in a largely miserable real-world year. It told a tightly written romance well, offered plenty of alternately goofy and sharp reflections on anxiety and adulthood, and pretty much made the absolute most of its ten-episode run. Always nice to see such an altogether accomplished and positive production.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Another of our beloved contenders set sail this week, with MMO Junkie ending on a kinda mediocre but still relatively charming OVA episode. Outside of that, the fall season continued to offer nothing but hits this week, with Sunshine managing its second strong episode in a row while all the season’s more stable contenders maintained their usual sheen. I have to admire March comes in like a lion for its confidence in continuously interrupting its excellent Hina arc with diversions that all turn out to be satisfying enough to warrant messing with the narrative structure. March’s choices don’t at all feel like the way this story “should” be told, but at this point, the embellishments feel like expert saxophone solos threaded into a confident jazz standard. Meanwhile, Lustrous continues to surprise in new ways, while Just Because! keeps up its awkward-as-hell consistency once again. It is so very nice when the anime is good. Let’s GET TO IT!
Episode seven opens with the unexpected, unwanted consequences of Cocona and Papika’s emotional meddling. Having “solved” Iroha Irodori’s childhood trauma, it appears they’ve also stolen her passion for artistic self-expression. A need to create is often born in a desire to articulate and perhaps come to terms with your scars; with Iro’s relationship with her childhood friend now resolved without regrets, she currently sees no reason to paint, claiming her works “just take up space, anyway.” Cocona feels guilty for this shift, and the ambiguity of her feelings points to a greater general truth. We don’t need to be ashamed of our unhappiness or our strangeness or our trauma – those are all a part of us, and even if we can’t see anything positive in our pain, that pain may still contribute to our finest qualities in its own way. We shouldn’t fetishize suffering, but also shouldn’t be ashamed of being wounded or imperfect – a fact Cocona herself is only slowly coming to realize.
March veered away from the ongoing Hina-Rei drama again this week, instead focusing on Rei’s just-defeated opponent Junkei. In any other show, this would be a frustrating diversion, but Junkei’s story was just so damn charming that I was completely taken in by his worldview, anxieties, and utterly pure love of pigeons. Anybody who cares about pigeons this much can’t be a bad guy. Damnit March, you made me care about another one.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Today on Crunchyroll, I returned to March comes in like a lion to plot out the biggest thematic thread of its most recent arc. Considering how long and well-observed Rei’s initial journey out of total dependence was, it makes sense that the show dedicates equal care to demonstrating how even when we want to help others, we’re often not really able to do that much. Rei’s Newcomer Tournament match managed to hinge on that concept while simultaneously offering a satisfying win for Rei, which was a very tricky balance. March is just a remarkably solid show altogether.
Let’s dive right back in to Chihayafuru! Episode nineteen was definitely one of the show’s best so far, showcasing two riveting matches between the four non-Chihaya members of the main team. All four of these characters have become strong enough to carry matches through their own dramatic weight, and though Nishida’s style likely still needs a bit more texturing, all three of the others have developed distinctive and engaging specialties. Tsutomu’s mix of anxiety and opponent analysis make for tense and easily followed matches, Kana’s focus on the narrative of the cards makes her sequences some of the most visually creative of the overall show, and Taichi’s mastery of memorization and constant self-analysis can make it physically painful to watch him fight. I’d be happy to see any of them headline a match again soon.
The show’s likely going to change gears a bit now that their current tournament is over, but Chihayafuru is so fast-paced that I have to imagine we’re only half an episode away from whatever the next match will be. Is it finally time for Arata to rejoin the narrative? Either way, I am extremely ready for some more Chihayafuru!
This was a pretty routine episode of Just Because!, though I might just be saying that because the big focus scene this time was centered on Hazuki and Haruto, and neither of those people are Ena. Regardless, it offered that same blend of grounded romance and melancholy that has been the show’s most consistent export, and things really do seem to be coming towards a satisfying close. Just Because! remains an unassumingly excellent character drama.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Wandering Son’s final episode bears the apt title “Forever a Wandering Son.” ‘Wandering’ carries a very different connotation from the more straightforward ‘journeying’ or ‘travelling.’ Wandering implies there isn’t necessarily some set destination, and that sometimes our path may cross right back over itself, or bring us somewhere wholly unexpected. To wander is to seek without certainty, to embrace the journey for its own sake. Personal identity is just such a journey, and it’s not something that comes with a clear starting and ending point. We wander in search of our happiest selves, but it’s only by embracing that wandering as its own natural state that we can truly hope to be happy.