Today on Why It Works, it’s time for my regularly-scheduled Crunchyroll recommendations for the season. Amazon picking up the season’s actual highlights did make this one a bit tougher to write, but my tastes are very specific anyway, so it’s not too hard to find shows other people might enjoy. Here’s the piece!
Times are tough, my friends. Having just powered through every season premiere that’s available on basically any streaming service, I am left with mere grains of sand, anime fragments that tumble through my hands as I seek to shape them into watchable shows. Seasons have been dry before, but we are in the desert now. My first recommendation for the summer season is “I hope you’re still enjoying My Hero Academia, Re:Creators, or Sakura Quest.” My second recommendation is “I’m sure there’s some backlog you’ve been meaning to get to.”
But still, I didn’t watch through all these friggin’ premieres for nothing. There are least a couple bright spots in the gloom, and even if there weren’t, I’m sure most of you are just here to watch me descend into gibbering and howls as the shows get worse. As usual, I’ll be starting with my top picks and grouping the season’s offerings into general descending tiers. For longer thoughts on all of these shows, click through the title and check out my full ANN reviews (look for Nick Creamer). Buckle up, cause it’s gonna get bumpy. LET’S RUN THIS SEASON DOWN!
Hey all, and welcome back to Casshern Sins. The show’s last episode was probably the best episode of the second half so far, offering a rousing look into Ohji’s backstory that tied him and Ringo into the heart of the narrative. It also saw the show’s principal players congregating and moving ever closer to some sort of final confrontation, with both Casshern’s group and Dio now on the immediate path to Luna. Of course, we’ve still got a full third of the show left, so there are bound to be a few complications on the way. But as long as no bad thing ever happens to Ringo at any point, I think we’ll be okay. Let’s get to it!
It’s time for Chihayafuru! We’ve fully transitioned over to the modern-day narrative now, though things certainly haven’t settled into any kind of reliable neutral. The main issue now seems to be that Arata’s gloomy-ass self has given up on karuta for some reason, leaving Chihaya with only two legs of her three-legged karuta stool. Taichi would clearly be fine with that, since he’s never really demonstrated much passion for katura outside of its ability to bring him closer to Chihaya, but Chihaya herself is presumably not pleased.
The depth of her desire is frankly still pretty unfathomable to me – not only did Chihaya only spend a few days playing karuta with the boys back in elementary school, but she’s passed through the entirety of middle school since then. I suppose I kind of have to accept some contrived “destined companions” stuff given the genre, but that disconnect keeps making it tough to engage with this show’s drama on the terms it demands. The matches themselves are great, but the connective tissue is a little iffy. But we’re still early in the show and it’s still fun to watch, so hopefully Chihayafuru will earn its drama over time. Let’s get to it!
And we’re back with the second volley of new premieres! The summer season continues to be pretty much terrible on the whole so far, with my prospects at this point basically just amounting to one new show. Fortunately, that new show was actually terrific – I’ve heard questionable things about the source material, but Made in Abyss’s first episode was phenomenal. And hey, you guys don’t actually have to watch everything else, you can just enjoy me suffer.
As usual, you can see the full list of reviews over at ANN, or click below for my latest scores and direct links. Happy hunting!
Alright everybody, let’s get back to Aikatsu. Last episode was a pretty important turning point for the series, and by that I mean “last episode was good, unlike the previous two, which were unfortunately bad.” Contrary to what many angry fans may think, I actually vastly prefer watching good things to bad things – I’d like to spend my very limited time on earth appreciating things that I find interesting or meaningful, not laughing at stuff that doesn’t work for me. “Ichigo undergoes rigorous/absurd training to improve her signature-writing” is a hell of a lot better than whatever the previous episodes were doing, so I’m hoping things stay kinda ridiculous from here out. Aikatsu ho!
Preview week is in full swing now, which means it’s time to to briefly take stock of all the nonsense I’ve watched. So far, Restaurant to Another World is pretty much the only thing I might follow up on, and that one’s honestly more likely to be dropped. With Kakegurui having been swept up by Netflix and Symphogear nowhere to be seen, the season’s still looking pretty barren. That’s okay, though – I’ve still got three continuing shows, after all, and there are plenty of contenders left to come. We’ll ride this storm out like we’ve done before!
You can check out my scores and links to individual writeups below, or just head to the overall preview guide right here.
Natsume’s thirteenth episode, the final episode of its first season, offers a beautiful culmination of all this season has accomplished. First off, it’s simply lovely in a visual sense. Natsume’s vision of rural Japan has always been one of its strongest features, and this episode is rife with beautiful shots of Natsume’s adopted home. Whether he’s trudging through the woods or gazing out across the open fields, shots here are framed to emphasize the rich colors and layered architecture of the world around him. With the trees alive in fall colors, Natsume’s world has never looked lovelier than this.
And so Tsuki ga Kirei comes to an end. Like the show itself, this episode was imperfect but unbelievably charming, a soothing balm in a very harsh world. Tsuki ga Kirei let its lovable heroes enjoy their happy ending, and even spoiled us with a charming credits sequence of their life down the road. I’m gonna miss these awkward kids.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! Last episode saw Doremi and the gang returning to the magical world, where they just barely passed their Level 8 exams and even ran into the queen of all witches. It was a surprisingly fantasy-focused episode for a series that generally just uses magic to illustrate pretty mundane personal problems. That’s certainly not a bad thing, though – the show’s premise is loose enough to facilitate episodes using as much or little magic as they need. Let’s see what Doremi’s latest adventure brings!