After taking a week off, Frieren is back, but it’s not back to what has been the status quo for the season – i.e., shorter vignettes about various experiences Frieren and her companions have while continuing to travel north. No, even if I hadn’t seen the upcoming episodes advertised as a story arc, that would have been evident within this episode’s first couple of minutes. There’s a threat lingering out on the Northern Plateau, one that’s enough of a challenge that even Frieren’s group might not be able to tackle it alone when called into service. (Apparently one consequence of being a first-class mage is that Serie can order you around.) And that provides a golden opportunity to bring back a couple more characters from the First Class Mage Exam arc.
To be specific, the cuteness-obsessed Methode appears again, and this time she’s working with Genau, the administrator of the first exam of the first-class mage exam, in a “pair the rookie with the veteran” situation. It’s a sensible pairing in both pragmatic and storytelling senses; Genau seems to be a combat-focused mage who has either suppressed or discarded outward displays of emotion but clearly still cares more than his words indicate, while Methode is a much more empathetic individual who is a jack-of-all-trades magically but seems to specialize in analysis. (And she still has the running joke about how cute she finds elves to provide the humor angle.)
That results in the episode mostly being an analytical one, as first Genau and Methode, later joined by Frieren and crew, try to reconstruct what happened at the village and what foe or foes they’re up against. But that’s both fine and perfectly in line with the series’ normal modus operandi, and the way it’s done is still interesting. That an autopsy spell actually exists makes such perfect sense (especially for this setting), yet I cannot recall another magic-using anime series which uses something equivalent. Examining wounds and damage to get a sense of the kind of foe the party it looking for or to solve some mystery is a fairly common element in tabletop RPGs (computer RPGs tend to not bother with it), to the extent that I’ve even used it as a significant plot point in Dungeons and Dragons adventures I’ve written in the past, and I’ve seen other fantasy series where a skilled warrior will reconstruct a battle scene to get a sense of a target’s movement ( the live-action version of The Witcher immediately comes to mind), but neither commonly gets such attention in anime. Pinning down that an opponent had to be using four blades because even two would have required unrealistic movements is a neat touch, and good to see that Stark wasn’t useless on that front.
The other interesting detail here is what Genau explains about burial practices on the Northern Plateau. Graveyards aren’t practical unless they’re in walled cities or behind magical barriers, as apparently even buried bodies attract monsters, so bodies are either cremated or shipped to common graves farther south. Unsurprisingly, religion can be a sticking point on the former options, but it is interesting how Genau acknowledges both the spiritual and practical viewpoints on the issue as legitimate.
One other interesting observation here: at least four of the five individuals present for this investigation have lost their homes to battle and three of the five lost them to demons. (Fern is a war orphan but demons were never described as being a factor in that.) The only possible outlier is Methode, and we simply don’t know anything about her background at this point.
Six-armed demons wielding six swords have been a staple element of Dungeons and Dragons throughout all its incarnations over the years, and now it seems we have a variation on that afoot. It wasn’t the only powerful demon around, either; there was also the lizard guy, the one who seemed to be carrying a Buddhist-style monk’s staff, and at least one other. Not sure exactly where this is going plot-wise at this point, but the time for more relaxed adventures certainly seems to be over for a while.
Most of the plot covered by this episode was covered in the last episode of the live-action TV series, so I mostly knew what to expect here. However, I greatly prefer this version of the events. Everything which transpires just lands with much more impact done this way.
The first big matter is sorting out why Kana got caught up in the situation in the first place. The previous two episodes certainly made it look like Mako deliberately arranged the situation which led to Kana going off alone with the director, and I had been operating under the assumption that Mako was setting up Kana for a fall. However, Miyako’s supposition here in the Strawberry Productions office – that the paparazzi was actually staking out the director, and Kana was just collateral damage – is far more plausible. That Mako may have had a grudge against the director, and just didn’t care who got in trouble along with him, makes far more sense given his reputation, and Miyako makes a good point that, while B Komachi is on the rise, they’re not big enough yet to warrant that kind of specific scandal interest from the tabloids. That doesn’t change the fact that Kana will still be scandalized, though.
That Aqua would step in to try to do something about the situation makes both narrative and logical sense. Despite him backing off last episode when Kana seemed determined to weather the oncoming storm, we know he’s not completely heartless. He does apparently feel at least some responsibility for Kana, and he does want to help out Ruby. That sets up the first of the episode’s two most striking visuals: Ruby’s expression with one eye star shining white to show that she sincerely wants to help her friend despite the dark crusade she’s on (as represented by the dark star in her left eye). But as savvy has Ruby has become lately, she apparently didn’t realize what Aqua meant by the cost of his plan.
To Aqua’s credit, he does at least try to rectify the matter using previous lesser tactics – i.e., appealing to the reporter’s sense of decency over Kana being a high schooler. Since Kana is 18, though, the reporter has firmer ground to stand on in a moral sense, even if he admits himself that it’s still a tasteless thing to do. That leaves Aqua with having to pull out his big gun: bury one scandal by providing a far, far juicier one. Thus we finally get the series’ most explosive revelation since the first episode of season 1: the truth about Ai being his and Ruby’s mother coming out.
Frankly, I love how this adaptation handles this part. The directorial and musical choices lend real weight to the impact of this revelation, and by jumping around we get to see an all-too-realistic array of reactions. Some are stunned, others respond with disappointment about how it tarnishes their memory of a beloved idol, and still others suspect that Aqua might have spilled the beans as part of a strategy to get ahead or just use this as an opportunity to bad-mouth both idols and their agencies in general. (And you know this would happen IRL). But there are also fans touched by the emotional resonance of the story – that Ruby is literally following in her mother’s footsteps, and what better way to honor her mother’s memory? And while there are some reactions we don’t see that I wish we would (Kana’s in particular, as once she gets over the shock, she’ll have to realize that the timing here isn’t coincidence), the most impactful one is Ruby’s. She’s on record as having intended to take the secret that Ai was her mother to the grave, and that Aqua would pull this stunt without consulting her in more than a vague way has undoubtedly left her furious, to the point that we get another striking, never-before-seen eye pattern, with those dark stars now glimmering:
Somewhat surprisingly, though, the strongest reaction is actually Akane’s. She’s not surprised by the content of the revelation, since she had pretty much figured out this truth already, but she does take it as a sign that it’s time for her to make her big, serious move, too, and act on the information she has. She’s even using the same type of flower bundle that Ai’s killer carried, and despite her words to the contrary, I have no doubt that Akane was fully intending to use that knife rather than just bringing it along as a precaution. Would she have gone this far, I wonder, if she had known that Aqua had already realized that his father was still alive and thus was back on the revenge track? I also have to wonder how she had planned to try to get away with this assassination; after all, Ai’s killer certainly didn’t survive it in the long run.
But that’s where the other devastating truth comes out: Aqua has had her bugged, and for a long time now (ever since shortly after Love for Real). That’s a pretty damn huge overstep, especially once he startd taking (or at least seemingly taking) their relationship for real. Up until that point it was somewhat justifiable given that he was using Akane to figure out the truth about his father, but tracking your genuine girlfriend without her knowledge is completely outside of proper boyfriend behavior, and Akane has every right to feel betrayed about that; the irony, of course, is that she makes this complaint while being interrupted from doing something far out of line herself. The result is one of the most painful anime break-ups I’ve seen in a while. The even sadder thing is that Aqua cares enough about Akane to not want to drag her down with him, though that still doesn’t put him in the right here.
The break-up is even more significant because it effectively marks the Point of No Return for Aqua. Akane was his path to a more normal life, but he’s now shut that down, hence giving the impression that he’s now locked on a path to a self-destructive end, and he knows it. The two big questions now are how he’s going to go about his descent into Hell (and make his father hurt the worst in the process) and how Ruby is going to react to this. And, perhaps also, how Hikaru Kamiki is going to react to this news. Was going as far as revealing this truth to get his father’s attention always going to be part of Aqua’s plan, and shielding Kana from a scandal just gave him a good excuse to use it?
We now may be locked in for the course to the highly controversial ending that manga fans have complained about, but the execution in dealing with this pivotal series of events is superb. The darkness never fully goes away in this series, and now it’s back on center stage.
We’re past the midway point of the series (with the earliest-starting series even looking at episode 8 now!), so it’s past time to take a look at how the titles I’ve wound up following are doing.
In all, I’ve kept up with 19 series this season. The two which are getting episode reviews (Frieren and Oshi no Ko) are not getting covered here, since I’ve written plenty about them in other posts. The other 17 are all being covered here. Most notable among this group is the first A+ grade I’ve given in a long time (if ever?) for a series on a Mid-Season Report. It’s not the only high grade, either; this has proven to be a quite strong season for quality titles so far.
Chained Soldier 2
Rating So Far: C+
This season actually may look even better than the first and certainly doesn’t disappoint on the fan service front. However, it has struggled to come up with anything interesting on plot and character development fronts, and minimizing Yuki’s time with Kyouka in favor of introducing other girls isn’t helping. The fan service and quality character designs are the only reasons I’m still watching this one at this point, and it’s currently my lowest-priority view among titles I’m current on.
Champignon Witch
Rating So Far: B+
There are so many truly good series this season that the special things this series is doing can easily get overlooked. It offers some of the most fascinating world-building in recent memory, especially in terms of what distinguishes Luna from other witch characters in anime and the very unconventional way her magic works. That Luna is the titular character but not the viewpoint character is also an interesting choice; in retrospect, the view of the world is always from outside her, and this is especially true once Lize becomes a regular cast member. More recent episodes also add in more philosophical commentaries, such as by virtually outright stating that a personal can’t properly grow if they eschew all bad memories. And while it’s far from being the season’s most visually dynamic series, its visual style does give it the children’s storybook kind of feel I think the series was aiming for. (Especially those hats worn by the other dark witches!) While it’s far from a priority view, it’s much too interesting a series to give up.
Dark Moon: Blood Altar
Rating So Far: C
By the halfway point of the series, protagonist Sooha now has nearly a dozen hot guys hanging around; the potential problem for her is that they’re all either vampires or werewolves (or, in one case, both). At least the series doesn’t continue to drag out that secret, as the whole “we like her but she’d hate us if she knew we were vampires” angst was already getting old. With those revelations coming out at the midway point, the plot also thickens some – a welcome development. Of course, there’s still the mystery of why Sooha is so strong (which is underplayed in the mid-season reveal since the guys have to be allowed to come to her rescue) and why she can seem to compel both sides of the vampire/werewolf conflict (although she’s still unaware of that ability). At its core it’s still nothing more than a supernatural reverse harem series, though.
Fate/Strange Fake
Rating So Far: A-
I have seen nearly all of the Fate franchise (notably excepting the Fate/Grand Order game), but apparently that’s not enough to keep up with everything this series is throwing at the viewer. However, I swiftly found myself not caring one bit about that because the series is just that much of a spectacle. We have a fake Grail War being used as the foundation to seed a real Grail War, so there’s to be 13 Mage/Servant pairings in all (including some very unconventional ones), and that makes for all kinds of dynamic possibilities even if we didn’t have a priest who should theoretically be supervising the war going balls-to-the-wall against a Dead Apostle (read: vampire) in one of the most eye-popping action battles in series animation in recent memory. The writing even finds time for significant character development, too! It stakes a strong case for being the season’s top action-focused title and is easily among the top 5 overall.
Hell’s Paradise2
Rating So Far: B
This season got off to a bit of a rough start, but by episode 3 the series settled back into its more normal routine of intricate martial arts scenarios and fantastical monsters. The season does focus even more heavily than the previous one on Taoism and related spiritual elements, though, and that can be hard to follow at times. It’s still also too early to tell how the newcomers to the island are going to affect the efforts of the Gabimaru-led alliance of most of the survivors of the first wave and their efforts to secure the Elixir of Life from the Tensen. For now, the personalities are distinct and interesting enough, and the exotic designs and animation flashy enough, to merit continuing with the series.
Journal With Witch
Rating So Far: A+
Calling this the best series of the season so far seems inadequate; this one is a contender for one of the best titles of the decade if it maintains at the level it’s been operating on so far. With some artistic interpretation but no sensationalism, the series takes an achingly deep look at how Makio and Asa struggle to relate to each other, define their current relationship, and move forward as they deal with the memory of the woman who was sister to one and mother to the other. Particularly fascinating is the markedly different views each has about Minori and the insight in a recent episode that neither of them actually at all understood how Minori really felt herself. While not exactly a tearjerker, there is plenty of content here which can be emotionally devastating, and Makio in particular is a fascinating mess of a character on her own. The direction, musical support, and voice acting are all outstanding, but it’s the keenly insightful original writing which most carries the show. This is a show I strongly recommend even if you think this kind of fare is not normally your thing.
Kunon the Sorcerer Can See
Rating: B
This one has offered a surprise or two. The notion of a protagonist who seeks to use magic in a creative way to enable himself to see is novel enough, but what’s even more novel is the mystery which appears when he finally succeeds. What do the odd things that he can see which no one else apparently can perceive at all mean? That mystery has become a driving force in the series as it transfers to a Magic School arc, which I have some trepidation about partly because it could shift the series to a more ordinary format and partially because it will separate Kunon from his fiancee (with whom he has a neat relationship) for a time. Still, it’s been a better-than-expected series so far, and the most recent episode has shown that Kunon being an irrepressible flirt has not dimmed, so I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now.
Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power
Rating: B-
While I perfectly understand how difficult it is to get past the protagonist’s name (Noah Ararat), this has proved to be a halfway decent isekai reincarnation story so far. Noah takes a pragmatic and sometimes ruthless approach not too dissimilar from Tanya in Saga of Tanya the Evil, though he does show at least some compassion. And while he does have some personal power, he advances himself more through administrative acumen and insight. Still, the series can’t fully escape power fantasy trappings, such as his corps of sexy maids and bodyguards. The series is graced by the season’s second-best closing song (after only Frieren‘s), though I wish the series would do something with the character who sings it. (She’s only appeared in regular content so far as Noah’s favorite live performer, and I don’t think she’s had a word of non-sung dialog.)
Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling
Rating So Far: B-
Honestly, this series is mostly just a standard “reincarnated as a monster in a game mechanics-based world” isekai variation, with a spirit and approach somewhat in line with So I’m a Spider, So What? While Shunichi Toki can’t quite carry this series like Aoi Yuki did in its predecessor, he does adequately in making the hatchling an engaging character, and the addition of the Venom Lizard certainly helps. The series manages just enough charm with the hatchling’s antics, the somewhat snarky System Voice, occasional looks at the human side, and suggestions of something more dire going on that neither the human nor monster side has fully identified yet to carry the series along just enough to a mild recommendation. Don’t expect anything more than a genre staple from this one and it probably won’t disappoint.
Roll Over and Die
Rating So Far: B-
Although this one is a favorite, I do have to acknowledge that it suffers some from technical limitations and a few questionable adaptation choices, including significantly altering and rearranging some of the events from episodes 6 and 7 in particular. However, the story is also a bit more involved than normal for the “banished from the Hero’s party” scenario and offers a few unusual twists. It also helps a lot that Flum makes for a great lead character, one who is balanced well between action capabilities and empathy and gradually shows that she’s made of sterner stuff than may initially be apparent. Her yuri-leaning relationship with Milkit is also quite neat. The body horror elements are starting to ramp up further as the series ventures into his second half, but the series has already shown that its edginess isn’t just posing.
Sentenced to Be a Hero
Rating So Far: A-
This season has two top-tier action series, ones capable of producing incredible visual and animation spectacles, and this is the other one. It’s also the much grosser one, as for all the graphic violence in Fate/Strange Fake, it doesn’t have anywhere near the level of body horror embodied in the Faeries which Xylo and crew must face here. Kudos to director Hiroyuki Takashima and Studio Kai for producing a visual feast every bit as colorful as it is grim, but the concept and characters also do their part; I am especially a fan of Norgalle, the hero who thinks he’s a king. Recent episodes have also had some highly satisfying developments on the central Xylo/Teoritta relationship; the series is definitely at its dramatic best when the two are in sync. Kudos also to an excellent English vocal effort. This one may not be on the sublime level of Journal With Witch, but it still earns its place among the top five titles in this packed season.
SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table
Rating So Far: A
This is easily the most artistically stylish series of the season, and somewhat surprisingly for the death game genre, legitimately one of the best. A big chunk of the credit for that goes to director Sota Ueno and his very precise use of scene framing, dramatic pauses, and sparse but impactful background music, but this series is more than just an amazing technical achievement. By carefully not explaining anything more than it absolutely has to through the three story arcs so far, it heightens the sense of unease both in the games and the dystopian world which could bring something like this about, and using plushie stuffing in place of blood to reduce the gore factor somehow makes this all the more monstrous. Kudos also to an especially strong English vocal effort led by Suzie Yeung (Lena from 86, Makima from Chainsaw Man). Not a series for everyone (and actually not because of graphic violence, which isn’t high), but still an absolute treat to watch.
Tamon’s B Side
Rating So Far: B
Is there a funnier show airing this season? This series should not work as well as it does, but every episode it finds just the right balance as Utage tries to be a completely supportive fangirl while still maintaining a respectful distance from her idol Tamon, whether he’s in “Gloomyhara” or “Hottiehara” mode. It gets good humor out of both the contrasts between Tamon’s two sides and her own superfan obsessions and develops some romantic tension without actually getting into the romance aspect. The technical merits here aren’t great, but that’s hardly holding the series back.
The Holy Grail of Eris
Rating So Far: B
The source novels for this series have been lauded for their intricate plotting, and the series has certainly lived up to that billing, especially through its second quarter. The execution isn’t perfect, as sometimes situations develop so quickly that I have to wonder if some details aren’t being skipped over, but in general the series has done a fine job of showing that the intrigues which got Scarlet killed may be part of something much, much bigger and more ominous. Constance and Scarlet also make an excellent team; while Scarlet is certainly the more savvy of the two and regularly bails Constance out of tough situations, Constance is increasingly showing her own grit, too. This one is always a delight to watch and would probably be among my favorites of the season in a weaker season.
The Invisible Man and His Soon-To-Be Wife
Rating So Far: B
Though it definitely has its share of light-hearted moments, this series is closer to being a pure romance than a romantic comedy, and it’s a pure, sweet delight in that regard. I love the way it just casually populates a modern society with all sorts of non-human races (Akira isn’t even the only invisible person to appear), and vignettes in a couple of episodes even explore that more deeply; the dark elf in an elf couple has curse powers that he’s concerned could influence a potential child, and the catperson on Akira’s staff worries over finding clothing that works well with the patterns on her fur. The series is also quite thoughtful and specific about portraying the adaptations for Shizuka’s blindness and its technical merits, while pretty plain overall, do a fantastic job of maintain design consistency around Akira being invisible. Of course, the core attraction of the series is the gradually developing Akira/Shizuka romance. It’s one of the season’s better low-key views.
The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom
Rating: D
In the “why am I still watching this?” category, we have this reverse harem/villainess series. It wars with Roll Over and Die for the season’s most ridiculous naming conventions but far undercuts it on technical merits; even accounting for stylistic choices that tend to give this a storybook art feel, this is at least among the worst-looking and worst-animated titles of the season. But its flaws aren’t just on the technical front. A change of venue in episode 5 dispenses with the one interesting plot point (i.e., that this is a double-isekai situation) and Tiararose is easily one of the most pathetic heroines we’ve seen yet from this kind of series; she doesn’t really do much more than worry over things. (It doesn’t help that Mai Fuchigami, whose vocal work I have liked in other titles, has somehow found a singularly annoying vocal quality to infuse Tiararose with.) Even the occasional hints that there might be a compelling force in this setting guiding the story in a certain direction isn’t all that interesting, as it’s been done much better elsewhere. I’ll probably limp along with this one to conclusion, but it’s certainly my bottomfeeder of the season so far.
There Was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party, So I Tried Confessing to Her
Rating So Far: B-
I actually was considering rating this one a notch higher, but a mind-numbingly stupid and anachronistic Valentine’s Day episode discouraged me for forgiving the series for some artistic weak points. It’s still a decidedly different take on the standard isekai scenario, with at least two other potential, independent romantic couples besides central duo Yoki and Cecilia (three if you count the married couple of the Guildmaster and Cecilia’s head maid) and a generally solid supporting cast overall. Yoki’s efforts to woo Cecilia gradually being successful (and, amusingly, having her mother’s full approval!) is also fun to watch, and Yoki isn’t the only (kinda-former) demon integrating peacefully into human society, either. Not a great series by any means, but mostly a fun view.
That’s it for this time around. Weekly episode reviews will continue, and watch for the Winter ’26 Wrap-Up the last week of March.
Much of the story territory covered by this episode was also dealt with in the last regular episode of the live-action TV version, but I infinitely prefer this version of how Kana’s potential scandal is handled. That’s because this version both provides a lot more context and portrays Kana in a way much more in line with her established character.
To be fair, the scandal hasn’t entirely played out yet; by the end of the episode, Kana’s only been approached by a reporter and made aware that she was photographed leaving Shima’s office and Strawberry Productions has also become aware of the situation, so we’re only seeing initial reactions and not the actual release of anything accusatory; so far, the potential accusations are only in Kana’s head. And her immediate reaction is the kind of one which would be expected from an 18-year-old, even a notably industry-savvy one. The most interesting part of this is that Kana’s quickest thought is about how this would negatively affect B Komachi, not herself, but this isn’t a surprise or at all inconsistent; we’ve always seen her in the headspace of worrying about how her own perceived failures affect others.
Conspicuously, Miyako doesn’t panic; she just laments that this is going to be trouble. This could be her greater experience or because of the point made during Ruby’s earlier ruminations in the dressing room: that scandals in the entertainment industry aren’t necessarily the complete career-killers they once were. This is bolstered by a few real-life cases in recent years of individuals in the anime and manga realms who have managed to continue despite scandals that have even extended to legal issues. Ironically, the same social media flood which has made these scandals so much more difficult to hide is also making it easier for entertainers to survive them, as individual scandals don’t stick out so much anymore with so many of them now out there.
That’s not even factoring into Kana’s thought processes at this point – and the fact that it isn’t makes Kana’s scream late in the episode all the more triumphant. Kana has felt like the deck was stacked against her ever since the waning years of her time as a child star, and that’s made her more resilient than most give her credit for. She hardly immune to feeling inadequate, depressed, or even despair, but her sass isn’t artifice. And frankly, I think she hates the fact that she used memories of Aqua to bail herself out in the incident in Shima’s office and is ashamed that she’s starting to do that again. Her rant after her scream is a powerful declaration of self, and easily my favorite scene of the series so far this season.
While that’s the main feature of the episode, there are other ominous moments at its end. Akane is starting to get closer to a possibly-dangerous truth, and someone mysterious in an alley is tracking someone – maybe her? And is that Hikaru Kamiki? We’ll have to find out more about that and how Strawberry Productions handles the impending scandal next episode.
Episode 3 ended with Stark and Fern set to go out on a date, and the first half of episode 4 deals with how that date plays out. The whole affair is as awkward as might be expected. Stark definitely tries, but he’s still operating more off a pre-set plan than being adaptive to Fern in the moment. That’s not fully what Fern wants, but she can tell that he took the date seriously even if he did propose it in flippant fashion, and that’s enough to satisfy her – for now, anyway. Methinks Stark will have to up his game for the next time around. This is also one of the rare times we’ve seen Fern dressed in anything other than her normal traveling clothes (albeit still in purple!), so seeing her dolled up a bit is a definite treat.
The beginning of episode 4’s second part also casually provides what may be the solution to one of the series’ long-standing mysteries: how the trio can get away with traveling so light. (They’re never shown wearing backpacks, for instance.) While this has never been even hinted at before that I can recall, Frieren’s suitcase is here strongly implied to be a Suitcase of Holding.
The rest of episode 4 and episode 5 then bring us the first tastes about why a First-Class Mage is necessary for an excursion out into the Northern Plateau. Given what the trio encounters, it’s a wonder that anyone can actually live out there still, even with connections to past generations on the land. The Norm Company, introduced in the second half of episode 5, provides a partial solution, but even though it wields power equivalent to a nation, it has its own struggles. Both that encounter and the previous one involving the dwarf obsessed with a legendary liquor bear direct connections to Frieren’s journey with Himmel’s party. In the one case, it involves Frieren taking on a task that her party passed on the first time; in the other case, it involves a debt incurred in the past being used to connive Frieren into finding a new silver vein to help finance the company.
The first of the two episode 5 cases is arguably the more interesting one for two reasons. The first is that it introduces an elf other than Kraft or Serie, one who Frieren apparently knew in the distant past. (The implication here is that she lived in the village that Frieren did, so she may have been slain in the attack that Flamme came across all those centuries ago.) The second is that it addresses a point I’ve long wondered about in my study of history: the possibility that something recorded as history or legend was written facetiously, or even as an outright joke. Per the series’ usual style, It still gets turned into a philosophical point in the end. The second case, which harkens back to a debt incurred during Himmel’s days, is mostly just an excuse to have Frieren truly show off her magic. It’s impressive, though I have to wonder how much of that was just Frieren deliberately making a spectacle out of it to emphasize how irreplaceable her action was.
Overall, both of these episodes are fine but unspectacular for the franchise: enjoyable and with the requisite bits of signature spectacle but not as deep or insightful as much of the rest of the series.
Scarlet is the latest original project from Mamoru Hosoda, the director acclaimed for movies like Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and BELLE. In this case the story is more an original take on one of the classics of English literature: Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This being anime, this naturally wasn’t going to be a straight or close adaptation; given the format available, why do an effort like this without applying a few fantastical spins?
In this case, the base setting (16th century Denmark) and many of the key character names are largely the same as the source material, with the major difference being, of course, that the role of Hamlet is replaced by young princess Scarlet. There are a couple of other key differences: rather than Hamlet/Scarlet learning from her father’s ghost about her uncle’s treachery, she witnesses it first-hand but she’s powerless to do anything about it. That leaves her powerfully driven by revenge as she determinedly trains for the opportunity. Unlike Hamlet, she doesn’t try hide it (or at least doesn’t appear to), which raises the question of why Claudius doesn’t get rid of her, too. This isn’t the last significant logical gap the movie faces, but it’s also largely pushed into irrelevance because the physical world isn’t the main venue for this movie.
No, that would be a barren landscape that isn’t explicitly called Purgatory but might as well be that, one which Scarlet winds up in after being poisoned. There she meets people of many different cultures and times, but also some familiar faces; many of the key characters from Hamlet (though, interestingly, not Queen Gertrude) are also present. The logic behind this is also quite shaky in most cases, even if one accounts for the fact that they wouldn’t have all had to die at the same time to wind up here. You’re also not supposed to think too hard about how Claudius got himself set up as king here, where he got that castle from, or how he came to control access to the setting’s literal Stairway to Heaven stand-in. And hey, let’s not be too concerned about the ultra-massive dragon swimming around in the sea in the sky which generates electrical discharges like a storm. That’s not explained, either.
And that’s at least partly because explaining any of that would distract from the most important person Scarlet meets in that wasteland: a paramedic from modern-day Japan named Hijiri, who’s pretty sure he doesn’t belong here because he doesn’t remember dying. His pure, kind, helping nature presents a stark contrast to Scarlet’s anger and fixation on revenge, which allows him to show her that revenge isn’t necessarily the only way to live. In effect, this is a gender-reversed version of the normal scenario where the woman is the one who soothes the violence and revenge-driven man, and Hijiri was likely made a paramedic specifically to allow a good reason for him to be empathetic. Though he isn’t entirely successful in dissuading Scarlet from revenge, he at least shows her that a life not dominated by it is possible.
Whereas the original Hamlet was a tragedy defined by the destructiveness of revenge, this version ultimately takes the opposite approach by making the story all about Scarlet finding a way to step beyond revenge and despair. Of course, having such a laudable theme doesn’t prevent the movie from liberally sprinkling violent action scenes throughout and finding other excuses for spectacle (see the aforementioned dragon, among others), but those parts are fine, and Scarlet does herself make for a somewhat compelling character as a young woman struggling with revenge. And I have to give the movie some credit for finding a way to fit in Hawaiian dance and song in a credible fashion.
The problem comes with the execution of the story’s structure. The film clocks in at 112 minutes but feels like it was edited down from a significantly longer plan, as there are several places (especially in the late going) where events jump from scene to scene with little plausible progression and some events seem to be there just for spectacle’s sake. The writing also tries too hard to shoehorn in additional Hamlet characters and allusions and never explains why Claudius sees Scarlet as such a threat in Purgatory (or how he’s even aware she’s appeared there). Who or what the old woman who occasionally pops up is supposed to be is also left a mystery, but that’s less of an issue. On the plus side, Hijiri’s efforts to get through to Scarlet are convincing enough to at least partially offset the other narrative problems, a sub-theme about finding a balance between idealism and pragmatism does gel, and the movie does stick firmly to its overall themes about the self-destructiveness of becoming obsessed with revenge.
Despite the writing issues, the movie is worth seeing for its visual component. While there are a few places where the animation is a little stiff, it fluidly handles its fighting action scenes and produces some true visual spectacles, such as an early scene where Scarlet has to struggle to break free of a horde of grasping hands or a late scene involving a volcanic eruption. The movie also looks great in general, with striking character designs and stark depictions of barren landscapes; especially impressive was its willingness to let Scarlet (an unquestionable beauty) get all grimy. There were some slips in artistic quality (one shot at the very end looks rough, and I wasn’t particularly impressed by a couple of sequences in modern-day Japan), and a visual style more reminiscent of limited-animation titles might throw some viewers off, but overall it’s a solid visual presentation. The musical aspect impressed much less, but wasn’t a hindrance.
I went to a showing featuring the English dub and found the vocal performances to generally be quite satisfying, especially Erin Yvette (Tia Noto Yoko in the more recent version of BASTARD!!) as Scarlet; she has one sustained scream scene early on which could put her in the Scream Queen Hall of Fame. She’s fine but less impressive in a couple of places where she’s singing, though the flaws in those cases may be more an issue of working with an awkward translation for the songs. Chris Hackney (Gohan in Dragon Ball Super) also hits exactly the right notes as Hijiri and does well enough in one place where he sings, too. In fact, the only song which isn’t translated into English is the Hawaiian one.
Overall, this isn’t Hosoda’s best work, and I have to agree with it not getting an Academy Awards nomination. However, it’s still plenty worth seeing, especially on a big screen.
After four episodes focusing primarily on Ruby, the series finally remembers that Kana is a core part of the cast rather than just a bit player and gives her some love. Almost too much of it, in fact, and plenty enough to set up the franchise’s next major crisis.
Kana is, understandably, at an emotional low point. Though she’s being successful as part of B Komachi, she’s fully aware that being an idol is more her current role than her nature, and like MEM-cho, she’s now being thoroughly outshone by Ruby despite being the group’s center. She much more desperately wants to be an actor, but her B Komachi and Tokyo Blade successes have not panned out into more acting roles. She also still can’t get over Aqua or the distance he’s keeping from her, and now she think he hates her, too, after misunderstanding what was going on during their encounter in the rain. That’s left her desperate and, thus, vulnerable.
That’s not to say that Kana is entirely unaware of the risky situation she’s putting herself in with this director. She’s been around in the business plenty long enough to have seen and heard things, and so she’s fully aware of all the red flags she’s seeing in this scenario even if she plays it off. Her problem is that she’s her own worst enemy here. The director, while being a bit pushy, isn’t actually forcing anything here. He offered her drinks but didn’t actually try to get her drunk and gives her the option to decline. (Cynically, this could certainly be his way to cover his rear against any potential accusations that he took advantage of her, or it could just be that he’s only partial scum instead of complete scum.) Kana is thus left in the position to decide on the spot how far she’s willing to go to get more acting work. Ironically, it’s ultimately Aqua (or at least the Aqua still firmly lodged in her head) who keeps her from agreeing to something that she almost surely would have regretted later. And, somewhat surprisingly, the director’s actually a decent guy about it. He clearly wanted to get Kana in bed, but he may have also been genuine about wanting to use her as an actor, too.
The problem here is that Kana only defended herself against one part of the pitfall before her. While she did take precautions going into the director’s office (the hat and glasses are hardly a foolproof disguise but should deflect at least casual looks), she didn’t coming out, and that leaves her more vulnerable to a paparazzi who’s just a bit too conveniently waiting for her outside. Frankly, it very much looks like Mako, the actress Kana had gone out to meet, deliberately set her up, too. Why Mako would do this isn’t even hinted at, but she clearly pushed Kana into connecting up with a director with a certain reputation, then deliberately isolated Kana with him. Kana’s cooked, and even (truthfully) asserting that nothing happened isn’t going to be convincing. Perhaps next episode will get into Mako’s motive, but I’m not holding my breath; the series has thrown in things without much explanation before (see the final scene of s2).
That’s not the only big thing going on this episode. At the end of last episode, Akane identified Aqua’s probable father, and now she’s determined to do whatever’s necessary to keep him and Aqua from meeting. Very curious to see how far that goes, especially considering that she didn’t seem to be joking or exaggerating last season when she told Aqua that she’d help him kill someone if that’s what it took. The possibility of B Komachi getting a fourth member has also now arisen, and this episode’s installment of “Behind the Scenes in the Entertainment Industry” involves how agencies for idols handle their idols’ social media accounts. There are also some neat little artistic touches, too, like the bags under Kana’s eyes as she leaves at the end of the episode, and we can see that Ruby hasn’t entirely abandoned her ditzy, immature side on the path to becoming an evil mastermind. But all of that’s just a prelude to the bomb that will assuredly drop next episode.
Oshi no Ko has quite the reputation for the plot twists it throws out, but nothing which happens in this episode really counts. That each of the big events in this episode would eventually happen was fully predictable, and that they would all converge is both logical and fits the series’ presentation style. And the consequences will run deep.
We knew from the end of last episode that Aqua was going to confront Ruby over her recent change in behavior, but Aqua finally being at peace with himself has (for better or worse) caused him to lose his edge. Ruby ran circles around him as she leaned into a manipulative villain kind of role; even his best attempt at rebuttal – the point about how Ruby once hated artifice – swiftly gets shot down. Ruby was someone he used to support and help along, but she’s now well capable of getting ahead without his help. And that’s only the first big blow he takes.
The second is his conversation with Saito. It’s only natural that Aqua would eventually figure out that Ruby was seeing him and go to confront him, and now Saito’s explanation allows his motives to make more sense: he saw Ai as a daughter (which was heavily implied way back during episode 1 of season 1), and so wants revenge every bit as much as Aqua did. He left Miyako because he didn’t want to involve her in his dirty revenge quest (much like Aqua tried his best to leave Ruby out of his), and is helping Ruby now as an apology to Miyako. The difference between him and Aqua is that he wasn’t seeking a way out of the revenge quest, and so didn’t let his desire for freedom from that crusade blind him to the logical inconsistencies that Akane picked up on herself. Aqua may not want to accept that the director’s right, because that means he will again be dragged back into his ghost-fueled revenge fixation, but he’s too smart to deny this.
I do feel somewhat bad for MEM-cho and especially Kana, though. The former realizes that she’s gradually being outstripped and left behind by Ruby, while the latter has been left behind by Aqua – and on top of that, she gets unwittingly slapped by Aqua when she tries to help him during his freak-out moment. Her umbrella pattern is telling on where her heart still lies and Aqua can’t have failed to notice that. Have to wonder how much of his funk during his call with Akane was because of that as because of realizing that he may be forced back into Revenge Mode.
Akane, meanwhile, has her own concerns. While her career is also skyrocketing, she finally gets the final puzzle pieces to figure out who Aqua and Ruby’s real father probably is. That Akane would be the one to do it makes complete sense, but this is also likely very dangerous information and she likely knows that; the resemblance between Hikaru Kamiki and Aqua is great enough that it’s almost inconceivable that no one in the entertainment industry has noticed, which means there’s a continuing cover-up. And as Akana realized herself, why Ai never talked about him is also understandable, since her was too young at the time. But that also must mean that Hikaru was quite the playboy from quite a young age; assuming Taiki’s mother did have an affair with Hikaru, that was some much more serious cradle-robbing than what Ai did. And if the last scene of season 2 is to be believed, he apparently fathered at least one other child back in his teens, too.
There are three points I’m not yet clear about, though. First, if Hikaru is being protected, then why? Second, why did Hikaru seek to eliminate his former paramours but not his first three kids? And three, is he trying to get himself caught with stunts like the white roses, or is that his idea of a sick tease (given that he almost certainly has to know that Aqua is dating Akane)? Curious to see where the series goes on a logical front with all of these, and how everyone’s going to react to all of this next episode.
The production effort also deserves some call-outs here. Did you catch the star emblems blowing in the wind on the fence at the beginning of the episode? The way Ruby is framed in those early shots, especially the way the camera draws back on her at one point, set the ominous mood nicely, and Takeru Iga’s musical effort her absolutely kills it. For all of the entertainment industry minutiae, the series is at its most fun when it leans heavily into the drama, and thanks to the great production support, it certainly does that here.
So even a series as grand and respected as this one ultimately has to break down and have a hot springs episode. But that just means it’s going to be done Frieren-style.
Once again, the episode is divided into two distinct parts, this time connected by a common theme: experiencing the hot springs prevalent in this volcanically-active part of the northern plains. The first part involves searching for a hidden hot spring way up in the mountains after their originally-intended destination turns out to have dried up. Surprisingly, Stark is the one who pushes for the side jaunt this time, based on something that it turns out he heard from Eisen about it when he was a kid. This does give the series opportunity to show its staple scenes of the trio traipsing over treacherous terrain and the episode’s requisite dose of action in a relatively brief battle against a three-headed, four-legged lizard with hydra-like characteristics (i.e., its heads can regenerate, so all three have to be destroyed or lopped off at once). That’s not a particularly difficult challenge for this group – with Stark being chased around front-lining and Frieren and Fern striking from the sky – but that isn’t really the point; how put-upon Stark is by his companions has become as much of a running joke as the small fish he catches (on display this episode) or Frieren’s sloppy sleeping habits (also on display this episode). And for the second time this season he also winds up on the bottom of a pile of the trio later on in this segment.
But the action scene is more just ticking off a few boxes than the point of this segment. The “hidden hot spring” does turn out to be little more than a foot bath, but that never was the point here, either. Frieren’s original quartet also visited here and experienced the view together while soaking their feet, and now she’s getting to do it with her new party, too. Eisen’s comments about this in Stark’s flashback are particularly telling here. Aside from frolicking in the flowers back in season 1 episode 2, Eisen has mostly been portrayed as a pretty grumpy character, the one most apt to question things in the original party and at least as apt as Frieren to complain. He had complaints here, too, but in one of the episode’s most deeply sincere moments he also acknowledges that, despite the bother of getting to that hot spring, he wouldn’t trade the memory of it for anything. That fits in quite snugly with the franchise’s overall theme about the value and importance of memories.
The second segment – where the trio is in a fortress city so Frieren can luxuriate in its hot springs – is the more decidedly light-hearted part, though it has its serious moments, too. This centers on a development that has been a long time coming: to throw Fern off from one of her pouting fits (this time about having nothing to do while waiting on Frieren), Stark jokingly invites her out on a date. Fern’s had to put up with a lot because of being around Frieren for so long, but I daresay nothing has stunned her as much as this offer by Stark:
The ceiling-level camera angle used to play out her mumbled acceptance as she left the room is an inspired choice here, helping to emphasis the irregularity of this scenario. Hard to say if Fern is more stunned by the offer or Stark is more left adrift by the fact that she took it seriously and accepted. Frieren’s expression as she’s licking on the popsicle as she walks in on this from a hot spring visit is also classic.
The scenes following it, with Frieren talk first to Stark and then to Fern about it, are also great. Frieren’s not completely blind to the fact that she’s one of the last people anyone should ask about relationship advice; after all, this is a woman who prides herself with a smile on having once thrown a three-day-long tantrum while with Himmel’s party and doesn’t seem to realize how hypocritical she’s being by accusing anyone else of lacking tact and sensitivity. But even in these lighter moments, the series’ trademark sentiment comes through. What Frieren knows about Fern and about dating isn’t something she’s developed through her own observations; they’re things she has been taught by others (i.e., Heiter and Flamme). She just remembers them. But as Stark points out, there’s meaning in the fact that she does still remember these things spoken by people now long past.
Somewhat surprisingly, the episode ends without resolving the date, so apparently some important encounter must happen while they’re on the date. (The Next Episode preview strongly suggests this, too.) So we’ll have to wait until next week to see how that plays out. Still, this whole episode is very much an exercise in the series doing what it arguably does best, so I have no complaints.
While I expected this series to take a markedly different angle on the cosplay scene than Dress Up Darling or 2.5 Dimensional Seduction, I’m not sure I quite expected what we got in this episode. But as usual, the series uses it as an opportunity to examine behind-the-scenes issues in the entertainment industry.
The crux of the problem is that the director of Impawsible got sloppy on multiple fronts. He didn’t make sure he had proper permission in timely fashion from an IP that’s notoriously restrictive, he didn’t respect the impact that a sudden change would have on the cosplay scenario, and he overestimated how far he could push the boundaries with the kind of questions he gave Meiya without getting consequential push-back. All of these are big issues but the latter is arguably the most serious one, as it does (as Meiya later points out) cross the line into the realm of sexual harassment Asking questions like “do you ever have sex in costume” would be a norm for (to use the Japanese rating system) R-18 content, and you could maybe get away with it in a casual conversation among adults comfortable discussing such topics, but it’s wholly out of line for what’s ostensibly a family show, especially in current times.
The director did come across as a bit of a creep last episode in some of his observations about the photos of the prospective cosplayers, but his reaction to the social media backlash (something that probably wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago) and willingness to go along with Ruby’s proposal for an episode about digging into a controversy the show inadvertently created itself suggests that he does accept that he went too far. Whether he genuinely accepts the error of his ways or is just trying to salvage his career is unclear, but his contriteness here feels very Japanese if one sets aside how gimmicky it is. And yet does anything really seem out of line about this given some of the other gimmickry the series has pulled off?
Exploring the IP angle allows a good excuse to get Kana some screen time, as she’s the ideal person to interview Abiko-sensei. (Aqua’s expression when he’s caught by surprise on that point is classic, too!) It also provides an opportunity for the series to explain a bit about why some creators might be very restrictive about allowing merchandise concerning their creations. Abiko’s explanation that she has no issue with cosplay that’s done for the love of the series but does have issue with exploitive derivative products that don’t stay true to her work’s spirit is perfectly in line with her stubbornness about how Tokyo Blade would be portrayed in play. One needs look no farther than a franchise like Love Live to see what can happen when creators don’t stick to their guns on something like this. (If you find that franchise to be adorably sweet and wholesome, don’t ever go trolling for fan art or doujinshi concerning its characters without using rating filters.) That women are used to bring sexier derivative product proposals to creators is also an interesting ploy that no doubt is based on actual observations.
The third issue – about the stress put on the cosplayers to adapt on short notice – isn’t a trivial one, either. We’ve seen in other series how much time and effort goes into cosplay costumes, and to suggest that cosplayers can just radically change what they’re doing on short notice is a clear sign of disrespect for the hobby. Here Aqua represents the casual viewer’s take on how silly and gimmicky this looks, but I did like how Meiya recognized the sincerity inherent in the gesture. The director wasn’t just giving lip service to his apology; by making the costume himself, he clearly understood where he went wrong in his assumptions, and that’s something a dedicated cosplayer could appreciate. Still doesn’t avoid looking gimmicky, but it’s more clever in its approach than it initially appears.
But I also like the aftermath scene where Aqua finally confronts Ruby. There’s no way Aqua wouldn’t pick up on Ruby’s scheming, and with Ruby’s personality (or, perhaps more accurately, the persona she’s developed), she can go a long way in playing dumb on this. I must say, though, that I do quite like this newer, much more devious Ruby. She may be getting fed ideas by Saito, but she still has to make them work, and as the scene with her and Meiya at the restaurant shows, she’s becoming almost scarily good at that. The dance the two have in the ED could very well be a symbolic representation of the way they’re starting to dance around each other in a dramatic sense.
Overall, the episode sticks true to its topical approach, but I’m much more interested in what all this conniving by Ruby is leading to. Hopefully we’ll find out soon.
USA Anime 