#tadaoja

What was on?

Witch Hat Atelier

(ep 8) "Who are they?" "They're children" wow, with these powers of observation, I see the Knights Moralis are really like cops, if you can count to 10 (2 mistakes allowed) congratulations, here's your uniform, go wild. On the other hand they aren't however because they can be shamed into actually helping people. Their attempt to wipe off the memories of Coco and Agott was frustrated by a flying Richeh from the top rope and Tetia, and Qifrey walks in just in time to inform everyone he does not take kindly to someone manhandling his students. They do find out it would be impossible for Coco to unleash that sort of destruction and leave (for the moment), but Qifrey notices something on Coco's ink vial, and takes her to see Nolnoa to get a clue what may have happened. As Coco learns the power of dyes in the ink they use from his grandson, Qifrey realises the ink has been tainted to make it a lot of more powerful than it should have been, courtesy of the Brimmed Hats. Sure this would be something the people in charge should be aware of that, Nolnoa would think, but Qifrey didn't. And now neither does Nolnoa. Another exceptionally good episode with some solid world building with the dyes and the doorknob, and of character with Qifrey, the bad boy of the magic world. A

The Ramparts of Ice

(ep 8) This weeks' episode starts with a special feature, how did the gorilla girl became a lady, and it's down to one thing: realising always speaking up your mind to the point of tactlessness isn't necessarily good for anyone, but instead of building a wall around her decided to speak up as little as possible, letting loose with the other three who know her true self. But the problem of keeping up with appearances is that's hard, even more when you just wish you could be yourself, and her other three closest friends seem to notice something is off with her, seeing how she interacts with Youta and Minato, and of course more cram school rumours. But she's just tired of dancing around the issue and just addresses it: she's not the idol everyone thinks she is, she likes to joke around, but still wants to be their friend, and... why shouldn't they be her friend after all? Also, man, she almost killed Youta with the "wish we could spend all day together" line, tall people are more likely to have heart problems and that could have ended him in the spot. Minato also can't catch a break, there he is trying to use his ability to be incredibly nosy for good, but people just imagine he's up to something. Not without reason. A

Ascendance of a Bookworm

(ep 7) I'm sure putting up the concert and trying to get some vengence over Ferdinand was fun for Rozemyne, but now with her vault full, it's time to make things, but first a surprise visit from her mom. Her real mom. The isekai mom. You know what I'm trying to say. Her dad was heartbroken only he doesn't get the chance, but it was arranged he'd be the escort of the new inhabitants so he could also meet her. Then it's time for some orphan recruiting, where the local mayor seems to be into some human trafficking, and the orphans themselves don't seem too trusting of Rozemyne so far, in the first instances of actual tension in this season, and I'm sure things will pick up next episode. As for this one, really felt like it was mostly "move on things quickly", although there's part on this story that are just like that, show and move on. But the architecture here still makes me groan so loud it scares off small animals. B

Mao

(ep 8) Returning to the fallen capital of the Taisho era, Nanoka joins Mao and Otoya on some investigation, where they find Hyakka (would it surprise you his name, 百火, means hundred flames? Of course not) who seems acquainted with "Mao the Traitor" and believe it or not has some grudge with him, from the times he was an apprentice like Mao, some 900 years ago, when Mao was just an average student and got the sword handed to him, intended to be a sacrifice in the best students fight for the knowledge of the school, where the first to curse him to death would get it all. Meanwhile, some new fresh horrors for the next episode as one aristocrat has been preying on women after the earthquake, and using the butler to dispose of the bodies. He has a two-tone hair as well, another of the people Hyakka was supposed to compete in cursing Mao? As for now, it's the introduction of the frenemy character, and with the Byouki out of comission for a bit I imagine we're back to some one-off stories involving Mao's school. I also see Rumiko Takahashi was really into Web 2.0 era photoshop challenges of replacing eyes with mouths. With an added dash of body horror. B

The Food Diary of Miss Maid

(ep 9) It's getting colder, and Suzume thought it was time to trim her hair, and she made a complete Olivia job out of it. Her grandmother calms her down with some miso soup, and Ricotta comes in to save her bangs, and try some new looks as well. Then they walk under the ginkgo trees and Suzume learns the nuts are edible, so they buy some but the preparation process freaks them out, Suzume runs into Sora again, and tries to organize a Halloween event, but because it's more of a cosplay thing, only Anzu shows up and they have a party together, and next day Ricotta sees Suzume with cat ears and decides she must have that photo. A bit longer stories this time around, but all three? Some incredible cute moments. If Ricotta wants to make it to the end of year honors list, this episode makes a solid case for her. B This week's delicacies: Miso soup, ginkgo, Halloween candy.

Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!?

(ep 8) After last week's incredible episode, the end of Summer draws near, and both Seo and Amane realise they spent too much time having fun and not enough time hitting the books, so they're trying to make up for it. New semester also means new seats, and if Ijichi got her window seat again, Seo goes to the middle... behind Amane, making Ijichi have to work on the double to get a upper hand on Seo, after almost confessing during the festival. And finally, it's school festival time, and of course everyone wants to get Ichiji and Amane on a costume. The first is fully up for it, the later doesn't want to, Ijichi's knows the way to convince her is to say Seo want's her to, so she flips that by making everyone dress up. A bit of a looser episode that felt like it missed a bit of focus as they also gave some time to their classmates who are all incredible invested in seeing the two gals in a costume, and a chance to Seo to actually speak them and make Ijichi proud how her big boy can actually talk to other girls, but as it is often the case in two episode stories, next one is probably going to be great. B

Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk

(ep 7) On a day where they planned a trip together Yaeka goes down with a fever, so Akane stays behind to take care of her and Botan also stays to keep her company, so it's up to the "indoor box" girls of Ibuki and Gujou to go to a mountain springs with Zhang. Ibuki, the most indoor box of them all isn't having a good time, until she meets an old lady that tells her how to have some appreciation for being in the calmness of the wild. Or did she? Second story has Botan telling Ibuki she really likes... stargazing. They go on what's very much a date to a planetarium, stop on the way for a bit for a beer, then cuddle under the fake stars, and for the third story Gujou realizes everyone is coming late, so goes for a bath, but walks in Zhang drying herself up, which is an opportunity for them to talk for a bit, and because Zhang knows what she wants, puts on the moves on Gujou as fast as if she's in one on those 20 page manga sold at Comiket and has no time to lose. Certainly the gayest episode so far, and if there's shows who do a lot of baiting with no end result, this one added a Taiwanese yuri wrecking ball on the story. Excellent direction as always, with some interesting use of split screens, although I'm not always too fond of these extra detailed backgrounds that look/are photos with some filters thrown in, they did make the effort to make everything fit, which is the usual problem with that. Also good to know Japan also fell to the curse of twee microbreweries that existed mostly for someone to write ad copy. A

Fist of the North Star

(ep 9) With the village in danger of the attack of the Jackal, or the Dynamite Flasher, as he's also known (probably), Kenshiro comes a bit too late to save the old woman, but right on time to save the children, and while the Jackal is too smart to die with exploding bones or blood pressure 500/340 if he has a chance to not fight him, some of his men just aren't, and he isn't above using his allies, like his right hand man Fox, to buy him some time to just bugger off. Fox, meanwhile, is the most God Hand enemy character possible, even has a move to try to catch you off guard. That move ends up being his undoing, as chiropractor Dr Kenshiro is also a freestyle football aficionado who manages to incorporate his hobby with one of his many jobs, juggling him in the air to make him talk and then he dies of that sort of hypertension so many of his patients have. What are the odds. It's true Fox seems more of the comedy enemy type, but his expressions had a bit more fluidity than the usual "mouth open - mouth closed" everyone else has. Also, yeah, sorry but anything that reminds me of God Hand is going to leave me in a better mood. C

Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home!

(ep 7) I think I had a demo of a song called "Christmas in October" from from my music making days, but thanks to the wonders of seasonal anime, here's the Christmas episode when we're still closer to last Christmas than this years'. Anyway, Rinko was the kind of child who between playing in the snow or staying inside eating cake and watching anime alone would prefer the later, and back to present day, she's between Usada and Satsuki who have plans for Christmas eve but the hell they're letting the other get the upper hand. Also, strange she still has her regular job, thought by this time she was working full time as chef-assistant. Last episode I had the impression the show had hit a wall with me, and would not be capable of doing anything interesting with the bizarre setting and just become just a standard love triangle romcom filled with misunderstandings with a character that is a bit too thick to understand what was going on. Yeah. I think I'm at a point I mostly just want it to end. D

Ichijouma Mankitsu Gurashi!