Anime
Epiphany...
Was watching an episode of Zombieland Saga just now, and realized that one reason people are disappointed with Cop Craft is that the OP isn’t over-the-top enough. It’s more exciting than the show they actually made, but within the bounds of plausibility. They could have made a show like the OP, and since they don’t seem to care how coherently they’re cramming six books into 12 episodes, perhaps they should have.
The fundamental problem is that Zelada is built up as the Big Bad with a connection to Kei’s past, but he’s not in books 2-5. Someone decided they needed to wrap up the story from book 1, and took a chainsaw to the other books to make them fit. This week’s clip episode suggests they’re having trouble gluing it back together.
Sounan Desu Ka? episode 11
Ponytail Shion is Best Shion, but Homare is still Best Girl. Especially since she finally ignored some of Dad’s advice.
Cop Craft 9.5
Spoiler: nothing happens.
Okay, they changed the OP to include English credits, covering up a bunch of the art.
And they added a new ED animation and song.
But it’s just a clip episode with a voiceover, recapping the opening story.
DanMachi 2.9
Decision, action, revelation, action, flashback, action, cliffhanger, action, victory? Next episode: Action!
So, maybe wrap this up in 10, cover the aftermath in 11, and pull in Welf and Lili’s bits from book 8 for 12? Either that, or 10 to escalate the fight and 11 to call in the cavalry, leaving 12 for cleanup?
New character in the game this week is bad/bad-girl Amazon Samira, whose only virtue (anime or game) is her battle bikini. I’ve got plenty of AoE physical fighters, so I’m still saving my Iris.
Smells Like Fox Spirit
Helpful Fox Senko-San is one of those series that I just didn’t manage to watch while it was airing, a failure I’ve remedied this week. Good stuff.
Sounan Desu Ka? episode 10
In episode 10, Shion finally discovers she’s good for something: a cliffhanger ending! On a related note, given the way they’ve handled the fan-service, I was honestly surprised that the jars full of fresh honey did not end up smeared on someone’s half-naked body, then licked off to avoid wasting food.
Surprised, and disappointed.
Cop Craft 7, 8, 9
I was AFK for a week, then busy at work for a week, so it’s catchup time!
Episode 7 starts off quick, with Tirana already undercover as fresh meat in an expensive brothel. I’d have liked to see the awkward fun of getting her into that situation in the first place, but the real point of the story is getting her to make friends with another of the girls, the cute short-haired elf from the OP.
From her appearance with a camera, I’d assumed she was Spunky Gal Reporter. Sadly, Friendly Whore Selling Secrets is not a trope that comes with a long lifespan. Pity; I was hoping for a little grown-up cheesecake to balance out Tirana’s lock on the lolicon market.
It ends with her determined to avenge her murdered friend, so naturally the next episode and a half are spent on Wacky Hijinks and (literally) mindless fan-service after a rogue magic item body-swaps her with the cat.
Episode 9 (after finishing off the cat/girl tale) starts off with Kei being an annoying prick to his co-workers, so, y’know, same-old-same-old, but poolside, with Tirana sporting new and more confusing headgear to go with her school swimsuit. The plot thickens, slowly, until we’re pretty sure that Villain #1 and Villain #2 are both involved. Or is it Villain #2A? Next episode.
And, yes, the headgear and the swimsuit mean precisely what you think: they’re up to book 6. You might ask what happened to all the story material in the middle. Well, better learn to read Japanese and go buy the light novels; last time I checked, all 6 were in the top 20 on Amazon Japan.
