TV
Vir Cotto, Sleeping In Light
R.I.P. Stephen Furst.
Doctor Who 10.9
After struggling to describe my reaction to the latest episode, the only word I can come up with is “perfunctory”.
Talk Talk, Titty Talk, Truthy Talk
DanSora 8
Talkiest. Boss Fight. Ever. (okay, “recently”)
Also, “As you know, Bob, this famous event that’s never been mentioned before not only explains the odd behavior of the character who was introduced last week, but will be crucial to the plot this week.”
Despite having leveled up to take on Busty Tamer, Aiz’s rematch with her is overshadowed by the rest of the party fighting The Monologer. After he takes his expository lumps, he’s written out of the story forever when Busty Tamer eats his heart.
Like much of what happens in this series, the action is an excuse to fill in the blanks about the DanMachi universe. It’s basically the novelist’s background notes baked into a cheesecake and covered with whipped cream. Lefiya is the cherry on top.
Speaking of Lefiya, she’s in full-on Action Girl mode in the fight, which compensates for her awkward-but-earnest girl-crush on Banshee whatshername. This chick really needs to get laid (see previous paragraph).
This is not quite an actual conversation from the episode:
“Bete’s a dick”.
“Oh, that’s just his funny little way.”
Eromanga-sensei 9
Note to Our Hero: just because you’re too shy to enjoy the view at the beach doesn’t mean you can deprive us of the opportunity. Next time, hold off a little before offering her the shirt off your back.
I am very disappointed that neither editor-san nor bookstore-chan managed to crash the Bikini Confession Party. Fortunately, Elf has bigger tits than I expected. In other news, Fifth Wheel Guy’s homosexual panic added nothing to the episode.
Doctor Who 10.8
Well, that was… better than last week without actually being good. I preferred the 2007 version.
Things you can't unsee, Flash edition
As usual, Honest Trailers is dead on in this one, but the single most painful revelation is The Barry Bobblehead.
Plotstuffing, House party, WTF
DanSora 7
“No time for annoying character quirks, we’ve got a plot to advance, and the rest of the characters from the OP to introduce!”
Eromanga-sensei 8
Fierce Rival in a completely different way now Muramasa provides amusement for editor-san. Literal Fifth Wheel Guy overcomes the creepy sensation of visiting Our Hero’s home. We get to see what Sagiri’s like when she’s got the place to herself. Animation budget not quite as tight as in some previous episodes, but still some obvious skimping. New end credits to reflect a mood swing; hopefully they’ll switch back.
Doctor Who 10.7
Can we get the Monks to kill off everyone responsible for this episode? Their consent was impure. And really, really contrived.
Who Needs Villains
So far, this season of Doctor Who has been… “unimpressive”. The set design mostly lacks imagination and scope. The stories feel like they were cribbed from better, or at least more ambitious, episodes in previous seasons. The Doctor’s monologs are being written by Captain Obvious and The Campus Socialist. The new companion got a decent intro, but has done little of note since. And as for the monster of the week, well, so far we’ve had:
- a puddle. (but an alien puddle)
- a swarm of nano-Legos.
- a strawman capitalist.
- a mama’s boy.
- strawman capitalism.
The ideas and characters in each episode are undeveloped. There’s no supporting cast to speak of, just the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole, and Nardole spends most of his time delivering ominous foreshadowing with the delicate grace of a firehose.
Dear Doctor Who...
Now that I’m caught up to episode 10.5, I have only one question:
Will the entire season be written by interns copying scenes from their favorite episodes?
Emotional Aiz, Creepy Sagiri, Doctor Bugfix
DanSora, episode 4
In which it is revealed that Aiz once had a full range of emotions, before something as-yet-unspecified happened to her parents. Less time is spent on Lefiya’s desperate crush, but instead we get Tione going vigorously dere-dere over their pint-sized boss.
Speaking of which, I saw someone commenting that he had trouble remembering which name went with which amazon. The answer is simple: the last letter is their cup size. Tiona, DFC; Tione, boin!.
What really doesn’t work is splitting the party and having the annoying Loki annoy the annoying Bete. Their scenes advance the plot, but I just don’t enjoy the voice acting for either character.
By the way, this episode puts them about halfway through the second light novel, and it looks like book 3 wraps up the current plot. At the current pace, I’m guessing they’ll make it through book 4, at least, which includes Bell’s minotaur fight from their point of view.
How did Finn survive speaking the truth about every woman in the party? Given how slapstick they’re playing this series, I expected some sort of hysterical overreaction.
Eromanga-sensei, episode 5
Okay, so Sagiri is a creepy middle-aged man in the body of an adorable loli, Our Hero is her pimp, and they both really need to get out more. The episode improved once Elf arrived, as usual.
I don’t think Our Hero has told bookstore-chan that his little sister is Eromanga-sensei, and he seems completely oblivious to just how creepy his request was. Also, logic fail: Sagiri wants to see a wider variety of real girls so she can draw them, and bookstore-chan is a candidate because they spent animation dollars making sure the audience knew she had big bouncy ones. But Sagiri specifically wants to see her panties, which is less about reference material and more about her being an adorable little perv.
Meanwhile, she spends most of her time on the Internet, which is not exactly lacking in big boobs and panties. This reinforces the impression that her request is more personal than artistic. Maybe Our Hero needs to get her a debit card so she can subscribe to live cam shows?
Oh, almost forgot. WTF is up with the time-wasting shots of the fat jogger? Could you not find a better way to pad out the episode, like maybe animating the Elf-catch instead of showing a still?
Doctor Who, episode 10.4
Honestly, the best thing about this season is that it’s Steven Moffat’s last as showrunner. I don’t have a lot to say about this episode, except that, like the previous one, it feels like they’re just filing the serial numbers off of stories they did a few years ago and adding in a likely-disappointing season arc.
Did it occur to anyone that they just left a huge colony of murderous alien bugs on a piece of prime real estate that’s sure to be built on again soon? Also, maybe be a little less on-the-nose at casting Creepy Old Guy What Creeps At Midnight? Finally, perhaps a tiny bit of sympathy for the companion who just lost everything she owns, including the photographs the Doctor went to such lengths to create for her?
