The Weekly Orbit is a (sometimes) weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume at least some familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers!

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Hello, folks! I don’t have much of a message here, this week, other than to note that I’m happy to be caught up on my seasonals. (With the exception of a few things I’m watching with other people, more on one of those below.) If I’m to direct you to any of the subheadings below in particular, I really do recommend reading about Turkey! which went supernova this week in what I’m hoping is a permanent level up from “good” to “great.”

Other than that, I’m relishing in the feeling of caught-up-ness for the couple hours until another episode of Watanare airs and plunges me right back into the mines. But hey, that’s just how it goes.

Anime – Seasonal

Bad Girl – Episodes 1-5

I’ve been watching this show over the past week or so with my girlfriend. I like it! The central premise of a goody two-shoes trying to pretend to be a delinquent to get her class rep’s attention is a little staid, but the execution is solid. It’s very cute, just funny enough to keep things moving, and it’s snappily paced. The production could use a shot in the arm, but that’s a reality of almost any seasonal anime in this day and age outside the absolute A-Tier, so it is what it is.

Episode five is probably my favorite yet, as new character Sumiki Kiyoraka [Lynn] feels slightly out-of-step with the world of the show in a delightful way. With her loose snake motif and ara-ara-ing, she really seems like she’d rather be in a toxic yuri series of some kind, the sort that’s boiling over with sex and intrigue, as opposed to a sometimes somewhat horny schoolgirl comedy where most of the other characters are dumb as a box of rocks. Still, she gets farther along in her little plot to seduce protagonist Yutani Yuu [Tachibana Azusa] than I’d have expected, and I’m excited to see how she integrates into the rest of the cast going forward.

Call of the Night – Season 2, Episode 7

I don’t know what direction I expected Call of the Night to take after its last arc, but it certainly wasn’t this.

The bulk of this episode concerns Nazuna’s relative youth at a night school, and is a flashback to that time, where she met and interacted with—and maybe fell for, the idea is at least floated—an upperclassman named Mejiro Kyoko. Kyoko is a reserved and bookish sort, but she comes from a home presently undergoing some difficulties. Since those difficulties include her father possibly having an affair, she doesn’t really like guys very much. She does like Nazuna, though, whose puzzling combination of cynicism and wide-eyed naivete at the world she finds charming.

The episode essentially ends just as it’s raising its most heightened questions. We learn that a vampire killed Kyoko’s parents, with the very real possibility being that “the vampire” was Nazuna, somehow and for some reason. Likewise, Kyoko’s hair color, love of detective novels, and clear motive practically scream that there is some connection between her and Uguisu Anko, the murderous vampire hunter / “detective” who’s been a looming presence throughout this entire season. Either or both of these connections could be red herrings, but the episode’s end point—with Kyoko and Nazuna caught by an unexpected guest as they’re snooping around, trying to find evidence of Kyoko’s father’s affair. The series is clearly setting up something of a miniature mystery here, and I’m definitely going to be turning it over in my head over the next few days while we wait for resolution.

Dandadan – Season 2, Episodes 4-6

With this, I am officially caught up with the Dandadan anime!

This in mind, despite liking basically all of these episodes, I have remarkably little to say. This week’s episode, the seventh of season two, is a much quieter and moodier episode than usual from the series, and I did appreciate that; lots of piano pieces in the soundtrack and nightscapes on the drawing board here. I also like that for the fight against the musician ghosts next episode we’re teaming up Okarun and Aira, a somewhat unorthodox pairing for the show. It looks to be fun!

On another visual note, I must also say that I really enjoy the return of the show’s trademark electric greens and purples, they really tie the anime together and I was kind of missing them during the Serpent Lord Arc (or whatever we’re calling it). Even so, the frozen-out grayscale-with-some-color episode seven cut to as it closed here was also great, so I’m excited for next week, regardless of what direction we’re getting.

Gachiakuta – Episode 6

A theme Gachiakuta frequently returns to is worth. The worth of objects, of people. Self-worth, the value we place in each others’ lives, the value of the roles we give to ourselves, and so on. The show has, thus far, batted this around but not really engaged with it directly all that much. Here, it does so via a major plot development for the first time.

Zanka’s assailant from last week is formally introduced to us here as Jabber Wong [Shin Yuuki]—what a name—and we learn that his vital instrument is a set of Edwardy scissor hands. Cool stuff, moreso when they’re revealed to be laced with a neurotoxin that incapacitates his victims. I’m not huge on his design beyond the knife hands themselves—anime, and honestly media in general, could probably stand to do the “big dreadlocks = scary crazy guy” thing less often—but the core concept more or less works. He makes a villainous little speech about how much he values (there’s our watch word) strength, and how much he doesn’t value people like Gris, the non-powered support Cleaner we’ve been following for a couple episodes now. This serves to establish Jabber as the kind of sadomasochistic combat freak so common in these sorts of stories. Then, to establish him as a genuine threat, he makes a lunge for Gris, who he seemingly kills.

Gris’ death initially lacks much impact. (And he might not actually be dead at all, when we last see him in this episode he’s still bleeding out. You know how shonen anime can be with that kind of thing.) Sure, we got to know him a little bit recently, but he’s ultimately a minor character of a sort that is essentially written to be disposable. But, after the OP ends we cut to a slow-motion look at the scene that blends it with the traumatic memory of the death of Rudo’s mentor. The series briefly adopts a wonderfully stark, pure ink sketch-on-paper black and white look for this, and it’s probably the best creative decision Gachiakuta has yet made.

This is then followed by a flashback where we learn that Rudo’s affinity for discarded objects comes from identifying himself with them; his violent instincts restrained, he feels worthless, and there’s a pretty gnarly scene of self-harm here as the flashback opens, with Rudo bashing his head into a cobblework wall.

The fight scene that follows all of this is not quite as good a payoff as you might hope, but it’s still solid. Gachiakuta is mangaka Urana Kei‘s first serial. So to me, this sequence, where Rudo transforms Gris’ protective talisman into a floating, golem-like ward that protects him from hostile intent, reads as someone figuring out the general paces and expected beats of their genre in real time. As, too, does Jabber’s eventual solution to this; to poison himself with his own neurotoxin, not enough to die, but enough to put him at the threshold of consciousness so he can thrash around mindlessly. These kind of battles, that are much wars of magic-like semantics as they are actual fights, can be very entertaining when done well. Gachiakuta‘s display of the form here won’t rank as an all-time great, but for a relative beginner, it’s good.

We end on Jabber making that play, so any resolution of this fight is going to have to wait until next week. Still, despite my qualms, if Gachiakuta can keep up this level of entertaining visual storytelling, it’ll be a worthwhile watch overall.

My Dress-Up Darling – Episode 7

Lots of thoughts with Dress-Up Darling this week. Not all of them positive, but I like this show, and I think people (including me, in the past) are often unfair to it, so I’m going to start with what I like here.

The last third or so of episode seven sees Marin and Gojo on a very cute park date where Marin surprises her still-not-technically-bf by revealing that she’s bought a fancy camera. For several minutes, the show is done entirely from Gojo’s perspective as he clicks the shutter. He’s in love with the new camera, sure, but he’s mostly in love with Marin, and it’s a sweet reminder of the genuine, gentle love the two clearly have for each other. It’s a culmination of what we’ve seen so far, and an indication of where we’re heading next. All told, it is absolutely lovely.

That being said, I really did not like the rest of this episode, so it’s good that the part I just discussed was at the end.

This is a weight loss episode. I know. Sigh with me. I don’t like them either.

I am marginally less down on this particular instance than I would be in many similar shows for two reasons. One; Marin is a model, so very specific weight goals do actually, genuinely matter for her, as opposed to just being an insecurity. Even if that doesn’t neatly box away the “are we really doing this?” vibe across this plot, it at least provides a coherent reason for it being here in the first place as opposed to coming out of nowhere. (And we’ve seen her eating with Gojo and his grandfather a lot recently, so again, there’s an actual logical through-line here at least.) Two; this is a series with a lot of empathy for its characters. Usually that means Gojo, but it does mean Marin, too, and the show has been pretty careful with, for everything that could potentially be criticized about it—the horny framing, etc.—making sure that you the viewer understand that cosplay really does mean a lot to her. (In fact, as much as her modeling job giving her grief is a cause for concern, it’s Gojo’s cosplay outfits getting tight on her that really gets to her.) Where I’m going with that is that I think the show is trying to do a bit of an inspirational message, or perhaps mining this material for relatability, as opposed to just ridiculing Marin.

That said, it’s still pretty unpleasant. I’ll admit some amount of my yuck reaction to this particular stock plot is insecurity about my own weight (I am a fairly hefty trans woman. It comes with the territory), so maybe I’m not being totally fair. Still, this did feel like one of the show’s relatively meaner episodes. Compared to a lot of stuff in this vein, the jokes at Marin’s expense are relatively light. (This is not Sailor Moon’s weight loss episode, for example.) But still, things like illustrating her recent eating patterns with “chomp chomp” sound effects just come off bad no matter how lightly you intend them. I’m sure at least some part of this is lived experience, but if I, twice Marin’s age, felt a little hit, can you imagine someone watching this and getting hit with these vibes if they’re actually sixteen?

I feel the need to temper my criticism, because this plot doesn’t actually get resolved by episode’s end. So it’s possible I’ll feel differently about it next week depending on where this goes, even setting aside the fact that I’m aware I’m sensitive to this kind of stuff. Still, for a show that’s normally so sweet, even slight sourness can seem very bitter. I’m hoping that either the series is going somewhere meaningful with this or, failing that, that we just tie this up quickly and get back to the actually fun parts of this anime.

Necronomico & The Cosmic Horror Show – Episode 7

^{I think I’m finally deep enough into my anime fandom that I have started getting just a little annoyed at Akira bike slide homages.}

After 4 1/2 episodes of Eita doing his I Am An Alpha Gamer shtick, it was immensely gratifying in this week’s episode of Necronomico to see him a) be run over with a motorcycle and b) have his eye(s?) gouged out. That’s the kind of karma you love to see. (I’m sure they’re going to try to make us feel bad for him later. I will not be falling for it.)

That particular development aside, episode seven was a good but also relatively standard one for Necronomico. The tower defense game setup was pretty fun, I enjoyed the various little twists and turns like Gua getting shot with a high-powered sniper rifle and Kanna being secretly from Kyoto. The latter dovetails nicely into the episode’s last and meanest twist, that the damage done to VR Kyoto also carries over to real Kyoto. I admit it’s not hard to see coming, but it’s cruelly effective nonetheless.

Ruri Rocks / Introduction to Mineralogy – Episode 7

Like Gachiakuta, Ruri Rocks is another anime that centers value as a theme. (This is about the only thing they have in common, but it is a similarity nonetheless.) In previous episodes, this has consisted of Ruri learning to find value in minerals beyond the strictly monetary or aesthetic, and she’s come to appreciate everything from pyrite to fluorite in the process. This week, the show introduces a new character and, in doing so, also shifts to focusing on a different sort of rock. As opposed to being about earth minerals, this week’s episode is about a man-made phenomenon; sea glass.

The new character in question, Seto Shouko [Hayashi Saki, in what seems to be her debut role], is introduced with a broadly Tomori-esque flashback sequence where, as a child, she wants to play with some pretty rocks she’s collected at preschool, but she’s pulled away from them by her teacher. Her parents don’t approve either, and she overhears them talking about how they hope she doesn’t become a mineralogist something like that for a career, given that there’s “no money” in it.

^{Only the most normal of parental conversations here.}

This is all a tad silly—it certainly doesn’t reach the world-through-her-eyes pathos of the aforementioned Bang Dream episode—but as a tone setter and a quick backstory, it works just fine. Shouko is introduced, in the story’s present, as a classmate of Ruri’s but not anyone she’s ever really engaged with. When Shouko happens to spot her holding a piece of sea glass at the beach, she remarks on it. Ruri rather stubbornly insists it’s agate. And later, she takes it to Nagi and learns, nope, it really just is sea glass. Nonetheless, this prompts Imari to propose looking for further specimens of sea glass, and this becomes the trio’s latest adventure. As you might expect, Ruri Rocks applies the same level of care and detail to sea glass as it does to natural minerals, and the episode has all of the usual charm one would expect from the series, especially when Shouko eventually joins our usual crew.

Throughout, an implicit comparison is made between sea glass and Shouko. Shouko doesn’t seem to think of her rock-collecting hobby (which she’s kept up in the present day) as meaning very much, but when she meets Imari, she learns that it can be both a passion and a career, thus highlighting that in both of these cases, the personal worth of the subject is what gives it meaning. In more literal terms, Shouko’s delight that she is not just allowed, but encouraged to value minerals and her collection of them, to the point of considering it as a career, is also a classic “passion ignited” sequence—wherein a character, often but not always the protagonist, is awakened to the joy and wonder inherent in whatever field a given hobby anime happens to be about—and it can stand with the best of them.

The ending of the episode, coming after some truly gorgeous character animation during a scene where our heroines rake the beach looking for more glass, makes this comparison more explicit. Both Shouko and Ruri, Nagi points out, have names explicitly connected to glass; Shouko’s contains the kanji for the word, whereas “ruri” is an old term for blue glass. It’s another small, jewel-like detail in a series full of them.

There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…. – Episodes 5 & 6

If I could compare the experience of watching Watanare to anything, it would be a tennis match.

Renako, our main character, keeps getting batted back and forth between the mind games of the various scheming girls in her friend group. She is a ball flying through the air between them. All of these girls also seem to have their own emotional baggage between each other that Renako is not necessarily privy to, which is an important complicating factor.

Thus, this storyline, which follows up Renako having dated Mai in a strange, convoluted way, with her doing the same to Satsuki, the conniving, underhanded one of the group, who wants Renako on her arm to hurt Mai’s feelings. Satsuki acquits herself amazingly across these two episodes and she genuinely comes off like a real bitch at certain points. (I mean that in a loving way, something like this isn’t entertaining unless the characters can be believably nasty at least some of the time.)

As you might suspect, Satsuki begins dating Renako by strong-arming her and playing on her guilt. But what beigns as an obligation (one Mai claims to be fine with, in fact, even as she’s obviously not) turns particularly spicy in episode six where Renako happens to catch Satsuki working at a donut shop late at night. This ends with Satsuki taking Renako home (where the pair briefly meet Satsuki’s notably young single mother) and, of course, shenanigans ensue.

Aside from Satsuki herself being great, Renako and her gallery of Bocchian wild takes are absolutely essential here. In providing a sugary comedic overtone, they serve to make the actual emotional development more subtle. Satsuki consequently gets much closer to Renako than she even intended to. The house visit becomes a sleepover, and by the time of the cold, dreamy sensuality of a shared bath and Renako unintentionally stealing Satsuki’s first kiss, the goalposts have already moved pretty damn far. The show’s real strength is in the moments where the comedic mask drops away; Satsuki unintentionally hurting Renako’s feelings by telling her that her attempts to come off as an extrovert are only half working, Renako’s simple and clear explanation of why she wanted to be an “extrovert” in the first place, the aforementioned bath scene and swiped first kiss, Satsuki’s clear and genuine affection for her airheaded but kindly and diligent mother, and so on. That it’s maybe the first anime in a decade to actually get a laugh out of me with a “protagonist falls on a girl and accidentally feels up her boobs” joke is more a nice bonus than the main reason this thing is so good.

Turkey! Time to Strike – Episodes 5 & 6

At the start of the season, Turkey surprised me—and many—with its genre switch. Here, at its halfway point, it surprises again, this time with one of the year’s single best episodes.

A common concern of the time travel narrative is that of the dissonant value systems of those in the past compared to those who live today. This episode deals with this dichotomy, in its many forms, from its beginning to its end, starting with relatively simple examples—Sumomo being betrothed to someone she’s never met, for instance—and slowly snowballing up until the episode’s final, harsh climax. The relevant early example is that Sayuri has her period here, and initially panics because she’s not really sure what to do about that in a time before pads were invented. Suguri is there to help, thankfully, and is revealed to be a woman—ordered by her father to play a man’s role as a protector and warrior of the estate—in the process.

Were that all this episode did, we’d already be approaching rare territory for an anime (think of how many anime bring that particular subject up at all. It’s not zero, but it’s not exactly a thriving club). But episode six’s masterstroke is instead in drawing a connection between that blood and blood of a very different kind. After Suguri and Sayuri’s initial connection and bonding over their shared womanhood, a group of bandits threatens the estate, forcing Suguri and her men to take defensive action. This, of course, entails killing them.

Perhaps understandably for someone growing up in the relatively privileged position of being a high school girl in modern Japan, this sort of breaks Sayuri’s brain. She lashes out at Suguri, simply not understanding how such a kind and caring person can be so willing to take a human life. (And, for perhaps the first time, she processes the death of the bandits in the second episode as something other than horror-movie shock.)

She initially finds Sugiri’s counterargument, that protecting someone necessarily entails that you may have to harm or even kill someone else, unconvincing, and runs away in tears. It is thus left to not a single character but the show itself to explain how these traits coexist in a person.

Turkey‘s answer to this dichotomy is that because the bloody period the girls are trapped in will one day become the gentle times they grew up in, any one person—Suguri, Sayuri, anybody—is exempt from blame. It articulates this, quite deftly I would argue, with its final scene. One of the bandits who survived Sugiri’s forces’ initial attack threatens her again, and in order to save Sugiri, Sayuri heaves a massive rock at the bandit, allowing Sugiri to finish him off. (The sound work deserves a check in particular, here, the bandit’s death gurgle is absolutely grisly.) The fight scene is equal parts stylish and over the top and positively ghoulish, a reminder that the relatively pampered lives we now live are the exception, rather than the norm, of human history. (And, it must of course be said, it’s not like those are a universal human experience in of themselves.) By putting blood on Sayuri’s hands, symbolized by it dripping down and staining the petals of a pure white flower, Turkey has involved her directly in the period’s violence. In doing so, it asks, even if our girls ever do return home, will they ever be the same? But the stained flower is the show’s answer; unchanged, no, but the same at their core, yes.

It is a thesis Turkey will need to spend the remainder of its runtime proving or, perhaps, disproving, but this episode proves it can pull off this kind of subject matter. So I await what is to come with anticipation and bated breath. Godspeed, girls.

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And that’s it for this week! As always, I ask that if you enjoyed the column, please consider a donation, as this site is my only consistent source of income. Beyond that, I hope your week is lovely. Hang in there, friends! 🙂

This week’s Bonus Screencap comes from Dandadan. I mentioned really loving the show’s use of greens and purples in the writeup, but didn’t get to fit any screenshots showcasing that into the writeup itself. So here’s one now!

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