After taking a break from the action, a horrifying sight befalls our heroes – Boueibu Happy Kiss has been delayed another week! But…they’ll deal with that later.
Astral: Is it appropriate to start this week out by saying… I told you so?
Aria: Who told who what now? I was the one who said Hyoue was only one potential suspect for being the demons’ boss, if that’s what we’re talking about. The “for all we know, the manager could be behind the demon attacks” thing was just being devil’s advocate, but it ended up being true…
Astral: I was referring to when at one point I thought the manager was some sort of otherworldly being… I guess we both somehow were pretty spot-on with our predictions, huh?
Aria: Yep. Crunchyroll’s been going a bit nuts with their Mahou Shoujo Ore promotion due to episode 11 being part of the finale, so…I got spoiled on the twist before I even watched episode 10 though…(nervous laughter)
Astral: Really? I haven’t seen any ads for the show on my Crunchyroll feed at all… You must have gotten unlucky!
Aria: Nah, it’s in the news section of Crunchyroll. They warned against spoilers but I read them anyway, so in the end it was my fault. But let’s get back to the content of the episodes: You know how Yamo loves Creamy Mami? I think that would’ve worked better if they had the flashback from episode 11 (the one where he says who his favourite magical girl is) appear first, rather than what happened, don’tcha think?
Astral: I agree. I think he may have mentioned it once or twice in passing, but I had totally forgotten about it by the time it became somewhat important again. Speaking of which, is Creamy Mami a reference to something? I feel like it is, but I just can’t think of it…
Aria: It’s not really a reference inasmuch as it is a show of its own, and unfortunately enough it’s by your old enemy studio Pierrot.
Astral: Interesting. Any idea if it’s worth watching? If it’s an older show, it might be pretty good, as Pierrot used to do some really great stuff. Honestly it’s their more recent work that I really find fault with, as it’s usually sloppy and kind of bad in general…Though honestly, I’m enjoying this one quite a bit.
Aria: Haven’t seen Creamy Mami, so I wouldn’t know. As for my opinion on Mahou Shoujo Ore, it’s gotten worse as it goes along – episode 10 only had two jokes that stuck the landing for me (the Haruhi parody and the part where “the Mohiro Kingdom grows again”) – but it’s still mildly entertaining on the whole.
Astral: It’s definitely not a perfect show, but I honestly wouldn’t say that I hate it. We haven’t seen the final episode yet, so maybe it’s too early to make a final judgement, but as of right now, I think I’d be happy to give it a 6 or a 7 out of 10. Probably like a 6.5, which is not terrible. It’s entertaining enough to keep me watching, funny enough to get a few chuckles from em every episode, and most importantly, I haven’t decided that I hate the show with a fiery passion… which is more than I can say for the last Pierrot show I watched.
Aria: Still not over Sanrio Boys, eh?
Astral: That show made me so mad it physically hurt. So yeah. Still not over it.
Aria: (Yikes, what would a show do to you to make the experience that bad?) Mohiro’s song in episode 10 was something I recognised, it’s the children’s song Nanatsu no Ko. Wouldn’t have known about it if I weren’t previously a huge Detective Conan geek, though.
Astral: That’s an interesting thing to know from a show like Detective Conan. I really liked the song though, and Mohiro genuinely has a very nice singing voice. (I’m a singer IRL so I should know.)
Aria: I wouldn’t have pegged you as a singer. Then again, people probably wouldn’t peg me as a former pianist, either, but that’s a subject for when – and if – I tackle Your Lie in April. (Although I don’t have a sob story behind why I stopped playing.)
Astral: I do sing (albeit not terrifically well, but pretty well). I’ve always had a fascination with voices, so when shows have a great vocal song in them, I always pick up on them. It’s one of the reasons I like Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash so much, because the insert songs were sung so beautifully they really managed to capture my heart.
While Mohiro’s singing was really, genuinely good, though, I feel like the show just doesn’t really have much notable music at all. What do you think?
Aria: I’m pretty much with you on that. The OP and ED are pretty standard (although I do favour the ED over the OP, if I were given a choice), and even the karaoke episode didn’t do anything spectacular. The fact they used children’s songs – which would contribute to lack of notability – is probably just a licencing thing, though.
Astral: Yeah, and I think that the use of kids’ songs does a pretty good job of describing the show, actually. Quaint, simply composed, they do what they’re meant to do, are kinda fun, but don’t really go outside the bounds set for them.
Aria: Oh yeah, what do you think about the Fujimotos? I thought because of episode 5 there was only one and most of the time there has only been one, but in episode 11, there were 6 again…
Astral: So I guess that weird episode was actually canon…?
Aria: I’m not entirely sure myself, since Saki and Sakuyo were questioning whether Hyoue’s images were Photoshopped at the time…
Astral: So we’re nearing the finale, and we still have no clue about who/what Fujimoto/Fujimotos actually is/are…
Aria: *sigh* Just another flaw in the comedy machine.
Astral: So neither of us were terribly surprised by the fact that the manager was the demon’s boss… But did you have a guess as to what his true plans were? I certainly wasn’t expecting them to be as convoluted and strange as they seem to be.
Aria: Nope. Well, in the end, it’s all for the magical girl idols’ careers anyway…that guy really does love his magical girls. (So much for Yamo being MVP of this show, though.)
Astral: Honestly, I think he might still be MVP. His love for magical girls is a real driving force, allowing him to overcome the conventions of the society he was born in. I love how everything he does is to make Saki and Sakuyo succeed, without regard to what will happen to him after all is said and done. If that isn’t being a true hero, I don’t know what is.
Aria: …That’s an interesting way to think of it, though I still feel burnt from the last time I pinned a character as MVP and then they turned into a bad guy (Kado). Just in case the audience isn’t aware of it, I’ll keep quiet on who that applies to. I’ve been told by other people I’ve complained enough about Kado as it is.
Astral: I only got through about half of Kado before I dropped it, mostly because I had a lot I was watching at the time. So, do you think the show is going to resolve itself well, or not? From what I saw at the end of episode 11 (yes, I actually watched all through the credits), I guess that Saki will reveal her identity to Mohiro, and possibly their romance might succeed, kind of like Saki’s mom’s did as we saw in episode 10?
Aria: There is enough time for the show to resolve itself properly, but…in my experience with comedy shows, the endings are often the least guessable parts of the show, for better or for worse, so it’s very much up to execution to make a satisfying resolution. More so than the rest of the show.
(Also, since you didn’t watch most of the other next-episode previews, there’s one where the demons narrate it – it’s whichever one precedes Magical Girl – Stalking – and it’s hilarious as all get out. You should go back and watch it when you have time.)
Astral: I actually saw the ending card for this episode too… and I’ve gotta say, pretty legitimately terrifying imagery there. 2 sp00py 4 me.
Aria: I gotta say, Monokubo illustrations are one of the highlights of this show, even if we could do without them. I even went and tracked down Monokubo’s Twitter, since I know I’ll be missing these illustrations when I’m done.
Astral: I took a bit to scroll through their twitter feed, and wow. I really adore that artstyle, very vivid and striking way of drawing and delivering a message. I love the pastel-sort of artstyle that focuses on blending light and dark colors to make certain things really pop out of the background.
Aria: …uh, I think I accidentally brought out the art critic in Astral…
Astral: I’m oddly picky about weird things, I know. Anyways, shall we take out this enemy with style?
Aria: Alrighty then.
Astral: Since this is a combination feature, let’s do a combination attack to finish this!
Both: Geomagnetic Storm!
Geomagnetic Storm is an attack that bombards the enemy with harsh magnetic waves, reversing the polarity of magnetic poles and throwing their balance into chaos. For an enemy that tries to throw in tricky plot twists, this attack will cause them to trip up and confuse themselves, leaving them open to attacks.
Aria: …Huh? Did we miss?
Astral: They’re not finished yet, but… I think the final battle is drawing near!
< To be continued in the next post… >
So there you have it. I’ve had that Your Lie in April post idea since around the time of the Netjuu no Susume post for the 12 Days of Anime, but obviously with everything else I’ve had on my plate, it’s going to be a while before I ever get to it…
What do you think will happen in the finale, now that almost everything’s been said and done? Is there something we didn’t address in previous episodes you’d like us to talk about?
Well, because we copped the break right over Boueibu‘s, we do have something to post on the Zodiac Room, so you can head there for the next instalment.
The Animanga Spellbook 