Welcome to your Late Edition of this week's Annotated Anime, the weekly recap that jumps in, chaps a-blazin' to train you in the art of fighting and self-confidence.
This week, Ookami-san brings plot a-plenty, Shi-ki "Rises" to the challenge (eh? eh?) of bringing more Risen to the show, Asobi ni Ikuyo parodies a show I've never seen before, but want to now that an anime has parodied it, and did I just read "massive teenage orgy" in Bob's Highschool of the Dead recap? I really need to catch up with that!
So get on with finding out what happened in anime this week, travel back an afternoon to read the Early Edition's recaps, and stay tuned in for Mike's special, one-shot Heroman recap!
Josh Tolentino
Ookami-san and Her Seven Companions episode 10
As was predicted by the fates, Ookami-san triggers a mandatory "plot rush" this week, wherein this episode, and likely every other episode from here on in will be filled with meaningful plot development, wherein we find out what the hell is going on besides vague fairytale analogies and gag sequences.
Speaking of fairytale analogies, today's is Puss in Boots, or in this case, "Student With 'Neko' in His Name in Leather Chaps. Yes, leather chaps. Puss, rather, Saburo Nekomiya offers to train Ryoushi in the art of fighting and self-confidence for free, because that's...kind of like what the original Puss in Boots did. I have to say I kind of like the one from Shrek better.
Anyway, plot! Anonymous tipsters from Onigashima, likely under the leadership of white-haired rapist Shirou Hitsujikai, are threatening to reveal the Otogi Bank (which, if you don't remember, is an illegal criminal organization), and in preparation, the members all go out to stock up on favors by doing odd jobs "at a 30% discount". How do you apply a discount on favor reciprocation, anyway? Well, whatever.
Ringo and Ryouko encounter Reiko Kokonou, who engenders Ryouko's sympathy by copy-pasting her backstory. Of course, this is a trap, as Ryouko, Urashima, Otsuu, and Otohime are all kidnapped for...some reason.
Look, this is the big problem with plot rushes. Everything happens and the viewer is left wondering what's going on. It's not as bad in Ookami-san's case as, say, with Demon King Daimao, but I honestly don't see it ending well. We'll see what happens next week.
[You can watch new episodes of Ookami-san on Hulu]
Bob Muir
Highschool of the Dead episode 10
The gang gets to chill out and relax a little at Saya's mansion while deciding whether to stay with the rather large group of adult survivors or go their own way. Saya freaks out, feeling that her parents don't care enough about her survival, but Takashi quiets her womanly cries with some old-fashioned physical abuse. Yep, we're making in-roads for feminism here!
We are soon introduced to Saya's no-nonsense father, who urges his compound to fight and not hesitate to kill zombified loved ones, but demonstrates this with a sword, sending Kohta into a nerd rage about how wrong that is compared to guns. Shortly thereafter, the father's men try to take Kohta's guns from him, thinking they could use them better than he could. This upsets him, as he's afraid to going revert back to his old self without guns to help him be strong.
Then, we see the return of Shido-sensei, holding a massive teenage orgy on his bus.
Even though my recap makes it sound kind of bland and it's mostly set-up for future confrontations, I really enjoyed this episode. The characters interacted without ridiculous amounts of fanservice, Saya and Kohta both got a little more depth to them, and I'm interested to see how Saya's father and Shido-sensei will play into the plot. Here's hoping the next episode builds properly on the events in this episode and doesn't devolve into Matrix boobs again.
[Watch Highschool of the Dead on The Anime Network]
Pedro Cortes
Shiki episode 9
Toshio and Seishin sit together talking in the clinic while they wait for something to happen to the marked patient in the next room. They talk about Seishin's latest book, which has a vaguely Cain and Abel dynamic to it. Toshio tells Seishin several of his theories about the Risen, including their feeding habits. Elsewhere, Megumi walks toward Natsuou's house (in smoking hot outfit I may add) while the annoying puppet loli from last week sits in his room waiting.
The next day the patient's vitals have improved, yet all the pressure is showing on Toshio, as his staff are starting to worry about him. As Toshio leaves the clinic, we meet his wife, Kyouko. It's quickly made clear that their relationship is a complicated one, made worse by Toshio's mother being an annoying nag. Later that night Ritsuko goes to take snacks to the clinic and runs into Nao, the patients Risen daughter. Back at the clinic, Toshio and Seishin hear clawing sounds at the window and see the patient awake. They manage to stop the vamp, which leads to the patient nearing a full recovery the following day.
That night Toshio and Seishin resume their watch over the patient. The power gets cut, so Seishin goes to turn on the generator. This leads to Toshio getting ambushed by Tatsuno (who was invited in by Kyouko earlier) and Seishin confronting all the other Risen. Tatsuno lays the hurt on Toshio and escapes with the patient. All the Risen outside make dinner out of the patient and escape into the woods, leaving Toshio and Seishin to deal with the body. While all of the vamps walk back to the mansion, they notice that Megumi isn't with them and we see her running through the woods, presumably to Natsuou's house.
Another great episode. I really dug seeing the Risen come out in full force, since it feels more like they're working together for some purpose rather than a string of separate creatures feasting on villagers. Things don't look so good for Natsuou though.
Jeff Chuang
Asobi ni Ikuyo episode 8
It's supposed to be a parody of Starsky and Hutch, complete with the car?
Anyways, Asobi ni Ikuyo delivered some pretty cool gun fights this week. Using Catia quasi-antimatter technology, Aoi and Manami were able to put into their bullets the same eat-away-non-living powers that those squeaky hammers had. The results, actually, was several stressful showdowns and as expected, more casual nudity. Not that there's anything wrong with a game of, effectively, strip airsoft. I think.
The catch this week is how the Dog people (or their agents) tried to interfere and take out Aoi and Manami. It happened during a heated duel between Manami and Aoi, part play, part training, part stress management and part communication-through-battle. And I guess since you can figure out how it ends, it's not a spoiler to say that a more than one person ended up naked.
I appreciate an entertaining episode and more character development, but the plot is going nowhere really fast. Seeing we only have a handful of episodes left, I hope the series kicks into gear really soon!
[View new episodes of Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky at Crunchyroll]
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