Death Parade #7 – All right, throw out those calculations from last week, because it’s 7,000 per hour, and Decim is actually on floor 15 (so who’s minding the 10th floor?), out of at least 90. Still, the point holds: the afterlife is being overwhelmed. And Nona is trying to do something to change the system before it collapses completely.
Somehow this involves creating new arbiters who can experience human emotions, or experience them more fully, as Decim’s predecessor turns out to be a fairly lively gal herself. And though the focus is on Decim, Ginti was clearly part of the experiment as well. What is it he treasures? His doll collection, like Decim’s mannequins? The cat? Not Mayu, apparently, at least not that he’s going to admit.
Although Ginti was asking the other arbiters about inability to judge someone, he was probably asking about Decim’s dilemma with the Dark-Haired Woman. If the point of playing the games is, as Nona explains, to draw out the darkness in everyone’s soul, and that’s the basis of judgement, Mayu should be easy to judge. She may be a ditz, but she clearly has practically no darkness to draw out. Did Nona make the decision to keep Mayu around, then?
And now Nona is intercepting some very special guests for Decim and the Dark-Haired Woman, with foreshadowing that this could go very badly wrong. What about them requires a special arbiter? This will probably give some more insight into how this afterlife works, and how it’s starting to not work.
(FUNimation – AnimeLab – Viewster)
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! #8 – It takes guts to try and get a wacky fun episode out of tackling the subject of depression, and Cute High nailed it. Not just in keeping things funny, but really representing depression in all its forms. There’s the easy, obvious manifestation of the shut-in, but also the invisible monster that strikes a person down by making them view everything that others do around them in the worst possible way. Far more serious shows have done a far worse job with this material.
This week’s opponent takes the form of a kotatsu, which is a low table, surrounded by a skirt-like futon, with a heater mounted on the underside of the table. Used in more traditional settings where one sits on the floor, it allows legs and arms to be stuck under the blanket and warmed. Or, in this case, it affords a small enough person a warm comfy place to hide, turtle-like.
It’s great to see En take the spotlight, but the real icing on the cake is Yumoto being the one rendered speechless for once.
(Crunchyroll – FUNimation – AnimeLab – Viewster)
Yona of the Dawn #20 – Yona finally thinks of a job only she can do to help fight Yan Kumji, except it immediately turns out she can’t, and they have to send the sage along, too. Wait, no, that sells this episode short. It was full of great little moments, and one of them was Yona stepping forward with her very own idea of how she cold be useful, even though it leads her toward a more terrifying situation than she’s had to face since fleeing the palace.
Another is Hak realizing that Yona has changed so much since that night that she may as well have been replaced by a different person, and that he really wants to get to know that person better.
And another is Yona again, confessing to Gigan that she understands how Gigan seems like a mother to everyone. We still don’t know very much about Gigan; that scene seemed like it might be a lead-in to her backstory, but no, she’s not ready to open up about it. She must have been someone who was once part of the local nobility, and thus is probably a relative of Kumji’s. Maybe even his mother? That’s a scary thought, but it would make a kind of sense.
And finally, Yun casually describing himself as the ultimate expert at leading a wretched, cowering existence. That he’s able to say it so lightly says something about his level of courage, especially as he’s going to be in even more danger than Yona if his secret is uncovered.
Yatterman Night #7 – This episode felt like it was treading water (pun intended), but it brings another round of incremental improvements in the ongoing campaign against the Yatter Kingdom. For a start, note that the fisherman who is way too into the romance of the sea is the first person they’ve encountered who actually wants to be rescued.
Meanwhile, Galina is rapidly developing from passive luggage to a useful member of the team. And one crucial bit of information has arrived at Yatter HQ thanks to the momentary capture of our heroes. General Goro now knows who-all he’s dealing with. And wouldn’t you know it, he seems to recognize Alouette…
Mostly this was a throwback to the Yatterman of old, with the outrageous guest character and the willfully idiotic plotting and the general wacky antics.
(FUNimation – AnimeLab – Viewster)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders #31 – And of course there’s another thing manly macho men fear about girl cooties– they can make you gay! Or at make you act gay, which is just as bad! The author makes sure to put Joseph and Avdol through every possible unfortunate, humiliating position before finally releasing them to face less terrifying dangers, such as the prospect of being flattened by a train.
Let’s face it, most of the intended audience was laughing with the villain this week. But Joseph and Avdol finally remember they’re supposed to be a couple of the cannier people in this show, and manage to gather enough wits to trap Mariah with her own power, though not before having to sit through another speech about how Dio is the manliest man who ever manned.
Speaking of wits, will Polnareff ever get that delicious breakfast he’s been waiting two weeks for? Apparently not any time soon…
