Anime roundup 8/13/2015: That Which Does Not Kill You

Charlotte-6 Charlotte #6 – Ayumi has some classmates who need serious help with figuring out boundaries. Oikawa not only hasn’t learned to give up at “no”, he comes to Ayumi’s apartment to bother her while she’s sick. Then it turns out his previous girlfriend is so freaked out by losing his attention that she goes after Ayumi with a boxcutter. I know, they’re middle schoolers, but sheesh.

For a while there I thought the episode was going to fake us out and reveal that Konishi was the one developing a power after all. But no, it’s Ayumi, and the onset of a power really is like an illness. (Could it be an actual illness which just causes mild symptoms in most people, but awakens latent psychic powers as a side effect?)

So, what the heck happened right at the end there? I’m going to guess that Ayumi miraculously survives, but Yū has been crippled by that pillar falling on him. No idea who the new pink-haired girl is working for, other than it’s probably not the evil mad scientists or they would have figured out there was a cluster of psychics at that school by now. What is the helper doing? Maybe torrential rain is enough water for him to exercise his powers, but what’s he doing at the middle school?

Charlotte didn’t have much going on the last couple episodes, but it’s certainly made up for that now.

(CrunchyrollWakanimViewsterAnimeLabDaisukiAniplex)

insight-6 Gatchaman Crowds insight #6 – I just want to say, before his personal story has a chance to develop some kind of horrible twist, that Millio is my favorite of the characters introduced in the new series. I could watch an entire episode of just him reacting to things. I can totally believe that if he really existed, he would have the most popular TV show in Japan.

But I digress. Gelsadra is now living the popular science-fictional power fantasy of If Everyone Just Listened To Me Society Would Be Perfect, except that he is just a conduit for governing via mass knee-jerk reaction. One of his maneuvers that particularly stands out is the dismissal of the Cabinet– not just because it sounds inherently dictatorial, but because it recalls Japan’s most famous wartime prime minister attempting to become Minister of Everything.

World War II also pops up again in the person of Grandpa Yuru, who has the impertinence to question the glorious plan and tell Tsubasa that she doesn’t understand what it really means to fight.

And for the first time, someone seems to really notice that Yuru’s thoughts aren’t made visible by Gelsadra’s power. After that, Hajime, the other person whose thoughts are invisible, is shown sticking to her own rhythm in the morning breathing exercises. I’m thinking the grey bubbles indicate people who aren’t the sort to go along with a consensus.

(Crunchyroll)

Rokka-6 Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers #6 – Seriously, this is based on a light novel? Rokka plunges further into mystery as Adlet and Flamie contemplate the possibility that there is more than one enemy about, and in fact more than one of the champions may be an impostor. Also the shapechanger that Adlet saw shouldn’t even have been able to get inside the first rank of pillars, but she or it did, which makes me think that either Flamie is wrong about being the only hybrid, or else that’s a very powerful demon that was putting up with some serious pain to get that far.

If there can be more than one impostor, how many could there be? Maura has to explain the lore about the presence of six petals in the tattoo (handy, that, it’ll tell them if they’ve killed the right person or not when they get around to executing someone), which is the sort of information that co-conspirators would have shared between themselves beforehand, so if there are multiple fakes, I don’t think Maura is one of them.

Or there could be multiple factions interfering. Maybe they’re all fakes, and Adlet just willed his crest into existence because he wanted to be chosen so much, and the world has been overrun by zombies already. Wait, wrong show. I’m pretty sure at this moment that Hans, Maura, Adlet, Flamie, and Goldov are genuine, which leaves Chamot and Nashetania. Nashetania is still my main pick for an impostor. Chamot… hmm. She hasn’t displayed any actual powers yet…

(Crunchyroll)

School-Live-5 SCHOOL-LIVE! #5 – No zombie Kei after all! Instead, the author invites us to imagine what happened when a bunch of terrified families barricaded themselves inside the movie theater, only to discover that someone among them had already been infected.

It falls to Kurumi to give the standard “Promise you’ll kill me if I start showing symptoms” speech, but only in this show does it have to be a pinky-promise.

This episode punts on the opportunity to reveal if Megumi has any kind of visible existence to anyone but Yuki, but we do see the limit of Yuki’s ability to substitute her own reality. Faced with an atrium full of zombies, even she has to admit that something terrible is going on. And it triggers a thought of Megumi, so Yuki was probably with her when she died. This show does not let up.

(Crunchyroll)

Please take a moment to support Amazing Stories with a one-time or recurring donation via Patreon. We rely on donations to keep the site going, and we need your financial support to continue quality coverage of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres as well as supply free stories weekly for your reading pleasure. https://www.patreon.com/amazingstoriesmag

Previous Article

How Worldcons Work – Financial Reports

Next Article

Were Fans Cheated By Spock’s Death?

You might be interested in …

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.