Anime roundup 6/14/2018: Vanishing Point

Hakyu Hoshin Engi #20 – When the stars fall… well, the planets, really. The problem is that hoshi can mean either “star” or “planet”. The stuff apparatuses inside Kingo Island are definitely more planet-y, but the image of stars falling is more poetic, and it helps disguise what’s about to happen. Such are the daily struggles of the translator.

I like that we don’t get a detailed explanation of whatever Fugen did. It’s enough to gather, from the previously shown abilities of his paopei and the disturbing vanish that takes the place of the more traditional fade-to-white, that something extremely unpleasant has happened to the local fabric of space-time.

And yet it’s not unpleasant enough. We haven’t gotten to the flashforward where Taikōbō and Bunchū are facing off over a pit of lava. This is probably what creates that pit, but it means that for all the sacrifice of the twelve Sennin, Bunchū will still survive.

The other heavy news is that Joka and her friends have been doing the Ancient Aliens thing and meddling with humanity for a very long time. And for a purpose: they’re trying to recreate their own history, except presumably for whatever made them have to leave their own planet. And so, if there was a Sennin War just like this one in Joka’s history, what exactly can Taikōbō do to stop it? Is the plan to remove the Sennin from the mundane world part of the intended history? Is having Yin fall part of it? If so, is it possible for Taikōbō to find another way to conclude things?

(CrunchyrollFunimation)

Megalobox #10 – Fujimaki isn’t there to take Nambu away, just to force him to explain the real plan, which is to fix a Megalonia fight.  Understandable that Nambu didn’t bring that up before, because it’s a foregone conclusion how the rest of Team Nowhere was going to react. Nambu still retains enough decency to accept what he probably has coming for failing to deliver a loss, and at least tries to get Sachio out of harm’s way.

It’s a little too convenient that an excuse for dumping him on Yukiko Shirato materializes just in time, but it does give Yukiko a chance to demonstrate how she operates. She may be planning to make a bundle selling the integrated Gear to the armies of the world, but she’s going to be an ethical member of the military-industrial complex if she can help it. I’m not convinced placing Sachio with her makes him safe, though. Fujimaki probably has people everywhere.

With Megalonia proper kicking into gear, it’s finally time for Yūri to get the spotlight for a while and show off why he’s the reigning champion. Unfortunately, the fierceness of his opponent is blunted a bit by being festooned with holiday decorations. I guess somebody said “Let’s put some authentic Mexican-looking skulls on him to make him both ethnic and badass!” and didn’t take that line of research quite far enough.

(CrunchyrollADNbilibili)

Steins;Gate 0 #9 – Back in the timeline where Mayuri is alive and Kurisu is dead, Okabe determines that if more time travel is going to lead to experiences like the one he’s just been through, he is definitely not going for more time travel. Not even if Suzuha actually kills him, though with the time machine running out of fuel it’s kind of a moot point anyway. But this is also where he starts to realize he has two opponents who aren’t afraid to use it: both Russia and the US.

The one thing he hasn’t figured out yet is to connect any of the sinister American goings-on with the Americans right in front of him, so he arranges to stash Hiyajō with Feyris. (Explained in the previous series: Feyris has the ritzy apartment and the butler because her family owns a large chunk of Akihabara.) I’m willing to bet Hiyajō is out of the loop about any plans to grab Kagari or extract Kurisu’s theory from Amadeus, but she’s also likely to be an inadvertent source of information for Reyes and Leskinen.

Another bit of information from the previous series that isn’t spelled out well: The Reading Steiner is Okabe’s term for his ability to sense timeline changes and remember previous timelines. (There’s no real meaning to the name, he just thought it sounded cool.) It also sometimes produces vague impressions in those close to him, like Mayuri’s remark in the first episode that the lab felt lonely— there were more people hanging out there regularly in other timelines. Here it seems to have affected Fubuki. Well, unless she’s got that ability too…

(CrunchyrollFunimation)

Persona5 the Animation #10 – At last Akechi and the Phantoms sort of face off for a few seconds in at least the same room! It’s a wonder the genius boy detective isn’t making more progress when he’s up against a group which is so bad at operational security that the student council president can walk right up and record them discussing their work.

The price of not being exposed is to be assigned a new target, so off they go to track down whoever’s shaking down kids in Shinjuku. To verify their initial information, Ren and Ryūji wander into a random alley, and sure enough, gangsters! But finding out more will require a perilous rendezvous, facing down the terrors of Shinjuku after dark, such as… erm… crossdressers.

There have been warning circulating in anime fandom that some material that is not kind to persons of alternate gender presentation coming up, so I guess this is it. It is really not a good look to suggest that men with lipstick are far more shocking and threatening than actual gangsters. Also, sexual harassment still does not become harmless fun if it’s targeting guys.

(CrunchyrollAnimeLabWakanimAniplus HDHulubilibili)

Cute High Earth Defense Club HAPPY KISS!, AWOL – After delaying the last two episodes, the French Open has finally claimed a victim. Since this is a highly episodic show, probably one episode gets dropped entirely from broadcast and packaged with the DVDs as a bonus.

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