Episode 6 Collaboration Review with Irina (in bold).
We are fast approaching the halfway mark, this season is just racing along! Ha! I see you’re the one asking the questions again? Well that at least makes my job easier!
So Matt, they decided to combine all the classic filler EPs into one. (Beach + School Festival + Fireworks) Do you feel cheated that all we got are a few measly beach flashback scenes? I feel cheated that they weren’t wearing bikini’s… oh did I say that out loud? Sorry. Um, I guess they wanted to get all the classic anime tropes out in one fell swoop, good for them I suppose? I like those filler episodes usually so it’s a little bit of a loss that they condensed them all into half an episode but if that means there’s more racing and sports plot in future episodes then I guess that’s for the better of the show?
So not a uniform swimsuit man? Not particularly, no. Though then again it depends who’s wearing them, did you see the Tohru (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid) uniform swimsuit figurine that’s coming out soon? Damn! Also this got off topic quicker than usual, yay us! No and why would Tohru be in one of those…She’s a bit past school age. She’s a bit past human age too, let’s not spoil all my fun.
Am I the only one who thinks Suzu looks a little like Holo (Spice and Wolf) when she doesn’t have her ear warmers on? I had to Google who that was but totally! Also, we should probably get to talking about the plot sooner or later, not for my benefit though—I’d happily spend this whole thing talking about cute anime girls—but for the reader’s benefit.Plot you say – ok remind me again what the plot of the episode was? Not for me…for the readers… Touche.
The story is leaning more towards open shoujo-ai, with Special declaring she’s “enamoured”, how do you feel about that? Every show like this is a shoujo-ai in my mind. And probably in the mind of the writer too.
Do you have a favourite couple? Ooh~ tough question, I like how playful and silly Gold Ship acts around Mejiro, it’s super cute, although I’m hoping Mejiro is just playing hard to get and isn’t actually annoyed at her behaviour. Also the girl who gave her plushy donut to the other girl (I could watch the episode again to remember their names but I’m too busy for that).
Speaking of which, I usually like school festival episodes too, I thought the eating competition was cute. I honestly would have liked to see more of all the events. Did you have a favourite moment? It was so much fun, kind of the reason I’m annoyed it’s not a full episode (or even multiple episodes), all the festival stuff was great!
Butlers, am I right? I knew you’d bring up the Butler Cafe! I was going to say kudos to the show for not going Maid Cafe fan-service but then again there school uniforms are frilly enough to be maid costumes as it is!
I’m a little at a loss for where the season will go next. Races usually take about half an episode and I don’t see what else is really left. They seemed to be foreshadowing the whole “injuries are bad/my injury is recovered” thing pretty hard this episode, we were convinced someone, maybe even Suzuka in the race that closes out the episode was going to take a tumble. Since it didn’t happen this episode I’m willing to put money on it that next episode either El Condor Pasa or Spe-chan herself will suffer an injury which will no doubt fill some time.
I wanted to ask, what do you think about the trainer woman Hana and *googles male trainer’s name* Um, apparently he’s just called ‘Trainer’ and their budding relationship. I kinda liked the scene in the bar, even though I’m not fond of him, up until she started blushing at the thought of being propositioned. Yes, it’s good that she’s not just a one-dimensional stern trainer caricature, but unless they establish a previous history between these two this development just screams “career woman in her 30’s (probably) who’s desperate for a man”-trope. Well I always enjoy consensual adult relationships in anime for the novelty if nothing else… The scene at the bar was cutesy and I have nothing against it but the trainer romance feels a bit tacked on for me. I don’t find it really adds much to the rest of the story for the moment. It’s almost like they realised having a trainer character who basically just says “yolo do whatever out there girls” makes for a boring trainer character!
Also, I think they dropped an interesting bit of info in that scene when talking/foreshadowing about horse-girl injuries. They run at 70 km/h, that’s ridiculously fast! Like I had to look it up but Usain Bolt only runs at 45 km/h and that’s over 100m, not the kilometers these girls run. I can kinda see why these races would draw such crowds and fandom in-universe, it would be insane to see a human-shaped horse-girl run that fast! As for that bit about speeds, one line stuck with me. I think it was from her, but basically she mentioned that sometimes the girl is not the only one who gets injured. I took it to mean that you can take out another girl, or even several, if you go down. The implications are frightening. I was going to make a dirty joke there but then you went and made it all serious again and now I feel bad…
One thing I will say (and I’m a HUGE pushover I know) is that the scene in the wings after the race, with a disheartened Grass(?) making her way off the track after being totally beaten by Suzu, and lady trainer giving her some very tender and gentle comfort, had me actually tearing up. I would really prefer if they concentrated on the trainer/athlete relationships (the non gropey aspects at least) rather than winkey romance moments. Yes! That was such a genuine moment, loved it!
Well, this has turned more and more into a conversation review than a Question and Answer format, which I’m totally okay about! Thanks again for collaborating with me Irina, and I’ll see you all next week on Irina’s site for an Episode 7 review!
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Anime QandA 
well this doesn’t appear in my reader for some reason…
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That’s annoying, also would explain why it was no views (although my views have been super low for days now).
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Reblogged this on I drink and watch anime and commented:
How to make a sort of ok show into a really fun watch? Discuss it with a friend!
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I actually like them putting a lot of this into this single episode. The show hasn’t had that severe male gaze, so having a bikini beach episode would have been really out of place (and not having much of what they usually show a lot of in those kinds of shows, given the physiques of the characters). And the festival was plenty of time for our main characters not really having that much involved in it, tho I kind of wish they’d give a little more motivation for Gold Ship wanting to always make money.
Again, I really liked the race, and think that they’ve really done a great job setting up these races. You honestly go into the race not sure about how it’s going to go, because while the show has set up Special Week as the main character, she’s not in all the races, and it hasn’t cast anyone as a ‘villain’. So this week’s race could have had Suzuka continue to win, or El Condor Pasa continue to win, or both of them lose, or Grass Wonder get hurt, or even have more of a presence from Eishin Flash or Nice Nature, who they introduced for the race. Having El lose her first race, especially in a way that runs counter to what she’s used to, was good, as well as having Grass Wonder find her limitation after her injury. Was a nice moment with Hana as well, helping to soften her image as a taskmaster that had been fostered by her complaining about Trainer’s methods with Suzuka and the others.
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