Proving weak against UFOs, from the ending credits to Engaged to the Unidentified (Mikakunin de Shinkoukei), because I can actually watch it in on CR whilst being in the US?

Mashiro best character, Konoha Secret Best character, Benio kind of annoying, Kobeni really just sort of there most the time, yadda yadda yadda. Not much to say about the show, but I do think the upcoming Mashiro Nendoroid looks pretty great – it has fun faces, and comes with Mokele-mbembe. Which is mostly just neat because Mokele-mbembe is a fun name.

Mokele-mbembe.

I dunno, though, the Nendoroid line really feels like it’s on an upsurge at the moment, in terms of fun character choices and faces – I mean, I was just popping onto AmiAmi to pull a link for the Mashiro nendoroid and notice that a cute Zvezda nendo has been listed (although if it was Professor Um or White Robin, I’d probably be twice as all over it). I’m sure I’d be all about that Renge nendo if I’d seen more of Non-Non Biyori as well, and all those Kill la Kill toys look great…

Meh, the worries of a merch-purchaser. I don’t have room for all the nendos I have already, let alone the ones I have on order. Also, Cu-poche’s are still great as well.

(Also Nico-Nico-Ni, obviously, because what’s a post here these days without mentioning Love Live?)

Leaping to the top of the queue by virtue of drawing first blood this season, from the first episode of Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara – or If Her Flag Breaks if you like English (Or Gaworare if you are worried about letter counts). It’s that thing in the top-right corner, being used as a table in the ramshackle Quest Dorm in which the male protagonist resides.

I have to admit, I’ve been spending an awful lot of time this season staring at the frontpage of Crunchyroll, finding myself not really finding all that much that I particularly feel like watching most nights of the week. I only really stuck this show on as background noise whilst I was fiddling around with something else, but it’s cute enough, I guess. I suppose I should watch No Game No Life by means of comparison, but Gaworare feels very much like a confluence of ongoing trends in the industry – it’s all very light-novel, whilst also continuing that gamification of relationships as portrayed in the likes of The World God Only Knows. Only, you know, being way more literal about this whole flag concept. Maybe I’ll watch more, maybe I won’t.

But, hey, it’s a double Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK, so I’ve got a nice four-day break during which I can pretend that I’m actually going to catch up on checking out new shows.

From the second to last episode, hopefully not providing any spoilers.

I had fun with Zvezda, but it’s a bit of a kooky show with an approach that is probably as off putting as it is appealing. Essentially, the show simply doesn’t give a damn about providing the audience with any kind of actual context in regards to the world in which it’s set. It’s a experience not entirely unlike watching a spin-off series without having seen the original work, or perhaps watching a slightly more coherent Tomino production.

This is to say, the show has a certain internal consistency to it, and there’s never really any indication that the characters are ever experiencing anything that doesn’t make sense to them outside of some sporadic bouts of confusion from our protagonist early on. It’s a weirdly naturalistic approach to writing for a show as conceptually out-there are Zvezda, in so much as the characters don’t really feel the need to stand around and explain things that they should already know to each other simply for the benefit of the audience.

The show does, eventually, find itself with the need to throw the viewer a narrative life-ring, lest they drown in the shows closing arc, but it’s little more than is necessary. The show still expects you to make your own assumptions and draw your own connections between things, though – it’s a curiously intelligent for a show is actually kind of dumb, even if it does end up making it easy to reach too far and make conclusions about what the show is actually about that are shortly proven completely wrong.

Also Renge-chan da best.
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From the fifth episode of second series of Chuunibyou, on the far right of Kumin’s cardboard construction. It’s no wonder that Yuuta is such a lousy competitive napper when he has been provided with such a mentally stimulating practice area.

The new Chuu2 has thus far has been fine, I guess – I enjoyed the first season more when it was being dumb than when it was indulging itself in melodrama, though that it’s being doing that to the detriment of any kind of forward momentum these last couple of episodes isn’t exactly ideal. The MoriDeko baiting of the fourth episode was cute, but it’s not like it actually went anywhere.

That being said, I hear something actually happens in yesterday’s episode, though this is where I presumably grumble about the usual lack-of-timeliness of UK-specific streaming services. Guess I’ll look forward to it sometime next week!

From the Japanese Internet game (and soon anime) otaku phenomenon Kantai Collection (or KanColle, for those who dislike typing), as the starter furniture for your office. Someone has drawn an adorable cat over one of the oranges on the box.
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