Hey, thanks for coming by Anime Rants. Today, we are reviewing episodes from Spring 2024, Week 12 (that would be June 17th to 23rd). I changed up the list order to reflect the order in which the episodes were released throughout the week. Enjoy!
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Train to the End of the World
Episode 11.5: Recap: ~So Far on Train to the End of the World~
Episode Rating: N/A
The final episode of the series was delayed to June 24th due to some production issues. I watched this recap episode to make sure there were no new lines or content, and there were none. The recap was fairly standard and did a good job reviewing what we’ve seen.
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Tadaima, Okaeri
Episode 11: Bye-Bye?
Episode Rating: 8/10
There was a Yuki x Matsuo scene where Yuki finally realizes that he likes Matsuo and that he’s been quite clingy. The next day, Hiromu runs into Mochizuki at a construction site. Mochizuki notices Hiromu’s last name, but thinks nothing of it, since he didn’t think Masaki’s husband would be an alpha. Later that same day, Mochizuki went to hang out with Masaki and the kids. He was excited to finally meet Masaki’s husband.
It didn’t go well because Mochizuki was starting to be “in heat.” When Hiromu walked in, he had a reaction to the pheromones and had to leave the room. Mochizuki took his son and left, angry at Masaki for “putting him in the midst of natural enemies.” He even said their friendship was over. Masaki went to comfort his husband, who was feeling ashamed and standing in a freezing shower. Hugging and kissing, the two men calmed each other down and restated their love. Things are not easy in the omegaverse.
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Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf
Episode 12: Price of Betrayal and Price of Gold
Episode Rating: 8/10
Though badly beaten up, Lawrence managed to free himself and make it back to the main road, where he reunited with Holo. Instead of fighting the impertinent younger wolf god, Holo had gotten down on her knees and begged for safe passage for the humans. I thought this was incredibly noble considering her usual pride, but the episode didn’t focus much on this point. Holo transformed into her giant wolf form and had Lawrence ride on her back. Together, they went to rescue Nora and get revenge on the Remerio Trading Company.
Once they caught up, Holo attacked the men, but left Nora, Enek, and Liebert alive. She terrorized Liebert into admitting the betrayal and surrendering the pouch of smuggled gold. Lawrence gave the gold to Nora for safekeeping and traveled back to the city with Holo. Here, he forced Mr. Remerio to sign a contract owing him a huge amount of money over the course of ten years. That contract was then purchased by Lawrence’s friend at the other trading union. The money from this was enough to break even. I’m not sure what’s happening with the gold, but Lawrence and Holo met with Nora the next day. The episode ends there.
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Bartender: Glass of God
Episode 12: An Important Job
(Final Episode)
Episode Rating: 8/10
The final episode focused on a character named Junichiro Kurosawa: a popular mystery author who is facing immense pressure to write another novel. Unable to write anything new, he falls into depression and feels at the end of his rope. When Kurosawa visits the bar, Ryu and Miwa pick up on the fact that he might be suicidal. However, after talking things over with Ryu and enjoying an amazing Sledgehammer cocktail, the author cheers up. He promises to come back.
The rest of the episode was about how Ryu agreed to start working at Kurushima’s hotel. His condition for joining was that he got to move Edenhall’s sign and decor to the hotel’s bar. Also, Kurushima and Ryu spent some time together at a park. It was a good time for both of them. Everyone celebrates as Ryu officially begins his job at the hotel.
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Mysterious Disappearances
Episode 11: Cats, Swimsuits, and a Black Aeonium
Episode Rating: 7/10
This episode was enjoyable overall despite the annoying swimsuit stuff. Call me crazy, but I don’t think it’s a good thing to objectify the bodies of middleschool girls, even in fiction. I thought it was cute when Oto and Nodoka shared a float, but it was ruined by Mari, creepily sexualizing them in the background. Perverts are not funny, get over it, anime industry.
The Cat Sovereign who attacked Ren was underwhelming as a character, especially since I thought the show was leading up to some big secret involving the cats. I’m not sure what the deal was with the black flowers, but they were pretty. It’s great that Sumireko has finished her next novel. Now we just have to stop Ren from sacrificing himself to send Oto home. I’m excited for the final episode next week.
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That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 3
Episode 12: Festival Preparations
Episode Rating: 7/10
It was a cheerful episode as Rimuru prepared for the upcoming festival. Although most of the episode content was boring for me, it was great to see so much of Rimuru being cute and enthusiastic as he discussed his plans with others. One person he talked with for a long while was the merchant Mjöllmile. I don’t even remember him, but he seems to be a very likeable character. He and Rimuru plan to hold a martial arts tournament in a huge colosseum they will build. Nobles and kings from many countries will be invited.
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Kaiju No. 8
Episode 11: Kaiju No. 8 Captured
Episode Rating: 9/10
I’m immensely relieved that the Third Division didn’t turn against Kafka. As Mina said, not one of them thinks of Kafka as the enemy. They’re all trying to do everything they can for him. But the leader of the anti-kaiju forces, Commander Shinomiya, has other ideas. He brutally attacks Kafka, forcing him into kaiju mode to survive. In order to fight, Shinomiya is using a special weapon and suit crafted from the body parts of Kaiju No. 2.
Despite the fact that his own daughter begged for the life of this Kaiju, Shinomiya proceeds to try to eliminate Kafka. To make things worse, Kafka has lost the ability to control his Kaiju body. He’s now acting completely like a monster, bent on attacking the commander. Kikoru, watching from above, tries to call out to Kafka, reminding him that he’s human. The enthralling episode ends with this cliffhanger.
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Black Butler: Public School Arc
Episode 11: His Butler, Taking Off
(Final Episode)
Episode Rating: 8/10
The main story arc was completed in episode 10, so this final installment was simply showing a day in the life of young Earl Ciel Phantomhive. It was really enjoyable to see the loveable servants and their antics as they visited London. Mey-Rin got new glasses, Finnian got a new hat, and everyone had a good time. We didn’t see Tanaka this time, but everyone else had some fun moments.
Ciel’s company is selling women’s perfume, so he went to go look at the displays in the shop in London. Sebastian pulled a big move to get more people interested in the perfumes. He advertised it via an opera house play after the star singer owed him a favor. We also learned that Undertaker had a memento from Ciel’s grandmother. His relationship to the Phantomhives is still mysterious. Anyway, it was a good episode.
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Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master
Episode 12: To Choose a Consort
Episode Rating: 9/10
This was one of the best episodes so far. The prince sat down with the three ladies and interviewed each of them in brutally honest ways. At times, I found myself annoyed at the Prince’s blunt words, which are often spoken from a place of great privilege. But that’s exactly the point – to rile up his conversation partner and get to the heart of the matter quickly. I was also surprised at several different “plot twists” in this episode, including the fact that Kasumi is alive and Shiratama can finally be happy with him.
Masuho-no-Susuki had the most interesting interview with the prince, in my opinion. The dramatic haircut was awesome. I’m very happy that she decided to live her own life with her own pride. As for Asebi, she had me completely fooled all this time. Based on the last few minutes of the episode, it seems that she’s been up to no good all along. Maybe it’s too soon to come to that conclusion, but I don’t think I’m wrong. I look forward to discovering the full truth about Asebi next week.
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Whisper Me A Love Song
Episode 9: A Plan, a Blunder, and a Commotion
Episode Rating: 8/10
After three weeks of waiting, I finally got to see and enjoy Whisper Me a Love Song episode 9. It had a good amount of cute and romantic moments for Yori and Himari. There was also a lot of drama, since Himari hosted a gathering to bring together the members of the competing bands, SSGirls and Laurely. Despite Himari’s efforts, Shiho still refused to open up to Aki. She also attached a condition to their competition: Himari must act as the manager for Laurely until the school festival is over.
Aki feels terrible about Himari getting dragged into the drama, but Himari agrees to Shiho’s strange demand. I think I finally know what’s going on. Shiho liked Aki, and was jealous that Aki liked Yori so much. Now, Shiho wants “revenge” on Yori for “stealing” from her. So, she’s “stealing” Himari to make Yori uncomfortable. That is a really petty and bitchy thing to do. I hope Shiho loses the competition and learns a lesson from her failure. Anyway, it’s great to see this show come back.
~Thanks for reading~
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Yatagarasu played a trick on us. By making Asebi the protagonist to start with, they made it so our suspicions would never fall upon her, not for anything, but they weren’t showing us everything. When the princess’ lady in waiting – Samomo, I think her name was? – was murdered, it would have been obvious to suspect Asebi from an outside perspective, but not from an inside one. The lady was carrying Asebi’s messages, after all, and was now privy to her secrets, which, I recall seeing an expression on her face shortly before she was murdered which didn’t make much sense to me at the time specifically because of how the show presented Asebi to us.
Now that we know the show hasn’t been upfront with us, it’s easy to see where this is going. Asebi used this Kasuke fellow to attack her own sister and get her out of the way. Then she attempted the same again with her biggest competitor for the Prince’s heart, but the man was foiled before he could get the job done. The lady in waiting knew something of this, so Asebi pushed her to her death.
This nicely eliminates Asebi from the competition altogether, and leaves only one candidate still standing, the one who exercised patience most of all: Hamayu. I predict she will return and be empress.
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I’ve got to get better about responding right away so 1-2 weeks don’t keep going by, lol. Oh, good old ADHD.
Yatagarasu definitely did trick us!! I fell for it completely! Well — very early on, I did think she was too cutesy and innocent and dumb to be for real. But I figured that was me not liking or understanding the character well. So all this time, I was trying to like her and see her in a good light. Welp. So much for that. I think you’re right that she either pushed Samamo or ordered someone else to do it. I can’t wait to see Hamayu again~
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