Welcome back to Anime Rants. Today we’re continuing the brief episode reviews for summer 2024 anime. These episodes were released from July 29th to August 4th, 2024. There is still no sign of the last two episodes of Whisper Me A Love Song. As for Yatagarasu, it will not resume until August 17th. Those darn Olympics, taking away my fantasy anime with raven people! Tch. Anyway, I have a slightly longer entry for Tower of God compared to the others, but that’s because there was more worth discussing.

---

Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Episode 18: Goods of Intent and Negotiation of Resolve

Episode Rating: 7/10

Lawrence convinces Batos to help him talk to Diana about buying pyrite. Batos eventually agrees and gives Lawrence a password. Then Lawrence heads to see Diana. Although she’s willing to sell to him, there was someone else who ordered first on credit. Diana asks Lawrence to wait while she negotiates with the other buyer. Lawrence spends some time back in town with Marc, who makes him realize that he’s in love with Holo. Marc and his young assistant Lant are willing to help in the plan to defeat Amati.

Though there were a few moments where I was bored with the economics, I enjoyed this episode as a whole. It was great to see Diana and Batos again. Marc’s passionate speech about love was also entertaining. The episode ends with Lawrence running into Amati in the marketplace. The younger man pays the promised amount for their previous deal. He looks very smug since he’s walking around with Holo. To be continued.

---

Twilight Out of Focus

Episode 5: Kikuchihara Jin’s Troubles

Episode Rating: 7/10

It’s time for the second couple of this series to be explored: Giichi Ichikawa and Jin Kikuchihara. We already know a bit about Ichikawa, but this was our first time meeting Jin Kikuchihara. He is a colorful, extroverted third-year student who leads the film club and stars in most of it productions. He is making a short promotional film for the club with the other third-years. Ichikawa thinks this production is badly done, so he’s always arguing and fighting with Jin during the club activities.

Despite Ichikawa’s hostility at the club, he is friendly with Jin when the two are alone in their shared dorm room. As they get used to being roommates, the boys enjoy some BL manga that was sent by Ichikawa’s sister. Much to his surprise, Jin finds himself falling in love with Ichikawa. I like this pairing so far, though not as much as Hisashi x Mao. Ichikawa is definitely the one I like better, but Jin is starting to grow on me. He’s cute when he’s thinking about Ichikawa.

---

Senpai is an Otokonoko

Episode 5: Special

Episode Rating: 8/10

Ryuuji asked Aoi if she was really in love with Makoto. He also admitted that he himself loves Makoto. Aoi got upset and cried when she realized she was no longer fooling Ryuuji. She has always wanted a “special person” because throughout her life, she’s always liked everyone the same amount, getting along with everyone evenly. But despite her attempts to force herself to love Makoto, it wasn’t working anymore.

Toward the end of the episode, Aoi told Makoto that she was giving up on him romantically, but that she still hopes they can hang out. Makoto agrees, not wanting to drift apart from Aoi and Ryuuji. But Makoto also got the wrong idea about something. They are under the impression that Ryuuji likes Aoi. What a mess this has become. But I’m enjoying this unusual drama anime nevertheless.

---

Bye Bye Earth

Episode 4: Spell of Proof Still Distant

Episode Rating: 6/10

One of the top four strongest solists, Adonis, is known as the sword stealer. He collects the swords of dead solists instead of growing his own magical blade. This episode focused on the interactions of Belle and Adonis. We also heard about a genderfuluid mermaid (Tiziano) who was in the top four. They have become “evil” by joining the Underdog faction. The episode ends with Adonis and Belle being dispatched with a group of warriors to fight the Underdogs at their home base. They are in for a hard battle.

I don’t know where to begin with this. The story is all over the place. Everything seems hard to follow at best. More realistically, it all feels like cryptic nonsense. Why are they sending in fighters with a marching band formation and a play script to follow? What the hell is that Bamboo creature? It’s freaky as hell. I couldn’t follow a word of the conversation between the rabbit and Sian. This episode was highly disappointing.

---

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 3

Episode 17: The Lightspeed Hero

Episode Rating: 7/10

Rimuru’s friend, the merchant Mjollmil, presented an outline of the festival that would be held in three days. There was one minor hiccup, with the forest on the 95th floor becoming unruly and spreading throughout the dungeon. The issue was handled, however, by a magical fox spirit that cares for magical forests. (Rimuru named the adorable fox spirit Kumara.) With the festival plans all accounted for, the last thing to do was listen to Soei’s scouting report.

Soei revealed that “The Lightspeed Hero” was on his way with a group of Elves he freed from slavery. The Hero is named Masayuki Honjo, and he’s an Otherworlder. His special skill, Chosen One, is ridiculously powerful. It makes everyone acknowledge him as a hero even when he does basically nothing. A lot of humans think that Masayuki has gone to Tempest to slay Rimuru, but the Hero has no such intentions. He just wants to return the Elves to their home. Rimuru hopes that meeting with the Hero will be peaceful.

---

My Deer Friend Nokotan

Episode 5: Dig up the Dirt!

Episode Rating: 7/10

There’s a lot of content packed into this episode, so even though some of it was mediocre comedy, there were also a few hilarious bits here and there. The episode was divided into three main events: 1) the “love letter” and showdown with an enemy delinquent, 2) Koshi watches Nokotan at the zoo, and 3) Nekoyamada joins the deer club on a trial basis. All three mini stories had funny moments. My personal favorite part was when Bashame rushed over to eat the deer cracker from Nokotan’s hand. I also loved when the old lady talked about how Nokotan is the Chosen One. Lmao!

---

Suicide Squad Isekai

Episode 8

Episode Rating: 8/10

Despite their victory over Thinker, the otherworldly “heroes” are still regarded as criminals by the kingdom. The queen captured Nanaue to execute him, commanding the exile of the others. That night, the members of the suicide squad get drunk and trash a tavern. The next day, they head to the portal, only for Amanda to tell them that the mission will be called off. She then makes the bomb in Clayface’s neck explode. Rick begs for one more chance for the members of the suicide squad.

Amanda gives them 24 hours to save the kingdom from a sudden battle. Clayface survived the explosion by repositioning his brain. As Rick and the others hurry back to the palace, Princess Fione goes to see her mother. She discovers that her mother isn’t herself at all. She’s been possessed by some kind of demon that is visible only as a reflection. The episode leaves off there. The visuals were highly enjoyable in this episode, at least for me. I also appreciated watching the drunken chaos in the tavern.

---

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Episode 5: Kinta Repays his Debt

Episode Rating: 6/10

This episode was weird. I don’t like Kinta much, but it was good to see a subplot where he starts treating Yui more kindly. That part of the episode was good. I also liked the truth about Yui and how she was a crane who was given human form. The part that threw me off was when “the visitors” appeared in flying saucers. I thought this was a fantasy story set in ancient Japan, not a work of modern sci-fi. The idea of aliens doesn’t fit in with the vibe of the show at all. That’s why I gave this episode a lower rating than usual. But hey, I’m still happy for Yui.

---

Tower of God Season 2

Episode 5: The Other Team

Episode Rating: 8/10

While Wangnan and company stay at a house rented by Viole, Khun Agnes formulates a plan to deal with Rachel, whom he knows is not truly ill. Shibisu will lead the team from season 1 as they continue up the Tower. Khun will go separately, together with Rachel. A group of new members were also hired to go with Rachel and Khun. That bunch includes some interesting and cool characters, such as Noverick the spearman. Khun is deathly serious about uncovering Rachel’s true schemes, since he believes she killed Bam.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode since I like Khun and want him to succeed. The music and art-style in this series continue to entertain me, too. However, I have a few complaints. Firstly, I strongly dislike Yihwa. She’s annoying. Plus, it’s painfully clear that a man wrote her without having much idea about women. For a more general complaint, I think there are too many characters to keep track of in a shorter series like this.

My final complaint for today is something I will probably get over quickly, but I’m upset by how shallow and evil Rachel has become. I never thought it was right for her to kill a teammate, but I had a degree of sympathy for her. I felt like she might be salvageable. But based on this episode, I no longer think so. She continued lying and manipulating others for several years. None of her tears are genuine, and she doesn’t give a crap about Khun or anyone else. I wanted Rachel to be a more complex antagonist, but it seems she is nothing more than a shallow, selfish girl after all.

~Thank you for reading~

---

~