Hey, welcome back to Anime Rants. My bad for going radio silence the past two or three weeks. I’ve fallen behind, but I still plan to continue these summer episode reviews. It might take me a while to catch up, but such is life. Also, I don’t have as much to say as usual due to my current mental state. Things are rough, but I’ll keep trying to get healthier and continue writing as well. Thanks for your readership. 🙂

1. City The Animation Episode 3
2. Dr. Stone: Science future Episode 14
3. Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Episode 1
4. New Panty and Stocking Episode 2
5. Ruri Rocks Episode 3
6. Sakamoto Days Episode 13
7. The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3

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City The Animation Episode 3

Episode Rating: 8/10

This show would be little too high-energy for me to binge-watch, but taking it week by week makes it quite enjoyable. The absurd and over-the-top humor is perfect for my tastes. We met a few new characters in this episode, including Genjirou Masago, the poor fellow in the green shirt with all the hungry wild animal companions. He is voiced by veteran seiyuu Jun Fukuyama, so it’s always a treat to hear his comedic voice acting.

One of the episode highlights that made me actually laugh was when the narrative of the skit showed the backstory of the octopus whose life went into making the Takoyaki (Octopus balls) that the girl was eating. I also loved the skit where Matsuri and Ecchan tried to figure out world peace by trading candies and toys. It was so fucking cute! Watching it felt soothing and uplifting. On a final note, Wako is still my favorite of the three adult girls, and her interactions with Niikura and Nagumo are priceless!

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Dr. Stone: Science future Episode 14

Episode Rating: 7/10

Although this wasn’t a bad episode overall, it wasn’t a great one, either. I’m concerned that the writing for Dr. Stone has gone downhill. The new character introduced in this episode, Chelsea, feels like she was added as an afterthought. I like her character design and her enthusiasm, but I don’t like having a character that will inevitably be sexualized despite being a child. I haven’t decided for sure if I like Chelsea, but I look forward to seeing her prove herself. Also, she’s played by Megumi Han, so her voice-acting is excellent and amusing!

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Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Episode 1

Episode Rating: 8/10

As season pilots go, this one was excellent. It’s easy to tell this is a bigger budget anime than usual due to the impressive, expensive animation and cinematography. Even the dream sequence at the beginning, which was important for setting up Kafka’s mental turmoil, looked fantastic. This episode’s main highlight was meeting Gen Narumi, the leader of the First Division. He’s certainly unusual, but I like him. I’m a big fan of his seiyuu, Kouki Uchiyama. Kafka and Kikoru are now both in the First Division with Captain Narumi. Again, excellent episode.

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New Panty and Stocking Episode 2

Episode Rating: 6/10

Just like the previous episode, this had a lot of funny moments, foul language, and girls being slutty. Some of the humor definitely misses me – like Chuck’s constant violent deaths or the toilet jokes – but the sexual comedy, chaos, and absurdity of this show does amuse me more often than not. The visuals of the second season have been, in my opinion, subtly improved by studio Trigger. The music is also so much fun! I give this a relatively low rating because it’s what I consider “anime junk food.” (It may, in fact, be trash – but trash is sometimes delicious.) (I swear I’m not a raccoon.)

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Ruri Rocks Episode 3

Episode Rating: 9/10

This is a beautiful show. The first two episodes of Ruri Rocks managed to make me cry (not that this is especially difficult) due to my strong emotional connection to the themes in this anime. This episode also brought tears to my eyes, but to a lesser degree, as it was more exciting than emotional. We finally met Yoko Imari, the undergrad student who admires and works with Nagi in mineralogy. She is adorable and her anxiety is so relatable to me. Ruri, Nagi, and Imari explored an old mine and discovered a vein of fluorite. It was beautiful. Next time, the group will search for sapphires.

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Sakamoto Days Episode 13

Episode Rating: 7/10

Episode 13 had several good moments, including when Lu awakened to her power as a bad-ass mafia girl after consuming pure ethanol alcohol. I wish I became tough when I got wasted. That aside, the main highlight of this episode was the fight between Osaragi and Dump. Although I personally enjoyed the fight, I can imagine it being so much better animated. The amazing music was doing a lot of heavy lifting for the scene. Despite seeming so gloomy sometimes, and most likely being a sociopath, Osaragi is pure and sweet in her own way. It was great to see her bring down Dump.

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The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3

Episode Rating: 10/10

This anime is impressing me quite a lot with the psychological horror aspect. It’s nostalgic to find a good, dark anime like the kind I used to almost exclusively watch in the old days. The terror and distress Yoshiki feels throughout the episode was poignant. Just imagine the fear, loneliness, and grief he was suffering. It was emotionally heavy to watch. Then there was also the horror of the fact that Yoshiki is being manipulated by a monster, even as he falls in love with “Hikaru” and wants to protect him.

I’m struggling a lot lately with writing and sorting through my thoughts. This means – even though there’s so much to say about this amazing anime – I can’t currently express what I want to communicate. But I’m definitely enjoying this anime, its high suspense, excellent cinematography, and intense psychological weight. The horror and emotional darkness of it is amazing too.

This series could honestly go in almost any direction and I’d probably still like it. Whether Unuki-sama has a redemption arc, becomes undeniably evil, or whether his existence was all just some kind of allegory – about being perceived as a monster, for instance – I could see it going in all kinds of cool narrative directions. Eventually, my mind will be a bit clearer and I will write more details about this series.

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