Thanks for joining me on my blog today. I’m still about two weeks behind on Summer 2025 episode reviews, but I’m plugging away at my writing whenever I can. Here are my brief reactions to summer anime week 4.
- City The Animation Episode 4
- Dr. Stone: Science Future Episode 15 (Part 2 Ep 3)
- Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Episode 2
- New Panty and Stocking Episode 3
- Ruri Rocks Episode 4
- Sakamoto Days Episode 14
- The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 4
City The Animation Episode 4
Episode Rating: 8/10
This was a great installment of City, being funny and entertaining at every point. The Makabe family is hilarious. I especially liked the skits that incorporated the dad, Tsurubishi Makabe. Ecchan and Matsuri were wholesome and insane as ever. The kind old man (Ii Hito meaning “Good Person”) and the lady who wants to give out awards (Miss Tanabe) were also great in this episode. Everything Wako does is absurd and I love that. On a final note, the white creature with big ears is supposed to be a cat, as the girls call it Mimi-neko, meaning “Ear-cat.”
Dr. Stone: Science Future Episode 15 (Part 2 Ep 3)
Episode Rating: 9/10
This was the episode where Senku’s group finally got to build and ride on their off-road bikes, complete with rubber tires. After some discussion about whether to try to escape using the Panama Canal, the group decided to send a decoy that way instead. Stanley’s team went after the decoy while Senku’s group was able to harvest some gum for rubber from the trees. They made tires. Meanwhile, Stanley gunned down the unmanned decoy and immediately sped to catch up with Senku’s group.
Just as Stanley’s forces reached the same shore as Senku’s group, the bikes were put into action. There were six awesome off-road vehicles resembling motorcycles. This was enough for Senku’s group to escape the first and second waves of Stanley’s attacks. The third wave was the plane that would shoot them down easily in the desert landscape. However, Senku had sabotaged that plane’s engine long ago with sugar-water. The engine burned and the plane went down.
Senku and the others escaped, but Xeno did manage to send a morse message to Stanley, and Stanley managed to non-fatally shoot Tsukasa and Hyoga. The excitement continues in Dr. Stone’s second to last season!
Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Episode 2
Episode Rating: 8/10
The audiovisual quality of this anime is top-notch and I enjoyed all the little but significant moments for the characters. The ant kaiju were fairly well-designed and menacing despite being an overused enemy type. Kaiju no. 9 appeared in battle, trying to kill or capture Kaiju no. 8. As for Kafka, he’s in big trouble because he can’t transform for some reason. I suspect it’s because he’s so subconsciously terrified of losing control again and becoming a true monster. Narumi is quirky as ever. I’m confident that he can defeat Kaiju 9 and save Kafka, but that will have to wait for next week.
New Panty and Stocking Episode 3
Episode Rating: 5/10
I’m not expecting much from this show, as I acknowledge it’s mostly trash (albeit trash that I enjoy). Still, I did sort of expect a little better humor from this episode. It just wasn’t as funny as the previous episodes. The first of two mini-episodes in this installment was about Stocking and Scanty fighting a ghost in a bogus “Samurai Dojo.” It’s always good to have more scenes with Scanty and/or her younger sister, since they are as hot as the angels and didn’t get as much time in the first season.
The second adventure was about a knock-off instagram and it provided a bit of social commentary. There was also arguably a third mini-episode, which focused on the semen soldiers trying to get into Panty’s uterus. The joke was funnier in the first season since they were “Seamen” on navy ships, but this time they were in cars and had to survive being plowed by a giant vibrator. Though this show makes me question my life choices, it also entertains and amuses me, so I’ll definitely keep watching.
Ruri Rocks Episode 4
Episode Rating: 8/10
For once, this episode didn’t make me cry. Ruri Rocks has been such a beautiful and healing show for me that it has moved me to tears in every episode until now. It’s so wonderful to watch Ruri learn and grow as she engages with science for the first time. I love Imari and of course Nagi as well. During this episode, Ruri learned to study samples of river sand in search of sapphire grains. My favorite part of the episode was when Imari went on her monologue about being able to identify more minerals. It was an inspiring little speech that I related to deeply.
Sakamoto Days Episode 14
Episode Rating: 7/10
Watching Shin get acupuncture was amusing. Granny Miya, the acupuncture healer, is a cool character. It’s also cool that Sakamoto is learning to fight without his super-fast weight loss trick. Now that he’s getting used to being big, he can use that to his advantage in battle. In other news, I don’t like Apart very much since he seems like such a caricature of an emo boy. It’s impossible to take him seriously.
While Sakamoto fought Apart, Minimalist attacked the convenience store and threatened Aoi. However, “Aoi” was actually Nagumo in disguise. He fought with and soon killed Minimalist. As usual, thought it isn’t a great anime, I’m enjoying the action in Sakamoto Days as well as the amazing music. The animation could definitely be better, but the fights, sounds, and characters are still enjoyable.
The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 4
Episode Rating: 9/10
Unuki and Yoshiki went to the summer festival with Yoshiki’s younger sister, Kaoru. At the festival, some kind of sacred barrier (set up by Tanaka) damaged Unuki’s hand. We learned that Tanaka could set up barriers that alert him when spirits or monsters touch them. The power wasn’t free, but came with the heavy toll of taking an internal organ with each use. (We also learned that Kurebayashi has some supernatural abilities too. Others like Asako Yamagishi may be spiritually gifted in some way as well.)
In the end, even though Tanaka was able to gather than the monster was at the festival, he didn’t know what form it could have taken. He only had a hunch that it might be mimicking another lifeform. Moving on, this episode taught us that Yoshiki found Hikaru’s dead body in the woods when he went out searching. Needless to say, it was a traumatizing experience. Yoshiki cried and sobbed in front of Unuki as he relived the fact that his best friend was gone forever. It was heartbreaking.
While they sat together eating snowcones, Yoshiki and Unuki bonded in their own way, different from the way the real Hikaru used to be. But Yoshiki couldn’t help remembering his time with the real Hikaru. In a flashback scene, younger Yoshiki and Hikaru were seen playing by a stream. Yoshiki was complaining that this town was too small, too nosy, and too judgmental. His parents fought frequently as well. Hikaru kindly invited Yoshiki over to stay at his house for a while. It was a good memory.
Interestingly, during that flashback scene, there was a mention of LGBT people. One family in the village was saying their heir was “diseased,” when in reality, he was some flavor of gay. Yoshiki was angry that the villagers were so homophobic, but he also seemed reluctant to discuss the topic. What this tells us is that Yoshiki would not be able to safely come out in this town. He would be ostracized. More than ever, I definitely read Yoshiki as a gay boy. He’s struggling with the fact that he can’t even explore his identity in this prejudiced village.
There’s always more to say about this fascinating anime, but that’s all the writing energy I have in me for now. Sayonara until next time!
~Thanks for reading~
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