Hello and welcome back to Anime Rants! Sorry this post is a few days late, but it covers the episodes released between May 10th and May 16th, 2026 (approximately). I was frustrated with this week’s installment of Re: Zero, but the other episodes were all enjoyable, if not exactly thrilling. More of my notes are below.
- Re: Zero Season 4
- Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 3
- Go For It! Nakamura!!
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
- The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4
Re: Zero Season 4
Episode 6 (AKA 72): Julius Euclius
This episode was a mixed experience because I was keenly annoyed during parts of it and keenly interested during other parts. Re: Zero has always had a problem with casual misogyny, but it’s been some time since there was an incident that irked me. This episode “fixed” that by including Reid’s sexual attack against Emilia during their fight. The fact that the dishonorable harassment had no effect on her is beside the point. Sadly, Emilia is still a child because no one will teach her about basic sex education, and this is often played for laughs. Anyway, I was hoping Reid would be an interesting character, but it seems he’s an idiotic and evil man-child with a record of assaulting women. Shaula freaked out because she was so afraid of being harassed by Reid again – and this was also played for laughs by the narrative. Re: Zero makes it easy to despair at anime.
HOWEVER. This episode also featured some great character development moments for Julius and Subaru. Despite my best efforts to be normal about these two anime men, I am too infected with the Fujoshi spirit. I wish to see these men together. Even though my ship will never sail in a mainstream anime (which are usually homophobic), I can head-canon it all I want. In addition, I have always liked Julius as a character. So, it was great to see so much screen-time for this young knight. I was almost afraid that he would die, but he was only wounded after his fight with Reid. I loved the scene where Subaru carried and supported Julius, even when he tried to resist help. Right now, the character writing for these two (and the dream of them being a couple) is all that’s keeping me from dropping season 4. I hope the next episode isn’t as frustrating.
Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 3
Episode 7: Unknown Known
I hoped this episode would be more thrilling and pick up the pace, as there are only 6 episodes left in the final cour. Since things are still moving slowly, I suspect the last episode of Science Future Part 3 won’t actually be the end of the series. It will probably be like AOT, where they release two or more finale episodes after the season concludes. Anyway, episode 7 was a bit slow for the most part, but everything that happened was important, and there was one extremely interesting and puzzling new development: the medusa lit up on its own after it was vacuum-sealed and placed in a safe. It petrified Gen and Yo, but the light only had a twenty-meter radius, so everyone else was unharmed. Senku and company quickly unfroze Gen and Yo, but they had no idea why the medusa lit up so suddenly, either. It’s an interesting mystery.
Gen later pointed out that someone could have ordered the medusa to light up in a small radius several months or even years ahead of time. But nobody here had an obvious motive for such an action. For the time being, the medusa was placed under surveillance and the diamond battery was stored separately. Other highlights of this episode included the arrival of the computer to Japan, the development of the TV, the making of the first simple video games by Sai, the birth of a TV studio with live broadcasting by Ryusui, and the announcement that a satellite would be the next project. Senku and company needed to know the location of Why-Man on the vast surface of the moon. A satellite was the only real option. The episode ended on a hopeful note as usual.
Go For It! Nakamura!!
Episode 7: Gh-Ghost! School Ghost Stories?!
Episode 7 or 8 is usually the beach/pool episode in a school rom-com anime. But in the case of Go For It, Nakamura!, episode 7 was instead the spooky, ghost-themed episode, which are also quite common. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of that trope, but I didn’t enjoy this episode nearly as much as the previous installments. There were some cute moments and character highlights though. We met Arandou Tamura, the hyperactive and overconfident boy who is making a film for the Drama/AV Club. We also got to see Reiko Aokiyama again and enjoy her ridiculous antics. I think it must have been a lot of fun to do the voice-acting for these crazy characters.
The main part of the episode showed a group of students led by Tamura sneaking into the school at night to film their ghost movie. Nakamura and Hirose were there too. Before they could begin filming, the group was scared by a “ghost” and fled in separate ways. Nakamura and Hirose were left alone, leading to a cute and funny moment where Hirose held onto Nakamura’s belt for emotional support. The students were caught by the “ghost” one by one. Then it was revealed, to nobody’s surprise, that the ghosts were the teachers, Otogiri and Niou, on patrol. They sentenced the students to written apologies for sneaking into the school without permission after hours.
Right before Nakamura and Hirose were caught, it seemed as if Hirose grabbed Nakamura’s hand. Nakamura was so happy and touched that he didn’t even turn around to see whose hand he was holding. When Hirose ran off to join the others, Nakamura was left with a ghostly, disembodied arm and hand clinging to him. I guess it was supposed to be spooky and/or funny, but it was kind of a lame attempt, in my opinion. Some of these tropey episodes are lower quality in school rom-com anime. Anyway, it was a harmless but sort if disappointing episode. Maybe next week’s will be better.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
Episode 6 (AKA 78): The Council of the West
This episode was extremely entertaining and even featured some action. Rimuru explained that the terms in the papers given by the Council were outrageous. They basically wanted to use Tempest for free labor and military might. I expected chaos when Rimuru lost his temper, but his actions caused no real damage. The Councilors had been under partial control – “mental influence” – achieved by magic. Rimuru didn’t know who was doing the controlling, but the audience knows it’s probably Maribel. Anyway, Rimuru’s outburst broke the mental influence and enabled the Councilors to start thinking for themselves again. This little slime in combination with Raphael is so cool!
Before anything was decided, an armed group broke into the building, disturbing the meeting. The party was led by Prince Elric, who suggested capturing Rimuru. His two strongest men, Gaiye and Reiner, were eager to fight. Reiner insulted Hinata terribly. The silver-haired man was a scumbag who hated women, so it was very good to see him taken down quickly by Hinata. Meanwhile, Shuna fought Gaiye and completely owned him – first with martial arts and then with magic. She could have easily killed him with the Disintegration spell, but she only disintegrated Gaiye’s clothes and claimed it was a misfire due to inexperience. It was very gratifying to see Shuna and Hinata being bad-ass.
Prince Elric’s plan did not work. The Councilors, back to their senses, voted against capturing Rimuru. Just then, someone tried to kill Elric and frame Rimuru for the crime. It was a female assassin using a gun and magic. Rimuru stopped her attempt and saved Elric. Then the King of Engrassia showed up to apologize for his stupid son. Rimuru shook hands with the King. After that, the Council re-convened and three new points were agreed upon. Tempest was acknowledged as a nation, accepted into the Council, and granted military power. The episode ended with Souhei challenging the female sniper to a fight for underestimating Rimuru. To be continued!
The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4
Episode 6: Harspiel Concert
This episode was enjoyable as usual. The first half of the episode was filled with more preparation for the concert. In addition, Rosemyne created her Highbeast with direction from Ferdinand. After several attempts, the form she settled on was the cute red panda vehicle seen in the opening song. I think it’s fitting for Rosemyne to have such a distinct Highbeast. Ferdinand’s looks of disdain at Myne’s creation were priceless. In other news, Johan completed the wax paper machine, and work began immediately on printing copies of Wilma’s drawings of Ferdinand. Rosemyne got Ferdinand’s approval for the image on the music program, but not for the images drawn by Wilma. She planned to sell them and keep this secret from Ferdinand, since he would certainly not approve if he found out.
Finally, it was time for the concert. It was fun to listen to Ferdinand sing. He was voiced by Hayami Show, whose voice I find highly attractive. The ladies were all thrilled and delighted by the concert. Many of them fainted from the excitement of seeing and hearing their idol’s beautiful performance. During the concert, Sylvester suddenly showed up, and Rosemyne feared he would crash the event. However, she solved the issue by suggesting that Sylvester and Ferdinand play the last song together. This placated Sylvester’s ego and desire for attention. Ferdinand and Syvelster’s song was hugely successful. Everyone loved the singing, music, and handsome men on display.
On a final note, Rosemyne made a fortune selling the copies of Wilma’s drawings of Ferdinand. That was on top of the sales from selling the illustrated music programs. Unfortunately for Rosemyne, Ferdinand soon found out the truth and was livid. The episode ends with him confronting Rosemyne and telling her ominously, “There will be no second time.” Ferdinand can be pretty damn scary, lol. That’s all for episode 6.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 