Huh… this is actually pretty intriguing. There are a bunch of layered mysteries here.

And broadly snd not so seriously I love the underlying fact that the protagonist was stipulated from the start to be Japanese specifically, and the first thing she does after being isekaied is to organize a bunch of people to clean.

That was a wonderful chapter - this series just keeps getting better and better.

Bold move Kouhei - well done.

Years ago, I was working at an art gallery, and we had one customer who would come in every few weeks with the latest vaguely renaissance-looking oil painting he’d found at a yard sale and spend an hour or two tediously pointing out and explaining the artfully hidden brush strokes or initials or subject matter or shapes in the clouds or what-have-you that proved that it was actually a Rembrandt.

I had forgotten all about him until just now, when this essay very forcefully reminded me.

And on another note, it also managed to Streisand the Galverse. I didn’t even know there was such a thing until just now, but now I’m going to go track it down.

That ending was absolutely brilliant - sort of low-key and open, but hilarious and appropriate too.

And the whole shampoo hat scene made me laugh hard - that was a great callback.

And with that, I say the series is a winner, from start to finish (and I’m already planning to rewatch it all the way through, maybe even starting tonight).

It has an odd tone, because it often feels sort of dark and sad and scary slong the way, but in the end, Yachiyo’s (and later Ponko’s) indomitable spirit and determination win out. Nothing comes easy for Yachiyo and the Gingarou, but she doesn’t give up. She just keeps plugging away, and it works out — maybe not in the way that she wanted or expected, but in a way that does work.

And now I’m just that much more certain that the oddly dissonant OP was very deliberate, and I don’t think I’d want it any other way. It says it’s okay if things aren’t quite what you’d expect or prefer — you can just set aside your expectations and enjoy it anyway.

I came into this thread already planning to not mention any upcoming anime because, as usual, I haven’t paid any attention. I prefer to let a new season go for at least a week or two, then see if anything catches my eye.

But in browsing the thread, I saw that City is getting an anime, so that’s one already that I will be watching.

Last season, I only watched two series - Apocalypse Hotel and Maebashi Witches.

Apocalypse Hotel has been excellent, and is finishing up later this week, and I’ll likely have something to say on the thread for it

Maebashi Witches though… it’s unsurprisingly never gotten its own threads in the first place, and I’ve never seen any mention of it at all (other than a couple I made), so I want to take this opportunity to say that it’s really pretty good all in all, and some of you should watch it.

Its target demographic is definitely young teenage girls - the “witches” of the title are five girls who get roped into becoming sort of combination magical girls and idol singers, operating out of a magical flower shop, the door to which appears in front of whoever needs their help.

But it’s not quite that simple. This isn’t like Madoka level deconstruction - not even close - but there is a hint of that. Things don’t ever work out quite like the girls naively believe, the whole magic thing is revealed to not be quite the unalloyed good they thought it was going to be, and it turns out that granting people’s wishes isn’t necessarily what they need, or even what they actually want.

And the characters are dealt with a bit unexpectedly as well. The girls are all more complex than they initially seem, and though their task is to help other people, a lot of the focus ends up being on them and their struggles to deal with their own issues, and especially how that affects their attempts to help other people.

It’s neither high drama nor deep philosophy, but it does have more of both than one might expect.

And the one thing I can unreservedly say in its favor is that the animation and music are very good.

So… yeah. This isn’t something I’d recommend to just anyone, but if the basic outline of wish-granting magical girls/idol singers doesn’t immediately turn you off, this one is worth a watch. I enjoyed it.

I mentioned this in passing a couple of weeks ago, and this episode really drove it home - I think the overall theme of this series could be said to be “earn your iyashikei.”

It is an iyashikei in the long run - it’s comfy and soothing and heart-warming. But none of it’s just handed out for free. You (and Yachiyo) have to work for it.

The hunt for a replacement part got genuinely scary for a bit there, and then the way she finally found it was sad and touching and beautiful. And that’s more or less the way an awful lot of the series has gone - things end up relatively comfy and soothing and heart-warming in the long run, but it’s rarely easy getting there. But in a way that just makes it that much more satisfying.

I really love this series, and I suspect it’s going to remain a sentimental favorite for years to come.