OG’s Summer Shows He’s Watching but not Covering Weekly: Round 2

Summer has been a most interesting season to say the least. While I’m not covering every show I’m still watching rest assured I have yet to drop any show I talked about at least once this season, even curiosities. In the sense of fairness I’ll briefly share my thoughts on the other shows I’m watching so fans can find out if anything has changed since the last time I talked about them.

Chio-chan and Manana. Best friends, possibly more.

First up we have my reigning #1 comedy of the season, Chio-chan’s School Road. It’s still the best of the four comedies I picked up. Chio-chan and Manana are definitely best friends. They bicker and fight a lot but when push comes to shove there’s no one they could rely on more than each other. Chio-chan’s crazy predicaments she gets to on her way to school remain hilarious along with her inner monologues. The side-characters are also fun but the one who stands out is a certain true hero.

Madoka Kushitori. A true hero.

 

Fans watching the show with me shouldn’t be surprised that Madoka Kushitori is my favorite character. An inspiration to lesbians and tachis everywhere ever since her debut. She doesn’t show up very often but when she does I am blessed by her brilliance. As for her critics…I don’t see what’s so bad about the dozens of Madoka Kushitoris in the world compared to the thousands of anime males who I argue are usually much worse than she is. I won’t stop critics from bashing her but to tell me she’s one of the worst of her kind is BULLSHIT. There’s good reason I call her an inspiration and those who get it know what I mean.

This was fun.

Asobi Asobase is still my #2 comedy. For some the comedy lessened over time because it didn’t make as much sense. For me I knew what I was getting myself into after the premiere, random stupid comedy. Random stupid comedy is my jam along with the still fabulously crazy facial expressions. For those wondering I find things like fart jokes and making fun of het romance amusing. None of it is mean spirited after all.

A snake demon, her gorgon girlfriend and a “basic” naughty babe.

Jashin-chan Dropkick is #3 (may become #4 depending on how the 4th comedy I’m watching goes). The streak continues of it only getting me to laugh moderately hard once (twice if lucky) per episode. Slapstick comedy is hard to get right for me. I’ll go into more detail when I review the show but I don’t find Jashin-chan very funny. Case and point. Mei Tachibana. Why does Madoka Kushitori work but not Mei Tachibana? Because Mei Tachibana is (so far) simplistic. Apart from her being a PASSIONATE collector of random stuff her yuri-ness feels…plain compared to others of her and Madoka’s kind. There’s something missing is what I’m saying.

One of the few times I laughed hard.

Like I said above each episode so far has managed to have one or two segments that made me laugh. The best one in the show so far was the one the above pic is from. It showed signs of brilliance…That and I enjoy well done jokes at the expense of humanity. Let’s face it, the human race sucks and us getting ridiculed is wonderful when done right like it was in this segment. From the victim of Jashin-chan’s righteous fury and that one random guy. It was admittedly well done.

Favorite character is Medusa because she’s gay for Jashin-chan and a pure soul. Least favorite character is Pekola because I don’t like her style of “comedy” at all. Also, unlike our future ruler Satanichia, Pekola doesn’t have anywhere near as much charm as a character.

Ayano Body Shot to Kaoruko – Hanebad_anime 7 pic.twitter.com/aITjSzQZyH

— Joe Morris (@joeschmo1of3) August 12, 2018

Next up is Hanebado. I’ll keep this one simple. So far watching this show feels similar to how I felt watching Stella Women’s Academy Group C-3. The sport itself is great. The badminton itself and the attention to detail on the ladies’ sexy muscles remains fantastic and the main reason to watch this show. However, like C-3 the drama is “take it or leave it”. Personally it’s not the worst drama out there but not something I’m particularly invested in. Basically I came for the sexy badminton and am staying for the sexy badminton. As for “Yandere Ayano”…Satou’s much better. Ayano, again, is great on the court but her story arc is whatever. Nagisa (after calming down), Riko and Elena are my top 3.

Miku is delightful.

Lastly we have Ongaku Shoujo TV. I will go into more detail when I fully review the show but unless people are furious that the original songwriters aren’t involved or just aren’t feeling it I would say OS TV is an interesting take on the idol genre. It’s like where the show is going, the kind of development the girls have, it’s all different from the norm somehow. The most recent episode as of this writing, starring Miku, is proof of that. Sure there are some familiar elements such as Uori as a character but other than that it’s different enough to be considered a “sleeper” of the season.

The only reason Western fans would say Revue Starlight is the “sleeper” is because the show is on HiDive and not many people are willing to invest in HiDive as far as I know.

Hinata watching Aoi working.

Oops. I almost forgot Yama no Susume 3. My bad. Anyway it’s still delightful and relaxing seeing the girls climbing different mountains as Aoi prepares for her big rematch against Mt Fuji. It’s also nice seeing the girls doing other things like working, studying or making new friends. It sounds better in motion than described. Also Aoi X Hinata is as strong as ever. The most recent episode (as of this writing) was an excellent one because we usually see the relationship from Aoi’s perspective. This week (as of the date of this writing) we got Hinata’s, which was wonderful.

My Summer 2018 Power Rankings are as follows:

1. Harukana Receive.
2. Revue Starlight
3. Happy Sugar Life
4. Chio-chan
5. Yama no Susume 3rd Season
6. Asobi Asobase
7. Ongaku Shoujo TV
8. Tie between Jashin-chan Dropkick and High Score Girl (the 4th comedy I’m watching but it’s het so won’t discuss it here)
9. HANEBADO!

Hugtto! PreCure and Aikatsu Friends! are technically not Summer anime as they premiered earlier in the year but both are really good.

I also plan on jumping on the Cells at Work bandwagon but it’s more of a het show so no coverage until the end of the year. There’s another show I’ll be checking out soon but I’ll save that as a surprise.