OG’s Summer 2019 Halftime Impressions

I already posted my Summer 2019 first impressions of shows I’m not covering weekly HERE. Time to continue by checking out how the shows I picked are doing at the halfway point, meaning most of them being 6 episodes in.

Note: I won’t include leftovers like Carole & Tuesday, Star Twinkle PreCure and Aikatsu Friends Season 2. I’m enjoying all of them.

I ship these two. Homare X Shion.

First up is Sounan Desu ka? The first of the two “Ecchicational” shows this season. So far it’s been the same, Homare teaching her fellow castaways survival techniques, being scrounging for food, building up fires, acquiring water and, one I am not personally fond of, hunting. The most recent episode was personally discomforting but the show has been pretty good so far. Homare often having to undress with the other girls slowly but surely following suit, except Shion who is the pampered ojou-sama of the group, though she does her best when emotionally capable/motivated. As the above image shows I ship her with Homare.

What a wonderful beach episode it was.

Next up is Dumbbell nan Kilo Materu? The show so far has surpassed my expectations. Some viewers got the wrong idea about this show being a bodybuilding anime, meaning the goal was to become muscle mistresses. While that is Ayaka’s goal it’s played more for laughs than taken seriously. Instead the show is about sexy girls working out, keeping themselves in shape and teaching viewers very useful exercising techniques at the gym and home along with some fun shenanigans thrown here and there. Some I was unaware of. It motivated to exercise again. It’s a super sexy, hilarious and educational show. One of my Top 3 of the season. So far it’s not a yuri show but it isn’t a het harem either. Even if it were Mr Macho Man is too busy being an inspirational Real Man’s Man to noticed the ladies initially being attracted to him. They too stop caring after noticing this themselves. No complaints here.

Zina and The Lord of Darkness. He may be evil incarnate but his exaggerated physique here is impressive.

The last member of the fitness crew, the Russian Bombshell Zina, debuted in episode 6 and as expected she fits right in with the cast.

Moving right along we have Joshikousei no Mudazukai. I said this during my first impressions and it has not changed, when the show isn’t focused on “Baka” it’s amazing. Time and again this has proven to be the case with Baka having more of a punchline role, as it should be. The recent three episodes introduced or expanded three lovely maidens.

Majime.

First we have Majime. We got glimpses of her here and there but in episode 4 we were properly introduced to her. To get the attention of the person she likes she overthinks things and does hilariously weird stuff. She’s also a chick magnet but again her eyes are fixated on one person.

Lily and Majime.

Episode 5 gifted us with “Lily”. Take a wild guess what she likes most in this world. She likes being a flirt and getting comfy with…you know. However, she has an Achilles heel, an allergic reaction if you will. One person in particular gave her a hard time (not the teacher). It’s not hard to figure out why this person gave Lily a hard time. BTW, no, Lily isn’t the person Majime is attracted to.

Loli and Majo. I hope their story continues.

Episode 6 introduced “Majo”, the “creepy girl” archetype of the class. Guess what her favorite movie genre is. She understandably had a difficult time socializing with others but as the above image shows she may have found her soul mate.

One thing all three of these girls have in common is their lives were forever changed thanks to the two Best Girls:

Chuuni.

Her nickname isn’t “Chuuni” but she’s so a chuuni.

And most importantly the best of the best.

Robo the Sage.

Blesseth be Robo.

Sayu X Mana.

Lastly we have the personal surprise of the season, RE:Stage: Dream Days. As I said before the show’s main story is standard idol fare, group of girls coming together to form a group and entering an idol competition. What has made it special so far are the characters. While they fall under familiar archetypes they manage to stand out from the crowd in one way or another. First up are the main couple Mana and Sayu. Mana is like the Saki (Mahjong) of the idol world: Very talented, having an amazing older sister but was afraid to go for it. She needed an extra push from her soul mate. Saki fans will immediately recognize the setup. This brings us to Sayu, Mana’s Nodoka essentially. Lite Tsundere who has a couple of secrets that are slowly being revealed.

Kae X Kasumi.

Second couple, Kae and Kasumi. Kasumi is the token “cool girl” of the group while Kae is a descendant of Tony Stark.

Mizuha X Mii.

Lastly there’s the older members, Mizuha and Mii. Mii has a longer name but everyone calls her Mii for obvious reasons. They’re like the Nozomi and Nico of the group except Mizuha doesn’t grope other girls as she is content with one. She has the same wavelength though.

The only change to my schedule is my dropping Fire Force. Why? Not enough Maki and the rest of the cast don’t do much for me. I replaced it with Kanata no Astra. Why? Quitterie.

That brings us to my Summer 2019 Power Rankings so far (Excluding leftovers):

1. Symphogear XV
2. Dumbbell nan Kilo Materu?
3. Joshikousei no Mudazukai
4. Machikado Mazoku
5. RE:Stage Dream Days
6. GRANBELM
7. Sounan Desu ka?
8. Kanata no Astra
9. Magical-Senpai