Endings Without Context 6: Aquarion Evol

Symbolism…

It’s been about 9 months since I last did one of these as there just hasn’t been much in the way of motivation. In this installment, we have a Kawamori vanity project that was seen as one of the best shows of 2012 at least within the Anime Power Rankings blogging community. For everyone else, it sits at a fairly pedestrian 7.5 on MAL. What drew me into doing this series is first, the series is pretty well known for being incredibly nuts both in direction and in story, and second was the fact that this is a second season. I didn’t watch this because I still haven’t seen the original Aquarion series.

The Return of the Recap 36

Surprisingly, or maybe not, it’s actually really hard to find pictures of some characters from Photo Kano that aren’t perverted. That above was the best I could do with a few minutes effort from a certain popular Japan-based artist’s hub. It wasn’t a particularly different week or interesting week, rather I’d think of it as just another week in the middle of the season. That didn’t mean there were no standout episodes, there were 2 of those this week, but the spring season is turning into a bit of a letdown.

Also, a bit of news. Next week I will be blending into the scenery at various locations in downtown Boston, so I will not be doing the recap. Also the Maou-sama post will be delayed if I post it at all. No repeats of the 3-state Koichoco post from last year.

Hataraku Maou-sama 07 – The Second Layer

Sorry Chiho, you’re shamefully underused this week.

The arrival of a new neighbor ushers in new conflicts and divisions in the seventh episode of Maou-sama. Having been invited by their landlord, Kamazuki Suzuno moves in next to Maou and the others. Meanwhile, Emi gets a gift from Ente Isla in the form of a vitamin drink that actually replenishes her magical power. After everyone runs into each other at Maou’s apartment, Emi quickly deduces that Suzuno is also after Maou’s affection. Eme then catches her up with proceedings back in Ente Isla where people may be trying to pursue Emi all the way to Japan. This turns out to be the case as Emi is attacked that night, though she is able to survive with the help of a convenience store worker. Finally, Chiho and Maou make a shocking discovery in the bento provided by Suzuno to Maou.

The Return of the Recap 35

I decided to do something a bit different than I’ve normally done this season when putting together the weekly rankings. Instead of keeping a running ranking as I have done, I waited until the end of the week to put them together. Then I came to find out that I’d rated 2 series in my top 5 for the first time this season, including the number 1 vote. So why not do something entirely different for the whole post? This won’t end well will it?

Hataraku Maou-sama 06 – The Lesser Known Phone Hacking Scandal

The horror, the horror…

Maou, Ashiya, Chiho and Emi go on a late-night adventure at Chiho’s school in a quest to solve a school mystery in the 6th episode of Maou-sama. With a conspiracy raging in Ente Isla, Maou celebrates his promotion to shift supervisor at work with some restaurant fare with Ashiya. However, his money is quickly being evaporated by his new roommate Urushihara (Lucifer). In continuing their quest for more magic, Ashiya and Maou head to a high school where Chiho happens to be a student. Emi joins them in an attempt to stop them from regaining their magic, but eventually they find that the whole thing was just a ruse.

The Return of the Recap 34

Since it’s Cinco de Mayo, may as well throw in Mexico’s greatest anime character.

Yet another week has passed in the world of animation from Japan, as well as real time of course. It’s safe to say that we are now firmly entrenched in the middle of the season. Typically, I find that this isn’t a very interesting part of the season. Usually, the really terrible shows have been weeded out by now. Those that do fail in the end will be known about 5-7 weeks from now. So what we are left with is a bunch of shows trying to make things interesting. So how did they do this week?