In this week’s episode of Nanbaka: Season 2, Upa and Liang are caught in a dead end with the horrible, former gang leader, Hachiman, as they begin to ready themselves for something fierce. They will be taking on Hachiman in a 2-on-1 fight that seems like it will be epic. As they are getting ready to start the brawl, Nico suddenly appears and disrupts everything in a cheesy comedic way. But never fear, there are background stories to be had!

It’s revealed that Upa, Liang, and Qi, all have worked for Hachiman in the past, and have all been on his bad-side due to their values and beliefs while working for him. Without going into great detail, things started heating up and even Nico stepped in to try and save his master. This is where things get interesting and is the moment I want to talk about.

Nico is known for taking medicine in order to function properly but no one really knows why… Except for Uno, who tells everyone around all the details. Then moments after that, Nico is battling it out with hachiman as Upa and Liang rest on the sidelines. Mimicking his master’s moves, along with Liang’s moves, Nico begins to show signs of fatigue and is ultimately caught by Hachiman. As he is choked until left unconscious, he requests his medicine and not to die, Nico suddenly wakes and his alter ego comes to light! This moment right here is nothing more than exciting! I kind of had a feeling like this would happen (all the medication) but I now wait to see what kind of personality the other Nico has!? So far, he seems lucid, living in a dream land or just so plain primal that he lacks the intelligence one would need to function like a human-being. Oh, well. I guess we’ll have to wait. Until next time!

Kuzu no Honkai has really been dialing up the drama this season and is proving to hold its place well against the other major drama player of the season, Shouwa Rakugo Genroku Shinjuu 2nd Season. If an anime can influence my feelings enough to make me hate someone, then it is doing something right. I absolutely hate Akane Minagawa who is manipulating Narumi. It’s not even that she is manipulating her, but it is completely about how she is going about it by trying to hurt Hanabi in the process. It is not necessarily that I care about Hanabi as she is fictitious, it’s just the fact that she is utterly annoying and deplorable to the point that I want her to stub her pinky toe every minute for the rest of her life against iron furniture in the dark.

However, once Hanabi is told, she has a rather low moment where she decides that she wants to have everyone to herself. She confesses to Mugi and the thing they swore they would not do, date openly, begins. However, while Hanabi does not want to harm Sanae aka Ecchan, so she cannot refuse her advances. After having yet another come to Jesus moment, she decides that it is time to have things her own way and decides to use a boy who she saw with Akane a few episodes back. Akane herself begins her descent into her own personal hell as she poses as a girl into him behind Mugi’s back. The drama is growing and it is getting better and better. I still hate Akane and I need her to fall down a flight of stairs onto a bag of nails, but there is still half the season for my dream to come to fruition.

After the first season of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, I thought we’d gotten over the emotional hill. Clearly not, as the last few episodes have been jam-packed with drama and heartache. In episode seven, the third-generation Sukeroku, our Yotarou, goes on a journey with Matsuda and Eisuke Higuchi to the inn where the previous Sukeroku performed, to watch a film of said performance. Just seeing the building where Sukeroku and Miyokichi breathed their last was enough to bring back flashbacks of the conclusion of the previous series, and seeing the second-generation Sukeroku on film was almost too much to bear.

But that wasn’t the highlight of this episode. The real feels-punching moment is where Matsuda reveals the true story of Sukeroku and Miyokichi’s end. We’re shown flashbacks of the then-Kikuhiko holding a blood-splattered Sukeroku, we see a young Kontasu witness this scene, and ask Kikuhiko if he had killed her father. To our surprise - or maybe not, recalling her past behaviour - Miyokichi admits that she has stabbed him. Then, she’s rushing to the window and Sukeroku is following her, an altogether familiar scene but with a very different background to the one we thought we knew.

What makes this reveal all the more painful is that throughout all these years, Yakumo has kept the truth behind the incident hidden - not for his own sake, but for the sake of Konatsu. He has lived his life encouraging Konatsu to blame him for her parents’ death, allowing her to believe her mother was an innocent woman. I have always loved Yakumo as a character, but now I can’t help but love him even more. Despite his fragility in his older age, he is still as stubborn as ever. But he is also so, so kind - to the point he would destroy himself for those around him. I’m genuinely scared to lose this amazing man.

I feel a bit slow on the uptake but as I was watching Masamune-kun no Revenge, I noticed just how big Yoshino’s boobs are. And while they are always emphasized in her school uniform, it went up to a new level in episode 7! I know the class president has boobs and Masamune has been charmed by the pretty Neko (is that really her name..?!), but it occurred to me: harem anime are generally all about the boobs but the initial love interest has none?
Yes yes, I’m slow. I do not know why I felt the need to write about this but it really surprised me haha. And yeah, no, I do not have a thing for boobs, but Aki does not have any as that has already been pointed out in a past episode. However, I question why Masamune did not even realize Yoshino has boobs. Then this episode had an emphasis on boobs so yeah...Boobs. I have been watching Masamune-kun no Revenge thinking that it was another one of those anime that just wants to make fun of shoujo tropes (which it does), but it still retains some of its harem traits as well. Guess we can’t forget about boobs.

Ok, I’ll be quite honest with you: I just picked up this show, and it was oh so good… at least for this kind of anime. This is your typical magic school, but for girls that want to become witches; some want to be powerful, others want to do good with their powers, but Akko —our main protagonist— wants to be like Shiny Chariot, a beautiful but controversial magician. However, the first step in this journey is, you guessed it, get your magic degree at Luna Nova Magical Academy. In episode 7, the girls are on exams week, and Akko knows that she’s so far from being a good student. She fails every single exam, and in the funniest ways! But what really isn’t funny is that, after a little fight with some bully girls, she needs to pass the “magic philosophy” exam… otherwise, she’ll be expelled.

In an attempt at being nice with Pisces-sensei, a weird fish-witch that teaches this class, she ends up dropping the fish down a pipe, and now she’s in real trouble. Time to use some magic! Well, if she was good at it, that is. Akko and friends try to transform into fishes and swim in the sewers to find Pisces, but the trick fails on her and she ends up transformed into a humanoid… fish-thing. Then there’s this little fish that wants to save her family from a fisherman’s cage, and obviously Akko want’s to help the poor thing! Lucky for her, Pisces-sensei was trapped in the same cage, and so we get a happy ending to this short, but funny story. If you watch the episode you will know that I am omitting several funny scenes and truly comic dialogues! And yes, I’ll keep watching Little Witch Academy until the end.

In this week’s episode of Gabriel DropOut, Satania adamantly continues her pursuit of victory against Gabriel, failing miserably at every turn. From laughing guns to shogi, Gabriel beats her without batting an eyelash. The next day Satania guilts the class president into weird poses for their art class. But then… Then it’s Halloween! Why a Halloween episode in February? I stopped worrying about that when my favorite moment of the whole week happened: Vignette and the girls show up at Gabriel’s on Halloween all dressed in adorably witchy outfits. Gabriel’s being a grinch and Vignette tells her she made her a costume too, but Gabu is too lazy to change. Luckily, Raphi is there to help hold her down and change her against her will! The next shot is the most adorable neko-moe image I’ve seen in a long time! Grumpy-faced and blushing, Gabriel is in a baggy cat costume looking pathetic and miserable. If that doesn’t make you squeal “kawaiiiii~!” I don’t know what will!