Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san has been a great anime this season. Sure, it’s no Asobi Asobase or Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro, but it has that light-heartedness that Denkigai and Hataraku Saibou embodied which is great.

This week though, Gaikotsu went somewhere that I did not think it would go: it read all of the major publishing companies in Japan by raking them over the coals. The episode started out being rather simple, talking about organizing. It then took a very fast turn and more or less dragged all the companies on their major flaws. The way they get away with this is by changing a character usually, but this time, it did it by changing letters. While anime like Pop Team Epic did this in the past, that was towards their own publisher. Gaikotsu hit all of the major ones this week and didn’t hold any punches. The biggest one of all was seeing Shueisha and Shounen Jump getting made fun of. Shueisha is notorious for being aggressively protective of their IP, so to see that was surprisingly funny and interesting. We are sure they won’t do anything, but since some companies, who shall not be named, are petty, we might get some subtweets or tongue-in-cheek online posts in Japanese, but let’s see.

This week, my hot moment has to do with Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara which felt like it was meant for big things this season, but I’m not so sure the reviews have been favorable. Opinions aside, Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara’s episode this week touched on Hitomi’s past and why she no longer can see colors anymore. Apparently it had to do with the fact that she had magical powers while her mother did not. Her mother, filled with shame over being the first in the family with no magical ability, eventually abandoned Hitomi and ran away from everything. This left Hitomi feeling dejected as a child, and as we can see from Hitomi’s subconscious self, a rift was formed between herself and her mother. As a child, Hitomi could not fathom a way to bridge the gap, which is why we see such a disillusioned child who could not cope with the loss.

Love them or not, you can’t trade your parents or the situation you are dealt with, and this can overall affect you especially during the developmental stages that you go through as a child. What else can you do but blame yourself? This is probably why Hitomi runs away from learning magic properly and can’t even see color, and it’s not even her fault why her mother feels shameful. Can you imagine what type of guilt Hitomi felt growing up? It’s an interesting scenario and while it’s not a particularly impressive plot device, it still helps us as the viewers to understand Hitomi more.

It all started with an invisible girl, but then Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai also offered us a body-swap story involving the Bunny Girl and her half-sister. After a lot of family drama regarding jealousy, insecurities, and poor Sakuta trying his best to help the situation, we finally got a nice closure with an emotional-yet-funny scene.

Yes, it was kind of a cliche, but at least it was presented in a good way, right? When Mai and Nodoka finally came face to face, you could actually feel the tension, the same tension that took us to the first funny moment. When Mai felt like slapping her sister for being too unfair and bratty, she also remembered her big day was coming, so what better than slapping Sakuta instead? Yeah, Mai could be all mad and everything, but she wasn't going to be to blame for ruining Nodoka's cute face! Too bad this professionalism added more fuel to the Nodoka's fire...

In the end, the two girls being honest with each other is what finally put an end to the body swap. Hooray for Sakuta! One less problem for him, but also the joy of being able to have intimacy with Mai again. Maybe that was his only problem here?