In this week’s episode of Nanbaka, Juugo realizes what he has when it comes to feeling empty and having no goal or ambition towards his own life, which is nothing. What he does have are friends that genuinely care about him and only want him to be happy and not feel alone. Great friends, right?!

We also learn about Nico and his “ability” when he forgets to take his medication, the hot robot nurse that all the guys assume wears underwear, what happened during Hajime’s suspension, and the enormous layout of Nanba prison’s facility!

The moment that got me the most during this extensive and informative episode is when Hyakushiki showed much excitement and regret for having Hajime suspended due to almost killing Juugo when he revealed his shocking ability and lost control of it. She was super excited to greet him back to work and wanted to figure out the best way to do so when Hitokoe suddenly shows up uninvited and wears a printout of Hajime’s face saying “Come, my Honey”... Hyakushiki is so annoyed by his intrusion that she beats him to a pulp, leaving him in a pool of his own blood. That’s when Hajime shows up and Hyakushiki puts on the best smile she can. Unfortunately for her, her intense face covered in blood looks more psychotic than sweet. Hajime is shocked that she looked like she was on a killing spree when all she wanted to do was smile at him as a “welcome back” gesture… Hajime leaves in fear, leaving Hyakushiki in the saddest situation ever. Alone!
Thanks a lot, Hitokoe!

I honestly wish there was only one point of this episode that was the funniest out of the whole episode, but that is impossible. Saiki is ready for Summer Break and is so close. In fact, he cannot spare the energy to even be decent and use people’s names, so everyone is Nuisance # something. However his lies hilariously pile up as he lies to get out of the next offer to hang out. However, he screws up his lies and suddenly they all line up perfectly to force him to be unable to refuse anyone, thus locking him down for every single appointment that his classmates had suggested to him.

He hilariously has to watch two classmates drop their romances for the other person, a strange, overexaggerated tennis camp, take very, very shady medicine that turns out to be harmless, save for the fact that others have consumed shrooms, a weird motorcycle licensing class, and to top it all off, spend a day in hell with- err I mean a day in paradise with Teruhashi-san. Saiki cannot get a break and it is hilarious. While Saiki is good as an anime overall, it is these moments that make it a well-done gag anime. A shame it is about to be over.

After the long, intense final match of match points followed by breakthroughs followed by opposing match points followed by yet more breakthroughs, we finally have our winners, the team going through to the nationals - and it’s Karasuno! In the final few moments, we had the incredible, violent imagery of Karasuno being held down by of Ushiwaka, by the weight of his talent, skills, and determination. Wakatoshi himself was quite literally on fire for a while there too, burning with the need to win. But our crows never gave up, always pushing back against him - an image that summarises perfectly this season of Haikyuu!!.

Then there was the final group attack in which Hinata quite literally took flight, and when the score board flipped from 20 to 21, the audience in the stadium reflected us as viewers - shocked silence, followed by gleeful screaming and sobbing. This shows that no matter how hard they were trying, somewhere deep down Karasuno and their supporters still thought it wouldn’t be possible to win against the powerhouse that is Shiratorizawa. As someone who hasn’t read this far in the manga yet, I (somewhat guiltily) felt the same way.

I also agree with what coach Ukai says towards the end of the episode, that the MVP of the match (and this season) is Tsukishima. Tsukki really changed for the team, finally found that greed to win within him and pulled it out to put on his best performance yet. Riding on the high of their success so far but with so many challenges standing before them, I’m sad that this season of Haikyuu!! is already over, but can’t wait to see the next stage whenever that may come to us.

This episode of Scorching Ping Pong Girls really got to me. After Kururi lost, she comes to this realization that she didn’t have to buy Zakuro’s friendship through winning ping pong games. Kururi’s creepy, soulless eyes finally get their shine and life, and she becomes more moe in this ending scene in Scorching Ping Pong Girls.

I really think this is very relatable for me, and many people. Sometimes you feel that you have to buy people’s friendship. You treat them; they’ll treat you. You pour your heart out to them; they do the same. I know I have dealt with that a lot in my life, and I am fairly certain cannot be the only one who thinks this way. The law of equal returns, right? I think showing this realization was very refreshing as opposed to all of the bad things that are shown in anime. I really hope it will teach young people (look at me sounding like a geezer) that you cannot buy friendship. Friendship, like love, is given unconditionally. Getting to see all of this in Scorching Ping Pong Girls really touches me in a way that I didn’t think would be possible in such a weird slice of life/sport anime.

I've been waiting this match's final whistle so we could talk about Days, but we had to wait two weeks before I can finally analyze it... AND WHAT A MATCH IT WAS!! Even though Seiseki was leading, they were playing with only 10 players after Nitobe was sent off. Remember Mizuki and Kazama couldn't play as well, but they managed to advance to the finals thanks to a fantastic performance by Atsushi Kimishita, a touchy offensive midfielder with rather amazing free kick skills. And we're not talking about just one free kick goal or two, but three of them in the same match. Have you ever seen that before?

To be completely honest, being the second to last episode of the series I was expecting a whole lot more of Tsukamoto, our clumsy main character. Heck, I could bet he was scoring that third goal! But no, Days is not your typical soccer anime. Still, there was Tsukushi to cheer up his teammates after Keiou's 2-2 equalizer, with only 10 minutes to play. In the final seconds of injury time Tsukamoto almost scores, only to be stopped with an unsportsmanlike move. But,he fires off a dangerous free kick as a result. There he was, Kimishita scoring a free kick hat-trick with the unlikely help of Tsukamoto... that little guy he swore he would not pass the ball to (remember?).

Seiseki won a very difficult match showing they have many more weapons than their famous 3 arrows. But can Seiseki win the championship? Just one episode separates us from the end of the series, and here I am hoping for a second season, with Tsukamoto and Kazama leading the way.

Yuuri, Victor and the rest of the Grand Prix competitors are all in Barcelona getting ready for the big event. In this episode we basically follow Victor and his favorite protégé on a sweet sight-seeing/shopping date. That evening while hanging out with some other skaters, it’s revealed that after a miserable loss in the past, Yuuri got blasted on champagne at the post-show reception and acted the fool.

My favorite moment of this episode actually takes place during the ending credits; where we are shown all the cellphone pics from that drunken evening of Yuuri dancing in every style one could imagine and challenging every other skater to a dance-off. It seems Yuuri is much more self-confident, cool and kinda sexy when he drinks! Several people lose their clothes in the impromptú intoxicated dance contest, and we see all of them let loose. And of course, at the end, we see the moment when a smashed, sweaty Yuuri asks Victor to coach him if he wins the dance-off.

This sequence is full of hilarious shots of all the skaters, showing us a different side of their personalities, or an exaggerated version of themselves. Add to that Yuuri’s adorable drunken proposition, and you’ve got one of this week’s best anime moments!