Shin Chuuka Ichiban! – 04

OK, that paper hot pot thing was very cool – though I do wonder how Mao chose which book to destroy to make it.  And even whether it’s really possible.  And why doesn’t it make the soup taste like ink?  If it were a squid broth that would be one thing, but this was lóngxiā…

Anyway – another really fun and entertaining episode of Shin Chukka Ichiban!.  I still don’t know if there’s enough grist for the blogging mill here, but I gave all my other bubble shows at least four eps, and this show is as good or better than any of them.  And good it is – special kudos to Fujiwara Natsumi, who once again proves she’s one of Japan’s best seiyuu when it comes to women playing boys.  Mao is kind of the perfect protagonist for a premise like this – just innocent enough to be believably a pup, just talented enough to be believably a genius, and thoroughly good-hearted and likeable.

The denouement of the whole “masked chef” (real name: Li Yan) arc was satisfying overdramatic, which the style pretty much demands.  The final showdown between Li and Mao was a stew, which featured Li’s 16 year-old Guan Huo – which I didn’t even know was a thing, but I guess in a cuisine that features thousand year-old (not really, but still) eggs, that’s nothing – against Mao’s fruit-o-the-Earth mountain vegetables.  As a twist, Shirou-bo ends up judging after he follows Mao to the mansion and is scooped up by a mysterious beauty.  He’s forced to choose blindly, but picks Mao’s dish on the quite-sensible grounds that his ingredients demurely let the lobster be the star.  As for Li Yan, I knew he’d off himself after he lost but he got a good backstory at least (and sure, there was no way Chou Yu was actually a cheat).

The main reason for this arc, it seems, was to tie the Cooking Underground into the story, and they’re now securely tied as Li Yan warns Chou Yu that they’ll be after he and Mao for the crime of taking him down.  The whole idea of a cooking underground with culinary ninjas murdering people is pretty over the top, but hey, that’s pretty much safe mode for this franchise it seems.  Good stuff all around, and once more I’m left hungry.

Radiant Season 2 – 05  

Naturally, after I’d finally decided to let Radiant go (after 25 episodes) for blogging purposes, it chimes in with its best ep of the season (and best non-Dragunov episode).  This is really just a footnote to say the door isn’t quite closed yet – if it keeps this up next week, I could just jump back in.  I really loved the long-awaited tête-à-tête between Seth and Melie.  It was handled beautifully, with her POV coming across really strongly and in a very sympathetic way.  I also like the way the roles of Seth, Melie and Doc in their circle have been so thoroughly and believably rejiggered by events and decisions Seth has made.  Also, it was a good reminder of what a brilliant actress Aoi Yuuki is – she’s taken Melie to the extremes of silliness and all the way back to here.

Also nice was the final scene, where Seth winds up returning to the stables and more or less formally cementing his partnership with Ocoho and Draccoon (both of whose character designs I really like – they sit on the border between Western and anime much the way the ones in Avatar did).  Wheels are in motion, character webs are breaking up and reforming, and the story really hasn’t gotten started yet.  The possibilities for Radiant seem considerably more interesting than they did a week ago, so I’m back on the fence for the moment.

No Guns Life – 04

In contrast, this week has left me marginally less likely to continue with No Guns Life.  I didn’t dislike this ep or anything – it was fine, but it just didn’t connect with me.  An excessively formulaic setup has always been a risk with this series, and a lot of elements here just felt very cookie-cutter.  Maybe not having Juuzo (in personality, anyway) around for most of the episode was a problem too, because his weary mix of defeatism and idealism is the most interesting element of NGL so far.

Another issue I had here was the way the moustache-twirling Berühren guy decided to just bugger off and let all the good guys walk away.  There was an explanation but honestly, it just felt like plot convenience.  I don’t much care about the whole spider-girl subplot and the jury is still out on Tetsurou.  I did like the scolding Juuzou gave him for basically adapting Berühren’s methods by commandeering his body – which was more persuasive and credible because he finished by admitting that they weren’t a perfect analog (motives do matter).  I want to like this show and I’ll keep watching for now, but at this stage I’m feeling fairly indifferent about it.