Tofu’s Weekly Roundup #5

Space Brothers 21

Just like episode 20, I’m still gripping onto my seat as I continue to guess who the 2 were that won! Sadly, we know that Mutta and Kenji didn’t get picked as the top 2 within their own groups. Actually, I’m quite annoyed that Mizoguchi was picked as one of the befitting candidates to be an astronaut. I’m sorry but I really hate his attitude and especially how he bullies Kenji. I know JAXA won’t necessarily pick their astronaut from the 2 picked in each group but the idea that the total 6 selected (plus the extra one JAZA will pick from the ‘Others’) will go to Houston and be interviewed by active astronauts.

Doesn’t this just mean that they will only pick from the 6 chosen by their teammates? I thought JAXA would dismiss those selections and make their OWN choices as to who are the true top 7 that should become astronauts. Well… either way, I’m hoping there is some big twist in the end that will allow our three main characters become astronauts.

(Rating: 8/10)

Kuroko’s Basketball 20

Wow. Yay! Kuroko and Kagami have finally gotten back together! All from the help of our awesome four-eyes captain: Hyuga-kun! But without Teppi here, none of this would’ve happened. He really is the mysterious character and a pretty likable one at that. Although it was a simple and short one on one between Teppi and Kagami, Teppi actually lost. Is it due to how rusty he is or did he do it in purpose like the guys suggest? Well either way, things are heating up with Kuroko trying to find a new basketball style. I can already feel the intensity from the future matches! Let’s just hope they deliver.

(Rating: 7/10)

Tari Tari 08

No! The whole episode was a big emotional roller-coaster. Although Sawa’s development revolved around horseback riding while Wakana’s development focused around music, they both delivered beautiful climax’s in terms of our characters ability to break through the obstacles that prevent them from moving forward. Besides Konatsu’s hilarious misinterpretation of Sawa’s situation, we’ve known Sawa long enough to really understand and feel her passion and love for riding horses.

To see Sawa’s pure passion in horseback riding taken away from her, it makes your heart cringe even if it’s just a little due to how unfortunate it is for her. While we got to see Sawa blossom as a character, our Choir Club is finally making some progress in terms of the musical element within the story. Will they triumph and be able to perform? For once, I’m slightly impatient for the next episode!

(Rating: 8/10)

Accel World 19

The whole fight against Sulfur Pot was like a poorly made episode of Power Rangers but in the gaming world (which is probably going to be the next Power Rangers; focused around protecting the innocent through fighting against evil viruses as Anti-virus Rangers… sounds legit). The confrontation and conclusion of the battle between Sulfur Pot and his evolved neopet felt quite rushed. I expected this side arc to go over 1 more episode so I figured Sulfur Pot would escape but be defeated in the next episode, thus giving the extra amount of time to cough up important information (which never happened). That really made me cringe after finishing this episode.

The side arc was a temporary relief from Haru’s stupidity but even the side arc had a big anti-climatic ending. To put it bluntly… it was purely a waste of time. What made it worse was the fact that Megumi apparently lost her memories after connecting to the Accelerated World. Just how obvious do you want to put it out that Megumi is only a one-off tool that only served as the purpose to give Kuroyukihime an advantage against Sulfur Pot Kawahara Reki? That was a great moment to really introduce this character into the gang, instead of just using her once and throwing her aside. *sigh* The fact that I’m most likely not going to enjoy the next episode is making me quite disappointed and sad in Accel World.

(Rating: 5/10)

Oda Nobuna no Yabou 07

Episode 7′s a treasure chest for character introduction while continuing to emphasize how big of a loli magnet Sagara is. Really, anyone who denies that simple fact need to rewatch episode 7 and count the amount of loli’s there are that flock around Sagara! *ahem* Besides that, there’s not much to say about this episode overall. We were mainly given the idea of ‘whether peace will ever be reached’ to ponder on as we witness the political unrest within Kyo.

In terms of the new characters, there were just way too many introduced for my brain to comprehend (I’m simple minded). It feels like episode 1 of Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon but less confusing (they practically introduced 20 characters all at once). Unfortunately, next episode seems to center around the group having a lot of fun with a lot of fan service served alongside takoyaki. I hope to see the European blonde again.

(Rating: 6/10)

Kokoro Connect 07

Holy shit, Iori is fricken hilarious with her “Yahoo!” incident during the Quiz. What’s more is that I totally know how Iori feels (and I’m sure we can all relate to her as well right?). There’s been many situations where I feel like going nuts for the fun of it. Like John Lennon said “It’s weird not to be weird” right? Well… putting that aside, this ‘true desires’ twist is really marinating the drama within Kokoro Connect.

We’ve already seen so much destruction between their friendship bonds. Breaking each others resolve, making each other cry and hurting each other. It’s all quite hard to bear as an audience and that’s what Kokoro does best – put you through an emotional roller-coaster that you didn’t voluntarily jump in. What’s more is that these true desires are things we can all relate to as well.

Everyone of us have felt certain urges to act in specific ways but we choose not to due to the current atmosphere or situation we’re in. The things we think up could really hurt others or even ruin your own image like we’ve been shown in episode 7. These are all things we understand well and so being able to see our “what if” situation play out is quite intriguing and surprisingly entertaining. We sub-consciously make this relationship after watching episode 7 and with this realization, Kokoro Connect only gets better and better. Just how will these friends cope with such a dangerous twist? Argh! It’s killing me having to wait weekly for these episodes!

(Rating: 8/10)