Happy New Year! We still have about 6 weeks left to cover all the 2022 anime I want to talk about. As for new anime from Winter 2023, I haven't decided what I'm watching yet.
Shadows House: Season 2 Episode 6
The Starbearers held an unexpected rejoicing party. They were watching everyone too closely for Emilico and Shaun to be able to spit out the mind-altering coffee this time. But it turns out the coffee was different. It only heightened emotions and energy, as a strong shot of espresso will do in children. The Starbearers wanted to give the impression they had everything under control even though they didn't have more of the brainwashing coffee available. Emilico and Shaun were fine after some rest.
A few other interesting things happened, like the discussion held by Emilico and Shaun on the roof at night. They talked about different aspects of their life in Shadows House with the new lens of knowing they are human and deserve freedom. After the talk, Emilico encountered the mysterious robed figure briefly. It said that it was neither an ally nor an enemy to the living dolls. Shaun and John went to the research team's cabin the next day and learned some facts about scorches from Jeremy and Jeremiah. Things were going well, when suddenly, Oliver announced that John had been called to the Starbearer's wing. We don't yet know why.
Spy x Family: Episode 19 (2nd Cour Episode 7)
This episode was divided into two parts, or "missions." The first half was about a kid named George Glooman, whose father's company was bought out by the Desmond Group. George is a gloomy kid who wants revenge on Damien's family because he believes his family is now broke after the buyout. He fears he will have to leave the school forever. Damian, Becky, Anya and others feel bad for George and help him create some fun and emotional memories. Of course, the punchline is that George doesn't have to leave school after all, since his family is still financially stable.
The second half of the episode was about Yor trying to deliver Anya's gym clothes to her at school. Yor is worried about Anya and depressed about her own performance as Anya's mother. However, Loid offers to take her out to lunch to cheer her up. It was a good episode. The funniest part to me was when Yor was jumping all around the rooves and windows of the school, looking like spider-woman.
Summertime Render: Episode 19
Even with Ushio out of the picture, the show must still go on. Shinpei barely survives an encounter with Haine, and then tries to meet up with his allies. However, Haine had previously copied Shinpei's body, so she impersonated him and lured out his friends. The group of friends suspected something was off and feared that the real Shinpei was already dead. So, most of them stayed behind while Hizuru scouts ahead to a small island to verify if the real Shinpei is there. One there, she of course realized it's Haine, and Shide is there too. Hizuru and Ryunosuke combine their strength and brains and engage in a death match with Shide. Meanwhile, the real Shinpei unites with Shadow-Mio and hurries to save his friends.
Hoshi no Samidare (Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer): Episode 19
After several intense battles and a lot of practice, the group of Beast Knights managed to defeat the eleventh golem, Maimakterion. Speaking of that entity, it had started to develop a sense of self. I knew that the Knights would need to kill it, but I'm surprised that they had no moral strife over the issue. After all, they killed an emotional, thinking being. Maimakterion was just as sentient as a human. I thought there would be more discussion related to its existence, but its death was fairly unceremonious. Nobody debated the necessity of it. In other notes, I enjoyed seeing Hakudou so happy when she was sparring with Amamiya. She's very cute. This was a good episode.
Mob Psycho 100: Season 3 Episode 12
After much struggling, Reigen managed to get through to the spirit of Mob and stop him. It involved telling the truth that he has no psychic powers and is a complete conman. Ekubo (Dimple) also helped, brought back into existence by Shigeo's need for him. Thanks to Reigen's honesty and Ekubo's help keeping Reigen alive, Mob was able to accept his rampaging other self. His two selves found harmony and settled down. He then went and confessed his feelings to Tsubomi, who didn't feel the same way. Shigeo cried a little about that but handled it extremely well overall.
The rest of the episode showed everything going back to normal over the course of half a year. And while I'm glad that everyone can be so happy, it honestly seems a little too contrived to me. Mob destroyed a huge section of the city and had to have caused some injuries if not deaths. It's implied that psychic powers will be enlisted to rebuild the city. However, it's too easy that everyone would just be over it a few months later and never resent or grow fearful of Mob. But in the end, I watched this anime because it's exciting, funny, and sometimes insightful about psychology. I didn't watch it to see a realistic response to widespread destruction. This was an excellent season of Mob Psycho 100.
Chainsaw Man: Episode 7
Well, that was interesting. I was surprised by how relatively painless it was for Denji to beat the Eternity Devil. After that, the group got out of the hotel safely. A week later, they're all having a drinking party to get to know each other. Himeno finally kissed Denji, but let's just say it doesn't go as planned. It was gross. And for some strange reason, the others at the party looked the other way while the drunk Himeno picked up the sick Denji and left. So yeah. Himeno brought Denji home and is trying to sleep with him. I know it's legal for her to do that in Japan, since the age of consent is 13, but it doesn't sit right with me. I'm trying to like Himeno, but this is a little bit much. Maybe she won't go through with it though.
Thanks for reading~