Welcome to Mono's Anime Rants! Although 2022 is over, I still have a few weeks left in this blog series where I cover the anime series from last year. I hope you enjoy these responses. As for 2023, I'll try to stay caught up to seasonal anime so this won't happen again.
Shadows House: Season 2 Episode 7
Much of this episode focused on Louise and Patrick. I suppose that's only fair since most of the character development has so far been concentrated on the other pairs. Louise went to gather information, showing off Lou's cute face and making her do all the serious work. After being chastised by multiple shadows, Louise finally stops to ask Lou if she's tired. Lou decides to be honest and say yes, leading the two of them to having a bonding moment as they respect both respect each other more. (However, there's still a huge power imbalance in their dynamic. One is master, and the other is slave.)
As for Patrick, he did some studying to learn about how marriage works in Shadows House. He also met a young girl shadow in the conservatory named Margaret. She gave him a white rose as a token of their new friendship. On the way back to his quarters, Patrick and Rick encounter Kate and Emilico, which prompts Patrick to hide the rose behind his back in shame. In his inner monologue, he admits that he's in love with Emilico. But this could never be allowed, so he vows to keep it a secret forever.
Spy X Family: Episode 20 (2nd Cour Episode 8)
Anya is assigned a task at school to interview someone about their occupation and write a report about it. She chose Loid to interview, and he spent the day showing her around the hospital where he works as a psychiatrist. Anya gets in a lot of trouble exploring the secret tunnel in the hospital. She finally finishes her report, but it makes Loid sound bad, so she's also in trouble at school. It was all pretty funny.
There was also an amusing second part of the episode, wherein Anya writes a "top secret" code telling her friends and acquaintances to crack it and meet her at a specified location. She then sleeps through the meeting time and forgets all about the code. Honestly, that's a mood. As usual, this episode was a lot of fun. I also love the art style and how it allows for extremely comical, cartoonish face expressions for Anya's moods.
Summertime Rendering: Episode 20
The sadness of Summertime Rendering continues as we lost another character. Rest in peace, author and warrior Hizuru. I'm still enjoying this anime, and the deaths of Shadow-Ushio and now Hizuru are not deal-breakers for me. That being said, I think I now understand why people stopped talking about this anime with quite as high regard as they did early on. Most anime fans are not good with handling character death. I get the feeling most people were watching because they loved Ushio. I'm very tolerant of character death, and Ushio was definitely not my main reason for watching. (I do think she was an amazing character though.) So, I'll continue on to the end of the series.
Hoshi no Samidare
(Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer): Episode 20
This episode explained the backstories of Animus and Anima. There was no explanation for why psychics suddenly appeared in the universe and were a few other issues too. (No explanation of the Beast Knights yet, for example-- or the fact that it's unbelievable that Animus is powerful enough to instantaneously create a weapon that can destroy the Earth.) But despite these gaps or shortcomings in the narrative, it was still an enjoyable episode. It was cute seeing Samidare and Yuuhi as young kids. I also gained a lot more respect for Anima in this episode. For her, this conflict isn't just a game. Next time is the start of the final battle.
Chainsaw Man: Episode 8
Episode 8 of Chainsaw Man was incredibly intense and will change things up for the remainder of the show. Himeno's death hit hard, and all the attacks on the devil hunters were shocking and brutal. Even Makima was shot, but I don't believe she's actually dead. My theory is that she's a devil and/or has a contract with a devil that can let her survive. Unfortunately, Himeno is probably dead for good. I definitely had qualms with her character trying to sleep with a kid, but she didn't deserve to die, of course. I'll miss her. The bad guys are impressive and seem like they're going to be really difficult to defeat.
Thanks for reading~