We’re at the halfway point and it’s a tight race! (well… for some of us)

Anime Seasonals 2018 back again for Week 7 of The Winter Games and I continuously wonder how many more variations of “welcome” messages I can come up with over the course of this collab without it sounding a bit to repetitious.

We’re now in the middle of February, which is also more or less the middle of the Winter season, and our little competition here has taken on quite a definitive trajectory with Irina (of I drink and watch anime) continuing her reign of terror in first place at a well-deserved 34 points. I thought I did pretty well all things considered, but The Zodiac Room‘s Astral Gemini and The Pantless Anime Blogger are hard to shake off, and us three are neck-and-neck in the bottom-half of our lineup as we ballpark at around 24-27 points.

It’s now a game of inches between the three of us and even the smallest slip-up from someone could seal someone’s fate. No one has yet nabbed the coveted 3-pointer prediction though so I do wonder if someone will go for it this round.

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While I try to make my predictions as multi-layered as I can without abusing the system we set up for it, they’re all well within the confines of the narrative, and are not at all what you’d call “wild”. I’m not used to making those, but I am aware that that’s something I can try to go for one of these weeks so if I see an opening I’m definitely throwing one out. For now, well.. you tell me how wild these are xD

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Laid-Back Camp
(Yuru Camp)
Episode 07
tl;dr: “Her grand-dad, HAA!
Why are the side charas for this show so great? lol“

As is probably the biggest revelation on this week’s Chill-AF Camp, meat-giving old dude of the forest is actually Rin’s grandfather(!!). I guess the motorbike was supposed to be our clue for that one but seeing as no one threw that out as a prediction for this week it’s safe to say none of us caught on to the fact. It was so random of a reveal too — but, it does put into perspective something nice that I’m now starting to appreciate about this series, and it’s how small and relatively tight-knit they’re making the interactions as; with Chiaki bumping into Rin’s grandpa, and Nadeshiko and Rin seeing Aoi earlier too (something to keep in mind moving forward).

We got our talking inanimate object from last week’s set of predictions by way of chestnut-chan (azaasu!) and we get our partial for our camper-mistaken-as-a-ghost, so all in all I’d say we did relatively good 😀 (despite not getting any retroactive points on the board). I do like this brother-sister veteran camper combo that got introduced this week to us though. More than that, I actually really like this day-drinking megane onee-san (Irina’s spirit animal for this show maybe?). Part of me now wants her to meet Nadeshiko’s older sister just to see what would happen xD I mean, hey, side charas are interacting with each other almost every other time so it’s not totally outside the realm of possibility.

Going back to what actually did happen though, Nadeshiko and Rin carry on with their camping upon reaching their lakeside base of operations (but not without a comedic callback to last week’s “bull oni”). I’m low-key disappointed that Rin didn’t do her stretches before putting up her tent, but eyy, it happens. She instead spends a good amount of time starting up a fire with her brand-new grill before ultimately failing miserably. Our veteran campers come to their rescue who Nadeshiko literally “met” only minutes prior (this girl has no inhibitions). With their fire set, all that was left to do was lay back and, of course, eat! These food scenes are taking a toll on me.

With their tummies full the two sit down and just talk for a while, which I really loved since it was Rin that initiated it. Not only that, she even thanks Nadeshiko for setting up and suggests that she be the one to invite her to camp next time (they grow up so fast! *sniffles*). She does get her just deserts by being the one to get spooked towards the end, so all’s fair in love and.. camp, I suppose, as the two end up sharing a tent again, lol

>> Predictions
~ We see Chikuwa-chan (Saitou’s dog) again! (character)
~ It’s revealed that Brother-Sister Veteran Camper Duo are actually related to Saitou, possibly her older brother and sister (plot)

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Record of Grancrest War
(Grancrest Senki)
Episode 07
tl;dr: “Theo would flourish in DanganRonpa trials with how persuasive he is in these political exchanges. Too bad he’s in a different game.”

Not only did Theo get an opposing Lord to essentially surrender his political standing, but then he got the guy to go down on one knee and swear fealty to him. I mean, I knew going in to this episode that Theo was going to be more amicable to show a sort-of contrast with Milza’s way of handling business, but there wasn’t even a sword drawn at all let alone any inclination that he was actually going to fight. Guy has a way with words, I’ll give him that. Now, I know it’s because Lord Ladvan saw that Theo had no interest in amassing power for himself, but I feel like all the credit for Theo’s succesful conquest goes to that cheezy one-liner that he threw.

I like how Siluca led with “this guy will do anything if it meant saving his people” or some other, but I didn’t think that that “anything” would encompass taking up an offer of allegiance. I don’t blame him since it really was a pretty sweet deal considering the alternative was him dying, but at least play it up a bit guys, what’s the rush? xD The whole thing was done in, like, five minutes tops. But I guess that’s Grancrest for ya. Again, the politicking is probably something that I mind the least in this show and I honestly think that if it did decide to lay into it a bit thicker it’d be a more interesting story (or at least, a more layered one).

However, Grancrest Senki’s idea of plot progression is adding more and mroe characters into the fray because, hey, Suikoden made it work, am I right? (/sarcasm). I’m at the point where I’m not totally surprised that there’s a pirate now in all this (though to be fair, Arslan Senki had ’em too, but I digress), so yeah sure, all aboard good sir! Same goes for you, Lord Rossini, who’s been namedropped the last six episodes only to make for a rather lackluster first appearance (got a good scowl out of our boy though, lol). You too, Lord Alexis, who I believe we haven’t seen since fainting magnificently during the Grand Hall Tragedy. Oh, whaddaya know, our next arc involves both of ’em you say? Thank heavens we met them then!

Lord Alexis drops a visit to our boy’s humble abode, saying he was moved by Theo’s devotion to Siluca amidst the war, to which Siluca gives a very curious sidelong glance (what are you thinking, girl?). Rossini too makes up for his dull first impression earlier as he sends out… involuntary mercenaries to ambush Theo, only for Lord Alexis to get caught in the middle (legit thought he was gonna die here). They stave off the attack for now, but it’s looking like Theo has his own nemesis now, whereas before he was just waging war against whoever Siluca said he should fight (lol).

>> Predictions
~ Theo talks about returning to his homeland (character)
~ Villar praises Theo for the way he handled his affairs, which angers Milza even more, so much that he leaves the conference of the Union Lords (plot)

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Sanrio Boys
(Sanrio Danshi)
Episode 07
tl:dr; “Ahh, the dichotomy of friendship xD“

I don’t really know why Sanrio Danshi keeps pushing this notion that Kouta straight up traded his old friends for ones that could relate more to his true interests, but every time the show does this I can’t help but give a bit of an internal chuckle. I mean, sure, it’s sending the message of “find people who like the things you like and hang out with them” and I suppose this does actually happen sometimes in high school cliques and stuff, but something about it being brought to focus for no other reason than to just acknowledge the fact is just comically upsetting to me xD

Maybe it’s just me — or maybe the show is just so awkwardly trying to display the every day interactions of high school boys. Episode 07 marks the start of what I’d consider as the main arc of this show so there’s that (’cause what else do I latch on to this weekly thirty-ish minute Sanrio merch commercial spot other than plot). As I said last week, the performance that they’re going to do for the cultural festival coming into play was already a given, and the only thing to really look at moving forward is how they get there. I took a wild guess at them potentially forming some sort of Sanrio Club, but that gets chucked out the window when Seiichiro (I remember his name now!) says they can participate voluntarily/not part of some club.

What I didn’t see coming was the inception of that idea. I did throw out a prediction earlier that the gang would go to PuroLand, but to think we’d get about half an episode’s worth of what was essentially a field trip of sorts there just takes the cake as being straight up promotional fluff. Okay, maybe not half but we did get a montage that went just a tad bit too long for my liking. Well, I suppose it’s better than the melodramatic droll that has been the bread and butter for Sanrio Danshi since the start (remember when I liked all the drama? I sure do, haha……)

Oh yeah, the stage play thing. The boys see some play acting towards the end of their little excursion, and in very CGDCT-like fashion, Kouta becomes overtly inspired by what he sees, throwing out them buzz words like “shining” and “miracle” (huh, are Sanrio Boys technically school idols?). He mulls it over a bit before ultimately coming out with the suggestion near the closing minutes of the show… or, well, I assume he suggests they do a play, but the episode cuts out what he actually says. Curve ball perhaps? Nah.

>> Predictions
~ Seiichiro puts his hand on someone’s shoulders (action)
~ Ryou doesn’t like the idea of doing a play at first, but after the boys talk him into it, he takes on the role of script-writer (plot)

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If I was a betting man I’d put all my chips on Irina to win the whole thing (drinks are on her everybody!), BUT as I keep reminding everyone ever since the start this game, this was never about who comes out on top, but who finds themselves at the bottom at the end of it all. Me, Astral and TPAB are fighting tooth and nail (figuratively of course) to get out of that hole.

See how they struggle over yonder (or for Irina’s case, see how winners do it xD)

AstralGemini — Week 7

Irina — Laid-Back Camp (7), Record of Grancrest War (7), Sanrio Boys (7)

TPAB — Week 7