Winter Games 2018: Episodes 4

We’re only 4 episodes into our shows, and already, we’re beginning to figure out which ones are the more polarizing ones, not to mention establishing our individual tastes in shows. Oh and, turns out we all SUCK at making predictions, at least for the shows we’ve picked here. Anyways, let’s take a look at the episodes!

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Yuru Camp:

I really do love this show. The adorable, witty humor never fails to make me laugh, and the characters are genuinely interesting. As someone who enjoys camping and being in the outdoors, the various landscapes and scenery presented in the show, not to mention the talk about equipment, camping techniques, and other stuff like that.

They finally set off!

The antics of the girls in the outdoor club this week were wonderful. Every moment was fresh, fun and hilarious, and the little twists and turns of the straightforward story kept it clean and interesting the whole way. I think my favorite moment was probably when Chiaki tried to act all cool, but was immediately thwarted by the fact she’s really out of shape. Either that, or the dogs. This show really seems to like having fun with dogs.

What I want to know, is where does Nadeshiko’s energy come from? Is it just because she eats a lot of food, and therefore has extra energy stores to burn? Or is there something else at work here? After all, we’ve seen how she can not only seemingly run around for hours without tiring, but also sleep soundly in the most ridiculous conditions. Seriously, what’s her deal?

Look at you, working for your hobby

Scoring Predictions:

• I predict that we’re going to see more of the other two girls in the outdoor club, maybe some shenanigans at their new jobs? +1 (We got to see a whole lot of the other 2, and while we didn’t see their part-time jobs, we did see Rin’s)

New Predictions:

• Considering that the two groups of girls are going camping at different campsites, I think we might see Rin being a bit lonely and wishing she had gone camping with the others?
• For my action, I predict we’ll get to see a character eating a meal happily.

Record of Grancrest War:

Grancrest is actually starting to frustrate me. It’s just a big combination of thinks that bother me, including pacing issues, story contrivances, random drops in quality for no reason, shallow dialogue, and much much more. The fights this week were boring, poorly animated, and the choreography for them was just atrocious. At some points, the animation got so choppy or just plain bad it was actually painful to watch.

#quality

I was hoping for some political intrigue to happen, to spice up the story with discussions of alliance between Theo and Marinne, but instead, we just got Siluca’s “dad” saying NO a bunch of times. For those of us with experience in theater, nothing kills a story more than flat-out denials. Denial simply nips any potential for storytelling and development in the bud, elimination any potential there might have been for a more interesting story to unfold.

Just think how much more interesting it might have been if, instead of an immediate denial, Marinne agreed to meet with Theo to discuss terms. Maybe while on the way there, an ambush could have taken Theo’s group by surprise, forcing them to fight their way to Marinne’s city. After some long, drawn-out negotiations weighing the benefits and downsides of an alliance, with war hanging in the balance, Marinne says no, and sends Theo away. Leap had predicted something like that might happen, and honestly, it’s a much better story than was actually told by the Anime, so good job to him!

What a nice title…

Last Week’s Predictions:

• I think we’re gonna see some political happenings going on as Siluca tries to get the queen and her “father” to accept her and Theo as nobles. +1 (There was some politics that went on. I’m really not sure if a flat-out denial and declaration of war counts as politics, but the others said they’d give it to me, so I guess I won’t argue.)

New Predictions:

• We’re going to get to see more of what makes Villar tick, I think. Some motivations behind him and maybe some backstory?
• As for a character action, Siluca is going to be struggling with her growing feelings for Theo.

Sanrio Boys:

Oh boy, here we are at the last of the three shows. I’m actually not sure which one I dislike more, Sanrio Boys or Grancrest; they’ve both been pretty steadily bad. I do have one major bone to pick with this show this week, however. Up until now, the product placements have felt relatively mild, to me, but in this episode, we got several character monologues that I actually might have enjoyed, but the fact they had to shoehorn in a product placement every second line utterly ruined the experience for me.

I feel you, dude

As things stand, the characters still feel very shallow, their interactions very cliched and forced, and the drama really doesn’t do anything for me at all, which is a shame because i’m kind of a sucker for good drama. And let me tell you, writers of good drama do not include “Hello Kitty” every second character line in the dramatic climax of a story. It just doesn’t work!

I think my frustration with this show is mainly stemming from the fact that the story could actually be pretty good, if we just removed the existence of the Sanrio characters. Kouta has regret over the loss of his grandmother. Yuu has issues with his little sister. Shunsuke is afraid of abandonment. There are good story elements in there, and it’s all going to waste because of the stupid addition of the stupid Sanrio characters! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!!!!

Surprisingly relatable…

Scoring Predictions:

• I think that Yoshino is gonna get chewed out by the Soccer team seniors, either for being too good and making them look bad, or because he likes Hello Kitty. +1 (well, they didn’t make fun of him for liking Hello Kitty, but they sure did chew him out because, even though he’s supposedly the best player on the team, he’s a jerk to his teammates and basically everyone around him, too.)
• My character action prediction is that one or more of the boys are gonna get in trouble with the student council president. Yup. Called it. You read it here first, folks. (Prediction from Episode 2) +1 (This happens at the very end of the episode, after the credits.

New Predictions:

• I think we’re going to get to know what Blondie’s trauma is, probably some tragic backstory relating to why he (inevitably) likes a Sanrio character.
• For a character action, Student Council President is going to end up shirtless somehow. Possibly with sparkles around him.

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Hey, I was able to pick up a whole 4 points this week! That’s a 100% increase from last week, so we’re doing well! It’s been a lot of fun to watch these shows and talk about them with the other bloggers in the group, sharing opinions, theories, and ideas. I think we’re all kind of starting to run out of our “safe” predictions, though, so you can probably expect to see some more outlandish things coming up, which ought to be interesting! Anyways, here’s how the points currently stand:

Astral: 6 (I’m doing pretty well for myself, I think!)

Irina: 4 (After all her smack talk, she’s already falling behind??)

Leap250: 8 (Dude, you’re killing it! You got a crystal ball or something?)

TPAB: 8 (Senpai, you have shown your superior wisdom to us all!)

Make sure to check out everyone else’s posts as well, and feel free to play along with us!