We are at the halfway point, and the games is really getting excited. The pole positions shifted, dramatically, and this just proves how unpredictable this predicting game is. Seriously, anyone can win this, at this point. 

Ok, once again, the fast pacing of the anime is really ruining my game. This was a fairly decent episode though, and it did focus on some character building. I’m guessing we finally have enough foundation to actually pull off some emerging plot points and stuff like that. I can only hope, but for now, we have more sudden events that I don’t really care for. Last week, I predicted a battle in the snow. I saw some snow fall from the sky, and the talks about “going north” gave me the impression we’ll be travelling. Well, no battle for this episode, which is weird. We did have a dance scene though, because the red hair mage of Villar actually turned 25. He has a rule where mages are relieved of duty once they turned 25, and it’s rumored to be because they no longer suit Villar’s sleazy taste for young ass. But, Villar actually has that rule because he wants the mages to marry young and not be bound to him forever. It’s a very cute gesture, but this is a sudden turn of events. Firstly, I have yet to gain any strong feelings for red haired mage. She hates SIluca, but I hate SIluca too. Red hair gained more annoyance when Siluca was in Villar’s castle, but I was hoping it would escalate more into a cat fight or some heartfelt bathroom scene where both girls are naked and a fog of censor dominates the screen. C’mon, this anime is trolling at this point. But we’re sending her away now, because she’s served her purpose (?).

We did get a weird dance between her and Villar which has an unexplained sexual tension, or maybe the animation quality just dipped. It happened in this episode a lot, but I want to like this scene. If they build this character some more then maybe I’d enjoy this weird sex dance. This girl does not look 25 though, but I guess that’s just anime logic. In Break Blade, there’s a 14 year old girl with the same body as Siluca so I don’t expect anything consistent from fantasy anime. Siluca and Theo also did a dance, and this provoked New Dude for some reason. I should really learn his name, but I like new dude for now. He insults Theo, and the guy just gave a sly response. This provoked New Dude some more, and we immediately see the two of them duel. I love the aesthetics of the duel, because it reminded me of Fire Emblem, especially with Theo’s stance. Obviously, he lost. Theo is nowhere near good enough to even stand toe-to-toe with anyone, let alone New Dude. Victorious, New Dude just keeps on sh*tting on Theo saying that he is an ineffective lord and a lot of people died under him. Gee, I wish we saw the innocent lives lost in Theo’s leadership. New Dude’s attitude seems hypocritical, but I’m guessing he knows Theo has potential to beat him and he wants to kill baby Hitler before his reign of terror begins. Ok, that analogy was weird, I apologize.

New Dude was heavily on the spotlight for this episode. I mentioned the episode didn’t have a battle, but it did have a massacre. A huge meeting with the Federation people is about to begin, and Villar decided to invade the two neighboring regions of Savis along the way. He will gift the Federation with the two regions, and the entire cast is actually assembled for this journey. We even have new faces who seem to be regular members now. This anime is just throwing caution at the wind at this point. Anyways, Theo decided to take one region along with Lassic. New Dude decided to take a heavily guarded castle with no back up. He killed everyone in it, and, uh, he did it in such a brutal manner. He also has a chaos crest(? Leap said his crest is just a different style than Theo’s). I want New Dude to be a bad guy though. He said he didn’t align with the Federation, so he might actually kill Villar to setup Theo’s rise to hero-hood. I won’t rush it though, since I thought Villar would be a rapist mama’s boy, but he’s actually a cool guy.

This is my biggest complaint with the anime. It didn’t turn Villar into a sleaze bag. I want to hate him, but he keeps being painted as this cool dude. In fact, it was even revealed that his infatuation to his mother is actually really cool. He was actually abused by his mother, but he later realized it was a strategic move so he wouldn’t get caught up in the politics of his lineage. His father defected to the Federation, and his mother is the daughter of the founder of the Alliance. So poor guy, his blood carries the anger of both sides and he realized his mother’s abuse was to ensure he wouldn’t get in trouble for it. It’s complicated, but being abused made it seem like he was not a threat for both sides growing up. So Villar grew up abused by his mother, yet he love her dearly upon her passing. Such an awesome guy! Why doesn’t Lassic have this kind of backstory?! Anyways, I have zero idea where this anime is headed. I guess we’re invading a region, or something. We’ll just have to wait and see. Say goodbye to those prediction points though, because this anime is just impossible to predict.

Notable Characters of the episode

New Dude is a standout in this episode. I hope he turns villainous. We need a good villain now. I like how he mentions that the only way to obtain the Heavenly Crest is by beating people, but Theo actually believes that chaos needs to stay. I love how Theo will be the yin-yang that’ll tie both worlds together.

Villar is also elevated in this episode. I’m not sure what role he will take though. I’m expecting him to die, since Theo needs to rise up from Villar’s dead body. It makes sense to me, but we’ll see.

Plot Related: There will be a battle at night

Character Related: New Dude will kill Villar

This episode of Yuru Camp is pretty uneventful, because we’ve gone once again to setting up for the next episode. This means that pay off will happen in the next episode. All the dominoes are also aligned for the following episode as it sets up a barbecue adventure, a chance encounter with the outdoor club, and a mini hotpot prepared by Nadeshiko. Those all sounds fun, so I can’t wait. This episode is pretty tame though, and nothing much happened. We did get a butt load of “happy meal time” though, from enjoying candy to eating meat. My prediction had meat and potatoes in it, but it was cooked by an old dude. Like seriously, the first real old dude to appear camping in the series. Most of the time, adults are shown working in this anime. I’m sure it’s coincidental, but it kinda have this cynical vibe that only the youth have time to go camping week after week because adults are busy working. I’m overthinking this though, mainly because nothing of note happened in the episode.

We did see Nadeshiko’s purple haired sister meet Rin’s mother. They look close in age, but again, I’m overthinking things. It seems Nadeshiko and Rin are going camping together, and Nadeshiko didn’t even bother to ask the other girls to come along. I think the idea of eating grilled meat clouded her thinking. This episode made me wonder what pork jowl taste like. I’ve eaten nasty things like chicken heads and a beating snake heart, but pork jowl seems to have escaped me. Anyways, this episode follows the two shopping for meat and then it ends when they were going to the camp site. The final scene teased of Nadeshiko being scared of a ghost, so that’s some pretty easy prediction points right there.

Best moments in the episode

• Happy meal time is out of control. Nadeshiko basically just ate in the entire episode. She’s starting to grow on me though, and I know I’ll feel sad when this anime ends. Her energetic personality isn’t in-your-face, and she just lives life as laidback as can be. That’s my motto too, so I know I’ll definitely miss her.
• Seeing Rin in a car is weird. We usually soak in the zen aspect of the show through her travels, but it looks like she enjoys the car ride though. The show did make up for it by showcasing amazing fall colors once the pair reached their camping ground.
• Nadeshiko’s sis got some cool “happy meal time” too, but she mostly just drinks hot chai tea. I like this particular scene because it’s different from the moe or zen showcase we’ve seen so far. This had a cool, mature and hipster vibe to it and I really dig it.
• Again, the old dude. I love that scene. Moe girl meets cool and mature dude with a one pole tent cooking meat and potatoes in a camp fire. There’s a punchline there, but I’m glad the anime didn’t provide one.

Plot related: Chiaki will meet Rin and Nadeshiko while they’re telling ghost stories, and this’ll scare Nadeshiko.

Character related: The moon will reflect on the lake to boost the zen vibe of the moment

This episode of Sanrio Rangers focused on the Student Council Club president, the seme. Apparently, it’s time to focus on his problem while also dealing with the uke, since they come in bulk, apparently. And once again, friendly Mr. Contrived comes into the picture. Seme’s problem is that he is apparently perfect and it’s wrong for him to be perfect. Yeah, it came out of nowhere and you can tell it’s forced as f*ck.  He’s being vilified for no reason so we can get a contrived conflict for him. I mean, if we established that he’s a control freak or a guy oblivious to other people’s feelings in the previous episode then I’d be no problem. But, uke hating him apparently sends him spiraling. He builds up stress, and he is no longer perfect BUT he is apparently a bad guy for being perfect in the first place. Wonderful writing, guys. The animation is also noticeably bad since characters just stand around with their arms to the side while they talk. This is the first time I really recognize how distracting the animation is. I’m more disappointed that uke and seme didn’t really resolve things properly. Mr. Contrived created a nonsensical situation for both of them to make up. Seme passed out, uke came to see him in the nurse’s office, (they had sex, I wish) but they did resolve their problem before the episode ended.

Look at these guys looking uncomfortable. I’m pretty sure one of them is asking why they aren’t taking their shirts off. Free them chest, boys!!!

This episode is awful. Will I ever truly like an episode, I wonder? I did like seme trying to make up with uke, but nothing really came of it. I’m just glad I am getting some points for this week. Oh, another great thing happened in this episode as well. THE SANRIO RANGERS IS FINALLY COMPLETE!!!! Yes, the group has assembled and they’re off to do some bullsh*t or whatever. We all had “Puroland” in our prediction and I think all of us are going to make bank in the next episode. Oh, I can only wish.

Plot Related: Characters will buy a Sanrio product

Character Related: Yuu will tease Ryou, and uke will respond shouting (in a dere fashion, atleast)

We have reached the halfway point, and I think it’s time to show the current score so far. As of Week 6, Irina has destroyed us with 25 points gaining a lot of momentum this week. Her predictions are on point this week, for all three shows, and it rocketed her to an amazing lead. I trail in second place with 19 points. I came out hot at the start, but I’m slowly losing steam. I can only hope the stacked predictions can help me bounce back. Tied for third, or last or loser space, is Leap and AstralGemini with 18 points. This means nothing though, because Irina was at the bottom last week. Leap and AG can make a come from behind sprint to the finish line in the remaining weeks. Anything can happen, and I really love how unpredictable this collab game is. I am really glad I get to try this out, and I hope it’s as fun for the rest of the players. Anyways, check their posts below.

Irina’s post HERE, HERE and HERE

Leap’s post HERE

and Astral Gemini’s post HERE

Keiko and I are also doing some deep analysis on “After the Rain”, and I love how an uneventful episode turned into a deep dive into flower language and Rashomon. Check our analysis of episode 5 HERE