Barakamon and Zankyou no Terror return! Anyway, writing these long posts about this season got tiring, and I like haikus, so this entry will have a haiku per episode! And a line or two more in play text. I hope you like it.
Weekly impressions for Akame ga Kill!, Aldnoah.Zero, Barakamon, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei!, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Sword Art Online II, Tokyo Ghoul, and Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance).
Link in titles leads to full-episode write-ups. Ordered by how much I enjoyed or thought the episodes were good.
Barakamon episode 9:
Handa is a child,
playing with children as one;
Adulthood lurks by.
Once more we continue with how Handa isn’t just childish, but is so much of an actual child that he gets right along with all the other kids. But he always remembers the adult responsibilities that lurk beyond the corner, and the post-ED sequence showed that sometimes the external world can invade even this island of peace.
Aldnoah.Zero episode 10:
“Twist” averted, duh.
Slaine finally gets a break.
Men, Raise your death-flags! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
This episode was sort of “Episode 9-lite”, continuing that episode’s themes, and reiterating them. Inaho once again obviates all adults (the CPR scene was better than most media portrayal, but still not actually “good”), Rayet is used in order to discuss the nature of choice and protagonization, and deprotagonization, which Inaho does to her. Saazbaum reiterates the nature of his desire again. The show belabours the concept of “irony” a tad too much.
Also, look at these three screenshots. There’s an obvious moment of mirroring elsewhere, but these didn’t stand out to me till I wrote this. Then again, they all stand for “projecting power”. The power of terror, the power of nationalism, the power to strike out.
Sword Art Online II episode 10:
Sinon’s fulfilled role,
Kirito’s person explained.
It was sufficient.
This wasn’t a super exciting or touching episode, but it still finally got us to the part I was waiting for, where we can discuss how Sinon’s character is reflective of Kirito’s, and thus can gain more information, or revisit Kirito’s character in Aincrad in light of said reflection. I felt these things were always true, but sometimes a better framework helps. That scene was considerably more emotional and different in my mind’s eye when I read the book though.
Also, Sinon made a choice, which the show’s world ultimately rejects, but is oh-so-human, the choice to give up, and to just not want to be hurt anymore.
Zankyou no Terror / Terror in Resonance episode 8:
Taking a deep breath,
Look around you, see people,
This is what’s at stake.
I thought after episode 6 we’d get non-stop conflict. Well, we didn’t. Here we are with an episode that actually gives the conflicts to come some possible consequences, which is sort of funny if you think about how not a single person died during all the explosions in the series up to this point… so the threats ring a tad hollow.
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei! Episode 9:
Nice action is had,
But still far from last season.
Too little, too late.
We’ve had a fight, but though it was alright, it didn’t have much weight behind it, nor was it nearly as cool as the awesome fight we’ve had in the first season, and we’ve had a lot less fights this season. It was OK, it was pretty, but it wasn’t special, and after this whole season, that’s what we needed. Also, all this fight over handing over the cards, when they collected them in order to hand them over to begin with.
Tokyo Ghoul episode 10:
A brewing conflict,
The past comes calling.
The endgame is nigh.
Invasion, Touka’s past, past choices, poor Kaneki Ken and his desire to help everyone, and more crazies appearing on both sides. Two episodes to the season finale, so things are ramping up. Not a lot actually to talk about in this episode.
Akame ga Kill! episode 10:
Fight of the sex/es,
Far-fetched conflict, new friends. Lies.
All’s as usual.
Esdeath is presented as the ultimate fantasy of a woman, because she’s essentially a man. Sexually aggressive, locks Tatsumi up, says she’ll change his thoughts, and then she blushes and shows how much she loves him by promising he’ll be the only man for her… at least Tatsumi telling her, “Choose your love for me over your beliefs!” got rejected, or I’d have been pissed. Wave and Tatsumi are alike, mistaken identities, fights are coming.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders episode 23:
Aren’t we all?
Recall what’s at stake,
The horror-camp vibes remain.
Okay, we get it.
“Monster of the weak” is often disliked because it’s padding, a way to maintain the status quo. People say that the second half of Stardust Crusaders will be better, but if that’s so it’s even more surprising, that rather than speed up through it in 13 episodes, we use the “padded material” and pad it even farther. Yes, we get reminded of what’s at stake, but that it’s not always at the forefront is already questionable.
Summary:
Moments that are supposed to be exciting but aren’t, and numerous shows gearing up for their final confrontation, still. Did you like the haikus?
Geekorner-Geekulture. 
I dig the haikus (though weirdly enough, it’s not the first time I’ve seen them used on a blogging site to talk about anime in this way). The last line of your SAO haiku feels especially on point.
I think it was especially noticeable when The Cart Driver members lost in FAL (Fantasy MAL) and had to cover shows they hated, so they tried to make it cuter.
I wonder how you feel about that last line of SAO, some people could see it as praise, others as condemnation, and others, such as myself, that this episode had a job to do, and it did it. Not spectacularly, but it also didn’t fail at it.
Then again, people told me they didn’t think of it like that until I pointed it out, but they also said it of my Mahouka pieces, and other stuff. Guess that’s why I write.
I guess I’m with you on the most recent episode of SAO then – it did it’s job in unremarkable but passable fashion, and that was that.
I guess I now know what a Haiku means.
I’m also digging the haikus, especially the last lines. They pretty much sum up how you feel about each anime.
Yeah, the last lines in some traditional haiku are supposedly completely distanced from the piece, or obliquely referencing it by making an allusion to weather or the seasons, but I find this way easier, especially as I want to get my thoughts across and have minimal space to do so.