I have to admit that so far, I’m not having the best luck with my seasonal picks. AMAIM is probably the top contender right now and I’m relatively neutral on it. I had things to complain about in the first episode. My hopes for The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window are slowly dwindling. But that happens sometimes. It just makes me appreciate the off-season anime I’m binging that much more!
Even though I may have just given away how this post is going to go, please do give it a read. It’s short!
Fact is if this was a straightforward romance, i.e. if the sexy components weren’t very thinly veiled, I would probably have given up on The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window. It’s just not my type of story. Turns out, Hiyakawa is not only tragically bad with boundaries and consent but he’s also the possessive type. The kind of possessive that if your friend starts dating a person like that you start looking in the newspaper to make sure they haven’t been murdered. Basically, Hiyakawa is kind of a garbage character. Which is ok if the narrative takes that into consideration.
Maybe because Hiyakawa is blonde and a bit slimy and the story has all these connotations about psychics, I wrote down in my notes that he’s basically Reigen from Mob Psycho but without any of the charm. That’s a bit of a problem, Reigen really isn’t much without his charm.
Besides that though, the episode introduced us to two other spiritually gifted people and I liked them both. Well, we only see Erika for a second but I was intrigued. Keita mostly serves as a foil for Hiyakawa (and potential rival I guess) but I like his character design and I wish the story was about him instead.
The episode wasn’t a complete waste for me. I’m 4 years old so I do laugh at jokes like his spirit is all loose and stretched out… And there was a lot in there. But honestly in this episode, whenever the two leads shared the screen I thought it was a low point. And that does not bode well. I also wish they would have picked up from the soft cliffhanger of the ghost behind the bookcase instead of just forgetting about it. I really liked that scene and wanted to know more.
Besides that, the structure f the episode was a bit messy. It essentially jumped from act to act without too much connective tissue. Each act could have been a filler episode on its own but they all included a bit of exposition which I suspect will be important in the future. I just wasn’t crazy about the presentation. I’m not sure if the manga this is based from was originally a doujin or a webcomic but that’s what I’m getting from the structure. Short isolated arcs that probably correspond to individual chapters. This sort of unconnected effect when you string them all together often comes about as a result of serial publication.
Oh yeah, and we got to see the OP for the first time. I liked it!
At episode 2 I stand pretty much where I was at episode 1. I guess when you take them as a whole I got similar experiences from them. Except that I liked the end of episode 1 leaving me with a general more positive feeling whereas I particularly disliked the last act of this episode. Let’s see what ep 3 does…
Previous episodes
I’m still enjoying the mystery/supernatural aspect of this one and the additional characters have helped dilute Rihito a bit (plus at least the show is also acknowledging he’s dodgy and possessive and it isn’t trying to play this off as normal given Keita’s reaction). I am also pretty curious about Erika. Curiosity almost always wins with me and I want to know more about the ghosts and where this story is going so even though there are some issues, I’m probably sticking with this one.
I like the very lowbrow jokes but the writing is a bit weak to really make the mystery compelling for me. This said, it’s not the worst show I’m watching just sort of meh with some aspects that I don’t like much.
Frankly, going by your comments for the previous episode, I was a little surprised you would watch the second episode. This series would have really been helped if the primary relationship was not so toxic. Rihito is an ass and I don’t really buy the I have bad social skills excuse he lays out. What he pulls makes for some troubling viewing.
I suppose if you are horny and only desire some hawt bishies in action then you can overlook the more questionable motives they have. Judging from your review I am assuming you are not super horny Irina. Main saving grace for the show is the actual mystery content with all the spirits and magic users. I hope there will be more of this and the relationship stuff either cools off or better yet more healthy boundaries are established.
I have to advertise my hornyness better is what I’m hearing! Sadly the art is not really my preferred style or else I guess that would carry me over. There is a lot of ridiculousness and parody I do like in a series that seems to be attempted here. The relationship aspect is frankly uninteresting but I do wonder why s many fans have flooded to the series. I guess I’m curious to find out what others see in it since so far it’s sort of too weird to explain mainstream appeal.
Yeah, I don’t know what to say. It’s a watch-and-forget show for me, though I could do without the possessiveness. It’s a trait I hate. There might be more to it, but I’m not actually curious.
We’ll see where this goes. I’m not ready to drop it yet.
The stars of the season so far for me are Heike Monogatari and Ousama Ranking. Komi-san is better than expected and Sakugan promises to be a fun romp. Also Mieruko chan might be less of a one-trick pony than I initially thought. Kyuketsuki Sugu Shinu is a decent comedy in itself, but the vampire is great (with Fukuyama Jun outdoing himself in the role), and there’s an armadillo who gets his own ending, inspired by 2000 Miles in Search of Mother (if I’m not mistaken).
Then there’s Taishou Otome and Blue Period who are both good in their own way, but I’m not yet sure how they’ll play out.
Do put Ousama Ranking onto your list. There’s little like it, and even less these days. It may not end up my favourite, but miss this, and you miss most of its kind.
Alright – I had not picked up on Ousama Ranking but I’ll happily give it a try.