In this week’s installment…

Remember about a year or two ago when Samsung had to recall the Galaxy Note 7 because there was a chance the battery would explode? Last Period did an entire episode about it and I don’t feel like I can talk about anything else that happened in The Roundup this week. Well, that and the Kamen Rider cameo in Hinamatsuri.

Real Girl Episode 10: “About My Confession” Tuesdays 4:00 pm EST on HIDIVE

Jel: ​I complained a lot about last week’s episode and thankfully it seems my concerns were addressed this week. The Ayado thing has come to a definitive end (I hope) and spending the better part of the episode from Igarashi’s perspective was a great move. I’d love to see more romance shows that show the inner thought process on both sides. After all, a good relationship is an equal, two-sided thing and that just makes sense. Now we just have to wait for whatever big bomb is going to drop when Igarashi has to leave. We still don’t know why but given the earlier episodes with the hospital business, I have a feeling it’s not as simple as her family moving. Hopefully that doesn’t end up making me angry again.

Last Period: the journey to the end of the despair Episode 9: “Expanding Galaxy” Wednesdays 12:00 pm EST on Crunchyroll

Jel: ​I’m done trying to predict what this show is going to do next. I mean that as a compliment. Trying to figure out what kind of crazy twist each episode is going to take has become a highlight of my anime season. I just didn’t expect to go from last week’s bold statement about North Korea and Japanese re-armament to this week spending 20 minutes setting up a joke about the defective Galaxy Note7’s exploding battery. Seriously, my jaw hit the floor when WISEMAN’s personal gacha roller looked at the camera and said “I don’t like Android”, then took a bite out of an apple. I…. I just don’t know what to do with that, it’s so far out there. So I’m not even going to bother trying to predict what happens next, I’m just going to keep enjoying the ride.

Steins;Gate 0 – The real mystery is where did Moeka get that Hououin Kyouma LINE sticker?

Steins:Gate 0 Episode 9: “Pandora of Eternal Return -Pandora’s Box-“ Wednesdays 1:30 pm EST on Crunchyroll

Marlin: Steins;Gate can have a bad habit of feeling like absolutely nothing happens in an episode. We do get some new intrigue in the possibility of another Reading Steiner user, which is strange considering the girl has so far been incredibly tangential to the plot. I suppose since she has the same connection it’s possible that Mayuri gave her the power in the same way it was implied to be given to Okabe in the original show. A lot of what happened here is set-up for the coming conflict, but it’s hard not to feel like it’s spinning its wheels, like with the segment on finding Maho a new place to live.  At least we finally have our villain, the unintentionally hilarious DURPA. At the very least, it’s more believable to imagine the department of defense doing some clandestine ops than the mild mannered Swiss at SERN.

Hinamatsuri Episode 10: “Like a River Stream” Fridays 9:30 am EST on Crunchyroll

Jel: ​I’m still kind of uncomfortable with all the adults taking advantage of Htiomi, but I also feel like she’s going to be rewarded for it eventually. What I’m really saying is if she doesn’t end up as a mob boss by the end of all this, I will be severely disappointed. While I might be able to forgive the show for their treatment of Hitomi, I will NEVER forgive Sabu for taking advantage of Anzu’s pure, innocent heart. First ratting out Nitta last week and now this??? Get this guy out of here, I hope he gets what he deserves. At least Anzu didn’t seem to be totally corrupted by her foray into gambling, if that is even possible. Overall it was a pretty great episode as we were due to catch up with the other two girls, I’m just surprised we didn’t get an update on Mao’s trek through asia. Maybe next week.

Marlin: THIS SHOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! The black comedy is off the charts as we get a double dose of the corruption of the youth. Hitomi can never catch a break, and that continues with the most responsible running away from home of all time. It was also great to see Nitta be the voice of reason, his reactions towards Utako’s behavior was fantastic. Then, we get another segment with our Good Girl™ Anzu being seduced into a life of gambling. Honestly, something needs to be done about Sabu, he’s already almost gotten someone killed, and now he’s teaching children how to gamble. Guy is somehow a worse person than Utako. Thankfully, we still end on a super sweet moment that makes your head completely whiplash back into its proper place.

Amanchu – Did anyone else think this screen was really dark?

Amanchu! ~Advance~ Episode 10: “The Story of a New Beginning and New Feelings” Saturdays 11:00 am EST on Crunchyroll

Jel: ​So I guess we’re just gonna pretend none of that magic stuff happened? That’s exactly what I was expecting but it still seems weird actually seeing it. This was basically just another episode of Amanchu: Teko gets a call to hang out with PIkari and friends, they all enjoy their time together, Teko ruminates on how lucky she is now, and then the responsible adult in the room (this time Pikari’s grandma) drops some life lesson on her. It’s all fine, but it seems even more pedestrian than usual after the last few episodes. To give you some idea of how invested I was, I had to pause the episode for a second and realized hours I forgot to come back and watch the episode. We did learn that Pikari’s grandma was one of those hardcore traditional pearl divers so that’s cool, other than that though there wasn’t much to get excited about.