A Ruru episode.

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…Okay. Look, I’m not saying Ruru’s a terrible character…

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…but she kinda sucks, and I’m really disappointed that they dedicated an episode to her. But I’m not surprised, as every other character seemed to have their own up until this point. So I guess it’s only fair for Ruru to have her time to shine.

Starting with the plot, well, it was even dumber than I expected. Ruru is small, but she wants to drink a full bottle of Ramune. To fully ingest this Ramune, she needs to become the size of a human. Luckily, a benevolent witch phantom just happens to be passing by, and grants her wish so she can drink Ramune at the festival. Then shit happens where she can’t reveal who she is to her friends because of an arbitrary set of rules, and then breaks those at the end of the episode because apparently she’s the only one that can save Haruhiko from the firework phantom. And they’re all sad because they actually think for a moment that Ruru is dead from the explosion, and crying because she never got to drink that Ramune soda. But it’s okay because she’s alive, the end.

Thought I said “Ramune” too many times in that last paragraph? Well that’s not even half the amount of times they mentioned Ramune in the show. Product placement or does the writer just really like Ramune? I don’t know, but tune in next time for when Izumi becomes addicted to the Pocky phantom!

Back to the witch that I briefly mentioned earlier, I thought she was a cool addition and would like to see her in more episodes. This is of course, based almost solely off of looks, but what can I say, I like characters with cool designs. And it would be nice to see her character be developed a little more.

One thing I’ve noticed throughout the show is that Izumi’s powers have been tragically underused. Apparently, she can’t eat everything for random reasons like “it’ll make her tummy feel bad” and “they need to be weakened first”. I’m paraphrasing by the way. Her powers are completely situational and most the time useless. Remember that time she revealed she had healing powers, then never used them again? I do, because I keep blogging about this stupid show no matter how little substance it actually gives me.

I feel when the show focuses on comedy, and especially on Ruru, I don’t laugh. The show was funnier when it was organic, or at least felt that way. But now I only find myself laughing because of how incredibly stupid this show is. It’s still very pretty though, so there’s that.

+ Visually pretty

– Ruru episode

– Rampant product placement?

– Reina tragically underused

Man, this show is really reaching for straws when it comes to giving this group something to do week after week. Anything and everything that goes even remotely wrong at this school or in this town is automatically relegated to this team of high schoolers. But in this episode, there’s nothing going on to begin with. A random character is introduced and she asks the group to be part of her play. Apparently no one else in the entire school can or wants to do this. Okay. So now our protagonists are now staring in a period piece put on by the drama club, and it’s all fun and games until a phantom inevitably shows up.

Turns out that the Phantom is the girl who asked them to do this in the first place. What a twist! Then comes the all too cliché breaking in the middle of the play. Quite frankly, this is one of my least favorite tropes to ever exist. The actors break character but still say everything out loud for the audience to hear, and then they’re all like “wow, this is meta” or some crap.

It was at that point that I checked the time left in the show, thinking it was all but over, because that moment is usually used as a climax. But the show goes on and they finish the play, in the coolest most immersive way possible. The Phantom changes the stage and the cast is transported to Edo period Japan, where they are to complete the story. This makes for some sweet action and stunning visuals, otherwise known as “The KyoAni Special”. I’m coining that, right now.

Two very important things I noticed, or rather didn’t notice, was the chanting and exposition. Minase’s chanting is really annoying. The Human Encyclopedia needs to shut up. These are facts. And as far as I can tell, they were non-existent in this episode.

Now onto a new issue: Haruhiko needs to stop clumsily falling into Izumi. It was funny the first time, only because they did it in a comical and self-aware way. Now it is just getting routine and uninspired. Basically what I’m saying is: Step off my waifu.

In the end, this felt like a fun, contained adventure with stunning visuals but not much else. I like these characters (with the exclusion of Haruhiko), but I feel this show has strayed too far from them since each of their respective episodes. There’s almost no way this show can be anything more than an action comedy show at this point, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But we’ll see where this show decides to go, as it seems to do whatever the hell it wants to.

+ No Minase chanting

+ No Haruhiko exposition dumps

+ Pretty show, pretty colors

+ Kurumi holds a gun!

– Kurumi holds a gun?

– Awkward stage break

This was a weird episode. Yes, even for its own standards. I won’t knock it for being fanservice-y, but I will laugh at it. A lot. But first, let’s start from the beginning.

One minute and forty-five seconds. That’s how long this week’s intro took. I’m getting really tired of these classroom lectures at the beginning of every show. And I learn almost nothing from them. But I’ve rambled on about these intros before, so all I’ll say is that they suck and I’d be happier if they just cut down the runtime of the show altogether rather than include these wastes of time.

So they introduced the Phantom through a supernatural occurrence at school. Again. But this time’s a little better because they get right into the problem. There’s a monkey hot springs that’s overheating the entire school, and nothing can be done for some reason until the Phantom is gone. I actually like this setup because it leads the entire student body to try and fight it, one at a time with hilarious results.

Then our protagonists step up to the challenge, and in the best way that I never thought possible. The plan is to seduce the monkey and make it come out of the water so the Human Encyclopedia can fully see it and capture the image onto his sealing book thing. Of course, due to a number of mishaps, that doesn’t work out, and so he summons a Phantom to save the day. And although he probably could’ve just did that in the first place, I’ll ignore it because I got to see Mai’s ass get painted.

All in all, it was a fun episode, but it severely lacked in any sense of importance or meaning. And perhaps that’s just exactly where Myriad Colors Phantom World wants to go. I’ll be baffled if this show decides to end a note that’s anything but silly and hopeful.

Oh, and I was completely satisfied with this end, in hopes that the Human Encyclopedia actually does marry Mr. Monkey and never returns. All I’m saying is, it better be canon.

+ Not the hot springs episode I was expecting

+ Reina swimsuit!

+ The ultimate canvas, Mai’s ass

– Intro

Okay, I can’t go another week without saying how awful the chanting is. Specifically, Minase’s chanting. It’s terrible, I hate it, and I never want to hear it again. Mai’s chanting I can usually deal with, but this time it doesn’t even show the fanservice to go with it. How am I supposed to enjoy this show without needless self-boob-groping? How am I supposed to appreciate this art without little moments of indulgence spaced evenly throughout, keeping my interests piqued and my blood out of my head?

In all seriousness, I do kinda miss the fanservicey bits. They never actually did much for me in terms of arousal, but the cute and creative ways they went about it were worth a good laugh. Also, I can’t unsee Mai-oneesama, which is also worth another good laugh. Even Ruru is getting a bit funnier, outside of those abysmal opening segments. Oh, and cat puns! There was a bear pun in the last episode and now there were cat puns in this episode. How delightful! So that’s cat puns, Mayonaise-sama, and sometimes Ruru…yeah, I kinda wish the show had more going for it in terms of comedy this episode. Sure, there’s some slapstick, but I feel like I’m not laughing as much anymore.

As for the other good stuff this episode had to offer…cat girls (and guys)! If you’re into that, have at it. Personally, I think they’re just alright. What I really enjoyed about this episode was the mansion they entered and what happened when they entered said mansion. There were a lot of cool effects and scenery going on as they wandered through this phantom fun house, or “phun house”. Okay, that was bad…but I’m keeping it. Lots of really cool shots could be taken away from this episode, with plenty Izumi. But other than looking pretty, this episode felt pretty needless, adding nothing to the overall plot of the show or characterization to our protagonists. Of course, if this is just going to be a feel good, phantom of the week show all the way to the very end, then I guess that’s fine. You do you, Myriad Colors Phantom World.

Hey, just a heads up, there will probably be more screenshots in this post than usual. I usually try to limit myself, but I just don’t have the heart to leave out any this episode.

I mean, they were all so good. Throughout the entirety of the episode, the visuals were incredibly gorgeous, some might even say stunning. My favorite had to be at the beginning, but perhaps I’m just a sucker for good reflection. Anyway, the whole show left me feeling warm inside, and part of that I believe was just due to the color palette. Bright but never clashing, the beautiful visuals actually took my focus away from the actual story a couple times when watching.

But that may also be due to the fact that this was probably, in terms of plot, the simplest episode yet. In the beginning, Kurumi lacks confidence, but by the end she realizes it’s time for her to step up and protect her friend, just like how her friend had protected her many times before. Basically, the resolution resolved her resolve.

And so now she can finally be a prominent member of the Phantom Hunters, or whatever the hell they’re called. It’s all nice though, and there are cute and touching moments and stuff, it was a fine episode. What’s important now is that (hopefully) all the characters have been sufficiently introduced. It’s time to see them all work together, and hopefully go through a story arc with actual meaning. Or, you know, keep doing the whole “Phantom of the Week!” thing.

Oh, and bear pun(s)! (Not entirely sure if there was more than one.)

+ Visuals!!! A++

+ Bear pun(s)

+ No chanting!

– Still exposition and intro