It’s a double whammy of unfortunate circumstances this week for me. My laptop troubles are continuing to haunt me (long story), and on top of that, some cold-like symptoms have found refuge within since the beginning of the week. So I’m writing this with limited battery capacity and limited nostril clearance.
This, combined with the contents of Aharen-san‘s seventh episode itself, will force me to keep this rather curt.
Episode 7 Synopsis
Nothing too drastically different from what has already been standard with this series. More games, more wild assumptions that end up untrue, and a couple scenes of a jealous kid in love wishing for Aharen’s support (in secret).
Actual Review
When I think about the series up to this point, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily “bad” about it outside of the animation, which is consistently below-average. Even the more dull episodes at least had something distinct about them—a new character introduced, a specific moment of wholesomeness that spruces up the absurdity. Things like this tend to give individual episodes a hint of flavor.
Episode seven… just might be the worst one so far, simply because it does basically nothing new.
No new characters, no new situations, no new settings or set pieces. It’s the series equivalent of an episode on “autopilot.” As is seemingly consistent, the animation is unimpressive and the humor is very hit-or-miss. Then in addition to this, we provided more screentime of a snobby kid whose only motivation seems to be to get a boy to like her… great. Otherwise, a long bit on Old Maid and some rambunctious in-school hijinks… that exude all the energy of a sloth watching The Joy of Painting.
I’m not sure what else I can say that I haven’t hammered on excessively in prior posts. Borderline-lazy production and a very pedestrian attempt at adapting what’s otherwise a silly, but spirited manga. This latest episode made me feel nothing. No good, no bad. Apathy. It exists, as do I. For some, I’m sure, that’s a death sentence for any medium whose primary objective is to entertain.
Conclusion
Let me be mean for a second: If I did not feel motivated to finish this through for the sake of the blog, this would have been dropped long ago. Aharen-san as an anime provides very little in the same niche appeal as its parent source, and episode seven is perhaps the lowest point thus far by virtue of how boringly benign it is. A vicious cycle of having nothing to say. Blah.
If reading this compelled you to give me a dollar, feel free to tip me on Ko-fi.
Thank you for your time. Have a great timezone.
The Visualist's Veranda 