The Anime-zing Race: Spring 2015, Weeks 6-7

A double-episode for double the fun!

I fell behind on anime last week, so this week will feature two legs of the race. Last week, The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan proved it had what it took to keep up with the front-running shows, and all the other shows put up good showings as well. In the end, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches could not quite keep up with the other shows, and ended up eliminated from the race, though not dropped from my watchlist.

The standings after Week 5 are:

1. Sound! Euphonium
2. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
3. Hello! Kinmoza
4. Baby Steps Season 2
5. My Love Story
6. The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
7. Show by Rock
8. Re-kan
9. Rin-ne
10. Wish Upon the Pleiades
11. Mikagura School Suite
12. Food Wars - Shokugeki no Souma

Let's begin the next leg of the race!

This leg of the race covers Episode 6 of all the shows in the race.

In a slight shake-up of the front-runner rankings, taking first place this time around is actually Hello! Kinmoza, featuring a fantastic episode that finally brings Honoka, Karen's classmate, into the spotlight, as well as showing some of the history of the teachers. Sound! Euphonium still puts a good 2nd place performance with a great Hazuki-focused episode. But the real surprise is the show that suddenly surged up to take 3rd place...

Re-kan puts up an amazing Christmas episode that is also a very appropriate episode for Mother's Day (which it aired a couple of days before). It's a very heartfelt story that connects the story of a spirit with that of one of Hibiki's classmates, and is just wonderful. This show has now proven that it is capable of being a strong slice-of-life show.

Children always give something to their parents, even if they don't think they do.

Meanwhile, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU goes into a story arc that is painful to watch, but is every bit as strong as it's been as it's forcing its characters to re-evaluate themselves, and it takes 4th place. My Love Story is, if nothing else, being super-adorable, taking 5th place. And Baby Steps Season 2 is also going strong, taking 6th place. The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is also still doing good, taking 7th place.

Show by Rock puts up another good episode that reveals all among the bandmates and allows them to get closer to each other, and it takes 8th place. 9th place goes to Wish Upon the Pleiades, which gives an episode that puts more urgency into the mission and overall takes some interesting turns. And 10th place goes to Mikagura School Suite, closing out the rookie battle arc surprisingly quickly, but still being a fun ride, and finally showing us the last notable girl in the opening and ending.

That leaves the bottom two as Food Wars and Rin-ne. Both put up good episodes, but which show put up the better episode to avoid elimination? Coming in 11th place is... Food Wars - Shokugeki no Souma, mainly for drumming up interest in how the first actual Shokugeki will play out.

And that means that Rin-ne is eliminated from the race. I cannot really say it did anything wrong; it just did not  keep me as invested in the show as the other eleven shows did. So I'll keep with the show as a lower priority.

This is a fun enough show, but it's time for it to head to the great wheel in the sky... or at least the waitlist.

With that said, let's go straight into the next leg of the race...

---

This leg of the race features Episode 7 of the remaining 11 shows.

Sound! Euphonium takes 1st place again, as it explores some of the dynamics behind the side characters, particularly Asuka and Haruka. Hello! Kinmoza settles into 2nd place with a nice episode exploring the relationship between Alice and Karen (as well as featuring an incredible amount of Engrish for good measure).

She's speaking in English, so it's subtitled in Japanese on-broadcast... and then subtitled in 

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU takes up 3rd place, as it further forces Hachiman to reconsider his ways and who he is. And My Love Story continues to be completely adorable, and takes 4th place. Baby Steps Season 2 takes 5th place as it leads into the next tournament and kicks up an old rivalry once again. After its surprising 3rd place finish last leg, Re-kan settles back into 6th place with a nice episode that sees Hibiki trying to go for a while without being able to see spirits, and shows just what kind of a connection she has with them, and with her earthly friends.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan takes 7th place again with another fun episode as the group embarks on a school trip. A fun battle sequence brings Show by Rock to 8th place, while a full introduction to Otone and some nice closure to the rookie battle puts Mikagura School Suite in 9th place.

This time, the bottom two are Food Wars and Wish Upon the Pleiades. The former presents a fun first Shokugeki, though with nothing particularly notable about it, and the latter retreads some old ground with Subaru and Aoi's relationship, though not without some interesting parts to it. Which one avoids elimination this week?

Some interesting things are going on in Wish Upon the Pleiades, and that is enough for it to place in 10th place. As for Food Wars - Shokugeki no Souma, it comes in last place, and is eliminated from the race. It's a fun show, so I'll keep with it, but it just does not quite have enough meat to it to keep up with the other shows left in the race.

This show served up some great meals, but against the competition this season, it could not make it through the pass.

Stay tuned while I catch up with episode 8 of all the shows for the next leg of this race!