Maneo, always nitpicking.
What They Say:
“A”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As we close in on the end of this season, I’m still pretty much feeling that the show has a lock on at least a fourth season to provide a nice anchor for it, possibly in the spring season. The creation of new opening and closing sequences really make that feel a lot more real as it doesn’t make sense to bring those in during the last couple of episodes – especially with a new song. The series is certainly making progress with the character and her goal, but it’s done in such a way that it’s definitely open-ended enough to keep it moving right along.
With this episode, we get the weirdness factor from the start as we see her doing a mall mini concert and coming across as very by the numbers now as there’s little deviation from her usual routine. There’s something to be said for predictability, but this just takes it further. The whole thing gets to her in a big way and sends her into a bit of depression and other emotions, which still feel unusual for her. So her approach is to try and find ways to be unpredictable for her fans and energize them. It is cute to see her and Maneo talk through hall the varied things she’s done so far, but a lot of it came before her fame so it’s not well known. But they don’t want to repeat themselves so it’s all about finding new things. Keeping the focus on these two definitely helps, especially paired with a few parodies and the like, so it feels more personal than it usually does with the way the cast has grown recently.
In Summary:
The laid back element of this episode is surprisingly welcome as sometimes when the show slows down it doesn’t quite click as well. But making it more between Monochrome and Maneo helps, especially when you realize how much both of them have grown over the seasons so far. There’s some cute nods to be had here and plenty of silliness where it squeezes it in and you have to admire what she comes up with to be unpredictable for her fans – even if you wouldn’t want to be one of those fans.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
