Manga: Komi-san Can't Communicate, Vol 3

 

Content Warning: Teenage girls in bikinis. Don’t be creeps.

Ah, summer vacation. I remember those. Why don’t we get those as adults? Oh. Right. Capitalism.

Anyway. This volume begins with the stuff that comes before summer vacation, finals. Or tests. Whatever. Najimi can’t study to save their life so they try to get Komi, Tadano, and Agari is the librarian. Well, her and Gorimi, who is built like a brick shithouse. The rules are simple, make noise, Gorimi whaps you on the head. Three whaps and you’re out. Najimi doesn’t make it. Even Komi and Tadano get whaps, too. But it was fun.

At this point, summer vacation starts and Komi is bored after a week. Since she doesn’t go out, she just hangs around the house, building up courage to call someone. That someone is, of course, Tadano. Meanwhile, Tadano is also bored and trying to building up the courage to call Komi. There’s also the (very brief) introduction of Tadano’s younger sister and Komi’s younger brother. Leave it to Najimi to invite everyone to the pool. Komi agrees, of course. She turns up super early, wearing the dress Tadano picked out for her in the last volume. There’s some blushing between the two of them. Now, Komi doesn’t have a real swimsuit, so Yamai buys one for her. Say what you will about that Yandere psychopath, she does care about Komi. Inside the water park, there’s tons of fun to be had, including a swarm of people (mostly boys and Yamai) trying to get a look of Komi under the water. And then Komi trips and falls! It’s only a scrape, but it does mean that Komi’s time in the water is over. And Yamai filed down the thing that Komi tripped on. You go, creepy girl? After this, Komi is relegated to sitting on the sidelines, but she wants everyone to stay and have fun. Tadano takes a break and talks with Komi, letting her know that no one is unhappy with her because of her accident. Tadano and Komi have another Moment, until Najimi breaks it up with a squirt gun fight.

After this, there’s some little short stories, so to speak. The first one is Komi going the library and making a baby cry. Nothing important here. The next one is Komi and her father going to get shaved ice. Now, this one is important. Why? Because we find that Komi’s dad also has trouble speaking. After a while, he finally asks her about school and then ruffles her hair. I rather like this one, as it shows that Komi isn’t some anomaly in her family, she’s part of it and has someone who understands. To a degree, I guess. Following this, another important story is the Komi family going to spend time with the Komi grandparents, most importantly, Yuiko Komi, the grandmother. We also meet Ryoko, Komi’s aunt (who’s just like her mother) and Sadayoshi (who’s just like her father, Masayoshi), and then little cousin Akira. Well, more like just a few years younger, not like a kid. She also cries when she’s happy but we don’t find that out quite yet. We do have Komi and her grandmother talking, well, kind of. She does figure out that Komi has a crush and finds Tadano’s name (his first name is Hitohito, by the way) and grandma doesn’t like it.

Next, there’s some more summer stuff, with Komi, Tadano, and Najimi (as well as a few others) going to a festival. So, Tadano turns up in a Yukata, as commanded by Najimi, but feels uncomfortable, until Komi turns up in one. Komi has forgotten her notebook and has to rely on Tadano’s ability to translate instead. They do some typical festival activities, sharp shooting for prizes, followed by candy cutting. They have something to eat and then Najimi tries to win a “legally distinct but closely resembles” a PS4. Najimi fails, Tadano fails, but Komi gets it without even trying. I do like how the Carny has this whole thing about how they fool people so they don’t have to give away the big prize. This, by the way, is why I never play games at arcades and the like. It’s just not worth it. Anyway. There’s some goldfish catching, with special appearance by Nakanaka, but then Komi and Tadano get to sit together. Komi uses a stick to write answers to his questions but quickly erases that she had with just him.

And that’s where things end. Yeah, the whole the thing is filler. And the dragging out of the “will they, won’t they” with Komi and Tadano is a bit annoying but it isn’t everything going on in the story. I don’t like that sort of thing, nor do I like love triangles, but I will accept them if they’re done well. And so far? These ones are. So far...

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: This one is mostly filler but it’s not terrible.

Anime: Those Who Hunt Elves (Episodes 1-6)

Content Warning: Elf ladies getting stripped of their clothes without their consent, a tank running rampage through the countryside, a dash of fetish fuel, and some one note characters. Oh, and Isekai.

Ah, it’s nice to get back to something old here. I mean, I did take up the name “Anime Necromancer” to show that I wanted to talk about the old stuff. And this one is probably one that most people haven’t heard of. I heard about it ages ago, as that same friend who score Kite for me was watching this one and wanted me to get into it. However, I didn’t and I feel like I missed out a bit. But thanks to eBay, and some extra cash, I can now sit down and watch it. First, a shout out to my Twitter friend Natalie Hunter for reminding me that this show existed. You can look her up on the YouTube if you want to watch stuff about current anime.

Anyway, let’s get started. The first episode begins “in media res” without much introduction, as was the style at the time, as several shows with a fantasy setting did this. We get a glance of the backstory, people from another world looking for a way back. With a tank. The episode begins with a group of anthropomorphic sea creature pirates attacking a town, looking for an elf. Our heroes, two of them, are in disguise and try not to get involved. Of course, that doesn’t last long. The two members of the cast in town are Junpei and Airi. Junpei is a Karate master and a bit of a meat head. Airi is more of a rogue build, as a professional, Oscar winning actress in our world. Airi tries to take the place of the local elf lady but she’s come into town to save the town from the pirates. With the plan scraped, Junpei beats the stuffing out of the pirates, making a lot jokes about sushi and seafood. When things turn against him, Ritsuko starts shooting an assault rifle at the pirate leader from a distance. Of course, he’s just the leader of the landing party, as the real captain is aboard the pirate ship. As the ship starts bombarding the town with their canons, Ritsuko uses their T-74 tank to sink the ship. With a single shot. Possible but unlikely. Of course, this is a comedy series, so cartoon physics is in play. The episode ends with Junpei tearing off the elf’s clothes in front of everyone.

The next episode gives us the real backstory, at least as to why they’re trying to rip the clothes off of elves. There was a ritual being done by Mistress Celcia to send out characters back to their world but screws up the spell in a few ways but mostly due to Junpei talking about her behind her back. When they’re told that the spell has been transferred to five elves out there in the world, appearing somewhere on their bodies. Junpei and the others say they’re going to search and strip all the elves they need to find the pieces of the spell and get back home. Initially Celcia just stood back and let this happen but seeing as the actions of Those Who Hunt Elves (they’re actually called this in the show) have become widespread, she now has to take action. Using a magic ring to take the form of a talking dog, she tries to pretend to be someone else. Airi’s acting background helps her see right through Celcia’s ploy but she does agree to help them. She has a lead on someone who might have a fragment, Gabriella, leader of the Dark Elf clan. Well, really, she’s the leader of a band of Porcs (Pig Orcs, orcs that have the old pigmen look) and they attack the city. First, Gabriella tries to use magic to attack, but Celcia counts it easily. Then, she tries to unleash a Colossal stone golem against them but takes a HEAT round to the face from the tank. When she tries to charge across the bridge into the town, Ritsuko has placed a mine on the bridge and most of her forces fall into the river. The few who make it across are easily defeated by Junpei. After a brief fight, Junpei defeats Gabriella in hand to hand combat and strips. They find the first fragment under her eye patch and Celcia takes in on to herself. However, she was still in her dog disguise and now can’t change back. She’s now part of our merry band of pervs and has to try not to kill Junpei, who gets along with as well as gunpowder and match do.

Following this, we have a city under siege by a group called the “Skeletons” but is defended by the beautiful elf lady, Dihal. The Skeletons are terrorists, as the episode opens with a “school bus” (a wagon full of school children) that has a magical bomb strapped to it. Dihal has to choose to cut the red wire or the blue wire, or the whole thing will explode. Of course, she picks the right one. This is the start of several questions we’re going to have about this world, trust me. After our gang of idiots arrive in town, people assume the Junpei is part of The Skeletons because he’s wearing a T-shirt with a skull and flame logo that looks like theirs. Nevermind that he’s never worn this shirt before and it took them reaching a restaurant before anyone noticed the design. The gang is quickly arrested and interrogated by Dihal. And then The Skeletons attack and we discover that they’re… Skeletons! Like, animated skeletons. Who aren’t very smart. Somewhere, there is a necromancer wondering where his minions are. The city guards quickly discover why you use Blunt Weapons on skeletons, not Piercing. Their crossbows are useless against them. So, the gang makes a deal with Dihal, they’ll defeat the skeletons, if she agrees to strip down for them. Once the deal struck, Junpei shows why Monks are the best class against the undead, beating them into dust rather quickly. Things change when the skeleton unleash a dracolich (that’s a skeletal dragon for those of you who haven’t had the misfortune of facing one) on the city. Dihal, in a bizarre turn of events, casts sleep on everyone so she can get some potions that were off-handedly mentioned earlier in the epsisode. Airi, using her acting skills, plays her like a fiddle. I was hoping for Junpei to become giant and stomp the dracolich, if we couldn’t have the tank blast it, but Dihal gets tricked it into using it. Why? So she’ll grow giant and lose all of her clothes, as Airi didn’t think she’d actually strip. As the gang leaves the town, giant Dihal steps on the other potion and detonates 200 megatons of magical power.

The next episode is a Junpei episode, all about the fight. And it starts out with yet another mystery of the world, with a town that is described as “as if they build an Edo period tourist town in this world.” That’s right, we have a little slice of old Japan in this not really explored typical J-Fantasy world. Put a pin in that. The episode is about an elf named Rapier trying to defeat 1000 fighters to lift a curse. They think that she’s got a fragment on her because the curse takes the form of a counter on her back, to keep track of how many she’s defeated. Of course, she’s at 999 and Junpei is going to be number 1,000. While Airi and Ritsuko find out that she’s cursed, after stalking her at the bathhouse, Junpei is dedicated to fight Rapier in duel. During the fight, we learn the full backstory of the curse, and being defeated by Junpei teaches her the lesson she needs to learn to have it lifted.

The following episode is focused on Ritsuko. She hasn’t gotten much attention until now, all we really know is that she’s still wearing her school uniform, with a pistol holstered in a web belt and loves the tank. Of course, the tank has run out of gas and has to be left behind. Junpei is confirmed to be an idiot as he wants to use an animal to travel, rather than the tank that has saved their asses and is very OP in this world. It’s off-handedly mentioned that they’ve been using a fruit that grows and makes gasoline. Airi does make a note of how odd this is but there’s no explanation for it. In the town they end up in, they find that it’s under siege by a cat spirit that takes over stuffed animals and causes all kinds of havoc. After it’s defeated, it takes over a stuffed dog and befriends Ritsuko, who’s still with the tank. When the townspeople come to take care of the spirit, they end up putting it in the tank and destroying the bridge. Ritsuko jumps into the tank as it falls into the river but is somehow saved. How is she saved? The cat spirit is now inhabiting the tank. Good news! No more worries about gas!

The last episode of this disc gives us a lot of backstory. Annette, who has been forced to cover for Celcia while she tries to help the gang, gets fed up and tracks down the gang. She asks Celcia about the spell she used to defeat some big bad not long ago but Celcia says not to try the spell. Of course, Annette gets the spell, ties up Celcia, and lures the group to the top of a frozen pillar. There, she unleashes the spell! And a bunch of stuff from Japan lands on the pillar. Computer monitors, telephone poles, trash cans, and a huge box of curry mix, just to name a few. Celcia arrives and explains that she used the spell and it summoned the gang, and the tank, and they defeated the big bad. That’s why she’s willing to help these pervs with getting home, she’s owes them. Annette now understands Celcia’s passion for helping them and why she’s willing to hurt her own people to do so. But, the pillar starts to fall apart and Junpei casts away his precious curry to save Annette. Seriously. His obsession with find curry and rice is one of his few character traits.

So. This isn’t a great series. There’s a major flaw in the premise, as Celcia is the leader of the elves and should be easily able to just send out a message the she needs anyone who has a weird mark appear on them to report to her. And she should be able to stop the gang from going around and assaulting her people. Minor note, we only see three male elves, otherwise, they’re all women and almost universally attractive. Just going to leave that out there. There’s also some interesting mysteries, with the gas fruit and the oddly out of place Edo era town. I get the feeling that there’s something very interesting going on here. Now, as humor is subjective, this show might not land with everyone. I find it to be funny but I’m also a filthy degenerate, so keep that in mind. The animation is also so-so. It’s not terrible but it’s not the best. It’s adequate for me and the story. Since it’s a comedy, it doesn’t have to be realistic. I honestly like the combative relationship that many of the characters have with each other and how, aside from the first episode, they’re not foretold heroes. They’re not super powerful. Yes, Junpei is a great fighter and the tank is very powerful but this isn’t like modern Isekai. Not a lot of the tropes are there. Plus, the comedy aspect really reduces the blow of Isekai.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: While the animation isn’t the best, the premise is a bit contrived, and the whole stripping thing isn’t great, it is pretty funny and is a good time (so far).