Meeting Date: 2/11/2017
Disclaimer: The Herald Anime Club discusses shows as they’re airing. Naturally, there will be spoilers for a given episode. You have been warned!
Mike Ferreira: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Herald Anime Club. I’m Mike Ferreira and I’m joined by Anthony Simpson and Lydia Rivers.
Lydia Rivers: Hiii everyone!
Anthony Simpson: Evening everyone
Mike Ferreira: Tonight, we’re continuing our talk on adorable dragon lifestyles with Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.
Anthony Simpson: This week Tohru gets to see the stain of humanity aka the corporate world.
Mike Ferreira: Indeed… and it’s just as soul-crushing as they portrayed it.
Lydia Rivers: I dunno. None of my bosses in any of the companies I worked at would get away with what her boss did. Employees can move between companies here for better or worse!
Lydia Rivers: As far as monotony goes…well that’s the same hehe.
Mike Ferreira: I had a job like that… it lasted about six months for me.
Anthony Simpson: I won’t go in the name of my the company I work for, but I work for a multinational corporation, but my experiences have been nothing like that.
Anthony Simpson: I’ve been lucky I had some great managers in my time.
Lydia Rivers: I did laugh at the ultimate fantasy of harmless comeuppance though. A lot.
Lydia Rivers: I wish I had an invisible dragon to trip people who are insufferably unfair to others!
Mike Ferreira: Yeah… otherwise I had some great managers, but… the less said the better there.
Mike Ferreira: Likewise!
Anthony Simpson: I laughed at that too, but I think the joke went on a little too long. Like it was funny the first time, and it was funny the second and third time, but I the joke lost steam after that.
Mike Ferreira: I dunno. I though the whole “keep tripping” moment was great – it crushed the guy’s ego then just ground it into a pulp
Anthony Simpson: maybe it just me then.
Mike Ferreira: I kind of liked the whole segment, down to the poetic justice of the guy being fired in the end.
Lydia Rivers: I found the blatant controlled indulgence of the dragon who’s capable of Armageddon to be pretty hilarious. She wanted to disintegrate him, but she made do with the trips.
Anthony Simpson: Him getting fired in the end was great.
Mike Ferreira: Definitely. It was just the pettiest of revenges for an almighty being
Lydia Rivers: I thought it was really cute how it set up the point of the next segments, by highlighting the differences in strength too.
Mike Ferreira: Same. It was a great way to put it together. On that note: Forehead girl is super gay, and I love it!
Lydia Rivers: Kobayashi had the strength to excel in that environment, and of course Tohru had the strength to set everything on fire (good thing she didn’t)
Mike Ferreira: Indeed… Tohru’s showing herself to be a more resourceful character than we give credit for
Mike Ferreira: Speaking of resourceful – she made good use of Kobayashi’s friend in finding a home for Fafnir
Anthony Simpson: I could relate to Miss Kobayashi work situation. I’m like that in a way in the department I work since I have more technical knowledge about IT than my co workers do so they end up asking me for assistance with anything IT related, plus I don’t usually say no to doing different types of departmental tasks.
Mike Ferreira: Definitely… I’ve been dragged into those discussions, myself
Lydia Rivers: Yes, he and Fafnir, what adorable closet otaku! Tohru: “Pls don’t blow them into spacedust.” Fafnir: “Do u have games?”
Mike Ferreira: Fafnir knows what’s up.
Anthony Simpson: I got a kick out of forehead girl going all moe for Kanna.
Mike Ferreira: God, I love that
Mike Ferreira: She’s just do gay for Kanna and it’s amazing.
Mike Ferreira: So gay, rather
Anthony Simpson: She is and its fantastic.
Mike Ferreira: On the note of Kanna, the whole “spoon bending” segment was pretty great, as well
Lydia Rivers: She’s always so caught off guard by Kanna’s cuteness, and Kanna knows exactly what she’s doing.
Mike Ferreira: Oh god yeah… she knows how to work that moe factor
Anthony Simpson: Forehead girls does say moe when she gets all red faced.
Lydia Rivers: As for the spoon bending, I really liked it too. Tohru was trying so hard to find yet another thing to relate to. She got so excited that humans might have magic as well…
Mike Ferreira: It also turned into a big teachable moment for her, as Kobayashi used it to segway into this whole discussion on how despite simple things being easy to figure out, real life is just messy.
Lydia Rivers: And while there’s something to say for ambition, at some point it can get pointless and greedy to not focus on maximizing your own talents.
Mike Ferreira: Definitely.
Anthony Simpson: exactly.
Mike Ferreira: I love how KyoAni’s been able to take these little life moments – just things we’d probably laugh at and forget about, and make them into something special.
Anthony Simpson: It was special.
Mike Ferreira: They’re silly and charming, but they’re also poignant and insightful if they need to be. Like, how Fafnir asked Tohru flat-out why she even bothers staying in the human world because Kobayashi will be dead in “about a hundred years”
Lydia Rivers: Yeah…The sun’s going to expand and burn up the earth eventually too so what’s the point of anything?
Mike Ferreira: Eat Arbys.
Mike Ferreira: Sorry – couldn’t resist
Lydia Rivers: Hehe!
Mike Ferreira: Any other thoughts on this week’s episode?
Anthony Simpson: Great episode as always and looking forward to the next one.
Mike Ferreira: Likewise.
Mike Ferreira: That and GabDro. But I’ll be talking about that during our midweek roundup next week
Anthony Simpson: That’s right we are doing that next time.
Mike Ferreira: Yep – we’re already midway through the season.
Mike Ferreira: How time flies
Lydia Rivers: Oh my! I’m glad you reminded me. I’m going to have a difficult time choosing!
Anthony Simpson: I have a rough idea of what I am going to pick.
Lydia Rivers: So episode 5 of Kobayashi was filled with so many great moments, but I think my favorite was the kabedon bit.
Mike Ferreira: There was a lot of good stuff this season
Mike Ferreira: I forgot about that entirely.
Mike Ferreira: That was great.
Lydia Rivers: It didn’t translate well so I’m glad I was paying attention to the audio. I think that got the most LOLs from me. Her fantasy based on the misunderstanding was so precious!
Mike Ferreira: The fact that she’s getting human cultural lessons from TV is just priceless
Lydia Rivers: Yeah, not the best place! But I can’t say that the internet is much better if you go to pop sites…
Lydia Rivers: She did well to go watch Kobayashi in person. :3
Mike Ferreira: Well, that’s true
Mike Ferreira: Better than her Alex Jones-ish sites – “It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!”
Mike Ferreira: Aniwho… that’s all the time we have this week. Have a great night, everyone!
Lydia Rivers: Stay shiny!
