Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to watch Pastel Memories episode 8 last week.
I’m sure you all were anxiously waiting too.
My sincerest apologies – you can expect both episode 8 and 9 this week.
We’ve gotten to the point where I’m feeling like a part of the very slim minority of people out there that is still watching Pastel Memories. I plan on finishing what I started here! I chose 2 anime from Winter 2019 to watch weekly – Circlet Princess and Pastel Memories. Circlet Princess fell through because of how difficult it was to find subs on a timely basis (hopefully I can finish it sometime in the future), so Pastel Memories is the last line of defense here.
Besides, you might still change your mind and watch Pastel Memories… right?
Well, at least you have these posts to read instead of actually watching Pastel Memories. That’ll be my motivation going forward – watching Pastel Memories so that you don’t have to!
I’m going to save the best for last (cafe scenes).
Which means first up is the actual plot.
I’m on a roll with the references, a two episode streak! I am pretty certain that the referenced anime this time around was Shokugeki no Souma, an excellent cooking battle anime.
It’s portrayal in Pastel Memories was good.
Maya challenged the girls to a cooking battle, and did her usual thing (cheat). The blue haired girl who is supposed to be bad at cooking managed to overcome her weakness and cook a great curry. Maybe I’m just getting fatigued when it comes to Pastel Memories, because while I know that this was actually a well done episode compared to previous episodes, but it still feels mediocre.
Maybe that’s part of the problem with Pastel Memories – it tries to take a concept / theme that ANOTHER anime is good at, and use it. Watching this episode made me realize that. The whole “judge massively overreacts to the food he is eating” thing that Shokugeki no Souma is famous for was in this episode, and while it was funny, it also made me just wish I was watching Shokugeki no Souma. In fact, I have a few seasons to catch up on from Shokugeki no Souma…
So perhaps Pastel Memories is just doomed to be the copycat – the ditto of anime.
Of course, it’s not like this is an unsolvable problem. As I mentioned in the episode 7 review, Pastel Memories has such a weak overarching plot and too many characters, making it almost impossible for me to actually feel engaged in what’s happening. So instead of caring about the girls (whose names I gave up on remembering long ago) and their fight against Maya & the virus, each episode is more of a novelty where I look forward to criticizing the cafe and seeing what anime will be referenced next.
The solution is to thin out the main cast, and make Maya a more interesting character, with actual motives. Also, why does each episode have to be independent? How about the girls visit a world and actually have to work at fixing it, taking several episodes? That would at least give the anime more time to build the world and show us more action, instead of just rushing through each referenced anime / game before the episode ends.
I like what I’ve written here – don’t be surprised if I reuse these points in my final review of the entire anime. It sums up the problems of Pastel Memories pretty well.
Speaking of which, let’s get to the fun part now – the cafe!
I’m really starting to think Pastel Memories should have been a slice of life anime. The cafe scenes have gone from my least favourite to one of the only parts I look forward to. I just love how pathetic this cafe is.
Could you imagine if the restaurant in Working!! never had any customers?
Honestly, it would be kind of funny to watch, wouldn’t it?
That’s my argument for Plastic Memories as a slice of life. A sad excuse of a cafe run by a bunch of girls who mess around – caring about getting customers at times, and messing around at other times. All the while running the cafe into the ground. You know what? This idea is going on my “new manga ideas” list. I like the idea, I feel like it could be entertaining to watch.
So for this episode, we were treated with a few funny scenes.
First was when the girls entered the cafe, and immediately wondered “where is everyone?”. What made me laugh was this picture:
They don’t even show the counter, because obviously if anyone was there they would be messing around at one of the tables, where the customers are supposed to sit. I kid you not I laughed for a good minute about this. The girls don’t even try to hide it, those slackers.
We discover that all of the on-duty staff are in the kitchen, teaching the blue haired girl how to cook. Not like anyone needs to actually watch the door, right? This cafe is such a joke. Anyways, I guess the blue haired girl made a lot of food because all of the sudden there were several dishes sitting on one of the tables – where customers are supposed to sit. It’s not like they are expecting any customers or anything, so I guess using the tables for whatever is fair game.
The cat girl and rabbit mascot decided to eat some of the food, and promptly pass out in plain view of the front door. What would you think if you walked into a cafe and saw this:
To be honest though, at this rate, even bad press would be appreciated I’m sure. The cafe needs all the attention it can get. A brief mention on the news as the site of a murder is better than no mention at all. Maybe some ghost hunters would show up or something.
Also, why does the rabbit mascot need to eat anyways?
You can clearly see the stitching on it’s body, it’s a stuffed animal isn’t it?
Well, that about sums up the cafe scenes of episode 8. They were pretty good. Unfortunately they occurred early on, so the episode was downhill from there. If I had to compare ONLY the cafe scenes to previous episodes, I’d say this episode was the best yet. Which basically means this episode was the best yet.
How will the girls manage to slack off in episode 9?
Stay tuned this week to find out!
I’m looking forward to it as well, these cafe scenes ended up being Pastel Memories’ saving grace.
Until next time,
Thanks for reading!
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