That’s right folks… it’s time for another episodic review of Pastel Memories…
We’ll get through this!
Remember all of those positive words I wrote in my episode 9 review?
There was a glimmer of hope still there for the series.
If that was hard to believe then, it’s a bit harder to believe now.
Pastel Memories Episode 10 – how was it?
Hmm, this anime is becoming hard to judge.
I’d have to divide this episode into two camps – the overall story, and the individual episode’s story.
In terms of an individual episode, episode 10 wasn’t bad. We’ve seen worse episodes in the past, no doubt. Top 5 episodes of the series I’d say – but the bar is low, so it’s nothing to write home about!
This episode was the same old formula we’ve seen for most episodes – girls talk about a manga while “working”, it gets infected, and then they jump in to defeat the virus. All while Maya gets next to no screentime and is usually defeated right away once we’ve seen her.
This time they jumped into a manga series about a guy with a wooden sword who fights delinquent types in order to become the ultimate fighter or something like this. Eventually he conquers the world and goes into space, just like that drill anime apparently. In this episode though, the girls just fought with a bunch of random characters who each had their own quirks, like the Canadian:
There weren’t any moments that stand out as funny to me this episode. That said, we didn’t see too much of the cafe this episode, so that’s probably why (although I know the cafe isn’t supposed to be funny, it’s become the most entertaining aspect of the anime..). I guess the Canadian was the most chuckle-worthy moment. The anime also insinuated that he was a mama’s boy, which was kind of funny too.
Overall, the action wasn’t bad in this episode. Definitely more than usual. If I knew the reference, maybe I would have enjoyed the episode more when it comes to characters. The closest I can think of is Ikkitousen, which sort of has that “school vs. school” dynamic, but I don’t think that’s the actual reference for this episode.
Despite being an OK episode, I can’t help but think about the larger picture for this anime, which is that nothing has happened. The overarching story, that the world is becoming disinterested in otaku culture because of the virus, which is spread by Maya, hasn’t progressed at all. Episode 9 was the best we’ve gotten so far when it comes to actually learning something about Maya as a character, which presumably is important to the overall plot.
I thought that maybe Pastel Memories was going to try and develop some sort of conclusion, starting with episode 9. That wasn’t the case, at least for episode 10.
Considering how empty yet rushed many of the episodes felt, I’m beginning to alter my opinion of what is going to happen. Either Pastel Memories is just going to:
- Carry on as it is, with an extremely soft conclusion (or no conclusion at all).
- Try and rush a conclusion in a single episode (or less than that, maybe a 5-10 minute conclusion).
Both options are terrible.
But whenever I get my hopes up in terms of plot development, I’m always left disappointed. So I’m almost certain that Pastel Memories is going to end on the same note.
It is what it is at this point.
The above image was the only good cafe moment for this episode, not good enough compared to previous episodes. You know I’d actually love if an episode showed us more of the cafe, particularly in regards to the mysterious owner? Or maybe a customer could show up? That’d be exciting.
Some cafe scenes is the best we can hope for at this point!
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
Umai Yomu Anime Blog 