Yumeiro Patissiere Episode Three

Also: release date for the OP’s single, “Sweet Romance”.

Before I start in, I’d like to make clear the fact that while I’ve had a bunch of episode posts lately, I do not intend to blog any of these shows on a definite weekly basis. One of the problems I had with episodic blogging in the past was that it more or less took the fun out of watching things, particularly as I, for the most part, had incredibly detailed synopses, even when I tried to not. It kind of ruined the viewing experience for me. So while I’ll be blogging some episodes of some of the shows I’m watching, I only plan to do so when I really feel that I have something to say about the episode in question, or about the show in general to that point.

Anyway, moving along.

Wow, Johnny and Maize need to die in a fire. Or, at the very least, Maize needs a different voice actress or the voice actress needs to stop acting her lines like Maize isn’t so hot at Japanese, because, holy shit, I want to stab someone whenever Maize talks. Its just so annoying… its probably the most irritating thing in the show so far, which is saying a lot since YumePati Prof apparently is looking to win a prize for being obnoxious.

I’m feeling a bit concerned about this show overall. I am bothered by the upping of the usage of magic, as one of the nice things about the first season was the fact that magic really didn’t play much of a role at all – the kids had to practice and work their asses off to get better, and while there were some somewhat incredulous moments, nothing truly struck me as being a deus ex machina moment, which was the main worry I had going in to the first season. But now we’ve got the spirits doing makeovers of the storefront and creating costumes.

To get back to Johnny… oh lord. Now, I wasn’t expecting a very good representation of an American, but Johnny is terrible. The worst part is, he isn’t really funny at all. While American characters such as the manager from Detroit Metal City or K-san from Gravitation are hyper stereotypical and very funny for it, Johnny is just flat-out obnoxious. He almost redeemed himself this episode when he talked about his own dreams and motivations, but then he and Maize went all weeaboo on us and I just wanted to stop watching altogether.

Johnny is also apparently as dumb as a rock. A sweets-themed theme park? What the fuck? Yeah, that makes so much sense.

Hmm, what else is there to complain about? Oh, I don’t know, maybe the entire Andou-Kana thing. First off, I’d like to know why all three of those girls are just running around being waitresses when they’ve been going to this fancy-pants school to learn how to be pastry chefs for several years. Really – why is Andou the only one handling food duties in this place?

Ok, but back to my complaints about the Andou-Kana thing. I feel like we’re getting hit with a sledgehammer with this, particularly by the looks of the next episode’s preview. If Kana had either had any development in the previous season, or had started getting some legit development this season, I wouldn’t feel so annoyed. But it seems like her only purpose is to be a love interest for Andou. Totally boring. If they wanted Andou to be involved in romantic intrigue this season, I’d rather they have paired him off with Lemon. That Andou himself was left out of the mild Ichigo/Makoto/Hanabusa triangle of the first season also makes the whole thing seem weird, since this essentially meant that Andou hasn’t really come off as being particularly interested in romance previously. Yes, a lot of time has passed in the world of YumePati, but for the viewer it hasn’t – thus, if they really want to introduce changes in characters like this, they can’t just toss it in our faces. It just doesn’t work.

Argh. I know I probably sound ultra-harsh, but I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the fact that I enjoyed the first season so much. Yes, they couldn’t really just keep on doing the same thing and remain so good or get better, but almost everything from the previous season has been absent so far – perhaps most noticeably the sweets themselves. Horrifying! What happened to the stress over crafting sweets well? What happened to the mouth-watering close-ups of these delights?

Speaking of absent things, where the hell is Hanabusa? I feel like he’s been sent to the ghetto. Guess this is what happens when your point of the triangle gets chucked in favor of a hee-lare-ee-ous American. Too bad! Now you must go dress up in pink, sparkly one-pieces with bolero jackets and not be permitted your own love interest. Can you go stand in the corner away from everyone else, too? Awesome!

I do jest, but it has felt that way.

Alright. So why am I still watching if everything sucks so badly?

1. the first season was delightful
2. the Ichigo-Makoto dynamic is being handled pretty well, although I’m getting pretty sick of Makoto screaming at Johnny every second
3. Ichigo’s personal growth is apparent and has made her go from being an enjoyable character with some annoying habits (e.g. doing massively retarded things when the plot calls for it) to being an enjoyable character who still has a lot of growing to do but who has matured a lot
4. even with all these faults, I’m enjoying the overall product just enough to keep watching

Anyway, I said I had the release date for the Sweet Romance single. Its listed to go on sale October 27th. HOME MADE HAPPY, the ED music, doesn’t appear to have a single date yet. Too bad, I wanted some more of that sowa sowa sowa so-waffle wonderful. Looks stupid on paper, but I challenge you to not get it stuck in your head.