CITY The Animation

Episode 7

Even when CITY The Animation isn't casually the best looking anime airing a given week, there's still plenty to love in a given episode. While the late-night POV moped ride was both inspired and visually striking, the animation in this episode took a backseat to the stellar voice acting and comedic timing. Episode 7 nearly feels like a reminder that, while the animation has been top-notch for most of the season, CITY is a multifaceted piece of media and excels at everything it attempts.

This episode opens with Ecchan and Matsuri planning out how to make the most of their remaining time together before Ecchan moves away. I love that we're immediately getting a follow-up to the ending of the previous episode, as worse shows than CITY will leave an audience to stew in this kind of development to create an artificial sense of anticipation. Even in the face of this traumatic development, the two best friends haven't missed a beat, and their brainstorming session is as hilarious as it is heartwarming.

Next up is an extended segment focusing on Tsurubishi Makabe, Tatewaku, and Matsuri's father, and the mustachioed chef who's Nagamo's boss. Once again, he's channeling big I Think You Should Leave energy by trying to do something extremely simple — cover for a friend of his that's also a chef while he's injured — but ends up failing spectacularly because he sucks and is trying way too hard to be cool. The one-two punch of pivoting his entire identity after failing to make fried rice that lives up to the impossible expectations he set, only for his newfound focus on American cuisine not to pan out either, was nothing short of inspired. Maybe this is the fact that I've recently turned 30 and also work in a creative field, but there is something so relatable about wanting to change your entire life after a rejection of, or even just a lukewarm response to, your craft!

Next up, Nagumo, Niikura, and Wako, who are asking each other, “You mad, Bro?” in an infinitely charming way. Considering how often CITY jumps between different groups — like Ecchan and Matsuri, Tatewaku's soccer team, and Tatewaku's classroom — it's incredible how the show makes each dynamic feel distinct from all of the others. As a viewer, it feels like you're jumping from hanging out with one group of friends to another with their distinct vibe, and I'm not sure that any ensemble cast comedy nails this feeling so completely.

My favorite segment of this episode is next and features Niikura getting a midnight snack. Beyond how relatable I find Niikura's ridiculously strong opinions on gremlin junk food, holy hell does Cat Protano act the hell out of this scene! The sexual edge she adds to her lines expands how the taboo of a midnight snack makes it all the more appealing. With how over-the-top fan service and sexual situations can be in anime, I found her take on this grounded and base-level pleasure to be surprising, incredibly welcome, and wildly funny.

The last sketch before the credits focuses on a rough and gruff barber who acts as a point of overlap for many of CITY's colorful characters. While getting different combos of characters playing off of, or at least in juxtaposition to, each other is always welcome in this show, I'd rather focus on the post-credits segment. An outdoor quiz show that's a regular part of the community's summer activities, this sketch is a masterclass in comedic timing and delivery. There are so many subversions crammed into these couple of minutes that it feels like an entire episode's worth of unexpected developments packed into one bit.

If episode 6 of CITY The Animation was about how much joy can be found in the mundane, episode 7 is about recovering from those joys being disrupted or about bouncing back from failure more broadly. This episode reminds me that there's meaning, and maybe even some fun to be had, in life's big and small struggles. This episode was nothing short of an uplifting experience, and I'm so excited to experience more of summer in the CITY.

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Lucas DeRuyter is the de facto Bad Boy of anime reviews (no one else was using the moniker). He rolls with ANN's This Week and Anime crew, and you can check out his coolest work in his portfolio. You can also find him sticking it to the man on his Bluesky account.

CITY The Animation is currently streaming on Prime Video.