Episode 9.5 (Recap)

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Feb 2025

15

Havent watch it but if its a recap of all Monica expression, maybe it's worth watching

Sep 5, 10:04 AM

#11

Mat5i6

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Feb 2020

11

Reply to Yeetyus

Moppit said:
I really prefer no episode at all for the week than a recap.

If I remember correctly, anime recap episodes happen because TV broadcast slots are fixed and can’t be left empty. Broadcasters plan these slots months ahead, so if a new episode isn’t ready, the studio airs a recap instead.

@Yeetyus Don't know about Japan, but in general, yes. Studio probably fell behind and had to fill the slot somehow.

If only there was a medium, let's call it... I don't know, maybe-- a "streaming service", that could reach the whole world instantly, without the need to have slots reserved and gain them even more money than some stupid TV limited to Japan only... -_-

Mat5i6Sep 5, 10:09 AM

Sep 5, 10:16 AM

#12

souraia

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Aug 2022

363

This recap is so fucking unnecessary

Sep 5, 10:22 AM

#13

Moppit

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Nov 2018

1756

Yeetyus said:

Moppit said:
I really prefer no episode at all for the week than a recap.

If I remember correctly, anime recap episodes happen because TV broadcast slots are fixed and can’t be left empty. Broadcasters plan these slots months ahead, so if a new episode isn’t ready, the studio airs a recap instead.

I know they have to fill the slot with something. That someone might have gotten sick or not up to the standards they were going for. Something happened that kept them getting done on time.

Recaps have a place like if a show has a second season coming, and it's been so many years, but I always feel it is awkward having one in the first season.

I wouldn't mind if they did the recap in a way that it feels a little more natural. The prince gathers a few people in the student council and basically talks over what's going on, trying to figure out if there are any clues of guessing who might be ultimately behind it all and at the end nothing comes from it. That way, you get a few extra scenes, making it look like they are trying to prevent them from coming to the prince or the school, at the same time getting a recap of past events.

Sep 5, 10:26 AM

#14

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Jan 2017

6554

Mat5i6 said:
If only there was a medium, let's call it... I don't know, maybe-- a "streaming service", that could reach the whole world instantly, without the need to have slots reserved and gain them even more money than some stupid TV limited to Japan only... -_-

TV Channels themselves are huge producers, often being part of the production committee of shows (for this one, Tokyo MX and BS11).

Without them, the show may have not even be created to begin with, or at best, with less sources of financing. And of course, with their investment, there is no way they would accept to not have the earliest release on their own network. There is also the fact that Japan still watch TV a lot, and that's where most of the advertisements are seen, creating additional sales through merch (often made by another producer of the committee, like Movic for that series).

That's just too much of a solid monolith to be "fixed" with streaming services, and we see that with the so few numbers of Japanese ONAs made (with some of them still going to TV nonetheless).

Alexioos95Sep 5, 10:32 AM

"Genius lives only one story above madness."
– Arthur Schopenhauer.

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."
– Edgar Allan Poe.

"I'm tired... and hungry."
– Alexioos95.

Sep 5, 10:52 AM

#15

joemaamah

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Jul 2024

1125

As much as I have come to love Monica, usually it's best to remain silent when you have nothing to say at all. I'm sure they could have easily made a tweak, here or there, to make this more palatable and satisfying for the viewers. Maybe add a scene or two that had to be cut from previous episodes. But a total recap in less than 12 eps? I'll be dinging this hard in its review. Which saddens me no end.

Sep 5, 11:13 AM

#16

Ikaer

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Sep 2015

23

Dropped here, if you need a filler in a 12 episodes run, sorry, I will watch something else.

Sep 5, 12:22 PM

#17

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Jan 2013

44

Reply to joemaamah

As much as I have come to love Monica, usually it's best to remain silent when you have nothing to say at all. I'm sure they could have easily made a tweak, here or there, to make this more palatable and satisfying for the viewers. Maybe add a scene or two that had to be cut from previous episodes. But a total recap in less than 12 eps? I'll be dinging this hard in its review. Which saddens me no end.

@joemaamah I get this sucks, but why should this affect the review? This is an obligatory filler for the prepaid TV slot since the studio hasn't finished the next episode. If the production committee had a choice, they likely would've preferred no episode over a recap.

Even then, the majority of review readers will be watching a complete series. They won't even watch or know about the recap episode, so how is it effective to rate the show on something they'll never see? I understand bringing it up in a review, but this shouldn't effect the actual judgement. It would be like dinging Apothecary Diaries S2 solely because they delayed episode 43 by a week.

Sep 5, 12:39 PM

#18

UtakaSenpai

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May 2020

133

Bocchi the witch recap 🤫

Authentic.

Sep 5, 1:44 PM

#19

DevOpsElfMage

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Jun 2025

48

They skipped the part that she's a mathematical badass so her interest in the accounting sheet would have been a surprise to someone watching this as first impression. Also mathematics explains a lot of her magical abilities.

Sep 5, 2:19 PM

#20

FutoiOtaku

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Nov 2023

1552

I don’t get all the negativity over recap episodes, nobody forces you to watch it. It was aired for a reason, there isn’t a new episode available yet, and I quite enjoyed a ‘best of’ compilation of Monica being kawaii. I was thinking of rewatching this quite soon after it ends, a nice refresher ep is a pleasant alternative at this point.

Sep 5, 2:49 PM

#21

Jesse65

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May 2025

7

whyyyyy I was looking forward for a new episode but still a great anime tho

Sep 5, 2:49 PM

#22

Tarrian

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Oct 2010

355

Ah, a recap. To borrow a quote from the EWW guy: Skip!

Sep 5, 3:02 PM

#23

Old_Greggu

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Oct 2020

154

FutoiOtaku said:
I don’t get all the negativity over recap episodes, nobody forces you to watch it. It was aired for a reason, there isn’t a new episode available yet, and I quite enjoyed a ‘best of’ compilation of Monica being kawaii. I was thinking of rewatching this quite soon after it ends, a nice refresher ep is a pleasant alternative at this point.

“ITS MY ANIME AND I WANT IT NOW” type shit, people don’t like when what they expected to not be there, just a condition of the general.

I’m with you though, welcome a recap, just don’t care for ones that don’t add anything, even just a character narrating the recap makes it better, and like others have said, they had to fill the time slot.

Sep 5, 4:57 PM

#24

Fumino_sakura

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Dec 2020

17

Oh my gosh, I've been waiting all week to see what would happen next, and this is what I got. I really like how the story is developing, but we're almost at the end of episode 9 and it's just about the prince, who I don't even like. I was hoping for something new and fresh, but instead, it's just a recap of what actually happened. This anime only has 13 episodes. It would be different if it had 24 episodes or more.

Sep 5, 5:19 PM

#25

leonardobarba

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May 2017

2227

Recap episodes are useful when the story is complex or develops itself in an intrincate manner.

The anime series 'Mahābhārata', in production, will air circa one hundred recap episodes, for the sake of and the best comprehension of its beautifully complex story.

:)

Serious, recap episodes are useless. This one is all cuteness and shyness because of Monica the Silent Witch, but useless anyway.

I would love to watch the anime series 'Mahābhārata'!

Mene, mene, tekel, parsin

Sep 5, 7:30 PM

#26

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Feb 2025

15

I always thought recap are there because the content are not enough for the whole season so they tried to use the extra time as a recap.

Sep 5, 8:27 PM

#27

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Jan 2013

44

Reply to animelayers

I always thought recap are there because the content are not enough for the whole season so they tried to use the extra time as a recap.

@animelayers That was only true for old animes that aired for hundreds of weeks straight. The only popular anime that has used these recaps for the past 8 years has been One Piece.

These days, studios use recaps when there are production issues as a replacement for one week breaks. This is obviously the case whenever the anime is labeled as a "X.5" and doesn't actually count towards the full episode count. If this episode was labeled "Episode 10" I would understand the hate, but the fact that recap episodes are treated as worse than a no episode week is baffling to me.

Sep 5, 8:40 PM

#28

pixelante

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May 2021

948

A recap belongs at the start of a second cour when you might want a refresher. I've said in once and I'll scream it again for those in the back- IF THE ANIME HASN'T EVEN COMPLETED IT'S FIRST SEASON IT DOES NOT NEED A RECAP.
So what if it's a production issue? Give an intern a camera and take a tour of the studio. Do some short interviews with the VAs about their roles. Do something interesting.

Sep 5, 9:08 PM

#29

MiaAyende

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Nov 2018

295

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

Sep 5, 10:37 PM

#30

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Feb 2025

15

Reply to Mizuwa

@animelayers That was only true for old animes that aired for hundreds of weeks straight. The only popular anime that has used these recaps for the past 8 years has been One Piece.

These days, studios use recaps when there are production issues as a replacement for one week breaks. This is obviously the case whenever the anime is labeled as a "X.5" and doesn't actually count towards the full episode count. If this episode was labeled "Episode 10" I would understand the hate, but the fact that recap episodes are treated as worse than a no episode week is baffling to me.

@Mizuwa if there are production issue and cause the recap, does that mean they have to buy 1 more slot for the delay or double EP on the same wk somehow?

Sep 5, 10:54 PM

#31

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Jan 2017

6554

joemaamah said:
But a total recap in less than 12 eps? I'll be dinging this hard in its review.

The recap episode is not represented by this entry, but by that one : https://myanimelist.net/anime/62422/Silent_Witch__Chinmoku_no_Majo_no_Kakushigoto_-_Sennyuu_Kiroku

Mizuwa said:
but the fact that recap episodes are treated as worse than a no episode week is baffling to me.

Old_Greggu said:
“ITS MY ANIME AND I WANT IT NOW” type shit, people don’t like when what they expected to not be there, just a condition of the general.

Exactly that, yeah.

There is also that they do not know, and do not want to know, how what they consume is made and the reasonning behind some decisions made for it. I'd say most of these people are quite new to Seasonal Anime tho, as recap episode in short Animes is not that rare, especially with how the industry is nowadays, and probably were just too over-pampered by streaming services, too.

pixelante said:
So what if it's a production issue? Give an intern a camera and take a tour of the studio. Do some short interviews with the VAs about their roles. Do something interesting.

Animation studios are very, very protected workplaces, you do not get to see what's inside how you want, and they probably don't want to either, as a studio rarely works on a single project and your visit may leads to issues (like reveal of their current works not yet announced). That's not for nothing that there is so, so few footage of them.

As for interviews, already a few of them were made at that point, and more importantly, this demand time. To get someone to do the interview, prepare the script, get the people at the same time and place for it, do the interview and edit it, they'll most probably have already explosed the deadline. It's just so much quicker to do a patchwork episode, which is exactly why it always was used to fill random timeslots on TV.

Edit: Also, i'm not entirely sure, but i believe they have to respect a pre-made description of what they want to air, forcing them to abide by it.

animelayers said:
if there are production issue and cause the recap, does that mean they have to buy 1 more slot for the delay or double EP on the same wk somehow?

It depends on the schedule of the TV Channels. Either they'll have to buy an extra time slot for the remaining episode, or they won't be able, and it will never air. In the case of the latter, the episode can be streamed online instead, or released only via the Blu-ray.

For example, 86 Part 2 got its 2 last episode only 2 months later because of that. Shigofumi didn't got to air its last episode, which was later included in the DVD. There is a lot of other examples, but i think nowadays it's more common to wait and still air the episodes, rather than not.

Alexioos95Sep 5, 11:01 PM

"Genius lives only one story above madness."
– Arthur Schopenhauer.

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."
– Edgar Allan Poe.

"I'm tired... and hungry."
– Alexioos95.

Sep 5, 11:05 PM

#32

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Jan 2013

44

Reply to animelayers

@Mizuwa if there are production issue and cause the recap, does that mean they have to buy 1 more slot for the delay or double EP on the same wk somehow?

@animelayers Generally the production committee would have tank the cost and buy another slot.

Think about it like this, the studio has to reserve 12 episodes for a TV slot in advance (likely months in advance) and are expected to complete the episodes by the release date. Generally delays are unexpected, so by the time the studio tells the broadcasting station about it, they may not have something prepared else prepared to fill the slot. In the case of Silent Witch, they either didn't have anyone else to fill the slot or were under some contract to produce the content to matter what.

In the case of purchasing another TV slot, it's likely happening around the discussion about the delay. Given the final episode of SW is a month after the delay, there was likely time to purchase a slot and move programs to air the episode in the usual time slot. In the case where this doesn't work out, the final episode is either used in some weird time slot (either different day/time than usual, or weeks later) or in the worst case scenario, can only be watched from online streams or blu-ray.

Sep 5, 11:14 PM

#33

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Jan 2013

44

Reply to pixelante

A recap belongs at the start of a second cour when you might want a refresher. I've said in once and I'll scream it again for those in the back- IF THE ANIME HASN'T EVEN COMPLETED IT'S FIRST SEASON IT DOES NOT NEED A RECAP.
So what if it's a production issue? Give an intern a camera and take a tour of the studio. Do some short interviews with the VAs about their roles. Do something interesting.

@pixelante

So what if it's a production issue? Give an intern a camera and take a tour of the studio. Do some short interviews with the VAs about their roles. Do something interesting.

To add on to @Alexioos95, the recap is intended for the TV audience. Doing your suggested things is extremely rare in a broadcasting scenario. The equivalent of this in the America would be pulling up 30 minutes of interviews (including ads) on Cartoon Network.

It's important to remember that people that watch shows on television may not be as invested as someone watching through online streams. While generally it sucks for people that are invested in the show, this sort of recap is slightly reasonable if your target audience are people that has either (a) missed some scenes (b) missed some episodes, or (c) hasn't even watched the show at all and want them to get interested in it. You aren't the target audience for this, so no need to be fuss about it.

Sep 5, 11:21 PM

#34

pixelante

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May 2021

948

Reply to Mizuwa

@pixelante

So what if it's a production issue? Give an intern a camera and take a tour of the studio. Do some short interviews with the VAs about their roles. Do something interesting.

To add on to @Alexioos95, the recap is intended for the TV audience. Doing your suggested things is extremely rare in a broadcasting scenario. The equivalent of this in the America would be pulling up 30 minutes of interviews (including ads) on Cartoon Network.

It's important to remember that people that watch shows on television may not be as invested as someone watching through online streams. While generally it sucks for people that are invested in the show, this sort of recap is slightly reasonable if your target audience are people that has either (a) missed some scenes (b) missed some episodes, or (c) hasn't even watched the show at all and want them to get interested in it. You aren't the target audience for this, so no need to be fuss about it.

@Mizuwa LOL who the fuck watches TV these days, that is the purview of the elderly at best and they are not interested in anime.

Sep 5, 11:25 PM

#35

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Jan 2017

6554

pixelante said:
LOL who the fuck watches TV these days.

In Japan, basically everyone. TV Channels themselves literally are producers of the Animes you watch. Or did you not know that the huge majority of Animes literally are TV Anime, released on TV in Japan first ?

Alexioos95Sep 5, 11:29 PM

"Genius lives only one story above madness."
– Arthur Schopenhauer.

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."
– Edgar Allan Poe.

"I'm tired... and hungry."
– Alexioos95.

Sep 6, 1:37 AM

#36

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Feb 2025

15

Reply to FutoiOtaku

I don’t get all the negativity over recap episodes, nobody forces you to watch it. It was aired for a reason, there isn’t a new episode available yet, and I quite enjoyed a ‘best of’ compilation of Monica being kawaii. I was thinking of rewatching this quite soon after it ends, a nice refresher ep is a pleasant alternative at this point.

@FutoiOtaku ya don't understand the logic of dropping it cos there is a recap? some ppl I know wait for the full season release and watch at one go. Mayb they should do that.

Sep 6, 1:53 AM

#37

FutoiOtaku

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Nov 2023

1552

animelayers said:
@FutoiOtaku ya don't understand the logic of dropping it cos there is a recap? some ppl I know wait for the full season release and watch at one go. Mayb they should do that.

True. Maybe they can just skip the recap if they don’t agree with it? No need for extreme tantrum reactions! If you binge a show after it airs, that’s fine. I do. I have the ability to skip or watch.

FutoiOtakuSep 6, 2:20 AM

Sep 6, 2:51 AM

#38

sarahsanowar

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Nov 2024

3

I was looking forward for episode 10 !!!

Sep 6, 5:57 AM

#39

pixelante

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May 2021

948

Reply to Alexioos95

pixelante said:
LOL who the fuck watches TV these days.

In Japan, basically everyone. TV Channels themselves literally are producers of the Animes you watch. Or did you not know that the huge majority of Animes literally are TV Anime, released on TV in Japan first ?

@Alexioos95 ah, fair point. Still, I stand by my stance that mid season recaps are wholly unnecessary and I am not alone in that. Also, if they do have interviews with the VAs then they should have sent that to Crunchy Roll as an supplemental episode instead that Western audiences could watch isntead of complaining about the damn recap.

Sep 6, 6:14 AM

#40

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Jan 2017

6554

pixelante said:
Still, I stand by my stance that mid season recaps are wholly unnecessary and I am not alone in that.

Sure, a recap with so few hours of content released is stupid. The thing is that it was unnecessary and stupid, because that "recap" was not planned at all to begin with, that's just a quick fix they were forced to make in the moment.

pixelante said:
Also, if they do have interviews with the VAs then they should have sent that to Crunchy Roll as an supplemental episode instead that Western audiences could watch isntead of complaining about the damn recap.

Video interviews are extremely rare, they basically only happen during special IRL events or livestreams. The huge majority of them are plain text, written by news medias who asked and got permission to do the interview.

AnimateTimes got the voice actors of Monica and Isabelle, and then the voice actors of Monica again and Felix and Cyril (1, 2). Exact same cast for MantanWeb (1, 2). Two magazines also got interviews in their issues (1, 2).

Also, you still think about the Western audience, which is not their concern. The producers do the show, and it airs in Japan on TV. Crunchyroll bought the rights to distribute it in the world, and that's it. Why would they produce content exclusively for Crunchyroll (especially as they are not even a producer, for that series) ? That's hard to imagine for a lot of people, but Westerner are not the core audience Animes are aiming at.

Alexioos95Sep 6, 6:23 AM

"Genius lives only one story above madness."
– Arthur Schopenhauer.

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."
– Edgar Allan Poe.

"I'm tired... and hungry."
– Alexioos95.

Sep 6, 8:29 AM

#41

Yngvarfo

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Apr 2017

18

MAL lists 13 episodes, but does this count as one of the 13?

Sep 6, 8:36 AM

#42