“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
–A Goblin Slayer thread and actually not a totally unreasonable question when you give it a bit of thought.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (11)
I feel like a broken record saying this, but Bunny Girl Senpai’s core cast is so fundamentally strong in relation to the show’s tonal goals. These characters are hardly ever out of place: Sakuta and Mai’s passive interactions can be fulfilling alone and their roles on a scene to scene basis feel entirely organic. To top that off, they carry a good amount of emotive power too – you can really feel the weight behind Kaede’s content especially as you dig deeper into this episode. All in all and in hindsight, I suppose this latest addition can be classified as business as usual. This series has dominated episodes like this for weeks now so I’m not surprised at the great results here.
Irozuku Sekai no Ashita (11)
Excellent job keeping this week’s imagery poignant and purposeful. Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara is a gorgeous work at face value, but its beauty is almost always underlined with plenty of emotional text. Quietly articulated thoughts on separation matched with a rich, carefully conducted production effort are immediate strengths here – but they’re not alone. Every beat feels sincere, Hitomi’s lack of time in this world gives even the most passive interactions with her weight and urgency. Complementing that, this episode never over tells anything, but still lends the viewer a very transparent portrait of the emotional discomfort unfolding and builds it to a rewarding, heartwarming finish. Stories like this take a certain level of touch and nuance to hit home, both of which P.A. Works brought graciously today.
Yagate Kimi ni Naru (11)
Yagate Kimi ni Naru strengths are rhythm and tonal base, but its character acting has slowly been showing more confidence and should be apart of that conversation as well. The portrayal of Yagate’s narrative is still methodical and sure-handed with drama that rarely comes across as too airy. Not its best outing but a fine showing nonetheless.
Zombieland Saga (11)
It’s pretty sad that Zombieland Saga continues to stray further and further away from its comedic sensibilities while veering deeper into lukewarm at best drama. For yet another week in a row, our storytelling feels unnecessarily dragged out and padded, stuck on reintroductions, a relatively flat backstory and Sakura sulking for twenty minutes only to end with…Sakura still sulking. It’s becoming painfully clear that this series isn’t adept at voicing personal drama in a compelling fashion with any sort of consistency.
SSSS.Gridman (11)
-> Akane stabs Yuta in his chest leaving him in a pool of his own blood
-> Utsumi: “Yuta! You’re okay, right?”
-> Lets Akane destroy Gridman’s computer and walk away
Even if you somehow overlook how dumb it is to ask a guy who just got stabbed in front of your face and is now covered in blood “you’re okay right?” – it’s hard to ignore that Utsumi literally let the bad guy walkway without even raising a question or anything.
If there were still any remaining doubts that SSSS.Gridman’s level of writing is as sturdy as a wet piece of cardboard, then look no further than this episode with the above situation being just one of many blunders this time around. Poor immersion breaking dialogue choices, questionable character dynamics that jarringly contrast the circumstances at hand, cheap rationalization for one of the show’s longest-standing mysteries in Yuta’s amnesia – it’s all there and then some. I’ve been down on this series for a decent bit now, its storytelling simply requires too many blind eyes to be turned for it to land effectively – but even this was disappointing for my already dirt low expectations.
My Sister My Write (9)
Yup, still on this one and here I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then My Sister My Writer’s use of still frames showed up today. It’s equally hilarious and sad at this point that this series fumbles so hard illustrating even the simplest scenes – almost as if the staff has just thrown in the towel. I can’t imagine that next week’s finale will be cared for any better, and may actually end up a bigger dumpster fire than today, but at least the production nightmare will be over. Just one last episode and we can all go home. It can’t come soon enough.
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