SEASONAL PRATTLE
Akudama Drive’s fifth turnout is another good one, shifting gears from its vibrant, bombastic nature to a quiet, character-driven showing with really no visible troubles at all. To be honest, before this one aired I wasn’t even sure this series could pull off an episode like this: Akudama Drive has put so much stock in the sheer thrill and impact of basically every instantly tangible aspect of the show, that it’s hard to see it really succeeding without its heart – raw action. But here we are with no large scale fights, palpable danger, or adrenaline filled races – just a cast bouncing off each other, light groundwork for the next steps of the story, and some subtler worldbuilding tidbits that are surprisingly blended into a satisfying smoothie. Very good sign for this show to specifically be successful like this.
Adachi to Shimamura (5)
“A fundamentally pleasant showing”
This was a return to form for Adachi to Shimamura, demonstrating reflective character dynamics and boasting a high aptitude for the methodical unraveling of this cozy, Christmas build-up chunk of the narrative. With that said, episode five is just a fundamentally pleasant showing: Adachi’s continuous indecision bleeds nicely into the tension behind her December question and key scenes in visiting Shimamura’s home plays off of that well – largely voiced in a fashion that cleanly captures the struggle that finding the right words in those type of situations can often bring. By credit roll, it’s clear it wasn’t glitzy by any means with what it wanted to do, but it didn’t have to be in retrospect. Being firm and efficient gets the job done.
Majo no Tabitabi (6)
“An underrated level of production, snappy Saya shenanigans, and an overall warm finish”
Majo no Tabitabi is doing a very good job of speaking for itself at this point, bouncing its themes and characters off a wall of crisp craft resources and valid telling. “The Land of Truth Tellers” intrinsically does episode six plenty of favors, ranging from its rule set that naturally grants the demand for more quirky expressional work in lieu of dialogue, to a clear thematic floor to roll out its message on honesty. Complementing that, an underrated level of production, snappy Saya shenanigans, and an overall warm finish end up round this one out. It’s halfway over and Majo no Tabitabi remains to be one of the better works to come out of the Fall lineup.
Jujutsu Kaisen (6)
“A good balance between engraving a bit more of his personality and the shounenish narrative demands”
Jujutsu Kaisen thankfully bounced back this week, tapping into its usual visual splendor with a far more tonally stable run than its shaky peer seven days ago. Sukuna’s scenes continue to be effective, finding a good balance between engraving a bit more of his personality and the shounenish narrative demands that can be expected in a work like this, and the back half scheming on Gojou lends a nice chunk of momentum for the immediate future. Jujutsu Kaisen is pretty much back on track, shaping up as one would anticipate with this particular staff and concept. It has its rougher spots, yes, but the good outweighs the bad so far.
Tonikaku Kawaii (6)
“Quickly dissolving whatever bed of cuteness it made”
Well, this was certainly an on-brand showing from Tonikaku Kawaii. Episode six is a spacious display of this series’ desirable touchpoints – A lot of this episode and Tonikaku’s strength on a whole comes from precisely articulating the sugary interplay between its leads through a variety of newlywed scenarios. And that holds up as effective for the most part in this slab of content.
However, the show just continues to shoot itself in the foot with certain behavioral cues and dialogue choices – quickly dissolving whatever bed of cuteness it made into a swamp of questionable cringe with Nasa seemingly regressing as a character. It wasn’t that long ago when Nasa was attentively shopping for wedding rings, and even before that, properly proposing in church and confidently kissing Tsukasa. But here he’s dreamingly plotting the high goal of “sharing a bed with his wife”, losing his mind over the thought of falling asleep while holding hands, and completely getting flustered watching Tsukasa sleep on a public bus. What happened? This show’s characterization for arguably its most important cast member is like a complete coin flip on an episodic basis and that’s definitely not a good thing.
