SEASONAL PRATTLE
Kamisama ni Natta Hi makes yet another valiant statement to establish itself as a swiftly sinking ship with an appalling seventh episode. Viewers are treated to 24 minutes of what this series thinks is acceptable plot, the bulk of which holds next to zero relevance – and the couple of minutes that did, recovering key information on Korogi, is so ridiculously contrived in how it comes around that it was better off not happening in the first place. The concept of logic is completely lost in this episode, there is none – characters gather at a drop of a dime for virtually no reason without any resistance to spend a full day carrying out the making of an amateur movie from a little girl that a good chunk of the group hardly even knows. There’s an abundance of personal exchanges and jokes that never really hit home because the vast majority of the cast is too undercooked to genuinely care about, and Kamisama ni Natta Hi continues to push its awkward and abrupt Hina x Youta romantic angle as if they legitimately had set up for it. The only upside here is the series essentially has to start showing their hand to what’s really going on moving forward as we’re now more than halfway done – a faint consolation prize given the mess one has to sit through to get it.
Jujutsu Kaisen (8)
“I really wish this show had the handling to land the comedy and tone shifts it aims for”
Jujutsu Kaisen comes back to earth and then some with its latest performance, having pleasing moments here and there but eventually winding up with more questionable decisions than anything else in the end. With that said, much of episode eight was a mixed bag – The Kyoto students’ confrontation leads to some dynamic and well-composed fight sequencing, a nice backing track emerges, and we get some decent implications of our new duo’s relationship as it relates to the upcoming competition. But also… well, the episode is fairly erratic with its telling and tries its hand to be quirky, regressing with beats like Toudou’s idol event and Miwa doing her best to catch a selfie with Gojou – things that aren’t exactly abrasive in a vacuum but come off that way as they’re adversely placed in otherwise more serious material. I really wish this show had the handling to land the comedy and tone shifts it aims for because there’s certainly a notable amount. Unfortunately, this show just hasn’t reliably demonstrated to be able to do that, and thus, we’re left with weaker episodes like this.
Akudama Drive (8)
“Isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to storytelling”
Given what last week offered, it’s not too surprising that Akudama Drive would take a bit of a backseat with a lesser episode this time around. It’s been shown over the course of the season that this series isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to storytelling – it generally does enough to stay afloat and get viewers from point A to point B without too much trouble, but that’s about the extent of its elegance. And in an episode like this, where critical backstories are taking center stage and end games are being put on the table, you definitely want a little more style behind the pen. Between the kids’ ultimate goal of flying to the moon feeling unusually naive as the pair had the mind to orchestrate the entire gathering of Akudama along with this lengthy mission in the first place, and their overall character reveals – details that are more limited than not – episode seven just didn’t have that needed level of style, inevitably lacking the touch to really drive home a piece like this. Okay episode all in all but easily could have been so much more.
Tonikaku Kawaii (8)
“Appeared to be prime real estate for this series to venture out of the shoebox of usual romcom plotting”
Wasting two whole episodes of build up, Tonikaku Kawaii delivers an eight serving that can be considered largely unfulfilling in both its content and presentation, bearing only minimal value through too on the nose “hints” at what’s really going on with Tsukasa. Meeting Nasa’s parents appeared to be prime real estate for this series to venture out of the shoebox of usual romcom plotting, using its early marriage gimmick to accomplish that by offering different flows and situations that its genre brethren simply can’t. Unfortunately, typicality was only on the menu in this one: Tonikaku Kawaii gleefully rolls through twenty minutes of uninteresting domestic situations and completely generic characterization of Nasa’s mom and dad – conclusively operating no different than a number of other works where lovers have to meet their partner’s parents. This show’s frequent repetition of the most basic and utterly shallow facets of romance anime would be more acceptable if it literally had anything else going for it. Sadly, it does not.
Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen (7)
“Overall executed fair enough to not be a wide blemish”
Kimisen’s latest brings improvement as the writers take a break from consuming lead paint, and in that brief moment of clarity, actually decide to push forward a chunk of narrative that isn’t vigorously poor – reminding viewers that they can meet the threshold of “average light novel writing” now and then. It was significant that this episode had no neutral city like build-ups or exchanges, and therefore, the show didn’t really have as big of a chance to defecate its usual slush of contrived writing and delivery to get Iska and Alice together. Instead, the focus here was on the next steps for our leading team’s rescue mission, as well as the process and play of containing Iska into Alcatroz – which still had its tropes but was overall executed fair enough to not be a wide blemish. It would be nice to see Kimisen build on this from here, but given its track record this deep in the season, that forecast isn’t looking so good.
