SEASONAL PRATTLE
Unlike last entry, this time around we’re leading with a more conventional candidate. The way Attack on Titan handles its dispersal of information continues to be a less commonly celebrated, but well deserving aspect of the show for yet another week. Episode eight comprehends the delicacy that vital exposition needs; Grisha’s growth and teachings never overstay their welcome, operating at a crisp speed that isn’t too overbearing for its density – and “dense” it is. Our packed exposition is robust with insight, further bolstered by a serving of dialogue that’s plenty flavorful in design. There’s consistent attention paid to cadence and pitch making for a more muscular emotive display when demanded, resulting in key vocal performances that are easy to invest in and applaud. This season as a whole has been a delight to watch from both a pure craft lens and as a piece of entertainment for quite some time now, and that certainly doesn’t change with this latest addition. With only a couple of episodes left, my fingers are crossed for it to stick the landing.
Carole & Tuesday (10)
The message behind “love yourself” was quietly beautiful and likely relatable to a good chunk of viewers in our social media-saturated world. To be recognized by the internet to substantiate your existence, having to transform yourself into something you’re not to fit in and all the ups and downs that come with that lifestyle – is all the kind of exploration and layering that I wish Carole & Tuesday would dig into more often. It’s nice that we got a glimpse of that with Pyotr, and his following song did a fine job of being a trampoline for those themes, but nonetheless, it was only a glimpse. Unfortunately, this week’s narrative concerns primarily lay with the increasingly lackluster Cybelle drama – an angle that’s looking more and more like it was better off left on the shelf with each passing episode. Come on Carole & Tuesday, you’re better than this.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (11)
For a show that has brightly displayed a variety of struggles on the written end, recently falling so low as to have blatant continuity issues in its telling, Kimetsu no Yaiba seems intent on completely burying itself with its latest outing rather than curing any of its lingering problems. Yaiba’s comedic ineptitude should be no secret at this point, thoroughly articulated in recent weeks though Yushiro’s tonally abrasive and unfunny Tamayo-loving antics (immediately clashing with the ruthless transformation display that Muzan put on in episode eight and then later on during various patches in our latest fight with Susamaru and Yahaba, for those who may have forgotten).
Be that as it may, what episode eleven offers takes things to a whole new realm of awful handling in this department. Kimetsu no Yaiba is no longer clumsily stepping on its own surrounding content’s toes with gags and deliveries that scarcely generate a laugh. This time around, its ”comedy” is just downright obnoxious, and its source in newcomer Zenitsu, completely grating. Eleven overplays its hand with Zenitsu’s schtick to such an extent that it totally drowns out the rest of this episode’s ongoings, stomping on any sense of tension and intrigue that this showing attempts to cultivate and leaving a wide clump of viewers thoroughly annoyed with how thick his presence was. Needless to say, Kimetsu no Yaiba’s downhill slide just picked up a ton of speed with this one.
The Rising of the Shield Hero (23)
It’s actually staggering how an anime this lackluster and often demonstrably contrived in its script got popular in the first place.
The Rising of the Shield Hero is back and closing out this check-in, bringing a narrative cocktail so flavorless and heartlessly conceived that it’s a genuine poster-boy for why execution is so glaringly significant – especially in this overly saturated genre space. Large clusters of plot beats in twenty-three are immediately conducted with such limited motor skills that it feels like it’s blatantly going through the motions, compounding on the dullness of our limp training trip narrative that comes across as tacked on given the season’s central climax is resolved.
Ultimately revealing itself as a beach episode and falling on those cliches would arguably become the brightest flag of the narrow constraints and limits of Shield Hero’s artistry. Shoddy in its plotting, linear with its outcome and completely lacking the necessary execution to make this episode even somewhat riveting – are all touchpoints that serve to further dig the hole deeper for a series that’s already thoroughly in the Earth’s crust. I guess Shield Hero is trying to reach the core at this point.
