“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
– Dororo reminded everyone that it’s not immune to lackluster, filler-like writing this past Monday. Pray with me that’s the last time.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
Attack on Titan S3 part 2 (5)
Yet another impressive showing form Attack on Titan, one that didn’t quite have the gravity and totality of the franchise’s spirit like last week’s wonderful outing headlined with Erwin’s speech, but compensated with its acute vision for vibrant action sequences. The dictation of weight, flexibility, and velocity are extremely crisp here, and viewers only need to take a glance at Levi’s propulsive screentime to grasp that. Textually, episode five is still quite comfortable with keeping viewers dialed in on an emotional level. Flashbacks are a fragile device, often coming up as too little or too much in this medium for the buttons they’re trying to push and the information they want to convey. Be that as it may, Armin’s was pulled off effectively. Well timed, and just enough of him to get the job done. Thank you WIT.
Carole & Tuesday (7)
Elegant or insightful writing with a brand of storytelling that has a firm grasp on how to make its core concepts resonate, are unfortunately touchpoints that I’m seeing less and less prioritized in the community when it comes to anime discourse/appraisal. Fans are far more enamored with the most immediately accessible cogs of a show – the weight of a cliffhanger, overt character traits, large beats in the plot, glamours cuts, etc – as opposed to the less tangible composition that lends a story beauty and makes it worth embracing. It’s a shame, as an episode like this, where the smaller intricacies of Tuesday’s commitment along with Carole and Angie’s past are overshadowed by the hijinx from the tryouts. This week is softly human at its interior with a wealth of great low-key moments.
Ao-chan Can’t Study (8)
A solid emotional floor, concise delivery, and generally responsive character acting, all smoothly weave together to make this entry of Ao-Chan a very formidable showing. This series’ comedic identity still provides a good amount of leverage right out of the gate; Horie’s gender swap delusion landed just right, and her stream of thought on Kijima’s “stamina” was a good follow-up. However, the second half really stole the show. More consciously framed shots and transitions unfold tailoring to Kijima’s restraint and sincere words for Horie, creating a very investable finish that has some pulp to it. I’m not really sure if anyone was expecting this sort of honesty out of this goofy little short, but here we are. Would love to get more episodes like this.
Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san (7)
I really like how Senko-san can stay tonally on course here even with the concerns that Shiro foreshadowed and the emotional tugs that are likely to stem from it. This is primarily due to just how intrinsically taut Senko and Nakano’s interactions are at capturing relief and comfort. Portraying how one character can be truly enjoying another’s presence in a relaxing fashion often requires more explicit narration to detail what the character feels, but Senko-san has held a steady level of framing where the audience can easily understand the moment – not really needing to be so wordy to paint its mood.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (8)
Episodes like this are truly frustrating. On one hand, Kimetsu no Yaiba’s narrative and delivery shows glimpses of promise – blossoming from Muzan’s early, yet brief amount of content and its effective pitch in selling his ruthless nature on a visceral level. However, on the other hand, Yaiba’s biggest enemy still remains its pen; Matching last week’s contrived meeting with Muzan by now having one with Tamayo, and immediately crushing its fresh sinister tone with a splattering of “comedy” that’s hardly funny, but persistent till episode eight’s final minutes nonetheless.
I’m not exactly sure how many more highly vital characters that directly deal with this series’ ultimate goal Tanjirou will just conveniently stumble across, nor am I sure why Kimetsu no Yaiba’s writers think that current approach is reasonable writing, let alone good. I can only hope that by some chance that someone behind the wheel sobers up and makes the steps in Tanjurou’s journey more earned, because where it stands, this second mission is already extremely lucrative even if he fails to accomplish its actual objective.
Kenja no Mago (7)
“Whoops, sorry guys you’re all super-soldiers now, good luck with that.”
-The level of writing that we’re working with this week.
The sad thing is I’m not even exaggerating here, and if anything, I’m being quite charitable. Kenja no Mago’s latest outing is actually a lot worse from top to bottom textually: Not only introducing this week’s core conceit with essentially the same subtlety and grace as I quoted it above, but also managing to weave in all the wit and novelty that a typical hot springs angle brings. The overall effort in this show’s script is so anorexic that I’m starting to wonder how it even became popular in the first place.
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