“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
– Fruits Basket is back to its lighter material. You can officially breathe easy…for now.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
Attack on Titan S3 part 2 (6)
Bittersweet yet inherently questionable, this week’s offering is a clear mixed bag lead dually by Armin’s eyebrow-raising survival and six’s greater, graceful artistic handling – compounding a sense of suffocating anxiety and moral indecision that drenches viewers to the very end. At a glance, Armin even being somewhat alive is a huge storytelling wound in more ways than one, not only coming up short logically but also cheapening the gravity of his loving sacrifice in the previous episode. However, six still flourishes elsewhere, most strikingly coming through in its understated grip on time. This specific understanding is less about clocks or deadlines, and more about being able to wash viewers in its passage from one crucial decision to the next, simultaneously conveying the value and scarcity of every second pre-injection along with the large cognitive load that is tasked to those making the choice.
The result is a vivid portrayal of external and mental confrontation with enough emotional muscle from smart craft choices to carry to a fine finish. Episode six is a very effective entry despite the bullet hole that is Armin ‘s presence.
Carole & Tuesday (8)
Despite being narratively flat, this was a well-functioning, disciplined showing that does a reasonable job of contributing to the bigger picture. Equal parts finesse and glam garnish episode eight with Pyotr’s beautifully animated performance easily finding itself as the biggest highlight – topping off a plate of content that’s strongly reflective of the dynamics of talent shows from the west like American Idol or X-Factor. It’s an inevitable satisfying experience all in all, but one that unfortunately doesn’t offer much meat on the bone to sink into or the delicate allure of its more human touchstones like last week. Let’s see if Carole and Tuesday can take a more complete step forward come next time.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (9)
it’s an absolute shame that this week’s grade of production effort is tethered to easily Kimetsu no Yaiba’s worst textual showing yet – packed with a variety of shortcomings behind the pen that ultimately muddies its overtly dragged out fight.
Episode 9 gets off on the wrong foot extremely early: Our antagonistic demon duo is not only very limited and cliche in their characterization, but the one hard character trait they do have, they blatantly spoon-feed to the audience within minutes of their arrival. From there, the festival of incompetent storytelling choices would only get livelier. Tanjirou’s inner monologue has been abrasive all season long, often coming across as tedious and tiring as he spells out on-screen actions that are easily recognizable for viewers, but here, we’re treated to copious amounts of that and then some – explicitly outlining even the most basic observations seemingly every other scene.
Tossed in the mix, you have everything from silly pieces of script that are hard to ignore (Tanjirou both announcing his objective to get Susamaru’s blood and not taking advantage when she’s armless is only rivaled by the level of stupidity of Yushiro dropping his invisibility against the same demon, only to out Tamayo’s identity when she’s a fugitive), another batch of crudely timed comedy that’s completely out of synch with the current tone, and an awkward mid-episode flashback of very recent material that intentionally bloats the fight.
Kimetsu no Yaiba has reached the point where it’s a complete spectacle in the worst way. By the episode’s end, this showing manages to thoroughly communicate the vast gap between its visual craft and writing as clear as night and day – leaving little question to its glaring deficiencies.
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