SEASONAL PRATTLE
Still sharp, Fumetsu no Anata e makes the most out of this week, extending Gugu’s story with pleasing structural grace and a healthy devotion to its sentimental touchpoints. The notion of idealistic belonging was reflected in nearly every element of this narrative with Rean and Gugu’s tent conversation being particularly ample in the theme. And that conversation in a wider view was one of this show’s more quietly pensive exchanges yet, offering direct recognition of their familial circumstances, corresponding desires, and lanes of empathy that ultimately allow them to push forward. Compounding on that, it confidently acts as an integral pillar to support various key beats episode nine would launch – eventually paving the way for this week’s biggest dramatic stroke to fall snugly in place as Fushi is confronted again. Fumetsu no Anata e continues to be a joy in this arc, possessing a clear level of care needed to sell its cast, and the storytelling chops to make their stories stick.
Shadows House (10)
“Has played itself carefully enough over previous weeks where the post-party exposition felt rightfully earned”
This week’s Shadows House marked the end of the debut arc, a convincingly fun finish that also managed to be highly informative without coming off as bland or too stuffy. The series has been an applaudably executed delight of the season to this point, consistently offering a degree of inherent intrigue in its narrative that’s easy to embrace and fastening that to better-than-expected character work. Episode ten in nature is simply that in motion; Kate and Emilico’s river ride proved to be an enjoyable character moment that posed no issue structurally in getting viewers carried away in, and the show has played itself carefully enough over previous weeks where the post-party exposition felt rightfully earned. A bunch of Shadows House’s cards are now clearly on the table after this one, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it pushes on from here.
Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (12)
“Twelve is explosive early and often, visually selling the gravity of the archive mission effectively and then working itself into a narrative lather”
Closing time is just around the corner and Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is doing its part to use its remaining shelf-life wisely, neatly building us towards an ending that seems like it will give a satisfying finale to this story. With that said, this latest performance essentially lives up to the billing of a semi-finale: twelve is explosive early and often, visually selling the gravity of the archive mission effectively and then working itself into a narrative lather that continuously tightened its focus on Vivy’s singing – letting our understanding of the Archive’s needs, Vivy’s remaining route to victory and the overall fallout in the “bad ending” viewers find themselves witnessing speak for itself to reasonable results. Outside of any last-minute tricks, what Vivy ultimately needs to do now with her song to make the singularity project a success is practically set in stone – but the question remains, will Wit’s execution of it all be worthy of applause.
Super Cub (10)
“Pleasantly combing carefree snow antics with some stand-alone scenic shots to hone in on the serenity of it all”
Super Cub largely resumes its low-key ways, offering an episode that once again takes good advantage of the changing seasons and weaves that into a heap of wholesome beats it would inevitably deploy. There’s little question that this week lives up to its snow title – the Winter is in full swing and Koguma and Reiko’s play among it is the exact brand of low anxiety fun that the show thrives on, pleasantly combing carefree snow antics with some stand-alone scenic shots to hone in on the serenity of it all. Its ending portion with Shii does give it a surprising dramatic change of pace that will be interesting to see if the series can handle, however, Super Cub has been pretty good at managing tone and feel that it shouldn’t be a problem.
86 (10)
“This week’s choice of being entirely Lena-less is among the most suspect decisions episode ten would employ”
86 checks in, pulling off a semi-finale that’s so passive and uneventful that it hardly even feels like a semi-finale, but rather, an episode that tonally could’ve been had much earlier in the series and an even odder placement on a whole given how finale-like episode nine felt. This week’s choice of being entirely Lena-less is among the most suspect decisions episode ten would employ – the series literally cliffhangered off her dramatic run + breakdown seven days ago and thus, not following up on her in any capacity at all is at the very least questionable, and in a lot of ways, just outright shoddy writing. And it’s not alone: Ten’s biggest emotional stroke primarily rests on a very fringe character, Fido, and its passing and documentary of a secondary cast that was lightly established to begin with – yet it’s still sequenced and constructed as if it’s a heavy emotional stab – and key directorial selections on that note and to a greater extent are a rollercoaster. 86 has had its share of praiseworthy direction in the past, but running your ending credits 15 minutes into a 23 minute episode just to get a Sawano drop to play up the gravity of the moment isn’t one of them – especially when it’s BEFORE your episode’s largest dramatic sell.
Mashiro no Oto (11)
“Shin-Ei Animation just doesn’t seem to be up to the task here”
Mashiro no Oto returns, but not in the condition expected – finally getting to Setsu’s solo performance yet coming up as questionable in the delivery of it all. Shin-Ei Animation just doesn’t seem to be up to the task here: At eleven’s start, Kaji opting to carry on with a two-string performance was about the outcome and level of presentation anticipated from this story and studio combination, however, there’s surprisingly not much elevation when our lead takes the stage from there. If anything, the heavy interluding flashbacks of his gramps, ample cut-ins of the crowd, and of course – Setsu not even playing like himself dampens this performance and hardly lets it breathe – tumbling down all the till credit roll. The episode on a whole is reasonable enough on the surface, but I hope the finale is a much sharper package when Setsu taps into his own sound.
Higehiro (10)
“The biggest dramatic dud the show has fired to date.”
Higehiro might as well be in filler mode this week as its latest contribution basically exists to kill the remaining downtime before Hokkaido and not really offer too much more beyond that. Sayu’s starlit conversation with Yoshida in essence is a retread of some of the thoughts and implications that the show has already either outright verbalized or passively established, and the “Sayu’s missing” bit was the biggest dramatic dud the show has fired to date. There are some endearing moments towards the end and a surprisingly good showing from Hashimoto throughout this one, but it’s not enough to convincingly pin episode ten as anything beyond being an average performance.
Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy (9)
“Another surge of sewage, Osamake’s ninth collection of rancid vapors is at heart, a repeat of last week’s episode”
Another surge of sewage, Osamake’s ninth collection of rancid vapors is at heart, a repeat of last week’s episode – notably different only in the forced addition of extra harem members and a swap of focus from Shiro to Kuro. With that said, this latest episode is merely one more for the pile: All the attempts nine whips up to frame Kuro as a likable character worth rooting for in this inane romantic mess is straight-up sabotaged by her new “I love you” tic – a character quirk that’s presumably supposed to be cute but is so abused that it comes off as more annoying/frustrating by the midpoint of the episode. And the rest of the material is at best another boring slosh of forgettable harem writing, now tossing in Kuro’s little sisters into the trash can of girls fawning over a demonstrably dumb protagonist who has done nothing besides getting manipulated, and eventually working its way to a cheap dramatic setup to pave the way for next week’s garbage. Osamake has long expired and now all that is left is to see how many flies it collects.
