SEASONAL PRATTLE

Leading us off, Arifureta embarks into a deep showing of incompetency – uniting its firm grasp on uninspired scripting with its talent for smoking the wrong end of a cigarette while greenlighting anything that comes across the production desk. Even from the perspective of this work’s abysmal track record, episode four is a substantial dumpster, pitting Yue and Hajime against a hideous CG Hydra that has the motor skills of a Reese’s Cup for twenty minutes straight – all backed by tone-deaf BGM. Throwing salt in the wound, the fight not only plays out predictably, clunky in a lot of places, but Arifureta continues to reach into a hat to pull out two words, pair it with some flashing neon lights on screen, and call that “a spell” – hardly giving it the needed presentation and care to actually be engaging resulting in a much limper turnout. Total embarrassment.

Vinland Saga (5)

It’s safe to say Vinland Saga is just a confident product right now, blessed with beautiful presentation that nearly conceals how well this work controls its fundamentals this week. Five features a pallet of praiseworthy composition to lean on, often effectively adding tonal volume through a spread of gorgeous scenery and timely application. However, our content truly shines when it comes to character work – offering many scenes that are productive in landing their mark purely because their dynamics are efficient. Whether it’s the methodical display of Yvla being strong for herself and her mother in the face of bitter news or the sheer grit and determination Thorfinn demonstrates as he survives – Vinland Saga delivers.

Nakanohito Genome (5)

Nakanohito Genome pushes forward, continuing to be one of Summer’s lesser discussed surprises with a stylish offering that further stokes the flames of its mystery by a good amount. I can’t express enough how much this show limbos by looser scenario writing by having an ensemble of characters that are flexible, fun and complementary to one another – so it’s good to see episode five further reinforce that asset by sculpting Zak and Onigasaki center stage. Rounding that off, tiny comedic interactions from our gamers and Genome’s penchant for quirky presentation proceeds to sign checks, while Iride and Zak’s stake in this piece of the narrative provides fine momentum to tune in next week.

Fire Force (4)

Easy step up from last week’s cliche riddled debacle, but it feels like Fire Force is leaving a lot of food on the table in this latest edition. Having a self-aware infernal offered plenty of leverage to give this series a good injection of thematic juice, but sadly, the grade of writing this week never takes advantage of it as it could. Thus, the central conflict with Miyamoto and all of the moral lacing corresponding with that lands pretty weakly, once again leaving most of Fire Force’s value in the hands of its visual craft – which even that displays some wrinkles. The Shaft ties this time around are very evident and in moments, a double-edged sword. There are a handful of artsy beats and abrupt transitions where this style actively contributes to the already hasty and somewhat jagged appearance of the material, especially around the courtroom parts. Hopefully, that particular handling here is only isolated to this episode and won’t be a problem looking forward.

Okaasan Online (4)

Surprisingly enough, this was a more conscious turnout than one would expect given the series’ recent entries, as Okaasan Online’s outlook on parenthood actually shows some reasonable complexion beyond the skin. Mamako’s idealistic love for her child is an inherently sound wall to bounce off of Wise’s terrible mom, and that dichotomy is fairly presented. Parents aren’t perfect, some are certainly abusive and kids aren’t perfect either – so it’s nice to see the cast respond in turn to that with self-awareness and heart. Okaasan Online continues to be underpowered in a lot of ways, but its underlying message of loving your family and working through their flaws is one worth absorbing this week.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. (5)

Thankfully, Sonezaki and Amagi’s well-done rooftop scene closes out this week’s Araburu, and with that, leaves the viewer on a high note in an outing that had its fair share of low ones. Five still finds Araburu dramatically flimsy, with the biggest testament to that being its lazily manufactured Kazusa-Izumi-Sugawara triangle that currently flagships the show – artificially dragged out on easily resolvable misunderstandings and quickly wearing its welcome with each passing minute. But even if we turn a blind eye to that, five’s casual introduction to Sugawara and her director’s pedophilic relationship, along with a tumbling production effort, are weighty enough in their own right to jot this down as an obvious step back in Araburu’s catalog.

Cop Craft (4)

Good chemistry and a few choice exchanges from our leads carry Cop Craft in a turnout that’s ultimately a more polished effort than seven days ago, but that’s not saying too much. Episode four still leaves a lot to be desired in a fair share of categories; Namely how it communicates its narrative, which never seems to be at an appropriate pace, and of course, the still glaringly apparent issue of its degrading production that hamstrings the power behind its more action-oriented beats. Would love to see Cop Craft succeed, but it’s going to be an uphill battle at this rate if it continues to fail at getting over its structural hurdles.

Isekai Cheat Magician (5)

If there was still any doubt that Isekai Cheat Magician fumbles to reach even a passable level of writing for its genre space, then let this latest episode assure you it’s thoroughly inept. From its opening setup down to the resolution of its conflict, this series has a laughable amount of effort put into its components, strongly failing to articulate the weight Cassim and Grammy’s lengthy fight clearly had intended as its sluggish visual effort and bland characterization continues to shoot the series in the foot. Building on that, there are a couple of large narrative decisions that further sink would-be impact and inevitably bury this episode – most noticeably Taichi’s glaringly dumb choice of not switching with Rin when fighting Cassim. It’s like we’re not even trying.

Maou-sama, Retry! (5)

Lastly and somehow managing to still get air time, Maou-sama Retry is back, extending its strict character development free diet in a showing that has the exciting climax of making a dried-up well work again. As usual, we’re navigating with skimpy investments in terms of construction and delivery when it comes to the overarching narrative and base character interactions – amounting to a great chunk of episode five’s material feeling lethargic. Dialogue choices that are heavily limited to their character’s trope, copied and pasted dynamics of magical kingdom royalty, the mysterious cult of robed villains that are scheming an attack on the capital, etc, everything is ridiculously by the books here. If you’ve been masochistically punishing yourself with this series up to this point then this latest shallow offering should feel extremely familiar.