“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
–The most upvoted review of Domestic na Kanojo now that it’s finished. Sounds about right.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
The Promised Neverland (12)
Weaving tension and sensory impact into critical scenes with a taut grasp of vision and momentum just scratches the surface of this well-honed finale. The Promised Neverland was smoothly told this week, achieving a sweet harmony early on between escape training flashbacks and it’s in the moment live run with ease. Thus, It’s actively hard for the viewer to get lost in transition, as each rebellious step portrayed towards freedom from Emma and crews is met perfectly with a matching counterpart that physically tells it all – further instilling the audience with confidence that this operation truly was deeply prepared for, and once again raising a bright red flag at just how clean its delivery really is. Upstaging this however is the season’s last touch of texture granted to Isabella – once again leveraging flashbacks to an effective extent with a solid set of craft fixings, tagging it with another dose of this work’s beautiful sound design via Isabella’s lullaby, and boiling all of that over to a hearty Ray centric reveal. The Promised Neverland’s ultimate resolution of departure might have very well been predictable to some, but damn is its execution in doing so commendable. Lovely episode, lovely series.
Kaguya-sama wa Kokuraseta (12)
A show as invested in its consistent tone and tension as Kaguya-sama can really get a lot of mileage off its more intimate, character-driven beats. With that said. it’s rather pleasing to see the series’ last stand leverage this particular aspect to the fullest as opposed to a more concentrated effort to cash in on its comedy. The firework oriented material was the easy highlight in this finale; Bridging drowning reflections of a Summer break quickly dissipating into a sharp use of light and blur indirectly and directly from the fireworks that backboned an emotional push from our leads to try to make something special happen. And special it was, Kaguya and Miyuki finally getting together before the next semester was a sweet cherry not only atop this delicious episode but the series on a whole, encapsulating its heart in the process and reinforcing just how charming it can be. A season 2 announcement is well deserved and would be very welcomed for one of Winter’s brightest stars.
Mob Psycho 100 s2 (12)
It was inevitable that Mob Psycho would take a step back after the wonderful showing it had just seven days ago. Thankful though, that “step back” isn’t too severe at all, as episode 12 managed to hold its head fairly high rolling into its finale. It’s a pleasure to see Bones bring these twenty minutes to life with a healthy spread of sequences and individual beats that are admirable both for their workmanship and their narrative syntax – most noticeably lingering around Serizawa and Mob’s bout. Despite some solid thematic rifts after Serizawa’s concession, the philosophy and base writing around Suzuki are admittedly still pretty weak. His motives and internal logic have shown to be functional as the primary villain, but for yet another episode this series’ insight into him somewhat disappointingly ends there. Hopefully the finale picks up the slack.
Dororo (12)
For roughly the last month and a half, Dororo’s section of these weekly check-in posts has essentially fortified the idea that the work’s primary strength is mechanical – repeatedly drilling its noteworthy quality of intangible touchstones and overall construction in some form or another. With that, however, has been equal criticism of its narrative and corresponding fixtures – which while finely told and used, aren’t exactly meaty enough to be served alone. Simply put, Dororo’s story is rather linear with a cast that isn’t quite shallow but by no means deep either, thus making episodes like this mid-season finale that are highly character dependent a bit of a rocking boat. I can’t wholly say Hyakkimaru and Tahoumaru really getting to confront each other for the first time lived up to its billing, just like I can’t say Tahoumaru’s decision making was all that graceful or this family reunion on a whole, rewarding. Dororo is still a very fine show all in all, but it’s getting clear that it doesn’t have the resources to consistently nail character-driven showings with weight and payoff.
Kakegurui xx (12)
This concluding Kakegurui was just one more confirmation that anime-only endings within this series shouldn’t be attempted. Rei’s last-minute unraveling simply isn’t compelling, and as already discussed last week, the auction gamble lacks its own hooks as well. So what are we really working with here? Well, basically a level of narrative that floats slightly on par with some of Kakegurui’s more stepping stone episodes – giving you enough via writing and design to be reasonable but clearly lacking any sort of spark or embellishment to celebrate it beyond that. In short, this finale was mediocre at best, which is very unfortunate in a season that had some of the series’ most thoughtful, alert, and consistently well-observed gambles. Collectively, Kakegurui xx is relatively firm in relation to what it wants to be but certainly could have been so much more without these last two episodes.
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