“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
– Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka is still a pool of concrete filled with broken glass, limp production efforts and freshman year storytelling. Get out while you can.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
Dororo (2)
I’m really appreciating the casual unraveling of Dororo’s world and the incidental detailing that comes with that this week. All the rural set pieces and village-scapes are implemented well, not only as backdrops but as full on featured shots that neatly contribute to the central mood. With so much attention paid to how dynamic this series has been when handling its more action-heavy beats, and how charming it can be seeing Dororo and Hyakkimaru’s relationship grow, little visual choices like this are easily written off. Dororo certainly has done a lot of things well over these first two episodes, but its scenic beauty has been an underrated strength among them.
The Promised Neverland (2)
Works like this are almost always an intimate balancing act between material and adaptive vision – where a talented staff can walk that tightrope and still deliver a product that’s highly applaudable in its new medium. With this second episode, The Promised Neverland is really shaping up to be a good tightrope walk. There’s a lot of craft touches that CloverWorks brings to the table this week, even in the opening dream scene alone, that really embellishes on the source and more efficiently reaches its tonal goals of suspense and fear. On the same hand, as a viewer, the narrative also isn’t being compromised to the point where it’s anywhere near detrimental to accommodate this vision. Thus, The Promised Neverland ends up being a very smooth sail in this second showing. It’s a pleasure to be on-board.
Mob Psycho 2 (2)
Another strong outing from Mob Psycho 2 that effectively managed to get back to the more propulsive nature of the series that made it such an engaging spectacle. There’s plenty of value in this second episode basically from the opening act with Reigen shining early as a comedic backbone and the series carrying that momentum nicely into the Red Raincoat’s bit. Of course, the main highlight would follow shortly after with the Dragger’s material – a festival of great vision, wonderful use of space in frame and a rhythmic progression that thoroughly keeps you emerged in the action. It’s a treat to have episodes like this back in the fold again.
Kakegurui xx (2)
From a pure content perspective, it helps that our latest episode’s second half is strongly orchestrated – all the little directorial splashes and fits of expressional work that Kakegurui has become accustomed to deploying are all well accounted for. However, the first half can be a bit of a trudge in order to get to that. It immediately hurts that our opening 13 minutes are framed as a retread; While the information being disclosed during this part is fundamental in the bigger picture of the narrative, the way it’s told is pretty bland and can often feel padded at times. Throwing more wood on the fire, It doesn’t help that the viewer already knows the midpoint fallout with Erimi due to last week’s events. Kakegurui xx still has some clear rough patches in this fashion, but thankfully they’re inconsistent enough and balanced by raw craft talent to keep it from sinking.
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai (2)
A very pleasant follow-up to Kaguya-sama this week, reinforcing that the series’ central strengths of craft acuity and character acting aren’t just flukes, but rather, reliable assets that can be leaned on at any time. Even better, it also showed plenty of confidence in delivering its comedy outside its leads. Kaguya and Miyuki are plenty capable of carrying these skits alone, but it’s nice to see that the supporting cast can be up to the challenge too.
The Rising of the Shield Hero (2)
While this was largely a stepping stone episode, it’s still nice to see Shield Hero manage its resources effectively all the way down to the credit roll. Episode two is still visually clean and even carries a happily brisk pace, but I may have actually underrated Kevin Penkin’s ability to elevate the material coming into this. His sound design is simply lovely, even more so than last week – packed with moody, bold tones that land just as flush as his cheerful, stringy, uplifting ones. For an episode that has a lot of passive scenes and rudimentary Isekai life moments, a good audio presence puts in a lot of work – making even a routine meal an enjoyable time.
3D Kanojo: Real Girl 2 (2)
Caught up to this one, and we’re still dealing with a similar level of mediocre character and scenario writing that plagued the first season of 3D Kanojo: Real Girl. At this point, I’m not really sure if more time with the series will ever change that. I fully expect this second season’s third episode to continue its middling approach as its default mode of storytelling – perhaps offering a narrative wrinkle here and there but nothing that actually separates it from anything more than serviceable. Time will obviously tell, and “time” is something Kanjo has in its favor – but with every passing minute it becomes clearer and clearer that this is at best a borderline high school romance.
W’z (3)
And here we arrive at the last and certainly the least of our check-ins. W’z sinks further into oblivion as it delivers a tedious Handshaker reunion that vastly overstays its welcome this episode – loaded with the old cast reminding the audience exactly how uninteresting they are and how clunky the narrative is shaping up to be. Like water undisturbed, GoHands does nothing to make what is essentially twenty straight minutes of flavorless dialogue more digestible; Resulting in an underwhelming showing that ultimately has you more disappointed at yourself for sitting through it than the actual quality of the content.
If you enjoy this blog and would like to see more of them then please consider following Seasonal Prattle or using the sharing tools below to spread the word. Thank you!