“QUOTE OF THE WEEK”
– Just Reigen being peak Reigen. I’m sure this won’t be the last time.
SEASONAL PRATTLE
The Promised Neverland (6)
Strong showing from The Promised Neverland, one that offered both a graceful narrative push and a crisp helping of Mamoru’s touch to guide it to a very satisfying landing. I’ve mentioned in the past how talent can absolutely take over a work in critical situations, not only lifting patches of material but completely transforming them by giving them new life. Almost all of Don and Gilda’s exploration and corresponding confrontation are representative of this – being portrayed with a level of shot framing and polish that really drills their fear and anger as their reality is confirmed. This series has had its fair share of criticism through six weeks, but episodes like this serve as a hard reminder that the positives are very much still there.
Mob Psycho 100 s2 (6)
This time around we essentially fell back on all the understated strengths that made Mob Psycho’s first season a joy – namely the introspective bits that gently opened the window to our characters’ headspaces, and storytelling that isn’t deeply dependent on bombastic stretches of action cuts to carry it. From start to finish, following Reigen felt rewarding despite its early abrasive framing. Reigen’s perspective on Mob and the greater emptiness of his everyday life has been quietly forecasted by a variety of scenes and lines for some time now. Still, it was fairly sad to see it actually play out and I’m thankful the tail end of the episode took a positive upswing for him to close this one out. Solid showing all in all.
Dororo (6)
The way Furuhashi controls this week’s Dororo is a pleasure, letting each beat come naturally while gracefully setting the emotional landscape to nail its waning minutes. And those minutes are powerful: Lacking the overall polish Dororo tends to unveil during its louder sequences, but more than making up for it with Hyakkimaru’s raw passion in battle. Once again, this show’s pure ability to storytell shines brightest.
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai (6)
Halfway through and Kaguya-sama continues to march along as a reliably sturdy watch. I really enjoyed what Yuu offered here. His introduction was smooth, immediately feeling right at home with the rest of the cast, and his brand of comedy is good at counterbalancing Miyuki and Kaguya’s usual dynamic. Even better is how his perspective is portrayed when it comes to Kaguya. Lots of well-managed cuts that really solidifies his fear of her and gifts this episode the comedic fuel it needs to make it home.
Kakegurui xx (6)
In a way, it’s kind of nice to see this week’s episode hitting home drama that falls more in the feel-good camp as opposed to their normal over the top brand. Handling Yumemi’s character, and just the overall narrative backbone of these twenty minutes, in this fashion shows the series has range. More importantly, though, Kakegurui proves to be effective when operating in this way. Yumemi’s goals and dreams came across as heartfelt and the mismatch in sheer talent that Natari had over her from the second game forward was a nicely designed hurdle for her to overcome in hindsight. Happy to see victories like this.
The Rising of the Shield Hero (6)
“Thoroughly underwhelming” would be my two word summary of this newest addition of Shield Hero. The longer version? Well let’s just briefly unpack that: Episode 6 is chock full of passive, lukewarm beats all laid across the limited foundation of “getting clothes for Filo”. Even the more propulsive bits in our second half Nue battle can’t make that premise compelling – as it’s inevitably short-lived and thus, simply not meaty enough to outweigh the bulk of mediocrity before and around it. That’s ultimately been this series M.O. for a while now: Much of the material that we get is genre standard at best, with little embellishment in its craft or storytelling to raise it beyond that threshold. The pieces that do create that desired elevation are flatly not consistent enough. So sure Filo can be cute, and the other internal dynamics between the cast can offer a reasonable degree of engagement, but so many other regions of this work are uncompelling with the most blatant being the underlying narrative itself. Shield Hero could desperately use a shakeup.
Kemurikusa (TV) (6)
Finishing this week we land on Kemurikusa. I know a lot of viewers have been on the fence with Kemurikusa and even more have dropped it long ago, but I’m happy that I stuck around. Narrative for narrative, Kemurikusa is quickly becoming one of Winter’s brighter prospects, especially after this week. The level of intrigue that the diary kemurikusa has brought to the table has been rich, and its tangible worldbuilding has really set the stage for a rewarding second half. I really don’t want to elaborate too much on the twist and turns presented in this showing so readers of Seasonal Prattle who haven’t yet had a chance to watch can do so. Just let it be known that this show is shaping up to be the darkhorse that some have predicted it to be very early on.
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