SEASONAL PRATTLE
The positive streak for Wonder Egg Priority continues, extending a favorable combination of grim inquiry, intimacy, and insightful character vignettes for all to enjoy as it now closes out its halfway point. Episode six thrusts Sawaki and Ai back into the spotlight as prime figures for the first time in a while, and though the steady untangling of their true dynamic is infused with the series’ usual directorial and textual goodness, it really shines with how its plot beats emerge naturally from the show’s central variables – finding particularly pleasing synergy when they used Yae’s suicide over her lack of believability as a clean branch to Ai’s current sensei predicaments. Generally announcing the complications and emotional trappings in life is easy, but presenting that in a nuanced and methodical way for exactly one person is not. Wonder Egg Priority’s ability to tackle the latter with style is very rewarding.
Horimiya (7)
“Could have greatly benefitted with more dedicated time and attention”
Horimiya proceeds with quite a full episode – completely succeeding in turning Seven’s content into a collage of narrative threads as the series quickly regresses back to its questionably paced ways. The love triangle of Yuki-Tooru-Sakura, Miyamura going away to Hokkaido, and the uhhh “rain scene” all appeared to be viable segments that were sadly too short and that could have greatly benefitted with more dedicated time and attention instead of being smushed in the same twenty-minute slot. And bits like Sengoku unpacking about Remi or Souta’s concerns at the end only further agitated this issue as they feel relevant enough to be explored, and thus, active contributors to this episode’s stuffed image and competition for time in their own right. Horimiya is a cute show and certainly has its moments but handling like this hamstrings it.
Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun (7)
“Largely failed again in taking advantage of this show’s core sell”
Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun was up to tricks reminiscent of last week, as the campaign speeches and election results at Tomozaki’s school prompted some mild reflections on the secondary cast in Seven, but largely failed again in taking advantage of this show’s core sell. It doesn’t help that the election’s conclusion was anti-climatic, even predictable in a lot of ways, but Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun’s lack of compelling ideas when tieing narrative threads from Minami or Tama back to each other or our leading pair just piles on and makes it notably flat. As it currently stands, Tomozaki could have very well skipped getting involved in the campaign from the start and basically been in the same position character-wise, therefore, making these last two episodes feel like an irrelevant tangent to the show’s greater goals. Given this is a one cour show that is predominantly concerned with the growth of one character, time spent like this hurts.
