天下制覇

Surprisingly, that didn’t come from between Kouga and Jin.

Impressions:

It started pretty well. They did a passable job with the initial fight, although like the entire show, it still lacks any of the effort, grittiness, or style of the first episode or two. It was just very very generic. Competent, but generic. But it was an actual fight instead of a standoff plus narration. Good lord, is that really where my standards are for this season? Kouga continues to gain points by being vaguely competent while Konoha only gets more and more obnoxious. Yes. You’re useless. We all know that. We don’t need to hear you complain about it. Now that you don’t even have Jin’s pendant, you have literally no point in the show. Oh wait, you’re the damsel in distress. AGAIN. Sigh.

The second half was pretty boring though, and certainly not helped by cutting away during Jin’s pseudo-dramatic confrontation to listen to Kouga whine. It was also a bit amusing how fast the sun set. It took literally about 10 seconds to go from brightly lit to completely dark. And the sun hadn’t even completely set yet. It was just behind some buildings. Aaaah, physics. My attention to such should give you a clue about how engaging the rest of it was. Hanako’s domestic troubles are even less interesting than Konoha’s, they just spend less time on them. Her relationship with Jin also makes no actual sense, but that could just be because neither of them have personalities. You’d get about as much emotional involvement by mashing a Barbie and Ken doll together. We’re in this for the bloody stabbings. And no, not that kind, you perverts. 

Preview:

I have no idea why this show even bothers with these.