天下制覇

At least not sexual this time.

Impressions:

Despite having a lot of the same general problems as last week's episode as far as not really going anywhere or getting anything accomplished, ending with a fairly unimpressive and uninteresting monster of the week, I actually kind of liked this one. For one, and what's been one of the show's continued strengths, are the continued natural glimpses into the characters' lives. Sword living and working in a Chinese restaurant with an old monster hunting vet, getting drunk and hanging out with a bunch of random middle aged people is no kickboxing nun, but it's not nothing either. As much as the term "world building" is thrown around to excuse every damn thing, Sword and pals really do feel like they're in an actual living world beyond the confines of an encyclopedia of lore or the immediate plot that hours upon hours of dryly reciting factoids or shots of scenery will never accomplish. Sophie also integrates herself into his world without taking it over or being obnoxious about it, and he welcomes her instead of throwing a tantrum. And she backs down when he tells her to, also sans tantrum. A Japanese show that doesn't turn every little molehill into a reason to throw a fit? Almost suspicious.

The horror of the week and associated flashback fever dream (or whatever you want to call it) screamed lost potential though. It would've been better if it had some falvor of gimmick that Luke was revealed as being vulnerable to in the course of the flashback that would've clued Sword in that he was in danger, rather than all the nonsense about the specific seat and I guess someone's spider sense going off that Luke was in danger. I wasn't even entirely clear on what the monster was, honestly, let alone what it was doing. I think it was supposed to be an evil movie screen/pitcher plant, trapping people in hallucinations and then eating them, but only one specific seat was the monstery bits? And then when they killed it, the entire theater exploded. There were people working the ticket office and handing out popcorn. We made a big deal about Like mindraping them all because he's too cheap to pay for popcorn.