天下制覇

And somehow, this was the best episode in awhile.

Impressions:

Well, it was a better episode than just about every single one since episode 4 I think, but it’s still far from good. Still, beginning with the sponsor eyecatch being apparently Shana fighting an anthropomorphic horse going right into Bal Masque fighting the heartless was a poor way to start. But luckily, I was wrong. Shana wasn’t fighting an antrhopomorphic horse. It’s a camel. Then the lion summons a magic bugle vuvuzela and brings the entire episode to a screeching halt for the next 8 minutes or so while we’re treated to closeups of eyes, both Wilhelmina’s and the eel’s, and yet more shots of the Flame Hazes sitting in a plane, discussing their plans before they paradrop out en masse and proceed to stand at the defeated Denizen HQ. Yes. While there were approximately five battles going on, one including a goddamned vuvuzela, we were watching Wilhelmina and a magic eel info dump and people sitting on a plane looking at maps. Do we see the problem here, JC Staff?

They did actually animate the fight between Shana and… that thing… which is more than can be said for just about every other fight in this overly long arc. Of course, what that thing was and why we should care or be threatened by it, or Shana reaffirming herself while doing it mean absolutely nothing since it was literally fabricated partway through the episode and then dispatched after about 5 minutes of screen time. It’s hard to give much weight to a realization from fighting something that looks like it was rejected from Earthbound for looking too silly.

But that’s not the biggest problem with the episode. Look here. Disco Skeleton is still alive. They killed him last week. How am I supposed to take this show seriously if after all that build up and the amazing battle last week between him and the sword’s spirit thing, they just bring him right back? Suspension of disbelief completely shattered.

Preview:

I wish that eel would just disappear already.