天下制覇

  

There was a lot of disturbing stuff this week.

Impressions:

I can’t help but notice how feminine the vagina monsters’ arms and legs are, and yet I don’t remember them saying they were made out of the captured girls… (or their vaginas for that matter) and besides which, we saw them intact and stored in the walls. I very well could have just napped through that explanation though. I’ve kind of zoned out of this arc every time it tries to take itself seriously. It’s a thought I’d also really rather not dwell overly much on. Like how they left an entire army of people being controlled against their will unconscious to drown.

Anyway, a smack to the head brings Akari back and the little brat gets almost effortlessly knifed by the trained magic soldier while Blue Chaika just stands there like an idiot. I guess the only particularly big surprises in the season finale was That One Guy Who Never Shuts Up And Has Never Done Anything In This Show To Date So I’m Not Sure Why We’re Even Supposed To Care disappearing in a beam blast (so he must obviously be dead because that’s like, the equivalent of falling in a lake twice), That and the dumb kiss, or more precisely, the attempt at one afterward. Of course, we all know it’ll go absolutely nowhere and Toru has the same depth of personality as a capybara anyway. Freddie’s offer at the end was far more interesting in just about every way, including relationship between characters. Or maybe it’s just because when it comes to the mentally handicapped, I prefer them with an unrestrained lust for murdering things instead of a speech impediment.

I really need to stop with the overly long nickname schtick.

‘Final’ Thoughts:

A sequel/continuation was announced (for October) long ago, so there’s not a lot final here. It’s a pretty by the books fantasy adventure with better than average action and… not a whole lot else notable honestly. It’s not the fastest paced thing around, but aside from the side character stuff, which I’ll get to, we only ever spent an episode or two in any one place or dealing with any one thing before moving on. I can’t say that I’ve found myself attached to any of the characters, but the main ones haven’t antagonized me by being particularly melodramatic or angst-riddled either. Occasionally really stupid, but that last arc had a rather lot of writing problems that in general came and went (still have no idea how they got their tank back after the side characters captured it), but seemed to coalesce into a hairy beast over the last month. The bigger issue with them is that they’re mostly just not that into it. I know Japan loves its stoicism, but the question of “Why are they risking their lives fighting dragons, armies, flying fortresses, and magical chickens?” needs to be something more substantial than “Why not?”

The side characters are a very different story though. They spent an entire season half-assedly tailing the party while wondering what they’re even doing. Again, if you’re not into it, why should we be? They’re also extremely poorly connected to anything the protagonists actually do. There has also never once in the history of ever been a story where someone goes off to gather X number of somethings and then nothing happens because of it, be it undead wizard, demons, random evil magic battery, or just one kinky barbeque. And yet the show seems to believe this is something that we should be wondering about to the tune of about 5-8 minutes every other episode. Its mysteries are nowhere near as interesting or as mysterious as it seems to think they are.

I’ll likely watch the continuation in the fall, but there’s a lot it should be improving on. It’s mostly competent when it sticks to the main characters, but they’re not the greatest bunch either. There’s room for improvement if it can buckle down, give the characters some real motivation, and bring some meaningful tension or conflict somewhere. And preferably no more ships powered by the souls of tortured orphans.