天下制覇

Please make it stop.

Impressions:

A little more consistent from start to finish with the action than Fate, and certainly much better animated and directed, even if recent UFOTable continues to be massively overreliant on neon lights and CGI, but I still feel kind of disappointed. Part of that comes from the traditional UFOTable long loooong lingering shots on the pretty background they drew while characters deliver dry explanations, and those are in full force as usual. Most of it, though, is because the climax comes at the end, when it'd be the absolutely narratively perfect time to up the ante with setting and characters by gruesomely murdering either one of the protagonists, or at least a grisly stabbing. Hell, they even faked that at the halfway point. It would've been perfect, and not just because I'm abnormally enamored of shows that murder their supposed protagonists. Instead, a literal rain of pretty boys descend from the sky and they all effortlessly mop up all the mooks before the poppy mournful boy band OP kicks in. It's such a lame anti-climax presented as a huge moment of triumph for all involved.

The characters are… okay, if not really key to anything (hint, another reason why you should kill one or both of them), the production is there, the episode had enough flash and killing of skeletal things for the story not really going besides an intro to the setting to be a little more stomachable than Fate's, and certainly better spaced out. What this show desperately needs going forward, aside from getting away from UFOTable's fetish for neon, over-detailed background art, and their masturbatory need to focus on both, is to actually raise the stakes. Killing an endless parade of mooks and being a little moody or insecure isn't going to cut it. Good looks can only carry you so far. I'd be more confident watching the second episode of this show than any others I have today so far (with Symphogear still to go), but there are definitely issues and a long way for it to fall if the action starts dying and the background navel gazing takes front stage.