天下制覇

Suddenly a lich… and then suddenly gone again.

In case you thought this season/Azur Lane wasn't enough of a fiasco, apparently last week's episode was the final episode of Azur Lane. That might be a little confusing because it was not a finale in any way shape or form. It has an OVA scheduled for March to ostensibly actually wrap the story up, whatever they decide it could possibly be. Next season preview is targeted for a week from Saturday, but we'll see. Holidays and whatnot make schedule and motivation weak.

Impressions:

The total collapse of the writing continues apace. What even was that cosplay scene? It's a random two minute aside where they explain that they're going to be cosplaying as fairy tale characters, which gives them special extra powers, then they grope one of them, then the writers just go "Eh, maybe not," quit out, and completely drop it. This is then followed by swatting gremlins… gremlins that doesn't even attack them, mind you, while organizing a bookshelf. And yet, it compares favorably to the overlong conversation that would follow. "You actually want to do your best, don't you?" "Yes, I want to do my best so that other people can see that I'm doing my best." "It is very admirable to be doing your best." It's like the show is jumping between outright padding and corny gimmicks, but doesn't want to fully commit to either.

This is all then left to rot as we check in with the C squad, who is being attacked by a random lich and his pet zombies, and it's here where the animation really shines. And by shines, I mean speedlines. Again though, that pales to the conversation that follows when the antagonist from waaaaaaay back in the first arc of the show comes back and we get a recap of virtually every aspect of him. His powers, what he is, who he is, that he's out to get Kufa, etc etc. Then it somehow gets worse as characters reiterate the recap, and then recap the thing that he just did before Kufa goes "Well, whatever," and hops down a hole. Literally, not using a euphemism here… yet. It's the appearance of moving too fast, but when you stop and think about it, what exactly happened in this episode of any import as we (not) wend our way to the finale? The one lady was stabbed? Maybe or maybe not even fatally? Pfft.

Next Episode:

…