天下制覇

Ugh, Momotaro.

Impressions:

This episode raises some real grim thoughts about these stories apparently repeating over and over again, trapping people forever in a neverending loop of going through the same things for eternity. It also doesn't seem to realize that it brought this up. It just introduced a previous Momotaro as I guess sort of backstory but also not for Tao and Shane to scowl about how there was a tragic past somewhere. At no point did they do any actual work to convince anybody of that though, just had someone offscreen say Tao was bad. Apparently that's enough to throw in with an army of monsters.

On paper, the 'twist' of Momotaro being the evil invader of an oni island would probably be fine, especially with his rant about his divine right to greatness. This is not a heroic character. Hell, even after being told that Tao didn't betray the previous Momotaro (granted, no real reason to believe this), he continued throwing a tantrum and trying to kill them. It's not until he's attacked by his own monsters (for no real reason) and the adoptive parents reveal themselves as the real villain manipulating things (actual manipulation being just telling him to go kill a dude) that he's redeemed… somehow. Was there supposed to be a character arc here? Tao just saying "Yo, I knew the previous dude, and he said not to throw your life away for nothing" seems to be it. Yawn.

Next Episode:

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