Hello all! This is a bit of an odd week, what with one season ending and another beginning. We’re mostly wrapping up what was left, with only Bucchigiri and Dungeon Meshi continuing to next week, but then we will start to get new shows as well. In the mean time, make sure to check out the First Impressions that are going up every day or so! Also, wanted to let everyone know, tomorrow I will be building a new PC from scratch. This means I have a metric shit ton of programs to reinstall on it, settings to update, data to move such as website backups, etc etc. What I’m saying is, if things get delayed a bit, that’s why. With any luck though it shouldn’t take too long and once I’m done I’ll have a shiny new box. Woo!
Bucchigiri – 11 [Unanswered Wishes! Sudden Crab Fried Rice]
Bucchigiri once again escalates the conflict as Matakara takes down Ken and Arajin finally steels himself to for the fight to come. Overall the episode worked? I really liked the buildup with Ken, both the flashbacks to Matakara’s brother, Mitsukuni, asking him to take care of Matakara as well as his first spoken words in the series being out of concern for others. Really drives home that he isn’t really a delinquent at all, just a man born in the wrong era. His fight with Matakara was cool too, I’m always a sucker for the indomitable human will and refusing to fall even while defeated. It’s a classic for a reason. As for Matakara, we see him fall further and further into the darkness, even absolutely brutalizing his old friend Zabu who tried to stop him from going to the fight. Easily the most brutal fight we’ve seen yet, if only because Matakara doesn’t hold back at all. Finally we get a bit more to the Senya/Ichiya backstory, which seems like it’s setting itself up as Ichiya being upset Senya was holding back on him and not giving him the true fight he desired. I wish Arajin and Senya had had this fight earlier, not only because Arajin not having Senya would have better justified him staying out of the conflict but also because him losing/reuniting with Senya in a single episode felt a tad fast. Still, the idea is solid enough, and the presentation is great, so I’m still enjoying it.
Dungeon Meshi – 14 [Sea Serpent]
And so ends Dungeon Meshi’s hot streak. Not because the episode was bad or anything, it wasn’t. Rather it was more of a… solid filler episode, though even calling it filler is a tad insulting. What I mean is, it’s giving us a chance to wind down after the big emotions of the past few weeks, getting away from our core group and back to another adventuring party. And you know what? This other adventuring party are a bunch of psychopaths, or at least Kabru is. Man is out here killing people like it’s nothing, analyzing who they could possibly be tracking just by their party composition, thinking about how he wants their “mask” to come off so he can see who they truly are because he doesn’t believe they could be that nice and shit. Guy sounds like a villain almost, and I would not be surprised to see his squad face off against our main group. He’d lose of course, Marcille and Laios are badasses and there’s no way Shuro would ever raise a hand against Falin/her brother Laios. Anyways, despite not spending much time with our leads, it was still a solid enough episode and looked pretty good. I don’t begrudge Dungeon Meshi taking it slow after the emotions it just put us through. And besides, I got to seem my wife Namari again!
Solo Leveling – 12 [Arise]
While not quite as exciting as last weeks, the action wasn’t as great and the interruptions just as annoying, Solo Leveling still stuck a solid ending. Similar to Shangri-La, it’s a classic “Go read the manga” sort of ending. One where you know more shit is going to happen, where it’s clear the story isn’t over, where’s far more to tell. Unlike Shangri-La however, Solo Levelings still felt… Climactic? Final? It felt like the end of an arc, of a phase in the story, and a transition to the next. Basically, if Solo Leveling was to never get another season, it would be a decent-ish stopping point where Shangri-La’s is kind of just smack dab in the middle of a story. Not to mention it was just flat out cooler, what with Jin Woo becoming an “advanced class”, raising an army of shadowy undead, and dropping the title of the entire series as the last line of the show. That just feels better, you know? As for the series as a whole, it’s little more than a Sakuga show for me. I didn’t find myself invested in most of the characters, nor caring what happened to them. It was always just “When is the next fight, will it be cool, what is going to happen”, etc etc. That’s not terrible, I had fun. But it’s definitely not something I’m going to remember years down the line.
Series Score: 5.5/10 – Flashy fights, fun action when it gets going, mediocre characters/politics
Shangri-La Frontier – 25 [Those Who Illuminate The World’s Darkness]
As far as endings go, this was perhaps the best Shangri-La could hope for. Is it exciting? Not really, there’s not a shred of combat. Is it interesting? Not particularly, it’s almost entirely setup for what is to come what with Sunraku meeting the Professor, being asked to meetup with Katso and Pencilgon, and setting out on his quest with Bilac once more. It very much feels like we should expect another episode next week, like the show is ending smack-dab in the middle of a season. But it did remind us exactly why we watch this show, of the great highs it can reach when it’s actually firing on all cylinders: Wezaemon. In that sense, Shangri-La succeeded, it was fun. The month of the Wezaemon fight, all 4 episodes, were a blast. Some of the best of the season. And early on it was pretty fun as well, what with Sunraku discovering and exploring this new world. It’s only after the mid-season climax that it started to flag and not really go anyway. Hopefully next season, if it gets one, will be able to dive right into the action since everything is already setup. That’s the hope at least. Shangri-La is certainly setting itself up for a lot. Oh and P.S. I did enjoyed the gag with the Professor having an incredibly deep voice in a small girls body, gotta keep the classic “Old man playing as a loli” stereotype alive.
Series Score: 6/10 – Love the characters/relationships, Good highs when firing on all cylinders, runs out of steam by the end.
The Witch and the Beast – 12 [Eloquence and Silence, Final Act]
And so Majo and Yajuu ends not with a roar but with a whimper. A damn shame. It started with so much promise, and the middle story with Phanora reignited my hope in the series. But after that? It just kept losing steam. Majo to Yajuu had good ideas, like this week where Guideau had to kiss Falville to undo her curse for a moment, simultaneously undoing Falville’s own curse and letting both run wild. But it’s to afraid to fully commit to them, both in bringing back Falville’s brother and Guideau’s “Fight” lasting mere moments. That’s not payoff! That’s nothing! And what little we do get looks terrible, because Majo to Yajuu can’t move whatsoever. Maybe if it looked halfway decent you could get around a lot of this, just enjoy the action. But the fights always end up being the worst looking part of the show, and it insists on throwing them at us over and over again. And as we head into the ending? We get alternative dimensions, vampires and a cliffhanger ending. It’s just… It fell from grace, becoming something I almost dropped multiple times. Is it the worst thing I’ve seen this season? No, not at all. But if anyone ever asked, I cant say I’d recommend it.
Series Score: 4.5/10 – Solid ideas executed badly with piss-poor production
Astro Note – 2 – Coverage Starts Next Week
Wind Breaker – 2 – Coverage Starts Next Week
Bartender: Glass of God – 2 – Coverage Starts Next Week
The post Spring 2024 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 0 (?) appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
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