JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders #47 – At last we see the ultimate power of Dio’s Stand: to warp into a totally different animation style and battle the opening credit sequence! That was a fun little diversion from all the death and gore we’ve had lately.
But, back to the pummelling, where it suddenly turns out that Star Platinum has a whole new power that has not been foreshadowed in any way. And then both Jōtarō and Dio can burst into flames and levitate, for no other reason than hey, it looks cool.
More seriously, none of this actually is helping any. By the end of the episode, Dio has had one leg amputated, taken a rapier strike through the head, been disembowelled, and has cheerfully stood right back up again good as new. At this point the hope for Dio’s defeat consists of either (a) getting him to drink Joseph’s blood was actually the plan all along and will make him vulnerable in some way, or (b) the author pulls another twist totally out of nowhere. I hope it’s not (b). This story deserves a better finale than that.
Mikagura School Suite #11 – Whoa! A straightforward story progression from one episode to the next! For this show, that’s a big surprise.
It’s nice that it’s decided to start providing answers, even if some of them are totally bizarro answers, like that the mysterious presence haunting the school last week isn’t an entity but a room that isn’t supposed to exist anymore.
I was about ready to complain about how idiot-plot-y it was that Seisa is still completely unwilling to even drop a hint about what’s going on with her, but this week’s revelations make it a consistent part of her personality. Ignoring uncomfortable things is her one and only coping strategy. After erasing all traces of her lost friendship and then hiding in her home and pretending the school battles don’t exist, clamming up about her feelings is totally in character. Killing Art is the perfect expression of her personality. Except that now it’s vanishing… could it be because of Eruna starting to draw Seisa out of her shell?
It’s good to see Shigure and Kuzuryu get a few moments of screen time with another fun battle– the one thing this series has managed to be consistent about.
(FUNimation – Viewster – AnimeLab)
The Heroic Legend of Arslan #11 – What has this episode added to the story? A small mention of Arslan’s unusual upbringing, and the news that Kharlan has an offspring whose choice of weapons suggests feelings of inadequacy. The high priest of Yaldaboath is still nuts, Ecbatana is still a mess, Hermes still has his own issues, and all the business of Arslan’s party being ambushed and escaping yet again feels like it’s just filling time so that the plot point waiting in Peshawar can be saved for the season-ending cliffhanger.
It hardly even feels worth summoning the energy to complain that Son of Kharlan is in Ecbatana one moment and then out in the boonies with his regiment a few hours later. I know they said Arslan and friends have had to take a circuitous route to avoid even more ambushes, but still. Perhaps this can happen because everyone has been issued with standard magical fantasy horses which can just go and go forever without having to stop for a proper meal, or a visit to the little ponies’ room, or a chance to drop dead of sheer exhaustion, which is what real horses would be doing by now if they were used the way our heroes have been using them.
(FUNimation – Viewster – Wakanim)
