Sabikui Bisco finale – With Kurokawa on the ropes, the next task is to stop him without having him self-destruct in such a spectacular way that the crater will extend all the way to the other side of Imihama. To do this will take skill, luck, a leap of faith, and, oh, come on, did anyone think that shot was going to miss?
There is an explanation for Bisco’s survival, involving him becoming a host for the Rust Eater the way the pipe worm was, and since the symbiotic process was kept deliberately vague I guess I will have to admit that the story has stayed internally consistent. I’m still a little disappointed by having a major death walked back, but I have no problem recommending this overall as a solid action-adventure.
Pawoo concedes that her little brother has won the fight to be Bisco’s romantic and fighting partner and staying in Imihama to lead its secession from the rest of Japan, while, Bisco, Milo, and Actagawa are back to the life of outlaws, ready for lots more adventures. Seven more books of them, in fact, as things stand. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of them get animated.
(Crunchyroll — Funimation — Wakanim — Shahiid Anime — Sushiroll — Bahamut Anime Crazy — Laftel — meWATCH)
Ranking of Kings finale – With matters settled between his family and Miranjo, King Bojji claims his rightful throne. And yet, neither he nor Kage is at peace there. Soon Bojji will decide that his real calling is to go adventuring with his best friend and found a new kingdom, just like his father did. Because that worked out so well for Bosse.
Kage running off is such a forced development that even the character seems to be trying to argue the author out of it. He realizes at some level that he’s making a bonehead move (Kage, not the author) and yet he does it anyway. The plot requires him to, so that Bojji can abandon his kingdom to go find his friend. (Does Daida get to be king again, or does his previous abdication disqualify him, leaving the throne to Hiling? Heaven knows Hiling probably has the most talent for ruling in this family.)
Meanwhile there are unresolved threads all around the descendants of Satun. We never did get to see what happened to Desha when he went to the vault, and Ouken’s situation is much less addressable now anyway since his head got flung into the next county by a loose criminal. Also there is a loose criminal with a grudge against Desha et al.
This adaptation covered “Part One”, which has only just concluded in the manga, so it will be a few years before we find out how any of this gets resolved. What we are left with for the moment is a show that had such heart, soul, and workmanship when it started but went badly downhill in its last few episodes. It’s a shame.
(Crunchyroll — Funimation — Wakanim — bilibili — meWATCH)
Tokyo 24th Ward #10 – Tsuzurugawa explains the situation to Shūta, trying to impress on him that Asumi really is dead, and any evidence to the contrary is just a computer-generated illusion. Ran has figured out that the Suidō group is hiding something, but not what yet. And tensions start to boil over in Shantytown as evictions proceed.
Once again, Tokyo 24th Ward tries to make the oppressed sympathetic, but stumbles back into tropes about the dangerous poor. Kōki’s father choosing forced evictions is meant to be an outrage, but the only Shantytown denizens we actually see up close in this episode are a couple of random toughs threatening a young woman and a bunch of protestors acting like they were just looking for an excuse to switch to rioting.
Meanwhile, Shūta somehow decides that all his past attempts at heroism were selfish and now he’s going to be a true hero. I have no idea what that means at this point, but there are still two whole more episodes for him to try and explain.
(Crunchyroll — Funimation — Wakanim — AIS Play — Aniplus Asia — Bahamut Anime Crazy — Laftel)
Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department #11 – One of Agastia’s periodic executive retreats is to be held at a ryōkan (a traditional-style inn) out in the country. Tōka somehow gets herself invited along, and brings along Wolf for good measure. And of course there are local heroes attempting to decapitate the organization.
This episode is an exercise in letting every executive exercise their one schtick. Some are new, some are old, and some are not improving the second time around, especially Uncle. Of the new ones, the most notable is Wolf’s DNA donor, who shows that Wolf is only in this episode to be sexually harassed and then have everyone else laugh it off.
All in all, this episode was Miss Kuroitsu showing off its worst impulses, and I hope it does better for the finale next week.
(Crunchyroll — Shahiid Anime — Sushiroll — Bahamut Anime Crazy — Laftel — meWATCH)
This week it’s Attack on Titan that has to skip. The airing of the season finale in Japan was displaced by special programming, and the rest of us don’t get to see it until Japan does.
