Just as Akatsuki is about to rumble, things take a freeze frame.
What They Say:
Akatsuki uses his newfound sword to battle the powered-up Cockatrice. Meanwhile, Miu starts to come to terms with her father’s death and powerful COCOON members hold a secret meeting.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the show having settled a little bit in the third episode, I’m not finding myself really enthused for it. There’s been some interesting elements to it but the way everything has come together has left me less than thrilled with it. Some shows can overcome a poor initial execution and setup though to deliver something good along the way and end well. With the academy at hand here where we see people that come from other worlds, we’ve gotten a better handle on Akatsuki and what he’s capable of. In particular, he’s done really well with the battle at the start here with the Cockatrice thanks to the weapon he now has. That’s dealt with quickly and harshly, though it’s not exactly a high stakes moment.
Where a lot of Akatsuki’s real challenge comes in is with regards to Tanaka, who has made his move pretty clear with all that he’s done. The two get into it pretty well after the Cockatrice is dealt with and there’s a certain power and intensit to what Tanaka brings to things that does make him a credible threat. Which is why it’s amusing that someone else dispatches with him cleanly and quickly in order to remind him that there’s an even bigger threat out there to be dealt with.
On the character development side, we finally get a little bit of time spent with Miu where she is beginning to deal with the loss of her father. The spiriting away of her by Akatsuki at his request was turbulent and she’s focused mostly on just fitting into school, but the events there are giving her more time to think about it and it’s hitting her more strongly than before. Thankfully, while it’s a little over dramatized, Akatsuki plays the right role here without too much emotion and makes it clear where she really stands and encourages her in a manly way to just let it all out. It helps to put her at ease, deal with the minor problem and then make sure that it’ll all come up again later in the series.
In Summary:
The series moves things along a little bit here but largely feels like it’s cutting itself short in those areas. While we start to having something fun between Akatsuki and Tanaka, it ends up being dealt with quickly and our attention diverted elsewhere. Along the same lines, we get a lot of time spent with Miu as she works through her issues over her father, but we also know that it’s going to come back at some point because it can’t just be left alone. This episode also starts to give us a little more background overall, but with the helter skelter style applied to it so far with how everyone ended up where they are, it doesn’t feel like a clean or useful filling in of information but rather just more to muddy the situation. While the core of things in the series involves Akatsuki and Miu’s relationship connection from her world, it’s not something that’s being handled well as a driving narrative, leaving you once again wondering what the point is.
Grade: C
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
