What They Say:
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The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode was very exciting. Right off the bat, Aika is making big reveals while attacked Hakaze, and soon agrees to listen to what Hakaze has to say and work it out with her. After negotiations break down, they start back up where they left off and proceed with a fairly spectacular fight, and Hakaze’s visit to the past reaches its inevitable conclusion in a powerful way.
Unfortunately, the answer that is given at this point is that of a time paradox.
I know this series has always been a fantasy and it’s even been illogical in ways that contradict its own world-building, even referencing its own impossibilities and building plot devices to work around that. The time travel aspects have been increasingly less believable as well, but the big concern for storytelling when things move to time travel is how to avoid paradoxes. And at least judging from this episode, it doesn’t look like Blast of Tempest is making any greater attempt to avoid this than any of the other questionable choices in its storytelling before.
It’s not one of those stories where the issue of a time paradox is completely glossed over. In fact, similar to the other ridiculous plot elements thrown into this story throughout the series, the characters themselves (specifically Hakaze in this case as well as others) immediately acknowledge that this should not be possible. In the case of the probability alterations, Hakaze also realizes why the powers at work can make what seems impossible possible. This time, the surprises in front of her leave her dumbfounded, and she not only can’t figure out how this could make sense, she doesn’t even seem to have fully pieced together why it shouldn’t make sense in the first place. At no point in the series has Aika ever been shown to lose her composure, and this time is no exception; she accepts the time paradox before her and seems to accept that it’s reasonable enough to assume that these same powers are capable of making this happen as well.
The fact that the next episode is titled “Fuwa Aika” (and that this venture to the past does beg for a bit more explanation and resolution) leads me to believe that this isn’t the last we’ve seen or heard about this, so I do still have some hope that the series has something better up its sleeve than such a blatant time paradox.
In Summary:
This episode has some very strong elements in it, just as it looked like it would from the previous episode. However, when it finally gets to one of the biggest plot revelations of the entire series, it ends up being a giant time paradox. This is exactly what I had feared when time travel became a major part of the plot in this series, and while the series done acknowledge it and make some attempt to explain it, it doesn’t really cut it just yet.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.
