And so begins Round 4.
Voyager: Now things really start to heat up. With only 6 shows left in the pool, it’s time for us to start deciding which ones will survive to the Final Four.
EvilBob: Or, if you’re feeling extra dramatic, The ELITE Fo-
Voyager: No.
EvilBob: Buzzkill.
Voyager: So let’s get into the thick of it. This is Week 4 of the Anime TKO-
EvilBob: TOURNAMENT ARC!!!!!
The Week In Review
Golden Kamuy Season 3
Voyager: …I got nothin’, mate.
EvilBob: I do! That was a blast! It was hilarious, for sure. So stupid. With the dancing subplot and Sugimoto being constantly outdone by that other guy, it was awesome.
Voyager: Didn’t get ’em any closer to Asirpa, though. I’m starting to think the entire season’s gonna wind up like this. Not an especially bad thing. The charm is definitely still there. But the show’s absolutely at its best when all the characters get to interact.
Yuukoku no Moriarty
Voyager: Once again, this show is just the one that went by the fastest for me. But in the best way. I don’t recall looking at the runtime even once. And yet again we’re in a space where the entire episode is a single, contained story. Not a mystery, this time, so it wasn’t quite as impressive in that regard. But still pretty friggin’ solid.
EvilBob: Am I the only one who thought this episode was gonna have a really tragic end?
Voyager: More tragic than its beginning? But yeah. I honestly expected things to go a lot worse for those seeking Moriarty’s “consultation,” this time. Even so, I liked them setting up the breadcrumbs in reverse. Sort of like the opposite of a mystery, laying everything out so you can piece together the nature of the crime before it happens.
EvilBob: It’s also nice having a show that can be smart without turning its nose up to its audience, acting like we’re dumb.
Voyager: …Yes, I’m certain you, in particular, would appreciate such a courtesy.
EvilBob: I do! …wait.
Assault Lily: Bouquet
Voyager: Avengers! Assemble! Episodes revolving around building up a team are fun for me, so I enjoyed this, even though there wasn’t a lot to it until the last… third or so. But that third was pretty good, either way, giving us some insight into a pair of pretty fun characters.
EvilBob: …Cute girls and guns that go boom.
Voyager: …*sigh* The difference between talent and trained skill is an arc I always like. The handling of it here was actually pretty nice.
EvilBob: Oh! I know what I can say!
Voyager: By all means. But remember to use your big boy words.
EvilBob: Hey! Leave my weight out of this!
Voyager: …
EvilBob: But I like that we’re getting more emotion out of Yuyu now. Sure, most of it is just being annoyed at everything, but it’s better than being a robot the whole time.
Voyager: True enough. With everything they went through before, and all the stuff she’s individually dealt with, it makes sense that Episode 3 didn’t hot-fix her personality and it’s more of a slow recovery. I appreciate that.
Akudama Drive
EvilBob: Oh, look. One long fight. But a nifty reveal at the end, I suppose.
Voyager: Would be better if the fight looked in any way impressive. Granted, that’s probably a constraint of the location in which it took place. Wasn’t a lot they could afford to do on that train. In retrospect, though, certain aspects of it definitely made no sense. Like… Doctor clearly drugged the female executioner to the point of unconsciousness. So why didn’t she kill her, instead of nagging Courier to do it?
EvilBob: Better question. How exactly did that guy shout his partner out of a drug coma?
Voyager: Equally good question. But, hey, at least Doctor kinda got revenge for the whole neck thing in Episode 2.
EvilBob: True.
Voyager: Still don’t really care about any of ’em, though. The closest I am to giving a crud about any of ’em – Swindler aside – are Hacker and Courier. And we still don’t know enough about them to care fully yet. Cutthroat’s fun to watch, I guess. He was the most engaging part of that fight. Of course, that just made me kinda wince when Brawler took over. Though the piledriver thing was funny. And maybe now Doctor can actually be useful in some way by… you know… fixing him.
EvilBob: Seriously. Why is she there? Literally everyone has contributed to this in some way except for her. Even Hoodlum and Swindler.
Voyager: I mean… the cynical answer?
EvilBob: What?
Voyager: T&A.
EvilBob: …huh.
The Bye Week In Review
Voyager: So DanMachi and Jujutsu were pretty good, this week. Actually, I think the latter was probably the stronger of the two. Getting some real inner turmoil and a genuinely compelling moral quandary was pretty interesting. DanMachi is probably glad this was a Bye week for it, while it did a lot of the same stuff, it did so more with exposition and talking. Which is fine, since DanMachi is one of the few series that’s really good at that. But it’s still a weaker choice than the alternative.
EvilBob: Honestly, they’re so close already, it probably doesn’t even matter. And, uh… remember the last few TKOs we’ve done. Episode 5 has almost always been a decider. Lest we forget the brutal stomping of Mob Psycho 100 vs. The Promised Neverland.
Voyager: Yeeeeah…
Conclusion
Voyager: So I guess that’s that. Pretty solid week, if I do say so, myself.
EvilBob: Yeah. Not a bad episode in the house. Pretty enjoyable across the board. Good stuff.
Voyager: Of course, we want to hear what you think, so let us know, down below. Thanks, as always, for reading, folks.
EvilBob: And for letting us waste your time.
Voyager: Keep up the Awesome!
EvilBob: And Keep it Classy.
Voyager: Take Care.