We… had a good week, in case you couldn’t tell.

Voyager: Let’s take a look at the latest week in anime and our bad opinions!

EvilBob: Excuse me. Our?

Voyager: Oh, sorry! His bad opinions!

EvilBob: …this man is going to be the death of me.

Voyager: Pro’lly! Anyway, this is the Anime TKO-

EvilBob: TOURNAMENT ARC!!!

The Week In Review

DanMachi Season 3

EvilBob: Woo!

Voyager: Ceeeelebrate Good Times, Come On!

EvilBob: Ding-Dong, The Jerk Is Dead, The Jerk Is Dead, The Jerk Is Dead! Dude, I’m so happy, I feel like dancin’!

Voyager: Oh, please don’t.

EvilBob: Well, okay then.

Voyager: You know, the episode was a ride. I know some people had issues with it, but I think it actually did its job pretty effectively. Certainly some ways they could’ve made things more mechanically airtight, for sure. Saving Wiene’s revival until the very end of the season would probably have been a smarter call. And I can understand why some might have wanted Bell to be the one to defeat Dix, lending itself to a more emotionally rewarding climax for the arc-

EvilBob: But I don’t care because that bastard is gone! Ahahahaha! He’s finally gone!

Voyager: Eeeeh… Right. So yeah, I don’t really take issue with that second part. Wiene’s death being insta-reversed is a bigger issue for me in terms of pacing. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have happened. She’s implied to have some major significance to things, so her dying here would’ve been a pretty unceremonious affair. But the Minotaur taking out Dix at the beginning is something I don’t think really matters, in the long run since Dix wasn’t actually as relevant to the greater theme of the season. Sure, they tried to make him the sort of mouthpiece for that ugly worldview, but then it was undermined by his absolutely lame backstory… or lackthereof. He stops being a relevant mouthpiece on the subject so having Bell beat him up wouldn’t actually represent Bell tackling the larger issue. And I think what this does is set up Bell to face off against someone who does represent the larger issue – Ais. If you remember back to the end of Season 2, Ais clearly has an actual bone to pick with the monsters, if not a specific monster. So I think this is headed in a direction that forces the two of them to clash.

EvilBob: You’re… doing that thing again. You know. The one where you show off?

Voyager: Oh, whoops!

EvilBob: Whoopsie!

Voyager: So anyway, as for why I think Wiene’s resurrection was actually important-

EvilBob: OI.

Voyager: Here’s the thing. Her staying dead wasn’t relevant to what needed to happen for Bell. Because of the kind of character Bell is. Bell is weak. But that’s his strength. His weakness, combined with his earnestness makes people want to help him, to support him, to watch him grow. In this scenario he’s once again forced to let someone else do the heavy lifting while he’s powerless to do much of anything. So Fells reviving Wiene acts, to him, as just a reminder of how weak he is and becomes a catalyst for him to grow stronger.

EvilBob: Ya done yet?

Voyager: Nope! So-!

EvilBob: Yeah, you’re done. Next!

Voyager: Eh?

Golden Kamuy Season 3

Voyager: I’ll be honest! I don’t really have anything for this one! Ahaha!

EvilBob: I’ve thought long and hard about this. I know exactly what to say!

Voyager: Great!

EvilBob: And it’s not gonna be anywhere near as long as that last one.

Voyager: Ahaha! How meeean!

EvilBob: It… was good.

Voyager: …Hah?

EvilBob: Don’t worry. That’s not all. Thing is, the episode was great. It didn’t move anything forward, but it was a nice bit of character establishment for Hijikata that allowed us to really get at the heart of who the guy is and where his head’s at. Also, the split between the future and the past was awesome, on the visual side of things. I loved getting to watch that Manslayer guy’s perspective and how he was kinda reliving his past.

Voyager: Yup yup yup! One of the biggest themes in Golden Kamuy is how war changes people, and I think we’re getting a clear picture of the effect war had on Hijikata!

EvilBob: Oi. This is my time to shine, twig.

Voyager: Ahahaha! So rude!

EvilBob: But yeah. I do wish the episode would’ve actually pushed things forward a little more than it had. For all that stuff I did appreciate, getting to see this stuff, none of it was especially new. Even if we’d only been told these things about him before, it was stuff we’d already seen. There was some forward movement, I guess. I mean, he did get a set of tattoos out of the whole thing. But it just felt kinda disconnected from the rest of the story since he’s really on his own in this episode.

Voyager: Yayyy! Bobblehead did a smart!

EvilBob: …shut up.

Jujutsu Kaisen

EvilBob: I mean… the episode was a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong, but… I have a question.

Voyager: Why?

EvilBob: Be… because I don’t get something.

Voyager: Why?

EvilBob: Because it wasn’t clear?

Voyager: Why?

EvilBob: Because… what are you, five?

Voyager: Why?

EvilBob: I just-! Waitaminute… are you asking me or the show?

Voyager: *stare*

EvilBob: Look here, ya little troll…

Voyager: Ahaha! I don’t get it either! That fight was pretty cool, but it didn’t make a lot of sense, to me, why it was happening! I didn’t mind too much since the characters were mostly pretty fun. But I want that one new girl to get decked in the schnoz!

EvilBob: Did you just-?

Voyager: Oh! And the scene with blindfold-sensei was neat! That blue-haired girl’s funny!

Yuukoku no Moriarty

Voyager: *plugs the audience’s ears* You’re welcome!

-Inaudible Fangirl Squee, Courtesy of EvilBob-

Voyager: My ears are bleeding!

EvilBob: SHERLOCK-CENTERED EPISODE! THE HYPE IS REAL! Sure it’s a departure from the main focus of the show, but DOCTOR-FREAKIN’-WATSON! LET’S GO!

Voyager: Hmmm. I wonder if Moriarty knows that he’s basically paying Sherlock’s rent by doing this, now.

EvilBob: …Can you not with the logic, right now?

Voyager: Whaaat? It’s in the spirit of the show!

EvilBob: …ANYWAY, this episode was awesome! Sherlock’s powers of deduction at work are great! And I love this version of him! He’s so much fun! Brilliant, but quirky! Exactly how I like it!

Voyager: Glad you’re enjoying yourself with my show, Bobblehead!

EvilBob: You bet I-! Wait… your… oh. Right. It’s on your list… boo. I hate every part of it. It’s not like I like this show or anything!

Voyager: Baka!

EvilBob: Yeah, that! …wait, were you calling me a-?

Voyager: On with the show!

EvilBob: Oi!

Awards

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Conclusion

Voyager: Done-zo!

EvilBob: That’s all the shows in the final four, down for another round. This was a really good week.

Voyager: It was, it was! What do you guys think? Let us know, down below! Thanks for reading!

EvilBob: And letting us waste your time.

Voyager: Keep up the Awesome!

EvilBob: And Keep it Classy.

Voyager: Take care!