so i would like to start by saying that the animation and direction of certain shots in this episode were top notch. some the best, if not the best, in the show. establishing shot in the sakura garden was very pretty
and i only noticed on this ep, but the title card looked like fire. when i saw that i said "the city is gonna burn down"
i did not like this episode
i think its not only a big mistake, but also borderline out of character, if not firmly so, to leave the fat guy alive
the show spent a seasons worth showing us what a piece of shit he is, and how single-mindedly devoted to killing him the main character is. i think he will now be too tired to have any presence, narratively speaking
plus its just not gratifying at all. not in a satisfaction sense and not in a narrative sense
i also do not buy this guy bartering for his life, but thats a me think ik
from his first appearance i thought george takei had death flags all over him. when akemi and he escaped the castle i was like wow, they subverted my expectations in a satisfying way, go show! then bang. he's dead and she's all oh noooo
it was funny
hate where theyre going with MC and taigan. very early on I predicted that they would be a love interest and I would hate it, and I think it's kind of disrespectful to the main character writing-wise
like it became super obvious because they speedrun his character development, and they speedrun her acceptance of him, and they speedrun akemi having another man to love, because I guess women need men or something idk
I do like how taigan killed asian jim, that went hard
yeah overall I would rate this episode a solid 2/10
I have more to say but I don't feel like typing at the moment
edit: oh yeah. i think her michael myers-esque chase scene was completely and utterly undermined by letting the fat dude live
My fate was the grandest, most brilliant of them all.
He/Him