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「とある執事の電撃作戦(ブリッツクリーグ)」 (Toaru Shitsuji no Dengeki Sakusen)
“One Butler’s Blitzkrieg”
This is last episode, done better.
I wasn’t too fond of last episode, for trying to do too much, introduce too many characters, for explaining itself too much and not enough. This episode, on the other hand, did what the last episode tried to do, but better. Let’s compare the two.
One of my principle complaints of last episode was that it introduced too many characters too shallowly, and when they got into mortal danger, there was no reason to care outside of to see what Chain did. This episode only introduced one. That gave Philip Lenore (Ono Daisuke) time to breathe, so that we could see him in action as a butler, so we could see how he reacted to a situation differently than Leo, and so we could delve some into his motivations (to be like Gilbert). That made it so I gave a shit when he was in danger, and hope he would come out all right.
This also allowed us to really enjoy getting to see more of how Gilbert operates. I didn’t particularly care about Gilbert before this, I wasn’t especially interested in him, so a Gilbert episode wasn’t a big draw. But they not only let him strut his stuff, operating with calm competence and brutality as he took down the “badass-tachi”, but they also didn’t screw up the exposition. That’s big! Granted, the exposition here was a lot easier than with Chain and the stealth werewolves, because the less that is said about Gilbert, the more badass he becomes, and his special ability, as a Regeneratore, is instantly understandable. Explaining that it only heals him from fatal injuries after everything was over is the extent of the tell, don’t show. Quips about how he should join UQ Holder aside, it was done well.
Bonus points go for not even pretending that the villain chief was anything more than an unusually skilled mook. We wouldn’t have cared about his story any more than we (didn’t) care about that villain lady from the previous episode, so better to skip the exercise altogether.
All in all, it was a good episode. It enhanced an existing member of the cast, made me care a little bit more about someone who I paid no attention to (by Gilbert’s own design, it appears), and it was both funning and exciting. My concerns about the lack of overarching plot remain, but that aside, it was a good episode. I’ll take it.
Random thoughts:
- The first part of this episode was rough though, because of the sound that happened every time Gilbert’s back broke. Eeee!
- Looks like Leo learned his lesson. That doesn’t mean episode three was necessary, the moment would have worked equally well without that, but I guess it was enhanced slightly because of it.
- I love how Klaus is actually fine at everything on his own. A nice little moment to cap the episode off 🙂
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I agree, it was generally a more watchable experience than the last episode.
I wonder if the whole series will be a character-of-the-week episode with little
offshoots of other character development (i.e., you point about Leo learning
his lesson even though the episode wasn’t about Leo).
I could dig it if that is the case, even if I do think an overarching seasonal plot would be nice.
That’s pretty much my opinion too (though I vacillate sometimes). I think it’s a missed opportunity to give the season an overarching narrative and bring more meaning to the shenanigans, but if they can keep the quality of the hijinks-of-the-week episodes high, it can work.
Of course, then they run into the same issue as pure comedies: if you only do one thing, you live or die by that one thing. But that’s their problem, not ours XD
Yep yep! I secound that as well. Although i Enjoyed the last episode, it was a Hot mess.
I have no problem with this being an episodic series. So far I’ve liked every episode this season more than pretty much any episodes in the first season.
The pacing felt a bit off to me at times, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this episode. I agree that Gilbert didn’t seem particularly interesting so far, but now I’m a total fan lol. I don’t know why I assumed he’d be a bland character, given that pretty much everyone related to Libra who’s had a proper introduction turned out to be a stylish badass. I also rather liked Philip, so I hope we’ll see him again sometime in the future.
A big homage to Kuroshitsuji, it seems!
I looked at last episode as a way to explain Chain’s powers, so I didn’t think it was a mess at all. There characters there were most probably one-off characters, so I didn’t bother with them.
I mean, you had the right attitude, but that doesn’t mean it was done especially well. You just approached it in the best way. It was still a mess.
It’s kind of a shame Philip sounds like he’s heading back out as soon as Gilbert is better, I liked him a lot. He could be a great straight-man now that fish-guy has settled into the cast (or you could just give fish-guy more to do, come on).
Agreed, both in that Philip is fun and that we need more Zed. I like Zed. More Zed!
Gilbert joins the line of butlers who you do not mess with those close to them.
Alfred Pennyworth approves of this episode.