Studio feel.’s latest foray into the teenage romantic drama genre with TsukigaKirei (As The Moon, So Beautiful.) strikes a pretty, but frustratingly boring premiere. The slower change of pace might have been its selling point if much of the debut didn’t feel like an ad for messaging service LINE.
In a double-length premiere that manages to be both action-packed and subversive, J.C. Staff’s Alice & Zoroku (Alice to Zouroku) teases a magical realism story with plenty of narrative hooks.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid’s (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) finale is an excellently paced conclusion, charged with spectacular animation that compliments its nuanced and progressive themes.
In a significant deviation from its usual here and now focus, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) treats us to several flashback sequences this week, setting a peaceful lull before next week’s final confrontation.
ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka) masterfully orchestrates a narrative feat some thought impossible with its finale: an incredibly comprehensive resolution of nearly every thread lying on the plot loom.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) keeps with the holiday theme this week, quietly revealing another cute side to its characters’ progression.
ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka) doesn’t quite put the pedal to the metal of the plot-mobile this week, but boy does it ever remind us how smooth its transmission is, helmed by Jean.
This week on Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon), we get an ensemble episode in the truest sense of the term. The rendition of The Little Matchstick Girl that the cast puts on is as spectacularly peculiar as their fantasy natures.
In a second consecutive slow-paced episode, ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka) delivers its reveals with little gusto, amid unneeded distractions, and by dodging some of the biggest questions.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) takes top score in an episode about a sports festival, which is not something you’d expect from the track record of the episode trope.
Kevin Pennyfeather 