© Yusei Matsui/Shueisha/Younger Grasp of Escape Manufacturing Committee
If there’s one factor that disappoints me about “A Perverted Child and Disturbances of Holy Energy,” it is that nothing within the episode even comes near the insane potential of that episode title. It feels like we’re getting a damned Chalk Shin-chan multiverse crossover or one thing, and as an alternative we get a tense and at instances even terrifying night-time raid on an remoted village that looks like one thing straight out of a samurai theme Assault on Precinct 13 prequel that John Carpenter by no means obtained to make. What a disgrace. Think about the sick insults Shinnosuke may have hurled on the Dang-Ass Freaks that Tokiyuki and the gang are taking over this week. Rattling, now my mind is poisoned by the considered what sort of deranged physique horror that Yusei Matsui may attain with Shin-chan‘elephant’ powers…
Wait, that is proper, the brand new Elusive Samurai episode. It is actually good! There are few issues extra satisfying than watching a scrappy group of warriors use their tenacity and wits to outsmart a military of bloodthirsty bastards. It is no shock that The Elusive Samurai does an awesome job of dramatizing the battle with the brilliant purple blood, frantic motion, and wacky humor you’d count on from the present. What I really like concerning the episode is the way it balances the ambiance of the icy chilly nighttime setting and the propulsive back-and-forth between the three completely different elements of the combat – Kojiro and Ayako working collectively to attract Shokan right into a close-quarters duel with Tokiyuki whereas Fubuki takes on Shokan’s underlings. It’s nice stuff and extremely enjoyable to look at unfold.
All of this regardless of the episode’s odd inventive choices. Whereas the animation remains to be largely glorious, there are some very unusual transitions to typically clunky-looking CGI fashions that make me fear about what the CloverWorks crew continues to get these episodes out the door. The horse using scenes, I can perceive them going the computer-generated route, though I do not assume they appear nice; horses are notoriously tough to animate, and there was lots of of cavalry battles throughout this era in historical past. Some random cuts to Shokan and the Elusive Warriors go full CG for no motive in any respect, and most of them stick out like a sore thumb. There’s a single reduce that advantages from the extra detailed (and presumably motion-captured) 3D rigs, akin to when Shokan first stares at Tokiyuki after he falls into the youngsters’s entice. Principally, although, all the episode feels sloppier than it ought to.
Fortunately, the episode is greater than able to overcoming such limitations with the facility of the battle, general. Plenty of the credit score can most likely go to Shokan, who’s one hell of a wierd villain, and that is by The Elusive Samurai‘s already twisted the requirements. The CGI ant motif is weirder than it’s participating, however the man’s borderline fetishistic love of mutilating struggle orphans after which promoting them into slavery is… nicely, it is extremely fucked up, however in a means that fits the anime’s wacky tone. The stylized portraits of bloodied youngsters projected onto Shokan’s drooling grin are genuinely disturbing, and function one more instance of the present pulling again the curtain on its candy-colored online game facade to remind its viewers that this century has simply been an extremely shitty time to be alive.
It is also nice to see Tokiyuki develop his personal distinctive combating model. I really like how Fubuki frames the boy’s light nature as an inherently harmful one — even lethal — weapon. This can be a merciless, bloodthirsty, and unforgiving world that the Elusive Warriors combat for. These youngsters lack the knowledge and expertise to match their grownup opponents in both ferocity or sheer lust for energy. What else can a warrior-in-training hope to do however try to fulfill such an evil pressure with an equal and reverse pressure of his personal? They kill with kindness, certainly.
Judgement:
The Elusive Samurai is at the moment streaming on Crunchyroll.
James is a author with many ideas and emotions about anime and different popular culture, which may also be discovered on Twitterhis weblog and his podcast.
