So Darwin’s Game is back… yay…

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Darwin’s Game Ep. 5

— Shuka is still swinging around the city like Tarzan, murdering people left and right. She’s such a sweetheart. But seriously, is Kaname really okay with her actions? Or does he still not know? I honestly have no clue.

— We get a flashback that pretty much confirms what we already know: people play Darwin’s Game in order to make money. I mean, I did write up a short Marxist critique of this anime…

— Back in the hotel, Kaname has recruited The Florist to his side, and he also wants to team up with the guy in the skull mask. Forging alliances isn’t a bad idea, but I dunno if I would trust him or anyone for that matter. Maybe that’s why people like me would lose easily in Darwin’s Game. Only an idealistic MC like Kaname would take these risks and therefore manage to find friends to support him.

— The main bad guy is still out there. It’s this Wang dude that we’ve been seeing in previous episodes. Supposedly, he’s ruthless and he’s going to attack the hotel next with his gang. Gotta get dem rings.

— The one week hiatus hasn’t helped the anime improved its storytelling. We still get riveting moments like Kaname and friends standing around in a hotel room, carefully reading the rules to the game. Yawn.

— When it comes time for Kaname to rendezvous with Shuka, he gets her SOS message instead. If he doesn’t save her fast, she’s gonna drown! Oh no, my psychotic murderous waifu!

— Basically, Shuka finally ran into someone who could beat her… well, it’s more that she got overconfident. Some kid lured her underground and froze her thorns.

— The weird thing about the kid is that they’re male when they attacked Shuka, but when Kaname encounters them later, they’re suddenly a shy and easily frightened girl. Split personalities?

— Meanwhile, Rein discovers something interesting about the rings they’ve been collecting. Y’see, each of them have a unique num–… *snore*

— Let’s wrap this up. Kaname’s gonna have to go all Baywatch in order to save Shuka. Meanwhile, Ryuji (a.k.a. Mr. Skull Face) is gonna go teach that bratty kid a lesson. Boy, I can’t wait.

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Kabukicho Sherlock Ep. 17

The case of the week isn’t too interesting. It’s just about one former thief trying to convince his former partner to get back into the game, but the latter has gotten old, fat, and (most importantly) married. He just wants to settle down. What’s interesting about this episode is, of course, Moriarty. The whole thing just seems too convenient. To celebrate his return from prison, he and the kids drop by a batting center. This leads to the kids being accused of drawing graffiti. Then Moriarty ropes everyone into investigating this “mystery,” which leads them to the former thief. The former thief then takes one of the brats hostage, which allows Moriarty to play hero. And just like that, the mayor’s son has redeemed himself in the public’s eye. Oh yeah, the mayor just so happens to be embroiled in a heavily contested election. Boy, his son sure does have good timing! Obviously, these events have been carefully engineered, but it’s not even a question of why. Rather, it’s a question of when: when did Moriarty finally fall so far from grace? Something happened in prison that we didn’t get to see.

The story gets darker as Sherlock connects the dots he so desperately wants to ignore. All throughout the episode, he has been disquiet when everyone else is happy. His best friend is back, but something doesn’t feel right. All those escaped prisoners? According to the news, they’ve been committing crimes then committing suicide one-by-one. The last two bad guys have also committed suicide. Last but not least, the former thief killed himself as well. And just before he ran away, he screamed out a series of numbers that are far too similar to the series of numbers in Sherlock’s notebook. So what’s going on? Has Moriarty finally decided to put on his evil mastermind shoes that he was always fated by his namesake to wear? It sure does look that way. It sure does seem as though he and Sherlock will finally become foes… and y’know, this development makes me sad. When I first started watching this series, I wasn’t sure what to make of Moriarty being so buddy-buddy with our quirky detective. But I eventually got used to their friendship. They worked so well together in solving the Jack the Ripper case. I just hope that there is still a way to save their relationship. Sadly, this might not be possible.

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Where’s the show about the two scientists in love? I got five minutes into the latest episode and just couldn’t keep myself awake.