As always, we’ll begin with Darwin’s Game…

— The Florist gets double-teamed in the hotel. First, this dude knocks him back. Great animation, huh? Then as he stumbles backwards, he gets a fist right through the chest. Oof, that’s gotta hurt… ah, if only I gave a damn about him and his fate.

— Still, The Florist won’t go down like a chump, so he somehow holds his heart together using the power of plants. Yup.

— Then with his last remaining ounce of energy, he brings the whole building down on his foes. I like how he goes on a mini-rant about how plants shouldn’t be underestimated right before he dies. I dunno about you, but I probably wouldn’t be that coherent as my life is ebbing away. I’d probably be cursing a whole lot.

— So The Florist dies and leaves behind his poor daughter. She didn’t have enough money for her medical bills before, and now she won’t have a dad either. That’s why we need free healthcare, folks! The Japanese government actually pays 70% of the cost, but I assume that the remaining 30% is still too much for The Florist. So again… free healthcare… Or we could continue propping up this unsustainable dystopian future by trying to crowdfund for our medical emergencies. That’s just as well.

— Still, The Florist probably should’ve heeded Rein’s advice about not letting his daughter lose her father, huh? Who’s gonna take care of her now?

— Elsewhere, Rein runs into the Eighth. One dude can apparently smell, uh, her womanliness. I’ll leave that to your imagination. Using her Sigil, she’s able to dodge him easily enough…

— …but for some reason, the final boss proves to be too much for her magical abilities. I wonder why. As far as I can tell, he can only teleport. Actually, I don’t really wanna know. I don’t want to devote another ounce of brainpower to this show.

— So the big, bad Wang breaks Rein’s arm in order to get information from her. But of course, Kaname and friends show up just in time to save the cute girl from any further harm. If she had been a dude, she’d probably be dead right now just like The Florist.

— The team briefly splits up. Kaname sends Rein off to solve the puzzle behind the game. We get to see her go into some kinda mode in order to get the job done. To the viewer, none of this really matters. I mean, if we were given clues as to how to solve the mystery along with the characters, then sure. But we’re not, so I’m really just watching Rein blabber for a good minute or two. It’s not exactly compelling stuff.

— Meanwhile, Shooty Man (I think his name is like Ryuuji or something) tries to get his revenge on Wang. There’s lots of cheap action until the latter closes the distance and chops the guy’s arm off. See, if Shooty Man had been a cute girl, he might have been allowed to keep his arm. Might. On the other hand, losing an arm might make him moe or some shit. Y’know how it is.

— I think the black stuff in the jar is supposed to be pickled body parts from Wang’s former victims. I like how he just carries it around with him even on the battlefield.

— But again, Kaname shows up to save the day… kinda. He wants to make a deal, but it’s 100% a bluff. Still, you’ll have to wait a whole week to see how Kaname talks himself out of this mess! Can’t wait!

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Kabukicho Sherlock Ep. 19

I don’t have too much to say about this week’s episode, because we are currently in a holding pattern. We already know that Moriarty is the mastermind behind all of the recent incidents. Sherlock knows this as well. So when he confronted his former best bud, I had hoped for some substantive answers. I want to know why Moriarty has become a bad egg. Unfortunately, our boy villain gives some spiel about how his dastardly deeds are just fun. And because Sherlock is more concerned with saving lives than solving the mystery, he’s disappointed that his friend has become so dull. Right off the bat, I have two problems.

First, this is the sort of nonsense that you expect to hear from a generic psychotic villain. Oh, I’m just so bored! Watching my pawns dance is so amusing. Join me, Sherlock, and I’ll show you what fun we can have together. Yawn. The thing is that I think the show has better writing than this, so I’m holding out hope that Moriarty is simply holding his cards close to his chest. Second, I’m not sure why he thinks the Sherlock of old would’ve allowed people to die. Sure, our hero has changed over the course of the series. Sure, he used to be colder and more uncaring in the past… but he wasn’t completely heartless. Sherlock never would’ve let innocent people die. So where is this characterization coming from?

Hopefully, the series can finish strong, but it feels like the series is gonna stretch out this final leg.