No quippy remark this time. Let’s just get right to it.

Black Torch Ep. 10

I enjoyed the episode a lot more when I thought Jiro was just chatting it up with a snake. After all, talking to animals was his gimmick — a gimmick I had completely forgotten about. After all, he’s barely used it since the opening episode. But it made sense for him to rely on this ability now. Forced to survive on a mountain by his lonesome, why wouldn’t he make friends with and lean on the fauna inhabiting the area? But no, ’twas not a snake after all. Rather, the show thought it was clever by making us think that Ibuki was the guy with the skull mask. Instead, Ibuki was a buxom beauty all along. Whatever, man. Also, don’t even think about it, ’cause she’s taken.

Anyway, not only do we learn that Amagi is a cannibal, we also see him eat the mononoke serving him. This development seems rather haphazard. Him taking this dark turn is fine, but it would’ve made more sense after Amagi had suffered a series of humiliating defeats. But he just started eating them now after hundreds of years of biding his time? Why didn’t he do this earlier? I dunno… feels rushed.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 22

Aw man, it was bad enough seeing the rabbit daemon slumped over in pain. It better not be dead at the start of next week’s episode. In any case, this week’s episode feels like a mish-mash of stuff. We get, for example, a scene explaining how Gonzo first met his kids’ mother. Can’t really say that it moved the needle for me, though. I don’t think I’ve ever asked myself, “Gosh, how did she end up with the Kagemori?” And now that I’ve seen it… eh. Then we have the twins wrapping up their private convo. Any highlights? I’m racking my brain, and I’m not coming up with anything. Moving along, no one has quite decided what to do with the poor girl from Higashi Village. She’ll more than likely have to stay down here. Not like she still has parents to return to; the murderous Gabby made sure of that. We maybe get an explanation for why the bald guy betrayed the Kagemori? But like with Gonzo and his wife, I just feel like, “What am I supposed to do with all this backstory?”

Fine… fine… I guess the takeaway is that found family can be just as meaningful if not superior to your actual family. Gonzo’s wife was abused and neglected by her family, but then she met Gonzo. Yuzu doesn’t trust the Kagemori, but all three brothers have genuinely helped Asa. They all have a good heart. Bald assassin guy should’ve just been happy he found a place with the Kagemori, but he had to go and find “his people.” You can be reasonably confident that they led him astray and made him betray the only real family he ever had. And look at Bunbun putting itself on the line to protect not just its master but its master’s friends. Even a daemon knows the true value of family. There, that’s my best attempt at drawing something out of this episode, but I do it reluctantly because the episode honestly left me emotionally cold.

Tomb Raider King Ep. 9

Right before watching this episode, I had just gotten done with Mebius Dust. As a result, the playback speed is still cranked up to 6x. Well, I’m just gonna leave it there, because I’m arguably even less interested in this show than Mebius Dust. So what is our jackass protagonist up to? He’s looking for a way to rid Irene of her misfortune relic, which requires him to piss off Kiera Clark, a very important 4-star American general. Wait, that’s impossible! Hegseth would never let a woman be that high up in the chain of command! Anyway, he destroys her map relic, which means it’s safe for him and Irene to hot-foot it to Turkey, where they find the tomb of the misfortune relic. The relic itself is based on the myth of King Midas, so traveling to Greece would’ve made more sense, but whatever. Naturally, Irene has to get naked and bathe in a special pool of water, but then something potentially disastrous happens to trigger our cliffhanger. Bah, Irene’s gonna be fine! Even a jackass protagonist requires a love interest, so I’m sure he’ll be able to save her! On the other hand, I think this 6x thing is working out! I might watch the rest of the series this way!