Milky Holmes TD 8-11
So, the new season has just finished its main story, and for the last episode next week we're getting some random story apparently focusing on the Milkies and Arsene.
Anyway, during the first 7 episodes, I thought the season started uneven, especially due to the "Element" segments at the end of each episode, where the Milkies had to win some kind of game in an interdimensional space in order to help Marine, an idol who lost her "Elements" that give her singing voice. It generally didn't work since most of the humor tied to them comes from their incompetency, and those scenarios require their victory. However, I thought the show had been improving, and the episodes generally getting more enjoyable... but that pretty much stopped at episode 7 though, which was likely the season's peak. Episode 7 focused mostly on Nero and the other Milkies rather than some new guest character or Marine, and undermined the "lesson of the week" right after the scene was over.
The 2nd half of the show addressed the flaw regarding the Element scenes, but then everything else kind of falters.
Episode 8 is a Rose of Versailles parody. Well, it uses some visual elements anyway. Still, they basically waste half of the episode "setting up" the joke before attempting to be funny, and the pay off just wasn't good enough anyway. Like I said above though, they actually fixed the Element scenes, with the Milkies now being incompetent there and the scenes actually carrying some humor.
Episode 9 and 10 take place in a casino, also episode 10 is filled with references from Macross to Laputa, also bring back past elements and use them well, like the ouija board - the main issue here though is the direction that puts lots of dead time between the jokes for little reason. Some scenes, especially in episode 10 also had a strangely serious atmosphere even though the action on screen seem like it should be humorous. The element scene in episode 10 ends up being one of the best moments in the series though. I also liked the one in episode 9, although I can see why people would dislike it, since it's entirely focused on Marine, rather than the Milkies. However, I think if Marine had been written like she was in episode 9 throughout the entire series she could have been a worthwhile addition to the cast - since there she had an unique humorous element to her (stupidly good luck), while in the other episodes she's basically just a straight man at best and "that one character that always brings a serious tone with her" at worst. I also liked the new character added in episode 9, although she doesn't get enough comedic screentime in the end due to the Element scenes taking almost half of episodes 9 and 10.
Episode 11 is a resolution of Marine's story and this season's main premise, so the humor was sidelined. Kokoro's return here and a couple of the scenes with the Milkies were good though.
) Mostly because Kurumi doesn't show up before the second half og the series and then just... dissapears again before the final 2 episodes.
