Kotoura 3
Before this show aired, I never thought this would be the "can't wait until next week" series of the season.
Because of all the drama, I think I understand the housewife who watches daytime soaps now. As long as they keep upping the ante, I want to see what the show can bring the following week in terms of batshit insane storylines. Maybe it turns out that the two leads are related and there will be some incest angst to throw into the mix. lol
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Gintama 259
Well, you guys weren't kidding (well, for the posts I managed to read anyway.
)
Holy
Fucking
Shit
I have no doubt that these glamour shots are probably ripped straight out of the manga, but I don't really care.
Gintama constantly earns these moments that I would just scoff at in any other context. Even the fucking info dump in the middle act of the episode is earned because it's something that's been teased over and over again for - well, for normal people - years.
Gintama is action done right, where the action beats are work in spite of the fact that the show clearly doesn't have the proper budget to sustain a 10 minute long action sequence, precisely because they've taken the time to build to the action scenes with 40 minutes of great character development.
The fact that they can get away with a 5 minute info dump after this great action sequence is a testament to how great Gintoki is as a character. Yes, he's a cipher who is mostly empty for a majority of the series, but the small glimpses into his history come at the right moment. Of course, it's all in service of all the cliches and tropes that he embodies, but I don't care because it's just done so well.
And of course, the infodump is just a microcosm of how the show constantly sets up action - it's all in service of what is sure to be an outstanding climax next week. I swear,
Gintama is probably as predictable as any bad syfy show that I hate, yet it's done so well that in the moment I'm just enjoying myself too much to care.
I think a great bonus that comes with the infodump is that, as a Gintoki x Tsuki fanboy (I don't even care anymore, I'm shipping and I feel fine), you have the moment where Tsuki is suddenly able to understand why Gintoki was able to help her during the Red Spider arc. I mean, at this point, the relationship is basically canon right? Oh, I'm sure because it's a shounen and Tsuki is the most hated female character by women ever (because they can't admit the truth), it'll never actually happen in the show and Gintoki will remain forever sexless, but everyone knows the truth. lol
On a related note, Tsuki and Yoshiwara arcs are really the best things to come out of the series:
It feels like they have to remind people that the other female characters exist, but really, it's not much of a competition. Heck, does anyone even remember that glasses as an older sister? lol
The bonus to these arcs is that they constantly espouse a feminist message and takes the whole "hooker with the heart of gold" cliche and turns it on its head and makes it something that you can't really mock.
Always. Until next week.
