they stumble that run fast

This looks incredible, not that I had a lot of doubt given the last two seasons were equally great. Love the poster visuals with the field and the hints at what’s to come with the locusts. And of course Maomao and Jinshi at the center of it all tops it off perfectly. Cannot wait for the season to begin!!

Animation quality got a bit of an upgrade for this one which was a definite plus. It’s still lacking in ways but having that smoothness back in places and some actual depth to the styling really does make a difference in the enjoyment of the series. Was debating on dropping it after the last episode but if they manage to pull it back and the later half has better quality that’ll be a nice change.

The plot is getting a lot heavier as we go along and while I think some parts are really good, others I’m not so sure add much of anything. We’re really getting into how detrimental it is that Victoria keeps everyone at arms length and makes it clear she’ll do it all on her own. Even though she’s required assistance and has been extended genuine kindness by those around her without asking, she’s still adamant about not relying on anyone which is a shame. Not to mention that Victoria is so worried about rejection that she pushes people away in an attempt to keep from getting hurt but in doing this she doesn’t realize how many people are actually there and showing her they can be trusted like Jeff, his family, her employers and the circle she’s built.

Especially when it comes to Jeffrey, he’s being so straightforward about wanting to be there for here, even clearly stating that she can share her burdens with him and rely on him. However her constant rebuffs would be discouraging to anyone, truly only in a fictional setting would someone stick around this long when they’re told repeatedly that the other person can do it without them. I get that this is about Victoria being guarded because of her past but her whole thing of openly saying to him she has to do it alone because what if he abandoned her was silly. If a person you’re interested in thought so little of your trustworthiness it’d be hard to ever form a foundation from that. Even Nonna basically sees Jeffrey as her dad at this point yet Victoria is so determined to distance herself while also sending mixed signals that she likes him.

Okay, at first I was trying to give this series the benefit of the doubt that maybe it was going to show how someone that’s endured a lot of hardship like Yuzu needs a person like Reiya who can show her it’s ok to depend on someone because not everyone will leave, treat you badly or ignore your needs. Instead though it’s just become a stilted story where Yuzu has accepted being a bride but has no clue what that means and Reiya isn’t attempting to get to know Yuzu as a person at all even though he claims to love her. It’s beyond obvious this bride bond doesn’t actually make the two people come together for any real connection, it’s just something for the demon’s power gains.

Again, not sure why writers think this is romantic when if Reiya actually talked to Yuzu he’d see that giving her a bunch of stuff isn’t what she wants. I think just a passing understanding of her would let anyone know that. Not to mention the “I expect gratitude” thing. At first it seemed like Reiya was protective because of the bride bond but also due to what he saw Yuzu go through and wanting to deliver her from that and show her better. Now though, I’ll admit he is just coming across as a creep. She’s uncomfortable, tells him he doesn’t need to give her gifts and yet he tells her he likes doing it anyway and expects her to be thankful, with a kiss no less?? That’s just…yuck. Affection should be given naturally, not coerced even if someone suspects the other person feels the same. Even with Touko and Nyankichi, he really is a stalker and it seemed like they were on a good track showing their love blossoming from mutual interest but then it ends up being that Touko just gave in because she was jealous so that’s not any better.

Wow, I said last time was bad but this episode surprised me with the complete lack of quality. I honestly don’t know how today with the ability to do so much in the digital space you actually could produce something like this. I don’t want to sound mean but honestly what was the point in even putting out this anime if this was the quality they were going to go with. The characters feel half-drawn most of the scenes now to the point where a couple times Yuri didn’t even look like the same person and everything is just not filled out.

And Zannanza 😭 he was one of the early favorites in the manga, came across so cool but here he looks like he’s 16 and kind of a woman from certain angles the way they drew him, ugh. Not to mention when they finally changed Yuri’s outfit but it was like a Disney Princess dress montage. I mean, they’re supposed to look closer to middle-eastern dress / Grecian dress cuts and styles of that era, not off the rack prom dresses 🤦‍♀️

I’m so over Sparks of Tomorrow. These writers had something great dropped in their lap but they’ve ruined it and it’s unrecognizable to the original. Normally people would be upset about that but make it insinuate many characters are lgbtq in some form and they’ll put their stamp of approval on it. I mean now it’s not only Yosuke but the two friends and the butler?? Even the military guys. I mean yes they were joking there but the intention is clear. At this point it’s becoming evident this is a subversive agenda to erase the Christian narrative in the original and people are just choosing to ignore it. Yes, the novel wasn’t perfect about faith but it had far more meaning than whatever this is, even just from a relationship standpoint between characters.

Part of me wants to swoon at this and think it’s sweet that he wished he were there for all of her birthdays before but then another part of me says this is too much. I mean, it’s one thing to get a present now and say, affectionately, that you wish you had been there with someone earlier and are sad you didn’t meet them sooner. It’s another thing to do this and write all these letters when the actual content shows you don’t know them. Yuzu is a shy, sweet girl who suffered a lot of heartache yet Reiya’s letters show he doesn’t know much about her personally at all. He says a lot about being sure she’s making friends and doing well when we know her whole life she felt completely alone and isolated, with the exception of Touko. So, the better thing to do would be to give a gift and say that you may not know the struggles that person went through without you but you’re here now and can enjoy their celebrations going forward, not to act like you knew them then because you didn’t and can’t erase the time they spent without you.

There are parts of the ‘The Ogre’s Bride’ I really like, such as showing it’s ok to be reliant on someone who loves you and trust them. But then there are parts that do just make me go “that’s really sketchy and awful” like the entire demon system and how they basically seem to have total control over everyone, stated or implied. I mean when Yuzu’s friend Touko and Nyankichi come in to the classroom and the girls are just expected to get out of the way so they can talk to Yuzu, what even was that? Like just because she’s a bride and him a demon Yuzu can’t have other friends there next to her?

While I’ve enjoyed Ogre’s Bride and think it delves into some interesting concepts, I just am not a fan of this trope. Why? Because often Reiya’s bond with Yuzu feels like it’s less about her and more about this “bride” concept. And it’s that way often when this kind of thing is part of the narrative. Although he’s looking out for her and worried, much of it circles back to his fervor surrounding this all consuming need to cherish her that overwhelms the men once they’ve met their bride. To me though, that’s not love.

I get this is a big trope in romantasy books right now with “mates” fiction and whatnot but I guess I was hoping that this bride bond wasn’t that. That maybe the magic brought together people who would match well but the love develops from knowing one another, not this instantaneous rush of random magic chemicals that binds you to a stranger. With Yuzu and Reiya though, they know little to nothing about one another and aren’t trying to. It’s meant to be romantic yet all I can think about is that Reiya is determined he loves his “bride” but could he love Yuzu herself? If any other woman was his “bride” she would’ve been treated the same. This makes me sad that it wasn’t about seeing Yuzu in a terrible situation and actually caring about her, Reiya is proving that when he dismisses all the other women. It’s just about this thing that binds them together. It always makes me wonder if they’d have ever actually chosen that person if the strange magical bond wasn’t there.

Disappointingly, Red River just keeps getting worse and worse. At first I was glad they downplayed the heavy physical elements but now they’ve taken all the chemistry out between Yuri and Kail, she just always looks like she hasn’t had a bath and their tension moments have no impact with the poor quality. I mean, I get wanting to stay true to some stuff but you could give the girl another outfit and it’d be fine.

And on the quality note, goodness was it terrible. We have frames that don’t match like Aslan having a saddle pad in one frame and then nothing in the others. The stilted way everyone moves, the switch to the almost 3D animation for the battle scenes but then repeating the same frames over and over. And seriously, the way they animated Kail just swishing the one sister from side to side over and over like it’s hard for him to push her over until the moment Yuri is poisoned was ridiculous. He’s supposed to be this fierce warrior prince but a tiny girl was restraining him, come on. Not to mention before that where his and Yuri’s moment was meant to look intimate as she doesn’t know what’s going on and gets caught up in him kissing her but it came across like two stick figures just lying there.

I feel like they fumbled a lot with this latest episode. It just felt like whole gaps were missing of plot somewhere. The animation was jumpy, they paused in spots where they didn’t need to and wouldn’t linger where it couldve helped the intimacy stretch, mostly with Jeff and Victoria. There were some highly impactful moments that just didn’t land at all or make sense.

For instance, it’s obvious Jeff has to know she’s not who she says she is at this point when she’s landing blows on one of the princes. But he says he won’t arrest her so casually and invites her to his home. Now I get that he trusts her and is interested but being a Captain he should be more concerned. Also, it made no sense why Victoria herself who’s so concerned about concealing her identity wouldn’t listen to the man who turned out to be the prince when he kept telling her he wasn’t there to hurt her. She’s the one who kept escalating it when if she’d have heard him out she might not have blown her cover so bad. At this point I’m just wondering why no one would just ask her who she is when it’s clear she’s hiding something.