Katsugeki Touken Ranbu Episode 12 - Personal Crisis Trumps Greater Narrative

Review:

There were a few moments where I was watching this episode and felt bitterly disappointed that this show still has an episode to go. It isn’t that the action this week wasn’t pretty, they are still getting that part right, but the story is just not working at all.

The master shows up and they discuss Horikawa and come up with some ultra-noble reason he’s actually going to attempt to change history and then, without actually worrying about the other guys in the second unit (apparently we should never have cared about them( they just jump in history to the final battle of Hijikata.

The Time Retrograde Army are there, but don’t worry because instead of half the second unit needing to desperately battle, we’ll just call for the first unit, who the audience barely know or care about from the anime, and they’ll just overpower the enemy in a flashy fight sequence before vowing to hold them off. Okay, if they aren’t a threat and they aren’t actually stopping the main plot, why as an audience member should I care that they exist?

So basically it comes down to the main sword we’ve been following through the various existential crises this season going to his former master’s house and there, shockingly, is Horikawa (given he didn’t jump through time I guess he lived through however many years passed between the former time period and this one). That’s where we end and I guess it is supposed to be dramatic but this show really hasn’t done enough to make me care about any of these conflicts or the characters facing them.

Next week is the end.

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