What Do We Do?
This episode is a very slow burn as the characters are searching for traces of magic in a mall before the mall suddenly gets taken over by terrorists from nine. There’s a lot of amateurs but some actual pros mixed in, but to be honest not much happens in this episode except seemingly set up for what might be a payoff next week.
The start of the episode though feels like it is going to enlighten us about something we’ve been teased about since the beginning and that is how magic works in this world. Unfortunately, despite two different characters discussing it, the specifics are pretty non-existent and then we’re back to characters waving guns around so I’m not sure it matters whether they are elves, vampires, or even dragons in the end. I guess eventually this show may make use of its setting, or it may ultimately be one of those stories where the author thought the setting sounded cool but had no idea how to use it.
Outside of that though, there’s a lot of characters sitting around or standing around and not a lot of real tension. Which seems odd given everyone is in the midst of a terrorist incident. And even one of the cast taking fire in the basement couldn’t really liven this episode up.
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I’ve enjoyed Special 7 well enough up until now, however I definitely found episode 5 a little on the dull side. I wanted more from the villains and I wanted to feel some escalating tension. Instead it just kind of feels like we were in a holding pattern and waiting down the twenty minute episode clock so that we could end the episode on a revelation that I guess was perhaps meant to get our attention for next week but mostly just seemed like a desperate attempt to salvage something from the time.
There’s just a sense of something missing this week and while this anime has never been amazing, this episode lost some of the spark that’s made it hold my attention up until now. Hopefully it gets it back next week.
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Karandi James
Special 7 is not so special, but here’s the episode coverage.
Images from: Special Crime Investigation Unit – Special 7. Dir. H Kosaka. Anima&Co. 2019.
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