[Fish Sandwich]

You know, last week I acted so sure this would just be the usual alright-ish Mouri episode, but I guess I forgot the way most Zi-O episode pairs work: the second part is always the best one.

Not that it's some particular thing to that series, of course. It's only logical the exciting climax be way more entertaining than the part that has to be burdened with all the setup, but... well, that's exactly what happened here. It's a really strong episode that touches on Touma's character a bit deeper and lets Ogami mellow out just a bit while also making time to do a ton of little things I loved.

For example, how Mei got to be actively helpful in resolving the problem this early, or how, despite Saber and Blades going straight to a powerup form right away this early, we still see the base forms prominently in the ending fight against Calibur. They also pull the "really strong forms make you tired" thing right out of OOO, which gives me further hope we can finally have a Rider with a ton of forms that doesn't forget about their main one again. At least for a while, please?

The gradual way the overarching plot is being built up is something I'm finding pretty interesting as well. Just these little bits of new information being dropped every episode that get payed off and expanded on at a rapid enough pace to be satisfying. Like Calibur and Espada apparently being the focus next week after giving us a little taste this time. I like that kind of thing. There's a good sense of momentum so far.