[Kiwami]

This episode all around didn't work for me.

But before I explain why, first the parts I actually liked:

- Sora is the MVP of this episode. The thought that a child would trust its father so much to simply ignore a whole group of sad swordsmen and instead tell the one guy who thinks is at fault for getting the dad killed to hold his head up high and win next time was awesome.

- The story of a character being too focused on mastering a needed power instead of realizing what he already has and accepting the helping hands reaching out to him is great. Also flows together very well with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

- The Oren & Jonouchi cameo was awesome. Really fun and so fitting for today’s reveals. Just fantastic.

But then - everything else. Oh boy.

First of all, as much as I like it… all of this happening in one episode was just too much and undermined the overall impact of the payoff. Touma focusing so much on King Arthur's power seems to come out of the blue. The pieces are there: The buildup needed to go to Avalon, knowing how Calibur affects Kento, the challenge brought forth by the mysterious sage and of course the responsibility of living up to everyone’s expectations etc.

But they don't work together, not in this short of a timespan. This needed 2-3 more episodes to really get going. Same with the sacrifice of Ogami, it's resolved so fast you can't really be bothered to care.

Then there's just straight up dumb stuff that distracted my so much - Ogami cancels his transformation why exactly? You don’t have any other means to shield Saber? No fancy book, anything? It felt very obligatory, the show wanted to make this happen without caring to make it logical.

How much does Ogami's sword weigh? Are they seriously expecting me to believe a child can just hold it? The hell? Touma gives it to Sora like the plastic prop it is and that just didn't compute with me at all.

The Arthur robot - just no. Dumb and uninspired toy advertisement at its worst. Monster grows giant just because, giant sword appears just because, giant sword transforms just because. I admit Saber becoming an actual sword was worth a smile but overall this whole ordeal was insultingly stupid. Not worth anyone’s time and a terrible way to ruin a decent group fight scene.

Calibur's identity - really? That's it? Everyone saw this coming a mile away. I really wanted this to be more interesting and there's still potential, but I don't like the direction where this is heading.

Lastly the same procedure as every week: Mei sucks and I wish she wasn't in this show. Annoying ass useless character.

Anyways, next week is a Rider debut I'm quite excited about. I'm looking forward to seeing Slash in action.