[Switchblade]

Dragged my feet on watching this one but I'm glad I finally did because I actually kinda liked it. Have some poorly assembled reactions:

There was a lot of good stuff with the characters outside of their superhero suits this time. I still think the show is overcrowded, but I did appreciate spending time with even a few of the characters in more civilian settings, especially Touma and, believe it or not, Mei. I'm actually starting to think that there's a good character in Mei, but it depends on who's making the episode. When she's being written as Shunpei 2.0 she's kind of awful, but when she's written as a slightly goofy but real character she can be pretty likable.

Embarrassed that I missed the Geed cameos, but I definitely had to pause the episode to see who was playing Mei's editor. Always great to see Mizuki again.

Still getting some Sentai influence on the show. Yuri's arrival was textbook 6th Ranger first appearance: appeared out of nowhere, easily outshone the established characters, lots of close-ups on the toy and its sparkly metallic colors. Also, the show is continuing to do one of my least favorite Sentai-isms: something happens and we get individual reaction shots from every single character.

The others turning on Touma doesn't bother me. Like I keep saying when I get around to responding to Saber threads, this show has a pacing problem. Obviously Shifty Southern Base Lady Whose Name I'm Blanking On poisoning the others against Touma is a fine idea, especially playing off Daishinji, Rintaro, and Ogami's history with the Sword of Logos (also, Ren is there). If played out over an episode or two this would be a really good simmering subplot. Instead, Saber does it in two short scenes. At this point, I generally like the story that the show is telling but I have to accept the fact that it's telling it too quickly for it to be as effective as it could be.