[GoldenXtreme]

Bit of a mixed bag, this episode. Baku finally hitting a wall and losing his confidence didn't really hit the right emotional notes for me, which made me realize just how uninvested I am in Baku as a character so far. Still, it was interesting how he seems to have actually had a long-term falling out with Fujimi and Nasuka over it. Fujimi in particular has been going in a dark direction lately, so I'm really curious to see what they have planned for him as he learns more about Odaka. It was also nice just seeing Baku have some more time with our character of the fortnight. NOX continues to say foreboding things, Zero is revealing a more murderous side to him, and Baku gets sucked into a black hole formed by his own finisher. I think all of these things should probably have me excited, but I'm kind of back to being meh on what is going on in the show. Gravity had some very cool powers though, I liked how it was used in the fight to toy with NOX. Next week, we get to learn more about Baku's traumatic lightning strike backstory.

I really can't tell how much of my reaction to this show is just due to it not being to my tastes (not very character driven, very basic motif and suits, etc.) and how much of it is due to my DISASTROUS burnout on Yuuya Takahashi's style of storytelling after Geats. Regardless, it really struggles to maintain my bare minimum level of interest, even if I don't really hate it. To be blunt, I wouldn't be watching this show live if it wasn't getting a US simulcast. Since I am very much in the target audience for this international push though, I do feel like it's important that I express how I feel about it since Toei is probably keeping an eye on fan reactions in the English speaking world.