What do you think of episode 4 of
Blast Episode 4 offers an interesting character focus this week. I’m not sure it’s an outright winner, though it still has plenty of enjoyable moments, and it’s clear the lead is pretty strong.
Huihui and Yunyun are in the spotlight again, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be a bad decision for a creator. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking they’re the funniest members of the cast, and their interactions are at the heart of the show. Their growing friendship (or more?) is fascinating. There’s a mix of earnest embarrassment, nervous surprise, and goofy antics between the two of them. Megumin and YunYun have a straight-guy and foil dynamic, though their expressions are often more like anxious messes and criminal leprechauns. Their interactions are fascinating, and even if I don’t particularly care what they’re involved in, I’d still like to see how they handle the situation or what shenanigans they pull along the way. I think that’s a sign of good character writing.
Sadly, what actually happened in the episode Things are very attractive. There are some funny moments here and there, like Megumin’s obsession with Duxions. But I don’t think the topic of “friends asking for money” is very interesting. Moreover, the rest of the students feel very perfunctory at this stage. Even the girl who is nominally set to be Megumin’s rival doesn’t do much in this episode. The general lack of personality and lack of unique interactions is further hampered by a lack of visual identifiers. Because of the limitations of the animation, their uniforms, etc., they all looked pretty much the same in a group, and we didn’t spend enough time with them to understand who they were. I guess I’d like to see more clothing or hairstyle changes to help differentiate each one, such as the big red eye patch on the rival girl. But even just spending more time with them would be nice.
Rating:
Grant It’s the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and the Super Senpai podcast.
at present Now streaming on Crunchyroll.
