English Dub Season Review: “Tsugumomo” Season One

The commercial interstitials of Tsugumomo are like a three-second emotional summary of what I loved about the show. Guitar lick. Drum beats. “Tsugumomo”. And with that, things are getting down to business.

It may have taken some explaining, but Tsugumomo has a clear point – malison is a bad supernatural force, Kazuya is the chosen one to fight it, and he does it with his magical sash lady. It’s all about the battles, and the battles are intense. And then it’s also about the characters and the comedy and also, yes, the often naked ladies. Tsugumomo has it all and it is very adept at showing that off.

The point is, this show is thoroughly enjoyable. There were only a few moments during the season where that faltered. In fact, Tsugumomo was so good at being enjoyable, that maybe it forgot to slow down and pay attention to the story it was trying to tell. Season one was clearly just the first chapter in a much larger story. Because of this, the overall season arc lied with the development of this rag-tag group of characters.

The audience did get to see some of those fruits: Kiriha stayed supremely badass while eventually letting down her emotional guard. Kukuri went from terrifying to delightful. Kayuza took his first steps on the typical hero’s journey and entertained the idea of an emotional breakthrough, too. These were the moments that really paid off. But the plot development, the structural climax, was lacking. Because the season was clearly just a first act, Kazuya’s final fight had fairly low stakes. It even felt out of place amongst the team’s other genre-defying exploits.

Overall, I absolutely want more. More of these characters, for sure, and more insanely creative battles, and okay, I’ll even take more plot development, too. Tsugumomo has everything it needs to bribe in a fan and then puts those sweets to good use.

SCORE
7.5/10