English Dub Review: AfterLost “Parting”

Just keep shoving more tropes in.

Overview:

The fight for the Artifact continues. Poorly. Very poorly.

Our Take:

It is really kind of amazing how this show manages to be so boringly mediocre in every aspect.

Following off on what I said last episode, no amount of sad music or basic emotion tropes are going to make me care about people I have no attachment to. Tragic flashbacks aren’t going to cut it either, I’ve known these kids for a grand total of one episode, and they sure haven’t done anything to make me care about them! Even the magician, who is likely the most well-developed character out of the lot, still doesn’t move me. Shoving in more flashbacks, even if they give a vague amount of context, is not the same thing as delivering a satisfying conclusion for a character that has been with us since the start.

Oh no, not the little brother figure that’s been trying to kill them this entire time! What if he dies, or something! I do love the fact that despite everything that’s happened in the series so far, Yuki magically forgives him because he says that he was trying to help her all along. Trying to help her by murdering her, I guess? Or something. He does have a sensitive side, and does actually care! Probably. This show is falling completely flat.

Also, ice explosions during a covert operation, but no security is tripped, and the police don’t become involved. I know there’s a big mega-corporation pulling all the strings behind this, but really, come on now. There’s only so much disbelief I can suspend before losing complete faith. The fight scenes were also pretty dull– there’s no tension if the fight scenes are intercut with long dialogue sequences, because why not put the fight on hold to orate for a while? This isn’t a long-running shonen show where they’re trying to pad the run-time, this is just clumsy.

Anyway, going forward we’re going to find out about the orphanage, which was actually a front for child experimentation by the evil mega-corporation, that Takuya also used to work at or nearby, apparently. Once again, this might be an interesting thing to follow up on, if this piece of the plot had been introduced more than just the last episode.

If you ever want to watch something to learn exactly what not to do when writing a story, really, try this series out. You will not be disappointed.