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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:4615#628] | ||||||
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(Five episodes watched) This was a show which quickly grabbed my attention, perhaps due to the relatively novel premise. It has a sort of Beauty and the Beast feel to it. It would be hard not to sympathize with Wisteria, who is treated like crap by the abusive 'Father' who runs the orphanage. And she is a thinking girl, which means we get an idea of her personality ("For someone who has lived so long, you don't understand others at all"). Marbas is immortal but sort of wishes he wasn't, as he has become jaded ("I'm so bored that I wish I could just be done with this"). He says demons take souls because that extends their own lives. Also, they cannot grant wishes without taking something valuable in return. He can transform into a ravishingly handsome man that anyone can see for brief periods. We are introduced to the Sword Cross Knights, a demon killing outfit that seems to be looking for Marbas. So, this seemed fun and original--though the story seemed to shift into high gear and move too fast for my taste towards the end of the episode. Holy crap--we are informed of a link to Wisteria's long lost brother in a manner which came as a genuine surprise to me. I did not see that coming. After Marbas rescues Wisteria from a grim fate it almost seems as if the story is complete when in fact it has barely begun. I am eager to see where this will go from here. I thought I had figured out what general course the plot of this show would take: Marbas and Wisteria would be on the run, with the Sword Cross Knights, including her brother, Snow, slowly catching up to them. Snow would finally find them for the climax in the final or next-to-final episode. But no, he does that in episode two. I'm not sure this was a good idea; the biggest conflict of the series seems to have been resolved early on, so where will it go instead? It looks like Snow will be reduced to covering-up for his sister and Marbas, since she would be executed if it became known that she had made a contract with a demon. It just seems to me that a brilliant opportunity was passed by and something else will be done instead. In episode three Marbas and Wisteria encounter Harriet, another orphan girl who has made a contract with a demon, just a somewhat less powerful one. We get a shocker/surprise about the deal they made, or at least I think it was supposed to shock and surprise us, but I was not all that impressed. It just seemed to me that again this show is diverging from what might have been a brilliant plot and instead spending valuable time on a subplot that has little if anything to do with the main one. In episode four Wisteria and Marbas encounter a friend (and her demon) that Wisteria made in episode two (IIRC). This person is being pursued by the Sword Cross Knights and they get drawn into the battle. But again I was not terribly impressed; the fight ends inconclusively and what does it matter anyway? There's something funny about the leader of the Knights, who wears a suit of armor that conceals his body and face. This guy has supernatural powers which makes Marbas wonder if he might be a demon himself, but the Knights are supposed to be all about annihilating demons. My sense is that the answer might be anything from intriguing to falling completely flat--and I fear it will more likely be the latter. The arc comes to an end in episode five, but I was not moved much. What I wanted was a deep, moving story that was principally about Marbas and Wisteria, not fights-of-the-week with the Sword Cross Knights. There seems to be a trend in this Winter 2023 season: shows which at first glance have potentially brilliant plots, but ultimately fall far short of expectations. Plenty of new shows, but no really great ones. I could not help wondering if there was any point to continuing to watch this series. Last updated Tuesday, February 28 2023. Created Wednesday, January 18 2023. | ||||||||
