What an incredible adaptation of Melt's big moment. I went back and checked out the manga to remind myself of how this was handled in the source material (chapters 57-58) and the anime takes this sequence to a whole new level. Melt had his own shonen protagonist climax moment.
Up to this point, this whole arc has been about the difficulty of adapting media from one form to another. Then, they bust out this episode that adapts the source manga in a way that utilizes animation that could never have been done in manga form. They even hand painted some of that sequence with actual oil paints (this is one of the animators' accounts)!
This season had a bit of a slow start, but this episode has given me tons of confidence that the rest of this arc is going to deliver. My only complaint is that I really wish that Ruby and Mem weren't relegated to being completely off screen through it all.
I think they also realy took to Heart that it is very cool when an actor is not performing great that it becomes even more awesome when he does something cool by completely flexing in this Episode with Animation quality in a Show that is heavily focused on dialog.
Now this is what an adaptation should look like. Play into the strengths of the medium and elevate the source material. It really hits different from the manga. The abstract sequence felt like it used the momentum up to that point to take me on a ride with Melt as he grew as an actor. It fits perfectly both in universe and from a meta perspective since this is also an adaptation.
Next up, the showdown between Kana and Akane. I'm excited!
This episode was really amazing. The beginning where we had the view of the audience was cool, but the peak was during the Melt scene.
It was great to see he finally getting his moment, to see him pulling that move from the Tokyo Blade manga out of nowhere and making the crowd go wild. I also loved the animation during his entire scene, especially that last minute.
But it looks like we will only see the showdown between Kana and Akane in the next episode.
It was great to see he finally getting his moment, to see him pulling that move from the Tokyo Blade manga out of nowhere and making the crowd go wild.
It's always nice to see the underdog succeed with hard work and dedication. And in this case, it's an underdog story for a side-character that began back in the previous season, so it has more impact compared to if Melt was introduced for this arc.
If this was real, Melt's sword kick & flip performance would be absolutely insane to watch, compared to his previous acting. I guess the show shows this with the Sweet Today's author's initial dumbfounded reaction.
That abstract sequence really caught me off guard. Such a great use of the animation medium that manga could never hope to replicate. Very meta in how it handles adapting media from one form to another, elevating it.