Active Raid

Episode 10

This was not a good episode of Active Raid, but not in the way that Active Raid episodes have traditionally been not-good. While episodes like the train extravaganza combined weak plotting with frustrating tonal incoherence, they were at least trying to do something. Their weaknesses came from stumbling and overreaching, not from being totally inert. In contrast, this week's Active Raid is entirely dedicated to moving plot pieces forward, and it does so with virtually no distinction or personality whatsoever.

You could essentially read this list's plot sparknotes and not have missed a single thing. It opens with a brief dream by Mythos, which clues us in to the fact that his “companion” Emily is likely a dead sister or some other pat motivational tool. Then we get a scene of ominous scheming by Mythos and Bird (now revealed to be Tomoki, Hinata's classmate), where the two high-five over their villainy and speak of becoming conquerors. And then, with perhaps even more abruptness than this flat summary can convey, we promptly learn Unit 8 is being disbanded.

Nothing in this episode really carried any emotional punch or sense of dramatic consequence. The actual narrative events felt like afterthoughts - like the writers realized the characters were at episode nine and needed to be at episode eleven, and so they hastily sketched all the events that would be necessary to get them there. Tomoki confesses the truth to Hinata and then turns himself in, but there's no dramatic weight to those events. Virtually every member of Unit 8 reacts to their dismissal with a flat “oh,” a decision that in a better-constructed episode might have reflected on their relationship with their careers, but here just seems like no one's actually invested in anything. And in the episode's last act, Logos' pursuit of the Orochi system abruptly regains focus, as the entire Unit 8 crew share a monologue explaining what the villains are trying to do in the moments before they actually do it.

This episode was so flat and empty that it leaves me almost nothing to talk about. That plot summary basically covers it - there were no compelling character moments, no strong aesthetic tricks, and no bits of personality or graceful plotting at all. There was no sense of anticipation for Logos' plan, because their plan has always been mysterious nonsense - and with the actual main cast seemingly unmoved by their own division's disbanding, there was nothing to hang onto in an emotional sense either. Active Raid makes no effort to add unique interest to an episode that was essentially just the characters being swept by a broom from one obvious narrative corner to a different one. It wasn't even egregiously bad, it was just… nothing.

This Active Raid was certainly a big disappointment, but fortunately I can't see any way the show will be similarly empty next week. This was a setup episode - Logos' plot may be one of the weakest elements of the show, but it's at least something, an antagonistic force that demands the characters actually do things. Hopefully this was just a momentary misstep, and things will improve for the climax's true opening next week. Active Raid is an inconsistent show, but it can certainly do better than this.

Overall: C-

Active Raid is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.