Fantasista Doll Episode 9
What They Say:
Uzume Uno is an ordinary junior high school student nothing special to mention about school grades or in the field of sports. However, one day, her destiny is significantly changed. She happens to find mysterious cards from which dolls therein with special abilities come out to real life. Uzume becomes the “Card Master” and executes contract with these characteristic dolls. Soon or later, she somehow finds herself in a position to fight not just for her own town, but to save the whole world….
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While we’ve gotten a few background nods to the larger issues going on in the series in the last couple of episodes, we’ve also had a good deal of fluff. And that fluff does kind of dominate a good chunk of this episode as well, starting off with Uzume watching all the girls going through a bit of gambling and playing of cards and the like for specialty coins that they have and then rolling into another minor segment about the fears that the girls have about being abandoned. These are deep seated issues so it’s not a surprise they’d be wiped away easily, but for a short series they do crop up fairly often. Add in a little normal human character time as Kagami and Uzume spend time together and Uzume also gets to talk with Chihiro a bit and you get some decent little bits that extends the cast, but doesn’t really make them any more interesting.
Where the show shifts into in the second half brings Kagami back to the front and center as she’s teased with the idea that information about her brother’s whereabouts are now available, but there’s a limited twenty-four hour window for her to acquire it. And to acquire it, she has to take down Uzume first, which sets the two sort of friends againt each other with their dolls, making for a decent fight in the second half as these segments are generally well animated, even if a bit stupidly goofy at times. The action takes up a nice chunk of time here before things settle out with the expected discussions, concern and coming together for a shared purpose with Uzume wanting to do what she can to help her friend find her brother. It’s predictable to be sure, but the fight at least was fun to watch.
In Summary:
Another week, more mild plot development and empty character growth. The series is one that I was quite keen on from before it aired with what it had in terms of production and creative, but the end result is one that feels more and more lifeless and by the numbers as it goes on. And while that can be fun if other areas are above average, we don’t even get that here as most of the girls that Uzume has with her tend to be pretty off-putting at times and unappealing with their personalities as well as when together in a group. This episode at least puts Uzume and Kagami on mostly the same page with things and that definitely helps, but it’s a small part of things as we roll into the final few episodes.
Grade: C-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.