Tokyo Ravens Episode 15
What They Say:
In the aftermath of Doman’s attack, Harutora and Natsume have a strange encounter and learn new information.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The attack on the academy in the previous episode was certainly interesting with what it did as we got a fair number of characters involved, but it was also a bit of a letdown. Giving us the main cast of characters and largely having them being protected kind of removes them from the action in a big way, but it also reduces what we think of them. Having Ohtomo come in and essentially save the day for a good part of it, even while taking on a lot of damage, didn’t do much for me either since he’s not a strong character in terms of screentime and what we know of him, so it all just felt too easy. I did like that it painted a bigger picture for what’s going on, which is something that show has been doing for awhile, but it also left with more questions than anything else and a nagging feeling that a lot won’t get answered.
While we get a little bit of a whirlwind here at first with things going on, it takes an interesting route as Natsume and Harutora head back to the school for a bit at night in order to get a few things and survey the damage. The place was definitely wrecked, inside and out, and there’s some significant damage. But it takes a more curious turn when they reach the roof and they come across a young woman there named Takiko Souma, who claims to be a student. But as odd as it is to find her there, even if she is who she says she is, she’s laid out the roof in a ritualistic form while talking about Abe no Seimi, which of course brings us back to one of the oldest known onmyou stories that has seen numerous adaptations over the year. Takiko seemingly brings in more back story to the academy and some of its elder types there, but it’s something that just raises more questions than anything else.
With the idea of looking into the Raven Coat more, that gives the younger crew a bit of focus to work with, though some concern as to whether they should be doing that. That doesn’t get too far for a good part of this and instead we just get what feel like seemingly disconnected moments, including seeing Reiji completely whaling on Shaver as shaver tries to talk with him about things. There’s some interesting bits that do come from later material in the episode as the main kids visit Ohtomo in the hospital, who has the director visiting at the same time, and we get a few insights into him. But it’s all pretty uninteresting at this point, at least from a weekly viewing basis, as the show has largely squandered the goodwill it created in the early episodes.
In Summary:
I really liked Tokyo Ravens in the first half of the series, and the early episodes in particular, but this half of the series is really starting to feel stretched and strained in ways that leaves me wanting to walk away from it. I’m still interested in some of the characters, even knowing there will be no real changes for any of them within the series itself, but seeing how it’s moving at such a plodding and ill structured way with too much going on and not enough substance to it is just making it a chore to sit through. It has some solid potential to it and there are things to like, but it’s not a series that works well in the weekly context at this point.
Grade: C
Streamed By: FUNimation
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.