Episode 11 – KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World

We’re back from another unexpected break, and the show is now well and truly over schedule, creeping into next season for its finale. I can only hope they’re able to air that episode next Wednesday because I would really like to have this whole experience in the rearview ASAP. There are only so many times I can talk about this series being bad in the exact same way before my brain starts to melt out of my ears.

Though I will say, there were a couple of moments here where I sort of enjoyed myself, largely in spite of what I know to expect from KamiKatsu. First was the car chase in the middle of the episode, which actually had some decent jokes that were only partly ruined by lackluster execution. I will always chuckle at cartoon cars having big buttons labeled “FAST” and “SUPER FAST” and the random nitro gag was just absurd enough to work. Likewise, the episode ends with the supporting cast getting ready to combat a giant monster with the power of music, and if this were any other show that would have me hyped to hell and back for the conclusion. However, I’ve had 3 months to learn I shouldn’t expect anything from this show, so I’m limiting my hopes to at least getting to hear Kana Hanazawa sing a bit in the finale. At this point, I need something to look forward to.

Besides that? This episode is a wash like all the other plot- and action-heavy episodes have been. It’s rushed to hell, trying to cram in multiple episodes of action and drama, meaning nothing lands because it’s playing in fast-forward. The action is atrocious, mixing heady ambition with a thoroughly wrecked production schedule to deliver stuff that could look good if the animators actually had time to finish it, but everything ends up feeling weightless and disorienting because they couldn’t. We get the mother of all bad CG monsters tearing through the screen, looking like something that crawled out of a sick cat’s litter box. There’s a lengthy sequence with an earthquake and the only way they’re capable of communicating that is by shaking the frame a bunch – except for a couple of shots they seem to have missed – and it’s nearly headache-inducing.

Yet the worst part of this episode comes at its end, as the series tries futilely to take itself seriously in a way that it has never earned. First is Gaia’s backstory as the daughter of a cult leader who literally turned her body into a ritual object by carving runes into her skin. That’s an incredibly grimdark way to turn her into a dark mirror of Yukito at the last minute, and it would be hilariously bad even if it weren’t, for reasons that elude me, revealed while the peppy opening theme is playing. Like, seriously, why would you do that? If it’s supposed to be darkly ironic, it certainly doesn’t read that way. It just comes across as uncanny and inept, a decision made with little consideration because there was either no time to think about it or no creative direction for presenting it. So, in the end, we get some imagery of child abuse and torture set to upbeat anisong that saps it of any impact or meaning. If it’s an accident, then it’s embarrassing, but if it’s intentional it’s so poorly considered and half-assed that it feels insulting.

Perhaps more insulting, however, is the limp attempt to treat Yukito like a serious, complex character by pointing out that he’s a manipulative snake-oil salesman who lies for power. Sorry, show, you don’t get to treat Yukito like a lovable scumbag and mine his blatant manipulations for laughs across 10 ½ episodes, then try to take it seriously because you need some kind of pathos going into the finale. If you wanted to make Yukito – or any of the cast, really – into a compelling well-rounded character capable of internal drama, you should have done it before the literal 11th hour. As-is, it feels like the show started writing out its script in big bubble letters on a piece of poster paper, and has just now realized there’s not enough room to fit everything on one side, so it’s desperately reduced its font and trying to squeeze in those last couple letters.

Rating:

KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.