Well folks, it’s Wednesday again. With the season’s halfway point behind us, my airing schedule has settled into a comfortable neutral at this point, as three very entertaining shows each continue to impress in their own ways. This was a particularly good week for Planet With and a mediocre one for My Hero Academia, but bumps and divots like that are basically expected from all shows, and on the whole my airing schedule is consistent as heck. In fact, with only one season left in the year, we’re actually reaching the point where I could even start to plot out what will end up on my end-of-year top ten list. My Hero Academia’s likely to settle somewhere around the bottom of the list regardless, but both Planet With and Revue Starlight have the potential to fall almost anywhere within that list, depending on how they resolve. It’s anyone’s game at this point, so let’s do some thorough sifting as we RUN THIS WEEK DOWN!

In a reversal of the show’s recent trend, you couldn’t really pin the problems with this week’s My Hero Academia on the adaptation. No amount of adaptive polish was going to make a concept like “Mineta’s horny screeching prompts Ochako to solemnly and repeatedly ponder whether her feelings for Deku are actually feelings for Deku” thrilling, or really welcome at all. Mineta’s woebegotten existence aside, “I guess I have a crush on Deku” is pretty much the most underwhelming place they could take Ochako’s character, particularly since her feelings here don’t seem tied to any growth outside of their relationship.

Not only does centering Ochako’s story on her feelings for Deku basically just make her an extension of his character, as opposed to an engaging character in her own right, there’s also just zero compelling drama in “what are these feelings I’m feeling, what do they mean.” Ochako, we know what they mean, you know what they mean, all this airtime is basically just building tension for when you finally admit how you feel. I’m certainly not fundamentally against Ochako and Deku’s story going in a romantic direction, I’m just desperately hoping that such a turn won’t consistently come at the expense of Ochako’s characterization otherwise, or be framed in such a dramatic void. Romance can certainly be interesting in its own right, and also contribute to character growth, but that demands more dedicated effort than these shapeless pining sessions can muster.

Revue Starlight kept things about par this week, as we ran through a self-contained narrative focusing on Kaoruko and Futaba. My main complaints with this episode were ones that would apply to most episodes of this show – the personal drama felt a little too thinly written and broadly articulated to truly feel personal, while the nature of being a top star is still frustratingly vague. But those regular issues aside, this actually felt like one of Revue Starlight’s better personal vignettes, and did an excellent job of illustrating both the original central relationship and the reasons for its near-breakdown this week.

Kaoruko’s feelings matched her persona exactly; having reached the point where she could no longer get by on natural talent, she felt utterly adrift, and thus naturally turned to her rock for support. Unfortunately, while Kaoruko was languishing in assumed worthiness, Futaba had been dedicating herself to self-improvement, and thus had actually eclipsed her old friend. The root of this conflict felt totally convincing, and naturally lent itself to a larger story about two girls who each just wanted to know the person they loved was still willing to fight for them. Revue Starlight lacks the sharpness of dialogue or depth of characterization to really shine as a top tier character drama, but its mixture of relatively sturdy conflicts, sympathetic characters, and gorgeous highlights still make for a very entertaining watch.

This week’s Planet With managed to cram maybe three or four seasons worth of dramatic material into one astonishingly cohesive episode, somehow doubling down on the incredible speed it’s been demonstrating so far. I was really wondering how the show would maneuver itself into position for a second half arc, and it turns out the trick was to stuff every single piece of prep work into this one goddamn episode. We had a flashback that simultaneously explained the histories and motivations of Ginko, Sensei, and Soya, a mysterious transfer student, a romance, and even a tragic betrayal, all while still somehow finding time to seed the mystery of Soya’s new alien friend. And even though we covered so much ground, this episode didn’t feel rushed at all – Ginko and Sensei’s bond felt totally earned, the scenes at school were given enough room to breathe, and the scale of the dragon’s atrocities felt palpably clear in this episode’s epic space spreads.

In spite of the awkward CG dragon, those space shots also served as a reminder of Mizukami’s staggering scale of vision; as in Biscuit Hammer, the sheer, bewildering massiveness of the forces arrayed against humanity always comes through in an intense, visceral way. You could dedicate twelve episodes to carefully illustrating an unbeatable enemy, or you could just go the Mizukami route of making that enemy Extremely Large.