As we move towards the final act of the summer season’s various performances, I’m happy to say that both Planet With and Revue Starlight seem squarely aimed at tremendously satisfying climaxes. Well, in Planet With’s case this will be its fourth or fifth tremendously satisfying climax, but I was worried about Starlight at least for a while there, and this week’s episode went a serious distance towards putting my fears to rest. The story’s “villain” is now clear, the show’s internal conflicts have both the immediate dramatic consequences and larger thematic relevance they needed, and the execution of each individual episode somehow seems to actually improve over time. Revue Starlight opened with infinite potential, but it’s only recently hammered down its dramatic solidity, and I couldn’t be happier. But anyway, starting with the old favorite that’s unfortunately turned out to be the runt of this seasonal litter, let’s work our way up and run this week down!

This week’s My Hero Academia did its level best to instill some grandeur in a dramatic finale that once again didn’t really lend itself to animation very well. “A totally prone Todoroki and a totally prone Yaoroshi settle their differences through a big fire spout” is a concept that enables precisely two kinds of impressive shots: fluid, effects-focused shots of the fire itself and dramatic, heavy-lined closeups of our heroes’ passionate faces. This episode banked heavily on both of those concepts, but the inherently static nature of this trick still made this arc’s conclusion feel a little underwhelming.

On the positive side, I felt the episode did a great job of selling the potentially unconvincing motivation for Yaoroshi’s grudge. As I said when reviewing this manga material, I actually liked the fundamentally petty nature of Yaoroshi’s grievance, and liked even more how his issue demonstrated that even if Todoroki himself has grown past his bitter youth, he’ll still have to deal with the consequences of his past actions going forward. In an arc directly centered on the importance of collaboration, ending on a reckoning for Todoroki regarding his still-isolated nature feels both thematically and emotionally appropriate. I just wish we’d gotten some slightly flashier fireworks along the way.

Revue Starlight pulled off another absurdly stunning episode this week, following Banana’s legitimate top-episode-of-the-year contender with an even more accomplished best-of-year finalist. While Banana’s episode was deeply unsettling the whole way through, affecting an atmosphere of consistent suspense and horror as it revealed Banana’s secret, Hikari’s episode was simply desperate, detailing the harsh reality of failing on the revue stage. In narrative terms, we not only learned Hikari’s full story, but also finally learned the true nature of the revue itself. “Shine” isn’t just some nebulous, intangible quality – it’s literally the personal fire that leads great performers to their heights, and the revue is a vehicle for essentially drawing all of the brilliance of an entire crop of performers into one shining Top Star. We thus finally have clear stakes attached to the revue, as well as a coherent thematic conflict for Karen’s fight against the revue itself, and even a natural point of emotionally resonant disagreement between Karen and Hikari.

But even as it gracefully tied a bow on basically every narrative reservation I’ve had with this show, it was also just utterly stunning as an aesthetic object. Nearly every single layout in this episode was both inherently beautiful and laden with vivid emotional undertones, from the apocalyptic drama of Hikari’s fiery performances to the isolating and ominous shots conveying her meetings with the giraffe. Revue Starlight’s understanding of both how to convey drama visually and how to set up an inherently evocative layout are nearly beyond compare; the show has leaned into its theater motif in the best possible way, constructing set after set that vividly brings its stars’ feelings to life. And with this episode having finally established the show’s natural villain, the revue itself, I at last have total confidence in this show as a narrative. There are no caveats for me anymore: Revue Starlight is on track to be one of the best shows of 2018, offering dazzling wonders with every new episode.

Finally, Planet With’s latest offered yet another episode that could easily work as the end of a story altogether, as Yosuke fought to complete Benika’s mission and actually succeeded in sealing the earth. While the actual sealing process felt a little too rushed to really generate all that much grandeur by itself, the poignancy of both Toya and Yosuke’s paths to this moment made for an emotionally draining experience all the same. Revealing Yosuke to be the younger brother of Benika’s old partner single-handedly filled in all the gaps in his narrative, making him one more misguided but ultimately sympathetic figure in this relentlessly empathetic production. And having Nozomi be the one to break through Toya’s funk wasn’t just a smart choice, it was essentially the “dramatically correct” choice – it built naturally out of both her friendship with Toya and her position as the only neutral representative of humanity, someone who could articulate a point as apolitically humanistic as “I’m on the side of those I want to befriend” and have him actually believe it. In spite of seeming perhaps rushed or overstuffed with ideas, Planet With has pretty much always made choices that demonstrate a master storyteller at his absolute best. You’re up next Generalissimo, I hope you’re ready.