With the season nearing its halfway point, basically all of my shows have settled into their mid-run neutral at this point, and continue to each offer their own steady charms. Thunderbolt Fantasy feels like it’s at last in full swing at this point, offering thrilling fights and meaty discussions between its thoroughly established cast. Run with the Wind is also demonstrating great confidence, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure seems to be harnessing everything Araki has learned so far. The only real weak point this week was SSSS.Gridman’s beach episode, but to be honest, I feel like a beach episode was basically a sunk cost for that show from the start. All in all, the fall season continues to offer plenty of excitement, and seems determined to end this year on a high note. Let’s run these shows down!

Run with the Wind continued to pleasantly defy my expectations this week, as our resistant runners finally began to coalesce into an actual team. I’d figured the show would use a great deal of its running time simply focusing on Haiji’s efforts to conscript everyone, and while this episode’s King-related drama played into that reliable source of drama, the bulk of this episode was taken up by the group simply working together, and becoming better friends through their shared efforts.

I really, really liked how Kakeru’s general reticence was actually treated as a personal obstacle he’s determined to overcome. A lot of times characters like Kakeru feel like unrealistically tongue-tied archetypes, but the fact that he’s so quiet and bad at expressing his feelings is actually being tackled head-on, and treated with sympathy by all of his friends. And the ear for banter that has elevated all of Run with the Wind’s episodes is actually becoming even more of a strength now that the group genuinely feel like friends, and are sharing a growing passion for running. While the Prince’s conceit is wearing a little thin for me, I’m loving how naturally this show is evolving its group dynamic and giving each character a few sympathetic turns. It’s the appeal of a slice of life show transposed into a propulsive sports narrative, and it’s a very strong mix.

A major sequence in this week’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure could be most accurately and succinctly described as “a local gangster attempts to make our hero drink his pee, which he counters by turning one of his teeth into a jellyfish,” and if you’re not watching JoJo for shit like that, I’m not sure what you’re here for. Absurd, puerile creativity aside, Giorno’s “solution” to that situation felt like another pretty clear indicator that Giorno has The Power to Have Many Powers. JoJo powers and their applications have always tread a fine line between “that’s brilliant” and “that’s bullshit” (“I’ll use my Hamon to connect all the icicles and make a rope!”), but Golden Wind feels so variable and powerful in its applications that Giorno could likely use it to solve any possible situation, given Araki is interested in letting him. That could present a dramatic problem going forward, but didn’t really hurt this episode, which offered plenty of fun through its mix of gangster introductions and classic horror setup finale. I’ve got my eye on you, Giorno!

We finally got SSSS.Gridman’s requisite beach episode this week, or in its case, a river rafting episode. Given the show’s general fanservice and the fact that it’s a Trigger property, I pretty much expected something like this eventually, but I still wasn’t prepared for the avalanche of fanservice this episode would offer. The consistent focus on Akane’s boobs and Rikka’s butt made for a much less visually engaging episode than normal – where we’d normally be getting the atmospheric setup scenes that are basically my favorite part of Gridman, we instead just got a bunch of dramatically inert boob closeups. Gridman’s always a pretty horny show, but this was the first and hopefully last time its horniness was so completely prioritized over its actual drama.

Fanservice aside, it feels like at this point, Gridman is almost making a point of failing to humanize Yuta. Yuta has no personality beyond “amnesiac shonen protagonist,” and he has received virtually no scenes intended simply to integrate him into this world. In contrast, Rikka has received an absurd bounty of characterization, and even in this episode not only came to a new personal resolution, but also engaged with both our heroes’ opponents on a more personal level than Yuta. If this is all designed to set up Rikka as the second half’s actual protagonist, I’m impressed; if it’s just a failure to characterize Yuta because our sympathy for him as the male protagonist is assumed, I’m disappointed. If this show wants Yuta to be someone worth caring about, it’s gonna have to start humanizing him very, very quickly.

With Minato having resolved to join the archery team, this week’s Tsurune swept through the rest of our potential in-team drama, as our Very Good Boys worked to make the doubtful Onogi recognize Minato. In general narrative terms, this “I’ll never accept you!” plot was a cliche and not terribly engaging turn, a sports genre staple that somehow has become a staple in spite of never feeling like someone any real human being would do ever. Fortunately, storytelling is more about the details than the big beats, and all the details of this episode went a tremendous distance towards humanizing our whole main cast.

While the first two episodes’ close focus on Minato’s headspace meant that the show’s secondary cast only really got to show up, this episode’s wider focus offered plenty of little conversations that neatly established the various dynamics across our five teammates. Moments like Seiya and the team manager idly reflecting on the drama of teenagers, or Nanao admitting that Ryohei is infuriating, “but in a good way,” succeeded both as funny rapport in their own right and natural character development. While Seiya initially came off as callous or even antagonistic, his conversations here demonstrated both his remorse and insecurities; meanwhile, Nanao proved himself to be both more empathetic and more crafty than you’d expect, and struck up a charming friendship with Ryohei. While this episode’s chosen conflict wasn’t the most compelling, its overall character work was strong, and I’m excited to see the team actually working together.

Finally, Thunderbolt Fantasy spilled a bit more of its hand this week, combining a flurry of wild battles with some welcome insights into where this story will  actually go. While the fights between Shang and his various pursuers were a lot of fun, I was particularly struck by the material focusing on our mysterious monk friend. Lang’s initial theory regarding the danger of a man like that felt a little suspect, but the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with Lang’s diagnosis. The monk’s conversation with the Princess of Cruelty demonstrated him to be someone without any real center – he questions everything because he is passionate about nothing, and feels no attachment to the world of men. That by itself should set off a variety of warning bells, but even more than his amorality, I was struck by how flimsy his philosophy seemed. Paradoxically, it is those who claim to believe in nothing and question everything who are often most easily swept into some horrible cause – their claims to a neutral perspective only blind them to their actual beliefs, and such people tend to be both easily flattered and easily led. The monk feels like a character very relevant to our modern world, and I’m looking forward to seeing what awful havoc his claimed neutrality inspires.