The anime is good, folks. I may have intentionally reduced my seasonal payload to a lean and star-studded roster which is almost categorically incapable of disappointing me, but either way, the anime is good. I think this week’s episode of Carole & Tuesday was actually the show’s best yet, which is really saying something, while Demon Slayer pulled off its most impressive visual feats so far. JoJo maintained its recent string of fantastic episodes, and though Sarazanmai is getting a little repetitive, there was still plenty to appreciate in the main stage debut of its third protagonist. But you’re not here to read summaries of summaries, so let’s get to it. Here’s to one more week in anime!

This week’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was a dramatic break from the point-counterpoint Stand battles of recent episodes, and succeeded wonderfully as two separate kinds of tense, atmospheric drama. The first half was a nail-biting thriller that essentially turned our expectations about the JoJo universe on its head, as Bucciaratti did everything right in order to prevent hasty damage from unknown Stands, but found himself in the one situation where haste was actually required. Like in Mista’s first focus battle, it’s always satisfying to see Bucciaratti’s team actually demonstrate their unity and training, and the contrast of his and Narancia’s investigations with Abbacchio’s slow-approaching doom made for a wonderfully tense buildup.

And then there was the payoff. On the negative side, I don’t feel we’ve spent enough time getting to know Abbacchio for this death to feel like a true blow. When Rohan was in danger in Diamond is Unbreakable’ last act, you really felt that – we’d seen him at his best and his worst repeatedly, and he felt like a fully realized person. In contrast, Golden Wind has been so focused on its thriller narrative that we haven’t really gotten the range of experiences with its characters that would lead to greater personal attachment. That said, while the death felt a little underwhelming structurally, the execution was still terrific – the sharp, jagged cuts of animation for his actual fall were almost painful in their rigidity, and I could totally believe that Narancia of all people would take this blow terribly. Tie all that with a very reasonable tying-up of Abbacchio’s character, and you end up with an episode that absolutely still continues JoJo’s streak of recent all-stars.

Demon Slayer did some necessary work fleshing out the tactical mechanics of battles in its world, even as its larger plot beats moved with a haste that seemed to indicate a lack of confidence in this overarching world. That feels strange, to me – the show’s first two episodes leaned into the atmosphere and culture of this world in a very satisfying way, so having everything since be essentially a summary of a shonen origin story has been a frustrating shift. This choice has resulted in some obvious dramatic shortcomings so far, like the fact that Tanjiro’s teacher has no personality whatsoever, as well as the fact that Nezuko has been in a dramatically convenient but deeply unsatisfying coma for… what, years now?

That said, at least the action and visuals are strong. The show’s background art and generally art design remain spectacular, and this episode was brimming with beautiful vistas that made the most of its wooded period setting. And when Tanjiro successfully used water breathing for the first time, that gorgeous sword with its painted blue flames was a stunning payoff, leading into a consistently thrilling second-half fight. Demon Slayer’s eminent strengths in terms of its genre’s core priorities continue to mitigate its equally glaring weaknesses, but I’m really hoping that once these apparently requisite shonen beats are completed, things slow down and arrive at a better balance.

Carole & Tuesday’s third episode felt like the show’s strongest yet, with all the show’s many strengths finally converging into a story that felt gripping throughout, and not just scattered with highlights. The introduction of producer Gus Goldman definitely helped, as his maturity and understanding of the industry allowed him to essentially take the role of the straight man, thereby letting Carole and Tuesday themselves be that much more bombastic and silly. Lots of great expression work, Tuesday’s ferocious outburst at the DJ – strengths like that need stability to play against in order to flourish, and Goldman provided that stability.

It also helped that this episode’s performance sequence was so damn good. The lead-in to Dancing Laundry was one of this show’s best sequences yet, naturally conveying the bond between these two girls, making terrific visual use of the random guy sitting between them, and just plain killing it in terms of layouts and sound design. And then the song proper performed double duty as a satisfying performance in its own right, and also the natural accompaniment to a montage further building up the bond between our leads.

We finally focused on Enta for this week’s Sarazanmai, in what turned out to easily be the show’s most straightforward episode yet. Not only was Enta’s situation the least complex of our three leads, but this episode ran through two major sequences of more-or-less bank footage that we’ve already seen before. To be honest, in spite of their outlandish base variables, Sarazanmai’s climaxes are becoming formulaic enough to be kinda boring. It’s not exciting to see every single episode run through that same desire extraction process, especially if the overarching narrative isn’t really progressing.

That said, what saved this episode was the clear relatability and grounded portrayal of Enta’s feelings. In contrast with his more ambiguous costars, Enta is a clear emotional grounding point, and this episode’s mix of fanciful fantasies and furtive memories did a great job of building his character. Additionally, it’s fundamentally really nice to see an anime embrace a gay protagonist with no ambiguity. Sarazanmai will need to mix up its base formula to stay interesting, but as Enta’s formal introduction, I’ll give it this third riff on the same refrain.