a light 8 out of ten

what i liked and noticed:

loved the experimental shit , especially near the end. the high production values allow for some great spectacle during the more intense moments.

fantastic soundtrack, i was listening to some of these tracks outside of my sessions

the voice acting is superb , all characters are perfectly cast

some amazing character interactions , and character writing as a whole. the mystery was thought-provoking. maria is an extremely fascinating character

great atmosphere and setting. everything feels very realized and grounded; part of that is thanks to the impressive sound design

the last few hours of this episode were fantastic and saved this experience for me

what i didn't like:

characters are either way too stubborn and caught up in small details or too flippant and blind to obviously weird shit, like how the narrative dedicated ten mins to trying to explain away maria's batshit insane personality shifts. im not sure about you guys, but if my little cousin started talking about death and the occult out of absolutely nowhere i would not chalk it up to some weird developmental stage. battler was way too chill about it, especially when maria smugly brought up how the first six had their faces bashed in . its like they acknowledge shes 9 years old but yet they don't at the same time

speaking of maria, why did jessica just outright tell maria that rosa were dead? you'd think the characters would be more delicate about it. why did no one ever confront why she was so nonchalant about it ? lol

i understand the thematic importance, but it was extremely annoying seeing the mental gymnastics battler and friends go through to prove that there wasn't a 19th person. the tea party was painfully boring to get through, although it picks up. it was cool at first but it became really tedious and boring after like the sixth time it's brought up lol

im one to defend the pacing, especially in the beginning. i think the slow pace is a great idea. however, sometimes this episode DRAGSSSS where it really counts , see the bullet above

*battler is annoying as shit , im sorry

im really enjoying myself, despite my complaints. im excited to see where it goes. i won't say much more, but the last few hours are incredible. im yet again impressed by ryukishi's writing ability