Drifters

Episode 10

Drifters has two main modes of operation: visceral action spectacle or chronicling the logistics of its bizarre war campaign. The former mode is almost always successful, if ample amounts of gore and viscera are what you're after. The latter can be more hit and miss. Some episodes manage to put an interesting and humorous spin on the gross realities of More-or-Less-Medieval Warfare, while other episodes end up feeling like little more than padded table setting for more exciting encounters down the line. This week's episode falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

Before taking a dip into the merely semi-interesting, we start off with some of the good stuff, a more detailed look at the way The Black King runs his operation. Not only is he developing a homebrewed culture of language and religion for his army of castoffs to follow, he's also using his powers of healing and reproduction to restore troops and provide food ad infinitum. This abundance of wealth and resources is directly contrasted with the difficulty the Drifters have simply keeping up supplies for their troops, so much so that one of the Black King's men asks why he even bothers to teach their goblin and orc troops to farm at all. The Black King replies that it's because he “is not God, who is gifted with eternal life.” At this point, I'm just waiting for the big reveal of The Black King being Jesus, since it couldn't be any less subtle about this if it tried.

What isn't so Christ-like is how The Black King uses his healing powers to overload a tempestuous dragon's cells and give him Super Cancer. It's a grotesque and gnarly scene that does a good job of reminding the audience that even if the Black King is Jesus, he's no saint in this world. I especially thought it was interesting that he told the Dragon he would only be fit to join the Ends once he became a figure of scorn instead of reverence. This twisted application of the Christian message of humility is pretty interesting characterization, if not just a touch blasphemous. That doesn't affect me personally, though I could see some people getting a little mad at seeing Jesus use his powers for torture and militaristic gains.

After that intriguing opening, we're left to play catch up with the Drifters back at camp. While this isn't the worst thing in the world, it's mostly setup once again. Saint Germi and his crew finally arrive to broker a deal with our heroes, Nobunaga helps the Dwarves fashion muskets for the troops, and Joan of Arc swears her revenge on Toyohisa. Throughout all of this, we get the usual little bits of character development, though now that we're ten episodes in, this material is starting to feel repetitive. Nobunaga reflects on his own cunning and how he's slowly turning the band of elves he commands into killers, Joan of Arc is filled with righteous fury, etc. I don't mind these pit stops into more logistical territory, but sometimes it runs at the expense of keeping up the momentum created by previous episodes.

This isn't a bad episode; it's just another slightly underwhelming one. The animation has taken another dip, with a couple of faces produced this week looking downright janky, and the humor is as hit and miss as ever. Also, now that they've gotten their fair share of screen time, I think I can say that Saint Germi and his crew are the worst characters in the show. Ugly stereotypes aside, I just don't find their shtick appealing, and shtick is pretty much all they are at this point. When I'm being distracted by explosions and decapitations and the general euphoria of the battlefield, these are easy quibbles to overlook. In an episode that is 95% chatter though, those small defects become a lot more noticeable.

All of that being said, this is one of the better “cooldown” episodes the show has had so far. All of the pieces in play remain in motion, even if they're going a bit slower than I'd like, and I'm firmly invested in seeing how the larger schemes of these stories and battles play out. This wasn't a highlight episode by any means, but not all of them can be. I say bring on next week's episode so we can start to see how all of this buildup might pay off. If we're lucky, Emo Ringwraith Jesus might use his death-touch on more Dragons. Wouldn't that be something?

Rating: B-

Drifters is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.