Nanbaka

Episode 19

Nanbaka has had a bunch of stellar episodes recently. This current episode arc has been a godsend for the show to address its weaknesses, like the supporting cast being underdeveloped. As the action moved from Building 13 to Building 5, Nanbaka realized it was important to flesh out the characters who lived there. While our Building 13 stars still drive the story, we still need to know who everyone else is to understand their parts in the saga.

The episode began with the Building 5 guards. Samon has become one of the show's richest characters, as his conflicted relationship with his brother drives the conflict. It's clear that things will come to a head sooner rather than later. I had hoped that would happen this episode—but it didn't. Instead, Nanbaka decided to zoom back out again, focusing more on developing the rest of its cast.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything new with this week's characters. We focus this time on Liang, one of the Chinese inmates from Building 5. One of his former masters, Hachiman, is another guard-turned-escaped-inmate who's now part of the mysterious Building 5 coup. Pig-faced Hachiman seems to have it out for his former inmates, like the other coup members. This leads Liang to feel conflicted, because he had a complicated relationship with the guards. He learned his arts and discipline from them. You can see where this is going because we've seen it before with other characters.

That's the overall issue with Nanbaka this week. It wants to continue fleshing out the supporting cast, but they're running out of ideas. It's easy to return to the familiar well of the fraught guard-inmate relationship, so that's what they did. It doesn't help that we're now moving to characters who really don't need to be all that complex. So far, Liang and Upa are fine as simplistic martial-arts bruisers. They help defeat the bad guys, but their role isn't essential to exploring the deeper ideas behind the story. They gave us some interesting reveals about the truth behind Enki, but that didn't require much more backstory for them. They just needed to be his former inmates, so they could attest to a side of him that his starry-eyed brother didn't see.

Besides, the coup is far more interested in Jyugo. There's ominous whispering about him being "that inmate," the subject of so much speculation about his powers. There are hints that maybe they're in cahoots with Jyugo's former handlers. It would be cool if Nanbaka took this in an original direction, especially since this is the first time in a while that he's been a major focus. Instead, we just get more of the same angst. Jyugo worries over whether he's "really human" and wants to isolate himself from people. The other inmates all reassure Jyugo that they like him and appreciate his strengths. Lather, rinse, repeat. The only difference now is that this goes beyond Building 13, including their allies from Building 5 and elsewhere.

The biggest addition this week is to the show's lore. We learn a little more about the talismans when another one makes an appearance: the "Attack" scroll. This one is apparently dark and forbidden, but it doesn't seem that different in effect from the previous "Control" one. The victim is still a zombie wielded by somebody else, and they still have enhanced powers and mindlessly attack. Still, it lends further credence and mystery to the idea of someone who can control inmates with their own agenda. Presumably it's Enki, as the former head of Building 5, but we haven't had a confirmation on that yet. I wonder if there's yet another independent actor in play here.

It's unfortunate that this little detail is the most interesting thing about this week's Nanbaka. There are plenty of interesting threads being set up to pursue as this arc moves forward. When will we see a real confrontation between Samon and Enki? Who is messing around with the talismans and why? What is the coup's real goal? And how do they know so much about Jyugo—do they have a connection with Elf and the others? Instead, Nanbaka keeps spinning its wheels and stalling for time. Sure, we still have a fair number of episodes left in the show, but they'll go more quickly if the plot has actual forward momentum.

Rating: B-

Nanbaka is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rose is a music Ph.D. student who loves overanalyzing anime soundtracks. Follow her on her media blog Rose's Turn, and on Twitter.