Nanbaka

Episode 8

Nanbaka is developing a serious pacing problem. It's had this on a larger level for a while, being stuck on the endless, increasingly boring New Year's Tournament arc. Increasingly though, Nanbaka has given us bad pacing within one episode itself. So it is with episode 8, which frontloads all its action and fun, then leaves us twiddling our thumbs for the remaining half of the show, wondering where this is all going.

This episode builds on the last one's cliffhanger—while once again, not really answering our burning question. Jyugo is about to fight Prisoner #634, but he's seen this guy before from his sordid past. This triggers a frightening transformation in Jyugo. His handcuffs become swords, and he sees red, charging full speed at the prisoner and anyone who gets in his way. Meanwhile, the other prisoner keeps showing off his incredible fire abilities.

This makes things dangerous for the other attendees at the New Year's Tournament. The warden and guards announce that everyone must evacuate, while they go down personally to halt the action. At first, I thought it was unclear why exactly this fight would lead to such drastic measures. We've already seen plenty of over-the-top, possibly deadly powers on display across these episodes. So why Jyugo and #634, and why now? What makes them and their abilities special?

It was easy to believe that this was just another contrivance. Nanbaka runs on plenty of those, and most of the time, it works. It is a zany comedy, after all. Not everything needs to make sense all the time; it's often a better show when it doesn't try to explain things. Still, this felt particularly arbitrary at first, like the logic was purely to allow the plot to move forward. I can't complain about that, given how long the show's New Year's Tournament has lasted, but that didn't make it any less narratively unsatisfying—until Nanbaka allowed us a peek behind the curtains of the guards' motivations.

The show never outright says it, but it's heavily implied that some of the guards knew about Jyugo's unusual powers ahead of time. So when he starts seeing red and transforming, they know Bad Stuff is going to happen in a way it didn't with the other inmates and their abilities. Indeed, once the guards rush the field, Jyugo confirms their worst fears. He's barely himself, consumed with rage, charging at anyone who gets in the way of his vendetta. This leads to beating up on all his cellmates, and eventually Hajime, who reacts with a vicious smackdown that lands Jyugo in the hospital.

So that was a wild, exciting first half! Unfortunately, the second half languishes as it moves back to the guards in the days after the tournament. Guards and inmates alike are disgusted at Hajime's behavior toward Jyugo during the festival. The rest of the episode is basically just Hajime getting crap from everyone and then angsting about it, especially once he learns that he's suspended from duties for three days. On the positive side, I appreciate that the warden was able to bring herself to do that, and that her grief over the decision doesn't lapse into her usual music and fantasy sequence about Hajime. Maybe there is a better character underneath her silly veneer after all.

From there, I got a new puzzler: why Hajime was being so harshly punished. Sure, it looked horrific from an outsider point of view, especially when considering the power differential between a prison guard and a prisoner. No one at Nanba Prison is a true outsider to this, though. They all saw what Jyugo was doing, and that only Hajime's beatdown could stop him. Isn't that a case where the ends justified the means? If Jyugo will ultimately be fine, is it really so horrible that Hajime did that to avoid Jyugo hurting others?

It's these dangling questions (and the lopsided pacing and structure) that make this week's Nanbaka one of the weaker episodes. Luckily, it will likely improve before it makes another big mistake. Nanbaka ping-pongs from episode to episode between very good and very bad. It's an erratic and wild ride, but maybe some fans like it that way. For me, it remains to be seen if this is the good kind of ride, or if it will continue letting me off disappointed.

Rating: C

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.