Release the Spyce 8
Maybe this is just me, but I found this episode to feel off for some reason. Between the editing feeling sub-par and the point the various stories are at the moment, this just felt like something out of a worse show. Ever since they've introduced this girl from Hatsune's past, I feel Release the Spyce has been misfiring whenever its the focus, and this feels like it was kind of the breaking point for me. What should've come off as a charming pastiche of ninja cliches, viking jokes, and some good ol' espionage action, I was left unmoved and bored by it. I know I'm close to the end and I should just finish it, but my enthusiasm has just plummeted off a cliff for this show, and I feel that's a real shame because there's a lot its still doing right, but it feels like its lost its way. It's bad when watching it that I find my mind wandering thinking about Yuki Yuna is a Hero and how much better both seasons of that are than this.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Vento Aureo 9
Boy, that felt like a somewhat clunky wrap-up to the Polpo's fortune arc, but if it gets us into an arc that presents us with a set up that more directly puts the team in conflict with a bunch of Stand members, I'll take the somewhat awkward first-half pivot. That said, I really like Trish's design and personality; Araki seems to have a penchant for creating striking female designs as rare as they are in JoJo. The second half was a nice escalation to seeing Narancia finally get pushed far enough to lose his cool, and it displays Araki's trademark "give the idiot a clearly OP Stand." Aerosmith looks great, particularly because of the excellent shading that makes the CG look much more in line with the show's visual style. I have to wonder how many members there are of this team of hitmen, because that will probably create a clear picture of how long this particular arc is due to last.
Today's Menu for the Emiya Family 12
A fun little Christmas episode, one punctuated by a silly action sequence and Berserker making a flashy entrance. The food seemed to take a bit more of backseat than I would've like this time around, but I think that's fine given that this took the time to showcase some stuff the show hasn't done before. I do wonder if this was indeed the finale, because it didn't feel like it. My guess is there might be one more coming during the annual end of year Fate stream, but I've no proof of that at the moment.