Nine episodes in and Black Torch is doing something that is genuinely hard to watch happen to a show you wanted to root for. The pieces are all there. The Rago and Jiro dynamic is interesting. Grandpa Azuma continues to be one of the better things the show has going for it.
And then Jiro loses control, transforms into something that looks uncomfortably close to a tailed-beast Naruto moment, and the comparisons that have been sitting politely in the background for weeks move right to the front of the room.
Grandpa Azuma Is the Heart of This Episode
The best moment in episode 9 is not a fight. It is Grandpa Azuma telling the others to treat Jiro as a human.
Coming from the man who spent half the season scolding him and treating him like a liability, that line lands with real weight. The fact that Jiro still reacts emotionally to his grandfather even while partially possessed is the kind of character detail that reminds you what this show is capable of when it is not defaulting to formula.
Rago continues to be the most compelling presence in the series. Kouga saving him even after he lost his powers is the episode’s most interesting plot development because it adds genuine complexity to the mononoke side of the conflict. The idea of Rago influencing the loyalty of those around him through something other than power is a thread worth following.
Ichika and Roran are genuinely funny together and Roran being completely down bad for her specifically because of her rough personality is the episode’s best running joke.
Related: Black Torch Episode 9 Release Date and Time: Everything You Need to Know
Everything around those moments is where the problems live. Jiro’s transformation looks cool and feels borrowed. The loss of control is a disappointing direction for a character who is already spending too much time being a punching bag. The forest training arc setup, protagonist loses control, gets isolated, learns to control power, is the most traditional shounen structure imaginable and Black Torch is not bringing anything new to it.
The rushed pacing makes sense knowing the manga was axed. But knowing why something feels unfinished does not make it feel less unfinished. There are a couple of episodes left and the show is moving backward instead of toward anything that feels like a landing.
Rago is still worth watching for. The rest needs to catch up.