Black Torch Episode 10 is doing two things at once. It is setting up a genuinely interesting final confrontation and simultaneously making it impossible to ignore how much better this story could have been with more room to breathe. Both of those things are equally true and equally frustrating.
Ibuki, Monjumaru, and the Wholesome Subplot Nobody Expected
The Ibuki and Monjumaru reveal is the episode‘s warmest moment and it earns that completely. Monjumaru’s surrender turning into a marriage proposal is the kind of character beat that lands because the show has not been hinting at it, which makes the reveal genuinely funny and genuinely sweet at the same time.
Ibuki being the white snake mononoke from the opening is the kind of callback that rewards people paying close attention and the two of them forming an unexpectedly powerful duo going into the finale is the kind of development that makes you wish the show had more time to let it breathe.
Jiro’s training arc is where the episode starts showing the seams. What should have been a significant stretch of character development, Jiro learning to accept Rago’s power the same way he accepted Rago himself, gets compressed into roughly ten minutes.
The forest sequence is a genuinely nice character moment, specifically Jiro introducing himself to the forest and its inhabitants, and the mushroom eating incident is the funniest thing the show has done with him since the jacket scene. But the speed at which the training resolves makes the whole thing feel like a summary of something rather than the thing itself.
Amagi consuming his own mononoke allies, including Naruko who had enough of a personality established to make her loss actually sting, is the move that turns him from dangerous to genuinely horrifying. The ideological contrast between him and Jiro is the most interesting thing the show has built.
Jiro connects with other beings to grow stronger together. Amagi devours them for the same result. That opposition is sharp and the finale has a real foundation to work with.
Read More: Black Torch Episode 9 Review: Rago Saves the Show Again
The problem is the pacing. The manga cancellation is visible in every scene now. Black Torch has strong animation, genuinely appealing character designs, and several storylines that deserved more development than they are going to get. Ichika’s mother situation still needs resolution. Shinji and Reiji still need their confrontation.
What Black Torch could have been is the thought that lingers. What it actually is, is still worth finishing.
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