Re:Creators Episode 17 Review

It’s finally back!

(This review contains spoilers!)

          To say Re:Creators has been in a tight spot throughout summer is like saying grass is green at this point. Between the fact the plot unceremoniously ground to a halt after reaching the halfway point, the goofy yet not super memorable recap episode, and two weeks on break, while the show is still far from bad, it’s hit quite the bumpy road on the way to the end.

          The good news is that while this grand return still isn’t the show at its best, it’s a decent action sequence with a fantastic conclusion, as well as some great promises for what’s to come.

          The majority of the episode is given up to a big fight between the heroes and villains, as the plan to trap Altair in a magical cage is successful. It’s a decent battle, but not one of the more notable ones. A lot of the characters just kind of throw themselves at each other and then the camera cuts away. The first interaction between Yuya and his in-universe rival is nice to see, but ultimately I think this big fight lacked a lot of the “wow” factor it should’ve had what with all the build-up we went through to get here. Maybe this is the fault of the breaks they’ve been taking killing the momentum? Who knows, but I can safely say I’ve seen better from this anime.

          Much better is the last few minutes after the fight has ended and Blitz, a character who’s gone basically the whole show thus far without any development, finally decides to do something and confronts his creator about why his daughter had to die. Their conversation about how the world she creates isn’t for his benefit but for the audiences is fantastically written, and definitely ranks up as one of the show’s best. It also ends in a big twist, as what appears to be Blitz’s daughter arriving. The question is though, is she the real deal or a cosplayer they dressed up to try to get him on their side? Only time will tell, but if this is the beginning of a character arc for Blitz, it kicks off in the best way possible.

          I think a lot of this episode’s shortcomings are thanks to the extended wait we had to get here. When you build up an episode as much as they have and then make the viewing audience wait extra for it, if you don’t deliver on something worth the wait, people are bound to be disappointed. While the fight sequence was choreographed well enough, it lacked a significant amount of “oomph” that we’ve seen from this show before, leading to it feeling less cool than I’m sure the showrunners wanted. I think without the ending with Blitz this episode probably wouldn’t have been as good as it is.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay