Review of The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil
I think the majority of users who’ve left a rating for this show didn’t make it past episode 3. I’ll be straight: the first two episodes are BAD, and the third is very mid. I nearly dropped the show myself, but I have a goal this year to finish even the trash shows I start in 2024. I’m glad I didn’t drop it, because things get really good in episode 4. I’m not sure if the author needed time to get his comedy down, but every joke in the first three episodes landed completely flat for me. However, the first few minutes in episode 4actually had me audibly laughing, much to my surprise, and the episode continued on this good trend of “wait, is this show ACTUALLY getting good??”
Then episode 5 comes and has one of the best and most well directed romance scenes I’ve seen in a long time. The scene’s combination of a having a good buildup, a complete drop in audio, and then just hanging in this moment for as long as it does makes it so impactful (despite its usage of typical romance clichés i.e. the phone ring and falling on top of each other).
And that’s the big thing about this anime overall: consistency. It lacks it. It has horribly boring and eye-rolling moments, quizzically outstanding moments, and then just mid moments. It’s all over the place. Each episode is like a fresh slate of quality: will it be good, bad, or average? Whether or not you’d be willing to deal with that to get the good stuff is up to you. I will say that the poorer writing of the later episodes is easier to shrug off, because at this point I had built up some sort of understanding of and appreciation for the characters and their developments.
Like I said, I definitely don’t blame anyone for writing this anime off as trash and dropping it within the first three episodes. But there is something here that I at least think is worth sticking with until the end. At least to see if its hilarious and impactful moments (amid a rubble of mid and bad) are as enjoyable and memorable to you as they were to me.