Shadow Delivered! Best Episodes of the Week!
Key points for Best Anime Episodes of the Week – Fall 2023, Week 4:
- The fight between Shadow and the vampire queen in “The Eminence in Shadow” was a standout visual spectacle, stealing the show with intense action and wallpaper-worthy scenes.
- “I’m in Love with the Villainess” surprised with a deep exploration of Rae’s character, showcasing her willingness to sacrifice for Claire’s happiness and adding unexpected depth to the anime.
- Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 delivered a thrilling fight between Shoso and Itadori, with contrasting combat styles. The episode ended with a mysterious post-credits scene, leaving viewers eager for the next installment.
- “Ragna Crimson” continued to impress with strategic brilliance as Crimson, predicted and outsmarted the Wind Dragon without even a direct confrontation
This was a comparatively quiet week. The last two weeks were just back-to-back bangers, not so much this week. I don’t mean that the episodes I watched this week were bad or anything. Just that this week was full of transitional episodes building up to something. Even then, we still had absolute bangers. And in my opinion, Shadow completely stole the show this week.
The Eminence in Shadow animators were in show-off mode this week. The fight between him and the vampire queen was a pure visual spectacle from the start to the finish. After that, Itadori had an awesome fight in Jujutsu Kaisen and Ragna Crimson had aΒ funΒ episode once again. The surprise entry this week though has to be I’m in Love with the Villainess because of how deep episode 3 was. I didn’t expect that kind of depth from an anime like this.
Let’s talk about all that and more. Welcome back, it is the end of the 4th week of the Fall 2023 season, and here are my favorite episodes of this week! Let’s start
I’m in Love with the Villainess Episode 3
Okay, this was a surprisingly deep episode. It delved deep into Rae’s character and her feelings for Claire. It delved into how Rae accepts Claire’s preferences despite her own being different. Ultimately she just wants Claire to be happy and she’d do anything to that end. It actually hurt watching this episode because Rae is clearly ready to sacrifice a lot. The whole latter half of the episode served as a great character moment for Rae and it definitely affected Claire as well.
Rae seems to be fine with getting hurt and has kind of accepted that being in love means getting hurt. That is kind of twisted in its own way but damn did this episode do an amazing job of showcasing her personality and how deep her feelings for Claire truly are. Awesome episode. As I said, I did not expect this kind of depth from this anime. I just thought it’d be another fun rom-com but this episode definitely steeped beyond that.
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 13
Shoso vs. Itadori finally happened in this episode and man, it was quite the fight. Choso and Itadori made great opponents for one another as their combat styles are kind of the opposite, Choso favoring ranged while Itadori is a hand-to-hand fighter. It was pretty cool to see Itadori come up with ways to close the gap while Choso tried to avoid him. It all came down to a brawl and at the end, things got pretty interesting.
I don’t want to spoil much here. Just know that Sukuna made an unexpected appearance and the episode ended with a very interesting post-credits scene. I am not quite sure what exactly happened after Skunu appeared but I am sure it will be explained next week. Along with the post-credits scene most likely. The animations in this episode were really impressive. Last week, Nanami looked very impressive as well but it is clear that they went ham with the effects for this fight.
Raga Crimson Episode 4
Oh Crimson, how much more can I like you LOL? She predicted every single thought of the Wind Dragon, even knowing what kind of mental state he’d be in if faced with a particular threat. She laid out a trap specifically made for him and essentially took him out without even needing a proper fight. She knew he was too proud to turn into his draconic form to kill “mere humans” and the pride ended up costing him his life.
That wasn’t even all. The 2nd half of the episode focused on how the Angle-Winged Dragon, Ultimatia essentially threatened the kind of Reze into luring all the people to the Capital to grant them “easy deaths”. She is someone right below the Dragon God, so how fitting that she appears as an angel. Despite her innocent looks and well-mannered behavior, you immediately know that she’s bad news and that she’s kind of crazy. And after watching the episode, I can safely say that “bad news” is an understatement.
The Eminence in Shadow Season 2 Episode 3
Definitely my favorite episode this week. This episode was just wild. I was saying that the anime trolled us out of a fight last week but they more than made up for it this week. The fight between Shadow and the vampire queen was a visual spectacle. I could not take my eyes off the screen even for a second after the vampire queen got revived. The fight was pretty intense even before Shadow arrived but after his arrival, things just went crazy. There were so many wallpaper-worthy scenes in this episode, man. It was fun.
On top of all that, this episode has some pretty interesting lore as well. And some cool character development for Claire as well. She and Mary really grew close in the span of 3 episodes, huh? It was fun to see Aurora possess Claire’s body and attempt Shadow’s move, only to realize that Claire’s body wasn’t strong enough to withstand its force. And it is really funny how Cid thinks that Claire is in her Chuuni phase even though she is really possessed LOL.
This episode was as good as an episode can get. It will be really hard to top this episode going forward. Comedy, action, plot, lore, this episode had everything. Amazing episode all around.
That is all for now!
As I said, this week was quieter compared to the last two weeks but even then we had some amazing episodes this week. Some expected, some unexpected but some good anime to watch this week as well. Let me know what you guys think in the comments, in my opinion, Shadow stole the show though. Those were my favorite episodes from this week and with that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!!
Also, check out my thoughts on MAL’s current Top 5 Upcoming Anime here!
