Comet Lucifer

Episode 3

Don't do this to me, Comet Lucifer. You sold me an adventurous road trip full of big ideas and bigger explosions, so don't you dare go all “bad guy of the week” on me after three episodes. It's nice that you've thought up green pigeons that meow, but we've got a world to save here. Let's wrap up the afternoon shopping trips and get a move on, shall we?

When Sogo and Moura's constant bickering finally gets the two of them (along with the rest of the main characters) kicked out of the house, Kaon and Felia take the opportunity to do some shopping downtown. Felia falls in love with some odd birds called “cat pigeons,” and good times are had by all until Felia unintentionally fires up her supernatural powers in public. This draws the attention of Alfried, a bespectacled gentleman whose sudden obsession with Felia leads him to hack into the city's infrastructure and wreak all kinds of havoc. A series of high-flying chase scenes end with Moura transforming into giant killer robot mode and pounding the stuffing out of a remote-controlled construction bot. Our heroes are safe for the moment, but their scuffle hasn't escaped the notice of Gus and his henchmen.

If you were hoping that Comet Lucifer would capitalize on its strong start and get this grand adventure underway, you may have to lower those expectations a notch or two. This episode puts the brakes on all that narrative momentum to focus on a bit of character development. On paper, this is a perfectly defensible decision. After all, the majority of the cast could do with a little extra screen time to settle into their personalities. The only problem is that we don't learn much of anything about the protagonists here; this storyline serves mainly as an introduction to Alfried, who makes for a pretty weak villain. There's probably an interesting backstory behind his obsessive behavior, but we don't get much information to back that assumption up. Going on nothing but this episode, he's just a generic crazy bad guy with glasses. Maybe he'll make a better impression once he starts working with Gus.

The shopping sequence also reinforces a couple of negative first impressions regarding some of the protagonists. Felia is almost completely inarticulate, essentially a superpowered child for Sogo and Kaon to take care of. She lacks the charm and initiative of Chaika from Chaika the Coffin Princess, and even Monster Musume's Papi was less of a birdbrain. If there's a personality inside this girl besides “childlike wonderment at everything,” Comet Lucifer needs to unearth it as soon as possible. Moura the talking rock monster is certainly more of a chatterbox than Felia, but I'm not convinced that's a good thing. Moura is probably meant to be the show's sassy and occasionally super tough mascot character, but its antics thus far have been more grating than charming. If I were Sogo, I'd be halfway tempted to ditch these two while I still had the chance.

Thankfully, Comet Lucifer still has some strong points working in its favor. The more I see of the Garden Indigo city, the more I like it. The old European coastal town vibe plays surprisingly well with the occasional sci-fi touches to create a setting that I instinctively want to learn more about. It also makes a good location for a chase scene, and Comet Lucifer remains a strong contender on the action front. It may take some questionable decision-making to get everyone in position, but the high-wire fight between Moura and the construction robot looks pretty darn cool. If the writing can catch up to the rest of the show, we'll be in good shape.

If we're lucky, this episode will be nothing more than a small and tolerable bump in the road. Comet Lucifer has a decent pair of heroes in Sogo and Kaon, a promising villain in Gus, and all the necessary ingredients for a sweeping action-adventure story. All it really needs to do is hand Felia a dictionary, put a muzzle on Moura, and actually get on with the whole “adventure” thing. Eventful shopping trips work for slice of life shows, but we need a bit more out of a plot-focused series like this one.

Rating: B-

Comet Lucifer is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.