Acro Trip

Episode 12

Here's a riddle for you: When is a season (or maybe series?) finale not really a “finale” at all? The answer: When there's nothing to conclude in the first place! “Bad Meets Girl” is ostensibly the last episode of Acro Trip, so it might not seem like I should be surprised that the show tried to at least put on some airs of finality. What makes it so strange, though, is that the show is suddenly pretending like it even has a long-term story to pay off with some conclusion, rather than simply admitting that it is the haphazardly strung-together sequence of barely animated nonsense that we've come to know and love over the last twelve weeks.

Really, the main issue I have with this episode is that it just feels like we've skipped a whole lot of material. Again, this is quite a strange feeling to have, considering that this show has never relied on pesky things like “coherent, linear storytelling” and “functional continuity” before. Sure, stuff happened that carried over from week to week - let us never forget the excitement of seeing General Dante born into her cute little getup - but never before has the show acted like you ever had to watch any of it to enjoy one random episode or another. Here, though, the half-hearted attempt to generate suspense over Baryu's nefarious intentions with Chizuko are brushed aside almost immediately to reveal that the whole finale is going to be the elaborate onsen sleepover party that the Fossa Magna bossed planned for literally every character in the show because…well, to be honest, I'm still not quite sure. We find out that Kokoa is Baryu's daughter, which isn't exactly a surprise, but I suppose it makes sense that the guy would like to throw his little girl a get-together with all of her…friends, I guess?

This is really where Acro Trip stumbles with its attempt to make “Bad Meets Girl” feel like a big sendoff for the show, because when I say Baryu invites “everyone,” I mean everyone. Berry Blossom's presence is obviously appreciated, I get why it would be fun for Chizuko to chill with Chrome, the Kuma Kaijins, Mashirou, and even friggin' Grandpa, the ol' rapscallion. Kokoa and Chizuko have only ever really interacted with each other, like, three or four times, though, and Chizuko's dad has gotten even less screen time. I was especially confused that the Blue Fish Guy who got transformed a while back is suddenly showing up and acting like he's chums with everybody, now. If Acro Trip had been given another part to allow us more time to get attached to all of these random side characters who have otherwise made almost no impact on the show, I could see this episode working a lot better. I have no idea what is in the manga, so maybe there's just a bunch of content that got cut which would make the forced nostalgia and pathos of Chizuko's phone call with her mom at the end feel more earned.

To be clear, I don't think this episode is terrible or anything. It's a perfectly fine episode with a couple of decent jokes and some fun character interactions. The schmaltz of it all just makes me instinctively want to turn my nose up a little, is all. It feels less like the show is waving its audience a warm goodbye and more like it is hurriedly pushing us up out of our seats and rushing us out the front door before we overstay our welcome. This isn't the worst note to end the season on, I guess, but I can imagine a lot of ways it could have gone better.

Rating:

Acro Trip is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.