Thunderbolt Fantasy

Episode 3

In this week's Thunderbolt Fantasy, merry band acquisition continues at a steady pace. Shòu Yún Xiāo's cliffhanger shot at Shāng Bù Huàn was indeed a fakeout. Once things are cleared up, they join Lǐn Xuě Yā and head to an inn for a timely dose of exposition. Shāng Bù Huàn may protest, but he's bound by JRPG party rules now, so he can't leave for anything short of a dramatic betrayal. He'll just have to listen as Lǐn Xuě Yā spills more of the villain's backstory.

According to him, The Seven Sins tower once belonged to a wizard (who is absolutely for sure not Lǐn Xuě Yā) where Miè Tiān Hái worked as a guard. One day, the wizard went on vacation and left Miè Tiān Hái to watch the place in his absence. Miè Tiān Hái took the place over, activating the wizard's overcomplicated security system. Now armed with the wizard's magical knowledge, Miè Tiān Hái is busy getting all the best swords and wrecking NPCs. To get to Miè Tiān Hái and take back the wizard's stuff (which is definitely not his), Lǐn Xuě Yā needs to gather people with specific abilities to get past the security's video-game-like weak points. For the first, a zombie swamp, they need a necromancer. For the second, a giant rock monster, they need someone who can take out its power source from afar. (That's Shòu Yún Xiāo, the sharpshooter.) For the third, an extradimensional labyrinth, they need someone with a magical GPS flute. That's two more members required for their merry band. Despite Shāng Bù Huàn's grumbling, Lǐn Xuě Yā shuffles them on to the next recruitment quest.

This brings them to the zombie-infested Night Devil Forest. An awesome necromancer lady named Shā Wú Shēng lives there. She's a demon who stuck around after the War of Fading Dusk because she liked humans. However, she doesn't seem to like Lǐn Xuě Yā, ignoring his summons and activating her own overcomplicated security system when he approaches. However, Lǐn Xuě Yā remains undeterred, encouraging the party to fight through the zombies so that he can speak to her personally. Juǎn Cán Yún (Lancer) and Dān Fěi (priestess) are left behind to guard the rear, while the rest rush on to Shā Wú Shēng.

Thunderbolt Fantasy continues to be an exquisitely executed pile of clichés. Besides the puppets, this show doesn't contain a single thing that I haven't already seen 100 times over, but I still marvel as the excellence of its construction. As a Gen Urobuchi uberfan, I'll try not to let every writeup descend into rabid slobbering over The Booch, but it's still going to happen for the next couple paragraphs this time. I think the man could make a show about filing his taxes compelling. In terms of character and narrative trajectory, there's nothing unexpected in Thunderbolt Fantasy. I feel like I know where this is all going (puppets engage in climactic Adobe Aftereffects power spam fight) and where all these characters are coming from, but the way this information is conveyed is so charming and so fertile with suspense that I'm enraptured anyways.

The Booch is great at planting just as much information as you need to make you anticipate the next reveal, plus he knows just when to dish out that reveal for maximum emotional impact. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a masterpiece of dramatic construction. One good example from Thunderbolt Fantasy is its gradual backstory rollout. A lesser show would've dumped all that stuff about the Seven Sins Tower and the demon war and the magical tripartite sword at the beginning of the first episode. It would have all been really boring and hard to remember. Instead, Booch introduces us to the immediate setting and conflict (bad guy wants a lady for her magic sword) through a crazy action sequence. It's immediately compelling, and by the time more detailed exposition starts rolling around, we're thirsty for the explanation rather than put off by it. For the sake of comparison, there's really not much a difference between Thunderbolt Fantasy's lore gobbledygook and the stuff in last year's disastrous Chaos Dragon. Presentation makes all the difference.

He also has a gift for noticing and making use of tropes in stories that many other writers would have never considered. This episode has a great example in the form of Dān Fěi's conversation with Shāng Bù Huàn. He points out that she should have used the Heaven's Retribution Sword to defend herself when Miè Tiān Hái came for it. That way, they wouldn't be in this situation, and her brother wouldn't have had to die. This is an excellent point, revealing how Dān Fěi's thoughtless adherence to tradition (which treats the Heaven's Retribution Sword as untouchable) acted against her. This makes her question what other things she's taken as absolutes in her life, and it also might be Thunderbolt Fantasy rearing up to have a theme – possibly the usual Boochi thing against accepting what you're told at face value and using your own judgment to determine what should be done in any given situation. He'll probably work more of his own feelings into the story, although I'd be content with just a pure fantasy action romp.

Other good moments from this episode – I'm pleased to see that Dān Fěi is an actual combatant and not just passive baggage for the dudes. Based on the design, I expected her entry into combat to be more reluctant, but it turns out that she's fully capable and willing in a fight. Juǎn Cán Yún has a crush on her, and his puppy-like attempts at chivalry look to be our main source of comic relief. I get the vibe that Lǐn Xuě Yā and Shā Wú Shēng have some romantic history, so I'm looking forward to those interactions. I'm also curious about Shāng Bù Huàn's purpose in the merry band. Dān Fěi is there because she has the sword's guard, Shòu Yún Xiāo for the rock monster, Shā Wú Shēng for the zombies, and GPS guy is coming up next week. Lancer hangs around because he's Archer's tagalong brother. Shāng Bù Huàn, however, was purposefully recruited. What's his deal? My guess is that he's the only swordsman capable of taking out Miè Tiān Hái or something like that. Maybe it's some unpredictable backstory stuff.

Overall, Thunderbolt Fantasy is still the most fun time to be had this season, which is saying a lot when it's running counter to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable. Praise be unto Booch, hallowed are thy puppets.

Grade: A

Thunderbolt Fantasy is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.