Arata Kangatari - 09
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You just have to wonder if Arata Kangatari got the short end of the stick by only being 1-cour. Bad luck for the series.
Loss and recovery is a standard procedure for shonen action series, which Arata Kangatari is. Usually, this process takes longer than one episode but when you're faced with a 12 episode restriction, you do what you can. And in this series' case, it wasn't a bad effort.
Kadowaki's appearance may have been short, and that was fine. We didn't need to see him for much of the episode because we've known about the bullying and the power he's had over Arata for quite some time now. Even away from the screen, Kadowaki's bullying ways and Arata's fear of him has been a dominant part of the background story. Before the latest two episodes, it was mostly focused on Arata and now it's transitioned pretty smoothly to include Kadowaki.
Speaking of the bully, I still find his background story too silly. It's hard to take it 100% seriously when it comes across as petty and childish, which would be fine if this wasn't a battle-fantasy series. As motives for hatred go, Kadowaki's is bottom-tier and a crux for Arata Kangatari as a whole. Whether this has to do with how the adaptation is being handled is beyond me, but it doesn't help this type of series when the antagonist is that.......pathetic. Not to mention, it makes the ending very predictable.
Whilst I concede that this series was never going to have big surprises, it becomes very obvious what the ending will be like with each passing episode. Kadowaki being told that he must really like Arata by his aide - love is always the same side of the coin as hate - and Arata remembering his friendship with Kadowaki makes it all the more obvious as to how the series will end. Now all that's left is for us to reach that end in the next three weeks.
Arata Kangatari ED 2
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Rare for a 1-cour to have more than one ED, especially this late, but there you have it.
Arata Kangatari Episode 10 Preview
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