To put a positive spin on this week’s episode of Karakuri Circus, it doesn’t seem to have made the problems facing the series any worse.  On the other hand the problems aren’t going anywhere at the moment, so we’re in kind of an uncomfortable status quo – which for me means marking time until the first couple of episodes of next season to decide whether this series is worth sticking with.  There are worse ways to wile away a half-hour – this show is still fairly entertaining and features a legendary cast.  But the half-life on that is definitely limited.

I’m definitely missing Shirogane and Masaru, I can say that much.  The three-way dynamic was probably my favorite part of the series, but it was gone almost before it started.  And now those two are as well, as the last several eps have fixed their gaze squarely on Narumi and the “other” Shirogane.  The flashback sequence was quite arresting but the last couple of episodes have been pretty much generic action manga material, and I don’t personally think that’s Fujita Kazuhiro’s strongest suit.

Speaking of the flashback sequence, there seems to be something odd going on with the head of the Shirogane-O, who goes (went?) by the name “Faceless” (though he clearly has a face).  I’d been assuming he was Jin, since Furukawa Toshio unmistakably voices both characters, but there doesn’t seem to be any direct connection between the two.  Does that mean that the series is just recycling seiyuu – and what would that imply about the connection I presumed existed between Shirogane and Francine?

In any event I assume Faceless isn’t really dead, because he never told us what his “secret” third power was, which I suppose opens the door to his connection to Jin still being out there.  We’re meeting so many new Shirogane so quickly that it’s hard to muster up much rooting interest in any of them, though it was amusing that Tor planted a huge death flag on himself by talking about his fiancee back home, then removed it later by admitting it was all a lie.  He still may end up dead of course, since the body count in Midnight Circus’ maze of doom is pretty high.

Needless to say, I’m ready for this mini-arc to be over the the next phase of Karakuri Circus‘ plot to begin, so I can make a decision once and for all about covering it.  It says something that probably isn’t good when a show is moving at the breakneck pace this one is and subplots still feel too long, but that’s where we are – or where I am at least.  As good as the best elements of Karakuri Circus are, there just haven’t been enough of them to give the series any consistent sense of flow or establish an emotional or intellectual connection.  The clock is ticking, but we’re not quite at midnight yet.