In the two weeks Karakuri Circus has been away, the honest truth is that I didn’t really miss it all that much.  That has to be some sort of statement about where I am with this series, and not a positive one.  While 2018 wasn’t a good year for anime overall (2019 is certainly off to a better start), maybe the worst part of it was that there were three shows which ranked among my most-anticipated going into their respective seasons that flamed out (and truthfully, that doesn’t actually happen all that often).  That’s if Karakuri Circus winds up in that category too, of course.

We’re not there yet, but I have to say we’re pretty close.  The thing is that I haven’t come to dislike this series, which is what happened with the other two – and that makes it harder to cut the cord here.  I’m just kind of bored more than anything – all these insane clown posse battle royale episodes are blending together and I liked Narumi a lot better when he was a normal human who had to make people laugh or die.  And when he was interacting with Shirogane and Masaru too of course, as that dynamic was better for his character than the one we see him in now.  The series wasn’t great then either, but it was certainly better.

Basically this week a bunch of people I’m guessing we’re supposed to care about a lot more than I do (and maybe would, if their arc had played out at the manga’s pace) died.  Lucille is really the only one who marginally crossed over into making me feel anything, and that’s largely because I’m a huge Paku Romi fan.  And that whole bit the with high-level automata being unable to move because Lucille’s bogus fake Francine (mother of the year points out the window there) ordered them to bow down to her struck me as kind of silly, even as I suspect it was supposed to be deeply philosophical.

The only thing keeping me drawn along here (aside from simply not wanting to bag another of my former top picks) is the possibility that Karakuri Circus could take a radical turn once this arc is over, and get back to being something at least measurably more engaging.  And surely this arc has to be over soon, doesn’t it?  It’s funny, right now I’m simultaneously like the series is screaming along at an insane pace and that it’s painfully dragging.  And that’s actually not an uncommon syndrome with anime, because if that pacing numbs you to whatever’s happening, every episode can seem to take forever to play out.  It’s pretty close to the breaking point for me, but if next week is dramatically better or at least offers a gear change, I suppose I might cover Karakuri for at least one more episode.