Shigofumi - Episode 3

Shigofumi set itself up with some high expectations thanks to that fantastic two-part opening story, but with the surprise changes to the tone of the series unwrapped it was always going to be difficult to keep that kind of momentum. Regardless of that, I was well and truly looking forward to episode three, with my interest piqued further by news that the episode in question had been edited due to its content in a "think of the children" moment.

In fact, let's start by talking about the edits made to this episode - Quite simply, they're ridiculously clumsy, and detract hugely from the story itself. Leaving my imagination to fill in the blanks, I have come to my own personal conclusion that the character in question held everyone hostage my making threatening use of a stick of French bread.

That aside, after the fantastic story and characterisation of the opening two episodes, this particular showing was really rather bland - A nondescript story, which happened for a non-existent reason. There was no real interaction on Fumika's part either apart from one interesting point of note, which just left the episode to plod on without any real direction. I still have faith that this show can deliver some more great episodes thanks to its intriguing concept, but in all honesty this particular offering wasn't one of them.