Nokemonotači no joru

The Tale of Outcasts tries hard to tug at the viewer’s heartstrings but the only episode that evoked any emotion in me was the third one with Harriet and Mory, which was more of a subplot within the main story. The beginning felt like watching Andersen's "The Little Match Girl", but the atmosphere left a lot to be desired. All the hardships looked very contrived, and their escalation seemed to have been done just for effect. What I found interesting was the bond between Wisteria and Marbas, and I was curious to see how it would be handled. Then came the third episode which really worked for me emotionally and I thought I would finally start enjoying the show. I figured it was going to be about the main couple wandering around, meeting various demons with unusual problems, helping them to deal with them, and strengthening their mutual bond. I was partially right, but the series focused too long on each demon, trying to build as much drama around everything as possible, which felt incredibly unnatural. It didn't work for me and I found it boring. Plus, I probably saw the dullest and most useless Sherlock Holmes. Wisteria's character development in the penultimate episode was interesting but I only halfheartedly made it to the end of the show. The Tale of Outcast is yet another mediocre series in the winter season. I quite liked the animation and music, though. 5/10 (02.04.2023)