Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring ‒ Episode 13

It shouldn't be surprising at this point that the best episode of Agents of the Four Seasons in a good while is the one where Sakura and Hinagiku are almost completely sidelined. Of the four different main seasonal pairings, the Spring Duo is not the worst of the bunch (that honor still goes to the narratively useless Agent and Guardian of Winter). Still, Sakura and Hinagiku's story has been well and truly ground to dust by repetitive, shallow dramatic meandering, so it only stands to reason that the show benefits from giving them a much-deserved break offstage. Thus, we can devote pretty much the entire episode to the parallel fights of the Autumn and Summer teams as the mission to rescue Nadeshiko is finally brought to a climax.

So far as the action is concerned, I wish I could tell you that Studio Wit pulled out all the stops to produce the kind of lavish animated spectacle we know these artists are capable of, but alas, it's mostly just okay. Beyond the forgettable production values, the forest setting that hosts the majority of the battles looks and feels very stock, and these Insurgent mooks are just the lamest villains. All of them stand around in their bland matching Henchman Thrift Store uniforms, acting like the goons from a low-rent action movie. I can at least forgive some of the trite choreography when the regular humans are contesting with the likes of Ruri and her magic animal horde, but for goodness' sake, why are the baddies all standing around and waiting their turn against Ayame, who is just one girl with a blade? The fact that half of these trained soldiers are using swords at all is pretty silly to start with, and it only draws attention to the number of times the mooks who do have guns don't do anything but stand there like clueless extras who wandered onto the wrong set by accident.

That said, the fact that Ruri and Ayame are getting so much screen time at all is what elevates this episode to the success it does reach. Like I said, we're sick to death of Sakura and Hinagiku, Rosei and Itecho are both walking bottles of Nyquil given abominable life, and poor Rindo can only do so much when his partner is a child who has spent most of the season playing Princess Peach. The show doesn't do Rindo any favors when it tries to play the trope of the hero starting to lose his sanity in the face of his loved one's apparent death, only to immediately do the same bit with the Summer Sisters, and with much more depth and feeling. Nadeshiko is immediately proven to be perfectly fine, anyway, so it all amounts to very little

The point is, Ayama being confronted with Ruri's actual death is the closest this show has ever gotten to making me feel something. The twins' whole dynamic is easily the most nuanced and believable relationship in this entire show, and you could almost believe that Agents of the Four Seasons has learned to properly develop its plot and characters by contrasting this grief-stricken Ayame with the one who was ready to leave her sister behind and start her own life at the beginning of the season. Sure, the show almost immediately overplays its hand by having Ayame immediately try to commit suicide over her sister's body, and Nadeshiko then jumps in to announce that she can just bring Ruri back to life with her Decomposition Magic anyhow. It's not like Agents of the Four Seasons has suddenly become a classy television program all of a sudden.

Still, as far as trashy junk food meant for teenagers raised on theatrical Japanese melodrama is concerned, this is maybe as good as Agents is going to get. It's just a shame that it took over a dozen episodes of frustrating wheel-spinning to get us to this just-barely-passable climax. So many other series have accomplished so much more with so much less.

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Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.