WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Gymnastics Samurai Episode 3, "Dueling Samurai," now streaming on Funimation.
In most regards, "Dueling Samurai" is the best episode of The Gymnastics Samurai (Taiso Samurai) yet. It has a straightforward conflict with Tetsuo challenging Jotaro to a duel, and plays like a solid Rocky-esque sports drama. The show's best comic relief character, Leo, gets some hilarious scenes, while the worst comic relief characters, the annoying bird and the homophobic stereotype, barely show up at all. However, for all its strengths, there's one big problem dragging this episode down: aside from a few impressive shots when Jotaro barely avoids another accident, the animation is even weaker than usual.
The Gymnastics Samurai has been one of MAPPA's weaker visual efforts as a studio in general, but in this episode, the avoidance of actual animation in important scenes actively hurts the mood the show's going for. It's at its worst in the training montage. This should be the time to get the audience excited, seeing Jotaro recharge his athletic ability as he defends his decision not to retire. The music in this scene is exciting, but the actual montage loses all its thrill once it stops being animated, turning into a slideshow of still pictures overlaid over a calendar. All the energy of the scene effectively dies.
So why is The Gymnastics Samurai so disappointing animation-wise? The most likely explanation is it's getting the short end of the stick as MAPPA experiences its most overbooked season of anime yet. Jujutsu Kaisen continues to look amazing thus far, and Attack on Titan: The Final Season promises similarly lavish action animation once it debuts on December 7. When allocating time and resources between three projects, of course the weird original show takes lower priority than two guaranteed blockbusters.
Seeing this production struggle, however, raises concerns about MAPPA stretching its artists too thin. Crunch at the studio is a huge concern, especially in light of how every other animation studio refused to work on Attack on Titan: The Final Season due to the overwhelming scheduling demands. Perhaps it's best, for both the animators and for animation fans, that MAPPA take on fewer projects so they can give them each the time and attention they deserve without such strain.
New episodes of The Gymnastics Samurai premiere Saturdays at 1:30 PM ET on Funimation.