English Dub Review: Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department “Those Sacrifices Saved from Hell by a Black-Winged Devil That Devours Other Devils Will Revere It as God Regardless of Whether Its Act Makes It a Servant of Heaven or Merely a Savage Cannibal”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Zet Arc is attempting to buy out Agastia! When the takeover turns hostile, who will appear to join Miss Kuroitsu in the fight?

Our Take:

For Karen Mizuki, the first day at a new job can be nerve-racking, especially one that involves another villain organization. But at least it doesn’t transcend into a showdown between two organizations. Oh, wait a minute.  

Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department was an interesting show, and it’s not just because of its long-ass episode titles. It’s the fact that the Power Rangers-like baddies are acting as businesspeople. While the execution is hit-and-miss in specific episodes, it’s a charming and watchable series that’ll likely impress several fans of the manga series. This week brings the show’s first season to a close by representing an “epic” battle that will determine the fate of Agastia and the world.

The season finale continues where last week’s episode left off, with Karen and Heiki beginning their first day as Akashic’s assistants. The leader then receives a call from Zet Arc, a society seeking to buy Agastia to expand its business. Unfortunately, the executives failed to respond to its offer, resulting in Zet Arc, led by Zet Acht, plotting to take Agastia by force. The organization will then have to fight back with the help of its monsters and some unlikely allies.

The final episode of the season goes for an Avengers: Endgame-type of storytelling, where every hero and villain unite to protect the country from Zet Acht (the Thanos of Miss Kuroitsu) and his robot monster army. This led to Miss Kuroitsu making the ultimate sacrifice by using Sadamaki’s device to transform into “Black Blader” and teaming up with Blader to defeat Zet Acht. This would’ve been a great way to close the season…if the entire thing wasn’t so rushed.

As another regular episode about Agastia’s conflict against an enemy, it’s somewhat enjoyable for its action and animation. However, as a finale that pits every character against a more significant threat, it came up extremely short with its rushed character development, an underwhelming plot, and a by-the-numbers antagonist. In other words, Zet Acht has got nothing on Thanos. As for Karen and Heiki, all they did in the episode was serving Akashic and uniting every hero and villain. So, consider myself a tad disappointed with those characters as well.

Overall, the season finale of Miss Kuroitsu tries to copy the elements of Avengers: Endgame but wound up struggling to figure out what made the superhero blockbuster a fantastic closure in the first place. The showdown between Agastia and Zet Arc isn’t without its enjoyable moments, including the ending, which sees Kuroitsu being stuck in her Black Blader outfit without a software update. Unfortunately, the episode suffers from a plot that could’ve been split into two or three parts to build up its character development and provide higher stakes. It’s an underwhelming conclusion to an otherwise delightful yet flawed product. However, I wouldn’t mind seeing where the show would go with Black Blader Kuroitsu if they decide to move forward with a second season.