Oooooooh yes. Yes indeed.

Not just explosions, but explosions you can stand next too. These are characteristically different from Japan’s endless parade of pseudo-nuclear events. One does not dive for cover or look astonished. The explosion has been harnessed by our hero. And now they are part of it – the static human core of the light.

The obvious presentational difference here is Maka’s close-up and Kuro’s silhouette. Shonen battling is about self assertion, Kuro just happens to be bad as fuck. You’ll notice that when he killed the shellshitter, the camera stayed close-in for the personal touch. But in the explosion, he’s iconic. Maka looks utterly concentrated, Kuro looks less detailed and more like the very image of a hard bastard.

Oh, katanabiker, how sad it is that you are so wonderful. How predictable a combination – and how uncharacteristically wittily the script was in pointing this out. This absurd helicopter-smashing episode has made me like Kurozuka again. Back when we were stuck in Saniwa’s moody nightmare forest I found the show a touch tedious. But out on Karuta’s open road Kurozuka is glorious.

While the seinen show invites us to laugh and smile, the shonen series refuses to get carried away. By placing the great victory at the start of the show, then ending with the evil schemers, Soul Eater made sure that the momentum of the BREW business didn’t peak. The mood remains cautious, which suits the potentially self-destructive  and definitely unproductive form our team’s victory took.

Kurozuka’s explosion is the fun before the storm, the action before the inevitable pre-climactic headfuck. Soul Eater’s is a mere moment of determination within the wider story, a strong moment for a character which doesn’t lead to victory. Both moments are hammered in with glee. Because we need reminding that Kurozuka can be fun. And we need reminding that Soul Eater can be triumphal.

So yeah. Explosions. Sometimes they’re exactly the right note, or rather, chord, to strike.