A promising start gets bogged down by one of the sloppiest undercover plots we've ever seen. It course corrects in the back half, but we spent a large chunk of the story burying our face in our hands, frustrated by the total lack of consequences for Ryoma whenever he refused to play along.

We're glad that we saw it through to the end: if you know a little bit of Shinsengumi history, your jaw will drop at some of the buckwild ways they bend reality. And when it's firing on all cylinders, it's fantastic! You just have to wade through a lot of bullshit to get to the good stuff, and we don't blame anyone who bows out before said good stuff arrives.