Failure Frame episode 6 review: Touka's ruthless cunning steals the show amidst an acceptable focus on Seras' bacsktory

Heading into Failure Frame episode 6, fans were expecting the series to finally reveal exactly why Serash Ashrain was on the run and being pursued by the country of Neah. Officially released on Thursday, August 8, 2024, the episode did answer this question, in turn providing a relatively satisfactory backstory for Seras in the process.

However, where Failure Frame episode 6 truly shined was in its focus on Touka, showing how much stronger and more cunning he has become since clearing the Ruins of Disposal. His confrontation with the warrior known as Humanity’s Strongest proves this and also provides a truly enthralling episode of can’t-look-away television.

Failure Frame episode 6 review: Touka’s growth, handling of Civit Gartland, and a focus on Seras are the positives

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Easily the single biggest place where Failure Frame episode 6 shines is in Touka Mimori’s handling of his confrontation with the warrior known as Humanity’s Strongest, Civit Gartland.

Upon being cornered by Gartland and his allies, Touka instantly begins analyzing the situation, with Civit’s perception of this resulting in him taking an interest in Touka. It’s subtle, but this emphasizes that Touka is a major threat in his own right even to someone as strong as Civit.

This transitions into a cat-and-mouse-like conversation between the two, with Touka eventually telling half-truths to convince Civit of his true identity. The additional emphasis on Touka’s cunning and ability to think on the fly here is welcome for its emphasis that even under pressure, he can ensure his control of a situation. This leads to Touka convincing Civit to let him and Seras go in exchange for fighting another day, with audiences surely falling for it also.

However, Failure Frame episode 6 executes an incredible twist by confirming that Touka was simply goading Civit and the others to get in range of his attacks all along.

It’s an incredibly exciting and unpredictable moment that makes a dialogue-heavy first and second act feel worth it as an action-packed third act kicks off. It also further emphasizes where Touka’s strengths lie, and what fans can expect of his fighting style against stronger enemies.

Failure Frame episode 6 review (Image via Seven Arcs)

The episode immediately parlays this into paying off the monster enhancement potion plotline, seeing Piggymaru and Touka link. This essentially gives Touka a Doctor Octopus-like set of seemingly infinite extra limbs that can extend indefinitely, acting as extensions of himself and likewise increasing his range. While some may call it underwhelming, it’s undoubtedly a power-up that strikes the perfect balance of being useful, but not breaking the series’ power system.

Failure Frame episode 6 clearly uses this confrontation to emphasize how much of a threat Touka has grown into, and how much more of a threat he’ll turn into. The latter is shown via his unlocking of several new abilities after dealing with Civit and his allies. In turn, his testing of these new abilities on Civit’s allies serves to further establish his moral compass and values. Overall, the installment succeeds greatly in terms of its focus on and development of Touka.

However, Sears Ashrain gets her moment in the spotlight too, as much of the dialogue-heavy first two acts of the episode focus on her backstory. It’s revealed that Emperor Ortola of Neah, smitten with Seras’ beauty, was unable to live with the idea of someone being with her intimately before or besides him. While it’s not a terribly deep backstory, it at least sets up why she was forced to go on the run and teases an additional focus on her origins later.

The final major positive of the episode is the handling of Civit Gartland. While quick, he serves as an exceptional foil to Touka. While Civit is obsessed with strength to the point of clouding his vision and foresight, Touka focuses more on cunning and abilities to overcome strength and avoid becoming battle-hungry like Civit. It’s a subtle distinction, but one which works well, especially in the context of Touka’s victory over Civit here.

Failure Frame episode 6 review: General lack of plot advancement and a shallow focus on Seras are the negatives

While the act of focusing on Seras’ backstory is praiseworthy in and of itself, Failure Frame episode 6 loses points for a relatively shallow focus. This is especially true when certain parts of the episode could’ve been cut or pushed to the seventh installment to give more focus on Seras’ origins. Although the focus on her relationship with Emperor Ortola does enough to explain how she’s in this situation, it leaves much to be desired beyond this frame of purpose.

In turn, this also parlays into a general lack of plot advancement, offering little in the way of new narratives with Touka’s choice of killing Civit rather than respecting the deal they made. While this was a great choice and executed well, the fact remains that it did put the series in an awkward position with no clear path forward in the next release.

However, Failure Frame episode 6 will likely make up for this via an episode that focuses heavily on both Touka and Seras and Goddess Vicius and the other heroes. The fact that the series is approaching its midway point further suggests this, with the direction of the rest of the season likely to be established in the next release. At the very least, fans can at least expect a new short-term narrative for the central pair of Touka and Seras to be introduced.

Failure Frame episode 6 review: Final thoughts

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Overall, Failure Frame episode 6 serves as an exciting and action-packed installment that gives as much focus to plot and character development/origins as it can. However, this focus is still somewhat underwhelming, especially considering other choices in the episode that could’ve been used for additional focus in this area.

That being said, the episode sets up an exciting follow-up in next week’s release, which promises to be plot-heavy following the bloodfest that was this release. With it also being time for the series to step up in terms of its narrative approach, it’ll be interesting to see how the series chooses to move forward from this point.