It's taken four seasons and a handful of movies, but Thunderbolt Fantasy finally approaches its conclusion in its fourth and final season. Our main players of the season are divided into three main groups: Shāng Bù Huàn, Juǎn Cán Yún, and Dān Fěi, who are exploring the Wasteland of Spirits. Azibělpher, Làng Wū Yáo, and Xíng Hài, who are seeing to the demonic awakening of Làng. And then, finally, there's the Order of the Divine Swarm, and the Enigmatic Gale himself—Lǐn Xuě Yā—who's watching them. These parties do eventually break, and the stories all collide and intertwine, but the effect of a great deal of the story feeling disjointed as it tries to juggle them all more or less simultaneously is still the same.

Indeed, the storytelling in Thunderbolt Fantasy season 4, while not terrible, just isn't up to the (admittedly high) standard that I've come to expect not just from Thunderbolt Fantasy, but Gen Urobuchi's works overall. It's trying to balance too many narratives at once and ends up stretching itself too thin in the process. More specifically, it means that not all of these story threads have a satisfying payoff that makes sense. Ultimately, by the end, the whole thing ends up feeling like one overly drawn-out prelude to the movie—Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers -The Finale-—that follows it up. Still, when it's at its best, it delivers some great moments, especially with the always-fun-to-see Lǐn Xuě Yā, so it's not all bad news. “Underwhelming” is probably the best word I could use to describe the storytelling and overall writing in this season of Thunderbolt Fantasy, which is a shame considering how excellent it's been in previous entries.

Better use of some of the characters in this season might've helped to prop the story up better, but I really can't stress enough how squandered some of them become as a resource or storytelling vehicle. The biggest and most obvious examples are Làng Wū Yáo, Huā Wú Zōng, and Bà Wáng Yù. The latter are two new characters, members of the Order of the Divine Swarm. Without getting specific at the risk of spoiling anything, their storylines had a lot of potential, but ended in a way that can only generously be described as utterly nonsensical. Làng, meanwhile, in theory, takes on a much bigger role this season. I say “in theory” because in practice, he barely exists in the second half of the season. And even when he is on screen, we don't get as much from him as it feels like we should be, in light of his stressful circumstances. Shāng Bù Huàn, somewhat similarly, barely gets any screentime this season.

But if you're just here for the gorgeous puppetry and production value, I'm happy to report that as ever, there's more than plenty of it to go around in Thunderbolt Fantasy season 4. The movements are big, expressive, and theatrical. The voice acting matches this huge energy perfectly. The costumes are expertly crafted. The fight scenes are as flashy and well-choreographed as ever. The (several) hair flips feel like something right out of a drag performance. And not all, but a lot of the more dramatic editing reminds me a lot of that viral clip of a character reveal from an Indian drama (if you've seen it, you know the one)—which I realize might not sound like the compliment I intend it as, but I swear, Thunderbolt Fantasy makes it work.

There's an ever-present campiness to Thunderbolt Fantasy that really brings it over the top and keeps it super fun to watch, even in a comparatively weaker season like this one. The phrase “intense theater kid energy” is one that I've used to describe previous Thunderbolt Fantasy entries as well, and this one is no exception. Even in its lower moments, it's still soap opera-y and overdramatic in the best way possible.

It's a shame that if one season of Thunderbolt Fantasy was going to pale in comparison to the others, that it had to be the final one, and penultimate entry in Thunderbolt Fantasy overall. Still, even a lesser season of Thunderbolt Fantasy still makes for a fun-enough watch, especially if you don't think too hard about why things are happening, and instead let yourself get lost in the brilliant visuals of it all. But at the end of the day, it still left me interested to see how Urobuchi's puppet wuxia is going to conclude. This season might have fallen short of the mark in many ways, but it wasn't a complete miss.