I think I just played a crab eugenics game.
You did! Haha.
There's a bit of an "Oh, come on" zone right next to the crab where I felt like it could have moved its arm back just a little bit to catch a mutated crab that I didn't want going through.
It's funny you mention that because the attack animation intentionally swings back first before swinging forward to help the players grab that crab that was almost past you. Perhaps, I wasn't too generous!