© TriF/“Mecha-Ude” Production Committee
In addition to continuing some plot details from the previous episode, Mecha-Ude enters a new storyline for its second half. Aki seems to have matured a bit after the traumatic fight against Amaryllis and her possessed sister, and she completely devotes herself to her role as Hikaru's bodyguard, whether he likes it or not. . Team Kagami and their various human-Mecha-Ude couples keep trying to win over Alma and Hikaru, but luckily Aki is too cool to let them, not that she's too tied herself up in knots. belt to try to restrain some of them after a battle.
After previous episodes that featured Kagami Corporation agents given numerical names like “Oner,” “Twos,” and “Threeg,” we now meet “Fourte,” a 14-year-old black-clad boy, girl gothic with shark teeth, wearing an eyepatch and holding a Mecha-Ude machine gun. She seems fun, but Mecha-Ude returns to its hyperactive, breathless pace, cramming so much into each episode that we have little time to get to know any of the characters. What's new? How much would you like to bet that the next episode will introduce someone named “Fiver”?
Part of the problem is that much of episode 7 consists of many flashbacks, up to the discovery of Alma and his brother Fist by the original Kagami siblings Yakumo and Tsukihito back in the Meiji period (1868- 1912). We see Alma form a strong bond with Yakumo, but he dies after a failed attempt to awaken “Ordela.” This was the trauma that kept Alma from functioning for over a century, and now it was still fresh in his mind, his memories returning since the war with the Amaryllis.
Feeling guilty about Yakumo's death, Alma understandably fears the same fate will befall Hikaru, leading to the tragic breakdown of their partnership—albeit a very one-sided one. face, for Hikaru, his connection with Alma gives him meaning. That meaning was brutally snatched away by ARMS leader Aljis, who declared that he would return to being a normal civilian with nowhere to interact with other Mecha-Ude users. At least Aki has his back, claiming she's still his bodyguard before giving him some reason back. I love Aki, but she would be a scary girlfriend.
Standouts include Alma's rather pathetic attempt to stay away from Hikaru while wrapped in his hoodie and the way Jun picks him up and spins him around as if he were hanging out the laundry. Jun's motives are a bit unclear, other than he took the opportunity to try to pick a fight with Alma herself. So why did he call Hikaru in the first place and allow Alma to talk to him? Is it purely for personal gain, or is he subconsciously a real brother?
Both separations in this episode – between Alma and Yakumo and between Alma and Hikaru – are once again victims of Mecha-Ude's relentless pacing. I wish there was more time to explore the emotional aspects of these relationships. I worry that this cavalier attitude towards character growth and development could lead to Mecha-Ude coming across as superficial, which is a shame considering how much care and attention has been paid to it. is reserved for action scenes (at least in this episode), and a complex plot.
The plot is still entirely based on Transformers.
Rating:
Thinking about machines:
Since both Jun and Kazuwa spend most of this episode separate from their respective Mecha-Ude, it suggests that reversing the destruction process cannot be too traumatic if done in a planned manner. Jun has also lost most of his green hair color; I'm not sure if that's meant to signify anything.
It seems Yakumo died during the Meiji period, so we're no closer to finding the Amaryllis's mysterious boss in the post-credits sequence.
→ Is Tsukihiko's illness related to the illness that afflicted Jun? They are both members of the Kagami family, so is it genetic and therefore passed down through generations, or does it have something to do with exposure to Mecha-Ude? From the character biographies on their official websites, it seems like they were both born into poverty…
Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
