©タカヒロ・竹村洋平/集英社・魔防隊広報部
Coming right in the middle of the chaos left behind by the Chained Soldier last week, it’s reasonable to say that “Death Duel, Aoba , Excite” is essentially a 23-minute long fight scene. In classic fighting shōnen tradition, it also chooses to split our heroine pairings into three units, each paired with one of the Humanoids: Tenka and Kyouka naturally fend off Aoba and Unihorn; Himari and her sister Yachiho will face off against Naon and her Shuuki, Akura; Meanwhile, Shushu and Sahara are having a hard time dealing with Coco and Kuma, along with all the “Coco Juice” that comes in the package.
Since the story of this fight is that Yuuki is too tied up to be useful in battles, the mission of “Death Match, Aoba, Excite” is to show off the girls’ various skills in unique and interesting, which I think the episode mostly nailed. The animation and choreography are pretty solid, which I think is best demonstrated during the Shushu and Sahara portion of the battle. While it didn’t reach the heights of the inexplicably excellent match the duo shared in Exhibition, their fight with Coco was still quite entertaining, culminating in Shushu pulling Ant-Man and blasting Coco’s Shuuki from the inside with her shrinking and expanding powers.
The third part of the episode featuring Himari and Yachiho isn’t as interesting as the cramped quarters and muddy colors of the cave setting make it hard to appreciate anything going on. Plus, the animation here is much more inconsistent than in other parts. That said, the emotional core of this scene is stronger thanks to the sibling relationship setup we get in the Exhibition Arc, which makes seeing the sisters work together to create The change becomes even more satisfying. I also have to give props for the climactic sequence with one of the dumbest and dumbest power-ups I’ve ever seen, which involves Himari unleashing her rage and strength with something I can only be described as An Afro Made of Guns. I could easily choose the featured screenshot of the week if HIDIVE’s new and “improved” web player didn’t make taking quality screenshots impossible.
Finally, we have what you’d think would be the main event: Tenka and Kyouka’s fight with Aoba. There’s nothing wrong with that; I just found myself less invested in the action than I thought. I will give the episode credit for creating the funniest joke of the episode, when Tenka daydreams about her whole life being married to Yuuki and calls Aoba “little sister”. It’s not strong enough to rival its legendary counterpart—the funniest gag from Jujutsu Kaisen—but it still made me laugh. Thank you, Chained Soldier.
Aside from the inconsistent visuals, my main complaint about the episode is its overall lack of substance. Yes, I was expecting an action extravaganza. However, those often push the plot forward or take our characters to a new and interesting place in their personal storylines. However, here it seems like the show is just killing time until the real bad guys show up. I’m a lifelong tokusatsu fanatic, so please don’t think I’m trying to insult the show when I say that the Eight Gods of Thunder are like glorified Power Rangers villains, but they’re definitely not interesting equals Aoba and her crew, so forgive me for being a little skeptical about their ability to make the season finale. I guess anything is possible, but we’ll have to see if these scenery-chewing fools can pose a major threat for our heroes to face in the over-the-top outing. high next week or not.
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Chained Soldier is now streaming on HIDIVE.
James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other popular cultures, which you can also find on Twitterhis blog and podcast.