©タカヒロ・竹村洋平/集英社・魔防隊広報部
Is it just me this week, or does the Chained Soldier look good this week? Like, really good. At the very least, the match between Shushu and Sahara might be the best scene this show has to offer so far. It’s so well-crafted and flows so well that it stands out all the more for how arbitrary the additional helping of sakuga feels to this part of the story. I mean, okay, sure, I shouldn’t be surprised that the Chained Soldier animators pulled out all the stops for the bikini wrestling match between “Shushu the Giant Woman” and “Sahara the…Girl Who Can Give Herself Power” Enhanced, I guess?” However, we’re talking about an almost completely superfluous showdown between an almost comical member of Squadron 7 and the girl from Squadron 6, whose two defining characteristics are that she’s just sad sleep has just been blessed by God.
I’m not complaining, exactly, because the match was certainly fun to watch; I guess I’m just a little confused about the episode’s priorities in the grand scheme of things. Granted, a lot of that probably has more to do with the fact that “Blitz, Sahara, Twinkle” is one of those episodes that feels that way, as a very short episode outside of the manga isn’t enough to fill two full episodes. ten minutes, it has to cram the beginning of a completely new story into the second half to ensure we reach the final credits. It makes the sudden appearance of the Shuuki army and its humanoid leaders feel like the show is taking a hard turn into “Okay, we promise, this stuff is important” territory. . However, Shushu’s feelings for Yuuki are quite cute; I’ll give Chained Soldier that much.
Additionally, as noted by Chained Soldier, Shuuki’s attack seems as consequential, as random as its place in the story. Yuuki gets a new fusion transformation called “War Cloud”, which is pretty cool. I’m just a little angry because my brain has been so poisoned that I can’t help but wonder what reward our guy will get when the two bosses are forced to satisfy his weird sexual desires. Also, for her role as Yachiho’s Psycho Sister, I can’t lie and say that I didn’t laugh at the extremely silly joke where she has to contort her legs to strike a Golden Hour pose as a baddie chops it off her arm. It’s just the kind of unashamed stupidity that I appreciate most about The Chained Soldier.
I always feel a bit annoyed when an anime adaptation can’t find a more natural way to combine two different stories in one arc than to smash them inelegantly into a single episode, But this is not the worst-case scenario. I didn’t expect Chained Soldier to be a masterpiece of any kind. If any episode can manage to be silly, interesting, and (tastefully) sleazy on a regular basis, then I consider it a success. “Blitz, Sahara, Twinkle” does just that and even manages to avoid ruining its fanservice with terrible lighting and visual filters! Hopefully next week we can maintain this momentum and continue to deliver.
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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which you can also find on Twitterhis blog and his”podcast.
Chained Soldier is now streaming on HIDIVE.