[Fish Sandwich]

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!



Time to reevaluate Ghost already. Even Toei says you should give it another chance!

(Also time for me to still be upset Over-Time hasn't done the Specter movie, but that's neither here nor there)

Now, of course, considering what the subject matter this week is, it's probably no surprise I quite enjoyed this episode. I wouldn't call it the best episode of the show yet or anything, but there's a lot going on here I really like.

First of all, Another Ghost's gimmick is excellent, and much more uniquely Ghost than if he was just another dude, who just happened to be able to walk through walls or something. I also enjoyed seeing somebody flat out refuse the Time Jackers' vague offers for once. I honestly never expected that to happen, but apparently moral fortitude and being Ghost go hand in hand. Even his mission to go around preventing accidents by stealing people's souls is a sort of twisted take on Takeru's own desire to protect life. I suppose this applies to some of the other Another Riders too (like Ex-Aid, for example), but I dig that the similarities to the genuine article go beyond just the design.

And speaking of the genuine article, Takeru was great here. Loads of screen-time, and while he doesn't get to do anything particularly cool yet, I adore the implications of him doing literally the exact same thing he always does even without becoming a Rider. It really rubs in why I love Takeru so much. Powers or no, he does everything he can to help a Victim of the Week. This is the fifth episode in a row (!) written by Nobuhiro Mouri, and considering he wrote some of Ghost's best episodes, I'm definitely not complaining.

Decade's inclusion was also super well handled. From the preview I was expecting him to only get a brief scene or two with little immediate consequence, but he was a big player here, and got to do lots of cool crap without detracting from the actual main plot, which is quite the balancing act. Much like I love Takeru still going around helping random people, it's very true to his character for Tsukasa to go around doing whatever he wants (that inevitably ends up being good) and not caring at all what people think of him for it. I don't know how much attention the show will call to this, but despite the difference in attitude, Tsukasa and Sougo really are reflections of one another in a lot of ways.

So yeah, definitely a good time all around, and as with pretty much every odd numbered episode of Zi-O, I'm excited to see how well the second part sticks the landing.