[DreamSword]

Episode 2: The Price of Glory

Something tells me that subtlety isn't something that Urobochi is known for.

The only other works of his that I've seen in full are "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" (which I felt started off fine but ended up turning pretentious) and the Netflix Godzilla Trilogy (which I wasn't much a fan of), neither of which are very subtle in their themes and messages.

I bring this up because, well, this episode is all about Gerd struggling with humanity, in practically every sense of the term. And it's not shy about everything it does.

Now, lemme preface this episode's' write-up by clarifying that I am in no way saying that being blatant about what you're trying to say is inherently bad. Infact, I am of the mindset that if you're deliberately creating a work with a specific message in mind, then being very unsubtle about it is probably the better way to go, as it makes your intentions clear, and helps to avoid accidentally creating a mixed message(as I've seen other works do).

So what's the scenario? Well, after having taken out the latest Demoniac, the XAT squad is broken up on how to handle the situation. Many of the crew take a more methodical approach, wanting to keep Gerd under quarantine since he's clearly some sort of Demoniac and they have no real understand of how they come about yet.

Hermann meanwhile has the much more optimistic mindset; Saying that Gerd being willing to save them from the bomb threat ontop of his willingness to go along with whatever the XAT seems fair proves that he's still a good-hearted human being. They come to a compromise that Gerd should essentially just be put under house arrest, with Hermann as his primary guard.

And ya know, I get this set up. The story wants to say that when it comes to things that potentially threaten the lives and safety of others, it's better to keep personal feelings out of it and be methodical.

I'll also say that if this show ends up becoming the same sort of nihilistic trash pile that Netflix Godzilla did then I am going to scream.

When another Demoniac attacks, Gerd is once again there to save the day.

This shot ended up being a nice little bit of foreshadowing, admittedly.

Afterward, the public absolutely loves Gerd, the White Zephyer. Hailing him as a hero, sending him flowers, and hey, Beatrice even seems to be pleased with how everything is going.

There's also a dude who looks like Sasuke from Naruto's' second brother stalking Gerd and giving him visions, but I'm sure that's not important.

What is important is that Hermann blatantly disregards his duty as Gerd's' keeper, going so far as to give Gerd his old motorcycle back. And hey, Gerd's' old flame who dumped his last episode even wants him back!

And you know, points to Gerd for being overall smart here. He does not just believe her at her word, and even considers just straight up not going to meet her, with the only motivation being the visions he's having and wanting to prove to himself that despite his new body, he does still have the heart of a human. And even more than that, when he does go to her house, he instead stays back and monitors the situation, rather than just going up and knocking on the door. And it's a good thing too, because his old flame ends up being every bit the manipulative backstabber you'd expect.

Unfortunately this is the breaking point for Gerd.

The entire sequence where he lashes out at his ex and the guy she was having an affair with is appropriately framed as terrifying. Though again, going back to this show appearing to not exactly be subtle, having a choir of kids sing a prayer in the background made me roll my eyes a bit and almost totally took me out of the scene entirely.

Like yeah, I get it, blind hero worship is bad. Thanks.

The episode ends with Gerd being hunted by the XAT, an admittedly very stylish but quick action scene between Gerd and Sasuke, Amanda apparently knowing who Sasuke is, and Gerd possibly dying due to his hallucinations.

Overall, I wouldn't go so far as to say the episode was bad, but there was definitely one key thing it was missing that was keeping me from being fully invested, and that was atmosphere. I know this only the second episode, so I'm not going to make any definitive calls on the show as a whole just yet, but I do hope that, should this anime continue with a story like this, that it finds an atmosphere that draws me in, as I currently feel that's the key thing to making this really work.