[DreamSword]

Episode 7: What's our Reason for Coming Together?

Let's talk about Anti some more!

I was so happy to see Best Boy from SSSS.Gridman return here, and alongside Anosillus II to boot!

Their personalities were still pretty on point, and it was nice to see that their original voice actors were retained. Plus, the interactions with Gauma really made them shine. So glad to see them done justice on that front.

That said...

If I could offer some minor critique? I don't get why they now wear suits? Neither of them seemed the type. And in the case of Anti, I get it, his new look also serves as a call back to Calibur from the previous season, but in terms of personality it clashes, ya know?

That said, having his old scarf tucked away in the jacket? Very nice touch. I also love the implication of him throwing away the name that Akane gave him and instead embracing the name given to him by his comrades from Gridman. As such, from here on out whenever I refer to the character as he is here in Dynazenon I'll use Knight, and use Anti when talking about Gridman.

Knight and Anosillus II aside though, one thing I actually really appreciated about this episode was that, unlike episodes 3-5, this one had a good sense of keeping balance between everyone's' screen time. Every character and their respective interactions and arcs were given an equal amount of weight and focus, with the atmosphere to match, too. And playing into his role in the robot, it was nice to see that Gauma was essentially the thing binding it all together.

But again, if I might make a minor critique...

While I am somewhat glad that our villains are getting a bit more fleshed out, part of me also feels like if future episodes don't play it carefully, this could easily result in either rushed focus or not amounting to much? Like, I feel as though the new details we learn here, as well as some questions they raised, are really things that should've been presented 2-3 episodes ago. Again, this show is on a limited time. Introducing new mysteries this late, while it can be done effectively, rarely ever is in my experience.

With all that out of the way, you might be thinking that Knight was the absolute highlight for me, right? Well, surprisingly, even to myself, no. The piece of the plot I got most invested in was this one.

Koyomi's' conflicting feelings about, well, everything that's happened to him over the course of the show so far made for some really strong stuff. His conflict over love, his doubts about his status as hero, and internalizing his own battle to sort his own feelings out? Yeah, I'm all about stuff like that in stories like this, and I am so glad it's finally getting just as much focus as the far less interesting plot that is Yume and Yomogi's' love life. You know between this and Garo, that makes two anime I've now covered in this thread that had simultaneous love stories where one worked for me and the other didn't.

In the end, Dynazenon seems to finally be actually going somewhere with its characters, and that made me like this episode alot. I had a great time watching this one, and I hope it's a good sign for episodes to come.

(I also don't get the implication that Knight and Anosillus II are a couple but sure I guess.)