[DreamSword]

Episode 4: Dinner

There wasn't much time for the formula of last episode to be established.

Not that that's a bad thing mind you, I just find it rather notable that this episode very quickly throws us a curve ball.

The target Horror this time is obvious: One masquerading as a doctor, who in turn devours any of the patients that he operates on. With the help of his lovely Horror nurses to boot.

While Koga would normally just march in and kill the lot no problem, something is amiss. He can't transform! And the Mado Lighter doesn't even function properly! This Horror is the first in the show to erect a barrier which nullifies the effects of Koga's' various tools.

And it's with that that, for the first time, we actually see Koga have a genuine struggle with the Horror that he's fighting. Not just physically, but also mentally given how the topic of his late father gets brought up. In the end, it's up to Kaoru to save the day, as given how she was splashed by Horror blood, only she can approach the source of the barrier and disable it.

Speaking of Kaoru, she's not doin' too hot! She got evicted from her apartment and as such needs to bum with her friend Asami for awhile. And it turns out that Kaoru's' cooking is bad. So bad that she actually puts Asami in the hospital. Which I won't lie, with the way the smash cut happened, actually got a rather good laugh out of me. But on the topic of Asami, her whereabouts are kinda left unaccounted for at the end of the episode...

Anyway! Coming from the anime this was another fun one just due to the way it played with the formula. One thing that really caught me by surprise was the different ways that the Mado Flame was handled throughout the episode. Like, throughout all three anime, I think they only ever covered the sword in flames like, once, maybe twice? Which made that way Koga kills the Horror all the more surprising to me. Heck, it ain't even just the sword either, dude absolutely covered himself in the stuff which was extremely cool.

Not just that though, but the lighter itself being used as a weapon and the scene establishing that it needs to be refueled were nice little touches that were never shown in the anime(to my knowledge). Used the same "no smoking" joke though(good callback there, Vanishing Line). But in the very same scene exists something that connects the two: The Watchdogs mocking Koga for not being able to track and then losing to a "weak Horror" and yet they themselves weren't exactly able to do any better. Some things will never change, will they?

Emotionally this was a solid one thanks to the establishment of Koga's' primary drive being the death of his father, as well as how we continue to see Kaoru's' overall situation getting worse, even if she is facing it in stride. That scene with Koga and the little boy whose dad got eaten by Doctor Horrorble was rather touching despite being so brief.

So... yeah. Just a solid package all around.