[DreamSword]

Episode 2: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Brain

No, I don't know what that title has to do with the content of the episode.

That aside, while things slow down a bit for this one, that doesn't make the events of the episode any less crazy.

On its face, the episode concerns itself with a monster that abducts women through possessed shoes, whom he then forces said women to eat in order to fatten them up and eat them.

In terms of the setting up of character arcs and overarching plot though, the episode establishes that a guy called Hayami was originally supposed to become Changerion before the accident happened and the powers went to Akira. Akira loves his new powers, but has no interest in saving the world.

It doesn't help that the argument SAIDOC tries to use to recruit Akira is a pretty faulty one. The agent lady tells Akira to consider Hayami's' feelings, when Akira barely even knows who Hayami is, and that's about the end of it. This all leads into the two men crossdressing in order to infiltrate a shoe store. What? That's just natural progression to me!

Okay, I obviously left out some details, but hopefully you get the idea that I'm gunning for: Just like the first episode, this one escalates and when it does, it does so with gusto. I also gotta say that on a character front, I do like that, despite his jokey personality and general incompetence, I do like that Akira does infact have some honed detective skills, shown when he sets up to kinda Akemi after she's kidnapped by a pair of shoes.

It's not like this is some perfect super fun ride though. The ADR throughout the episode is impressively bad, and a big source of the humor in this episode(crossdressing, gay jokes) are ones that certainly haven't aged well. The action side of things is pretty weak too, with the monster of the week being dealt with pretty quickly to the point that it barely counts as a fight scene(also featuring Akira suddenly knowing how to use more of his arsenal). It almsot feels tacked on in the way it's handled.

Still, if these first two episodes are meant to establish a sort of pattern for the average Changerion episode to follow, then you know what? The show should end up at the very least be an interesting watch, if not a good one.