[DreamSword]

Episode 8: We're All Out of Money!

DS: Look, I don't have a caption for this one. It's just a mood, alright?

En-chan: Oh that is absolutely a mood, cake is always so good.

DS: So this episode, well, I liked it, but I dunno if the twist they intended to have at the end had the desired effect on me, because I was way more surprised by one really quick shot that we got at like the midway point.

That said, man, the title of this episode? Absolutely perfect use of double meaning.

En-chan: Oh for sure.

Speaking on the twist, it was definitely something that felt like it was coming given the clues so it definitely wasn't too shocking. Though it is nice to have clarification on who Riku and Great-Z are to each other.

DS: Part of me still wishes that Great-Z was a robot.

Speaking of which, man, that giant robo battle that took up half the episode, huh?

En-chan: They spent a lot of time modeling both robots so it makes sense they want to show them off as much as possible.

DS: They absolutely based Sekikaguo off of a handful of Zeon mechs from Gundam, too. And unashamedly so. They even worked in a pretty fun reference to the show too.

And for anyone who needs the proof of concept, well...

This is an actual thing.

En-chan: It's honestly a fun reference.

Especially since it's such a swerve of a mecha to give our protagonists of all things when it comes to looks.

DS: And function. Why Ohgaman had it respond to Yamashiron cooking and doing chores, I have no idea, but hey, it worked out.

The fight itself is kinda basic, but fun. I can for sure see how it'd eat up most of the season's' budget. And Great-Z's' as it turns out.

En-chan: And of course as per this season's theme, it was a collaborative effort.

In which we see Fukuokalibur deal with the third of Great-Z's camera drones. It's probably the biggest loss for Great-Z yet since the robot actually needs at least 4 drones to function compared to the other abilities he's shown off.

DS: And his film crew doesn't have the money to replace it, either. I was surprised at just how intense that final scene with them all talking about what direction to take their show in was in terms of atmosphere. It's definitely a nice change of pace in terms of the directing, and it's of course here we get that twist I mentioned earlier: That Riku is actually Great-Z's' son. And while that in itself isn't a bad twist and scene works pretty well, especially with that shot of Riku gripping his dad's' medication earlier on, it's uh, it's a little undermined by my penchant for reading shirts and seeing that Riku's' shirt is just utter gibberish.

En-chan: It wouldn't be a Toku Show if a character didn't have a shirt with random English on it.

But yeah, there's definitely a heavier tone to that end scene as well, which is reinforced further when we find out that despite how things seemed... our heroes actually achieved their goal.

They got Yabai Kamen back!

DS: Even threw a party for the guy. How far everyone has come! The bit about Maid Butler hitting Rookie accidentally was amusing too.

Also, El Brave somehow gets drunk off of protein shakes.

En-chan: Well they do say people can get drunk off the atmosphere and that was a pretty lively and jovial party too.

DS: That all being said, the part that took me by surprise was actually a really quick shot we get when the other Dogengers who aren't in the robot are evacuating the civilians. Wherein it's revealed that Riku is actually a part of Great-Z's' film crew. Meaning he was trying to make his dad a superhero the whole time ontop of being his double. I really like that angle.

En-chan: Yeah, it's definitely a fun angle and it makes you wonder if he's popped up in prior scenes like that as a little hidden detail.

I also do like how KitaQMan Metal's plan ended up mostly being put into place here too via the evac this episode. It's incredible to see it work out accidentally like that.

DS: It's probably the most straight-forward episode we've had of the show since arguably the first one. And despite that they still manage to have a hook for the rest of the show despite just showing what in many other shows would be the final battle. And all while none of it feeling like a drag. I really do gotta give props for that.

And with that, I am spent, and eager to see where Riku's' arc is going.

En-chan: Oh for sure.

Now that we've hit the full reveal, we can get into some good character work as we're likely to finally explore Riku and his dad's situation in a deeper manner now.

DS: Well, hopefully we'll get some more of that in the next one. Until then, I'm told that compared to Dynazenon, Dogengers is--oh, oh god En-chan's' got me in a headlock! HELP! HEEEELLlllll....