[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The good thing about the previous episodes doing all that setup is that these ones get to waste no time at all getting to the point. There's a mysterious beetle thing flying around, and everyone's time is getting taken up trying to figure out what its deal is.

Would it seem that Sasayama is the one that isn't overworked with her being able to launch her trivial stuff like that such as presents to Ichijou? Good to see the cops being used to the abnormal stuff going besides them, though the differences this time seems to be that Gouram is seemingly an inanimate object (but shaped like living being) that can cause havoc by itself like sentient beings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Sakurako and Yuusuke, who has been seeing weird flashes of the beetle in his head, are also trying to figure out the mystery, and they're a lot more relaxed about it.

I was confused at first about this, a beetle that can turn into horse armor (I forgot to take account about the beetle's size). And the Gouram effect around him, sorry, seems to be a testament of early 2000s special effects, and the type usually appeared in my country's television program.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The Unidentified Lifeform in question is Me-Gyarido-Gi, who in the last episode developed something of an obsession with driving a truck, and is now going around backing into anyone unfortunate enough to be in his way. It's one of the more memorable Grongi gimmicks, and it makes a lot of sense when you realize that, since he's based on a hermit crab, the truck is essentially his "shell". Very clever!

Sure the truck being a shell for hermit crab is clever, but I find it hilarious that even for a Grongi with superhuman stats, the one threatening others are your everyday human objects, his Isuzu Elf truck. A truck ramming into people and others is something mundane happening in human lives. Any humans like drunk driver can do what Gyarido does! Granted, polices can't deal with him like they can with humans driving like that due to him being Grongi (they probably can still stop the truck the way they do to human drivers) but still...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Back at the police station, Enokida explains to Sasayama the special circumstances surrounding Ichijou's birthday after he refuses to accept a gift from her.

Though Ichijou takes his job seriously in ep. 2, I for some reason think Ichijou was just significantly meaner that time, as he can still do the cop job independently alongside a superpowered civilian. I wonder if Enokida just figures out Ichijou's backstory or Ichijou opening up to her (and probably can open up to Sasayama at the beginning?). I've read a news where a cop dies for trying to save people on river like Ichijou's dad, and unfortunately there were some callous comments, being puzzled why a cop that "can't swim" like that can pass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The action scene that closes out the episode is amazing. It's mostly Kuuga riding to a place on his bike, but there's the extremely unusual twist that he's actually riding through extremely congested traffic, and we see loads of civilians reacting to him driving by.

So have #4 gained humanity's trust by this time?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

What else sticks out is the big ol' beetle robot thing that attaches itself to the TryChaser.

The Gouram attaching itself to TryChaser has a significantly better effect than when the bettle flies around him somehow. Motorcycles are often treated as the modern day equivalent of horses, so it makes sense that Gouram adapts to a modern era and replace the horse part with bike part. Kuuga himself has many Grongi vibes so yeah it's plausible for the cops to be feared of Gouram, but it's the 2nd "Unidentified Life Form stuff" that is an ally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

In general, this is a great episode when it comes to fleshing out the supporting cast.

At least Jean's probably unintentionally lose the fragments here, unlike in ep. 7 where he just rambles about his own gain. Finally Ichijou gets through the cops and no need a complicated plan to convince. And poor Enokida with the Gouram's sthick which damages the equipments? For Ichijou being perceived as heartless, it's already refuted before where his family wants serious dedication in work above everything else before it's about the mom so yeah...

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Yuusuke gets a chance to further prove his usefulness when Gyarido goes back into action, which means Kuuga is on the scene with the TryGouram once again.

How does the attack on vehicle affect Gyarido? AoE?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

On that note, there's some good use of practical effects throughout this episode, including actual explosions, a rarity for Kuuga, as well as the much more common "things on fire", something that always works for this show, and Yuusuke and Ichijou talking in the aftermath of the fight is no exception.

Yeah, the explosion effects here is significantly better too than the previous episodes. What's the pattern of Gouram functioning or not? (or suddenly dying at ep. 15 end)