[Fish Sandwich]

Been slowly but surely catching up to the thread, so without further ado:

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandComplete

Episode 27 "Brothers Reunited"

Definitely a major highlight of the show so far. Very heavy on the drama, and it continues a longstanding trend I adore about this show, where the antagonists challenge Liu Bei psychologically as much as simply physically. Any time Liu Bei's morals or dedication or whatever else comes into question, it's a good episode, and this show has a LOT of good episodes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandComplete

Episode 28 "Matchless Zhuge Liang

Good episodes like this one, for example! Might be my favorite of the whole series to this point? It's got just about everything I could want, from my guy Cao Cao to the huge amount of screentime for Liu Bei's Hero Pieces, as well as continuing a lot of what I was just saying about the smart ways the writing challenges Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang is an amazing addition to the main cast, with a fine-tuned haughty personality that adds room for equal parts drama and comedy. I see what the show was doing by removing Liu Bei's more actively encouraging allies for this, and I honestly hugely approve. Zhuge Liang's whole dynamic of being extremely reliable and competent while also being a colossal jerk about it is both great fun, and something that pushes the story forward while its at it.

(This one was also a bit of a learning experience for me, as looking up the whole "Five Tiger Generals" thing afterwards made me realize I could've guessed which Hero Pieces Liu Bei would end up with WAY earlier if I weren't so ignorant. Tokusatsu is surprisingly educational sometimes! I feel like this show has to be extra fun for the people who know this material going in.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandComplete

Episode 29 " A Spy from Gangdong"

Just a nice dumb comic relief episode, and I appreciate its presence. Sun Ce still isn't really my favorite guy in the series, but I did come out of this one realizing his whole meathead martial artist deal is useful to put some instant levity back into the series. I also find it quite neat how this show does the Kamen Rider Kabuto thing of having the characters waltz in and out of the plots as necessary. Whatever else I can say about Sun Ce, he's never been given any "token" appearances for the sake of it so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandComplete

Episode 30 "Butterfly Return"

Another very promising start to a story. I'll have more to say about it once its done, I'm sure, but yeah, I'm way into the idea of a plot exclusively focused around the two main guys who aren't Liu Bei, specifically because they don't seem like they belong together. Cao Cao is defined by how he makes Liu Bei's life more complicated, and Sun Ce's roles revolve around making it more simple, so like, what do you get when you remove Liu Bei from the equation and just point them at each other? I'm excited to find out.