[Fish Sandwich]

Jetman 44-45:

44 has Inoue checking in on Gai and Kaori's relationship status at the start to reaffirm that's it's not going very well for them. And that isn't my opinion either; Kaori said so herself! She confides in Ako here that they just don't have anything to talk about when they're together, and I mean, yeah, that's not too surprising when you consider that their job is all they have in common. (It's also not surprising that Ako mostly just teases Kaori throughout the conversation, but to be fair, if you had to hear about other people's romantic problems as much as she probably does, I'm sure you'd stop taking it very seriously too. It's how Ako keeps sane, no doubt.) For his part, Gai is regressing to the point of inviting other women to hang out at the pool, and even if his heart's not totally in it, I mean... you know, let's just make like Ako and try not to get too absorbed into the *drama* between those two right now, because it's not actually the focus of the episode. No, the real star of the show here is Tranza's killer new super demon robot, Veronica. I haven't at all mentioned Jetman's main director, Keita Amemiya, yet, and that's because I don't have the strongest grasp on his style to really comment on it, but like, he not only directed this two-parter, but Veronica was personally designed by Amemiya himself, and you can absolutely tell he wanted to show this thing off. And I'm not complaining, because Veronica is pretty dang cool! The design has that particular sort of organic yet unnatural aesthetic that (I think) is 100% Amemiya's style, and there are a couple extra fancy touches to the suit like a moving mouth and eyelids to really sell the look. And instead of like, an engine, it has a creepy dark room with walls that sprout arms to grab people and drain their lifeforce to use as power, which is... man is that hardcore. The vast majority of the episode really is just a showcase for Veronica going up against all the different robots of the series. In this one episode, it takes on Jet Icarus (which loses), Jet Garuda (which loses), Tetra Boy (who loses), and Great Icarus, who the team suspect will turn the tides in the second round. (Great Icarus also loses.) It's pretty thrilling stuff, and much like Veronica's suit, there are these little specific touches to the action that elevate the overall package. In particular, there's some extensive wire-work to have all the combatants flying through the air, in a lot of cases because Veronica is throwing them around like it's nothing. This is especially great in my favorite moment of the entire episode. You see, Jet Icarus and Jet Garuda have this cool thing they do when they combine, where they start by basically high-fiving one another as part of the stock footage, which is immensely satisfying to watch. This makes it especially brutal to see Veronica run up on the two of them and grab their arms right as they're trying to combine for the first time.

There are two important things to note heading into 45. One is that the Radiguet is now actively sabotaging Tranza's plan out of jealously, which is the only reason the team have even survived this far. (And yet, somehow when Radiguet ruins the evil plans, I'm still on his side.) The other is that the very tense and exciting cliffhanger leading into this episode was Great Icarus being boarded by enemy forces, resulting in the capture of Kaori, Raita, and Ako. So once again, we're in a situation where Ryuu and Gai are left to pull a win out of this somehow, only by this point in the series, they're actually tight enough that working in sync isn't too much of a problem. Heck, that may even be an understatement. There's a huge emphasis on the two of them both working together in a productive and mutually respectful fashion, to the point the episode ends on the note of them buying each other celebratory drinks. (The episode is literally named after hot milk, too, which is incredible.) It's maybe a weird swing for the story in a way, to start off on that note of how much trouble Gai and Kaori are having, only to end on this big reaffirmation of how much Gai legitimately cares about the team now, but both of those things are also equally true to how his character has grown over the course of the series, so I don't know. Maybe someone else wants to criticize that, but as for me? I'm way too invested in all the epic action going on here to be all that bothered. I mean, not only do you have Gai heroically exposing himself to absurd amounts of electricity to keep the wires on a damaged Great Icarus together long enough for Ryuu to make a desperate evasive maneuver, you've also got my man Radiguet finally taking an all-or-nothing stand against Tranza. He ends up saving the day at least as much as Ryuu and Gai do, and the best part is that, as ever, it's entirely motivated by his own selfish desires. He needs to be the one to kill the accursed Jetmen, and to that end, he's even willing to free the three captured members so he can do the deed on his own terms later. And considering Tranza's attempt to make Radiguet another battery for Veronica ends with Radiguet using Veronica as *his* power source, I have a feeling that when he makes his next move, it'll be something suitably huge.

So to recap, we've got huge stakes for the heroes, tons of intrigue with the main villains, and a notable amount of extra effort put into the action and special effects. All of which makes this another darn great multi-parter, any way you slice it.