[DreamSword]

Episode 1: Ceremony

This premiere was everything that I wanted the first episode of Dynazenon to be.

I absolutely adore a well done atmosphere, especially if it's successfully pulled off in a show's' first episode. It's one of the quickest ways to get me hooked.

The first two minutes really set the tone for the entire episode right off the bat; No music, with the only sounds being those found in nature. Heck, there's almost no dialogue either. And all with great direction to pull it altogether.

Even after the opening, in which the action first starts to kick in, it's very clear this isn't your typical superhero action show. All throughout the episode is an air of mystery, with pieces gradually being set in place for something greater, and yet again with a distinct style that I've only really seen come from this show.

What do I mean? Well, lemme introduce you to one of our leads, I-Guy.

Okay so there's alot for me to unpack here. First off, and right off the bat, I absolutely adore the art style that this anime has going for it; The character designs especially. The idea is very much to be a comic book in motion, and while sure, the frame rate of said animation might take some getting used to, especially for more modern anime viewers, it's a style that certainly stands out!

As such, you'll have to forgive me if, throughout this coverage of The Reflection, that a majority of my screencaps are character shots. Again, the character designs in and of themselves are really creative and I dig the hell out of them. If nothing else, the show ended up being really worth it to me on style alone. But don't let that fool you! There's certainly alot more to this that I'll talk about later on.

But I kinda already spiraled into a tangent, haven't I? After all, what exactly IS the deal with this Iron Man lookin' guy anyway?

Well as I said, this is I-Guy, one of our leads for the anime. And without going too much into it, he's the one who's' story will be presented as the anime's' "subplot." But, full disclosure? Screw that. This dude is great, and I'll be talking as though his tale is the center focus of the show throughout the rest of these posts. And lemme tell ya, he certainly knows how to make an entrance!

My man straight up flies through New York battling a Frog Man and a Bat Boy, all while blasting the in-universe 80s hit "Sky Show" over the speakers in his suit. Clearly meant to be his theme song, he even goes so far as to hack all of the monitors in Time Square just to blast the song all over the place.

The choreography of the fight is pretty cool too, and does a good job at showing just how much the art style does for the show. There's lazers, flying through walls, the monitors of the Square changing to match the flow of the fight... all kinds of good stuff. And in the end, when I-Guy has to face off against the Man Bat's' sonic wave attack, there's a nice bit of foreshadowing too, but that's for a later episode.

There's a good look into the personality of this mysterious superhero too, as when the press asks him if he can protect New York from now on, his response is simply:

"Sorry, I live in LA."

Before flying off. Which in itself is a funny line, but also cements that he's a bit of a showboat, as if the hijacking of big screens didn't do that already.

...Oh right, I mentioned another plot going along during this story, didn't I?

This is X-On, our other protagonist, and is the one of which will be presented the "main" hero of our story. And ya know, it's not even that I dislike the guy, it's just that, compared to I-Guy? It's like no contest. Regardless, I will do my best to give X-On his fair shake.

His involvement is actually alot more understated in this episode, as he mainly fights against two other super-powered people in the back alleys of New York, all while a freelance photographer who can teleport takes pictures of him.

X-On's' battle against a guy made of water and a dude who can shoot tendrils out of his wrists isn't nearly as flashy as I-Guy's' fight, but it's still neat to see, and does a good job at establishing X-On's' superpower: The ability to copy the superpowers of others. It's during this that the special department of the police which handles "Reflected" related incidents is also established.

...Oh yeah, I haven't exactly told you all anything about the lore/plot of this yet, have I?

Well that'd be because neither does this episode up until the very end. Basically, three years before the start of our tale, a cataclysmic event where a strange light and smoke rained down from the skies worldwide. This event, which came to be known as "The Reflection" killed many, but many of those who survived ended up with mutations or superhuman abilities, and came to be knwon as "The Reflected." Which of course, considering this is Stan Lee, came with many complications such as discrimination, criminal organizations, the works.

Lastly, I wanna take a second to highlight that the music of this show is rather good too. And I'm gonna start off by linking the anime's' ending theme, "SunSunSunrise" by 9nine. And yes, that is literally them in the first couple minutes of the show. Them and their music exist in-universe.

With all of that out of the way, the stage is set. What caused The Reflection? Who are I-Guy and X-On? And just what is this mysterious organization that aided in the escape of the criminals who were defeated? All of these questions and more will be brought to the forefront eventually, but until then, we're in for an interesting ride if nothing else.