[TF RyuShin]

Wow, I don't expect some kind of negativity from this episode. I know it's kinda hard to talk about this episode but if there's one thing that this episode did right was, ironically, handling Gai. I will elaborate more in the next few days but my overall conclusion to this arc: it's a pretty enjoyable arc with deep meaning behind it but there were a lot of executions that left so many rooms for criticism. My biggest gripe in this arc was how Gai still insisted using the Force Riser in the second arc, despite it was established that you don't need that thing if you want to make a Humagear went rogue.

The exception was in this episode where instead of Gai forcefully slammed the Force Riser like usual, he just let that thing slide and let the Humagear decide whether to use it or not. That's a move that I could imagine Gai used to showcase to the public that even when you don't specifically hurt a Humagear, they can still go berserk at their own volition, lowering Aruto and Hiden's image even more. I just wish it was done if the show kept consistent with their idea of Humagear could become Magia even without the Force Riser. Had Gai played it more safely several episodes ago, I think this episode would have given more impact to us.

One thing that I also wan to touch is : Yua. I remember that at this point, everyone had given up hope for her and even said she was the worst character in the show. Despite what we had experienced and will experience later, I still think Yua is still a solid character. They did dirty her performances once she became Gai's lap cat but that's the only logical way and possibly the only way for Takahashi to bring the much needed development for Yua. If she's still in the same cold and calculating persona that she had in the first arc, I would honestly be more disappointed. I also must appreciate Igeta Hiroe's acting in this episode that brought alive Yua's indecisiveness in this few episodes. I know it's around this point where she had it rough but despite acting in the dark, I was still astounded by how she still gave her A performance. Fish, DS, or Androzani could fill more input about this.

Overall, yeah, not an episode that I would randomly watch and say it's a nice episode. More or less it's a setup episode. Still there's a lot room to give praise about, from Horobi back in action, Yua's 'new' form, and how splendidly they handled Gai's business practice despite my criticism for him.