[DreamSword]

Episode 14: Farewell, Akemi

Was not expecting Changerion of all shows to throw a deep, moral quandary at me.

This episode has the balls to ask: "Which is the bigger, more important threat? A monster eating seniors at a retirement home, or someone threatening to bomb a kindergarten?"

Not that it matters a whole lot though, given how both plots end up tying together by the end. But if you're curious, we spend alot more time at the kindergarten than we do at the retirement home.

Which, ya know, I think this is the first Toku I've seen where a retirement home even exists, so much as being involved in a monster of the week plot. Changerion continues to subvert expectations in alot of ways, and I really can't get enough of that aspect of it.

Anyway, the biggest focus and takeaway of the episode is what you might expect from the title: Akemi, and her figuring out what exactly it is she wants to do with her life. Turns out she's really good with kids, to the point she's able to bond with the kid who's known as a troublemaker, though not without some effort on her part.

What's nice is that the kid in question, Takanori, while trouble, never comes across as obnoxious nor is his behavior simply glossed over. He's like a way better done Kiriya from the Inoue half of Kamen Rider Hibiki. Especially given the kid's' troubles primarily stemming from not having a mother in his life. Which, given how many bad/missing dads are in toku, is another somewhat refreshing angle to have.

But yes, by the end, Akemi decides that she wants to be a kindergarten teacher, and as such departs on her own path in life, and as such I imagine she's now out of the show entirely. And I'll be honest, I found it kind of a shame given how I only just recently grew to like everyone in the main cast, and now we're already getting rid of one of them. At the very least I found the story connected nice enough to experience, and it's not like they kill her off gruesomely just for sympathy points.

But yeah, in the end, this was overall satisfying, and I look forward to seeing how Akira plans to cope with Akemi being gone.