[DreamSword]

Episode 17: A Lot of Rivals

I know it wasn't the primary focus of the episode, but I learned alot about Akira.

It took me this long to realize that his constant forced smile is infact what he does in universe, as a way of keeping composure in the face of adversity.

It's actually not that uncommon in real life either. Many people(myself included) will let out a smirk or a small laugh as a way to react when they're either not entire sure of what's appropriate or as a way of keeping from expressing something else.

And yeah, I know I'm slow to realize this, as in hindsight it was very much the point the entire time, especially given how Akira is adept at misdirection, but I felt like alot of his character quirks shined in this episode alot better than in most.

For example, his detective's intuition shines greatly here when it comes to investigating the kidnapping of a local high school girl. He deduces rather quickly that both suspects are guilty and a part of DarkZide, and not just because he's frustrated at the situation in and of itself. Sure, he still has those feelings, but they don't get in the way of his job.

Making the character beats even stronger is that this episode in general is actually genuinely funny both in terms of its character humor as well as its general parody of toku tropes; the biggest one being poking fun at Rival characters, with no less than three DarkZide monsters all wanting to claim the title as Changerion's' fated rival and listing off generic reasons as to why such a thing gets established in other superhero shows.

This episode also serves as the first part of the show's' first two-parter, so I gotta wonder where exactly this is all headed, given the end of the episode almost outright says that the initial investigation that kicked it all off is basically irrelevant by this point, not to mention the mysterious figure introduced right at the end who might be yet another rival for Changerion to deal with.

I'm excited for tomorrow's' episode!