[DreamSword]

Episode 3: The Third Night

This episode gave me serious Ryuki vibes with all of the intrigue being built up.

While not quite as focused as the previous episode in terms of its theme, episode 3 still manages to play an important role in developing our cast.

See, in both previous episodes, the "Power of Words" has been mentioned a few times, typically in a literal sense of people's' words being connected to some sort of mystical essence.

However, this episode showcases how that phrase is also rather literal in a real world sense, with how language does indeed hold power over and affect people. Trigger phrases, memories, the establishing of emotions, and how essential they are in trying to understand others.

Our three focal characters this time are Akane(the mechanic girl), Kiba(the hotshot soldier), and the drunken commander. All three of them formed a triangle of connection via their own words and possessions(and not in a romantic sense either). Akane and Kiba via a wind chime that Kiba's' father made and the commander with the others via his drunken/emotional rambling.

The wind chime bit was definitely the most interesting to me, as not only did it serve as establishing Kiba's' tragedy with his late father, but helps the episode showcase the message that objects can be symbols for multiple things, which is the sort of idea that I feel alot of people missed when watching Kamen Rider Revice and expressing confusion over what the Ultimate ViStamp actually stood for. An object can mean multiple things to multiple people.

Kazeo isn't entirely left out, but his part is very much a subplot, with it being about his background connection to Mikazuki and the desire to keep living and fighting onward despite setback. Makes for a decent supplement to everything else going on in the episode though, I will say. All three of our focal characters would have very understandable reasons for throwing in the towel and falling into despair, but they still manage to find the strength to stand up and keeping moving onward.

There are a few other bits of background lore established here too, such as Kusaka(leader lady's') part in Z-ONE and her connection to the big bad, but it's nothing much as of yet. In regards to the ratio of plot focus to character focus though, it's the sort of balance that I really wish Ultraman Nexus had, especially since both shows have a very similar style of atmosphere(though not exact by any means). I've grown to really like the AIT crew in just three episodes(six if you adjust for length), something I can't claim for half of the Night Raiders, unfortunately.

But yeah, this show continues to find ways to impress me, and hopefully it'll be able to keep that up in tomorrow's' episode.