[DreamSword]

Episode 5: The Fifth Night

Tekkouki can talk about Kazeo and Mikazuki all it wants, but to me, the real main character is Akane.

This poor girl has been going through alot this entire show. Her father dying, leaving her in charge of a robotic industry, her best friend getting possessed by an interdimensional demon, her work being constantly undermined... it's alot!

Not to say that the other character arcs haven't been fun to see play out, but Akane's is the one that takes the most time and as a result is the one I find most interesting to see play out. Kazeo's' stuff is good too, but it comparatively doesn't have as much meat to it. Atleast for me.

But that all said, this episode is about 80% plot, 20% character arcs.

It's not a bad thing though. This being the penultimate episode, they kinda had to push things alot a bit, right? It does result in some rather interesting interplay between the villains too. Not to mention the fun aspect of the evil knockoff mecha getting captured by the heroes near immediately after putting on a spectacle; Something I don't think I've seen a mecha show do before.

Torupa, the big bad, wants to revive his home world of Gaira via blowing up Earth, whereas Zame, the alien possessing Yuki, wants to leave Gaira behind and conquer Earth instead. And the key to both goals is to force Mikazuki and Shingetsu to merge and become the ultimate killing machine. All while Akane's' crew struggles to build the Gekkouki Mark 5 in the background. Would not be opposed to Gekkouki being the ultimate hero in the end!

There's also this bit of the plot about AIT considering commissioning mecha from a different company. And while it does lead to some great character moments in terms of Akane, it does however show how, due to the low episode count, this story is slightly rushed. Zame's' plan of infiltrating AIT really doesn't amount to too much, and as such feels almost totally unnecessary. I say almost because it does still push the mystery of the link between Kazeo and ikazuki forward some(even if the answer is pretty obvious at this point).

Still, the general direction and atmosphere does alot to carry the episode as always, and I am still very much looking forward to how this is all gonna end. Tune in tomorrow to find out!