[DreamSword]

Episode 5: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Despite pulling a really dumb twist at the start, I rather liked this episode.

I meant it when I said it felt as if Gamera Rebirth was written a decade and a half ago. Because plot twist: Emiko is evil despite no foreshadowing at all!

But that aside, the episode overall commands a very heavy atmosphere without ever breaking it in any sort of stupid way. And the sacrifice that both Joe and Gamera do at the end is genuinely heartfelt.

Sure, there's the cliches that other popular anime figures like Char Aznable helped pioneer all throughout the plot of this one, but I do really have to give the episode props for doing it best to play those tropes for all that they're worth, rather than being at all pretentious about them like we'd see in modern stories.

It's straightforward, it's simple, but it never once does anything to disturb the flow that it's trying to create. And that is something I greatly appreciate.