[DreamSword]

Episode 4: In Charge of Gas Cans

Androzani: On this episode, Mega Yellow/that one policewoman from Kuuga guest stars, the sponsor captions have something I want to talk about, and Mako teams with the unholy love child of Sun Vulcan and the Rescue Police Metal Heroes.

DS: I'm glad you got something out of this, because I'll be real, I didn't really care for the episode overall.

En-chan: Ah, not really your speed?

DS: Like, it's not god awful or anything; I get the general idea that it's gunning for, I just felt it wasn't executed particularly great.

Androzani: I personally love when the bully for the main character gets some depth. (One thing that gives Hibiki 2 the edge over Hibiki 1 for me is that Kiriya actually has some attempt at depth, while the cartoon bully in three episodes of the first half patently exists to make Asumu's life miserable and never gets any comeuppance.)

DS: So ignoring your completely wrong opinion on Hibiki, that's kinda the thing with me? The way the episode is framed, you'd think Akine is alot bigger than what she actually is.

Throughout the three episodes she's been around, I never saw her as that? Just like, slightly stuck up and that's it.

And like, she barely existed besides that.

So then this episode comes in and goes "DON'T YOU WANNA KNOW WHY SHE'S SO MEAN!?"

And my response was "She's mean?"

En-chan: I get that yeah.

Though even with her being stuck up, there did seem to be some kind of beef between her and Mako (at least as far as Episode 1 presented it to me) that this episode did address.

Androzani: It's also something Japanese media loves to comment on: Overbearing parents pushing their kids to be better at the expense of letting them live their lives.

DS: Yeah, I got that part. And the message is a good one, sure. But it's centered around a character that I kinda never fully acknowledged and the uh, "solution" this episodes provides, while sounding good on paper, isn't great in the context of the show.

Mako's' "We're friends and I'm here to support you!" is nice and all, but then I end up wondering "Why would you even consider her a friend to begin with?"

Is this like Fourze where "Friend" and "Acquaintance" are used interchangeably?

I dunno, it all just fell really flat for me on an emotional level.

En-chan: Yeah that's fair.

But Yamashiron is still the bestest boy.

DS: Oh absolutely. He's 100% pure(gas).

Androzani: Sadly, with him around, all Kireko has to do this time is play the protective big brother when the blue guy decides to be a playboy

DS: Which uh, that was certainly a choice, yeah.

En-chan: Felt like they were leaning into Den-O on that one, not gonna lie.

DS: I will atleast say that, compared to Yamashiron episodes of the past, it was nice to see that Redron by himself plays the center role for most of the episode. That was a unique spin on things.

Androzani: And he was gracious enough to have a gas company uniform sized for a short teenage girl on him.

En-chan: Honestly that does make me curious.

Did they split up at all for Nice Buddy? Cause I don't think they did.

DS: I could be getting the details between seasons 1 and 2 mixed up, but I believe they did. Albeit briefly.

(Editor's Note: They do. Episode 8 of NB.)

All that being said, I wanna actually note something about the ending of each episode so far that was highlighted here.

I like how they show a specific part of the festival poster that keys the viewer in on how each hero is contributing to the overall project. With it being the gas cans here. I think that's a rather neat touch.

En-chan: It is a nice touch.

Though I'll admit now, they probably went with the Akine plot because there was only so much they could do for a Yamashiron and gas can related plot? And he didn't really need the same kind of follow up that Great-2 needed.

DS: Yeah, and I mean Redron, Blueron, and Orangeron do have the whole Friendship thing going for them, it's just that it doesn't really apply as strongly to Akine and Mako to me. I think the angle of "We were off to a rocky start, but there's no reason we can't be friends now." would've worked much better.

En-chan: Yeah, cause even though I did enjoy this episode it did feel weird flipflopping between "Okay are they friends or are they classmates?" when it came to some of the dialogue.

So that proposed angle probably would've ended up helping more.

DS: I will say that in terms of the overarching themes/plot that High School is going for, it was nice to see this episode be the first real step into "there's nothing really wrong with being ordinary" that we only got minor hints at in previous episodes.

En-chan: Yeah, that was nice.

DS: But yeah, me being a grumpy old man aside, were there any other bits you guys enjoyed out of this one?

Androzani: Well as mentioned at the start:

The sponsor captions this time stood out. The first one disparaging what Shaberryman's done with his life made me laugh, since Shaberryman's VA is the writer and producer for the show, so he's essentially going "I've lowered myself to this?". And the second one is essentially Akine getting the "Animal House" ending, where a caption explains what happened to her later.

I got invested in this show for Ayumi Beppu and Eri Tanaka, and the latter is primarily in this episode.

En-chan: I did enjoy that even after getting exploded last episode, Maid Bulter still got Yabai Kamen that food he wanted.

DS: Maid Butler and Androzani both are nothing if not loyal to their cause.

Actually, hmm... Androzani DOES hand deliver any trivia we need...

Tune in next time. Because for now, I've got my eyes on you, Androzani...

Androzani: Let's hope it doesn't take as long as real life forced us to take for this episode.

DS: AND HE'S EVEN META ABOUT IT. I KNEW IT--