[Switchblade]

I think the show is going for JK as a character who needs to learn the value of real friendship, hence the contrast with all of the shallow dirtbags he usually hangs out with who are completely content to let him get murdered by a guy doing his best Horse Orphenoch impression. It doesn't entirely land, though, because JK doesn't seem to really learn anything from the experience. I guess you could argue that the KRC is like a "friendship training camp" program, but I don't think anybody is especially devoted to working with JK (or that he'd be particularly receptive to it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Fourze 5-6:

Man, it was nice to see one of my most beloved Heisei era supporting characters again... that sidewalk on the hill! That spot used to show up so frequently, but it feels like we haven't seen it in years now. Really nice to revisit it.

Anyway, this was JK's arc, wherein he goes from being kind of a douchebag to... kind of a douchebag who's in the KRC. He gets better, of course, but man the guy is such an asshole during this part of the show. I liked how Gentaro handled him, though, and how he sympathized with the villain for wanting to kick the crap out of JK.

So, not only did I forget that Elec States existed, I forgot how nice it looks. Probably my favorite of the special forms, just ahead of Fire and well ahead of everything else.

This was a really weird arc for Nozoma. We still have a few episodes before Amane from Blade tries to kill her and she joins the crew, which leads to her fulfilling her contractual obligations with a couple of really weird scenes. Shun at least got a scene with Miu that felt relevant to the plot, but Nozoma's big contribution to the arc was dumping natto on Yuki's lunch.

Finally, since apparently I am going to share my thoughts on these arcs, I'm introducing a new feature. I'm calling it "Has Yuki Gone Insane Yet?" and I'll be using it to figure out exactly when in the series she finally inhaled too many cosmic radiation fumes.

So, has Yuki gone crazy yet? No. No, she's still a fine, normal character.

I think I tended to view JK as being less of a dick because of his appearance with Gentarou in the Ex-Aid/Build movie. I don't really remember much about that, though, and I think his role was actually pretty minor. Going back through the show, JK is not a character that benefits from getting a lot of narrative focus.

I will admit here that I did forget Tomoko was responsible for getting Gentarou back to the Rabbit Hutch, which is more of a role than I remembered her playing in the story. It still feels like the show is really stretching to fit all of the main cast in before they fully sign up with the KRC.