Odds aren’t likely I’ll get around to seeing BATTLESHIP. Still, I couldn’t help but smirk over the all-too-coincidental similarities this episode shares with the flick. Giant mechs erupting out of a bay and courting non-stop artillery fire from battleships? You can’t fault me for drawing a few connections.
Anyway, I can’t get over how much more confident Ao is in his role as hero than Renton ever was in the first series. The kid hops into the mech and he doesn’t stop to ask any questions about how to run it - - he just gets right to business and kicks some hostile scub ass. All those who kept up with my frustrations over Renton’s somewhat plateaued character growth can imagine how much satisfaction I’m getting out of this.
On the other hand, I feel like this series is taking a more obfuscating path to introducing the characters and the world. I haven’t got much of a read on anybody here aside from Ao, Ao’s girlfriend and Ao’s surrogate grandpa. Maybe I’m misremembering my experience with the first few episodes of Series One, but I feel like I got the gist of Gekkostate a lot faster.
Actually, maybe it’s just a matter of this show taking a more deliberate pace. That’s fine - - this franchise has already won me over with 50 episodes of material. However, the approach honestly makes the aerial mecha mayhem here feel a bit like white noise. It didn’t feel as a sharp, and I think that’s got a lot to do with the fact that I still don’t know what these characters’ deals are. It’s harder to get wrapped up in a threat to somebody you don’t even know yet.
Watch this episode, "AO’s Cavern” here and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
