Howdy! Bye, now!
Oh, Chiko. I don’t envy you. Your aunt’s still trying to off you with soup, or the occasional desperate and ineffectual sneak-attack on a boat. Your best friend thinks you’re a novelty and occasionally pretends to be you just to get in trouble. Your only real friend is your murderous aunt’s servant. And now the latter two, along with the numbnuts detective who “found” you, have all gone hypnotized by some white-haired zombie cyborg demon doll who’s in love with Twenty Faces.
Oh yeah, you’re homeless, and it’s raining. That just sucks. What? Cyborg woman is holding your only friend ransom… Jesus.
Well, all is well, since you’ve found Twenty Faces! Sure, zombie doll bitch is all about killing you out of jealousy, but didn’t we all know that Akechi secretly was Twenty Faces all along?
Wait, he’s not? Okay, so Twenty Faces just disguised himself as Detective Akechi. Hm. Still following, just less so.
So Twenty Faces kills zombie doll lady, cool, but then he falls off a blimp to save you? Ouch! Meaning, you got him back, stabbed him while hypnotized, finally came to your senses, and he’s gone again?
Wow. Did I mention I don’t envy Chiko?
What the hell is going on?
The reunion of Ken, Chiko, and the Boss didn’t have time to be sweet and sappy because they were pretty much under threat of death the whole time. I think that gave us a nice indication of the new darker and more urgent atmosphere — that it’s never going to be the happy Robin Hood’s merry-men party that they used to be living in. Of course, an eyepatch is always a dead giveaway too.
Cyborg-love-interest is gone, but so is Twenty Faces. Or is he? The scene near the end of episode 13 really hints that he’s actually dead this time, but his work isn’t finished, and TF seems like the kind of guy who would gladly cheat death to get the job done.
Say what you will about Twenty Faces (no one is saying much, actually), but these past three episodes gave me what I like the most about the show. First, the rare action scenes are creative and well-animated with a sense of style that I think only Bones could really pull off. And more importantly, the story keeps me guessing, something it’s been doing ever since Twenty Faces disappeared. Love it. I also love the way the writers gave viewers an “I knew it!” moment when Akechi turned out to be Twenty Faces, only to take it away by revealing that he wasn’t.
This backstory on Akine really seems superfluous, and cyborg lover went down pretty easy (she just kind of gave up living), but I can’t say I have real complaints about the direction of the show lately.
As a side note, anyone notice that the visual effects in the OP make noise now, like motion graphics on a Fox TV broadcast? Kind of goofy and lame.
If the last few episodes have taught me anything, it’s that stabbing 20Faces doesn’t even slow him down. Yeah, I bet he wasn’t doping or anything during the war =__=…
I need to catch up on this – I have no idea who Akechi is.. is that the dude with the glasses?
He’s stabbed three times and shot in the chest and at the end of the episode he’s not even fazed. That’s just weird -_-. But if he is dead, that would be one the most anticlimatic deaths ever; the FIRST time he died, now THAT was dramatic. Eh, he’ll probably just keep coming back like a boomerang until episode 20.
I’ve been trying to write something on this show, but I just can’t make up my mind. This new mystery and eyepatches direction seems to mean a whole load of ridiculous and contrived bullshit with irritating supernatural trappings, but I still kind of like it. I miss the good old capering days though, now that it’s been all tied up this whole arc seems like a fairly unnecessary diversion.
And Chiko totally should have jumped out of the ship after him.
Kabitzin – There’s no way he doesn’t have some of that mecha juice in him. Even Kogarashi goes down if you stab him in the ear with a pencil.
Hoshi – Yep he’s a detective who’s been looking for 20 Faces ever since the second arc started, with Chiko and Ken suspicions the whole time that he actually was the man. Definitely catch up, it’s been high on the excitement levels lately.
Omisyth – You’re right. After surviving a fiery train crash, multiple stabs, and critical gunshots, death by falling off a blimp would either be infuriating or pure genius. I’m not sure I’ve decided.
coburn – You have to embrace it. Sounds like your logical mind is getting in the way of enjoyment.
The capering was good, but I think it’s fine to miss those days, since obviously you’re meant to somewhat, to empathize with Chiko and Ken.