Scattered around the town and elsewhere, the boys must come back together to be the support they need.
What They Say:
Haru is scared; Akira is trying to convince Natsuki about what is happening, and Yuki and on his way back to Enoshima. But when JFX takes over a military commander, the worst case scenario comes true.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the town of Enoshima going through quite a series of events with the Duck organizatoin doing its best to “dry” everyone off that’s been hit with the water and drawn into the events of the aliens. The show has certainly taken the left turn we all expected it to take eventually. Seeing how everyone has been thrown in different directions while the group takes over and isolates the town and makes sure that everyone is safe is a lot of fun, especially since some are wanting to get more involved and just aren’t sure about what’s going on. There’s such a fear on the behalf of Duck’s members about the JFX gaining control of something powerful or destructive that they’re taking a no chances approach to dealing with the problems at hand.
With the show having turned to make things clearer about how Haru had come to Enoshima to deal with the alien presence and stop it once he finds out where it is exactly, you now have Akira ready to make the change to do the right thing as the Duck organization doesn’t inspire him with much confidence anymore. But he can’t do it alone, so it’s a matter of drawing back his friends that he’s made since spending time in the town. Bringing them all together again, bit by bit, and having it as a mix of teenagers and adults works better than the standard kids against the world canard that’s often played. With what we’ve learned about this group over the course of the series, it’s no surprise that they’d come together well like this towards the end.
While it takes a bit for everyone to get on the same page, there’s a lot of fun in watching how they all do rally around the idea as Haru struggles with what little he has left himself. It’s an inspiring and uplifting piece overall that culminates in some very fun material when Yuki makes his way back into town and hooks up with everyone. The important material here though is the conversation that Yuki and Haru have to have because of the way Haru is retreating into himself and practically giving up. It’s not too much of a surprise based on Haru’s personality as seen so far, nor is it that Yuki is going to be the stand up one that sets him straight and paints the we’re all in it together picture. It’s predictable to be sure, but the style and atmosphere used for it definitely works well to set everything right for the finale in the next episode.
In Summary:
And what a cliffhanger… Anyway, the series has long been about the bonds these young men share and this one just cements that all the more even though they’re all split up at first. With the varied personalities here, the different way they’ve all come together over the course of it and the fact that they bonded so well along the way around fishing has meant that when the chips are down, they will definitely stand together. It’s seeing them come together that’s fun here, especially in the face of the Duck organization and its weirdness as it tries to save the world in its own way. Everything is about the characters here, compared to the way events rolled out in the previous episode with all the confusion, and the end result is a very engaging episode that leaves you wide-eyed and uncertain about what will happen next.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
