After spending two episodes on simple little club antics, our protagonists make it through the entire ROBO-ONE tournament and look toward the future of the club after it.
What They Say:
At last, the Robot Research Club enters the ROBO-ONE tournament! The revolutionary KILL-BALLAD control scheme makes Kaito a force to be reckoned with, but will it be enough to win the tournament and save the club?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode manages to cover an amazing amount of ground compared to the first two. The first one primarily introduced us to the main characters and their situation and settings, and the second one expanded on this a little more and showed them working on the preparation for the upcoming ROBO-ONE tournament. They had promised they’d win this, as their club would only be allowed to continue on if they managed to live up to their claim.
This episode pretty much begins with the two of them heading to the tournament, along with their advisor, who they call “Mitchi” much to his chagrin. They soon make start fighting in the tournament, and Kai finally gets to put his KILL-BALLAD talents to use in something a little more “real world” than simply playing his video game on his own. The club (with Kai doing the fighting and Aki doing the cheering that seems nearly as important) cleans up the well-respected competition round after round, and after receiving some brief fame for this (along with their innovative use of the KILL-BALLAD controls on actual robots and the notoriety of Aki’s older sister), they reach the final round. This pits them against the legendary champion of the tournament, a “Mr. Pleiades” who is hilariously similar to a certain “Ginga Bishounen” in another anime from the past few years, and who is in fact even more recognizable to Kai. The tournament begins and ends in this single episode, and we get to see the fate of the club and its future. The outcome is not shocking, but how they get to that point isn’t quite as expected.
This episode also finally shows Aki’s older sister, the one who started the robotics club years ago, and currently holds an important position that will surely be expanded on more as time goes on. One thing she doesn’t seem to care all that much about is her own sister, and Aki herself doesn’t feel very comfortable with speaking to her until she has something to be proud of. She doesn’t seem to know just how much her sister is watching the unfolding events she’s currently involved in, and her sister seems more interested in Kai and his abilities.
The stress of finishing the project in time for this tournament has left Kai pretty restless, and it’s clearly affecting his concentration in the matches. Aki realizes this partway through and shows a more sympathetic side of her character that we haven’t gotten to see a whole lot of yet, but Kai just tells her not to worry, and to be as cheerful and optimistic as she always is. She certainly sticks to he established character for the most part, getting very excited during the robot-fighting, even yelling out the attack names when Kai pulls them off. While a very intentionally unlikeable character overall, the first opponent the group faces makes an amusing comment, saying that Aki seems to be controlling Kai more than Kai is controlling the robot. While Kai’s wealth of experience and intuition for this control system is the real reason he manages to take out all these veterans on his first try, some with great ease, it’s not hard to believe that he wouldn’t be able to keep on top of his game quite so much without Aki’s constant enthusiasm projecting from her a foot away the entire time, especially when he’s having difficulty keeping his concentration as it is. Similarly, the announcer, with his ridiculous outfit and more ridiculous commentary, is also a fun addition for this tournament, adding some Engrish reminiscent to all the great Engrish that really defined a lot of the best comedy in (the Japanese version of) Steins;Gate.
The final opponent in this tournament is a bit of a celebrity in these circles, and has a grand entrance that the crowd (including Aki) goes wild for. However, once he’s done with his extravagant speech, Kai points out that he’s clearly a classmate of theirs, one we’ve seen several times in the series already. Their final battle is a pretty even match, and although Kai actually has the upper hand for the most part, he starts to lose concentration again, and some more mysterious scenes flash by, involving his and Aki’s past, and maybe even some supernatural elements that the series may start introducing to complement the relatively simple plot it’s had so far. Kai is very impressive in his ability to make exactly the right move at any given second based on the opponent’s actions and his own robot’s possible movements, thinking in the controls of the game more instinctively than most people can think about controlling their own body with such speed and precision.
The tournament ends and the two of them return to school (after Kai is briefly visited by a famous guest who has also taken some interest in him), being faced with the consequences for the outcome of the tournament and what it means for their club. However, Kai has some clever blackmail up his sleeve, and the club ends up with another member that we’ve been expecting since the beginning of the series. Aki is as enthusiastic as ever, and I’m curious if her next goal will actually lead anywhere.
In Summary:
We cover a lot of ground in this one, and along with introducing a few more minor concepts of potential mystery and intrigue for the future, the club ends up with a new member. The series keeps subtly adding new elements that will hopefully be implemented well in the end, but I’m not sure how long it will take. For now, a reluctant addition to the club should add some more fun for the regular activities, if that’s what we’ll be focusing on for another few episodes after all.
Grade: C
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.
