What They Say:
Gon and Killua set off for Masadora in search of spell cards. On the way, they run into many different monsters. However, they struggle against some of the stronger monsters. A girl named Biscuit watches as they fight their way through. What is her goal?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Gon and Killua now in the game, we saw them get some exposure in the previous episode to how things work in there, utilizing the cards, the functions of them and just grasping how wide and expansive the game is overall. We also got to see how some of the player versus player action works while also learning that there are some larger forces at work as some players have been working to band together to win the game and tried to recruit them. At its core though, with Gon having learned that there is no great mystery here in regards to his father, he wants to honor his fathers wish of just enjoying the game. Which will likely serve to really educate and train him in some ways, which is one of the best gifts that his father could give him.
With the boys starting to figure out the mechanics of the game, there’s some amusement to it as they know they have little in the way of defensive spells but are acquiring some good offensive ones. They’re also getting attention from other players now who want what they have, which shows us an amusing thief card at first and then a larger group that takes their newly acquired weapon easily. It’s definitely a hard game for new players, especially when you have others ganging up on you. It proves to be highly frustrating for Gon, showing his age but also his desire to just really play the game and get into it full. These kinds of small losses and encounters serve to educate him but also to motivate him in a way to play the game more than just for fun.
While Gon and Killua start to deal with the next phase of their journey, we do also get to see how the various Phantom Troupe members are surviving in here and their goals. They don’t have a huge part now, but it’s educational to see how their abilities are both minimized in some ways and enhanced in others, making them a different kind of threat down the road. When it comes to Gon and Killua though, having them paired up with Biscuit for a bit as she tries to win them over for her own larger goals works well as they journey together and we see more areas of the world, including having to deal with monsters and bandits along the route of their journey north.
The trio end up getting caught up in an in-game scenario and there’s some really fun bits between Biscuit and Killua over it, especially since the boys pretty much have a bad run of things in that scenario. When they do make their way into the big mountains to start fighting, gaining experience, cards and cash, it starts off well but has plenty of danger too, which they have to deal with in an almost comical manner. For Biscuit, she just gets more and more frustrated in watching them since they have so much potential but are just missing the point of so many of the monsters they have to deal with. She tries to stay out of the way for most of it, but the boys are just so bad in some ways that it doesn’t take long before her attitude pushes her to helping them.
In Summary:
Getting more exposure to the Greed Island world is definitely useful here as we see the boys expanding their knowledge of the game without getting mired down in the technical details of it all like they did in the previous couple of episodes. There’s less focus on the cards here and more on the fighting and exploring. The show brings Biscuit into things a bit more as she works directly with the boys for a bit, though they’re not exactly keen on it at first, and it leads to them getting a better feel for things and an interesting truth about her just at the end. The show also finally starts to show some of what the Phantom Troupe members that got into the game on their own are doing and how they’ll eventually end up connecting with Gon and Killua, which should lead to quite the encounter. The Greed Island arc is still in slow biuldup mode, but it feels better here than the last couple of episodes.
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.
