What They Say:
The easy part was becoming a Hyperion; the hard part is dealing with family.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ixion Saga DT had one of its weakest episodes previously, which is saying a lot, as it dealt with Erec and his gang for the most part doing a 70’s period piece investigation with a heavy cop and detective flow to it. While it was a proper homage, it lost me because it seemed so pointless at such a late point in the series and just killed what little momentum the show had when it came to the larger story. Which is why the shift to stopping the war here in this episode at least feels like progress once again, even if it does once more seem like a piece that comes out of the blue more than anything else. There’s a lot to like with the action in the series, especially when it blends the comedy with it, and the first few minutes has some good stuff to it as Ecalarte’s older brother and the Empire do see advantage in going to war.
The first half does some decent stuff as we get the gang trying to stop the preliminary group of forces they come across, but the realization that they may not be able to stop the war is hitting them big time. They provide for some interesting reflective moments on their pasts and their lands, humanizing them just a touch here towards the end of it all. But they also take time for lunch at a nice restaurant to get all upset about events and their inability at the moment to do anything. Which gets turned on its head just a touch as the real incentive arrives in the obligatory little girl that asks them to stop the war so as to not cause widespread problems. How can Kon’s heart not be moved, right?
The episode overall doesn’t have a lot of real progress, but it does move between a few different areas, including some time spent with Erec and his group as they work towards the end of the bargain in trying to stop things after discovering how they were used. There’s some internal group issues that come to like, such as with the reveal about KT and who s/he really is, something that completely eluded Erec all this time, that you can get a few laughs from there. But mostly it’s just moving between various character gags for awhile and having some fun with it. But other than the last ritual at the end to get things moving, there’s not a lot of meaty material here. If there ever was to begin with.
In Summary:
Ixion Saga DT continue son with what it’s always done and it still leaves me cold to say the least. There’s some fun with how the characters react to the situations and the way they’re struggling to figure out how to stop the coming war overall, especially since the Empire sees a reason to go through with it. There are cute moments ta times, but mostly it’s just a lot of fluff with no real merit or meaning to it beyond attempting to have fun. The series is close to ending but it is at that point where I wish I had dropped it twenty episodes ago when I thought it was only going to run one single season and not two.
Grade: C-
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.
