tWherein Shougo wonders how much of that was a dream, until he gets his butt kicked again.
What They Say:
Now, in the modern age, the creator of the universe, Majin, has revived suddenly. At the same time, visitors from the darkness have descended to Earth. As danger nears the Earth, three men pursue a young boy. “Is he a match? Could he really be humanity’s last hope?”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As I had said in the first episode look, I’m not much of a fan of card games to anime adaptations since they tend to go for a younger audience, which is fine. I’m just not the intended market and I move on. There are always exceptions to the rule though and some are more accessible to a wider audience which can work as well. While the opening episode had some very stilted moments to it, it wasn’t so much the story that grabbed me but the animation, once you got past the CG stuff which just felt really out of place. But the character animation, backgrounds and the overall quality was enough to draw me in, adding as a bonus the fact that it was dealing with high school kids as well instead of very young children forced to save the world. It’s a familiar enough concept, but execution can count for a lot.
With Shougo having been put in an action-pickle at the end of the first episode, that has pushed him into transformation mode here and he hasn’t a clue what’s going on. Which naturally isn’t helpful considering he has an opponent that’s there as well that intends to take him down in a rough way. Not surprisingly, it all works out pretty quickly even if Shougo has no clue what’s going on, but those that are watching him make it clear that he definitely has it what it takes to be compatible with the Dragon Bone suit. There’s a lot of general confusion at this point, to be expected, since it’s almost like a dream that happened and before he knows it, he’s back in his house with Saho looking over him. But there’s the truth out there and it’s all starting to come together for him in some way, even as he tries to just get on with living normally while thse strange events occur around him.
Events take a curious turn when the character of Antonio is revealed and he ends up spending some time with Shougo, though not coming out clearly about what he is. He does show some of his martial arts skill, which leads to some amusing moments when interacting with others, but eventually it all comes down to the actual reveal with the mystery men that have been watching Shougo coming out of the shadows. Revealing that they’re keeping an eye on him for various nations, we don’t get much in the way of real background, but it all turns quickly to battle since the opponent from the beginning of the episode has returned and we see that Antonio is able to transform as well. And we get to see it all done as a proper event match in a way that takes place out of the normal world, keeping things safe. But like the first time they fought, there’s a whole lot of uncertainty that’s about to enter the match since Shougo doesn’t have too much of a clue about what to do.
In Summary:
With the second episode, we’re again getting the slow introduction to events and what’s going on, which admittedly feels surprising for a show of this nature. You expect it to throw a lot at the viewer to keep our attention, especially potential younger viewers, but instead it’s crafting things slowly even as it uses most of the usual cliches. What’s still helping it, at least in my view, is the quality of the animation and the general trappings overall. But it’s not making it a strong show or a thoroughly engaging show but rather one where you’ll watch a few episodes to see if it breaks free from the predictability or not. I’m likely game for a third episode but not much beyond that unless it really starts to get itself moving with something interesting.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
