The continued expansion of the Howard Resort leads to all sorts of shenanigans.
What They Say:
Episode 5 – Sky Resort
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
If there’s a resort that’s not having economic difficulties, it’s the Howard Resort which seems to be able to whip up all kinds of elaborate games for people to participate in on a whim as well as opening a brand new Sky Resort that’s essentially a pyramid that’s adjacent to the existing resort and casino. The place certainly must be flush with money and the area around it as well as the whole thing is quite the modern marvel with its design, colors and architectural beauty. It’s easy to see why so many people would willingly work there. Of course, the girls find themselves involved with the events of getting the Sky Resort open which means heading over to check it out and meeting new people that will be working there.
Having spent my fair share of time in casinos, there’s definitely a lot to like here with the elaborate locales and all that’s involved in it. It’s big in just the right way, with some added bonuses that come from being an anime, and the girls get quite the introduction to it with a virtual reality room as well that shows off a lot of different possibilities for the area. The whole tour gets done via the Sky Resort dealer we’re introduced to, Linda, who has quite an island native flair about her. She’s also got something of a superior attitude in showing off “her place” to Rio and the others, but she’s able to back it up with her strength and overall sense of confidence.
What Rio ends up doing for much of the second half, after wowing us with a look through the Sky Resort and all its neat little toys, is to eventually force a Gate card showdown between Linda and Rio, mostly because Linda isn’t exactly human. Similar to previous episodes, that means we get a whole lot of big over the top sequences where Rio and Linda compete with whatever activity that Howard has come up with which invariably requires some form of skimpy outfit, especially for Rio, which in this case is a very small and minimal bathing suit that’s far too tight. There’s simple comedy to it all that has worked with previous episodes, but the setup and the character of Linda falls flat, especially when her truth is revealed, which keeps it from having a real sense of fun about it. Other characters have been a draw but Linda is a neutral character at best.
In Summary:
Rio has been a lot of fun in the first four episodes, almost to the point where it really is a pure guilty pleasure even though I don’t think it truly needs to be classified that way simply because it’s fun. And I like fun. This episode wasn’t as much fun overall, largely because the main attraction of the new character isn’t enough to sustain it. Rio is her usual self throughout it as are the other supporting characters so there aren’t any surprises there and it’s a good bit of fun with that aspect. I really liked the new resort and just seeing such lovingly animated casinos and resorts makes me long to return to one so there’s definitely an appeal there. But overall there isn’t a strong connection for this episode even if it follows the established pattern, largely because of the new character. Perhaps the next one will be more true to form.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
