With the basic introductions out of the way, it’s time to start killing them.
What They Say:
One night, Show finds himself suddenly taken from the streets of the city into a completely new world. This is the world of Byston Well, in between the land and the sea, filled with castles, knights and faeries. When the overlord of the land, Drake, grants him the strange robot weapon Dunbine and welcomes him as a battler, a mysterious enemy appears before him!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a very engaging and challenging first batch of episodes where an entire new world and all its mysteries were presented, the next five episodes slows down things slightly and starts bringing the focus to fewer characters as well as tightening up the plot a bit. This definitely works in its favor since the large scope of things is a great hook but can be quite hard to pull off while still retaining an audience with an investment in the characters.
With the plots becoming focused, we spend a good deal of time with Show and Neal, dealing with the crew there and their attempts to fight back against Drake Luft and his plans to try and conquer as much of Byston Well as possible. This is normally a good thing, but Neal’s the type of person who continually becomes focused on one thing and can’t move past it until it’s fully resolved. What’s worse is that his focus is on Elmelie, who is something of a prisoner in her own home. Her mother has given strict orders about what she can and can’t do after the previous escapades she’s done, which means it’s very difficult for Neal to get in and rescue her.
That certainly doesn’t stop him from trying though; twice even! His initial attempt is almost comical really and naturally ends in failure. It sets a wedge into things between him and Show though, since the two are more alike than they want to admit. Show’s main focus, having signed up to some degree with this resistance group after not liking what Luft was up to with Lord Shot, continues to be on getting to the silkie named Mau and finding his way home. Sometimes his goals align with Neals and vice versa, which is the only reason the two continue to work together. Well, that and Show’s apparent strong aura powers that make him quite the powerful Battler, impressing even Marvel more and more.
Outside of their own jockeying for power/position between each other, the show moves along the larger plotline of getting Drake Luft the ability to move armies across Byston Well. With his initial attempts at taking down Roman Given a success, he uses that to plant disinformation that allows him to become the official imperial army of the land, though small in number. That part is fairly well ignored and Luft’s plans for expansion begin with the eyeing of other neighbors. Having opened up his land to those who want to join his military, the ranks are bustling and growing daily.
There’s also an entire episode given over to Neal and the crew heading to Cham’s home and trying to break through both the Tempest and Heaven barriers to try and gain the help of the people there, a group of people who have been continually disinterested in the goings on of the world. This process sets Cham into panic and fear mode, but the need to gain help and try to build up some allies are first and foremost on both Show and Neal’s minds. Their adventure into this realm brings about an intriguing and not altogether common looking area where this particular race resides. It’s this diversity in look and design that continues to be a big draw for me with this series.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Daisuki
