With Hilda dead and the Outlaw Star now in his
possession, Gene returns to Sentinel III to plan his next move. But securing weapons and supplies for his new
ship will be the last of Gene’s worries.
Not only is a beautiful assassin trying to kill his benefactor (who is
not so subtley in love with him) but there are more pirates heading his way,
seeking to claim the XGP (Outlaw Star) at any cost. There’s no time to wait and action must be
taken. The time has come for Gene to
accept his destiny and blast off into space…preferably with his ship and crew
in one piece.
Talk about hitting the ground running for the crew of the
Outlaw Star. Gene, Jim and Melfina
barely had time to settle back into life on Sentinel before life got hectic
again. But then again that’s one thing I
have to give this show credit for, trying it’s best to keep the momentum going
without getting the show to dull in the lull.
And for the most part this week it did just that.
Most of the credit can go to the series scene stealing
newcomer, Suzuka. Beautiful, polite and
deadly all at the same time, her skill in combat may have left a lot to be
desired after her first showdown with Gene but she more than made up for it in
later episodes. Taking down hulking
giant and even mechs with a tough wooden sword makes her worthy of the title of
bad ass. And while the outcome of her
duel with Gene could be seen as a bit silly, it was fun to see our hero have some
fun at her expense while also opening her eyes a bit to his code and how she
should not be so bound by pride when it comes to living her life. It’s great that she’ll be joining the team as
that extra bit of muscle and zen beauty.
We also got to meet Fred Lou, who adds a bit of uncomfortable humor to
the mix with his fixation on Gene and even Jim (creeeeepy). The Toonami airing definitely had to tone
down his hitting on Gene and truth be told they did that pretty well even if
you could read between the lines, cudos to Cartoon Network on that one.
I briefly touched on it with Suzuka but the action scenes
really stood out this week. Not only did
we get to see Gene single handedly take on a squad of Ninja Assassins, but we
also got a great taste of pure grappler combat.
Watching those ships move, take pot shot and even throwing punches at
each other was stellar. The animation
and movement may not have been Macross level but it was still grand
nonetheless. And again, Koh Otani’s
score, even if it is a reused track from a previous episode, worked magically
here.
And while the villains were a bit more fierce and scary
and less one note than last weeks batch, the filler this week was the not so
great element of this set. Watching Gene
and Jim actually bicker was nice but it could’ve worked itself into something
bigger. I don’t know, going after a
cyborg killer just didn’t seem too fun…even if Gene blew him to kingdom come in
laid back Gene Starwind style. Really this
episode was unneeded set up for a more interesting premise: the Space Race and
the return of the MacDougall Brothers.
Now that seems like a good follow up to the opening arc.
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