No one would’ve ever guessed a lesser known team like
Team Satomi would ever make it to the final rounds of the IG-1. Yet, here we are and the races standing in
the way of ultimate victory will be the toughest yet for Takeshi, Liz and
Amy. First, it’s a rematch with Team
Sledge Mamma, with River, now as the new Forward, dead set on settling the
score with Takeshi. And then it’s the
final showdown with Cunningham and Team Velshtein, who thruougly trounced Team
Satomi in their first face off. No one
expected Team Satomi to make it this far.
Can they fulfill their dreams and join the ranks of the Best in the
IG-1?
I’ve gotta give it to this show, Team Satomi hasn’t been
the only group getting better as their season went on.
IGPX showed some good growth and didn’t skimp
on some awesome mecha duels as it closed out its First Season (yeah both halves
of this show were aired months apart as two separate seasons on Toonami).
Takeshi finally showed signs of being more
than an overconfident rookie and the crew all came together into their own for
their last two big races.
Even
supporting characters got moments to shine and complete their own arcs (looking
at you River).
In short, this was a good
wrap up to the first half of IGPX, let’s break down why.
For what could easily be considered a Filler Episode,
Takeshi’s date with Fantine had a lot of fun and excitement to it, with a
splash of danger to spice things up.
It
was fun to see Liz in her cute outfit stalking Takeshi while Fantine taught her
boyfriend how to move around amongst the public when he’s the hottest commodity
around.
I haven’t talked a lot about
Johnny in the reviews thus far though.
He’s a young IGPX Otaku who wants to be a racer like Takeshi and he’s
popped up here and there, even gotten on Takeshi’s radar a couple of
times.
Seeing him get some tips from two
IGPX pros (Takeshi and Fantine) and putting them to use was a good way to show
Johnny getting some spotlight and Takeshi actually being a pretty chill and
open dude to his biggest fans.
The fight
at the end of the episode was also a good showcase for the badassery that is
Team Takeshi and Liz.
Sure Johnny and
Fantine got some hits in but this fight was all about showing us that Takeshi
and Liz don’t just practice swordsmanship and Martial Arts for show.
They kicked ass (and Liz definitely looked
good doing it).
Takeshi didn’t even
hesitate to jump into danger to protect Fantine, good on him.
Next it was time for River to get the closure he
needed.
In this First Season, he’s had
the most compelling story arc of anyone on the show, more than Takeshi in my
opinion.
All he’s ever wanted to do was
race in the IGPX as a Forward but Satomi kept him on the bench.
Signing up with Sledge Mamma might’ve been
questionable at first but River ended up having a great duel with Takeshi.
These two were always meant to be more rivals
than teammates and you could tell how much of a blast they were having on the
track.
As an added surprise, the
assumption that Takeshi and Fantine’s date crashers were hired by Yamma turned
out to be false and the whole of Sledge Mamma came to Satomi’s defense when
they were ambushed.
Obsessed fans
willing to hurt players seems a bit much but I know those kinds of fans exist
in real life too.
Yamma actually dropped
his nasty act and gave Team Satomi their proper due, assuring them that the
track is the only place they’ll try shady stuff, “We wanna beat ya, not beat ya
up,” even Yamma’s got a code, go figure.
Not sure the same can be said for Cunningham and Team Velshtein,
who could apparently pull off a major tornado move that was the reason Team
Satomi got laid out in seconds in their first match.
Isnt that kind of a bit of overkill?
Seeing how chaotic that move was in proper
action, it looks pretty deadly to me and it’s a miracle Takeshi, Liz and Amy
weren’t killed before.
Once you got past
that and Cunningham actually had to take on Takeshi, mano a mano, things got
really good.
For a show co produced by
Toonami, I’m surprised they hadn’t yet tried to tap into their biggest Anime
superstar when creating their own original Anime work with Production I.G.
Well they did for the finale cause Takeshi
and Cunningham’s duel from the look of their mechs went totally Dragon Ball Z
with rapid fire blows and dodges.
Even
the aforementioned Indraga Mano attack looked DBZ inspired.
Mentally, Takeshi’s Samurai vs. Cunningham’s
Fencer looked like a Mental fight between two Newtypes in Gundam…and it was
cool to watch.
I honestly have no hang
ups or criticisms about the final race beyond the Indraga Mano.
This was everything all the races so far had
been building to and even the Takeshi/River showdown had some great animation
in its fighting too.
CG Anime fights
rarely work with me outside of Gundam but IGPX has pulled off some great stuff
so far and I cant wait to see what Season Two has in store.
Everything else in this set was clean up and bookmarking
for what’s next.
Is it really any
surprise that Andre is actually Takeshi’s idol, Rocket G?
It’s about as obvious as Quattro Bajiena
being Char Aznable in Zeta Gundam.
Plus,
as Andre says, he didn’t want to brag.
Who knows how knowing would’ve affected Takeshi’s performance if he did
know.
Hell, he DOES know so that could
put added pressure on him in the next season to live up to his idols
standing.
There is some hinted history
between Andre and Sir Hamgra, the Coach of Velshtein, and Im wondering if it
will come up in Season Two also.
There
wasn’t really much else to delve into.
Everyones thrilled they won, Takeshi and Fantine are happy, Mark’s gonna
work on his mechs, Miss Satomi can finally take a break.
It’s nothing but chill time until the next
season for these Team Satomi.
But we wont be chilling too much.
We’re back at it Next Monday with a new
racing season and a new IG-2 team bumped up to IG-1 to see if they can
replicate Team Satomi’s success.
IGPX
finished its First Season strong.
We’ll
if Season Two can keep up the momentum Next Monday right here at the Gundam
Anime Corner.
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