A whole new season of IGPX has begun and Team Satomi
stands as the reigning champions. All of
their old rivals have renewed determination to take them down, including Sledge
Mamma and Skylark. But it’s the new
team, recently bumped up from the IG-2, who may end up being the biggest
problem of them all. Team White Snow
might come off as friendly but theyre hiding some deadly secrets. And if the new dangers on the track don’t do
some damage, Takeshi’s massively inflated ego might threaten to ruin his newfound
fame. Let the games continue.
Season Two of IGPX kicks off and I’ve gotta say I think I
was maybe a little too forgiving with the First Season.
From an action standpoint, this show is
great.
The CG Animation on the Mechs is
top notch and the races were all pretty exciting.
From a story and character standpoint,
however, IGPX is kind of weak.
The most
important members of the cast are pretty stagnant with their development and
the supporting cast isn’t the most memorable.
I feel like I’m backtracking on much of the praise I gave the end of
Season One.
But with the start of Season
Two, a lot of those issues come to the forefront along with some brand new
ones, mostly involving Takeshi and the seasons actual villains, yes villains.
Takeshi starts Season Two basically the same way he
started Season One only this time, he’s got a league championship under his
belt, has a cute girlfriend in Fantine, and is on top of the world in his
mind.
It only makes sense that the
tiniest of slip ups would either torpedo his confidence or flat out crush it
and from both major races in the Season Premiere, it could be both.
The entirety of Team Satomi has added
pressure to perform and prove their win in the previous IG-1 season wasn’t a
fluke.
But Takeshi’s ego is derailing a
lot of that good will.
More often than
not, he thinks everyone is blaming him for the teams bad luck early on…only
he’s half right.
Being a selfish brat
isn’t good for anyones image and watching Takeshi sulk more than half the time
really makes me wish River was the main character instead.
At least River would be all about wanting to
learn and grow rather than sit in the corner and mope.
Doesn’t help much that Season Two has villains for a
change.
Team White Snow is a different
breed of racer compared to Satomi’s two biggest rivals: Sledge Mamma and Velshtein.
Both Yamma and Cunningham have used some
underhanded tactics in the past to get the one up on Team Satomi (Velshtein
almost flat out killed them with their Terrible Tornado move).
But Yamma has a code and actually came to
Satomi’s defense when they were ambushed by thugs and Cunningham…truth be told
he's just OP and a would be Char for Takeshi to idolize a bit.
White Snow though, there’s nothing even
remotely likeable about them.
From the
moment they appear, these guys are clearly out to get Team Satomi and look
shady as hell.
Their Midfielder, Max,
even looks Newtype-ish, getting definite Lalah Sune vibes from her design…only
she loves sweets and is happy to cheat.
Truth is: Team White Snow aren’t racers, theyre cheaters.
From engaging in psychological warfare,
getting into the heads of Takeshi, Liz and Amy in various ways and hacking
their mechs and playbooks, these asshats think they’re invincible cause they
don’t even have to try.
And if you
thought Velshtein’s Indraga Mano was a dangerous move that should be banned,
White Snow’s mechs have the Puppeteer ability: in which their mechs attach to
their opponents and take control of them, using said Mechs to beat the mess out
of each other so they don’t have to do much of anything.
Not only is this total BS…BUT NO ONE IN THE
CROWD OR ON TEAM SATOMI SEEMS TO NOTICE!!!!
Once Takeshi, Liz and Amy’s Mechs are all taken over, they think theyre
beating the snot out of each other and the audience cant clearly see White Snow
is controlling them.
Amy’s life
threatening injury? Oh everyone blames that on friendly fire…WHAT THE
F***!!!!????
Does no one have eyes in
this universe?
The world of IGPX just
let White Snow get away with murder and they have the gaul to smile and wish
Amy a speedy recovery.
To paraphrase
Venom 2 and allow myself a little more time to vent, “FRAK THESE GUYS!!!”
White Snow has to lose…more importantly they
should be arrested for attempted manslaughter.
Sigh, the fact that I just had to unload a major rant
like that doesn’t paint the new beginning of IGPX in the best light, it’s kind
of infuriating really.
There is actually
some really good stuff though.
The new
season steps up the Mecha action with new animations and showing off new ways
the Mechs can run around a brand new track.
Edgeraid swinging around the outskirts of the tracks with their wires is
pretty cool, as is Liz leaping from one track path to the next.
As much as I hate them, White Snow’s Mechs
are pretty intimidating themselves with a very demon like design and the
multiple limbs make them very Spider like and even more dangerous.
On the character side, with River’s arc now
complete and Takeshi in Pity Town, Liz is the one who steps into the “one
character needs a good arc” circle.
To
me, Liz has been more the heart of Team Satomi than Takeshi and not just
because she can call him on his crap.
Season Two is allowing Liz to show more of herself outside of the
default tough girl, such as her nervousness at the opening ceremonies party and
when Takeshi almost hurts her during a sparring match.
The softness in her voice build to genuine
concern for her friend and Michelle Rodriguez is owning every moment of it.
She might very well be the MVP of the voice
cast (runner up goes to Lance Henriksen for being so effortless in being
cool).
Also, forget Takeshi and Liz, Liz
and Amy might be the ship to root for…ok, ok, maybe shouldn’t go that far but I
love how caring Liz is for Amy and how supportive she is especially when
Takeshi wants to place blame on Amy for not being on his level…jerk.
Speaking of Lance Henriksen, Andre just got a major
upgrade for the season.
With Amy out of
commission (though being alive is miracle enough thank God), Andre decides to
step back in as her replacement.
It’ll
be something to see him in a race but I will admit I got a bit of a laugh
watching Liz put him through his paces trying to whip him into shape fast.
Also, that beef Andre has with Sir Hamgra,
Andre calling him out on live television was freaking great.
It also looks like being able to race with
“The Rocket” seems to be putting Takeshi in a better mood…wonder how long that
will last given how he’s been flip flopping in the last few episodes.
Still, Season Two has started off darker and
more than a bit grating with Villains getting away with murder and characters
being reset for no reason other than it’s a new year.
The action is still great though but can it
carry the not so great parts of this show?
Guess we’ll find out come Friday as IGPX Season Two continues right here
at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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