Category: Finished Series: Action

Juuni Taisen – 02 [Tricks Both Mongrel and Fowl]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Juuni Taisen

A Battle Royale anime is something that have been done numerous times before: Mirai Nikki, Btoom!!, last year’s Magical Girl Raising Project… It’s such a delicious meal that it’s hard not to have fun when players try to outsmart the others or think of a creative way to kill each other. Juuni Taisen so far fulfill that concept successfully. Nothing deep yet but what this show excels is the memorable casts and the unpredictability of plots. Two episodes in, Juuni Taisen manages to catch us off guard twice, last week with the revealing that Rabbit – Usagi (for the sake of consistency I will use the animal name for characters – but will mention their Japanese name when I first introduce the characters) is a necromantist and this week with the Dog – Dotsuku suddenly gets his face smashed, in mere seconds. Now, many of you might think that the deaths have a pattern: a reversed Zodiac order: first the Boar, now the Dog. It certainly helps as well that the title of the next episode “Cutting a Chicken with a Beef Cleaver” might mean that this is the end of our Chicken – Niwatori. Well, knowing Nisio Isin I don’t think that will be the case. If there is anything that makes the writer stand out amongst the rest of LN authors, it’s that he can manage to pull the rug out of our feet with satisfying results (the episode 4 of Katanagatari springs to my mind). In fact, the first warrior who died wasn’t the Boar, it was the Snake  – Ani, so it pretty much breaks the pattern.

Second, I believe the reverse order could be served as a narrative order. That I think explains the focus on those characters and if that is the case, the next episode will be dedicated to our Chicken. Not to say that this episode she hasn’t already left her mark. Come to the first lesson in this Battle Royale: never underestimate your enemy. The Dog had his plan all figured out: the only warrior who already had an antidote to the poisonous gem, making him the safest bet if he can lay low. On top of that, he’s tricky because he let others think that he’s a mad dog, but instead he’s calculated and use his venomous fang as a weapon to kill enemy. Come Chicken, who not only spots him unguarded, but displays a wide array of inexperienceness that let his guard down. Her innocence is just too adorable. When it comes to the crucial point, as Dog using Chicken as a decoy by boosting up her power, she smashed his skull off in a flash. When you think about that, Dog and Chicken make quite a pair, consider that their mottos aren’t all that different (Killing by Biting and Killing by Pecking – you all have to use mouth here). Question is, is it an impulsive act from Chicken because of the non-lethal drug kicked in or does she plan it all along? After all, letting herself bitten by the Dog wasn’t a wise decision at all.

Meanwhile, Rabbit team keeps marching ahead and the other team: the peaceful one, consists of Monkey – Shuryuu and Rat – Nezumi lay real low down the underground. It was Monkey who brought down the floor, but the person needed to be taken seriously is the Rat. He has an eye for details and he leaves all the other players the vague sense of déjà vu. Whoever this guy be? Monkey with her ceasefire approach could be the main development point for this series, so I expect this team won’t be killed anytime soon. Speaking of the one who was killed, the flashback from the Boar – Inounoshishi last week had me puzzled: We didn’t see her sister’s death. Or more on point, we even didn’t see she stabbed herself. My point being there could be something more than meet the eyes here. Maybe she saves her sister at last minute? Thus I believe her act is far from over so there might be some twists that bring her back to the game? Boy, I’m sure excited.

Not that these first two episodes don’t have its hiccup. First, there is a convention that whenever a character displays their strategy, or they have some character’s development, they’d be the one killed. So far, Juuni Taisen embraces that convention neatly (the shock the show provided so far comes from the way they were killed, not from twisting about who would get killed). Second, unless they properly invest the relationship and tension between the twin brothers Snake and Dragon, I feel they wasted a spot for a powerful character here. They could have many interesting ways to create a memorable Dragon warrior, so I hope the older twin is badass enough for me to forget about this. The Dragon doesn’t seem to be emotionally affected by the death of his twin brother. But if the first episode is any indication, siblings killing each other is the norms around here. There certainly isn’t lots of fights consider the Battle-Royale concept, but it’s the kind of battle I’m looking for; and I’m sure glad they don’t shy on the body counts. Bring all you got here Juuni Taisen.

As of now,

Deaths: Snake, Boar, Dog

Favorites to win: Bull, Monkey, Rat, Rabbit, no-one.

The Reflection Review – 32/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Reviews by Lenlo, The Reflection

The superhero genre has been undergoing a surge in popularity in recent years. From the Marvel movies in the West to anime series like My Hero Academia in the East, super heroes are everywhere.  As such, for good or ill, it was inevitable that we would get a merging of the two. The Reflection is one such result of this union. The Reflection tries to do a lot, succeeding on some and failing terribly at others. The end result is a an inconsistent mess of seemingly stitched together episodes and story moments.

Lets jump in.

Continue reading “The Reflection Review – 32/100” →

The Reflection – 12 [The Reflection]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, The Reflection

Welcome to the final episode of The Reflection. This week is both the best and worst episode of the season, with highs and lows, in both animation and story. Rather than my usual fare of just walking through the episode bit by bit though, I am going to try something different. We are going to focus on what made this final episode what it was.

There are four main areas to touch on with this final episode of The Reflection, those being the Idols, X-On, I-Guy and Wraith. Each one represents an issue with this episode and the series as a whole. Before I get into that though, lets talk about the animation for this final episode. For the first half, it was great. Combat against no-named background characters was iffy, but between our named characters it worked well. The flaming dogs from Flaming Fury, the tiger from X-On, colliding in the air all looked great with Reflection’s art style. With everything coming to a head and the time finally being taken to use this art to its fullest, it really worked. It flagged in the second half, as as less important characters fought, but that still ended up being about average for the season.

Now on to the problems. First, the Idols. This pop idol group exists only because they sing the ED of The Reflection. They were absent the entire season, quick snippets of their life being shoved between other scenes, as they were slowly ferried to the plot. Their one saving grace is that they were not used as a Deux Ex Machina to finish the plot. Yet with that taken from them, they no longer have any purpose! They provided some amusing scenes together, gave us the beautiful opener in episode 1 and had some cute interactions with I-Guy, but that is it. As a piece that already had character focus problems, adding in more ancillary characters was not a good idea.

Speaking of I-Guy, lets talk about the best part of The Reflection, that being Ian Izette. Ian was not the best character ever seen in anime. In fact he would no doubt be out of place in most. Yet he was still to good for The Reflection. By this final episode, Ian was the only character I cared about. He had a clear history, clear motives, clear goal and clear faults. The entire season Ian was getting hit. First his ego, as I-Guy became more famous than him, the opposite of what he wanted. Second when X-On chastised him for how he conducted himself and finally when his friends and coworkers were killed. He had a clear path and story arc. Even in this final episode as he strips away the armor of I-Guy to simply be Ian, standing up against evil and walking towards Wraith when no one else could. He went from a cartoony superhero to simply a man trying to be a hero. Ian was the best part of The Reflection, and he wasnt even the main character.

That label belongs to X-On, or more accurately X-On and Eleanor. The problem with X-On that he wasnt a character, atleast not to the viewers. He rarely spoke and everything about him was shrouded in mystery. Where did he get his powers, what happened with the lab, who actually is he? Instead of getting any answers we are instead given more questions. Flashbacks to his life, just enough to tease us, but far to late to have any meaningful impact on the plot. He epitomizes the lack of character growth or focus in this series. Had they taken some time to focus on his life in those black and white flashbacks, perhaps we would care about him more.

Finally, lets touch on Wraith, our main villain. Wraith is a faceless villain with unknown powers, unknown origin and a tenuous connection to Eleanor, one of our leads. Wraiths issue is that he has to many things going on. At first he was interesting, as he taunted Ian and distracted him from his team. Yet as we learned more about him, his background only got weirder. Is he the dead, now alive again, brother of Eleanor? Did her soul get split in two by the Smoke and Light?  They tried to do alot of things with Wraith, so much so that they started to run into each other. They didnt have the time to flesh any of them out, instead opting for an end of the world like story.

All in all, The Reflection finished acceptably, but not well. It avoided Deus Ex Machina, mostly, and gave us a clear view of what is to come for our characters. They attempted an interesting idea, the super powers clearly a focus of the story and not just made to profit off of Hero Academia and other comic book like anime. Sadly, it just didnt work out. There is an obvious setup for a second season, yet I would be surprised if The Reflection got one after the poor reception this season.

That wraps up this episode everyone! The full review should come soon. I have alot to say, and some of bled into here, so apologies for that. See you then!

The Reflection – 11 [White Sands]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, The Reflection

In the penultimate episode of The Reflection, we finally get to see Wraiths master plan come to fruition and the Idol group finally becomes relevant. Lets jump in!

Reflection starts off with a flashback to 3 years ago, to the event of the Reflection. We see a young Elen looking out her window, as she is hit by both the black smoke and the green light. Hopefully we get some more explanation as to what this does. Did it bring her dead brother back to life? Split personality? Who knows, but considering its become a main plot point, it better get explained. Afterwords we cut back to Wraith, X-On and Steel Ruler in the underground cave. Wraith does a minor monologue about how she/he needed to remove Elen from themself, but that Elen had to do it herself. This raises more questions, was she not real? Which one is the original? Does it even matter?

Regardless, after the monologue and a quick side jaunt to lecture X-On, we cut to the desert. Here there is a ring of woman, the Allen women I presume. We are given a glimpse of a map of the United States, with purple and green dots all over it. Forcing them to use their powers far beyond their ability, we see the Allen women all begin to glow green. In a flash of light everyone, every Reflected in America, is teleported to White Sands New Mexico. Yes, that does include our illusive Idol Group. Turns out even Wraith was so fed up with them that they literally teleported them into the middle of the plot. This combined with their general uselessness has caused myself and many others to fear they are going to pull some deus-ex machina idol song to save the day in the final episode.

With the Idols part in this episode done, we not pan over to X-On and our heroes. They are all standing together on the top of a hill. I-Guy prepares to soar up to Wraith and deliver a beat down but X-On, now bearing ‘Flaming Furys’ fire power, holds him back. Wraith steps forward at the top of a dune and prepares to make another speech. Luckily, its not a speech about destroying humans but about how they number to few to do anything against the humans. There doesn’t seem to be much purpose to it now, but later on in the episode we see that this is all setup. X-On however gets a random cell-phone call at the end. The ringtone got me, I was unprepared for this, so credit where credit it due. The call itself from the government woman, as she has something to tell him.

Apparently the US Army is reacting to their sudden appearance in the desert and is bringing in a number of helicopters. We see them approach on the horizon, in formation. The soldiers yell over the intercom, asking the Reflected to leave peacefully. With this all part of her plan however, Wraith has one of her cronies make the Soldiers fire on the Reflected. In reaction, the Reflected naturally fight back. We get to see some interesting powers on display here, as the Reflected attack the soldiers, X-On and co hold the Reflected back, and the Soldiers retaliate. It will be interesting to see if, in the final episode, X-On manages to take all of these powers.

Our heroes aside though, this is all a very clever plan from Wraith. She/he makes it out as if the military is starting this conflict. By bringing them all in one place however, she is the one to have instigated this. She becomes a savior to the Reflected. Over the course of this fight, through Michael’s Reflected vision however, we see some of the Brightstar Reflected become Darkness Reflected. There was zero evidence of this earlier in the series, but it seems sufficient anger or whatever will cause a Reflected to change. I suspect it works in reverse as well and that is where the Idol group will come in.

With X-On and the others interfering in her plan though, Wraith is not content to sit idly by. She sends Steel Ruler and her other minions out to stop them, though Ruler appears to hesitate. Disappointingly, we see the Bat Man return, this time in a shiny new metal costume. Say what you will about evil, it has great health care apparently. After getting his wing blasted off by I-Guy and apparently not dying, he has returned for one final showdown. With all of the fights set, Wraith reaches out and shoots dark electricity out at all of the Reflected gathered. Is she taking their power? Mind controlling them? We have no idea what her power is, so there is no way to tell. Finally, The Reflection pans over to our Idol Group, who have found their luggage and are ready to save the day!

All in all, another disappointing episode of The Reflection. There’s no consequences, no one gets hurt (Except for I-Guy) or stays dead (Except for I-Guys team). The writers took their time with the story in the first half, but have sped through it in the second. The pacing is all over the place and we still don’t know the Idol groups powers! There’s far to much to cover in a final episode, I just dont see how they will get it done well.

Suppose we will see next week on, The Reflection! See you then.

Princess Principal (Summer 2017) Review – 82/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Princess Principal, Reviews by SuperMario

Princess Principal has emerged as a true sleeper hit for this admittedly sloppy Summer Season. A joint project from indie studios that bring us my favorite anime of last year Flip Flappers (3Hz) and “better than it has any right to be” Girls und Panzer (Actas), Princess Principal records the missions of five cute spy girls in an alternate Britain (known as Albion) in the early 20th century. As ill-advised as it might sound, the cute girl designs don’t really bother me that much. If you are looking for a true espionage story; however, you bound to be disappointed because they’re more like James Bond flashy action, somewhat superpower ability and whenever they have a chance, they’ll announce “We’re spy” with pride. Yeah, it’s that kind of mindless over-the-top action series that we need to believe the unbelievable but as an action-spy-steampunk series, Princess Principal delivers what it promised.

The first strength of this show lies in its intriguing world settings. I might have personal issues with Ichirou Okuochi as a whole, but even I don’t deny that he can create an interesting setting that triggers my curiosity. Princess Principal has such fascinating world. In this vision, Albion monopolizes a powerful substance known as Cavorite that made the Kingdom the dominant country in the world. Such development creates a rift between the Royalty and the lower people and as a result, the Wall of London was built in the middle of London where the country is split into The Commonwealth and the Kingdom. The tension between the two nations, however, never really addressed at all and only serves as a backdrop to generate dramatic development for our two main leads, Ange and Princess. In addition, the steampunk setting makes for an aesthetic pleasure and I would argue that it’s Princess Principal’s strongest characteristics.

However, Princess Principal isn’t just merely an action show. The five girls have some interesting developments and each of them is given a solid backstory. Moreover, they have solid dynamic altogether that make the interactions between them a joy to watch. Noticeably, in the latter half when the cases become less prevalent, and the show slowed down the fast tempo mission-heavy established in the first half for more character-focus episodes. The change might turn off some of the viewers who look for quick-paced, entertaining action but it’s a welcoming sign that the show gave a proper time to flesh out the five girls. The relationship between Ange and Princess serves as the show’s central emotional arc and while the swapped-identity backstory had its merits, the show pad it out way too thin during the climax that it couldn’t transfer the emotions to its fullest. Other girls, especially Chise and Dorothy (sorry Beatrice! You have a voice… but nothing else) have so much personality to them and they all add necessarily perspectives (Chise- from the outside perspective; Dorothy- friends come first) to the Principal team. Not that they’re a deepest bunch around but I’m quite happy to spend time with them anytime.

Another factor that add to Princess Principal’s identity is its use of non-chronological order. This technique works for the show’s benefits most of the time because these episodes feel like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle (which admittedly doesn’t add up much at the end), and up in till the climax we can watch these episodes in any order and it still makes sense. This format will work well on re-watch as well since there are some already-established relationships or a piece of information that will make more sense now we know the context. But presenting it non-linearly doesn’t mean the episodes were arrange randomly. The flow from one episode to another is present and moreover, this format helps us gaining context on certain themes, on certain character developments that otherwise would be insignificant in a linear way. For example we gain an extra layer on Chise struggling with the social-class issues through the backstory of Ange and Princess established a week before, something that won’t have much impact if they tell the story in a linear fashion.

Thus, Princess Principal is at its best in episode 5 (the introduction of Chise) where it focused on the exciting mission, while never forget to give our girls an extra depth. In that episode, the fluid animation, flawless fight choreography and the lively character movements help bring the mannerism of our characters to light.  On the other spectrum, the last two episodes bring the show down a notch with its safe open-ended closure that resolve almost nothing. In addition, they introduced new characters (Zelda, the General) and new conflict (the coup) too late in the game without any proper foreshadowing beforehand. Remember Princess wanted to fight that battle till the end? Flashforward and we see her lying on the beach in Casablanca, while holding hand with another girl. It’s a let-down, of course, especially when they hint for a second season which might never come, but to be frank the first 10 episodes were so solid that in the end I consider this show a critical success.

Technically, the production is on the bright side. Off-model here and there, cheap-cuts sometimes and they do have some questionable over-cute character designs, but the action always hold its ground, characters move in their own ways that fitting to their personality and the killer soundtrack, coupling with beautiful steampunk aesthetic and you have a winner all around. Princess might not dig deep to the political conflict between two countries, or develop its Cavorite theme and the enemy side is frankly, weak and underdeveloped; but Princess Principal offers some entertaining action set-pieces, at the same time care enough to develop properly the main cast and their relationships.  Second season- coming might not look promising and the ending lacks bite, but I don’t argue that I had a great time following it the past season. Can’t never get enough of Chise’s precious facial expressions, it appears.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu Review – 45/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Katsugeki Touken Ranbu, Reviews by Lenlo

Every Anime season we the viewers are shown a number of adaptations, often made after Light or Visual Novels. It’s an already written story with an established base, a smart business decision. In recent years studios have also begun pulling from the Video Game market for their shows. Pieces like the Idolmaster series, Kantai Collection and Akibas Trip. I bring this up not because this is a new event, but because the anime I want to talk about today, Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu, is one such anime.

Ranbu is based off of the online video game Touken Ranbu, along the same lines as Kantai Collection. It focuses on a group of warriors who are the human personification of famous weapons, sent back in time. Their task? To protect history from the forces of the Time Retrograde Army, who seek to change history for an unknown reason. Ranbu focuses in on the 2nd Unit, newly minted and formed from a group who have never worked together before. Together they will face the hordes of the Retrograde Army and defend the past from the future!

Let’s jump in.

Continue reading “Katsugeki Touken Ranbu Review – 45/100” →

The Reflection – 10 [Eleanor]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, The Reflection

This week The Reflection finally gives us some quality time with our main villain, as Wraiths plan hits its final stages. Lets jump in.

Reflection opens on Elen arriving at the mansion we saw at the end of last week, meeting evil!Stan Lee. Deciding that her decision to give herself up for the sake of others was a poor one, Elen immediately starts running through the mansion. Teleporting from intersection to intersection, rather than simply… exiting out a window? Not sure what she is doing here, but its necessary for the big reveal at the end. Meanwhile, our crew continues to follow Vy as she leaps through the streets. Eventually she reaches the mansion, busting in through a side window! Inside, as Lisa and co arrive, we see evil!Stan Lee sipping a nice cup of tea, expecting them. Apparently, he was the one telling Vy where to go and how to reach him, leading her to this very room, but surprise! Its a trap!

The mansion begins to burst into flame, as the Russian Ninja and Human Thunderbolt appear in the room. The man who can phase through walls comes up from the floor and whisks Stan Lee through a wall to safety. Unprepared, our heroes are quickly overwhelmed. The floor gives out, causing them all to fall. As they do, we see Elen through a doorway, walking down a hall. Its a slow-motion shot, with her looking into the room, so clearly this isn’t real. Could it be the one who can create illusions from before? Continue reading “The Reflection – 10 [Eleanor]” →

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu – 13 [Katsugeki]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

Welcome to the final week of Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu, where the plot is rushed and the art is at its best. Lets jump in.

Ranbu opens this week with the title card, skipping the OP. Looks like they want all the time they can get. Picking up where they left off, Ranbu has Horikawa go and get the young Tetsunoske at Hijikata’s request. Reenacting the flashback we saw in earlier episodes, Hijikata tasks him to take his sword back to his family. During this, Horikawa walks out and meets Kane in an empty part of the fort. The direction here is good, with shots mostly showing them together but with objects such as a cannon between them. The two talk for awhile and we learn that for the past 3 years Horikawa has been fighting the Retrograde while working for Hijikata. During that time, apparently he still has not made a decision about whether or not to save Hijikata. Had their breakup lasted longer than an hour for Kane, it would almost be touching.

Continue reading “Katsugeki Touken Ranbu – 13 [Katsugeki]” →

Princess Principal – 12 [Case 24 Fall of the Wall]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

Is that seriously how they end Princess Principal? Nothing is resolved at all except Ange breaks down the wall around her heart to welcome her team to the Casablanca’s paradise. Everything screams “second season” and with the sales aren’t that impressive from what I gathered, will they ever get one? It comes hard for me as to whether or not give this “clearly more to come” show a final review. We will see when we have more concrete news. No, I don’t like this underwhelmed ending. We have some solid emotional moments between Ange and Princess, but I never really that invested in their tragic turtledove. I care most about the team getting together for some fun action and in that aspect this finale pleases me, although not by much. On a positive side I still pick this safe ending anytime over some cheap climax that resolve everything too neatly with only one episode, something that Masaki Tanichiba has a habit of doing. I have a theory that maybe he did write one explosive trainwreck ending of Princess Principal before the producer just shoved it and changed to this ending instead. Princess Principal better has second cour coming, damnit.

Ange has a solid character arc that see her desperations for the safety of Princess that she took her to run away, which disappointed Princess deeply. Realizing that she needs to save Princess, she jumps off the airship, goes to enemy’s territory, and finds out that her friends have been waiting all along. This trial not only gives Ange the courage not to run away, but to fight head-on for her own and Princess’s sake, but also give her an opportunity to realize that she has real friends waiting for her, to always give her their hands when she needs to. Saving Private Ryan Princess isn’t an option when they’re spies, but as friends they’d do anything, even risking their own lives. Dorothy proves one last time she has a heart of gold but the way she delivers it is so genuine it’s hard not to cheer for her. Likewise, Chise has a good bit when she requests Lord Horikawa to leave her duty to help her friends. As for Beatrice, well… she’s just fine being Beatrice and supports other team members. It might sound obvious but Beatrice and Ange’s personalities and charms never quite catch the richness of the other three.

In a Princess side, it doesn’t take very long before Zelda know the true identity of her. Which is fine by Zelda, since she knows for a fact that the uprising will end up in failure, and Princess will take all the blame. In a greater consequence, the Royal will fall into chaos if they know the Princess is the leader of the failed coup d’état. Her interaction with the leader of the uprising, Major Yngwie signifies how her ideal matches the need of the commoners. Social hierarchy, class issues have been a solid backdrop for Princess Principal, and with this episode the show addresses this issues in forefront. Princess determines to change the system not by breaking it apart, but by slowly change it from within. Her statement sure reaches the Major’s poor heart, at the cost of losing his life, but this is a great buildup for Princess against the Royal side that we might never have a chance to see it pays off.

It’s assuring to see that L is back to the Control team and expels that General whatever from any the Control. That General had done enough damage already in his short stay. Everything pretty much get back to status quo with the same Control takes over our girls, while they’re doing their mission, at the same time sunbathing in Casablanca. Zelda proves to be a worthy opponent of Ange in term of skills and ruthless, and she controls that Cavorite device just like Ange. Although I must admit that adding her too late in the game with no backstory and no development isn’t a wise choice at all. Speaking of that the opponent side against the Control and the Principal team receive limited attention in this show. We don’t see any specific threats except speculating about The Duke of Normandy’s main motive and all he does was to tell his private spy to eliminate everything, especially now when Princess herself admitted that she’s a fake in front of Zelda, it could lead to an interesting direction. I believe Princess Principal still has a plan for second cour because simply things can’t be inconclusive like that. It’s a weak ending doesn’t matter how you look at it and Princess Principal leaves me feeling unsatisfied, like enjoying a delicious entrée without having any main meal at all.

The Reflection – 9 [Downtown L.A.]

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, The Reflection

This week The Reflection continues on towards its finale. Finally all of our characters are in one place and raring for a fight.

Reflection starts off right back with the Idol group, being unable to decide between beef or fish. Apparently an episode named for the dilemma wasn’t enough. Reflection quickly cuts back to Elen and Steel Ruler though, in the street where we left them. A van pulls up and Elen quickly gets in, riding away with Steel Ruler and her group. Right behind them however is the Government woman and her squad, tracking them. I am curious if Elen knew about this and set it up, or if this is happening without her knowledge. I would also like to know what assurance’s Elen has that the hostages will be released, since she so meekly stepped into the van.

With Elen on her way, Reflection cuts back to X-On, Lisa and the Detective. Its very quiet as Lisa is “asleep”, X-On is brooding and the Detective is drunk. Its a pretty weird scene that hangs for awhile, panning from each character doing nothing. Suppose we deserve to know what everyone is doing right now. We cut back to Elen and see the Government Woman tailing her, very very closely. Its almost ridiculous, as no one could fail to notice them. Steel Ruler tells one of her lackeys, Conman we learn, to do something. We saw him in action briefly before, and it appears his ability is to cause illusions. He fills the Government truck with fake snakes and it almost causes them to drive off the road.  Unfortunately for them, the Government Woman holds out and takes control of the wheel, keeping them on the road.

With that plan foiled, Steel Ruler tries something else. Using the ability we have seen before, they begin to phase the car through buildings, driving as if they weren’t there. This allows them to completely ignore roads. However, somehow, the government managed to put a tracker on their car and through clever driving manages to keep up with them. Somehow in all this, the streets of LA are empty and not a single person sees any of this, but hey, budget concerns I suppose. Eventually Steel Ruler and the Government are driving along a large storm drain. With all of her previous plans foiled, Steel Ruler only has one thing left, raw power.

We see the Lightning man, from Vy and Michael’s first episode, leap out the back of the moving van. The Government smashes into him and goes flying, no doubt because of his electricity. As he approaches the wreck to finish the job, Vy arrives to hold him down. Its a quite fight, before the helicopters and such appear. He steps into the water and zips away, using his power intelligently. Before we continue however I have a quick question. If you had helicopters and that large a group, why not use them to track Steel Ruler? They clearly weren’t being stealthy about it already and a squad of helicopters is much more difficult to take down. If flown high enough they are also difficult to notice. It all seems rather poorly planned to me.

The helicopters arrive and take Vy and Michael away. We cut back to the motel and find it surrounded, with X-On and Lisa taken into custody. They are escorted to an underground base and briefed on the situation. The entire time X-On hasnt said a word, yet everyone here seems to know who he is, whispering his name as if hes Voldemort. We are given a quick repeat of a few scenes and some more explanation as to the Darkness and the “Brightstar”, but none of it is particularly interesting. During all this, we see Lisa and Vy wanting to leave, though for different reasons. Lisa just hates the whole situation while apparently Vy is being “drawn” to Steel Ruler/Wraith. Deciding that’s a good thing, X-On tells Lisa to let Vy go and she escapes through the ceiling. Apparently the military wasn’t prepared for giant robots and metal monsters.

Soaring through the air after Vy, they are seem by Ian who is driving along looking for more punks to smash. He diverts course to follow them, meaning he will definitely be at the upcoming final battle. While driving away, Ians fancy new car passes by the Idols school bus, marking them as finally being in LA. The episode ends with Elen arriving at a nice house and meeting evil Stan Lee. Apparently, Wraith is ready and waiting.

Not much happened this week, and little of what did was interesting. Lots of bad shots and weird directing, but the car chase at-least was nice to watch. A good amount of action and some nice animation. The Lightning Man in particular, with the flat blue shades, looked great. Most important of all this week though, the Idol group is final in place to actually do something. Will we learn their names? Maybe their powers? Will we get to see them do anything near what they have been hyped/built up for? Find out next week, on The Reflection.

Later.