Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

This week, Thunderbolt takes a left turn to resolve side conflicts, or even new minor conflicts it thought of, mostly to boost up the status of our main cast. It’s still enjoyable, in an admittedly predictable way. We have a guy literally flirting with his sword, a yaoi love where a guy willing to put his life at stake to save his partner, and a backstab where we have this ridiculous line as a climax: “These are… swords!!!!!”. First off, I hope Enigmatic Gale scheme against Dirty Cop goes beyond this humiliation as it’s underwhelming at best. It’s true that it takes guts for him to trick the Dirty Cop in a factor that he was most confident in: his special glasses. It’s the scheme goes right in front of his eyes, but he’s too arrogant to realize the trick. Freak-out Dirty Cop is nice and all, but I hope this is only a warning from Gui Liao.

Lang Wu Yao, on the other hand, is on his way to the suicide mission. This must show how much he cares (in an unhealthy way, that is) for Shang Bu Huan since I don’t see the reason why they would just join forces to beat the enemy. Isn’t two head is always better than one? This leaves Shang Bu Huan the opportunity to sneak out to his other boyfriend, Gui Niao. The moment I see the man having enough time and pleasure to go fishing again with the glasses on no less, it gives me such joy.

Finally, Di Kong, under a new alias Lou Zhen Jie, basically goes through episode talking about how much devotion he is with his sword, and further demonstrates how he isn’t necessary a vessel under her power. I must say the subplot regarding these guys from the Sen Chin Fortress a bit unimportant, especially at this late in a game. But it does offer an interesting scenario: the holy swords wielded by these guys versus this massive evil sword. I’m a bit disappointed that Seven Blasphemous Deaths loses its cool the moments it sees its krypnotye – by her power it should be more excited the more powerful the opponent has. But the Fallen Monk proves once again he doesn’t need the power of the sword to triumph, as he destroys the holy swords by his bare hands. The only take out from this turn of event is that it isn’t the sword, but Di Kong himself, will prove to be the final threat for Shang Bu Huan and the gang. Hopefully, Enigmatic Gale finds someway to be relevant with this feud as well. He’s hardy connected to the main plot, given he himself hasn’t met Di Kong, nor the Evil Sword, onscreen at all.

As soon as our Princess Cruelty has her redemption moments, I immediately realize this might be the last we see of her. This proves to be the case, well, this is Thunderbolt world we’re talking about – the strong survives and the weak dies, but I believe Thunderbolt gives her characters just about enough growth. She had gone through one hell of a challenge as the prideful evil Sword berates her and nearly uses her blood as a sacrifice (well, it’s another kind of physical and mental abuse if you think about it). While her short duel with Shang Bu Huan doesn’t really change anything – she knows the guy is much stronger than her – I enjoy the moments in many ways. First, unlike Thunderbolt’s other duels so far this sword fight is short and sweet. It takes just one move for Shang Bu Huan to defeat the Princess. Second, like what Shang Bu Huan comments, it’s rather impressive that Princess Cruelty can shake off the evil sword and fight in her own will. She mentions how using the powerful sword makes her realize how weak she is, but in truth the person who can realize their own limitation goes a long way. Thunderbolt has always addressed the quest of becoming invincible by the means of swords, and this Cruelty plot further demonstrates this quality to great extend. You’ve done well, Cruelty.

In the other side of the battle, admittedly with a much lower stake, Dirty Cop ‘asks’ Gui Niao (not very nicely) to make a deal with him of swapping “stolen goods” and sell them with high price. Well, this Dirty Cop sure is corrupted, but points for him for stripping down all the pretense. Still, his puppet’s teeth gonna give me nightmare, I swear. Gui Niao is playing along with his scheme for now, but I won’t be surprised if the man is waiting for a right opportunity to turn the table.

And finally, the evil Sword has a new sword-wielder. Can’t say I’m surprised with this new turn of events, but I’m sure with the guy as amoral as this Monk, his combination with the Seven Blasphemous Deaths makes him a formidable threat. His new design is certainly awesome and moreover, it’s interesting to see how the evil sword and him will play out. This guy is not the type who can be easily controlled for sure, so whatever the case he will this sword: as a tool, or as a soulmate, or as a master, it remains to be seen. But I’m sure hyped for how Shang Bu Huan and his partner can overcome this powerful beast. The lesson Shang Bu Huan needs to learn here, is to listen to your goddamn partner, dude. This Ginger Singer knows best.

Thunderbolt mixes things up nicely this week. This week, the overpowered Princess has a fair shot of killing off our Shang Bu Huan, but predictably leaves him so that he can suffer. As often the case, when you’re too powerful you tend to act arrogantly, and… stupid. Thunderbolt is one good set piece piling up to another right now, as it often pairs 2 members from the main cast and let them bouncing off each other. First, I’m glad to see how the Dirty Cop Xiao Kung Juan (which for now I’ll refer as Dirty Juan) manages to catch Gui Niao off-guard. The table has turned quickly on that side and for now, Gui Niao works under the command of Dirty Juan. I know Gui Niao will eventually finds the opening in a matter of time, but it’s nice to see a battle where sword isn’t directly involved in Thunderbolt. It’s certainly amusing to see that Dirty Cop loses himself for the ‘charms’ of Seven Blasphemous Deaths and kicks the pile of woods uncontrollably. Boy, the campy sense of fun is still going strong here.

Second, we have a meetup between our Hero and the nihilist monk Di Kong. He’s still pretty much a wildcard here since I still can’t put my finger on his role in the grand scheme. Will he become an ultimate villain? Will he join up with the good gand to repress the evil sword? Will he change at all? Everything is up in the air now and he remains as mysterious as ever. Shang Bu Huan seems to agree with me on this, as he’s still baffled on the Monk’s mindset. He shows no remorse on learning the fact that the girl he saved runs amok and kills everyone on sight. He even comments on how pointless he was as trying to save people just so that they were killed in the end. Shang Bu Huan remains too soft, as always, given he tries to reason with the guy, to no avail of course. I love the way how Shang Bu Huan already meets all kind of eccentric personalities, but his “are you for real?” expression is still refreshing and never gets old.

Third, we have a total unexpected match between Cruelty Princess Xie Yinglou (with a feminine-talking sword) and Red Hair Musician Lang Wu Yao (with a masculine-talking instrument). Damn, along with the real battle between Princess and Musician, it’s also a battle of wit between two talky instruments right there. It’s clear that Princess Cruelty has taken something much more than she bargained for, and now she’s slowly consumed by it. The dream sequence where she meets and destroys her boss, apart from some stunning background designs here, suggests how Seven Blasphemous Deaths keeps manipulating her deepest thoughts, even turns herself against her goal for living. In addition, it marks the first time Thunderbolt experiencing with its puppetry form visually, as it uses special negative color effect to illustrate Red Musician’s unique technique of fighting by hearing sense. He even has an edge towards Cruelty Princess until our Gui Niao and Dirty Cop poke their noses in (Really. What do you expect from the Enigmatic Gale but poling his nose where he doesn’t belong?). Thunderbolt is, to put it simply, unstoppable right now.

My apologies that I missed a post last week, it’s not due to the lack of interest of Thunderbolt given the show is as exciting as ever, but more about my hectic life. These past two episodes have many game-changing events, and many Gui Niao’s wittiest lines and expressions to boost. The moment the Vapewiz puts his finger to his cheek I know the show loses none of its charms. In episode 6, the monk Di Kong becomes more prominent into this whole affair. As we predicted, the monk can prove to be an interesting villain, given how immoral he is. That is not to say he loves to wreak havoc or seeks out for fame and power like the villains in the first season. It’s that he has no sense of judgement and justice and has no value of human life (even his own), and that could prove very dangerous if he falls for the wrong cause, or simply, if he can’t find the right path to lead.

When he meets our team Shang Bu Huan and Lang Wu Yao who are in pursuit of Princess Cruelty (more on her later), he decides not to help out our guys. That sets off the evil-detector of Lang Wu Yao, and he’s in killing mode again – or as Gui Niao puts it, it’s hard to deal with a person who doesn’t talk. Well, he might be right to assume that Di Kong will be dangerous, but there’s no way he can just blast off and determined on destroying people like that. Later on, he “sweet-talks” our Princess Cruelty (more like completely destroy her ego but you know what I mean) into re-access her whole philosophy of life. Well played, dude.

Speaking of the female assassin, she’s vulnerable in every possible way. Beaten down by her enemy Shang Bu Huan, backstabbed and got sword-stolen from the corrupted cop, and now the monk mind-fucking her ego, she does what a loyal dog would do: bring the antique sword back to her Master. For a ruthless villain who only has a single mission of killing our hero, strangely I really feel for her struggles there. And that’s important that we feel sympathy for her because it justifies her action much later, which moves the plot in an interesting way: she’s drawing the Seven Blasphemous Deaths and ho boy, what a sword!! It enslaves the wielder and draws everyone’s desire once they look at it, and gain ultimate power with the blood it slays. While now, it proves to be the ultimate hazzard for our heroes, I still kind of feel bad for Scorpion girl. She won’t get out of this alive.

On the other side of the battle, that cheeky Gui Niao has his next target, the glassed cop. Curiously enough, that Dirty Cop has gained some valuable information about the Enigmatic Gale, which honestly make this game way more interesting now that they are on the same level. My biggest pleasure is to see Gui Niao fishes the information out of Shang Bu Huan, and honestly seeing their vibrant chemistry as they bounce back and forth it brings a warm feeling to me (and that fishing scene is pretty awesome too). This mind game between two unpredictable figures could prove to be as interesting as the devil Sword. Also special shout out for weapons that not only can talk, they make much more sense than the human counterparts. Thunderbolt is charging ahead in full gear now. There’s no stopping this puppet train now.

ps: why do people still hesitate on regarding Thunderbolt as anime?

Now, things escalate pretty quickly. In a Thunderbolt Fantasy fashion, the moment Lang Wu Xiao gets a hand of the dragon’s horn and the formula, he double-crosses Gui Niao. But I can’t hate this guy, given his motive is purely because he cares for his partner Shang Bu Huan. The allied from the other side of the war is also bound to be broken very soon, as it’s clearly the Catching Fox is manipulating the Princess of Cruelty now. It’s one of the rare moments where we see Shang Bu Huan is vulnerable. It’s also one of the rare moments where we see the Princess of Cruelty having a conscience. The Monk’s words last episode clearly affects her and I would love to see her go through some sort of character arc. Now all that is just the beginning now that Shang Bu Huan has an antidote and is now “a hundred times more alive”.

But the absolute peak of this episode (and the whole season so far) is the battle of wits between our Gui Niao, Lang Wu Xiao and the one-wing dragon. It has everything that I want from Thunderbolt DNA, and then some: it has absurd dragon’s design, it has the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation, it has campy quality, it has the grand visual spectacular and most of all, it has one of Gui Niao’s wittiest lines. Just imagine the ridiculousness of a giant fire-breathing dragon raises from below the ground (how on earth does he hide underground in the first place? To sleep? I think not), or that he’s powerful enough to speak human language (consider how there’s no human in the Wasteland of Spirits). This quality proves to be his fall from grace, as Gui Niao is an expert of deceiving everything by his words. It’s certainly charming as heck to see him politely asks the dragon for his horn (more than mocking based on his tone of speech), before runs like a maniac in a very quirky manner that only puppetry can produce, and finishes with a line: “doesn’t matter how nice you ask, anyone would be angry for that request”. Damn you, Gui Niao

Also only in a puppetry show that you can see a dragon throwing up flames that absurd. It mixes nicely between Thunderbolt’s trolly tone with how it takes itself seriously enough. If that isn’t eye-popping and ridiculous enough, we have the climax where Lang Wu Xiao has to sing (the fact the he admits his singing beyond hopeless make it way funnier, too) to attract the Dragon’s attention so that Gui Niao can set his favorite illusion trap. How the show transform for the usual two swordsmen fighting the monster into singing and talking while dodging wall of flame is nothing short of a stroke of genius. And don’t forget how Gui Niao isn’t in the least surprised when Lang Wu Xiao double-crosses him. Ridicule everyone has been his lifelong passion, so it’s only natural that he just gets used to people turning against him. I don’t care how Thunderbolt will go from here, as long as it maintains its quirky, campy nature like this dragon battle I’m more than happy to follow it everywhere.