Active Raid – 10

Something tells me this isn’t working

Do you think the fact Bird (tori) is the decoy (ootori) was an intentional pun?

For me, there were two very distinct parts to this episode that I either enjoyed or felt completely indifferent towards. One chunk of this week’s plot is Mythos making a major move to essentially control all of Japan, using Bird as a decoy. That was cool! I love learning about Logos! But that just made me realize how little I care about Unit 8, especially since I started to feel like I’d be fine if they just disbanded forever and we got a story about Mythos taking over the world instead. That’s not a good sign when you feel like every single main, heroic character is disposable.

I rag on Active Raid all the time, so I’ll start with the good news for a change. Bird and Mythos meeting up was a nice start to things, mostly because it provided such a great contrast to the hijinx with Dog last week. Dog was smart in very specific ways, but as a person he lacked some basic aspects of common sense. Basically, he comes across as a self-absorbed idiot with nothing but recklessness fueling his day-to-day actions. It’s no wonder he was cut out of the equation so soon. However, Bird and Mythos talk as equals, indulging in much more complex conversation about ciphers, riddles, and world domination. I originally thought Mythos might be using Bird too, but it seems more as if the two truly do stand on equal footing. They have a mutual goal, and that’s why Mythos has respect for Bird.

Having Bird hand himself in may make it seem like he’s still a pawn, but I don’t think Bird was particularly opposed to this. He’s one of those weirdos who just wants to see the world burn, hence why he joined up with Mythos in the first place (after solving a puzzle to prove his worth as a partner, of course). Bird is here for the long-run, and he will do whatever it takes to see Mythos’ plan succeed. I think this makes Logos a more interesting concept as being less of an organization and more of a one-man Kickstarter of sorts. Mythos wants to achieve his goal…donate your time and effort and help him achieve it! (There are no stretch goals though, unfortunately.)

I really liked seeing the two meet and talk about things so calmly. Everything was explained with a surprising amount of nuance, especially the way they handled explaining Emily. It turns out that Emily was never real (gotta love future technology), but just a holographic copy Mythos made of the real Emily – who either died or became separated from him somehow. She was only shown in the smallest of glimpses, and I appreciate the scriptwriters not having Mythos stare right at the camera and go “This person is not real. That is why I can blow up this building now”.

The hacking plot is admittedly kind of silly. Mythos just taps away at his laptop and all of a sudden he’s in charge of everything in Japan? That’s a bit far-fetched, even if you have Orochi to try and explain it all away. But hey, I’ll take a bite since everything else has been going well thus far. Or rather, almost everything else has been going well.

All her hard work didn’t pay off

The dilemma of Unit 8 being disbanded was the worst “twist” of the episode. It just made me realize that I really and truly do not give a single fuck about Unit 8. I just wanted more about Logos and less about Kazari crying tears of guilt for spying on her newfound friends all this time. Active Raid went for a character of the week approach, but because it didn’t put enough emotional weight into any of the episodes (except one), I still don’t feel any connection with them. Train girl is still just a stereotypical train otaku without any other depth. The quiet computer girl is secretly a fancy gambling superstar, but that’s just useless knowledge since we never see her other persona. I mean, I don’t even know their names. Isn’t that sad? I can remember the names of 10 different teams of however many people in a sports anime, and yet the characters in Active Raid are so underwhelming that I only remember Kazari’s name.

So far, Logos has been the highlight of the show. It’s the underlying thread that has kept this mess together for so long. I’m honestly worried for the finale because I imagine it will try to go for the emotional route, while I sit here with my reptilian heart, unable to be moved. It’s gonna be bad. But hey, maybe it will end up being all about Mythos and I’ll end up liking it. Maybe Sena and that sadistic girl will get back together. Maybe we’ll get another robot dance number with Amu. I never know what this show will do next, so anything is possible!

5 minutes into “Tell me the latin for I love you” and chill and he gives you this look

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.