Active Raid – 09
He’s either really rich or he just loves butter
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Pretty sure all my posts so far start with some variation of “it was a hella busy week, but I somehow found time to blog about this dumb police show”. This week is no exception. |
As expected, we’re back down to the regular quality (or lack thereof) of a typical Active Raid episode after last week’s pleasant anomaly. This episode is all about Dog betraying Logos, which doesn’t play out with the kind of nuance I’d want it to. We’ve seen him pulling some strings every now and then to piss off Mythos, but it was never really enough for him to take disciplinary action. I was hoping for Dog to continue carefully testing his limits, so that he could get away with rebellion and not upset Logos too much. It would end in an inevitable backlash, but I thought we’d get more of a build to that moment. Maybe a more unexpected choice of time for Mythos to strike back. Unfortunately, in this episode Dog just goes buck wild robbing banks and striking dorky poses in the most attention-grabbing way possible. It’s a dead giveaway that Mythos is going to deal with him that episode. Welp, so much for that being a interesting process.
Just stay there, you’re right where you belong
Most of the episode boils down to chasing Dog, who is out for revenge. It’s a clunky chase though. It’s not very exciting to see Unit 8 throw up their hands and say “we can’t do anything because we don’t have permission” thing. It used to be a restraint that made Unit 8 have to improvise and think up new, fun strategies to compensate. Here, it restricted them so much here that they basically just had to let Dog get away with murder. It’s not exciting if they can’t put up a fight.
What I did like about Dog’s rampage was when his brazen nature totally crossed over into the ridiculous zone and he picked up a random ruffian he liked the look of and took her on a date. It wasn’t just any date either, but he flew her to an abandoned building, gave her wine, and let her try on fancy clothes. Despite how creepy this should seem to be kidnapped by a random guy in a Wear (known for a string of crimes, too) and taken to a remote location, she seems to not even bat an eye at this treatment. In fact, the two get along immediately….and then break up. That’s probably the most unexpected and interesting thing that happened this episode, aside from Rin’s Willwear being the coolest to watch in action.
On the bright side, it’s nice to see how Logos works a little more in depth. It’s not just a group of 3 people (plus that loli no one ever seems to acknowledge), but a vast network. If Mythos wants people to work for him, he can get them to do so with just a phone call. However, it does seem like he has some issues controlling those working for him. Dog did his own thing and even the mafia are so unruly that they don’t follow their orders properly. So Mythos has the influence to recruit people, but not enough to make them fear his every work and obey him. It’s a weird organization in that sense since it has a leader that isn’t very good at…leading.
So things are finally coming to a head the Logos plot. Logos is now public knowledge, and with the bad apple Dog out of the way, they can probably make some serious moves now. We also had a big reveal at the end of the episode that Bird is actually…the Eyeliner Guy! When Active Raid is even slightly witty, I’m always so utterly floored. This one was a big surprise for me, because since no one else used a voice modulator, I didn’t even think Bird would be a dude. Very nice. Things should be getting more intense next week…which is good or bad, because Active Raid doesn’t have a good track record for the serious side of things. Good or bad, I’ll be there to blog it!
Makeup on point, plot to destroy the world also on point.
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.
POWUH: iLurker with 8 comments
I would say this was another of the better episodes to date, so calling it simply a return to the regular quality isn’t exactly something we could agree about.
This sort of premise could have also been addressed within more than one episode, but I would say both alternatives are valid. We’ve already seen that Mythos wasn’t exactly happy with Dog’s behavior in earlier ones.
For me, the episode was more interesting than usual because it provided a clearer picture into Logos and how little of an actual “organization” there is to them. We didn’t have much of an idea about Dog’s personality before, nor about how they (Mythos and Bird) viewed him either.
I believe the “we can’t do anything” statement was a bit more specific in scope. That was a reference to not being able to investigate the connection to Logos, which the police command still refused to acknowledge as a real thing. But when Dog attacked the lab, Unit 8 went ahead and tried to stop him. So that wasn’t forbidden.
If they were restricted by anything in action, it was by the logical need to save lives first. In this case, the two civilians that Kuroki had to fly away, including the criminal girl and the politician. Incidentally, I think the political talk was also a fairly interesting part of the episode, because it established what was the link between Logos and the current governor. And you know, since this is related to that side of things as well, I liked Rin’s use of the Willwear too.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Logos is one of the more interesting aspects of Active Raid, so it’s always good to learn more about them.
Yeah, Unit 8 always has these specific restraints, but they still cause a lot of trouble for them. Just having to rescue Inagi and not being able to give chase right away was frustrating enough. It got better once they brought out Rin’s Willwear and eventually found a loophole.
I’m actually not a fan of the political direction things are going in, but it’s vague enough that I don’t mind all too much.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I thought we’d get more of a buildup to Dog’s moment.
A pity, because an interview with Active Raid’s head writer suggests Season 2 may switch gears into a more plot-focused series (at least that’s how the interview’s translator read it).
Plus, they settled for 2 cours instead of the planned 1, to fit in everything they wanted to cover.
Extra info:
-Kyoukai (blonde team mechanic) is no mere mechanic
-Funasaka and Rin’s roles were originally reversed
-the script’s inspired by cheesy shows such as Dekaranger/Power Rangers sentai, Armoured Police Metal Jack(80s mobile suit fighter show) and Patlabor (80s future police force anime)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Huh, that’s interesting. Wonder how season 2 will do compared to season 1 if they try to make it more story-based.
I can totally see the cheesy sentai and police force influence here!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I want to see more of Rin in action with her Willwear. She definitely has the best Willwear and it’s the coolest one in action.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
There are still three episodes remaining and a whole second cour scheduled for Summer 2016. Safe to say there’s ample time for more Rin action.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Saaaaame. The speedy mechs are so fun to watch!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, it’s a maelstrom of frustration for me since the anime downloading site I’ve relied on for the past 5 years was forced to close because of financial suffering and false accusations. Now I have to settle for alternatives I find are of lesser quality.
This has to be the best and most seriously taken episode the show’s had during its run. It really did nice. Inevitable that Dog would soon go rogue with his own agenda. Mainly because even though he and Mythos were working together, each had their own personal views which either one wouldn’t be able to see eye to eye with.
First appearance and Rin’s Willwear is showing up everyone else’s. However, it has a severe drawback since its abilities apparently cause power exhaustion faster than the other Willwears.
I knew the Eyeliner Guy had to be relevant in something due to all the focus he’s been recently receiving and part of me felt it wasn’t because he was friends with Rin’s sister. Now that he’s revealed as Mythos’ partner, it makes everything he does valid for being wary. Especially when he’s, up to now, been using Rin’s sister for requests/errands, things I’m sure have been and are still being applied in Logos’ operations.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ah, that sucks.
Rin’s Willwear was fun to watch. Her speed makes her battle techniques vastly different from the others (and it’s really cool to see).
Yes, there has been a lot of attention on him considering he’s a side character. So now he might do something bad to Rin’s sister…or use her to get to Unit 8 somehow. Whatever he does, he’s in a really good position to make Unit 8 do what he wants