Welcome to August everyone. The ending
of summer for most but the beginning of Halloween prep season for me.
There was a sad part to the first day though as it marked the one
year anniversary of my Corgi buddy Oliver's unfair and unwarranted
death. There was a chance I'd forget the date if not for watching the
last few episodes of Cowboy Bebop. Christ almighty that scene from
#24 between Ein and Ed nearly had me blubbering like a baby. Perhaps
I should make a note to avoid dog-focused entertainment around this
time of year. Maybe watch something about ducks.
If you're looking for the unboxing I'd
hinted at during the previous post, that's been a tad delayed due the
mail taking its sweet time. For now we have two more ninja tales to
sort through. I'll tell ya right upfront that one of em is just
awful.
Episode 18
And here it is. Easily the worst
episode of the series so far. After all that progress too. Ya know
those jokes on Popsicle sticks? The ones nobody thinks are funny.
Imagine that for 20 minutes and you'll have a good idea of how 18
played out.
There's a lawnmower monster with the
ability to temporally control a person mind. Why would a lawnmower
have such a power? Who knows but that's the least of our worries. His
control usually lasts a few minutes until he takes hold of Yakumo who
stays under the spell. Or does he?
Long story short, Yakumo is pretending
to be brainwashed in order to protect the monster as it was formerly
his beloved lawnmower.....yeah. I don't get it either. As an idea
it's too stupid to be legitimate yet it didn't come across as funny
either. When it comes time for giant robots, the team summons
surfermaru again which brings Kinji back to Japan. Oh and the team
finds a way to turn the monster back into it's original form so no
sacrifices are required of our heroes yet again.
Afterward the whole team convinces
Kinji to stay while they try to convince grandpa to finally take him
on as a student. Not only was it a bad episode in itself, but it
reverted the overarching storyline to where it was in the previous
installment, thous dragging that one down with it. I'd say say we should be nice and pretend this didn't happen but it did and it was horrible. Now let us never speak of it again.
Episode 19
As if in a blatant attempt to make up
for that whole lawnmower fiasco, this story is packed with almost too
much to report on. I'll try to get it all together.
The kid's are pestering grandpappy
about taking on a student. He's still acting like a pickled turd and
claims that if they ever surpass him by even a little, then maybe,
just maybe he'll consider it. While this is going on, Kinji runs off
to fight Kyuuemon since he feels like a fool for ever thinking about
teaming up. It's during this fight that he learns how the old man was
never able to tame the flying ninja ally despite the distinct
advantage of being it's designer.
With all that out of the way for the
time being, the big bad himself actually creates a monster for once.
This time we've got a chimera made up of tools and hardware. Not the
worst idea but it is pretty fugly looking. Big beast gives everyone a
righteous whooping and breaks several of their weapons. In desperate
need of repairs they go searching for the machinesmith who made all
this badass ninja gear to begin with. Kinji knows roughly where the
guy lives since they'd done business over the internet (so that's
where he got those robots.) Along the way to the old shrine, our
group encounters a wild old drunk and a young monk. Said old man
gives them another sound beating while criticizing their flaws. Guy
must be a fan of the blog. It's almost like the writer's sat down and
decided some things needed to get aired out so this show can get
moving.
Before you can say Onomatopoeia, the
chimera rears it's ugly head and initiates the token giant robo
fight. The kids are loosing yet again when the flying ally shows up
to help em out. Our monster of the week retreats for now as the old
man reveals himself to be the spirit of the giant robot. I guess this
answers my rant about the machines having emotions.
The team asks oldey magoo to join up
with them. He asks why he should bother to which they respond “to
protect everyone on Earth.” An answer that doesn't settle with him
apparently as he runs off yelling “that's not enough!”
Thank god this was a quick recovery
after such a colossal stumble. The only real issue with this one is
that the action scenes were a bit bland, consisting mostly of
explosions and reaction shots. It's a shame since we know the show is
more than capable in the fighting department. Perhaps they're saving
the budget for something special.
That's all for the ninja stuff today.
The new mystery box should be here this afternoon, finally giving me
the chance to plumb its depths and return with a review. See you
soon.
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