Mecha-Ude Ep 8 Review: Unlock The Gate

We’re step-by-step reaching the climax of season 1, with the Kagami Group executing their ultimate plan this episode. Jun’s brother – Naohito – finally stepped into the ring as he executed his master plan. Of course, ARMS will not stand still, and so is Hikaru. All of them are rushing to take back what they lost.

Tohdoh captured Jun and brought him back. At this point, he doesn’t even seem like a villain anymore. Just a guy with very severe family issue – kinda like Stacy from Zenkaiger at the end of his arc. As expected, he doesn’t really know about the the ultimate plan to release the Ordela. Even so, noone aside from Naohito and probably Tohdoh know about what the plan actually is. Jun just want to be able to prove himself and stand on his own two feet. At this point, he’ll be a great neutral character and a potentially good ally later on.

Ordela got awakened once again. Many believe it’s a gateway to the Mecha-Ude world but it’s obviously it’s BS at this point. Tohdoh must have studied the original accident with Kagumo and his brother and realized what Ordela actually is. It’s probably a giant Arbitrium reservoir that can amplify a Mecha-Ude significantly. Well it went just about what we expected…and the Kagami Group had to evacuate.

And then we get to the comedy block – yep there’s A LOT of funny sequences in this episode, but there’s also badass and emotional one too. Aki and Hikaru arrive to intercept the bearded dude from running. And the Doctor and his Mecha-Ude was pretty funny as well as the goth girl. I like how he was running away, then grabbed a Mecha-Ude and be all bad-ass like, then he ran out of energy in like 30 sec and had to run away again. It’s like layers of Tsukkomi was built into this series like Gintama.

And our Patrick Colasour is back again. This time he doubled down on his belief that Mecha-udes are tools and you just have to bend them to your will to fully use it. This time Aki is super pissed-off and catch his blade bare-handed. That was super badass not gonna lie. And once again he got whooped easily. But then the tired guy from last ep appear and made it a fight worth seeing. Well it’s the only fight this ep so yeah…But the fight ended off screen with him running out of time and Aki just…go. With the episode restriction, it’s obvious that they can’t really expand on these side character, but the manga should have more explanation and development for them. The fight between Aki and him is pretty good, with him actually know how to fight using a shackled Mecha-Ude. A fast-pace, explosive fight is definitely the series’ forte. Either that or “joke” fights that really don’t make any sense at all. Like when Aki threw Hikaru and Oner and the other guy just…stand there and gawk waiting for their landing, or when Hikaru got blasted into the helicopter as well. This series is extremely Gintama and they just run with it.

And then we get quite a personal moment between Hikaru and Alma. Alma is still against involving Hikaru. But it’s clear that he is determined this time. Hikaru – in a short time – has really learned the power of initiative. He’s much more forthcoming and determined now, while still retaining some of his introverted-ness. I guess he is a man that rise to the occasion. And Alma trying to convince Hikaru to go back is kinda like Gintoki trying to tell Shinpachi and Kagura to not risk their lives for him, which obviously didn’t work. Hikaru has gained many things ever since he met Alma, and he intended to protect the bonds he made. Alma finally conceded and will follow Hikaru into battle to stop the Ordela. A very nice and emotional moment for this ep (but also has a gag in it as well)

The character appearing in this episode is pretty insane. We only missed some members from Arms and Kagami’s delinquent dude to make it literally everyone. In 23 minutes, they give us sort of an Avengers: Endgame montage where things are always happening between different characters, and we go through them quite quickly to make room for the main character’s development. This is definitely a big issue with seasonal animes where things just happened off-screen with no explanation. But thanks to the show’s ridiculous tempo and aesthetic, it actually didn’t feel out of place too much. Nevertheless, we’re heading to the final battle soon. And we have 4 episodes left. Although I really like their style of humor in the series, I think they should play it cool in the last few eps.

=Aaron=
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