Shinkalion Change the World Ep 11 Review: Phantom Heart
Well, after the fifth member, the core cast is now completed, and we can progress with the main plot, which is kinda fast for a Shinkalion series. Still, Change the World aims at teenagers and young adults, who are quite different from their usual younger audience. A shorter, more straightforward plot might keep the attention of the more grown-up audience. And I think it does have an effect.
The episode present a new problem for Taisei – now that the focus has shifted back to him. After that strange voice in the last battle, Taisei’s mind has been occupied with it. Makes sense, since it obviously call out his name and sounds like the person he’s been looking for for years. This basically turn Taisei into an absent-minded shounen protag where his mind keeps turning back to the voice. And sure enough, it caused friction between him and Ryota and Akane. Akane can see that he has a problem, but he isn’t sure what. As always, Akane is always observant, and I really like him for that.
The Phantom Shinkalion finally makes a proper appearance, allowing itself to be caught in the Capture Field and even perform a transformation. What’s great is the transformation pose is sinister and doesn’t look too dorky. And it showed off its incredible by kicking all three main Shinkalions’ butts – even in their vehicle equipped form. Everyone was flabbergasted, not just at the mighty strength of the Phantom Shinka but also to Taisei’s lack of focus as well. But it also because the Phantom Shinkalion reveals an insane secret: the voice that Taisei heard last time.
Yes of course, we all saw this coming with all the hints, but seeing it directly is pretty crazy as well. Ina’s previous appearance has shown her to be an energetic genius with a somewhat cute and dorky side. In the Phantom, she is sinister and give no mind to her precious little brother. This is very similar to Shinkalion Z where the two main characters were forced to face against each other in a similar fashion. In this fight scene, it would be amazing if they play the opening theme since it is actually has a sort of disturbing feel to it at the start. But still, Ina displayed her domination over the team with ease. She even managed to overload the Capture Field and caused an explosion in real life – catching a civilian in the process.
Yes of course, we all saw this coming with all the hints, but seeing it directly is pretty crazy as well. Ina’s previous appearance has shown her to be an energetic genius with a somewhat cute and dorky side. In the Phantom, she is sinister and give no mind to her precious little brother. This is very similar to Shinkalion Z where the two main characters were forced to face against each other in a similar fashion. In this fight scene, it would be amazing if they play the opening theme since it is actually has a sort of disturbing feel to it at the start. But still, Ina displayed her domination over the team with ease. She even managed to overload the Capture Field and caused an explosion in real life – catching a civilian in the process.
And here comes one of the best ideology face-off in the series and probably the first “serious” confrontation. Ryota went off on Taisei because of his hesitation, even after knowing it was his sister. Because during the explosion the Phantom caused, Mai was the one that got hurt and she’s still in the hospital. There’s lots of things to unpack here since Ryota is no doubt being very emotional and hypocritic, since if Mai was in that Shinkalion, surely Ryota would also freeze up like Taisei did. He was also very dishonest about his real feelings before, requiring Mai to give him a kick in the butt to get going, and he’s berating Taisei for doing the same thing. This is probably one of the most intense interpersonal conflict we’ve had in the franchise.
Akane was being more calm in his behaviour, but his words cut deeper than Ryota’s. He blamed Taisei because Taisei didn’t and couldn’t think logically and set his emotions aside – which is a bit unfair because he was faced with his long-lost sister. But his concern also carries some truth since Taisei’s been obsessed with her shadow for most of his life. The fact that he uses his sister’s words so often also struck a chord with Akane since, well, he doesn’t exactly has a stellar relationship with his sibling either. Both Ryota and Akane weren’t being fair with Taisei, but their “hypocrisy” will help Taisei to reel back from this and emerge anew.
Akane was being more calm in his behaviour, but his words cut deeper than Ryota’s. He blamed Taisei because Taisei didn’t and couldn’t think logically and set his emotions aside – which is a bit unfair because he was faced with his long-lost sister. But his concern also carries some truth since Taisei’s been obsessed with her shadow for most of his life. The fact that he uses his sister’s words so often also struck a chord with Akane since, well, he doesn’t exactly has a stellar relationship with his sibling either. Both Ryota and Akane weren’t being fair with Taisei, but their “hypocrisy” will help Taisei to reel back from this and emerge anew.
I doubt we will resolve this conflict with Ina in the next episode, since it took almost half the series in Z to resolve it between the 2 MC, but Taisei will definitely have a change of heart and find a way to push forward. Not sure what Ina’s deal is but pretty sure she’s being controlled (just like everyone else who were). Well, since this is family matter it will certainly be much more tearjerking. And let’s see if Takara has the galls to push to a darker direction.
Aaron
Aaron
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