Shinkalion Change the World Ep 18 Review: Three Hearts As One

This is the episode where we resolve Akane’s issue and debut the SRG system. Surprisingly, there are a few subversions in this episode that usually aren’t in Takara’s shows. That is the debut of a new mecha/form didn’t instantly win by a landslide. And that Akane’s resolution to his issue is predictable but well executed.

Well, Akane figured out his issue was that he couldn’t pick one between the two: Shinkalion and track-and-field. To be fair, this is really a conundrum because track-and-field was truly Akane’s passion and he still loves doing it. And Shinkalion is part responsibility, part friendship. Being a driver creates bonds between him and his friends, as well as helping protect the world. It’s a very delicate choice. But the track-and-field captain helped Akane to realize his most passionate one. And that is his friends at ERDA.

It’s a bit surprising that Akane’s brother or family didn’t play a part in this. But I guess this is a school kinda thing so they don’t need to appear just yet.

With Akane’s resolution renewed, the SRG system is now available. And we jumped straight into battle with the Hades Shinkalion. The E8, H5 and N700S are all floored, which I expected Ganma to hold his ground but eh. At least he can still supply his backpack as a support unit. And, in seed-tacular fashion, re-creating the Infinite Justice style combat with Taisei’s E5. Which look pretty cool.

But nevertheless, they couldn’t beat the Hades and his pets. And dude pulled out an even crazier form: the Destroy Form. This form remind me of the Brave series’ Draias with 2 beasts and 1 bird-type. And no this form doesn’t have any psycoframe – at least not yet. And of course, it’s time for the gattai!

The SRG gattai sequence is very reminiscent of the Transformers Buildmasters in Transformers Car Robots anime. At first, the combination proportion look a bit off with super long legs and arms and a smaller, shorter body since the body is pretty much just the E5 while the entire leg is the bulk of the E6 and E7. The SRG finisher looks pretty cool as well, but the Beyblade imagery is throwing me off a bit. But the effects and animation is very well done. The Hades is perturbed that such a gattai was possible, but he shows he’s no slouch by literally going Shiro Armada on the team, throwing his severed right-arm to disable both sides. This is probably the first time where a new form/gattai debut and didn’t drop the enemy easily. It’s quite a subversion for the series so I really like that development. We get a villain that actually feel threatening. Looking forward to more plot in the future.

Aaron
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