Reideen 4: Battle with the Shadow (影との戦い)

Continuing where we left of last week, Junki and Maedasaki are now trapped in the university's underground.


We discover one of the reason Junki was hesitant to jump into Reideen last episode is due to the destruction to the village he has caused in the first battle. Akira, the new transfer student, was originally from that village, and claimed that she moved to Tokyo because her house was destroyed. When Maedasaki hears this, he recall that during the first battle, he saw a strange girl standing at the top of the hills observing the battle. He wonders whether the girl is the same and what she is up to back then.



After the conversation, some "aliens" start chasing them and trapped them in a dead-end. Thankfully, they were saved by Maedasaki's colleague, Hoshikawa Hana, who broke the wall at just the right spot and crushes the chaser. :)

Soon after they went out of the collapsed building, they see the invisible enemy causing all sort of trouble with the armed forces. Junki does not hesitate for long this time, and summons Reideen.

However, soon after Junki jumps into the cockpit seat, he founds himself in trouble due to the monster's invisibility. Thankfully, he remembers some phrases written in the rubbles of the building he was trapped in, and decided to try them out. God's wand works fairly well, dropping the enemy's stealth armor. Junki then calls out for God's sword and slices the monster to emerge as the victor of the day.
I have to say I really enjoy the battle here, especially when Reideen cuts through all of the enemy's tentacle that attacks it. The music accompanying the fight sequences is pretty nice too.



Back to school, Shiori is mad at Junki because of his infatuation with Akira :b



Impression:

Next week: a new monster of the forthnight. Maybe another new weapon from Reideen to continue the trend?

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Reideen 3 - Invisible shadow (見えない影)

A month after "the incident" in the mountains, Junki attended a briefing, thanks to Maedasaki. Unfortunately for him, he can't summon Reideen in front of everybody to proof his powers.

Junki looks a bit depressed because of this. However, this is not the first time Maedasaki failed to back up his claim. Poor Maedasaki. In a conversation with his colleague, she points out that he also failed to prove his Atlantis discovery and Himiko's grave discovery in the past, so no wonder hardly anyone finds him trustworthy :/




Meanwhile, Junki's class received a new transfer student, Akira, voiced by Chiba Saeko. One really should keep track of how many anime has transfer students.The outcome of the survey may be quite interesting :).
Not only Akira looks great, she took no time in impressing her new classmates in math and sports.



This is also time for our next enemy to make an appearance. Or not make it, to be more correct. True to the episode's title, the research building that tries to investigate the bones found together with Junki's father remains is destroyed by an invisible monster.

Afterwards after school, Maedasaki managed to do enough to persuade Junki to meet him later that night. When they arrive at the building later that night, a mysterious person appears disappears at the end of the hallway, so they decided to chase the person up to the roof. Here they see the invisible monster makes an appearance, and a bracelet appears around Junki's wrist and starts to glow. Maedasaki is excited about this and confident Junki will be able to summon Reideen this time.

However, after successfully summoning Reideen, Junki refuses to board it, saying he doesn't want to be involved in weird things like this. In truth, he's probably worried about the damage to the city if he were to fight again.



Impression:
While the pace has not changed this episode, the preview indicates next episode will be more action packed. There are more questions raised in this episode, especially regarding Akira, the aliens, and when Junki can summon Reideen.

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Reideen 2 - The Legendary Hero (伝説の勇者)

Opening theme:
manacles by Tomiko Van (伴都美子)
Ending theme:
Kakeashi no Ikizama (駆け足の生き様) by Ataru Nakamura (中村 中)
Reideen Official Site

In contrast to the title of the ending song, which can be loosely translated as "Living the Fast Life", we continue off with the slow battle between Reideen and the beast.
In an interview, the creators of the show indicated that three central themes of the anime is slowness, hugeness, and darkness. Well, judging from the first two episodes, I think they have achieved what they are set to do quite well.

While some people don't like the overall pace of the battle, I actually don't mind it. Variation is good. However, I wonder if they can create both a slow AND captivating battle after the first few mandatory easy battles. Going back to the battle, Junki is couldn't cope with the monster's laser attack. He is saved however, by a strange light which causes the monster to halt. Out of gas?

Junki transforms back into human form, and passes out for the second time in the day. When he regain consciousness, he is now in a hospital room. His sister (Kuraka) thinks that their father must have protected him. Meanwhile, the authorities are seen inspecting the monster which appeared to be stopped functioning. Some green liquid is dripping from the monster, which freaks one of the authorities out.

That night, Junki heard some strange sound and goes outside his hospital room to investigate. He is greeted by a crowd of patients, nurses and doctors who has now a zombie-like behaviour. After Junki is saved by Maedasaki the researcher, Maedasaki's accomplice beat all the zombie to submission easily. Some green substance is then seen to withdraw from the unconscious zombies and goes back to its home, the beast. Wonder if these substance acts as some kind of energy source.

The monster then dutifully proceeds to go to the nearby city to wreak havoc, as a monster should. The army robot who tries to stop the beast is easily subdued. Junki who is seen fleeing the hospital with Maedasaki, worries about his mother, sister, and Shiori, who are now staying in the city.

Junki does what a superhero needs to do and gets off the car to transform into Reideen by uttering the magic phrase. The CG sequence for the transformation routine here is quite smooth and impressive. The battle does not goes as smoothly though, as the monster still has the upper hand with its tail laser weapon. Junki is frustrated to be on the losing side again, when he remembers his dream where Reideen uses a bow to shoot some laser arrow. This beast is then destroyed by one accurate shot of Reideen's laser arrow. The episode is ended after Maedasaki approaches Junki, who is now back in his most natural form, to ask questions.

Impression:
The opening and ending songs are not too bad, while it does not sound anything special.
The episode itself does not disappoint, with Reideen's first victory and the added mystery of the zombies. Due to the overall slow pace, it probably will be another few episodes until we can see where the series is heading.
However, for those that can't stand the pace, the series is clearly not for you.



Next episode:
Akira, who appears plastered all over the opening, makes her first appearance.

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Reideen 1 - Resurrected Legend (蘇る伝説)

The anime opens up by showing two giant robots ready for a showdown. The narrator says that he used to believe that giant robots only exists in comics. It is unbelievable, he, of all people actually becomes/controls one!

The next scene shows a boy waking up from his dream inside a math class. The teacher then ask the boy, whose name is Saiga Junki, to solve the problem in the blackboard to see whether he is paying any attention at all, which the boy finished magnificently. The girl seated next to the boy looks pissed off because her help is not needed :)


During the break Junki discuss his dream with his friends, but he can't remember much, aside from the fact that the dream is always the same and there is a large shadow in it.
The discussion is interrupted by a phone call from home, which notifies him there are some news about his father who has gone missing many years ago.
He rushes home only to be mildly scolded by his mother and sister for taking so long. They then immediately go to identify the remains/possessions of Junki's father.



When they arrived, they are surprised to find that the remains is found at Mount Kurokami, even though he was reported missing at a different place. Additionally some non-human's bone is also found next to the remains,which adds to the puzzle.

In the car on their way to the mountain, Junki examines the notebook that was left behind by his father. A weird symbol is written on one of the page. Underneath the symbol, there is a short note that says "...the one who becomes many ..... Reideen". Junki couldn't make out what this could possibly mean.

As they arrive at the mountain, they are greeted by a researcher who introduces himself as Maedasaki Tarou. While he never met Junki's father, he admire his past work. While Sakitarou bores Junki's sister to death with an explanation on his research, Junki sneaks out to a cave, where he sees the sequel of the dream he saw in the class. Two of these dreams in one day must be too much for him, as he passes out shortly after.

When he wakes up, the others told him a nicely decorated bracelet was also found next to where he pass out. After an earthquake and a meteor strike later, things are getting dangerous, so they decided to leave the site. Meanwhile, a helicopter investigating this incident is shot by a giant robot who seems to have come out of the meteor. The helicopter crashes and breaks a dam in the process.

Meanwhile Junki and the others head for another helicopter that has come to save them. At this point, Junki remembers that he forgot to bring his father's notebook and rushes back to the car to pick it up.



This is a rather rash decision, as now the flood from the broken dam is very close to where he is. The unleashed water engulfed him, but the situation is not too bad, because as we know, the main hero does not die in the first episode that often. The bracelet does not disappoint us, as it starts to glow and transform our suspected main hero to the official main hero. This new found power is too much for him to handle, and we have to wait for the next episode to find out what kind of powers the robot has.



Overall impression:
This first episode does not reveal much yet , and while there isn't much that we haven't seen in other mecha series, I think the series is pretty interesting so far.

Another interesting aspect is how the transformation system works out. We saw that Junki receives injury as the robot is damaged. Did he truly transform to a giant mecha, or he still maintains his human form, but sealed inside a control room in the robot?

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