(Where Wraithstrike Watches) The Toku Thread

Jetman 31: Squadron Disbands
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Jetman 32: Spread Your Wings Once More
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Strictly speaking, the fight at the base in episode 31 doesn't end with Gai and Kaori walking out, it has Gai walking out and dragging Kaori with him without regard to the possibility that she might regard protecting the Earth as more important than make out time. Which, once again, makes me not like Gai and taints his decency in the following episode. But yes, these are good episodes in spite of that.
 
Yeah I noticed that.
However, I was utterly flabbergasted by the scene on the swings. In that one moment, Gai realized exactly how much pain Ryu's in. He knew that adding more to it wouldn't help anyone. So he just held his leader close, hoping that eventually, Ryu would see he was only hurting himself with these delusions.
 
That is true, yes, and if that were the Gai we'd been getting more often instead of the Gai we usually get up to this point, I'd enjoy his character a lot more. Oh well.
 
Episodes 33-35: Cockroach, Traitorous Ryu, Dove's Fighting Spirit
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Let's hit the high points first. I love the Beak Smashers. I enjoyed the fact that they made the cockroach jigen perfectly ironic. Ryu's episode was solid gold.

However, let's get into the negative side of the episodes. First off, the scientists who designed the beak smashers... Commander Odagiri says he developed them for the sake of peace. THEY'RE EXTENDERS THAT TURN PISTOLS INTO RIFLES. How is that a peace time invention?

Secondly, they say that this scientist implanted the schematics for the Beak Smashers into his daughter's head. That is just...ugh. "No, I don't trust anybody I work with, so I'm going to use hypnosis to make my daughter remember them."

Next we move into the failure of episode known as Dove's Fighting Courage. This had the potential to be a solid story. Ako bonding with the little girl and convincing her to go for surgery would have been a great character moment. However, this premise was ruined by the tacked on environmental message. The girl only met her avian companion because the dove was poisoned by toxic waste. Somehow, she had the ability to see through the dove's eyes. And somehow the dove, despite being miles away, knew the girl was in trouble and got an entire flock of pigeons to attack Radiguet.

I was all right even with the girl helping Ako deal with blindness, until she used the tracking shot from the Beak Smasher. That made the girl's role redundant.
 
Well, given that the Birdonic Waves that made everyone super strong and such were also developed for the sake of peace, we have to accept that the Jetman team is going off a very different definition of peace than you or I would.
 
Jetman 36 and 37: The Hungry Ant People and Birth of Emperor Tranza
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The ant plot was only useful for pushing Tran past the breaking point and giving him the rage to evolve. When he shows up, he immediately makes the rest of the Vyram feel powerless. Hmm...what happened to the last person to sit in that throne? Oh yeah, she was killed by a combined effort from Jetman and Vyram. Tranza's chances aren't looking good.
 
The thing about this is that I can't recall a single time prior to this where anyone made a thing out of Tran being a kid, so it felt artificial and contrived to me. Also at some point during all this I recall Gai flirting with other women in plain and knowing view of Kaori, which is just...ugh.
 

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