Time for a new counter! Reasons Joe is so cool: 1
- Last week, we witnessed the power of the GALAX when an alert came up about spoiled milk being delivered to the local schools. Then, a cable car became the subject of a rescue operation with the help of mysterious creatures called “Crowds”.
- Summary of this week’s Gatchaman Crowds: Picking up where episode 3 left off, we see the cable car that is in peril and how the people inside are coping with it. Just then, Rui uses his own NOTE to call these creatures with big heads called “Crowds” to help save the passengers on the cable car. After they are saved, Joe confronts the pink haired alien from the previous episodes, but is shocked to learn that it also has a NOTE. As Joe tells the other about what he encountered, O.D and Paiman both start acting strange, and Paiman reveals to us that he knows what the alien is and that he lost his best friend because of it. We then see that Rui and the pink haired alien know each other, and Rui has a NOTE because of the alien. Then, as the alien and Rui are walking down the street, the alien takes the form of somebody’s body and steals a car under her guise, then proceeds to run over dozens of innocent bystanders.
P-P-P-P-P-Plot twist!
- My Take: The plot thickens! Well, now we’re starting to get into the complexities of some of these characters! Granted, we’re still not seeing anything in Hajime’s back story, but that’s because the show feels more like a narrative from a different character’s perspective in every episode, much like in Durarara!! (which might be my favorite anime of all time). So if Gatchaman Crowds continues to go in that direction, I know that at least I will have an immense bias towards it!
- In my last recap, I expressed some interest in the explanation of O.D (among other characters). Here, we finally get a taste of what these unique members of the team are really all about. We don’t know for certain exactly what O.D and Paiman know that we don’t know, but there’s finally an indication that these two characters have more to them than just a strange form of comic relief. This is actually a great revelation because now that team will feel more like an actual “team” because we get to know these guys strengths and weaknesses.
With that stark honesty, it’s a wonder Joe has a job at all
- Also last week, I expressed massive interest in Rui. This week, I love how Rui seems to be a little conflicted about his power. On one hand, he wants to help people. On the other hand, an evil entity could possibly be controlling or manipulating him. His character seems to be on the side of good and justice (he set up GALAX as a way to help people), and he blames himself when bad things happen that he cannot prevent. However, the fact that he’s so grateful to the alien that causes the horrible incidents gives me the indication that he could use GALAX to do bad things if he were to be controlled by the alien. I love his internal struggle between good and evil.
- One character I consistently talk about is Joe. One aspect to his character here that I found to be real interesting is how he’s a civil servant, yet he’s subject to harsh criticism because of all the horrible things that are happening to people, despite the fact that he’s secretly trying to save people outside of his office job (like a superhero?!). He seems to have revenge-driven motivations when he speaks of the pink haired alien. He says that if he ever sees it again, he will beat it up for what it’s been doing. In this episode, I get the sense that he has a great deal of respect for human lives and can’t stand to see anybody toying with them.
[insert overused Dark Knight quote here]
- Gatchaman Crowds was just a bunch of fun for the first three episodes. Now, it’s starting to become a deeper show with all of these interweaved plots that just keep building up. I’m hoping that all of the separate plots give us a great payoff at the end, but for now, I would like to see some more explanations about what we saw in episode 4; first, what are that “Crowds”? Second, what do Paiman and O.D know that we don’t? And third, What exactly happened between Rui and the alien? I can’t wait to find out.
