08.10
Just because I insult your show doesn't mean you have to like it, baka.
HEY KIDS! Its time once again for Crowds-Sourcing, where Gatchaman Crowds does everything in its power to spit on its own legacy! Last time, the cast spent the entire episode moping around and getting their asses kicked. This week… more moping!…yay?
Dammit Hajime, stop asking the intelligent questions!
We start at the Gatchaman Dorm where Hajime has finally reached the point where none of this Gatchaman stuff is making sense to her anymore. She wants to actually save people in real life but Paiman’s all “Screw you bitch, that ain’t in the script,” and shoots her down. So ultimately the matter is dropped, but not before Hajime manages to inadvertently plant the first seeds of doubt in Sugane’s rather hardwired brain about what he’s supposed to be doing in life. Eventually JJ Robinson (aka vampire dude who does nothing except make paper airplanes) sends them yet another needless cryptic message about a broken child who will reveal himself to the white bird…or something. Everyone assumes its referring to Berg Katze, possibly setting up a confrontation.
Its been five episodes and I still don't understand the point of these things.
Following the credits, we then get back to Rui and one of the most utterly dull stretches of any anime I have ever seen. Basically its just ten full minutes of Rui, the designated LOAD of the GALAX network (whatever the hell that means), having an argument on the phone with some random guy over the use of the Crowds and whether or not its actually having a good effect on the world. This scene practically put me to sleep with its dragged out, philosophic bs and somewhat hammy overacting from Rui’s VA (who used to play Recon on SAO, so this must be our comeuppance for making fun of his bowl cut). Happily Space-Pimpukun (AKA Berg Katze) arrives to break the monotony and inform the audience that a big earthquake is about to occur somewhere near Fukushima (oops).
Pimp-kun you're the only thing keeping me watching this.
Coincidentally the Gatchaman team (sans Paiman and O.D. who isn’t in this episode for some reason), is heading there too for a GALAX Collage Group outing. Things come to halt though when the Earthquake hits and the tunnel their bus was in collapses half way. GALAX tries to give as much advice as possible to its members to help speed up the escape process but ultimately its no use. The Crowds are deployed and Gatchaman being immune to their Amnesia Effect witness the huge blobby things in action. Ultimately Hajime, despite Sugane’s pleads not to do so, transforms revealing herself, and by proxy Gatchaman to Rui bringing the episode to a close.
Obligatory adorable Utsutsu picture to satisfy 4Chan.
Episode 5 tries valiantly to give some grandeur to Gatchaman Crowds, which is in desperate need of SOMETHING to get it to become interesting. However, its done in once again by director Kenji Nakamura’s bad pacing and the increasingly negative tone he’s been building. I didn’t like these characters in week one. Guess what, I STILL DON’T! They’ve done nothing, they hardly every transform, they don’t function as a team, they actively seem to hate each other (outside of Sugane who wants to jump inside Jo’s pants), this is still not fucking Gatchaman! Furthermore why has it taken so many episodes for Hajime to stop being an annoying numbskull and become an annoying supergenius? IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!
This looks much better as a still I swear.
That and the episode was basically just Recon from SAO whining for 10 minutes. Yeah fuck that. 2/10.
...WHY DOES SHE SUDDENLY HAVE A BRAIN?!?!
Postscript: Earlier today (8/9/2013 for context), our dear friend The Cart Driver was complaining about how he was planning on quitting Crowds due to Nakamura’s habit of having his actors speaks every line in a singsong overstressed syllable style. Surprisingly, this has never actually crossed my mind while watching this series. Just goes to show how many OTHER problems Crowds has that grinds it into the mire.