12.06
Not even halfway through the episode, and somebody's touching himself.
So this episode gives us two fights, with Ryuko going at it against Inumuta and Jakuzure. Inumuta, in particular, was a character we knew the least about. The rest of the Elite Four have their personalities established right off the bat, but Inumuta remained an enigma. He still is after this episode; with the only sure thing we know is that he has a damning interest for information. He reminds of Colress from Pokemon, due to how he only allies with Satsuki out of wanting data than wanting to be stronger. Add that with how he forfeits, and you wonder if he’s playing his own game within Satsuki’s.
For Inumuta’s strategy, his deal is that he’s a chameleon. If you want symbolism, this probably indicates how Inumuta subverts the exhibitionist themes by trying to go incognito than out and proud like other characters. He prefers being stealth over the larger-than-life bravado the Goku uniforms usually bring. He won’t do something bull-headed like consume Ryuko into his own armor. Instead, he’s the assassin where the rest of the Elite Four are warriors. And unlike Gamagoori, he’s smart to know when the battle’s lost. He’s accumulated enough information about Senketsu, so the battle proves to give him some gain while getting away undamaged. He has that “war is based on deception” logic going on. You know from his face that this guy’s a two-faced bastard. I bet he’ll play a bigger part in the future.
Speaking of duality, the Ryuko vs Jakuzure fight intrigues me in a meta-fictional sense. Since Jakuzure’s played by Haruko from FLCL, it’s a bit like the old Gainax guard fighting the new Trigger blood. Plus, she has the Dai-Gurren skull on her shoulder. It’s Imaishi trying to prove that he’s surpassed Gainax while honoring that history. And Jakuzure’s personality works well with that idea. She’s perky and full of herself, basing her loyalty with Satsuki out of seniority than submission. Jakuzure resembles a hotshot you would see in Daicon IV. So in being a symbol of the old guard, it’s natural that she combats Ryuko’s hot-blooded nature with some bombast of her own. After all, a giant stadium speaker that weaponizes the William Tell Overture proves to challenge any audacity Ryuko had up to then. Next to Gamagoori, Jakuzure’s tactics prove to be the most unsubtle. Instead of going for the target, she’ll destroy the entire battlefield if she has to. It shows that Jakuzure is more than she seems, and that she can think outside the box.
And I like how Ryuko’s visual boldness gets contrasted with Jakuzure’s audio overconfidence. The previous Elite Four members have been playing with sense of sight to try and beat Ryuko, while Jakuzure just flips the table and uses a completely different tactic. She uses sense of hearing as a weapon that Ryuko can barely prepare herself for. I wish the show can do more with that. The show can do visually inventive fight scenes, so I would be amazed if Trigger could accomplish a good fight where Ryuko and Jakuzure use music against each other. Still, it’s good enough that the next episode promises to be a dogfight between the two.