「Need For Speed」

As it turns out, I wasn’t too far off when I said Matoba and Tilarna should act like professionals who treat each other with respect. That sort of milestone in their partnership might even be where this series is heading, since Tilarna seems more interested in becoming his equal than, say, finding out who kidnapped her royal fairy friend. To be fair, seeing Matoba and Tilarna in a domestic setting was a reminder of how cute they can be without the pressures of work, though the pressures of actual police work really didn’t make an appearance in this episode. Matoba managed to interfere with the theft of a truck filled with porn magazines, leading him and Nameless Cop #1 to debate over whether the porn in the magazine was extra freaky or if Nameless Cop’s girlfriend was just a prude. Of all the jokes that hit in this series, that one hit the hardest for some reason. Just look at Tilarna innocently listening in the background. It’s adorable. Then, however, it’s revealed that she tried to drive Matoba’s car away from the crime scene, and we begin to find out how incredibly sheltered her people are. See, while she understands gas pedals, brakes, and steering wheels, putting the car in Park is a little harder to grasp intuitively. As a result, Matoba’s car rolled down the street, where it promptly lost a fight with an oncoming truck. That lack of experience actually factors into the plot because the Semani don’t really have television or photographs, which is why illegally distributed porn is such a potential gold mine.

Seeing Matoba utterly break down when the Chief was chewing him out for reckless endangerment of civilians and property was another highlight. At first, I was honestly convinced that he was faking it to weasel a new car out of his substitute father figure, and I’m still not convinced he wasn’t. After getting saddled with the porn theft case, he roped Tony into interrogating a suspect, showing us that Tony (Takahashi Ryousuke) is the true star of the show with an exaggerated yakuza accent and a dedication to the job that means he’ll feel up a suspect if that’s what it takes to set up a sting operation, and even pretend to be attracted to women. In all seriousness, though, it’s genuinely nice to see someone in media presented as both openly gay and competent at their job.

Since Tilarna basically totaled Matoba’s car, the Chief ordered her to take driving lessons, which she decided to receive from Cecil. It’s so rare to see an ex-girlfriend portrayed in a positive light, and every time I see how calm and collected and intelligent she is, I can’t help but be impressed. That she would risk her life to teach a friend of a friend how to drive speaks volumes about her character. She also mentioned that Matoba had lost his younger sister, and that certainly explains how quickly he became attached to Tilarna, and also how she can get away with not only totaling his car twice, but nearly killing him, herself, the porn thief, and Tony. Since no one actually died, though, she gets to complain about how Matoba doesn’t treat her like an equal then commandeer a part of his house for her use with no repercussions. Instead, Matoba apologized to her, and I still can’t wrap my head around how any of that makes any sense whatsoever. Ah, well. She sure is cute with a cat.

 

Preview

20 Comments

  1. I have female friend who at least once while learning to drive left her car without handbrakes and let it roll down a slope, though luckily not in the path of oncoming truck-kun…
    Loved the mirror dialogue when terrified by (lack of) Tilarnas driving skills, Matoba wanted to get out and was told to jump out of window exactly as he told Tilarna few minutes earlier… Laser-guided karma!
    Also Tilarna is waay too sheltered. For a young adult to not be aware of what parents need to do in order to conceive her? Semanian sex-ed must be nonexistent…

    ewok40k
    1. I’m glad nothing happened to your friend. Truth be told, I’ve done the same thing. Didn’t hit any cars, though. Just freaked myself out >_< Do you think maybe Semanians reproduce differently from humans?

      Stars
      1. LOL, the fun part is just like Tilarna, she parked the car, left it and was totally freaked out when saw the empty car roll down the slope…
        I am pretty sure that Semanians are quite similar in that context to humans, look at all the interspecies pairs in the San Teresa background…
        (I will not speculate on the possibility of half-elves, though)

        ewok40k
  2. This series is basicly what Lethal Weapon should be in a fantasy setup, with Tilly on the role of Briggs. Great chemistry between both enforcers, and the overall feeling of the series overpower the lack of resources used on it. Kudos for the animation studio.

    Onto the episode, while losing his Mini was a low blow, having a Ferrari 599 asigned to you can bright your day. Sadly, when Mad Tilly is on the wheel… and Tony’s double take is gold.

    SeedStriker
  3. Absolutely hilarious from start to finish: the ridiculous case, Tilarna’s driving, Kei’s (faked?) drama over his car, Tony’s macho disguise, everything. 😀

    Magnus Tancred
  4. Tilarna drives about as well as a hundred-year-old blind dog if it were texting while driving and drinking a smoothie.
    Actually she drives better than any human driver – everything she did in that last chase sequence was deliberate, and it all ended exactly as she had intended. Except of course she didn’t care about nearly killing people or totalling the Ferrari, which is why I guess I’d prefer to be driven by the blind dog rather than her.

    Anyway, did anyone else feel her room was all wrong? I would have expected something rather more, well, alien – is she totally into human culture now?
    https://randomc.net/image/Cop%20Craft/Cop%20Craft%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2035.jpg

    Angelus
    1. Well, she can not go there an use the Gate as she please. So i think she buy this stuff from Human market or perhaps she do not know manufactory of her kind in the City

      Worldwidedepp
    2. No joke, if a dog decided it wanted to drive me around, I would hop in the passenger’s seat with a grin on my face

      It would have been interesting to see a bedroom that reflected her Semani upbringing a bit more

      Stars
    1. Wonder why they’re taking the time to translate it into English. I’m sure there’s a good reason, but really I’m just impressed that they’re taking the time to do it

      Stars
  5. This ‘speed’ stuff isn’t bad!

    https://randomc.net/image/Cop%20Craft/Cop%20Craft%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2028.jpg

    Best line of the year.

    It amused me how, despite being horrified by the magazine, she couldn’t put it down. Also, if Kei wasn’t trolling the uniform on the subject of women, does that suggest something about Cecily?

    I agree with Angelus… Tilarna’s driving skills are spectacular, not substandard. She does have a complete lack of common sense or any sense of self-preservation though (at least while behind the wheel — I guess in other circumstances too, sometimes).

    As for her room decor, I do think she is interested in fitting in. Like Dennis Elbaji (but without the elements of vice), she’s having the time of her life in San Theresa. I think that’s why she remained here after the fiel case (and also that the fiel may have told her to). Life in her own world is probably rigidly structured, onerous, fixated on duty, and even the nobility have many restrictions placed upon them. She showed her willingness to put some of her preconceptions behind her when after berating Kei for dealing with O’Neill, she went straight back to him to get a lead on Elbaji (and even traded her heirloom to him), got a fake ID, dressed to his specifications and even attempted his example of earth woman walking. Just last episode, she was calling cars ‘awful’. Or when on the first night she stayed at Kei’s place she was worried about scandal but now, she’s redecorating. She looks up every new word and studies every day so I could see her researching this as well.

    Earth fascinates her… people, dialogue, relationships, the investigations… everything is fresh to her.

    And Tony and Alex do make a pretty good team. It’s nice to see good secondary characters getting to take the lead. And Zimmer proved again that’s he’s a great boss when he got Kei that car.

    Mockman
    1. I’ve never going to say that someone who wrecked two cars is an excellent driver and none of you can make me

      Agreed that it was nice to see the side characters given time to develop. It was intereting to see how they handled the situation, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them.

      Stars
      1. Well, I wouldn’t call her a safe driver or even a good one yet but I’ll stand by my position on her skills. She’ll be driving Formula 1 by next season.

        We’ll see how the show keeps developing. I’m hoping it takes a Witch Hunter Robin path — episodic stuff early on while character and world-building and then tying everything together down the stretch run. Also, all cop shows should have humour. Cops see the worst and weirdest of humanity (semanity too, in this town) and all good cop stories integrate some of that with humour.

        Mockman
  6. She drives like her car is a weapon… and it is! Wonder what car they’ll get next… Nice to see she won’t be moving out.

    I still feel like this story has yet to truly broaden its horizons or ambitions. It feels like a straight buddy cop comedy story with fantasy and moe elements. I’m hoping Tilarna will seriously think about what she believes she should do as a knight. She seemingly whimsically decided to stay in San Theresa. There are no end to police cases in a city with crime like this… Which would be fine if this was an episodic American cop drama, but I expect more from anime when it comes to character development. Sure, she’s slowly deepening her understanding of Kei and the world and maturing in little ways, but that doesn’t impress me personally, it’s the minimum I expect from this author. Of course, I don’t expect this LN to match Fullmetal Panic because I’m aware the reception wasn’t especially strong…

    Player
    1. Pfft. She drives Matoba’s car like a wrecking ball

      This story to me had a lot of potential at the beginning, and while there’s still time for it to make good on that potential, they definitely seem to be leaning towards humor and one-off cases

      Stars

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