Sakugan – 02

OP Sequence

OP: 「恍惚ラビリンス」 (Koukotsu Labyrinth) by (Masaaki Endoh)

“GOOD DAY, GOOD BYE”

After a great first episode, Sakugan continues to make a strong impression, this time with its CGi, it convinced me this show is great. There were moments where Big Tony, now officially a full-fledge Marker, had so much expression, it was honestly refreshing to look at. The Kaiju doesn’t look horrible, with flat colors and some cell shading, it produces nice results that are enjoyable to watch. I was engrossed in the fighting, much more than trying to look for imperfections with the monsters. I’m glad they decided not to add textures since it would make the skin look weird, instead the Kaiju’s have a smooth exterior, something akin to rocks. It doesn’t distract too much from the hand-painted backgrounds, and the characters themselves are animated the traditional way, so I’m glad this show is going in that direction. Although I don’t see ourselves getting rid of the CGi for good. Yet, if it sticks to monsters and mecha Markers, I reckon it wouldn’t be that much trouble, since the story is good, and heartfelt, I would say it’s almost like the CGi disappears. It’s fine, honestly, and it’s not too distracting, so I’m forgiving Sakugan for using CGi.

The latter half of the episode was spent resolving the Kaiju issue, sort of surprised me actually, I was expecting these two to just bolt it out of the colony, but it was nice to see they managed to find a way to defeat the Kaiju, succeeding in throwing them into the mining shaft, that was full of nichlosium. Of course, I tried searching for this compound and found nothing! Much like last week where I asked the RC community to help me out with the C12H16O+(H2S)> molecular compound and try to decipher what it actually was, we were unable to come up with a hard conclusion. So either this show is going to be filled with some pseudoscience, or we should just accept that it’s making things up to suit its needs.

Which I personally think it’s the latter. Since I was unable to find anything regarding this nichlosium mineral. But in this word, it’s a flammable metal that explodes on the Kaiju’s, making a blue flame of death. Talking about the Kaiju’s another little piece of worldbuilding and lore I found interesting, is that Kaiju’s are connected via cables to the ground and once they detach those cables supposedly they brittle up and die, but it wasn’t the case here since the Kaiju detached and it was still going, I’m guessing it’s sort of like a battery, how long those that battery last though, it’s totally up to the show.

In a sense, we can say this show is building its world through a soft science system. Taking what it thinks it needs and using it like it sees fit, molding it to its advantage. I don’t mind it at all! And I’ll stop trying to find hard answers to every little science detail this show throws at us, and instead just accept it as part of its world. Sakugan has strength in character, drama, and relationships, not so much being a hard SciFi series. You should look into The Expanse if you’re looking for something like that.

Memenpuu and Gagumber are such likable characters at this point, it’s hard not to root for them, Gagumber might seem like your typical deadbeat dad, but kudos to him for following his child into this wild adventure. And even though, he brings the hard facts when talking to Memenpuu at the graveyard, he has a characteristical worldview that honestly just made me connect with him on a deeper level. He lays it out in front of Memenpuu without any mist to cover her eyes. He tells her truths that are hard to hear.

Even if he dies, Memenpuu has to go on, continue living and go on through with life, as even if it’s sad, we just have to continue moving forward. I really connected with this and found it incredibly endearing. I’m glad that even in an episode that was heavy on the fighting they were able to squeeze in heartfelt moments that plucked at my heartstrings. And even more, the death of Lynda and her father wasn’t treated like a throwaway character, I liked that they managed to make it about our father-daughter combo, even if it was at Lynda’s expense. But at the end of the episode, and with Gagumber citizenship partially removed, they both manage to make it out the doors in the labyrinth and the openings of adventure have literally swung welcoming for these two.

I can’t wait to dive into the labyrinth proper and see into what other adventures these two get into, I’m getting this feeling that things are only going to ramp up from here!

ED Sequence

ED: (Shine) by (MindaRyn)

Preview