Sabikui Bisco – 04

「蟹に乗る」 (Kani ni Noru)
“Ride the Crab”

The beginning of Bisco and Milo’s road trip for the Rust-Eating Mushroom is off to a rocky start as Milo struggles to win the trust of Bisco’s trusty crab Actagawa. They’re held back even further, however, when they end up bumping into the bothersome mercenary Tirol Ochagama.

OUT OF THE BEARDED BARLEY, NIGHTLY

While Ochagama might seem like she’d be an overbearing character, this episode gives her some great chemistry between the main two protagonists and Ochagama. It’s funny to see the preferential treatment that she gives to Milo considering how much she despises Bisco. Even if Bisco put in the effort to tolerate Milo, there was no way she was going to put up with how much he judges her shameless lifestyle.

On the other hand, Ochagama became hyper-focused on Milo the moment he was nervous and hesitant about her coming onto him. She seems to be more interested in pressing buttons than offering any valuable input, but this works well with the two considering that they have a clearer vision of where to go.

It’s also hard to ignore the big trailer scene where Milo removes a balloon worm from Ochagama’s stomach later on by making out with her. It reveals the distrust that Kurokawa has over the people working for him, but it also sparks her sudden interest in Milo, going so far as to invite him on a journey with her if Bisco kicks the bucket.

It’s hard to gauge if she’ll only show up periodically, but she’s fun enough that it’d be nice to see more of her. From the items she’s accumulated for her “Jellyfish Shop”, she’s more interested in get-rich-quick schemes than being under Kurokawa’s thumb. She proved to be an inconvenience this time around, but who knows if she’ll have an ace up her sleeve instead of running away or switching gears.

GETTING CRABBY

This was a big episode for crustaceans as Milo was tasked with getting to know Actagawa. As it turns out, if he wants to be acquainted with Actagawa, he’ll have to act right and get on the crab’s good side since he has a distaste for doctors. It’s funny to see Milo struggle to get Actagawa to let him ride on his back, and it was even funnier to see Ochagama mess up her attempt to hijack their volatile, irritable giant crab.

It was hopeful to see Milo actually learn how to ride Actagawa more efficiently. With how much Milo suffered to stay on Actagawa’s back, it feels like he’s finally hit his stride and could work with how stubborn and irritable the crab can be. It helped especially when they had their massive fight against the hermit crab hiding underground when Actagawa pulled through with a claw attack to provide Bisco with an opening for the final blow.

CHOCOLATE BISCO

This was also a fun episode that gave us more instances of Milo bonding with Bisco despite their differences. I enjoyed the small moments near the beginning where Milo was geeking out to all the new, different sights he’s never seen before to Bisco’s chagrin. Unfortunately, the beginning had them mostly focusing on how to expedite finding the Rust Eater mushroom if Jabi is operating off of borrowed time.

Because of that, they didn’t have as much time to relax together until far later. It was nice to see the genuine smile Bisco had as he started seeing Milo getting the hang of being around Actagawa. It was also adorable to see Bisco be disappointed by the cookies that share his name because the flavor doesn’t reflect how he sees himself. I suppose in his mind, he’d want them to be more similar to the roasted lizards that Milo had to swallow in one go to not be disgusted.

But overall, it was another week where Sabikui Bisco continues to prove itself as a fun action-packed anime that places emphasis on the expressive surrealism of its setting and the tongue-in-cheek humor that its characters dip into. Next week might prove to be a more serious situation for Milo and Bisco to be stuck in as they’ve come across an armed gang of children.