Sabikui Bisco – 11

「 おれがビスコだ！」 (Ore ga Bisuko da!)
“I’m Bisco!”

Sabikui Bisco’s eleventh episode makes no bones about the big final battle of the season consisting of mashing hyper-cool action figures against each other. As nearly the entire country goes ballistic about stopping the former governor from destroying what remains of the nation, there’s a spark of hope as Bisco re-emerges from the Tetsujin.

THE BITCH IS BACK

The most mind-blowing reveal of this latest episode is finding out that things weren’t as bleak as they seemed for Bisco, who had been reconstituted inside of the Tetsujin and emerged from the slash Milo made to its armor. I’m sure that they’ll explain it in fuller detail later on, but knowing that the Sabikui Bisco series has many covers of future arcs featuring Bisco, it wasn’t as much of a surprise or shocker to me that they’d bring Bisco back.

In fact, what makes it awesome is that it plays out with the same level of BS as a massive wrestling event. Just as everything seems rough for Milo, who had been taking bishamon mushroom poison to keep up his momentum in channeling his partner-in-crime, Bisco emerges from the Tetsujin as Milo miraculously regains consciousness and the audience applauds. It has the same kind of rhythm as a wrestling match where The Undertaker sits up in fury after an otherwise devastating finishing blow, or Hulk Hogan getting angrier the more he gets lightly punched by an opponent.

The story was already ridiculous enough as-is, so Bisco’s resurrection isn’t too farfetched in comparison to the rest of what’s been happening. I mean, when the heavy rock music kicks in just as Milo makes a mad dash towards the Tetsujin as it launches missiles at its own military, we’re already kicking everything up to eleven. It’d be reductive to say it’s “turn your mind off” kind of entertainment, but if you allow yourself to let your guard down and enjoy the show like a big, bombastic, ridiculous thrill ride, this episode captures a lot of what makes its frantic, manic energy so addicting and fun.

GOT THE WHOLE SQUAD LAUGHING

What also made it fun is that it really is the moment where most of the characters that we’ve seen throughout the show mutually come together by the end to get roped into this crazy-ass final battle where everyone and their mothers are out to stop the Tetsujin. Some are fighting for their lives to prevent Robo-Kurokawa from spite-launching waves of destruction over whatever remains of human civilization while others are watching it like it’s a spectator sport.

It really dips into the chaotic energy nicely with its frantic hard rock soundtrack and the fast-paced action of Milo’s encounter with the Tetsujin. Even the stray moments where he has to save the children from several episodes back (I still think this kid’s name is Natsu and not Nuts) have that same inertia going for it.

At the same time, it’s becoming clear how much is at stake aside from the safety of Imihama. Milo’s been put through the wringer in this episode with a combination of bishamon mushroom poison flowing through him and the after-effects of being thrown directly into a wall by a massive cyborg. But then again, if Bisco managed to survive being submerged in molten Rust, I can see Milo treating all of this like it’s nothing worse than a mild bruise.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey guys, I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up ahead of time that I’ll be on break for the Spring season. I think work getting the best of me at the beginning of this year has started leaking out into a lot of my posts. Where even while I’m in love with both Sabikui Bisco and Fantasy Bishoujo, it’s still been taking me longer to write out my thoughts on them as the Winter season went on. It’s gotten to the point where I’m making more and more silly errors like getting names and details wrong.

I still have quite a bit of the Winter season left so this isn’t an official “I’m on hiatus” post, but just wanted to be transparent about my involvement with the Spring season. I was this close to choosing a couple of shows, but during work, I had a mild breakdown about getting everything done on time and realized I wasn’t as excited for a lot of what the season had to offer as I was previewing.

I’ve also been a little heartbroken to not be able to pick up some of the shows that fell through the cracks this season like Tribe Nine and Sasaki to Miyano, but if it’s taking me long enough to post just two shows in a weekday, then I wouldn’t have much business taking on 1 or 2 more. The fact that it was easier to write most of this out first and then summarize my thoughts about this pretty neat episode I liked feels like a sign that I need to recalibrate before I touch a show I could potentially dislike.

In the meantime, I’ll be trying to get my mojo back by recuperating and getting my own creative writing projects back in action with an original story I’ve been sitting on for quite a while. Maybe if I watch some Spring shows as a viewer rather than as a writer, then I’ll be able to get that kind of hunger back to let my thoughts out on upcoming shows.

I do plan on returning for the Summer season and you can look forward to some of my previews for this upcoming season. With Call of the Night, Tokyo Mew Mew, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, and more on the horizon, I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t return in time.