Sabikui Bisco – 02

OP Sequence

OP: Kaze no Oto sae Kikoenai 「風の音さえ聞こえない」by JUNNA

「エリンギで跳ぶ」 (Eringi de Tobu)
“Soar on King Trumpets”

Sabikui Bisco is proving to be quite a promising anime from its second episode. As we start to learn about who Bisco is, who his companions are, and why he gravitated towards Milo, you can see the foundational building blocks towards a fun, engaging, and chaotic action series.

LIKE FACTORIES FAR AWAY

Of the anime I’ve watched this season, these past two episodes have been some of the most promising of the bunch with how inventive and nutty the show’s aesthetic and story are. The post-apocalyptic wasteland reminds me of some of the imagery from the Tank Girl comic that depicts a grungy landscape populated by madmen and zoo life.

The mushroom motif makes the action sequences all the more exciting as Bisco has to calculate where and when specific mushrooms need to be fired and launched from his bow. I had a great time with the fight in the middle of the episode where Bisco had a high-speed chase with turret hippos that had to either be shot with explosive mushrooms or avoided by ascending from a massive king trumpet mushroom.

And you get this kind of wacky creative imagery consistently throughout the episode. It made me curious about what situations Biscou would have to pull out certain mushrooms to fulfill certain roles. So far, he has offensive mushrooms, ones that can help him move about, ones to destroy the environment, and mushrooms that grow into the buildings/objects they’re shot into.

BUDDING CONNECTIONS

His extensive knowledge of mushrooms also extends an olive branch towards having some good chemistry between him and Milo. While they’re both at odds with how they handle each other’s personalities, they find enough common ground that it’s not jarring to see Milo working with Bisco to gain access to more mushrooms or Bisco being more patient about Milo coming up with a formula to heal Jabi’s injuries.

Because of the focus this episode has on establishing Bisco, there is less of him and Milo working things out or connecting beyond escaping from the governor’s clutches. However, the episode makes up for this by showing us his personal connection with Jabi. While Bisco admires him as a mentor, he also takes it more personally when Jabi tries to act like he might not survive Bisco’s trip.

Bisco comes off as someone who’s younger and more naive about his place in the world, but Jabi really helps put his thoughts into perspective as he tackles the realistic idea that he’ll have to think on his toes to unleash a mushroom torrent on those who are chasing after him. It also explains why it takes him a while to warm up to Milo, considering that he doesn’t currently have Jabi to tell him to think calmly about his pathway to the governor’s residence.

WHAT’S TO COME

Additionally, they build up the current adversaries for Bisco very well too. Governor Kurokawa is portrayed as a corrupt mafia boss, but it was funny to see how he was broken-hearted about the mushrooms interfering with a film festival he had planned. We’ve only had a little bit of time with Chiroru, but it’s funny to see her slink through several scenes where her allegiances shift in whichever direction can guarantee her survival.

Currently, Pawoo is the most interesting foe that Bicso has to contend with considering her allegiances. She has it out for the Mushroom Hunters because of the Rust that’s plaguing her but hasn’t put it together yet that Milo joined up with one of them. So for the next episode, Pawoo has to contemplate whether she’ll be able to move her hatred for Mushroom Hunters and her allegiance to the army aside for Milo’s sake, or if she’ll insist that Bisco is corrupting her brother to the point where she’ll have to take them both on.

ED Sequence

ED: Houkou「咆哮」by Ryouta Suzuki & Natsuki Hanae