First Impressions / Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

「伝説の勇者現る！」 (Densetsu no Yuusha Arawaru!)
“The Legendary Hero Appears!”

While my hunch about Hiroshi proved to be correct, I would have never expected how things unfolded subsequently. In comparison to the more recent episodes that felt somewhat jarring, this one was all over the place both in terms of script and animation style. With the sudden recovery and departure of Korone, introduction of Hiroshi’s younger sister Yukiko (Yahgi Sayuri), appearance of the psychotic pervert Mr. X (Satou Haruo) from CIMO8, borderline hentai rape that should look great in the uncensored version, Ultra Super Saiyajin ripped muscle form of Akuto, comic book-style animation with thick character outlines, and a super hero Hiroshi battling a gigantic sea cucumber to top it all off, I had to stop and question what the hell I was watching at the end. It certainly wasn’t Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou of weeks prior, that’s for sure. Given the genre, I normally approach each episode with my expectations accordingly, but even that didn’t prepare me for what I was in store for here.

The most glaring change was how this turned into an over-the-top shounen series during Akuto’s fight with Mr. X. For the longest time, I was wondering if this was intended to be a parody episode of sorts because of how that played out. When it turned out it wasn’t, I felt compelled to take note of who was in charge of this episode and it turned out to be the same group as usual, except for the inclusion of Numata Seiya as the animation director. Seeing as he was in charge of the screenplay in episode thirteen of NEEDLESS, I just had to go back and check what he put together then. Lo and behold, it featured overemphasized comic book style even by NEEDLESS standards, which probably explains what was seen here in Daimou. Still, it didn’t change how ridiculously out of place all this felt even in comparison to recent weeks and how it left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth with the lack of believable continuity both in terms of story and the passage of time.

In the first case, it honestly felt like the producers simply went through a checklist of things they decided were going to be covered this episode and just slapped them all together regardless if there was any sort of natural progression. In the latter, I’d seriously like to know how long Hiroshi spent underwater as dusk became a pitch black night with a clearly visible full moon and all. As for the whole Brave super hero bit itself, I really question if having Hiroshi in that get-up really adds anything to the story more than it takes away from any potential respect the series may have built up. To top it off, they had to have him obtain his powers with the whole pulling Excalibur from its stone bit, which made it even harder to take seriously.

In light of that, I did appreciate Korone’s solemn departure and the way she came back in style to save the day, which was pretty predictable but well inline with what I expect to see in this series. I also like how the story’s working towards CIMO8 as the bad guys so that we have some clear antagonists, but I’m still wary on how much more of Brave we’ll see later on since I find his appearance disrupts the flow. In any case, his outfit reminds me of something other than Mega Man, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

* It was Dio from Casshern Sins who I was thinking of. Thanks Cecelia for the reminder.

 

55 Comments

  3. “In any case, his outfit reminds me of something other than Mega Man, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

    Maybe Casshern with a cape? That super saiyajin-like fight was rather odd.

    Cecelia
    Reply

    1. Korone tells Sai that she wasn’t trying to seduce him, and that she’d really been arranging for him to marry Junko. Before she left, Korone had remarked that she had failed, and she was trying to make them believe that what she was referring to was that she thought that Sai liked Keena and not Junko, so she failed at securing him a good wife. Junko of course when all tsundere and ran away.

      cancerlad
      Reply

  7. i don’t know what happened but this episode made me want to drop this series, the only saving grace for me was korone, the scenes with her were just pure magic
    ha, pure magic, gods i hate myself for that

    K.L.
    Reply

    1. Yeah, this episode’s making me want to drop as well since my greatest fear finally came true. With this episode, they’ve officially dropped plot, character development, and coherency (i.e. scriptwriters were drunk) for a series. I really wanted to like this series, but I feel like an idiot for having high expectations. I mean, was it too much to expect a badass hero (i.e. demon lord hero)? *sigh* Another anime joins my list of could be, should be, but probably won’t be epic.

      I find the only thing this anime has left to offer is fanservice and yes, the scenes between Korone and Akuto 😛

      Aoihoshikage
      Reply

  8. Akuto was interchanging between normal body size, slightly buff and ultra buff throughout the whole fight with Mr. X that it literally made no sense watching him fight. And Keena just HAD to sneak up behind Mr. X in the nude.

    Would’ve loved to see more of Hiroshi (Brave) fight against Akuto for this episode. Too bad he flew away after manly one punch exchange.

    Yyi
    Reply

  12. The nude thing makes sense, I guess – she has to get nude to get invisible (Daimaou runs on Ghost In The Shells invisibility rules), and the sea cucumber monster was cancelling magic.

    I actually didn’t mind Brave, because we already have bunny girl robots and tsunderes with bokutos and fundoshi, and some kind of pseudo-european magitech setting, so why the hell not? And there could be potential for comedy there, even if it totally invalidated Hiroshi’s character as I knew him.

    Super Saiyan Sai was ridiculous, though.

    Guile
    Reply

  13. I was waiting for the “And that’s the legend of the Hero.” or “Turn off the TV, it’s bed time.” to pop up, but it turned out to indeed be a troll episode.

    Still though:
    Who shot Korone?
    Why was Keena naked and what was she exactly planning on doing?
    And did anyone else catch that crazy face that Junko had for 2 frames?

    I want to drop this show now…

    Dullahan
    Reply

    1. Who shot Korone? I believe it was that MR. X dude since the silhouette of the guy who shot her looked like him. Why he did it? who knows

      Why was keena naked? Remember how no ones powers worked because of the cucumber monster? Her power is to be invisible when naked but since her powers didn’t work…

      hmm
      Reply

  14. although the episode was all over the place, I did enjoy it. I also liked the changes of animation style, it reminded me of Guren Lagann at points lol. was some of the perverse scenes they’ve shown, it makes me wonder if this will turn into a full fledged hentai someday

    hmm
    Reply

  17. Wow. This episode had pretty much the worst pacing I’ve ever seen. Now, I do love this series’ past episodes, but this one was just…well strange? They pretty much just crammed everything they could put in into this episode. Including the cheesy plot line, dramatic changes in animation for the fight scenes, and the borderline rape, this episode was just strange as hell ._.

    Click
    Reply

  20. I also really didn’t get the hey have a watch and some superpowers. I’m really hoping this will be the last of that and we won’t see any i’m secretely a superhero antics.

    outcast
    Reply

  22. This is nonsensical. While the readers’ explanation for a naked Keena was plausible, I’m still left wondering why the hell did Mr X shoot Korone. She’s an android, if he wants to get her out of the picture he has to try harder. She left only because it made her enter emo mode.

    Actually until now I was hoping the writers would have some sort of well thought-out plot for this show. Now I’m prepared for a disappointment.

    Also, sentai. Eewww.

    volf ram
    Reply

  23. Man, i really hate the production of this series. So much material being a total waste. Just when the things were bad they make it even worse. If i were to be the author of the original series i would demand this anime to be canceled. I mean, damn, if i were to happen to watch the anime first i would never read the original series.

    banzemanga
    Reply

  26. finally back from the beach…
    it was a lame episode, somehow wished I didnt watch it.
    I remember seeing another show that had a watch that gives you a super powered suit….
    ah I think it was ultraman or something

    amado
    Reply

  30. Weird episode =s
    I really hope it was a parody because the “twofriendsbecomingsmortalrivals” is not the kind of story i’m looking for in this serie.
    I really dislike the Hiroshi’s outfit… oww… it sucks in many ways, fortunately the giant sea cucumber saved the day, i laughed very hard x)

    The art style and animation reminds me a lot the last Hellsing Ultimate episodes.

    Mabo
    Reply

    1. lol that’s what I was thinking MR.X=Alexander the Priest’s sexually deprived brother. I am not going to let this episode detour me. Sure it was crazy but I want to see where this all leading. It’d be awesome if they just cut loose like Hellsing Ultimate that Fullmetal Alchemist and Berserk are my all time favorite animes

      abe
      Reply

  32. Maybe it was just because I was bitter that Korone had left during this episode, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. Although, my gripes aren’t any different from what everyone else seems to be having. When I was reading Divine’s blog, I thought hey this show seems not like I expected to be so I watched it and thought it was cool. This episode sort of made me feel like the show was, how I originally expected it to be. Ah well, I’m still going to follow it!

    LaN
    Reply

  34. Hiroshi looks like Gohan in his super hero attire, he even used the watch transformer thing like Gohan did! This must be a satirical end to the beach vacation story.

    DkPritts
    Reply

  36. omg what happened here 🙁 I feel disappointed too. I’m going to magically erase this episode from mind and forget it happened. I’m hating this director/animator/producer/whatever pf the week things some series are doing. The up and down in quality/continuity are maddening.

    Island Esper
    Reply

  41. First of all, stop acting like saint, demon king, because no one wants to see that old guy… EVER AGAIN. Secondly, the first minutes of this show was pretty deep and I actually like that. More deep and emotional moment and I would give this anime a high mark.

    questionmark
    Reply

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