Review: Dimension W “The Island That Fell Into the Void”

Overview.

Salva’s backstory, flashes suspicion of his intent all over the place. The man basically has a thirst for power, especially since he doesn’t agree with his adopted father’s methods of being a king.

Is Salva’s aim world conquest using the special coil? Or maybe he intends to remake the entire world? There are many possibilities, and our Imagination can get away from us.

Well, that all did nothing to provide cohesion to an already scattershot series. Dimension W has always suffered from a lack of momentum, but it’s reaching critical mass now. (Ironically, right when our heroes are approaching a location known as a dead zone for energy.) Up to this point, no episode in the African prince/Easter Island arc has segued into the next very well, but now that can be said for any scene within the episodes themselves. What does Salva want with the Easter Island coil? What’s the deal with robo-Lwai? What is that black energy ball, and why is it only into dudes? What does Loser want? And why is the show ignoring our two leads (who are already under-developed) to focus on a bunch of gimmicky bit players? And most importantly, why should I care about anything that’s happening at this point?

Kyoma’s backstory arrived arbitrarily, and now Salva’s does too. How does this all come together into a cohesive whole? I mean, there’s creating a sense of mystery and suspense, and then there’s just tossing plot points against the wall without any sense of an overall narrative structure. If good pacing juggles its narrative threads, Dimension W spills them all on the floor and expects you to sort them out yourself. This show has a promising premise, but it’s wasted on a delivery where each scene feels arbitrary. Why characterize Salva at the beginning of an episode where he is otherwise absent? Even then, we didn’t learn anything about what he wants to do. He was disinherited and may have a chip on his shoulder because of that, but this was the point to reveal the character’s intentions in more detail, because otherwise, I don’t know what all this runaround is supposed to mean. Why all the secrecy? The Collector’s mission seems to differ from Lwai’s. Why does their real goal need so much cover, and how is all this supposed to save their nation? Dimension W has crippled itself by withholding information.

At least Mira has finally called Kyouma out on his attitude. After last week’s articulation of his dead girlfriend past, it strikes me that there’s a chance that Mira is his dead girlfriend, now robot-ified. This would be the lamest, most cliché course of action possible, but Dimension W has thus far not shied away from lame clichés. Oh well.

I have to say that this episode entertained me somewhat more than the previous one, if only because it was so off-the-wall. If last week was conventional to a fault, this week was incompetent in a more complex and interesting way. A lot of the show’s faults are probably due to the director, Kanta Kamei, who unfortunately cannot direct a compelling action scene to save his life. With a general writing quality that skirts the line between competence and incompetence, Dimension W could have been solidly enjoyable (peaking at something like the gorgeous but boilerplate Samurai Champloo), but that didn’t happen. It seems like the dimension where Dimension W is a good show exists only in a realm of other possibilities.

One of the things Salva goes into is the possibilities of people who were at a standstill; that the living will have their memories and souls broken due to the damage in their cells.

This raises many questions. What new possibilities is he talking about? Why does this happen? Again, Dimension W is delivering many questions for us to remember for the future and possible foreshadowing as well. (I’d like to think so at least.)

To sum it up, the episode was good. Although the first half was filled with repetitive plot points that were already established in the previous episode, it did deliver some backstory for Salva and an exciting second half filled with fun animation and action. My gripes with the episode were, again, the repetitive plot points and the slight fan service while Mira taking the coil out of the attacking robot. They didn’t have to make her pose in that way, but hey fan service will be fan service after all.

Mira continues to be somewhat reactive rather than proactive, and Kyoma continues to treat her poorly. I do still find it amusing that when Mira is nervous she starts yammering incessantly. Kyoma is still taking her personality traits as superfluous software programming.

The other collectors were alright but I wonder what that K.K.’s true intentions are?

Loser next episode? Can’t wait! Hopefully some more Elizabeth too.