Review: Drifters Episode 4 “Active Heart”

Go with your heart.

Spoilers Below

While episode 3 finally introduced most of the main villains and other drifters providing much-needed “breathing room”, We finally shift back to our three protagonists who meet Olminu of the Octoberist organization who provides an “info-dump” to the main three that they aren’t the only ones who are stuck in this fantasy world are called “Drifters” by people native to the land.

Olminu explains that the Octoberists are on a mission to stop the Ends from wiping out humanity and are tasked with seeking out Drifters in an effort to be a match against the Ends and save everyone stating that they sometimes ask kingdoms to let the Drifters with tactician skills take charge of their soldiers, However Oda is skeptical and doesn’t think this is a good idea since he understands that most rulers wouldn’t just hand over command to an “untested outsider” they don’t know which is understandable. Oda’s solution much to Olminu’s shock is a very simple one, To gain an army, they will overthrow the feudal lords & lands who are enslaving them and for Toyo to take command much to his displeasure when Yoichi points out the seat he was tricked into sitting on a nearby wooden crate is how he attained the elves leadership after episode 2. Olminu thinks to herself that Oda’s plan has a “certain appeal” despite how barbaric it sounds and smiles to herself.

We then get a scene where the Kingdom of Carneades has fallen thanks to the Ends efforts and we get to see the extent of the Black King’s powers in the form of healing his demi-human solders, despite his hands suspiciously being heavily scarred while openly expressing that his hatred for humanity stems from being “forsaken” when he offered “Salvation” to them. Grigori Rasputin (yes the historical figure who was also the main villain in the first Hellboy Movie) gives the Black King a “status report” of the troops that didn’t survive and is ordered to gather more “demi-human” soldiers and to destroy the Drifters before they can fully assemble into a potential threat for them.

We then cut to a comedic scene when the WWII Pilot Naoshi Kanno crashes while spewing his foul-mouthed drivel and after he survives the crash of his plane, he encounters glowing yellow eyes and animal growls in the darkness. With gusto and cracked knuckles, he approaches this potential threat head-on.

We then cut back to the Elf village where the elves who are subtitled discuss what to do next  which leads to a comical scene of Yoichi trying to speak to them in their native tongue while hopping like a bunny and failing miserably until Olminu provides a better solution, Magic paper charms made by her boss Abe to help them better understand every race native to the land and thanks to these charms, that language barrier from the last 3 episodes has now slowly eroded this time with their language changed to English dubbed fluency.

Oda thinks to himself that he’d like to meet Olimu’s boss sometime as he recognizes something familiar about the charmed papers and proceeds to slap one of them on Toyo’s back telling Toyo to give a rallying speech to the Elves that will motivate them enough to partake in battle. It’s clear Josh Grelle consistently makes Toyo all the more charismatic enough to make even the audience root for his convictions and accompanied by the music in that scene moved me to tears. 🙂

Afterwords, Toyo confronts Oda for electing him leader and gets under Oda’s skin saying he’s nothing like his son who died years ago from Mitsuhide‘s hand.  Oda’s reaction of course shows a hint of sadness and humanity that Oda tries to hide in the form of retorted insults about his homeland which is handled comedically with the super-deformed artstyle and a random scene where Yoichi has fond memories of his 10 brothers that in a flashback show how small and effeminate looking they were as well. 😛

The Elf Village leader Sharra gives his thanks for saving the lives of his brothers before it leads comedic moment when the elves reveal their age in which the boys say they’re in their 30’s while Sharra is 106 which of course Shocks Oda and leads to another random comedic scene.

Sharra also reveals that 40 years ago his people along with the dwarves were enslaved and reduced to serfs & slaves when those who could fight were slain and begs the three Drifters to help his people after being told by Oda who predicts that Orte reinforcements are approaching since the Orte troopers lead by Aram were not heard from after what happened in Episode 2. Toyo proposes that they “let them in” and then “cut them down”.

We then cut to the 2nd wave of 200 Orte Troopers on their way to the Elf Village but when they get there, they’re puzzled how it could be so empty while the camera cuts to Toyo and the elves hiding in the tree’s about to do a surprise attack with Toyo saying in his inner-thoughts: “After Dark, every soldier’s life is forfeit. Every one of their heads is coming off!” and the episode ends with a “To be continued”.

 

Overview.

The Black King even in the manga is the subject of a very particular “fan theory” however I can’t explain what that theory is until more clues are present in later episodes so we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

I’ll also admit I did laugh at the comedic moments here and there but the best moment was the build-up that will lead towards the next episode. We see Toyo’s charismatic skills rally up troops and learn some degree of knowledge about the Orte Empire’s rise to power and how the Elves and Dwarves were the ones who got the shit-end of the stick out of all of it…

Next episode, shit’s gonna get real, figuratively and literally…