English Dub Review: HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI “Rain of Blood”

“Each day we will spill their blood, ’til it rains down from the skies!”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

Just when I think Taiko is an impulsive dipshit who keeps making brash decisions, he actually impresses me for once. It turns out Taiko managed to fool the A-hole who transformed him into a plush during the weird card game he was subjected to playing the last episode, It was all a distraction to catch the enemy off guard with an elaborate plan to track the blood back to him. Of course, without Gyokutei, the whole plan would’ve failed. Before the intro even begins, we get something different in the form of a backstory that mostly delves into Gyukutei’s past and his relationship to Youzen. It feels kinda foreboding as scenes like this often dance around the rules of drama that usually occur when a character’s backstory is revealed in a collective series of flashbacks, and serve as a bad omen for what’s to come…

Ohtenkun under Bunchuu’s reluctant orders sends both Gyokutei and Taiko a message explaining to both of them that there’s a chance to save Youzen, but the only catch is only one of them can take this oddly specific shortcut alone. In response to this, Taiko realizes it could be a trap, but knows it’s the fastest way to save Youzen. Of course being Youzen’s mentor, Gyukutei volunteers to hide Youzen’s secret about his “true form” which pretty much raised a red flag in my mind. It was made worse when he then encounters Ohtenkun, who apparently has super emo-powers that involve magical blood that activates when cutting himself which explodes into a vortex of blood shaped like a giant cube, while Taiko & Super journey into enemy territory to seek out Bunchuu’s within Kingo’s ship. Somehow, Ohtenkun’s emo-powers can create a unique and cloudy space out of his blood that rains acid blood for those who are trapped as the titular episode implies.

As Gyukutei is at an extreme disadvantage, he’s still diligent enough to rescue his pupil from this death trap by marching towards the exit while carrying him. Meanwhile, Taiko charges for the control center of the island but doesn’t immediately charge fourth which is kinda refreshing for once, he also comes across Ohtenkun’s cube of blood on the way and takes a small detour there instead. Given Taiko’s track-record of previous fuck-ups, it’s good to know that he’s trying to avoid repeating the same mistakes this time around. As Taiko arrives at the entrance, the episode ends on a bittersweet note as one of the unspoken rules of drama rears it’s ugly head When Youzen’s mentor makes a brave sacrifice by shattering a hole in the wall and throwing Youzen out to safety.

Our Take

Taiko once again dicked with my expectations, but this time on a semi-large scale in terms of outsmarting his foe which made me hate him a little less. I gotta say for a mentor figure whose fate was kinda predicted at this point, but Gyukutei’s actions were pretty ballsy.

From my perspective, Gyukutei’s death would’ve been an emotional moment for me, if the scene itself didn’t leave me with too many questions after it ended such as “Why didn’t Gyukutei blast a hole in the wall before? Was the acid rain that powerful that he couldn’t run to the wall while carrying Youzen? Did he know if he would survive long enough to run? And if he had enough time to throw Youzen out, why the fuck didn’t he run out with him?

The episodes still remain a mixed bag at this point, because even in episodes where it’s not spoiling future character deaths and events, this somehow manages to even ruin its own dramatic moments with a poorly-executed Heroic Sacrifice trope.