English Dub Review: Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth “Piece 09”

Overview (Spoilers Below)
After a short recap of the previous episode, Rei and Hattori end up on a parkside bench. Hattori proceeds to tell Rei the nitty-gritty details behind the Anonymous Case and, subsequently, the creation of the drug Square. Essentially, Masayoshi Ida, a member of the MPD, killed off Yuki Hibiya, the man working on Square. The two were working together but after Yuki quit out of fear for his life, Ida made what he calls a necessary sacrifice for justice. Due to the MPD connection, STAND was forced to prioritize the Anonymous Case in order to solve and cover up the case once and for all.

Upon concluding his tale, Hattori asks Rei for a favor in return for the information. He wants Rei to help STAND negotiate with their detainee, Makoto Tsuzuki. Hattori believes that Makoto has information on Ida’s whereabouts, due to Ida’s assignment on his younger sister’s drug-related accident many moons ago. Hattori also believes this information will help Rei and the DCD solve the ongoing Plus case, as Ida was once spotted at the Kujo family home years ago. Thanks to a special flash drive that Ida took from Yuki with information on Square, they were able to detect his location upon the drive connecting to the computer.

After some thought, Rei decides to help Hattori with the negotiations, as she wishes to help those harmed by drugs. As the episode comes to a close, Hattori prepares the investigation on Makoto Tsuzuki.

Our Take
Surprisingly enough, I actually found myself enthralled by this week’s installment. That’s not to say the episode didn’t have its issues though. However, the issues involve the series as a whole rather than solely on this chapter.

Let’s start off with the positives. The dramatics featured within were actually quite enticing to view. The episode went by fairly quick solely because I was entranced by the events taking place on screen. Hattori’s flashback especially laid on the drama, allowing for some nice payoff for sticking through this series ’till now. It’s a rather unexpected development, as I would have assumed this would be like any regular episode, with more of an emphasis on other dramatic situations. Either way, a promising development all around.

Now it’s time to sit back and hear out my gripes. Apparently, everything we’ve found out thus far has lead up to this episode. This is the payoff to the first eight episodes mysteries. Did it succeed in its duty though? I would probably say no, unfortunately. It’s not that I did not appreciate the story within here. Heck, it was probably the most enjoyable episode thus far! However, with the payoff out of the way, it really feels like the first eight episodes dropped the ball somewhere.

Throughout the series’ entire run, the details dropped every which way have been a confusing, tangled up mess. I suppose the point was to simply remember them and piece all the clues here. But, why should I care if I barely understood the details throughout the first eight? The farther we dived into the mystery, the more convoluted it became. With the knowledge I received from this episode, I clearly misunderstood several important details along the way. In all honesty, this method does not translate to good storytelling. Rather, it simply alienates the audience and makes them want to abandon ship before even reaching this point.

The animation as well doesn’t really add to the enjoyability here. The expressions of the characters feel rather flat and contradictory at times to the character’s emotions. There’s a good amount of limited movement here, which dries up the atmosphere of the episode as a whole. However, even with its issues, it could be a lot worse. Thus, I’d have to say the animation is passably average. Nothing extraordinary here, but still decent enough to view.

All in all, this was definitely one of the fresher picks of the crop this season. It presented a nice array of engaging dramatics that finally allow viewers to make sense of the mystery. However, the lack of explanation on concrete details thus far in the series is the ultimate downfall here. I can only hope at this point that the final three episodes lead us to a satisfactory conclusion.