Review: Ballmastrz: 9009 “When You Wish Upon A Spore”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Flypp Champion is one of the more callous members of the Leptons, but his no-filter attitude causes some problems when he happens to insult the team’s number one fan. There’s a sick boy, Rudy Drax, who simply wants to enjoy the Leptons before his limited life is through, but Flypp crushes his dreams before ever even really considering them. It’s this level of maliciousness that prompts Crayzar to send Flypp into some highly advanced sensitivity seminars to make sure that this degree of rudeness never happens again. Crayzar’s sensitivity seminars are intense, but they quickly prove to be no match for Flypp’s ego. When a desperate Rudy turns to extreme measures that put the entire Leptons at risk, they all must work together, with Flypp leading the way, to take out the unexpected threat.

 

Our Take:

Flypp Champion is a fascinating, albeit flawed character on Ballmastrz: 9009. Curiously, he’s the member of the Leptons that appears to have gone on the most insane adventures. Every episode has Flypp reveal some new unbelievable training story from his past that helps with an attack that he wields in the present. Flypp stammers his way through these glimpses of his backstory, even though any of them are rich enough to sustain entire episodes of their own. As a result, Flypp is clearly someone who has lived an interesting life, but Ballmastrz often distills his unique life experience into flimsy characterization.

Flypp is someone who routinely makes extreme, flashy performances thanks to his problematic Umbilicus ability, but as far as a character goes, Flypp can feel stunted in his stereotype. He’s a character that pokes fun at the tortured Martial Arts student trope, which Ballmastrz gets plenty of humor out of, but Flypp is always the same victim of persistent struggle. He’s stunted in the idea that he views his pain as part of his eternal training process. This is often entertaining in the small doses that it’s screamed at the audience, but it’s satisfying when episodes like this one and the first season’s “Chaste Wing of the Cold Turkey vs. Flaming Fist of Indulgence!” get to really explore who Flypp Champion is beneath the rigorous training and battle principles.

Flypp finds himself under fire when a perfectly innocent act spirals out of control. Rudy Drax, a limb-less fan who idolizes Flypp, has chosen to use his Make A Wish desire on a visit to the Leptons. The Leptons are touched by Rudy being so devoted to them, but his real affinity is for Flypp, likely due to how he’s a role model for people who are just torsos without limbs. Rudy dotes Flypp with love, but unfortunately Flypp just bashes him in response. Flypp makes it clear that he chose to get rid of his limbs since they were holding back his potential, whereas Rudy is the victim of a spore-based disease that took his limbs away from him. It’s not the same thing.

Flypp’s aggressive machismo-filled attitude isn’t always conducive for emotional breakthroughs. His style often clashes with his fellow Leptons, but it’s to little consequence. This time the Leptons’ guest, Rudy Drax, becomes the target for Flypp’s rage and so as a response to this he’s sent off to a sensitivity training seminar. However, since it’s a sensitivity seminar that’s run by Crayzar, it involves sending Flypp into surreal simulations and it becomes far more intense than any standard barometer for sensitivity. Gaz and Babyball’s surprise that they hadn’t already set off Crayzar’s sensitivity sensors is also a great joke.

Crayzar’s test involves Flypp flying through different sensitivity simulations that range from diverse scenarios. The fun here is that many of these simulations are lifted from out of texts like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Dune, all the while NERV-like scientists that look like they could be Gendo Ikari’s co-workers try to force empathy onto Flypp. Much to their chagrin, Flypp’s ego reigns every time and continually overcomes the carefully designed sensitivity scenarios. Crayzar’s madness may be a powerful force, but it seems to have nothing on Flypp’s sense of self-importance.

While Flypp is lost in a virtual world and trying to learn more about sensitivity, Rudy sinks deeper into dark thoughts within the real world. He comes across Flypp’s discarded limbs and his disease and resentment cause him to bond with them in a way that turns him into quite the formidable warrior. This upgraded version of Rudy results in one of the series’ better climaxes where the Leptons are forced to compete against Rudy, but in raw combat rather than sports. It makes for a fun change of pace and still is able to showcase the same level of teamwork, brutality, and stunning animation.

On that note, the Leptons’ free-for-all against Super Rudy is a visual delight, but this whole episode is full of animated triumphs. Flypp’s Umbilicus sequences are even more extravagant than usual, but each of his simulations also play around with slightly different animation styles. There’s a lot of diverse stuff to enjoy here.

One of the first things that Flypp says in this episode is that he’s the only member of the Leptons that truly understands sacrifice. It’s a highly egotistical statement that speaks to Flypp’s narcissistic demeanor, but this notion of sacrifice is fundamental to the message at the core of “When You Wish Upon A Spore.” For the most part this installment avoids taking any sentimental bait and Flypp’s various sensitivity simulations only reinforce the severity of his ego rather than teach him any lessons. In the end, Flypp does learn to put his team above himself and he actually does exhibit some real sacrifice. However, the fact that it’s an epiphany that’s reached through the pulverizing of an enemy who’s really just a sick kid feels particularly appropriate for Flypp. It’s improvement that’s reached through what would otherwise by viewed as destructive behavior.

The final moments of “When You Wish Upon A Spore” contain what are perhaps my favorite elements of the entire episode. The installment’s story appears to collapse in on itself when Crayzar and his band of scientists solve the problem by ending the simulation of Rudy. Everyone points out that Rudy can’t be part of the simulation since Flypp’s rudeness towards him is what sent him into the sensitivity simulation in the first place. Minds begin to break and it’s a needlessly complex conclusion to the episode that pokes fun at the cliffhanger nature of shows. It’s a very fun gag, even if its whole purpose is to not make sense. If there’s any series out that that shouldn’t give it a fuck, it’s Ballmastrz: 9009.

“When You Wish Upon A Spore” is just as satisfying as the episodes that have come before it this season, but it connects a little harder since it uses its time to tell a compelling Flypp story. The episode manages its time well and puts together an episode that’s full of action, delivers some of the best jokes of the season, and is touching without being overly emotional. It’s an episode that takes a lot of risks and does its own thing, but its success only speaks towards how Ballmastrz: 9009 continues to evolve and has no set structure or genre to its episodes.