English Dub Review: Listeners “Cross Road Blues”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Mu has been taken over and is being used as a weapon and a means to Tommy’s evil machinations, and Echo wakes up alone in a cornfield. He’s taken in by Janis and her grandfather Robert, where he works alongside the family performing simple chores and lending a hand with the farm work in the town of Clarksdale.

But there’s more to the farm life then there seems. Echo finds a record collection in the basement, and then Janis leads him to the Origin, where the Earless and humans crossed ways for the first time. He learns more about Jimi’s origins, including the fact that Janis is his actual sister. And he makes a choice about where he wants his future to go.

Our Take:

Listeners started out as a show about a simple boy with big dreams. It’s grown a lot in the past nine episodes, but for the tenth outing, the show has returned to its roots in a way by bringing Echo back to the basics. Cross Road Blues is a breather for sure; an episode where not a whole lot happens on the outside, but it’s a sign of bigger things underneath the surface.

After the big revelations last week that saw Mu becoming a shadow of her former self, Echo has lost everything and is in a low place. Being found and adopted by Janis and Robert is a great way for him to get his mind off things. He works an honest days labor doing things like brushing the cow and planting beets — but the thing is, I don’t really know how he can be so lackadaisical when he knows Mu is in such trouble.

Despite her attack and everything that happened with Nir last week, Echo knows that Mu can’t be doing all this of her own volition. I feel like at this point, the two of them should be willing to go through hell to fight for each other… but it seems like Echo just isn’t ready to do that yet. That said, there is a nice storyline running through this episode (and the show as a whole) about how it doesn’t take special people to make a difference.

Janis tells Echo he’s ordinary — but that’s not necessarily a diss on him. Indeed, Jimi started off as a simple farm boy with a big dream to unite and pacify the Earless and human’s struggle. Sometimes what the world needs is an average kid with a kind heart, and that’s what Janis and Robert communicate to Echo in this episode. It’s a sweet message that rings true, and it helps Echo get back on track.

Listeners usually plays fast and loose with specifics, and this episode is no different, leaving the finer details of the Origin up to viewers. One thing is clear though: it has a lot of power, and at first, Echo isn’t ready to accept it. At the crossroads between becoming a god or a demon, he resists, saying he’s just a normal boy. But then he realizes there is one thing he wants more than anything — and that’s to save Mu. Now that he’s finally come back to his senses about her, the final few episodes are shaping up to be quite the doozies.