English Dub Review: Estab Life: Great Escape “You Can’t Run from the Aquarium”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
A plea from a famous ballet troupe brings the extractors to the divided Ikebukuro Cluster. But will even they be able to sneak 18 clients past a lethal train crossing with secret police breathing down their necks?

Our Take:
A trip to the aquarium is a relaxing way to put our thoughts at ease and see the beauty in its aquatic animals. However, for the extractors, a trip to the aquarium means another extracting mission that’s anything but tranquil. Following the previous two episodes, I assumed that this week’s assignment would be the same. However, I was also hoping that this show would try to add something to keep the formula from getting more repetitive. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
In this episode, we see the team extracting an entire penguin ballet troupe to the west side of the Ikebukuro Cluster. The troupe leader, MaKale, hopes to live on the west side of Ikebukuro, so he can be free to express any creative idea he wants without interference. Unfortunately, there are two obstacles that may prevent the extractors from accomplishing this mission. First, they must deal with the penguin general, Merpen, who happens to be a believer in the ecosystem lifestyle and MaKale’s close friend. The other is a train crossing that divides the cluster and proves impossible to get across.
Despite an entertaining car chase sequence near the end, the episode features yet another formulaic plot that lacks a strong execution in its characters and thrills. However, it offers a couple of interesting elements that would come into play in the later episodes. One of them is that Equa can predict the future, which helped the team reach the other side of the train crossing unharmed. The other explains the extractors being traitors to the world order during an interrogation scene.
Overall, this week’s episode is what I would expect based on my experience with the previous two, for better or worse, mostly the latter. It did deliver a couple of things to make the formula more exciting, including the team rescuing Equa when she got captured by the authorities and Equa’s ability. Other than that, it’s another repetitive and bland extract mission that has already lost my interest. I would rather go to an actual aquarium than watch this episode again.