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

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Endless waves of security drones threaten to overwhelm the extractors as they make a mad dash for the top of Oedo Castle. Meeting with The Manager is their last hope, but do they really have anything to offer the all-powerful AI?

Our Take: 

The extractors are about to go full-on Suicide Squad on their final mission. With the team reunited for what seems to be the last time, it’s time to storm the castle to rescue their Manager. After careful consideration, I feel that Estab Life is one of the shows that started rough regarding its execution but would eventually find its footing in the later episodes. The last couple of episodes weren’t great, but they did provide some improvement in their high stakes and character development. I suppose that’s better than nothing.

With the finale, the show hoped to conclude this seasonal arc with another fast-paced race against time to survive and extract their last client. But, of course, there are also a bunch of corrupted security drones for them to fight. While far from an actual closure, the season finale accomplished the series’ final mission with just a few scratches.

The episode wasted no time in getting the action started. Once the characters encounter the first wave on the elevator, the party never stops until its abrupt end. It’s like The Raid, but with a robot and a wolfman. Aside from Alga and Ulula being knocked out, there are not many life-and-death situations that make me hope for their survival. However, I did have a small amount of fun watching the extractors destroy the drones. Plus, Martes goes all Harley Quinn on the robots with her giant hammer.  

The episode also features information about Mr. M, a powerful AI, and his intention to build a perfect utopia. In addition to explaining that Fatal Luck is based on his simulations, Mr. M tells the extractors that bringing peace to society through clusters wasn’t his best plan. As a result, he hired them to get the citizens out of clusters they struggled to fit in with. Mr. M then converts his core data into a bio-printed body resembling Cendrillon to escape and leave his reformatted self behind.

The episode’s post-credit scene resembles the extractors returning to work with Hachiro as their first client since extracting Mr. M (or Miss M). So it seems we may or may not see the last of this unusual team. While the finale is sometimes entertaining, I feel it might not be enough to make its viewers, including me, demand a second season.