English Dub Review: Zenshu “Change”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Natsuko loses to the Voids for the first time, but…

Our Take:  

In a shocking turn of events, Natsuko’s latest drawing failed to save the day!  This is mainly due to Natsuko’s overconfidence and unfamiliarity with the Slime Void, which may cause more issues than the others we encountered.  However, from a viewers’ perspective, it prevented the show from becoming too repetitive in the battles by focusing on the Nine Soldiers’ first loss since Natsuko arrived.  Of course, only two members of the Nine Soldiers took the loss pretty personally: Natsuko and Luke.  In Natsuko’s case, her loss to the Voids made her realize her overconfident nature, resulting in her starting to rely on her new allies to get the job done instead of always striving to accomplish things herself.  However, Luke’s arc is the main attention-grabber of the episode, as he starts to show his internal feelings for Natsuko while also being a bit arrogant towards her.

This is another episode that showcased the impressive talents of the voice cast, especially Ryan Negrón as Luke.  If this is his first voice acting role, I would say that Negrón has been making a strong debut so far.  He continues to make Luke’s arrogance more tolerable than it should be while also expressing the character’s emotions through his vocal range without sounding forced or corny.  I would also point out that the flashbacks involving the Tales of Perishing film deserve some credit for replicating the presentation that honors the anime aesthetics from the nineties.  It seemed a bit late to notice that element, so I figured I would mention that in this review before I forgot again.  Along with the second act’s thrilling battle and Justice’s redemption moment, “Change” has undoubtedly changed the show’s formula for the better by focusing more on its character development while providing more of its stellar animation.