English Dub Review: Thunder 3 “THE STRONG MEN”

Overview

Genius commandeers an alien walker and leads a counterattack. But two fearsome alien soldiers are en route. Meanwhile, Doc and the others seek answers.

Our Take

Picking up from the previous episode, Thunder 3 continues to feel like a bait-and-switch. The anime started with an interesting concept and a genuinely strong first episode, promising three manga characters with Kryptonian-like powers entering the real world. Instead, we’ve spent most of the series following random side characters, watching their backstories unfold, and sitting through painfully slow scenes that rarely connect in a meaningful way.

There are still some entertaining scenes, like Genius stealing the tank, Futaba stumbling across the main villain and a giant mecha, and the alien aces finally being taken down. But even those moments feel buried beneath everything else. And just when it seems like the Thunder 3 might finally become relevant, it takes until the very end for the “Small Three” to enter the fray.

Overall, I have to admit that I was wrong about this anime. I expected something exciting after that fantastic opening, but the series has spent far too much time focusing on characters I simply don’t care about while sidelining the very characters who made the premise appealing. Without the Thunder 3, there’s honestly very little here keeping me invested, and I can understand why the series failed to gain much popularity after its promising start. I’ll still see it through to the end or skim my way there, but at this point, I’m mostly watching to see if Thunder 3 can finally save the show they were supposed to be carrying in the first place.