English Dub Review: Thunder 3 “TIME IS UP”

Overview

As the Small 3 soar toward Shibuya, Genius runs out of options against a relentless alien warrior. Reinforcements arrive, but will it be enough?

Our Take

Picking up from the previous episode, Thunder 3 finally gives the Small 3 some much-needed attention, while the Rebellion faces off against a particularly dangerous Alien Elite. There are some genuinely cool moments here, especially with the action and the aliens themselves, but the episode still seems determined to make the audience wait as long as possible before letting the main characters really get going. At this point, I’m convinced the series has mastered the art of blueballing its audience.

The biggest issue continues to be the pacing. Too much of the episode is spent on characters staring, reacting, or standing around when the story should be moving forward. The character development is also becoming increasingly uneven, with certain characters suddenly getting more attention while others are seemingly forgotten. There are plenty of interesting ideas here, but the anime keeps dragging them out instead of capitalizing on them. At this rate, “Thunder 3” might as well be called “Thunder Stare.”

Overall, Thunder 3 remains a bizarre mix of great concepts, interesting characters, and painfully slow storytelling. I still want to see where everything goes, but after ten episodes, my patience is starting to wear thin. Hopefully, the final few episodes can finally pick up the pace and give the Small 3 the chance to actually live up to their name. Because if this keeps going, I might need to unlock fast travel myself and skip straight to the ending.