English Dub Review: HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI “Youzen”

“Where to hide, suicide is the only way out, Don’t you know what it’s really about…”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

The episode begins with an inner-monologue from a blue-haired fellow with a Trident named “Yozen” who goes into a semi-tragic backstory that delves into the melodramatic inner-turmoil shit you’d come to expect from the protagonists of this show. After a comedic scene where cuts to the present, Yozen dicks with Taiko using his shape-shifting powers, but Taiko easily sees ‘s through them forcing Youzen to reveal who he is. Upon orders from Taiko’s master, Yozen is to help him on his journey but reveals to Taiko that he only said yes on the condition that he should test Taiko’s abilities, and if Taiko loses, Yozen will take his place and defeat Dakki. In a series of tests that Yozen subjects him to, One of them involves maintaining his composure in which he sort-of succeeds before his final test…

Aside from Taiko’s current sub-plot, A good portion of the episode’s is intercut with scenes that take place in the village of Choka where the Sinister fox-woman/royal advisor Dakki and Emperor Chuu reside. Within the Imperial Harem, a purple-haired woman named Kashi goes to visit her sister-in-law, Koh-shi, who just so happens to be Kou Hiko’s sister but is greeted by Dakki at the entrance who decides to join her. As Koh-shi tries to persuade Kashi to leave since it’s too dangerous for her to be there and wouldn’t you know it, the Emperor arrives and thing’s go downhill really fast when Dakki uses her temptation powers on Chuu which causes him to think with his dick by trying and attain Kashi for himself given that Chinese Emperor’s were allowed to marry as many wives as they wanted without consequence, but Kashi refuses his advances expressing how proud she is to be married to Koh-Hiko and as a big “Fuck you” to the Emperor, she falls to her death in retaliation. In response to this, Koh-shi proceeds to sock him one for being the direct cause of Kashi’s suicide before she follows in suit with Kashi wanting to give her Brother the freedom to do live his life since Koh-Hiko’s ties with royalty were because of his sister working for the emperor, to begin with.

When we get to the third act, Koh-Hiko gets the news about the deaths of both his wife & sister which doesn’t bode well when he decides to have a brutal training match against the Emperor and loses. But instead of killing Koh, Chuu spares his life and allows him to leave while Dakki watches the machinations of her plan, What’s left of the show’s running time cuts back to Taiko, as his final test turns out to be helping the evacuating citizens of Choka gain safe passage which at first, Taiko bitterly accepts but in a comedic & elaborate twist, proceeds to manipulate Yozen into doing it for him, which not only works, but the episode ends when Yozen decides to step-up his skills and train harder stating that he’ll join Taiko in his quest once his training is complete.

Our Take

While this episode wasn’t as migraine-inducing, as Episode 2, This episode feels like it doesn’t know what tone it’s going for. It’s really hard for me to find parts of this show funny when it wants you to laugh at Taiko & Supu’s misfortunes one min, but then it wants you to be shocked & saddened by characters you barely know or give a shit about like Koh-Hiko’s sister and wife who straight-up kill themselves within the very same episode they’re introduced and only do it as a big proverbial middle finger to their Emperor.

You know it’s a bad series when it makes you yearn for the sadistic & manipulative writing styles of George R. R. Martin & Joss Whedon because while they were douchebags who abused their own fanbases, at least they had their audiences invested enough time to make you give a shit about the characters so you can feel bad when bad things happen. If the creators of this Rebooted Anime franchise doesn’t give a shit about proper pacing, character development, or writing characters you’re supposed to care about, why should we?