English Dub Review: Listeners “I AM THE RESURRECTION”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Mu has officially been taken over by a giant Earless beast called the Duel Showman (or Listeners), and the world is suffering as a result. Earless attacks worldwide are on the rise and people are in pain.

In the midst of the chaos, Denka starts a revolution of love in order to unite the world once again, and he gets a surprising visitor from Gnome who recruits his power in order to save Mu from herself. As they begin to formulate a plan, Bilin and Kevin arrive with the final piece of tech they need — but Listeners may prove too powerful to defeat.

Our Take:

Listeners has had a lot of ups and downs throughout its season so far, but now the penultimate episode has arrived and along with it, the potential destruction of the world. It’s an episode that’s filled less with actual doom and more with people discussing the impending doom, but it also features a number of cool cameos from characters we’ve met throughout the series, which helps make it feel more engaging than it really is.

Everyone in the world is responding to Listeners arrival in different ways. Denka is the first to act upon the news, taking the situation in hand and going on a world tour to spread his message of love throughout the land. Not everyone is regarding his gesture without suspicion, though. Roz, the Princess of Gnome, is an old friend of Denka’s, and she arrives with a desperate plea. She’s connected to the Earless in a way that few others are, and so she knows that Mu needs help — and where she’ll be showing up next.

Kevin and Bilin show up as well. The two of them are the first Players that Mu and Echo ran into on their journeys, and Bilin has taken it to heart that she was the one who pushed Mu into becoming what she has. Kevin, meanwhile, is hoping to atone for his past sins by helping create a weapon that can take Listeners down once and for all.

In these ways, those Players who failed to help Jimi way back then are atoning in their own ways. It’s cool to see, and helps pull together some of the show’s more disjointed parts into a more orderly narrative arc. Echo and Mu have touched everyone they’ve met in different ways. Some want to kill Mu now, like Bilin and Nir. Others wants to help her, like Roz and Echo. And then there are those whose motives are more unclear, like Denka. We even get to see a bit of Swell, Echo’s big sister, which is great because I was sad she only appeared early on until now.

While Listeners doesn’t seem like it’s destined to become a renowned classic after eleven episodes, it does seem like the show is coming in for a solid landing that it might just be able to stick — as long as the music doesn’t get too crazy in the final measure next week.