English Dub Review: Listeners “You Made Me Realise / You Made Me Realise”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After nearly being defeated by the Witch Sisters, Echo and Mu are rescued by a strange Player with a British accent named Bilin Valentine. She takes them back to her flying fortress in the sky, where the two of them get a chance to recuperate.

Once they’ve recovered, Bilin interrogates Mu about her true identity while Kevin, her partner, talks shop with Echo.  They learn more about the war that occurred ten years back and who caused it. In order to see what they’re made of, Bilin and Kevin challenge Echo and Mu to a battle. Afterwards, Bilin gives them permission to leave, but tasks them with recruiting Players from the past who know more about Jimi.

Our Take:

It took three episodes, but Listeners is finally settling down into the show it’s going to become for the rest of the season. After a premiere that was full of interesting small town characters and mysterious newcomer, the second episode flipped the script, doing away with almost everything and everyone from the first episode and going on the road — until they were stopped mid-train ride and attacked by a band of three weird sisters capable of summoning Earless illusions.

You Made Me Realize helps us back on our feet post shake up, but it’s not a chart topping 22 minutes, either. A lot of the interesting stuff in the episode comes from exposition given by Bilin, a knight who is dedicated to stopping the Earless from destroying the world. Ten years ago, she put together a festival with famous Players from all over the world in an effort to stop the Earless once and for all. It didn’t work out, and ended up causing a great war, partly because the number one Player, Jimmy Stonefree, doublecrossed Bilin. And wouldn’t ya know it, Mu’s necklace/core part is identical to one he used to have before vanishing.

This gives us a lot of backstory to digest, but the episode mixes it in with scenes from the present as Mu and Echo interact with their rescuers/captors. Bilin is a cool character, and her relationship with Kevin is certainly prime for exploration. The two of them stopped working together because he was willing to sacrifice country for love, and she wasn’t, but apparently they’re still living together and perfectly willing to team up now that Mu has arrived.

Mu and Echo go through their own little relationship foible, with Mu rejecting Echo at the beginning of the episode because of… reasons. It’s never really clear how she’s feeling about him, and so this part of the episode’s emotional core doesn’t quite come together. They barely know each other, but from what we’ve seen, Mu is a free-spirited fighter who does not seem like the type to push away the one person who’s been her friend.

After three episodes, Listeners seems a little bit hesitant to try out new sounds of its own, preferring to stick to the beat of other shows that have come before it. This episode flew by in a way that felt more like things had to happen rather than things were able to unfold organically.  From traveling around the world to find other Players to having giant mechs be a metaphor for relationships and music, there’s a lot going on here, but I’m not sure the show is properly remixing these elements into something coherent.