English Dub Review: Million Arthur “Fists of Fury”

(also known as The Tekken Connection)

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Readings come in on three distortions in time, so the six-man team splits up into groups of two to deal with each one. Dancho, hoping to continue her streak of bonding with teammates, plans to pair up with Yamaneko, but gets stuck with Ruro instead so they can go fight Indiana Jones Arthur (I’m dead serious). Yamaneko ends up with Renkin to battle a guy who provides the obligatory fanservice of the episode by tying the two of them up in rope, with blatant close-ups on boobs and legs. Gee thanks.

But the real stars of the episode are the third pair, Tekken and Kakka (and their fairies Titania and Bridgette), who are total opposites and are therefore perfect for a buddy cop story like this. Tekken is a bullheaded fitness freak and Kaka is a stuck up spoiled know-it-all and they’re gonna have to *record scratch* work together to find this distortion’s Arthur. Once they arrive at the right time, the two are mistaken for miners at a nearby mine but use that as a chance to gather intel. Tekken takes to the manual labor like a fish to water but Kaka is run ragged. They also learn that the people of this mine are victims of an alien attack, but a man named President Lester (wow, his parents must have had high aspirations) took them all in and gave them work. He’s also the only one here with a unique looking design so he’s probably the bad guy and the Arthur.

That hasn’t been revealed yet though, so Tekken really flocks to Lester’s strong principles and willingness to help everyone he can. But he and Kaka are coming up short on any leads until they notice a shiny rock amongst the rubble. Further investigation shows that this a rare earth element that is primarily used by the invading aliens. They confront Lester with this the next day, along with proof that he’s been selling the stuff directly to the enemy invaders. Dropping his nice guy act, he also reveals he’s the Arthur and uses drills as his Excalibur, hoping to avoid conflict by siding with the invaders, so Tekken and Kaka punch his time-card. And face.

The four return to headquarters, now better friends, and check in on the timeline of the miners they saved. Turns out they fought back the invaders and found new work elsewhere.

OUR TAKE

Million Arthur continues to be it’s expected to be a non-challenging un-threatening mobile app adaptation of itself, only this time without less fan-service! Probably because it focused on two guys this week. Ironically, I ended up liking this episode a bit more, likely due to there being less time devoted to padding and ogling Dancho and more about characters bouncing off each other. As mentioned, Tekken and Kaka are basically total opposites of each other, so naturally, an episode where those two pair up is going to be about where they find common ground, which in this case is their mission of stopping other Arthurs. No flashbacks to their motivations or hints at what makes them tick like with Renkin last time, but I guess that’s fine if the interactions in the present are up to snuff.

It’s also notable that despite this group being made up of four characters, the fairies Titania and Bridgette basically fade into the background compared to the banter of the Arthurs. Looking at how each of the fairies is paired with their respective Arthur, you can get a sense that they’re going for an “opposites attract” thing with them too. For example, Dancho is rowdy and fan-servicey while Nuckalavee is composed and reserved. Likewise, Tekken is overtly masculine and Titania is equally feminine, while Kaka is prudish and strict and Bridgette is easy going. Yet when their guys are the ones going at it, their respective fairies seem to not serve many purposes besides awkward transportation, which could probably be handled by their magic anyway. Maybe this is expanded on in later episodes or the second season?

And I’m gonna set a prediction now for at least the rest of this season: If the characters meet someone on a mission who doesn’t look like a regular Joe Schmo, then that person is likely to be the next Arthur to fight. This is only going off two previous examples of this and last episode to work from, but I have a feeling this show is not going to break away from this pattern. Mark my words, they are not that clever. In the meantime, we still have Yamaneko and Ruro to get to know, whether it’s in a team up an episode or individually. It actually is kinda funny seeing Dancho so eager to bond with her teammates so there’s at least that to look forward to as the season continues.