English Dub Review: Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit “Nine Years’ Rage”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The team is tasked to pick up a very important witness at the airport. Of course, it had to be the airport, right where that huge bomb went off nine years ago. Ichinose, Nijo, and Nanatsuki—who were there that day in different capacities—all have their own version of PTSD. Ichinose remembers seeing the explosion from the highway while he was driving there to meet his partner’s brother. Unbeknownst to Ichinose, Nijo was that mysterious brother who survived the bombing but wasn’t taken, hostage. Nanatsuki, a mere child at the time, was taken hostage, and so much more.

In the present, officer Nanatsuki is surprised to meet the witness—and not because he looks eerily similar to Ichinose. It’s actually because he was one of the main terrorists involved in the airport bombing. He was the man who took Nanatsuki hostage, forcing Luka to come to his rescue and separate from his partner. This witness also claims to have shot Luka multiple times which did not kill him. That’s the reason why Warlock took a liking to the gruff cop and why he turned Luka into his lapdog. At least, that’s what the terrorist says, but who’s going to believe some terrorists?

On their drive to headquarters, a bunch of vans containing NINE operatives pursue the Special 7 convoy and really start messing them up with their automatic weapons and offensive driving. Things look bad for the squad when two tractor-trailers come at them, head-on. This prompts Ichinose to order Nijo to drive through the guardrail. Only problem: they’re hundreds of feet in the air. Luckily, Mr. Charisma checked with Bellemer and had them crash safely into an abandoned factory.

The heat turns up when Nijo uses a cellphone blocker to force the others out of the room, leaving him alone with the witness. While holding the trussed-up man at gunpoint, he blames him for his brother’s turn to the dark side. Ichinose, who had no idea Nijo was Luka’s adoptive brother, is simultaneously shocked, touched, and sorry for the predicament they have found themselves in. But like Nanatsuki—who lives by the noble words Luka once told him—he won’t allow Nijo to take justice into his own hands.

After disarming the damaged elf, the gang brings the witness to a hotel room—a last-minute change of venue instilled by Public Safety. Luka, however, has infiltrated the building and rigs the witness’s room to blow up the moment Nanatsuki and Ichinose get him inside. Ichinose recognizes him a second too late, and the former partners are separated by the blast. Neither he nor Nanatsuki are hurt, but the witness is killed. However, seconds before he dies, he gives the rookie his glass eye which will likely come into play later.

Meanwhile, Nijo, who’s patrolling the ground floor, recognizes his brother straightaway and confronts him a few blocks from the hotel. Both men draw their guns on each other as the episode ends.

 

Our Take

Remember this date in history; this was the moment we reached peak Special 7. For weeks, this quirky cop show has been balancing a series of plates as it brought together a myriad of storytelling elements. Now we have been gifted with the first round of pay-offs. Not only did this episode bring to light some satisfying resolutions and revelations, but it also left enough mystery to compel the story further in the episodes to come.

The way Nanatsuki made a personal sacrifice during the terrorist attack, and then did the exact same thing nine years later during a bank robbery, showed stalwart consistency within his pure heart. The original sacrifice occurred moments before he met Luka, so even though that mystery officer’s words helped him decide to become a cop and make a greater difference in the world, we know the bulk of his goodness has always existed.

In a way, Nanatsuki is a living example of what Charles Darwin tried to teach us 150 years ago but we were too enamored with the prospect of manifest destiny to listen. Nature and nurture aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, it takes a fair amount of each to rear a properly functioning member of a species destined to survive. In other words, while our rookie was born with the pureness of heart, he needed Luka’s intervention to cement his career. If not for that chance encounter, Nanatsuki could’ve become one of the firefighters in Fire Force, or one of those swimmers from Free!

Sorry, Ichinose, it looks like there’s no way for you to save Nijo’s soul. A part of the boy died nine years earlier, along with his brother’s conscience. So long as you or somebody else on the team is around to keep him in check, it’s possible to stop him from committing what he considers justifiable homicide. However, as we learned from this episode’s final moments, the boy’s going to do what he feels is right, regardless of consequences.

Looks like things are going to get very serious in the Special 7. Gone are the halcyon days of Pho, bonding, Labrador retrievers, and cute little drones that look like baby dragons.