English Dub Review: Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit “The Six-Minute Battle to the Death”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The 7 are still at the mall, hanging out on the fourth floor. It’s the dullest level the mall has to offer. But that doesn’t matter because the team is finally all together—except for Nijo who’s hog-tied in the basement with no way to communicate due to the Wi-Fi jamming. Boss, however, is still able to converse with the team through his dragon drone because it’s either a two-way device or it runs on a closed network.

Ichinose informs the group that most of the terrorists are amateurs. Gramps, the ace gunman, is still worried because any idiot can shoot a gun and kill many people. Nanatsuki shares what he learned about the death ritual planned for midnight as the gang looks down at a huge pentagon embedded in the ground floor. They surmise that NINE is truly running this mission.

After getting scolded by the women for being glib, Ichinose concocts a plan. Using his Sherlock powers, he sends Akane and Bellemer to take out the five terrorists on the third floor. He tasks sharpshooter Gramps and himself—who can’t hit the broad side of an Auntie Anne’s—to take out the five terrorists on the second floor. And finally, he leaves the eight terrorists on the first floor—the ones holding the hostages with the most powerful weaponry—to Nanatsuki.

The rookie is perplexed as to why it’s up to him to take out the most members of NINE. Ichinose remains calm and says that if he doesn’t, ALL the hostages are going to die. And one last thing, Ichinose doesn’t want any of the terrorists to be killed because cops are supposed to protect and serve—not kill.

The next scene, for lack of a better term, is bonkers. The girls make quick work of the jokers on Three while Gramps and Ichinose hold their own on Two. After Charisma initially struggled to pull his own weight, he discovers he’s a crack shot whenever he doesn’t aim his gun. As for Nanatsuki, he borrowed a carabiner and some rope from Bellemer and uses them to swing upside-down and disarm the terrorists one by one, armed with a heavy-duty gun in each hand. During the melee, the team learns these “Children” believe they’re the Chosen Ones selected by Warlock. Their motivation for creating chaos stems from the promise of eternal life.

After going to the trouble of leaving all the terrorists alive, Warlock remotely sacrifices them anyway, to create a low-power dragon. Working together, the 7 find its video game-style weak spot and Nanatsuki runs through fire to stab it with Akane’s sword. The dragon is vanquished, but then again, it took a lot of effort from the entire team to destroy such a weak specimen.

Nijo also shows up for the final battle offering no explanation as to where he’d been or how he escaped from his brother. That’s odd…

 

Our Take

First, let’s talk about Nanatsuki’s special powers which were hinted at in the premiere and teased ever so slightly since then. There’s no doubt this kid is no mere human. He walked through a storm of fire that would’ve melted the faces off the other members of 7. Then again, besides Ichinose, nobody seemed that surprised. Perhaps they didn’t see it? I can’t quite place everybody’s position during the dragon attack, but there might have been some sight barriers since Akane couldn’t even advance enough to cut down the magic beast herself.

This was the most straightforward and, dare I say, formulaic episode so far. There was nothing outwardly wrong with it, and the action scenes were fun and thrilling. However, it felt like a generic police drama/shonen anime and not the unique genre story we’ve been presented over the first five episodes.

I have to admit, the dragon was kind of a letdown. They’ve been building up these purveyors of magic only to squander them with a half-baked reveal. It’s also quite the design flaw for them to highlight their weak spots in bright red—a power clash against their dark blue scales. As mentioned in the recap, it felt like a video game resolution as opposed to a real world problem the team had to work out together by using their various skills. I’d much rather have seen Bellemer illuminate the weak spot with her homunculus skills, or for Akane or Gramps to shoot or slice off its protective scale to set up Nanatsuki’s big hero moment.

And of course, we need to talk about Nijo. After so much soul-searching with this guy, they deus ex machina his escape? No way, we can’t have that! I’m assuming we’ll get to see the specifics of how he got free from his brother in the next episode, but until then, we certainly can’t trust him. That’s right, Nijo. The pointy elfin boot is on the other foot. For weeks you’ve been throwing shade on Ichinose and spreading your propaganda and insecurities. But now, you’re the one shrouded in secrecy. Scarface, after all, is a really good terrorist. It’s unlikely you got away without a fight.

Wait… Elves in this universe don’t wear pointed boots. They wear regular shoes just like everybody else. Apologies for the fantasy-xenophobia, I’ll try to be more objective in future reviews.