English Dub Review: The Gymnastics Samurai “Rock-Bottom Samurai”


OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
The gymnastics world reacts to Jotaro reversing his decision to retire, though the one with the biggest reaction is his coach Amakusa, who basically tells him that if he wants to continue destroying his body, he can do it somewhere else. Jotaro soon learns that he doesn’t really know how to plan out his work outs until Leo makes a friend while waiting tables who gives Jotaro free acupuncture. During that, it’s revealed that Jotaro was on the verge of overtraining and doing serious harm to his body, something that Amakusa was trying to warn him about. Upon learning this, he apologizes to Amakusa, who decides to help him again, though lets him know this will be an uphill battle considering Jotaro’s body is past his prime. However, just as things look to be working out, new gymnastics star Tetsuo Minamino shows up to show his disappointment with Jotaro.

OUR TAKE

So it’s been three weeks since the last dub episode of this series, meaning that I definitely needed a bit of a refresher on events before watching this episode. Seems Funmation took their sweet time getting back to dubbing this show, with one of the things thought about how things really don’t work how they used to, much like Jotaro’s ever aging body. And with the wait as long as it was, the rest of the eleven episode season has aired in Japan, meaning the whole series is available to watch before listening to the dub. I wonder if this will be putting out episodes more frequently now or if it will continue to be over half a month per episode. This show doesn’t exactly have the most compelling of stories, but it has heart if you’re willing to give that a chance. Problem is, I can see why many wouldn’t be, though I would hope that doesn’t always extend to the people who agreed to localize it. Perhaps things will get more interesting as the show goes on, and at the very least it looks like the visuals will be good, as this is being animated by Studio MAPPA, who are responsible for the upcoming final season of Attack on Titan (when’s THAT getting dubbed, huh Funi?).

Learning your limitations is the name of the game this week, with the episode mainly focusing on the impact of Jotaro’s last minute decision to not retire and him learning that his method of training wasn’t good for him at all. This gives us a chance to explore his former not quite stardom in the sport, his complicated relationship with Amakusa, and his developing friendship with Leo, who is still doing that whole ninja shtick. Stuff like that and the giant talking bird make me wonder how much this show is going to focus on being quirky instead of developing a story, though I guess we’ll see how much time it focuses on that. We’re now bringing in a gymnast who is more in touch with the professional scene who Jotaro will likely compete against, though it’s hard to say how all of that will shake out. Even with only eleven episodes to work with, it’s hard to say where this story will go or make use of that time. Still, don’t make me wait so long next time and I might have stronger feelings about it all.