And so another episode is brought to a close. And frankly... The bar continues to be raised ever higher. And this time in the form of more genuine drama in writing and acting together at last.
So let's run down the gambit of review material, eh?
First off, the sound. It's one of the most engrossing things about the series for me, and as always... It never fails. The music is once more familiar, with just the right amount of new content to bring new experiences to light. It's exciting, tense, dramatic, fun... The sound is and always has been a massive part of the series for me, and it shines here.
How about the art, then? The flow is officially nailed here. The avatars as as crisp as ever, the backgrounds continue to fit the tone well, and frankly... It just WORKS. Plus, Nylocke's Super Dragon Attack just... ROCKED. Very awesome stuff. Combined with the little details in things like Nye's eyes, and... Yeah. Art once again clears a new bar.
How's about the characters, then? Well, this time we have one meant to focus on NNNNNNYLOCKE! MASTER OF MERCHANDISING! But hey, he's my own favorite character as well, so who am I to judge. More to the point, this episode is the first time we've seen Nye break down out of character, and... Well, Martin plays it VERY well. Keeping to the character within the character and not just breaking into his normal voice. Not to mention we've also got Kirb explaining just what's going through his head, and showing the youth of his character (and all the fears that come with it) our pair of new characters, both of which playing off each other with aplomb, and rounding it all out... Gamecrazed, showing a much more human side to all of this. ...Kinda starting to remind me of Rei from that anime everyone seems to know but I can't say for copyright. Ahem. Bottom line on this? It was a much more human experience, and the characters benefited from it.
Last but not least... The story. This is potentially the weakest of the criteria, but more for the sake of the overarching story than this one episode. It's a very basic framework... Heroes meet client, help client reach ally, fight bad guy, go home. There's a bit more to it all in all, but the basic plot is... Well, weak. Still, it does manage to further expand on the storyline as a whole, and since I don't subscribe to the theory every episode needs to be a groundbreaking revelation, I don't mind all things considered. It's... Semi-filler to me. I dunno. But the kind that still means something, so it's cool.
So why is this 5 stars, for me? Because this is a series that continues to improve with every installment. I can't stress this enough... This series is WORTH watching. Even with the time in-between. To every single person who worked on this episode... Thank you for putting this effort into original material. You rocked. Keep it up, if you don't mind? And Kirb...? Rock on, man. If that bar goes any higher, you're going to hit the ceiling... And keep going.
WHOOOOOSH~!