Day 2, Episode 2. First, two things I forgot to mention last time. I really like how Big O's cockpit looks. The typewriter keys and bare metal foot pedals are the best extrapolation of the show's 40s design sense applied to a giant robot cockpit. And on the animation side, I like how they convey Dorothy's weight. When she moves on her own it doesn't look different than anyone else, but when they try to move her she becomes solid and immoveable, almost like a statue. Weight is hard to convey in animation, but this show pulls it off very well.
All right, onto episode 2. Thankfully, a few of my questions from last time were answered. Apparently robots are uncommon in Paradigm City, at least they are now. I gather from dialogue that they were more common before the event 40 years ago, whatever that was. And the writers add a new wrinkle to the setting by mentioning that people in the city avoid the subway, and that's why Roger store Big O down there. Though it's kind of a dick move on his part to keep crashing up through the road and making the city pay for it. Anyway, that's an interesting detail and I hope the writers go more into it.
And speaking of Roger, his character grew on me during this episode. After defeating the big robot from last episode's climax, Dorothy disappears and he goes home. Now he says to himself that he doesn't have to get involved anymore, but he does anyway because he made a promise to her. I like this, it shows Roger has a sense of honor underneath his cool Bondian exterior. It shows again later when he rescues Dorothy from the villain's giant robot. We also learn a little more about what a "negotiator" is. I get the sense now that it's a criminal, or at least illegal job. We see Roger paying off an informant and taking evidence from a crime scene, so we can guess he doesn't mind bending the law for his work. And he also calls the episode's villain a negotiator too, though not a professional one like himself. All this implies a degree of illegality. This raises the question of what Roger's relationship with the police is, because we've been shown he's chummy with the police captain. Given that this is a Batman riff, for now I'm going to assume it's similar to how he and Commissioner Gordon work.
And going back to the episode's villain Beck, man this guy was fun. He was almost a non-presence last time but here he gets to cut loose. There is some wonderful over-the-top animation of him piloting his giant robot from his van that reminded me of the Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. And it's done in a way that doesn't break the show's look or feel incongruous. I hope we see more of this guy. The giant robot fight itself felt better this time too. The music was still good, going for "dangerous action" mood rather the "heroic triumph"of last episode that fits better with the show's established atmosphere.
I still have issues with the show's tone. It seems like it can't decide whether it wants to be serious and somber, or snarky and silly. It does both not badly, but the transition between the two is rough and they're pulling off serious and somber better. Also, the concept of memories is introduced this episode. Memories are things from before the amnesia event that trigger...well, memories of people's former lives. These memories have a profound psychological impact on people that leads them to do dangerous, even crazy things. I like this idea, it feels organic to the setting and could be a good creator of conflict and character drama. But I fear it could give the show a "memory of the week" format where somebody finds a memory, goes crazy and causes trouble Roger has to fix with his giant robot. We'll see.
At any rate, a good second episode. It may have worked better if it and the first had been one hour long story instead of two parts, but as is it's all right. Come back tomorrow for Episode 3.
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