Talk:What We Should Protect/@comment-27186083-20180928045350

Review time, here because I don't want to take up too much space on the series page.

So,

Enshrined by CTRL, the Copious C!

Okay, now that we’re on to Episode 12… let’s see how serious things have become.

I think we all know the answer to that… Aizen tries to be a hero again, tries that same move, only this time it didn’t work and he gets defeated in some of the most brutal ways ever. This definitely tops Katsumi’s beating by Red King back in E4.

Seriously, dude got it much worse than Kei did.

And with his defeat, Asahi grabs hold of the Orb Ring NEO. Well ain’t that just nice? But I see that this brings us all to our next matter; the other family members knowing about the brothers’ alternate life.

Let’s take a brief rest here… what we just witnessed is how drastically Saki can alter a kaiju, and man does she make them much more dangerous than they already were. Horoborus this time around, is much less of a pushover than before, obviously, as seen when it just tanked all of Orb Dark’s attacks. And those two were pretty much equals before Orb Dark used his HAX ability. This same ability is also outright ignored this time around. Okay, yeah, no. Imagine the possibilities of Saki’s enhancement on Grigio-King. No wonder they’re going to bring out Ruebe at that time.

Okay, with the end of commercial break, so has the review’s break come to an end. Let’s continue shall we? Oh, R/B got bodied, big surprise. We know they stood no chance against Horo before its change, but now it might as well just be outright murder.

As Asahi tries to get the brothers to hold on, we see in the works, another very simply yet equally effective camera work as Asahi fruitlessly calls out to them. That shot? Nothing much, just that there was a decently sized space where the characters didn’t take up, with Horoborus’ roars nearly drowning Asahi’s voice out. This lets us know that they really aren’t playing around this time.

Then Saki comes in, casually calling back Horoborus. Creepy lady… Unfortunately though, I was never quite a fan of whenever a character practices the b-word face. I think I especially dislike this blank-faced villain trope. Hopefully however, they can make up for her lack of expression with lots and lots of action. And I think we all know by now, that’s exactly what they’re aiming for.

Let’s talk composition again; the way Asahi remains quiet, and how she was framed into the scene really worked there. Really conveyed the fact that she’s still trying to cope at this revelation, looking unsure of what to do. I thought that was the peak of this, and then we see how broken Ushio must have felt when, I’m sure you noticed, that the camera went slightly out of focus for a very brief moment when he turned to his sons. Afterwards, when he was alone, we were shifted into that scene with a distant shot of him. Then, even as we closed in when he started talking, he never really focused his eyes onto something; either looking blankly or at something that only holds memories of a time long gone.

Even when he finally thought there’s nothing truly wrong, he still seemed unsure with how he again looks off into an invisible distance. This clearly meant he’s not truly focused anymore, as further confirmed or maybe implied when he accidentally dropped the book. I’m more or less talking about the general direction of the episode here now, aren’t I?

Let me also clear off that I’m not trying to sound pretentious by doing all that, I just took a liking in scene analysis lately so, yeah.

Moving on, we get a nice detail back at the hospital where Katsumi woke up first. You might think, “oh maybe that’s just because he’s further into the limelight”, I think they’re more or less playing into the fact that Katsumi is the one that’s more physically able among the family.

Okay, who thinks the shaky cam is unnecessary in this episode? Because, even without thinking too deeply into it, we know that it’s supposed to add to the atmosphere of the situation. Think about it, we’re clearly going more into Asahi’s head right now as she spoke of how it had always been those two behind the actions of the Ultramen. The shaky cam lets us know that Asahi still feels conflicted at the idea of Katsumi and Isami risking their lives without their knowledge, potentially even getting themselves killed. Everything then zooms out as the camera returned to being still, showcasing the stillness of everything as nobody else spoke up afterwards.

Now that Saki’s called Horoboros back, anyone wanna talk about how R/B has the most composition shots? Composition shots, as in the characters being merged together with a shot of either the scenery or the sets. Because wow, not only are they abundant, they’re also better than ever now.

Hm, funny how in just one episode, they managed to raise the stakes insanely high that it trumps the works of previous shows starting the New Gen Era. And here I thought Taguchi would have been the perfect image for the Ne Gen’s line of directors.

Poor Asahi, still can’t accept the fact that her brothers are Ultramen.

And even with the brothers’ once more renewed determination to fight, they still could barely hold on against Horoboros. Seriously, the thing’s like a monster ProWres champion. Even has the looks of one, too, now that I’ve looked again.

Hoo whee… That continuous attack, though. Even after the Sperion and Zedcium Rays, Horoboros still managed to push through. This does not mean that Horoboros is unnecessarily stronger than he is, no, it’s because he is strong. Not only that, the brothers’ rays are probably notably weaker as well. After all, they haven’t used much purely energy-based attacks. And then the spectacle, with the final attack activated, Big Brother Orb is here as an apparition! Even after that prolonged duration of the triple blast, it still only managed to barely break past Horo’s attack and only managed to pierce through it with the last of the stream.

Sneaky little evil lady, disguising herself as a nurse. Once again, Aizen and Darling interacts with each other as if they’re a married couple or something. And again, Aizen’s face is a real gold mine.

And now, after a long day, things are finally back to normal. At least… for now.

Wait… Wait… WAIT WHAT!? Okay, no wonder Ushio was so focused on the picture… Is… Asahi a non-member? I mean, Saki did say something about a ‘fake’. Is that how Asahi managed to get the Orb Ring to hear her? Oh no…

And thus, our review nears its end. Oh wait, does this also explain why Asahi could hear the Victory Crystal’s call? Oh dear. Next episode is as I expected it to be, a filler sort episode, and I don’t want to hear any peep about it okay? I mean, see the positive side of this for once, there’s probably actually a reason again for the next episode to happen! Or just do as AmazonNeo down there plan to; not watch it if you don't want to bother.

Now, what are my overall thoughts, however, regarding the episode? Well, it was crazy. There’s only really one thing that was weird, that was the fact the cheering crowd just appeared. A glimpse of them would have made it work, but just hearing them cheer outta nowhere was weird. Again yes, I know that they were also seen early on, but yeah. I also don’t like how disconnected Ushio still is to the whole thing though. But I believe that will change soon enough, as he finally sees the holes in their memories.

Overall, this episode was an amazing 8.2/10. Definitely my favorite episode now.

This was a review of R/B Episode 12, and hoo boy, think I’m full. Let’s take it easy next time, yeah?