This episode in a nutshell.
Shunpei, Rinko and the suspected arsonist are now running from the cops because of what Shunpei did. To make matters worse, Shunpei threw Rinko's phone! The question is how can Shunpei and Rinko prove the suspected arsonist's innocence?
Just like the previous episode, I really hated this episode. Reason why I hated it is because of the Gate of the arc, the suspected arsonist. And since he is just a suspect, I will just call him "the Gate" for this episode review. The reason why I hate it is because his fear for falling to despair is seriously annoying. Add the incompetent cops and the bad comedy; we have a really bad episode.
Another reason why hated this episode is because the episode suddenly became a motion comic book. I know it has something to do with the budget but if they can manage to create one bad CGI bird fighting one bad CGI plastic toy, I think they can manage to create an army of bad CGI birds by copy-pasting the same bird. The motion comic ruins the supposed mood this episode is trying to build in its opening minutes. It's an episode focused on Haruto's sidekicks and not about why Kousuke's idea is stupid.
Even if that's the case, there are still some good bits in this episode. The chemistry between Rinko and Shunpei is really well done and their interactions with the Gate are well done. Well not as brilliant as some of the Gate interactions we have, but at least it made the Gate realize to not worry too much about despair. To make up for the sidekick shenanigans in the previous episode, Rinko and Shunpei did some interesting detective work, which lead us to the discovery of the true culprit.
The way they made the reveal on who is the true culprit is really amazing. It feels like I am not watching a different episode... that is until the true culprit made his cartoon-y reaction. To be honest, I have no problems with cartoon special effects in tokusatsu just as long as it is pulled off in the right place and in the right time. Considering the tone of the scene, they should just stick with the transformation of the true culprit and let him wreck the place.
Finally, the fights in this episode felt too generic. But hey, at least we see different variations of their finishers this time around! At the end, they saved the Gate... well sort of. This is when the episode really pisses me off. After all the lesson we have with Rinko and Shunpei, the Gate just easily falls into despair and compared to Rinko, Shunpei and Mayu's cracking scenes, he is cracking in a really fast rate, in short there is no stopping him in becoming a Phantom! To make matters worse, that's how the episode ended... with Rinko and Shunpei doing their best "surprised" face! That is one stupid way to end one stupid episode. Plot, please come back now, we need you!
