Episode 41
The return of Gou! I always wondered how Soda chose to bring him back in this fashion. Jou bumps into Gou outside of a hospital. Gou still has amnesia, and in this episode, he's hit by a beam of the Brain Beast's and turns invisible. Whether it's accidental or if Gou was targeted to become invisible, it's not really clear, so it's weird to me.
But the attack ends up causing Gou's memory to return, which pisses Bias off and leads him to order all of his subordinates to kill Gou at any cost. So it becomes a chase to kill Gou, and once the Liveman have him in a safe spot, Gou reveals that, in his early days in Volt, he once saw Bias up to some strange experiment in a secluded room. He doesn't quite know what Bias was up to, but Bias was pissed to see him spying, so it's obviously the reason he wants him dead now.
I suppose Bias was fine with Gou seeing this, since Gou needed him and he was a devoted member of Volt and Bias. And I suppose Bias let him off the hook once he lost his memories. I think that's interesting and unpredictable for a villain to do, but...I'm not sure if I buy it from Bias. Bias, in the earlier episodes, is a character of such mystery, creepiness and viciousness, that I think he would have totally killed Gou to keep his secret. This latter day Bias is different, and he ends up becoming a B-Movie villain, but more on that as it develops.
Episode 42
This is actually a pretty cool idea for an episode -- Bias uses mind control to manipulate Tetsuya in order to have him and a Brain Beast plant bombs at the Grand Tortoise. The problem, of course, is Seirou Yamaguchi's weak performance. He makes some seriously goofy faces as Tetsuya's supposed to struggle, pulling himself away from Bias' mind control. But that's such a great moment, IMO, when he's cornered Yuusuke with a gun, ready to shoot him. The others get through to him by bringing up Takuji -- asking if he's ready to take a life like Takuji's was taken, by the same method Takuji's was taken. That was a great touch.
And I think it's funny that the Brain Beast of the week WASN'T killed by BiMotion Buster in this episode, but by being ejected at mach speeds from the Grand Tortoise.
Episode 43
While Gildos is the less offensive of the two ass-clowns who don't fit with Volt -- I'd say Gildos and Butchy are the Black Bison and Green Sai of Volt, but I think they might be even worse and more detrimental to the show than Tetsuya and Jun'ichi -- he's not interesting enough to get his own send-off episode. Just have him and Butchy die unceremoniously off-screen like Okerampa or something.
Speaking of Jun'ichi, this is a great one-two punch of stink -- a Gildos episode AND a Jun'ichi episode. When Gildos creates a monster that can't be defeated and constantly revives, Jun'ichi looks like a chump in the eyes of the injured kid he's trying to help back to health. The kid is a real asshole -- seriously, where do the Liveman find these assholes? You almost feel bad for Jun'ichi for trying so hard to prove himself to this kid, taking a lot of beatings, but then you remember it's Jun'ichi.
Episode 44
HATE this episode. I hate it SO much. It's definitely my least favorite Liveman episode -- yes, lower than Pig School -- and it's stupid and it unfortunately makes Megumi look stupid. After learning his buddy Gildos was just a robot created by Bias, Butchy gets depressed and goes on a rampage with his latest forgettable monster. Megumi feels bad for him and makes friends with him, getting nostalgic for her -- and our -- first encounter with Butchy, the lousy episode 22. WHY!?!? Butchy was a jerk, Butchy continued to be a jerk. Why does she feel bad for him? Why does she bond with him over her own song? Why does she miss him when he dies and fantasize about how she could have played and danced with him on the beach?
This episode's obviously meant to be the cool-down/lighthearted romp before all the shit goes down in the final stretch, but this episode is just moronic, doesn't work, and doesn't remember its characters. It's a waste.
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