Unbreakable Machine-Doll Episode 8
What They Say:
Loki and Raishin form a hostile alliance–or something–to defeat the man who’s toying with them all.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Unbreakable Machine Doll has lost me a bit with this arc as we got the first fights underway for the positioning that goes on here now that Raishin is formally involved in things. It took some dangerous turns early on, especially with Raishin being taken down hard and struggling to live, though he managed to recover enough to fight for a bit to try and stave off what’s happening. But now he’s found himself going up against Bronson after managing to befriend Frey well enough so that he and Loki can do what needs to be done. Sadly, the characters here really haven’t been explored all that much so the main thrust of things that you get is that Frey has a simple manner about her and is solely concerned about her familiar, Rabbi, while Loki is the overly aggressive type.
Which makes for some useful moments in the fight itself to be sure as he can definitely go on the attack well and fight, especially since he’s trying to break free of what’s been controlling him and his sister all this time with Lucifer. Loki does come across a bit better here and the first half allows Raishin to help without taking over the situation, which makes it easier for Loki to truly stand up for what he believes in and to help his sister. The sibling side of the show has obviously played in an expected manner, but they do service it well here with the way they feel about each other given some decent time and with the kind of motivation it can bring. Having Loki do his best against his opponent works well, even if he’s struggling throughout the whole thing because of the superior force.
Events do end up sputtering out in the second half, largely because others get involved with what Bronson is doing and take him away. That puts us into the recovery phase where we get the really worn down Loki and Raishin being all hyperactive since they can’t get along (but do) all while the girls do their best to take care of them. It is amusing with Yaya since she goes all medical doll on him and hits the right costume, but it’s more of just the same kind of light post-arc material that does humanize the characters a bit while not doing anything that’s really useful for them. The fun is worthwhile but the whole thing is just used to close things up for this arc before giving us that last tease during the final moments of the episode of what will come next, which at least brings us back to Charl.
In Summary:
Depending on how you look at it, this whole arc is in the end about bringing Loki and Frey into Raishin’s life and adding a new set of friends for them. That’s not a bad thing, but the problem is that the arc just didn’t feel liked it gelled together well enough to make either of them compelling. We get the archetypes of who they are here, sweet Frey and outgoing and aggressive/protective Loki, but there’s really not a lot more there when you get down to it. With Charl coming back in potentially a big way, I’m looking forward to the next arc, but these opening two storylines have not infused me with a lot of hope. It has some neat ideas but execution and world building is coming across poorly in episodic form.
Grade: C+
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.