Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms

Episode 9

With Hikaru and Alma's spectacular fight, alongside a reinvigorated Jun, against the enormous kaiju-sized Mecha-Ude Ordela, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was Mecha-Ude's finale. But no – this is merely episode nine, and nothing but the latest in a string of “finales,” making this show's closest equivalent to 2018's similarly ridiculously overstuffed Planet With, a show comprised mostly of one finale after another. I'm not necessarily complaining; when done well, like this episode, the narrative style “More is More” can be entertaining.

Ordela itself isn't so much an antagonist as a force of nature, its full strength hindered by encircling pieces of its broken restraints, a visual that reminds me of the final “boss” of the trippy (and amazing) rail shooter videogame, Rez. Whether that's deliberate or not is up for debate, but anything even accidentally referencing one of my top games of all time is all right with me.

Hikaru and Alma are more in sync now than they've ever been, and their insane new combined form is more than a little reminiscent of Gurren Lagann's continually enlarging mechs that exponentially escalate in power as the characters grow. They get bonding time with Jun as they work together against a common foe, with Jun even accepting heartfelt compliments from our central pair. Jun's a good boy really, as I've always maintained.

This theme of working together continues, as (the wonderfully-designed, cool blue-and-yellow) Twos reunites with her overjoyed former partner Oner to aid ARMS in distracting Ordela enough for Hikaru and Jun to get their blows in. It was clear from earlier episodes that eventually everyone from both the Kagami Group and ARMS would end up on the same side – and now we know who the true antagonist is…

I almost got this right a few episodes ago when a post-credit stinger showed creepy flower Amaryllis being confronted by her boss, a character with a silhouette suspiciously similar to Alma's previous partner Yakumo. Amaryllis isn't dead, and it turns out she's been parasitizing the Kagami family, controlling their family heads every generation for the past century. Whether this has something to do with Jun's Arbitrium deficiency is unclear. Still, each successive Kagami family head has died younger and younger. Jun is next in line once his brother Naohito's life force is inevitably drained by Amaryllis.

What's clever about this episode is how it inverts what we've come to expect. The Kagami Group aren't necessarily the bad guys as they've been controlled by Amaryllis for decades. Jun's big brother isn't the asshole we perceived him to be – he's been doing his best to protect his little brother, by building Ouroboros, a synthetic Mecha-Ude specifically designed to destroy Amaryllis. In a counterpoint to this, it turns out ARMS is the true enemy. We already knew leader Aljis was an asshole, but now we learn he's really Yakumo? That's one hell of a twist and not one I expected. Hopefully, we'll get more answers in the remaining three episodes, which I'm almost certain will be even crazier than what we've seen especially considering the show's obvious inspirations.

With episode 9, Mecha-Ude continues to excel in clever, economical storytelling. Although this episode remains packed with incidents, it feels rewarding, less rushed, and more focused than earlier arcs. I'm excited to see what comes next.

Rating:

Mechanical Musings:

• Once again, in this plot and exposition-heavy episode, Meru is conspicuous by her absence. I await her big return. Surely Hikaru and Aki will share some vaguely romantic moments ripe for fevered misinterpretation in the final three episodes? • Jun's synthetic Mecha-Ude can now remove human users' Mecha-Ude from their bodies without causing harm. Was this part of Naohito's plan? • How did Yakumo live for so long? Is Mecha-Ude the key to immortality? What, exactly, is his goal?

Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.