Who’s up for super advanced alien spears and castles? This totally makes things cool and not totally lame!

Yeah, seriously, the more we find out about the Neighbor’s world…the more just plain boring they seem to get. If they look exactly like humans, and they have societies pretty much like humans, then why bother making them aliens from another world? Why not make them unique, truly alien creatures, with their own physiology or culture that makes them different. Slap some point ears or head ridges if you have to, something! Either that..or not make them aliens at all. Maybe make this the future, and its some weird temporal cold war where future countries are stealing resources from the past? You may say that doesn’t make any sense…but screw it, neither does this show. Two separate dimensions making species that are pretty much identical? That’s just nonsensical and even worse, boring.

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HYPER ADVANCED CIVILIZATIOOON!!!!

Honestly, this episode is just full of Duck-face’s backstory, and its just..disappointing all around. It explains him and his dad were helping out a small, weaker country against another, and the whole thing feels drawn out and pointless.  They show congratulations at fighting well, some stuff, then it turns out there’s a Black Trigger assassin so Duckface’s dad doesn’t want him to fight.

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He’s going to go outside the gate, isn’t he?

Well, despite how epic this should be as a a battle between warring factions of an alien race..its really not. While the animation sometimes springs out the good stuff for action scenes, here it seems to really be stretching things out and just..not being engaging at all.

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Oh no, its the robots Dr. Eggman uses. RUUUN!!

So, Duck-face decides to go into the battle and not one minute in..like, before he does anything…

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You know, maybe having 11 year olds fight in your wars might not make for the best plan.

He is freaking dead. However, his dad is like “dammit son, now I gotta give up my life for you,because that’s what anime fathers do.” He makes the black Trigger which keeps Duckface alive and it sacrifices his entire life energy and he dies. Now you’d think Duckface would just break down, sobbing, who intense emotional anguish and pain and grief at his father’s sacrifice, right?

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Or he can just look like a derp at his father’s disintegrating body. This…this is just a core problem to this show, and it hasn’t gotten any better. The characters don’t emote, nothing in their animation or their voice acting shows any real sign of extreme feeling one way or another. Its always so stagnant and stiff and it makes the show feel utterly blegh and lifeless, and any attempts at having drama just fall flat on its face. This should be a heartbreaking scene, I should feel sad about this…but the show can’t meet me half way by doing something to express the emotion it wants me to feel.

Anyways, Duckface uses the Black Trigger to help the smaller country win the war, achieve peace, and all that good stuff. However, after that, Duckface had fuck-all to do, so he was like “let’s go to earth” for a reason thats really kinda stupid.

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Damn it, they even have poorly lit meeting rooms in this dimension. And why does the advanced Neighbor world have such low tech…everything?

We learn something else too, that even though the Black Trigger keeps Duck face from dying immediately, it will run out and he’ll die on his own. Granted, they don’t say how long, but if its anywhere near a close point of time…doesn’t that make his dad’s sacrifice kinda pointless? “Ok son, I’ll sacrifice my own life so you can live a good 10 years in the form of a child. No need to thank me!”

Now you’d think he’s come to earth to try and find a way to gain more life, but nope, he’s here to bring his dad back from the dead from the black trigger. However, there’s problems with that as well. Earth has had contact with Neighbors for about 4 years, and a bit more time with Trion energy and triggers. From what we can tell, Neighbors have had this stuff much longer. So why would Earth have technology to do something that hasn’t been figured out on the Neighbor’s homeworld. Were all Neighbor’s scientists just lazy and just said “eh, we did good enough time to stop advancing”, allowing earth to catch up? Why does earth seem so much more advanced than the alien world that is invading them with death machines?

Anyways, because he found out he can’t resurrect his dad, Duckface has no reason to exist and decides its better to go home. Meanwhile, Chika wants to join Border in case she might save her friend and brother. Wet Blanket convinces duck face to join their three man group so they can be a squad, rise in ranks, and save the people captured by neighbors. I will now sum up all the emotions all that brought out in me with one picture.

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I just..I just don’t care anymore. This show cannot make me care, it can’t provoke any emotions, it can barely provoke interest. I feel like when watching this show I am somehow sleepwalking in watching an anime. That’s how utterly lifeless it feels. I’m continuing with Hideki with this show (thank GOD it doesn’t have a season 2), and we will continue our descent and constant journey, to find something in this show we actually like!