Well that sure was something! Not sure how I feel about the Not! Gil reveal but we still got some pretty great moments in this episode. The exciting end of the race, Appare learning emotions and friendship, the slow gradual insight into Kosame’s character, cute character interactions, and all that drama in the end!
With Hototo and gang telling the other races what “Gil” and Chase were up to, Dylan went out of his way to find their henchmen and stop them. While the other racers were able to safely pass through the Valley of Despair (with Dylan and TJ going around the Valley of Death), unfortunately Appare and gang didn’t. Appare did a great job with their car, combining both gasoline and steam engines to work with each other and power up their car. He basically invented a hybrid car, and again I say, Appare could have just made money with his inventions but whatever. They get a bit left behind but Al and Xialian came back for them, and with a little persistence, Appare reluctantly agreed to let them take turns towing their car and driving together. It’s an incredibly sweet gesture, but it’s not really something Appare totally understands.
This was a really great episode for Appare’s development and I’m glad we’re getting stuff like this. I’ve noted in the beginning of the show that Appare kind of has a problem with tunnel vision and that he’s kind of selfish. He’s definitely a bit of a strange person, who went against social norms of his country and looked to one thing, which was technology/inventions. That’s all he really cared about and he’s focus his attention 100% to it without really caring about those around him. He didn’t pay any attention to his family or the people around him he bothered with his inventions and was mostly devoid of emotion or care. After all of this time with Kosame and meeting other people and traveling, Appare’s been slowly changing and he’s starting to not understand himself anymore. Kosame summed up pretty well how Appare views things, like machines. Appare is an extremely logical person, he only operates if it’s logical to his goal and dismisses anything else as a waste of time. Waiting for Hototo to come back instead of keeping up with the other racers and risk being too far behind? Illogical. Al and Xialian possibly messing up their chances in the race in order to help them simply because they want to? Very illogical, it doesn’t make any sense. And like Kosame said, people feel in three different ways. Appare for the most part only thinks with his mind, but he’s starting to use his heart as well (like when waiting for Hototo) and learning how people really think and react. He doesn’t really get it and is scared he’s turning stupid but he’s slowly getting there. Keep it up, Appare! And side note, seeing him try his best to help the others fish and whatnot was hilarious.
I really appreciate the friend group of Appare, Kosame, Hototo x2, Xialian, and Al. They’re always so fun to watch and they’re all so nice and sweet. Another “friendship”? or whatever, is TJ and Dylan. It was nothing significant and yet it made me laugh. I’m not sure if TJ is going to be chaotic and ruin shit but if he’s just going to be annoying towards Dylan then I don’t mind, it’s hilarious.
Then we have the ending with Hototo facing off against Chase and Gil. Again, I’m not sure if I like this. It was more of a…huh, okay??? moment than anything. Them pretending to be Gil just to be tough and untouchable is pretty smart, but wow them not even doing background checks or anything is hilarious. Also I can’t buy them being outlaws that don’t kill or hurt women and children when they literally grabbed Hototo and stuffed him in a box and left him on the empty road. And they weren’t afraid to run them over at the supply point, or possibly crush them in the Valley of Despair explosion. Like…c’mon guys, you guys aren’t making yourselves look all that great. Sure, they don’t mess with the poor, women, and children but still you guys are still kind of crappy. I just felt pretty bad for Hototo because he’s even farther from finding the person that killed his father…
OR IS HE? It seems that his father’s killer is about to appear since we saw tattoo neck man! I wonder if tattoo man is actually Gil himself, or it’s someone else. Like Richard, because he’s still suspicious and I’m still not sure how he fits into all this since he was introduced so late so I’ll just stick with my current theory. Next episode seems like a Kosame-centered episode so that should be really good!
