This was certainly the bridge to hell. Are you kidding me?! Really?! After you gave him an episode and teased a romance with him and Xialian, you really had to take Kosame away from us?! Noooooo!
Where do I even begin? First of all, I didn’t think this show was going to be this serious. With Gil in the picture I knew that there was going to be danger but I didn’t even think for a second that it would get so bad that he would even kill one of the main characters. They could have teased Kosame receiving help in time, but the preview basically told us that it wasn’t going to happen. But…damn it! What is up with the wacky shows turning completely dark? Fugou Keiji and now this?!
It’s safe to say that the Trans-America race is totally done for, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about the show going into this direction with just three episodes left. I was excited about this show the first time because we were going to get a racing anime set in Industrial Revolution United States. It’s a really cool concept and time period that I feel has lacked a bit because while this is an anime about racing, we haven’t gotten too much racing. I was pretty excited with the beginning of the episode when we finally got to see the characters really racing this time and it was going pretty great until Gil hijacked the train and fooled around with the racers. The race has been interrupted multiple times and this was basically the end of it, and it makes me a little sad and letdown. This is where I think the anime needed to be a two cour, because I think they could have spread things out a little bit more with the race, the characters, the build up to Gil’s plan. Because just looking back at the show, the race didn’t officially start until episode 6! And there’s been plenty of interruptions during the race, with a couple having nothing to do with racing. It’s a huge shame because the scenes with actual racing are really fun and I was especially excited to see Appare’s new and improved car this episode he worked so painstakingly on. We have had mini races near the beginning but the main draw for this anime was the big race, the Trans-America race.
I don’t think I would have minded how this anime decided to turn, if only we had more time. I like everything about this anime from the racing, the setting, the characters and their interactions, and the fun wackiness of it. Adding in a dangerous outlaw like Gil and the corruption of the train barons would have been totally fine too, but this show really needed another cour.
The episode itself was fine, they did a great job in making us feel the fear and danger of the situation. But I will say, while Gil seems like a cool and evil sonuvabitch, the episode dragged out his introduction for way too long, which is kind of another frustration when we have a lack of time now. We get it, he’s evil, he’s definitely not someone to mess around with when he has no problem killing his own men like nothing. He has no respect, he destroyed their cars, laughs at them, and is hungry on power. But I feel like it took way too long and we could have moved on. Still, I am interested to see what they’re going to do for the last three episodes and I just hope that it won’t be rushed.
As for Kosame, I’m heartbroken. He was definitely one of my favorites in the show, and I’m glad he was able to face his past and trauma. I do want to say…if he was able to deflect bullets and cut them in half, couldn’t he just have done that instead to protect Appare? Damn it, P.A. Works! I’m just so shocked and upset, and I was shipping him with Xialian and now this?! I’m just upset, very upset. Kosame was a great character, and I have to wonder what’s going to happen now and how Appare is going to deal with this crushing sadness and shock.
