Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle – Rhyme Anima Episode 11

Here we are at the DRB finals between Mad Trigger Crew and Matenro. Brute strength versus bonds. The result of this episode basically told us, it’s important to have strength but you can’t get far without having strong bonds with others. And not to say that Samatoki isn’t close with Jyuto and Rio but their relationship compared to Matenro is a little more distant, though still with respect.

Jakurai and Samatoki don’t have any animosity towards each other, in fact they both seem to respect each other quite a bit. Jakurai was easily able to calm Samatoki down before he made a huge scene with Chuohku and they were able to have a deep conversation with each other. They both are connected not just because they were past TDD members but they also have their “baggage” pertaining to Chuohku. We know why with Jakurai, and it’s basically confirmed that Nemu is indeed here and Samatoki wasn’t hallucinating. Again, I’m wondering why she’s even here but with Ichijiku and Otome being behind TDD breaking up, I’m going to guess that Nemu’s been brainwashed. The ladies did everything to make sure they destroyed the bonds between the TDD members, with Jakurai’s assistant, Ichiro and his brothers, Samatoki and Nemu. With them (and Ramuda) behind it all, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the ladies used a hypnosis mic to brainwash Nemu into working for them, as we do know that hypnosis mics are capable of doing that from the FP episode, though of course this is a much more serious instance. It’s sad that Samatoki even questioned whether he had a bond with Nemu, and he most likely blames himself a little bit, but also projecting that anger on Ichiro. This whole situation is just awful.

I enjoyed the conversation between Samatoki and Jakurai. It’s nice seeing some of the leaders have a normal conversation without wanting to kill each other, and you can really feel the respect one has for the other with how deep their conversation went. It was interesting hearing them talk about their own group’s strengths, weaknesses, and ideals and how that came up into their battle. I was wondering how it’d go emotionally between them and I’d say it was nice. Respect but not holding back from defeating the other.

I already knew that Matenro was going to win, but goodness they took a hell of a beating. It really was against them like it was with their battle against Fling Posse. This time Doppo didn’t mess up but Jyuto and Rio were very strong. But the power of friendship bonds prevailed and Matenro ended up coming back with their own strength. It was a really good battle though it ended pretty abruptly at the end. I wish the anime had left just a minute or so for the viewers to really take in that Matenro won, but boom credits. And while I liked the battle, I think the constant interruptions ruined the flow of the battle. BB vs MTC is probably my favorite battle of the DRB simply because they just kept going back and forth with minimal interruption, so I was super engaged and excited. The interruptions really can take you out of it and kind of ruin the flow of emotion and music, and I think it was a little worse here than the FP vs MTR battle. And for a final battle, it’s a bit of a downer. Still, I’m pretty happy with how the rap battles went these past few episodes with the visuals and music. Seeing all these colors and explosions are never not amusing.

And with all this talk about bonds, I was shocked at first when Ramuda was about to ditch his boys. The dude is very much afraid for his life, and I’m worried about this gremlin too to be honest. It was a scary thought that the ladies would put Gentaro and Dice through torture in order to find him, so again I believe Nemu is brainwashed. It goes to show that Ramuda really does care for his buddies even though he keeps telling himself that his life is the only one that matters. Also super sweet that Gentaro’s words during the battle were his own in that moment and not what he was writing. I’m liking Fling Posse more and more! I am worried about them and I just have to wonder what’s going to happen to Ramuda after all this.

With two episodes left, I wonder where the anime is going to go from here. Will we search for Nemu and investigate Chuohku? Each group heads back home? Or we get a Dirty Dawg episode I hope? I feel like they can go in any direction so I’m excited to see what they’ll do.

As for me, I’m going to check out the 1st DRB CD Dramas~