Sabikui Bisco is another one of those bubble series, at the point of a season where I’d really prefer to be committed one way or the other.  Seems like there are more and more of these in the last few years, though whether it’s a change in anime or my perspective I’m not sure.  I’m pretty close – the chaos factor and visual flair you get from this show are very appealing.  I’m just not sure yet whether there’s any there there with the story and cast.

This was a very slice-of-lifey episode, with the caveat that the life is batshit nuts.  Much of it was spent with Milo trying to learn to ride Actagawa and getting tossed on his ass in a way that would probably kill a normal person.  We also had a lizard-eating scene and a whole bunch of vamping from Chiroru, who turns up in the desert right in the path of Milo and Bisco.  Chiroru is a character I’m not quite decided on yet – she does have a “Gainax-inspired” quality to her, but something about her persona doesn’t quite ring true for me.

As for that Avatar-like walking temple, that turned out to be a giant mantis shrimp (naturally).  I don’t quite understand why this world is full of these bizarre giant animals – it Sabikui Bisco has attempted to explain it, it went over my head – but they’re keeping the guys in the CGI department busy if nothing else.  The temple is where the boys run into Chiroru after she fails in her attempt to crabjack Actagawa, and she manages to wake it up by pouring gasoline over it in a moment that feels just a little contrived if we’re honest.

The Panda-crab sequence was amusing but I felt it went on just a bit too long – the B-part of the ep was better in my book.  There are some interesting tidbits of info dropped – like the “balloon worm” thing – and Chiroru’s interplay with the guys is fairly amusing  (she sells them a box of “Bisco” cookies, a popular item in RL Japan).  It’s pretty much non-stop craziness until the shrimp (which Bisco – the dude, not the cookie – thought was dead) blows up the mine where he was planning on catching a train for Akita (where the mushroom needed to cure Jabi is supposedly hanging out).  I get the sense there’s another gear or two in this premise, if only the writing will find them.  I hope it happens soon, and I can firm up my commitment to Sabikui Bisco – this season needs all the help it can get.