So much for those Gurren-Lagann parallels.  I still think these shows are spiritual cousins – they”re both “widescreen baroque” to use a term Brian W. Aldiss coined (as Collecetr noted in the comments last week).  There’s a shared sensibility to these classically styled anime sci-fi.  You recognize it when you see it, once you’ve seen enough of it.  And believe me I’ve seen enough of it to recognize it…

Still, can anyone honestly say they’re surprised Akaboshi Bisco made a dramatic return?  I don’t know whether it’s the 15 year difference or just something in the specifics of the premise, but with Kamina I kind of knew he was really gone.  With Bisco I kind of knew he was really coming back (though kudos to the anime for the Bisco-free ED last week – nice fake).  It’s possible anime simply doesn’t have as much nerve now as it did then, but Kamina’s story felt complete in a way Bisco’s didn’t.

The world can certainly use all the help it can get against Kurokawa-Tetsujin – it’s all hands on deck.  He’s headed for Imihama (homesick, Miko reckons), but he stops by the wreck the Calvaro kids’ town (build out of wrecked Tetsujin of course).  Nuts is all about staying and fighting but Kousuke talks him into leading a retreat.  Though not before going back to serve as a diversion, which proves he has the right name.  If Milo hadn’t shown up at precisely the right moment it would have been roasted Nuts for sure.

Panda has been injecting himself with “Bishamon” mushroom juice to give himself superhuman resilience and stamina, but that’s obviously not going to be a good idea in the long run.  Panda-sensei is doing a fair Bisco impression but nothing he does seems to hurt Tetsujin all that much – “annoy” would be a more accurate description.  And if that’s the case then a few missiles and rockets aren’t even going to make a dent.  The handwriting is on the wall, but this isn’t the final episode (and the novels are still ongoing, for that matter).

One of the possibilities I floated last week was that Bisco was inside Tetsujin somewhere, and that’s indeed what happened.  Of course, if he’s in there maybe Kurokawa is too – though Tetsujin being Kurokawa would seem to suggest otherwise.  I don’t know if we’ll get an explanation for all this but truthfully, I’m not even sure it matters all that much.  Considering the developments we’ve seen already it would be a massive understatement to say that Sabikui Bisco isn’t exactly going for realism here.  Bisco is back (in the ED too), and the biggest question for me is whether Kurokawa gets taken out for good here, or somehow sticks around to be the big bad in the next portion of the story.