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Episode 18: Escape
Air date: January 31st 2007
Channel: TV Tokyo
Length: ca. 24 minutes
Opinion
I am by no means a purist who cannot enjoy anything except for the original source material. when it comes to adaptations, I can be very forgiving, as long as there is a reason for the changes that are made.
It's similar here; the 18th episode of the Busou Renkin anime strays quite a bit from the manga. Considering the source, and the limited series length at only 26 episodes in total, I can understand that less necessary battles get cut. Most notably, the fight against Maruyama and Inukai is missing. Tokiko's rematch against Maruyama will also be missing. This removes quite a bit of the story that does not contribute very much to the overall plot. I can understand why they get cut, and why the entire plot thread of shrunken Tokiko was also left out as a consequence.
There are some problems, which will probably not really be noticed if you only watch the anime. Namely, the immediate aftermath of the defeat of Inukai and Maruyama, as it happened in the manga, illustrated some points about the Renkin Sendan's and Gouta's attitude and the difference to Kazuki's more forgiving attitude towards his enemies:
When Inukai was defeated and heavily wounded - not to mention abandoned by his comrade Maruyama, who chose to flee! - Gouta wanted to take Inukai's kakugane and leave him to die, but Kazuki convinced him to let him the kakugane, because without it, Inukai would surely die.
This made Gouta think: "Which of us is the real monster?" Later, when he was in a similar situation and had to decide what to do about defeated Maruyama and Negoro, he chose to spare their lives, thinking back to Kazuki's words. As far as Gouta's character development is concerned, this seemingly unimportant battle is actually quite poignant. I regret seeing it go.
I appreciate that the anime has chosen not to leave out the characters from these battles. There is an entirely new plot thread just to have them in the story. As a moderate fan of the Renkin Sendan and their crazy ways, I am happy for this. As for the execution of this idea, that's something for the review of episode 19.
Shuusui's return to the story was a very pleasant surprise. I consider it a small flaw of the manga that he did not get to return until very late, and am glad that the anime "fixed" this.
Thanks to all of these changes, for the first time watching Busou Renkin, I had the feeling that I did not know what would happen next, and where exactly this was leading.
This episode certainly is not the most exciting one. It sets up the coming battles against Ikusabe, Negoro, Hiwatari and Bravo, ending on quite a cliffhanger. In itself, it is not really one of the series' highlights, but it's a key episode, introducing a lot important characters, setting the stage for what is to come.
(Written by Kaeli on February 11th)