REVIEW: Ghost 26
I really have no clue if I’ve ever mentioned this before (I probably have and I’ve just forgotten that I’ve done so because shit memory) but I’ve cracked the formula of Ghost now when it isn’t focusing heavily on major plot points: it has incremental plots where the first episode of the arc is mostly unimportant and has small amounts of development, while the second episode solves the pointless MOW plot and has a lot of small little reveals and character moments. Basically what I’m saying is that Ghost has it’s fillers which push the plot a tiny amount every time, with character arcs developing the whole time within them.
So to no one’s surprise Alain’s story and involvement in the plot stole the show again. Although before I jump straight into praising his characterisation, I just want to say I’m so confused about his motivations at this point in time. We’ve seen him give evil eyes towards both Akari and Takeru multiple times over the past few episodes as well as attempting to do something when the crew got all 15 Eyecons together to make a wish. Now there isn’t anything wrong with Alain having deeper motivations beyond what we have seen, apart from if they are bad that they are gonna hurt me; but it’s just weird seeing him last episode potentially plotting against the group, yet this week being all buddy buddy with them. It’s a small complaint, but a complaint nonetheless.
Yet indeed, Alain seems to be mostly on the side of the protagonists and boy howdy was it presented in the best way. First things first, he has been constantly looking after Kanon during her sickness, so much so that he goes directly after Igor to help her. But what clinches it this week is that when he confronts Igor, he has a new theme which is a more upbeat and in a major key version of his original music, which is just a neat little technique to show the evolution of his character. Furthermore it seems like the Grimm Eyecon has finally accepted him as his user, thus showing that indeed, Alain is in on the good guys’ side.
I also love the burgeoning respect that is growing between Akari and Alain in this episode. Not only does it again show that Alain is slowly learning that maybe his ideology isn’t the most righteous, but it also shows that he’s learning to care and listen to others. On top of that these two, who are the most opinionated of the main group, are being shown to accept each other and come to a happy middle ground, a key theme of the programme. In essence, these two’s interactions are another perfect example of the theme of finding the middle point in between conflicting ideology as well as showing Alain’s growth as a character.
As for the rest of the episode, well it’s pretty by the books. The rest of the team find out that there is another plane Ganma, the brother of the first one no less, spreading the red mist as well. With the help of Alain, Takeru swiftly takes care of the two Ganmas and then the two bid farewell to their friends and go off to the Ganma world.
If that last paragraph seems like padding, well it absolutely is. Why? Well because apart from the character stuff with Alain, nothing much is happening in regards to the wider plot at hand. Having the Alain character development is fantastic of course and I am extremely grateful for it, it’s just I feel the rest of the story is just a bit empty. It is absolutely serving a purpose, but I think that’s where I feel it’s a bit off: all the past few episodes have been is just functional, rather than exceptional. They just do their job without doing something special. On the one hand this isn’t the best storytelling ever, but I can’t blame the writers considering they are forced to write 40+ episodes for a year round show; of course there are gonna be duds here and there.
As for my usual paragraph of things that I can’t really group together in a theme, it’s gonna be pretty short too since nothing much jumped out at me this week. I like that they are still using all the Eyecons despite a clear power imbalance caused by Grateful being a thing. It’s just nice knowing that each Eyecon still has an important function that the upgraded forms don’t necessarily have, thus keeping most of the forms relevant. Having two plane Ganmas was hilarious since, well they are meant to be the Wright brothers; it’s nothing super deep, just something I found neat.
In short, there really isn’t much to say about this week’s episode apart from the stuff with Alain. I always find reviewing these kinds of episodes the most difficult to do because finding stuff to say is challenging when there isn’t much to discuss. This isn’t honestly a bad thing since, well there needs to be filler due to the sheer length of the seasons and its nothing against Ghost, more towards the number of episodes. But judging from the preview, we might just be back on track for some great and eventful episodes!
