Written by “Man of Action”
Directed by Gino Nichele
Rating: Awful
So this new superhero called Mega Man shows up and instantly becomes the talk of Silicon City. Dr. Light then goes to Aki’s school to give a speech, where he’s confronted by Sgt. Breaker Night, who believes unity between robots and humans is a lie because… reasons? He doesn’t stop the heroes, but he practically kills the show before it even begins.
Good Points
– Aki’s secret identity as Mega Man creates all sorts of logic and plot problems down the road, but Aki himself is all for ditching it and telling Dr. Light who he really is… at first. I guess the thought counts for something.
– Dr. Light may look buff and act a bit more like a mad scientist, but he proudly displays the good heart and wisdom he’s famous for.
– Fire Man using his twin cannons as rocket boosters is cool.
– It’s a stupid, easy joke to make, but it is kinda funny seeing Fire Man try to open a manhole cover with no hands.
Stupid Points
– Your show is a definite failure when your main villain is the weakest part of it. Sgt. Night shows up saying robots and humans can’t live together, despite being in a utopia where they’ve already been living together for some time, and he just repeats that line like a broken record while his robot arm is treated as a lame excuse for his behavior. Then, JUST BY COINCIDENCE, dangerous robot masters begin showing up in his wake. Not only is it somewhat obvious from the start that he’s responsible for Fire Man, but every line he utters in and out of his pretend fight with Fire Man only makes him look wooden and stupid. He’s supposed to be a famous war hero, but all he does is blather incoherently at Fire Man instead of try to protect anyone! It’s like he’s deliberately bad in every way from voice acting to motivation, yet the show also wants us to believe he’s a credible threat. The end result is an artificial main conflict with no stakes and a show that’s impossible to get invested in.
– Sgt. Night keeps trying to play up Mega Man as some sort of disastrous threat, but Mega Man is more tired than terrorized by him. In fact, Mega Man seems to regard him as nothing more than a crazy hobo he’d prefer to lose around the next city block, which is amusing, but also solidly establishes how this scary, dramatic villain deserves nothing but mockery. It’s like how Sonic Forces has a dark and dramatic story, but Sonic himself (bless his heart) is having none of it.
– The police force is called the “Good Guild”? Really?
– Hard Age, Hard Wars, Hard Times, whatever they’re called, I haven’t seen such a dumb name since “Unobtanium” in James Cameroon’s Avatar. Side note: did you know “unobtanium” is supposed to be a sarcastic name coined by the military because they’re sick of being stuck on Pandora? That the movie failed to convey that is quite a testament to the quality of its writing.
– This episode’s plot and dialogue are so forced that even Bert Wily, who will quickly become one of the best characters in the show, is badly portrayed. He’s awkwardly shoehorned in with the good guys before later episodes let him willfully participate with them.
– A robot makes a fart joke.
– Fire Man’s first attack against Mega Man launches him into a wall and the force of his impact cracks it. The cracks are black and plain, then completely gone when the same wall is shown again seconds later.
– Mega Mini deduces that Mega Man is losing his temper due to a personality leak from Fire Man’s schematics, then says he doesn’t know what’s going on? It’s funny; you can see the seeds of uselessness being planted here because he tries to reason with Mega Man instead of debugging or repairing whatever may be causing the personality leak.
