Tribe 20 (Spoilers have unyielding resolve.)

ComicX6

The penultimate episode people.
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Everyone is shocked at the appearance of the Mu Portal, even more so when it begins to disgorge hordes upon hordes of viruses. The Satellite Police begin their attack, while Orihime orders Empty to quickly take the Sword of Berserk. Empty attacks Subaru with a flurry of punches, resulting in the destruction of a crane. He's much more powerful and faster than before. Empty knocks him off of the Wave Road, but when Subaru falls in front of the portal, he's sucked inside.

Title Screen: Bly, the Solitary Soldier (Again, I'm being liberal with the translation.)

Subaru finds himself floating in the air above Mu. He finds it to be an amazing sight. His sword floats in front of him, so he grabs it, just it time to almost be blasted by Thunder Bazooka. Empty followed them! The two continue to engage in hand to hand combat.

Back in Kodama, the Satellite police are picking off the viruses. Orihime calls out to Gori and Hyde, and the two realise what they must do. As Goyoda charges them, the two transform into their wave forms. Phantom Black grabs Orihime and leaps up toward the portal. Yeti Blizzard does the same, without knowing that a terrified Goyoda is clinging to his leg. The four vanish in a burst of light, to reappear in the skies of Mu. Goyoda gets shaken off, and just barely avoids falling off the edge of the city.

After getting blasted by another Thunder Bazooka, Subaru's at the end of his tether. Warrock wants to cancel the denpa henkan so that Subaru can escape, but Subaru won't hear anything of the sort. Warrock calls him an idiot, and Subaru cries out that he'll continue to fight. Well, his tenacity gets him smacked across the Wave Road and into the ground of Mu. There he lays across a slab of stone, in his human state, defeated. Warrock, however, is okay, so he lures Empty away on a cat and mouse hunt.

Amachi meanwhile, is desparately trying to contact Subaru with no success, as he's out cold. Misora runs up to him asking where Rockman is. Amachi points out the portal, and asks if she's all right, as she did just get punched into a ship. She says that she is, transforms into Harp Note, and leaps up into the portal. Utagai contacts Amachi, telling him that a massive amount of energy is being released from the portal. We then see Warrock fleeing and clashing with Empty inside of Mu. Goyoda, meanwhile, wanders through Mu, lost.

Subaru awakens to find himself surrounded by viruses. He tries to transform, but can't since Warrock isn't there. So he has his Star Carrier materialize into one of those ray guns we saw in Tribe 14 (eye roll). He has some success, but then finds a giant mummy-like virus looming over him. Misora takes care of that, luckily. She asks where Warrock is, and Subaru mutters how he fled to save him. Then the two hear a noise from a passageway nearby. It kinda sounds like ragged breathing.

Inside Mu, Orihime, Yeti Blizzard, and Phantom Black have discovered their prize: Ra Mu, a statue of a monolithic being that vaguely resembles Empty.

Outside, Empty finally strikes Warrock with Magic Thunder, immoblizing him.

Inside, Misora and Subaru enter a cavernous room, still following the breathing noises. The reach a mirror-like object, and Misora latches on to Subaru in fright when she realises what's causing the noise. Inside the glass is Solo, asleep. Or carbonited. Either way, it is creepy. Even more so when Misora accidently breaks part of it with her guitar and his hand reaches out and grabs her arm. He stumbles out of his prison and almost collapses. ''Ra Mu...'' he mutters.

Outside, Empty finally succeeds in pulling the Sword of Berserk out of Warrock, quite painfully so.

A weak Solo begins to explain things. It appears that there used to be many people living in Mu at one time. But now he is the only one left, to protect the seal on Ra Mu. The reason he went after the OOPArts was so that they couldn't be used to awaken it.

But now, it's too late. Empty presents the Sword of Berserk to Orihime, and she tells Phantom Black and Yeti Blizzard to place the other two OOPArts on top of these pillars, I think. Ghost and Yeti don't appear to be very keen on awakening Ra Mu, however.

Anyway, Solo senses that something bad is about to happen. He gets up, staggers, transforms into Bly, and waves out.

''BLY!!'' Subaru screams.
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Preview: Mu crackles with electricity, the floor Warrock lies upon crumbles, Bly staggers, the Sword of Berserk glows, Bly clashes with Empty, and Berserker Rockman leaps into action.
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Well, I'm really curious as to how they're going to pull off the final episode (It is the end. Warrock joins Subaru in narrating the preview, and they do say 'final episode.'), because I didn't see any Ra Mu action in there at all. They've got quite a bit to wrap up: Yeti Blizzard and Phantom Black, Orihime and Empty, Goyoda, Bly etc. I'm afraid we may have a rushed conclusion, but at least it doesn't look as disappointing as the last episode of Ryuusei turned out to be.

Anyway, this was a rather plot heavy episode, so of course I couldn't understand all of it. I'm especially curious as to why Phantom Black and Yeti Blizzard ended up helping Orihime, especially since Empty just got finished defiling them several episodes ago.

Anyway, art done by Adachi, usual goodness, though Youtube didn't do the Rockman vs. Empty fight justice. Now, this was pointed out in the titles thread, but there was a lot of scenary change in the week between this episode's preview and the actual airing, most notably involving the Mu Portal and the room where Subaru and Misora meet Solo. The same happened this week. The scene of Berserker Rockman leaping into action was lifted straight from Tribe 10, as was the following scene, which showed Rockman UNDERWATER. Very odd. Though I loved the part of the preview when Warrock went ''Let's go! Denpa Henkan!'' Very reminiscent of the ending of the Stream previews when Netto and Rockman went ''You and me, together lets... CROSS FUSION!''

The Rockman anime definitely looks like it's going out with a bang.
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JH24 · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject:

A very enjoyable episode, I quite like this one. Plot development, good art and animation, it's all there. My favorite part has to be the scene were Warrock went on his own to distract Empty and keep Subaru safe. The scene with Bly at the end was nice as well.

As for Hyde and Gori, maybe they only listened to Orihime because they thought it would be their best chance to get their Ooparts back, it did surprise me though.

As for the next episode, call me a pessimist, but I really have no idea how they can end this in a good manner, with several plot points still to cover. We still have Ra Mu, Tribe King, the other transformations and like ComicX6 said, several things more. It makes me hesitant to watch the final episode, mainly because I have a good impression of the series now, and if it is just an ending like Ryuusei last season I actually prefer to remember the series with the episode from today.

I'm not sure either what's up with those previews and the changes. It feels as if last-minute changes were made and they hadn't decided on backgrounds and things like that. I can't imagine that they would use the same scenes from episode 10 again, unless they once again change the background/surroundings. (I didn't knew until I read ComicX6's summary)Despite that, the art and animation looks good, although ít hasn't reached the levels yet from episodes like Ryuusei 26/27.

Still, a good episode, and I still can't believe the series will end next week, and maybe permanently.
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ChibiGoku · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 36

Rock Miyabi · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject:

Don't be bugged, it no doubt has to happen sometimes. You know how you can buy cels from animated shows, they don't always have a background drawn in with a main image. Same for many of us who draw, the background isn't always done on the same layer.

That's the case here undoubtedly. They had the main image ready for the preview, but the backgrounds weren't complete yet. After all, Rockman has been a weekly show for how long, now? That doesn't give the animation department a ton of time to work between episodes, and I'm sure they don't have everything done weeks in advance. Especially if this was a surprise cancellation of the show, the need to suddenly conclude the series probably meant they hadn't gotten everything ready for this point of the show. And even if they were supposed to be on a certain deadline for producing previews, I'm sure there's no guarantee that they have always met it for any specific week.

As I've said before, yeah, I'm also worried about what this ending is going to be like. It was another great episode, but I have no clue what they are going to have to leave out next week. It might be more than we think, I dare suspect. Like Chibi, I said last week a cliffhanger could occur. Wouldn't mind it, actually, even if there are no future episodes. Either way, it's kinda getting depressing now that the show has gotten much better over the last few weeks.

Goyoda getting carried away into space...reminded me of the manga, sorta. I wonder what role he'll even have next week. They had to have sent him there for some kind of comic relief role. Although Harp Note's little fraidy cat scene was quite amusing as well.
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ComicX6 · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject:

Goyoda will strike the final blow on Ra Mu. Wink

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- Balmung, .hack vol. 1

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Nenji · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:27 am Post subject:

Goyoda is the Tribe King.

While the episode on it's own is okay, it was pretty confusing in context and seemed far too rushed. Not that a lot of Tribe and RnR hasn't felt like this but...oh well. It's only the Anime and we still have the games at least. :/
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ComicX6 · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:37 pm Post subject:

The best case senario I can think of is that they begin the episode by leaving out the opening, like they did for a few episodes of Ryuusei. They could start by having Bly confront Orihime and co., and promptly get beaten down in less than a minute.

Then, they could have Ra Mu be reserrected, and I dunno, it convientently absorbs Phantom Black and Yeti Blizzard and Empty, then Subaru finds Warrock, transforms, but is still able to use Thunder Berserker due to the Sword of Berserk's data being too deeply ingrained in Warrock.

So he and Ra Mu duke it out for a bit, and Ra Mu suddenly gets the upper hand, and when it seems too late, Goyoda stops it from killing Subaru with his rifle, then Harp Note helps out, and Bly and Subaru put aside their differences and finish the thing off with some Super Shonen Combo Attack.

Afterwards, Mu goes kaput, and the group watches everything end from a safe distance, Subaru having saved Orihime. Solo goes on about how there's nothing left for him now, but Subaru tells him that he's wrong, and asks Solo if he wants to be his friend. Solo's silent, and right when he's about to answer, the episode ends.

That would be a nice way to go out, on a quiet note like that. Of course, I just horribly short-changed Empty, but like I said several monthes ago, I've resigned myself to the anime altering his game backstory.
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' I don't care if the buzz isn't real- I can roleplay being drunk!'

- Balmung, .hack vol. 1

I now have a site! Web page rather: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1048042/

Shakai · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject:

Well that's good and all, but...isn't orihime being..ya know, EVIL?
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ComicX6 · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject:

I know. Subaru's just a good person.

Actually, it would be cool to see Phantom Black and Yeti Blizzard help out as well. Since if the world ends, there'll be nothing left to paint/buy.
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' I don't care if the buzz isn't real- I can roleplay being drunk!'

- Balmung, .hack vol. 1

I now have a site! Web page rather: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1048042/

Unknown Neo · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:59 pm Post subject:

Of course he's a good person. He's the hero. He has to do the right thing.
That doesn't mean he can't beat the villains up if they attack afterwards though.
It's a fine line.

Gray17 · Net Savior Joined: 30 May 2005 Posts: 137 Location: USA

ComicX6 · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject:

Well, this isn't the first time it's happened, but it is the definitely the most noticable. For example, the preview for Ryuusei 40 showed Harp Note and Luna arguing in the latter's bedroom, when in the actual episode it was outside her window, and the preview for Tribe 9 showed Gori's fem-bots out in broad daylight, while the scenery for the episode itself was all foggy and dank.

This past week, I've been poking around and found some interesting stuff, like Ghost's seiyuu, Katsumi Suzuki, played Ivan Coolski in Stream, and Yeti's seiyuu is Yuuto Kazama (Zero, Sparkman, Girouette). Go figure. On the other hand, Kyuu is not voiced by Koichi Yamadera as I originally thought and put on Wiki, but rather by someone named Koichi Toochika.

Art director-wise, I was very surprised to find Blood+ and xxxHOLiC on Nomoto's resume, since the art styles for those series are worlds away from what we've seen from him throughout Stream, Beast, Ryuusei, and Tribe. Takahashi's done some stuff with Code Geass, though from what pics I've seen, I couldn't tell at all.
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' I don't care if the buzz isn't real- I can roleplay being drunk!'

- Balmung, .hack vol. 1

I now have a site! Web page rather: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1048042/

Rock Miyabi · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject:

Wow, I can't see how Nomoto's work could ever resemble something from Blood+ or xxxHOLiC, either. That's pretty interesting.

Samples:

Ep. 20 Screencaps (350 Total Caps, ~13 MB) Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UCD7M95Q

Fun with captions, because I'm in the mood:

"ROAR! I'MMA FIRE DINOSAUR!!"
"HENCHMEN! Empty will now demonstrate what will happen to you if you even attempt to touch my OOPARTS"
"Is that War Rock in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me come save your butt?"
"Ewww! Yaoi scene! Yaoi scene!"
"Join us as we follow our heroes Cloud and Tifa into Nibelhiem's Mako Reactor, in search of Sephiroth and JENOVA."

*3/30 EDIT* Second to last batch of Tribe PANS!!! Mostly backgrounds. Couldn't do much with #10, so you just get to follow Yeti up into the portal.

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Shakai · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

Roar I'mma fire dinsoaur looks REALLY dirty for some reason XD
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The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!

Unknown Neo · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject:

Ha ha ha! Great captions. Really funny. Too bad you could put them in the pictures.