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- FF Odyssey
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Cheap FFXI Gil |
By: Kenji Masaki
Warning: This writeup contains spoilers, view at your own risk!
Episode 4 - "Demon Swordsman: A
Study in White"
The subway bells toll as
Yu, Ai, Lisa, and the chocobo run down the spiral staircase. Unfortunately for
them, it's all too late as the subway leaves the staircase, possibly never to
return! Despair seems to be the only thing running through our heroes minds,
until an odd hooded figure appears from underneith the staircase... funny, this
guy looks oddly familliar... oh yeah, that was the hooded guy in the last episode
that stole Ai's bag... "Th... the... THIEF!!!" she cries out, as he unhoods
the criminal. "Thief? What's that? Is it edible?" Obviously, this guy has a
one track mind, and it shows when Ai demands that he gives back her bag. "I
ate it." "What? There was more than food in there..." "After some boiling and
frying, everything was edible," the guy says. Thank god he didn't try to eat
Pochepoke... or Pochepoke didn't eat him, for that matter...
As he is let go, he tells
of other people he works for. The group curiously follows, finding out on the
way that the hooded thief is called Fango, and works for a strange rebel group
called the Comodin, led by a man also trapped within the Fruits Inner World
called Nav. To prevent the fate that has taken over their own Inner World, they
are determined to end the chaos that is being constantly created by the Count,
consuming Inner World after Inner World. While Lisa tries to decline joining
with Nav (that would be hard to explain to your boyfriend, that's for sure...),
Ai gets a new set of clothes, making her look more like a Roman warrior than
a nine year old school-girl. Of course, that doesn't keep the chocobo away from
pulling her hair ^_^
While this is happening,
a strange white mist envelops the Inner World of Fruits, and a strange Demon
Swordsman is led by Oscar's fairy minion Crux in search of his archrival from
12 years ago... a man of the dark wind...
Over at the fortress of the
Count, the pompous purple-haired brat continues to believe he is the true God
of Order, and that the Comodin are merely lost within their ideals. Hungus boldly
attempts to destroy Kaze and Comodin, but the Count merely blows him off, saying
that the Demon Swordsman is already on the job- that, and he's still stuck at
1/10 his original size...
Back at the Comodin hideout,
Yu finds Kaze, being inspected by a blonde-haired tech-wizard, trying to find
out the secrets behind the red rifle and the Demon Gun. "You mean there are
things that even you don't know about?" Nav asks him. "It just means that the
world is a very large place." Kaze's had just about enough of this inspection,
and is ready to leave the Comodin hideout, walking right past Lisa, Ai, and
Yu without even a word passing between them.
Meanwhile, the scientific
wizard continues an inspection of the poor delirious chocobo, finding his own
strange device hung around its neck, created for Isabel, ruler of an Inner World.
As he soon finds out, Ai, Yu, and Lisa have traveled here on the inter-dimentional
subway, of which he thought was broken, as have the Hayakawa's parents, which
he reads of in "The Day of Succession". He doesn't read it for very long, though,
as the chocobo continues its relentless insanity, belching in front of the scientist.
He's bent on fixing this problem however, whipping out his all-in-one-healer,
Genevieve (yes, this guy names all his inventions after girls...). And with
a little shock therapy, our chocobo regains conciousness. The whiz-kid's name?
Why, the genius Cid, of course!!
Meanwhile, Crux leads the
Demon Swordsman to the center of the Comodin resistance camp. Going alone, he
picks up a mere stick, focuses his energy, and with a single swipe, nearly brings
the roof of the hideout down! With a stick!!!
This isn't no normal earthquake,
people, and Cid knows it. Yet he decides to join the group to chase the subway,
although for what purpose is still unclear... and Lisa vows once again to search
for Ai and Yu's parents before finding her "boyfriend". That's all the dialogue
they can get in, because the Demon Swordsman has just broken into the Comodin
hideout from the roof! Cue the boss music!!
Ai and Yu are knocked unconcious by the falling rubble, and Lisa is in no condition
to use her Genesis. She stands up only to find Kaze, ready to confront his archrival-
the Leviathan-like creature that fought him to a draw twelve years ago when
Lisa was just a little first grader... the master Demon Swordsman, White Cloud!
Before Kaze can get in a single fire from his red gun, the Comodin resistance
fires their magic darts, only to be blasted away by the same stick White Cloud
used to destroy the hideout roof. Nav also tries to fight him, but resistance
is futile against this guy as Nav is blown into the rubble.
Note: This guy is
powerful. I mean, possibly more powerful than Kaze. And more polite, too, but
that's not saying much...
"The Count... is not someone
you can defeat," Cloud says to Nav, as Kaze, burning with rage, starts to fire
relentlessly against the Swordsman. "I know nothing of ideals!" Kaze tells Lisa.
"To see the end of this person... No matter the cost to the world... No matter
how much blood is shed... I don't care!!!" and slowly, the Comodin hideout is
being destroyed by the deflected blasts. Left as his final resort, Kaze summons
the Demon Gun... and nothing happens. Completely defenseless, White Cloud begins
his own attack...
"As wonderful as always... Black Wind.
Led by the mysterious song of mist, you should sleep!
Etude of White Silver!!!"
And with a beam of white, Kaze is struck through the heart... and the Comodin
hideout falls to pieces as White Cloud fades into the mist, claiming victory...
... To Be Continued...
Good points: This episode finally broke the formula. For once, the Demon
Gun didn't work and didn't exterminate his archrival (after all, if he did,
this would be one really short series). This leads some insight into how Kaze's
Demon Gun truly is "his heart", as he says in this episode. This also touches
the surface on White Cloud's strange alternative to the power of Soil, called
the song of Mist... interesting stuff. I'll be looking forward to the meetings
of these two superpowers in the future. Also a plus, a great deal in plot development
in this episode. In not only introducing new characters, but also into the Demon
Swordsman, the Demon Sharpshooter (who is that lady he keeps seeing in his flashback?),
and a touch on Lisa. It's at least a start. And as for chaos, I suppose we'll
be figuring out what the Count means by that in the future *cough*Omega*cough**cough*...
and who could forget about Cid, the genius inventor? This guy has promise...
although naming all his inventions after females is kinda odd... ah well...
Bad points: Fortunately, there isn't a lot of bad stuff in this episode.
The comedic parts are something left to be desired and the mushy parts can get
to the point of gagging, but besides the usual whining of lack of CG, this episode
was definitely better than the three before it. I hope Square keeps this up...
And as always, VIVID ROCKS!!!
Kenji's Score: 7.5/10
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