Sakugan | Episode 6: Robinhood.

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Episode six sees Gagmuber and Memenpu visit a colony where they stand for “equality” but is essentially a colony full of aristocrats. Everyone else who does not fall into that class is forced into an orphanage where I assume they forcibly attempt to make you an active member of this ‘equality’ and if you’re unable to contribute they dump you on the streets. That doesn’t seem like something pertaining to equality. Furthermore, with one family (the Trevi family) running the colony and enforcing these values, one would expect that there are dealings happening behind the scenes, which is true in this episode. The wealthy have connections and strings they can pull to always get their way and that’s something shown here.

Introducing the colony’s rejects, the ones who they deemed couldn’t contribute to their version of equality. Episode six was interesting because we follow Yuri (one of those rejects) and his robinhood-esk mission. A mission where he takes from the rich and gives to everyone who is just like him, undesirables left to rot on the streets because of the colony. Gagmuber and Memenpu supported this plan at first, however, what happens if you go too far?

That’s what happens in this episode. While Yuri’s intentions at the start of the episode were good. In fact, we saw many scenes where all the heists they pulled off in the colony went towards everyone who was rejected by the colony’s elite. However, about halfway through the episode, we saw a subtle shift in Yuri’s attitude. It changed from being the Robinhood to people just like him to one that was fueled with anger and rage because the colony he thought would have saved him and many others like him betrayed them. The justice that Yuri now yearned for was one of revenge. It took a really good talking down by Gagumber to make Yuri realize that what he was going to do now, makes him no better than the colony and if anything could make things even worse for people like him.

All that being said, I did have a few issues with episode six of Sakugan. For one, the episode felt very rushed and a little too fast. It honestly felt like there was too much happening to the point where it made the episode feel messy and cluttered. Secondly, the way both Yuri and Zackletu were introduced as characters joining Gagmuber and Memenpu on their adventures felt out of place. It was almost as though they just decided on their own “Yeah, so we’re going to join you guys on your adventure now, deal with it”. It didn’t feel natural and was something I didn’t particularly like. Not to mention, I don’t know what purpose Yuri and Zackletu will serve. They seem like characters who will just ‘be there just because’.

Overall, episode six wasn’t that good of an episode. The issues I had with the episode as a whole overshadowed everything for me and made it a lot less enjoyable. My hope is that the remaining episodes feel less like episode six and more of episode three.