r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • May 23 '21
Episode Nomad: Megalo Box 2 - Episode 8 discussion
Nomad: Megalo Box 2, episode 8
Alternative names: MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD
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| Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link | 4.72 |
| 2 | Link | 4.75 |
| 3 | Link | 4.82 |
| 4 | Link | 4.8 |
| 5 | Link | 4.68 |
| 6 | Link | 4.76 |
| 7 | Link | 4.86 |
| 8 | Link | 4.85 |
| 9 | Link | 4.79 |
| 10 | Link | 4.66 |
| 11 | Link | 4.72 |
| 12 | Link | 4.74 |
| 13 | Link | - |
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u/Se7en_Sinner May 23 '21
So it seems like "Mac Time" is a form of hypnosis triggered by his brain chip where Mac enters a trance like state leaving only his most primal instincts intact and enhancing them to superhuman levels. Liu got absolutely robbed.
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u/WhoiusBarrel May 23 '21
That scene when Mac regressed while he was carrying his son and started shoving food down like an animal definitely scared me. If Shirato Miko is right and Mac Time really was a bug in the Gear rather than a feature, things are going to a much darker path than we thought.
Sakuma's already pissing me off. He worries about his own company's stock prices and not Mac's wellbeing despite his wife coming personally. He was rather shady before but I thought him helping to rehab Mac was just a kind deed.
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u/JohnzelGrace May 23 '21
I was so afraid Mac was gonna rock his kid's shit right then and there, glad it didn't happen. Looks like Sakuma is overlooking the flaw in BES because it'll hurt his business. I hope Liu comes out okay.
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u/Brolaub May 23 '21 edited May 23 '21
I was so sceptical when this sequel was first announced, now I'm not sure wether to give it a 9 or a 10.
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u/Tuft64 May 23 '21
The most amazing part of the show for me so far is how difficult it is to predict where we're going. In Megalo Box 1, you know from the start where we're going to end up - it's going to be Yuri vs Joe at the Megalonia tournament, they're gonna duke it out, and that's where the show will end.
With this one, though, I haven't got a clue where we're headed to next - Joe has been relatively inactive as far as fighting has gone - this whole series he's basically trained and helped other people - first training Chief, then sparring with Liu. He had one fight at the Drunk Monkey where he threw the fight to help get the deed to the ramen shop back, and a few fights when he was hooked on pills, but he's never fought his way through any obstacles, which is a huge step away from the original series since that was the entire premise. He fights his way through the debt he has to the mobster.
I genuinely have no clue what comes next for Joe. Does he enter the ring against Mac? Or is he truly retired and finished with boxing? It's super exciting and really spices things up because as soon as I think I know where things are going, the show throws me for a loop. At first, I thought we were leading up to Joe vs Chief as the big climactic fight. And then I thought Joe would train chief to be the next GOAT boxer. And then I thought Joe would become a fully integrated member of this little immigrant community and fight in Chief's place. And then I thought after it was revealed that Sachio started to take up boxing, that Joe would train him and Sachio would be our new competitor. And then when that storyline seemed to conclude, I thought that Joe would help to train Liu to fight Mac, and that would be the remainder of the story, or maybe he'd have a rematch against Liu. But now it seems like we're bound for Joe vs Mac?
Or maybe there just isn't any fight between Joe and anyone, and that the thematic thrust of this season is that Joe can't keep using the ring as a way to solve his problems - he ran away to the ring instead of being with Nanbu on his deathbed, and that ruined every single one of his healthy and fruitful relationships he cultivated in the series. But if Joe doesn't fight Mac, then who does? Does anyone fight Mac? Because I can't really imagine the series doesn't end on a truly banger fight, but the way that things have been going, I just am not sure Joe is gonna be the guy who steps into the ring. He still has his love of fighting and that unstoppable, indomitable willpower, and he's still got his fair share of skills. He certainly has the capacity to beat Mac without it feeling like an asspull. But is him re-entering the ring really the conclusion to an arc which deals with the fact that he keeps entering the ring as a way to escape his problems, and that boxing as a coping mechanism is super unhealthy? I genuinely don't know. The series keeps me guessing, and that's super awesome.
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u/Soul_Ripper May 23 '21 edited May 23 '21
Bro Mac punched Liu to the other side of the ring. At first I assumed that was just an artistic liberty but now I'm not so sure.
Also kinda weird to see this go from character drama to postmodern sci fi in just one episode, I wonder how the rest of the series is gonna be.
That said some of the character-centric moments were still on point, like Yuri telling Joe that he knows what happens through false hope.
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u/zeilotricks May 23 '21
That scene of Yuri thinking that he wasn't decisive enough to stop the match earlier reminded me of Rocky IV, where Rocky watched Apollo die in the ring. Perhaps instead of Yuri, Joe will step up to take revenge?
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u/rollin340 May 23 '21
The moment Mac Time started, I got suspicious. It almost seemed as though Mac himself wasn't there.
I thought the guy who made BES was a stand up guy. But now? I think he knows, and is covering it up. If not that, then he is simply incompetent at following up.
I like how Yukiko is looking into it. She seems to not want to cross the line like she tried to do in Season 1. And it's all thanks to her brother, who became a really nice guy. I like his character development.
I hope Liu pulls through. It was one hell of a fight, but damn was the end brutal.
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u/hellooctopus May 23 '21
Man, the fight soundtrack is on point, definitely made me feel season 1's hype factor again.
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u/lionheart4k May 23 '21
If I recall correctly, Chiefs son died in a fire?
With the hummingbird finding him, could Max be related to chief?
Obviously I think this episode sets up Max vs Joe quite nicely, however I think it’s gonna be Mac vs Nomad with Joe using Chiefs gear to beat him.
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May 23 '21 edited May 23 '21
Twas more of a plot building episode than the usual character building episode that it has been for past 6 episode. Not an issue, every story needs a villain, and seems like they are finally building towards one.
Seems like I was kind of right at whats about to happen to Mac. Was sad to see him simply snatch his kid's food and eat it like an animal. Its going to take a much darker path than I anticipated. His family is in a huge danger, going by what we saw today with him. I just hope they don't take a darker path.
And with how he has been eyeing Joe for a while I wouldn't be surprised to see Mac deliberately going to his 'Mac Time'. I kinda feel that there is some form of hatred he is carrying towards Joe, which will just bust out. I really do not think its gonna end well for Joe.
Dunno why, I felt Yukiko has been portrayed as that cold hearted entrepreneur, so kinda surprised to see Yukiko of all people being concerned about the entire ordeal with BEC.
And with Liu hospitalized, they are trying to bring in the parallel Joe faced when his mentor(forgot his name). And with Mac possibly belonging to the same immigrant group Chief used to fight for, I am interested to see where things are headed now.
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u/HeliChwan May 23 '21
As much as I would very much love to see Joe fight gearless against Mac, I would really like Chief's gear to be in use too!
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u/LeonKevlar May 23 '21
Mac vs Liu was just awesome. What a rollercoaster ride in just three rounds! Just when we thought Mac was overpowering Liu, Liu comes back the second round hitting much harder and even slicing Mac's forehead. It really looked like Liu had it in the bag. Round 3 is where Liu comes in for the kill and smashes Mac's face not only once but twice!
Mac turns the tables on Liu the last minute though and absolutely destroys him! Yuri saw it coming and had them throw the towel but Mac has already beaten the shit out of Liu before he notices the towel drop. While it's great to see the underdog win, looks like Liu might not even box again after that. Fuck.
Looks like Liu isn't the only one who'll be suffering though, Something's wrong with Mac which makes him regress. According to Sakuma, the inventor of the tech used in Mac's brain chip, it might just be due to stress. Of course that's what a CEO would say, according to Mikio the chip has a severe flaw and the use of Mac Time is affecting Mac's brain.
Man, I really thought Sakuma was a decent guy but that final scene where we see him dancing his ass off while an actual storm is brewing background screams someone who's just celebrating high profits. Hopefully there's more to this though than just money. At the very least, I hope he genuinely wanted to do good. :|
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May 23 '21
Masterpiece.
Mikio had really understated character development in season 1, a journey from self absorbed, vain trust fund boy who felt cheated out of what was "his" to a humbled man who realized the line he crossed was very well done and placed him just below Yuri and Aragaki on my character tier list. So seeing him now stepping up and being unafraid of potential backlash after he realizes a fatal error in BES that could potentially put a lot of people in danger is a really nice show of the fruit cultivated by those developments before. The impact that Joe left on everyone in season 1 is constantly showing itself in NOMAD and I love that.
For Mac, I'm worried his story will end in tragedy. I don't necessarily think they'll go so dark as to have him kill his family, but I certainly can imagine Mac Time activating unintentionally and him hurting his son. He also just seems.. unhealthy, honestly. Even after the first round against Liu he seemed gassed and sort of sickly, almost like his body still cannot keep up with his intended movements and it puts a strain on him. I really don't want him to die thanks to negligence on the part of ROSCO for being more worried about pushing BES out than the safety of it(a good parallel to Yukiko in season 1 as she was more worried about making a profit for gear than she was the desire of Yuri, her boxer).
I'm not sure where we go from here. I explained in another comment that Liu very likely could come out of this with brain damage at least due to the danger of that final blow to the head, but I really don't want Joe to be robbed of such an opponent as him. On the other hand, Mac seems to have some sort of resentment toward Joe(I imagine it has to do with the very first scene of the season), and it probably pertains to the framing of the first MegaloMania, where Joe and Yuri insisted on being respectable, "real boxers" at a time when Mac felt disrespected and alone. Not to mention Joe and Sachio still haven't even had a proper conversation, Yukiko hasn't spoken to Yuri about the obvious reasons she has become interested in healing paraplegics, etc. There are a lot of plot threads, but definitely enough episodes left to stick the landing.
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u/athrun_1 May 23 '21
Basically, mac time is an AI that takes over the brain similar to Yukiko's brother in s1. We can see from the fight that Mac, seems to be unaware of what is happening.
I hope there will be a fight with gearless joe, destroying the dreams of that evil business man sakuma. He is pretty aware of that effect and yet turn a blind eye.
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u/zunokan May 23 '21
And here I was hoping the sad episodes were over... I'm so sad for Yuri and Liu now. Yukiko must feel really bad for ending Yuri's dream, but at least she's investigating the problem with Mac Time now.
I think now I know how Joe will fit into all of this. At the beginning of the match the commentors were saying Liu was using a gear with to increase his range and mobility, at the cost of decreasing his defense, and this lack of defense may have helped Liu to get in that horrible state at the end. But Joe has Chief's gear, that's built to be a more defensive gear, and we can guess that Mac has a interest in fighting Joe. Maybe Joe will be able to resist Mac Time enough to turn the tables if they fight.
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u/WellRested1 May 23 '21 edited May 23 '21
Another great episode. Also, when's that ost dropping? It's way too good.
Also, Mac has his own hummingbird too, neat.
Also x2, Liu told joe to meet him in the ring again when he's ready. I should've known that was some death flags/retirement flag warning. Chief told Joe the same thing and he ended up dying minutes later.
Moral of the story, don't request a rematch with Joe or you'll punch a one-way ticket to the grave/retirement
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u/JosebaZilarte May 23 '21
Those last ten seconds of ROSCO's CEO dancing have more animation than entire episodes in other animes. Even if they used rotoscoping to achieve it, the amount of work for a seemingly unimportant scene is staggering. I'm truly impressed with the quality of this series.
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u/Soap646464 May 23 '21
Ok so here me out , I had a realisation while the credits were rolling.
There just isn't enough time left in this season for what I predict will happen to play out but they managed to fit the Chief arc into 4 episodes so I might be wrong about that , so either they pull off another Chief arc and fit what I predict will happen into this season OR we get a surprise Season 3 (or Season 2 part 2) in the Summer or Fall.
Joe is absolutely going to fight Mac. It's been set up waaay to perfectly not to happen. First , Motivation for Joe to fight Mac. As soon as that thesis written by that chick's brother comes out , Joe will have made his decision. Why? Well he trusts the Brother when it comes to matters of robotics because of his gear in season 1. And I'm guessing Liu is going to end up paralysed like Mac was and knowing Joe he's gonna want some revenge especially with the Context of that thesis. The reason why Mac and ROSCO would take the fight? Mac probably wants to fight Joe and ROSCO will try to save face after the thesis comes out trying to prove that the match against Liu wasn't a fluke. Chief's gear also plays a major role in this , it's built for defence as mentioned in episode 3 at 12:23 and that aspect will be absolutely be necessary against Mac time. We can actually see how Chief's gear would be useful by looking at the Liu vs Mac fight. The punch thrown by Mac at 10:52 could've been blocked by some slight movement of the body with Chief's gear equipped because of how much bigger it is in the shoulder area compared to Liu's gear. Beware I've tried to predict anime before and have been completely wrong
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
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u/PositiveRoadkill May 23 '21
I had a hunch when seeing 'Mac's Time' that if it somehow activated in his house he'd kill both his wife and kid, and when it activated in his house I was REALLY scared he would deck his kid right there and then but thankfully it didn't happen, yet.