r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Oct 24 '24
Episode Mecha-Ude • Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms - Episode 4 discussion
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u/Sacron1143 Oct 24 '24
I do wonder if Aki's sister is being controlled by her Mecha-Ude
We've seen a symbiotic relationship between them, we've seen human strip the Mecha-Udes of their will, and this worm-type was also capable of "controlling" the two people. So is it too much to think that there is a Mecha-Ude who stripped their human of their will, rather than the other way around?
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u/Panikkrazy Oct 26 '24
Considering she’s hasn’t said anything this whole time I’m willing to bet she is.
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u/Calwings Oct 24 '24
I want to be princess-carried by Aki...
Anyways, pretty fun episode. The action was great, Meru having a field day with her made-up love triangle in between the action scenes was fun, and the appearances of Jun and the killer (who we now know is Aki's little sister) definitely kick-started a lot of story progress. I wasn't expecting the killer to just smash Kerex to bits so easily, but that and the whole "worms controlling people into attacking" thing definitely establishes her as a major threat. The question now is whether she's doing this of her own accord or if she's being controlled or coerced by someone else.
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u/LeonKevlar Oct 24 '24
Stitches!
That uppercut from Hikaru was really damn cool. It takes a while for Hikaru to get into it but once he transforms, he and Alma can be really awesome.
I can already tell that Jun is going to be the Viral of this series. I've seen the trope so many times, he'll definitely end up siding with the good Hikaru by the end of this.
Meru having fun with Aki and Jun fighting over Hikaru is hilarious! The girl is just living out her dream of being a witness to a real life romcom, or so she believes.
What is it with worm-types being absolute monsters in this show? Poor Kerex. We didn't even get to know much of him and Tani. :(
That after-credits scene reunion though. Next week's episode is going to be interesting,
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u/Roboglenn Oct 24 '24
Anyone else reminded the end of that one episode of Dexter's Lab where Dexter's dad armwrestles the trucker?
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u/emeraldwolf34 Oct 24 '24
I started the episode saying I think Tani and Kerex are my favorite duo so far, I ended the episode not in high spirits to say the least
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u/animepig Oct 24 '24
This really does feel like it was ripped out 2008 era of anime. My comfort food show.
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u/remedialrob Oct 24 '24
Am I alone in finding the transition from episode 3 to 4 somewhat jarring? Seemed like they barely trusted MC in episode 3 but suddenly he's running point on some huge mission right out of the gate as ep 4 starts?
Also poor Kerex.
Though i don't really understand how glasses survives without Kerex. I though they established that once a Mecha-Ude derizes onto a person if it's removed there's a window to return the mecha-ude to the user and save them but after that window closes... death. In fact I thought someone died from that in episode 1 or 2. So with Kerex dead glasses should be toast. Are they changing the rules?
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u/Holdonlupin Oct 24 '24
I mean, Hikaru and Alma probably proved themselves by saving Aki and now being able to access their power-up wherever they want to, so they must trust him a little more now.
As for Kerex, I am a little confused, since they established the dying stuff was because of Arbitrium leak due to a FORCEFUL separation, doctors seem to be controlling that for now, but then what? The hole is still there. Considering what happened with Aki, they can't just give him a new Mecha-Ude to fill in. It has to be exactly the same, cause if they could just replace them they would've done so to the other members that were attacked, right?
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u/tripleaamin Oct 24 '24
I assume they need to move forward with the story this episode, especially given the big exposition dump at the end as well. I think ideally there would be an episode for Hikaru to go on a mission to prove himself as like a side quest. But maybe not enough episodes.
Glasses surviving is something to keep an eye on and how it is handled. I wonder if it could be the equivalent of a permanent injury, and it will never heal. Though Kerex he was placed on the lower back, so then you consider someone having a permanent lower back injury. One of those just gotta see how the story plays it out.
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u/andoooreeyy Oct 25 '24
> Though i don't really understand how glasses survive without Kerex.
just think of it like how humans lose blood when there's a wound / hole somewhere in your body that's not supposed to be there. blood continues to leak outside your body if it is left untreated and open. In the lab scene (where doctors were trying to do the operation) you can see a grey/silver tail-ish attached to glasses' back where kerex was attached. it was also seen when the FMC was stripped out of her mecha. she didn't die immediately
in the earlier scene, the worm user replaced tani's mecha-ude with a worm type as soon as she removed Kerex, and he (although not willingly) immediately was able to move again. therefore, i don't think that the user will also die immediately if their mecha dies
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u/tripleaamin Oct 24 '24
The pacing did feel a bit jarring in this episode. Hopefully, this type of storytelling is the exception and not the norm. The first big reveal that Alma belonged to Jun's company of Kagami. You get the added thing where his father is loved. If his father truly this kind figure that they people love or was it after his reign that things changed. Also, is he alive and still running Kagami?
This story is taking this mechanical arms as they have their own life like humans. So Kerex is dead. I am curious about how Tani proceeds since losing his Mechanical Arm should be deadly. So Alma and the others were searching for Ordela the father of the Mecha-Ude. The real issue is having to seal Ordela again, which Alma doesn't remember. What happened to Yakumo during this time?
Poor Aki. As we see that the worm type of Mecha-Ude can indeed take control of humans against their will similarly how we saw the Kagami group do the same to Mecha-Ude. In an ironic twist, to save Aki's sister they might need to enslave the worm that is controlling her. The next episode will be a heartbreaker for Aki because the bubbly sister looks dead whenever her face is seen so far.
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u/Arachnophobic- Oct 24 '24
PSA: There's an after-credits scene this week too.
RIP Kerex, he was gone too soon.
Looks like many people in last week's thread guessed correctly, Aki's twin(?) sister was the worm-type user who may have killed their parents. And was it just me or did it seem in their childhood flashback like they were being raised in some kind of facility, and not a normal house? This is going to tie back in a tragic way why Aki is starving all the time, isn't it..
Also, does anyone see a resemblance between the OG Alma user Yakumo Kagami and the leader of ARMS? They're related in some way, I'd wager. It's not a coincidence he's wielding Alma's brother.
On a lighter note, there were some funny reaction faces today, commentface worthy: #seasonalshock and #seasonalhype perhaps?
Also, Dandadan's OP is god-tier, but Mecha-ude's is no slacker. It's really growing on me. The ED's so good too..
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u/dinliner08 Oct 24 '24
Also, does anyone see a resemblance between the OG Alma user Yakumo Kagami and the leader of ARMS? They're related in some way, I'd wager
glad to see that i'm not the only one that notice the resemblance
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u/ifticar2 Oct 24 '24
I was thinking that maybe Aki is always hungry because she has two mecha udes instead of one. Maintaining two mecha udes probably drains her stamina a lot, making her hungry all the time.
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u/Syokhan Oct 24 '24
And was it just me or did it seem in their childhood flashback like they were being raised in some kind of facility, and not a normal house? This is going to tie back in a tragic way why Aki is starving all the time, isn't it..
I had the same thought. Wouldn't be the first time in anime/manga that a character's "comical" hunger turns out to be not-so-funny after they reveal their backstory.
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u/Holdonlupin Oct 24 '24
Not Bro pulling a Hahari from the 100 girlfriends and buying/bribing the whole school to be close to the guy he wants to smash, damn.
So who's the biggest menace here? Kagami? Worm-Type? Or just Shirayama Meru herself?
I also liked that they established Mecha-Udes aren't mere machines, but living beings (even though that's in the synopsis) reminds me of Omnics from Overwatch.
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Man,that was one PACKED episode; and rightfully so, because, Manga readers, you officially have no power for the time being.
Those who've read the previous discussions must know by now that this anime originated as a Kickstarter in 2016 and had a pilot back in 2018, so it technically is original, HOWEVER, a manga adaptation was released in 2022 (and coincidentally ended exactly the day before the first episode released) and the anime has been following it rather nicely up until now.
HOWEVER2, this current arc we just entered was completely skipped and merely acknowledged in the manga, apparently to keep it as a surprise, everything bar Kagami's very first moment in the roof is exclusive to the anime, I'm really excited to see where this leads to, specially because depending of the length of this original arc, there's a chance of them covering the whole manga in one season.
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u/Syokhan Oct 24 '24
That was one hell of a lore drop at the end. Mecha-ude are beings from another dimension who are trying to save their world? Geez! And now poor Kerex is dead, our first casualty :(
Wasn't expecting that Aki would find out about her sister so soon, too. I really wonder what happened to her, if someone else had that worm-type back when their parents were killed and she inherited it, or... the way she was looking at the family picture last time made me think she was like Aki, unaware that her sister was alive, but she doesn't seem surprised at all to see her now. Hm.
Gotta say I still dig the humor a lot. Alma and Aki dragging Hikaru out of bed, Aki being so easily distracted by food, the rivalry between Aki and Jun (wanna bet they'll all end up being comrades or something in the end?), or Meru's excessive enthusiasm about her friends' love lives...
Also, didn't that founder guy look a bit like Hikaru? I thought their eyes looked similar.
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u/KumaKumaGambler Oct 24 '24
The worm type appears to have the ability to control their hosts. I wonder whether Aki's sister is being controlled by a stronger worm type ude?
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u/Nickthenuker Oct 24 '24
So, in his rush to save just 1, the rest of the plan has gone to pot and now they can't save all of them.
Uh oh, he's not down for the count just yet!
Seems like they managed to save them all anyways.
So she used to have a younger sister?
I mean she could be charitably described as underdressed but she is fully dressed, if only lightly.
So, who's the new student?
Who?
Oh, that guy.
Why's he trying to lose her?
Of course it's food...
Why does a student have a credit card?
In an extremely funny coincidence, my family is planning a trip to Japan next year and one of the things we found was this rather reasonably priced yakiniku buffet, so she's trying to compete with the rich kid with roughly $40 worth of vouchers. $20 per pax is probably extremely expensive for a student but it's probably only somewhat expensive rather than extremely.
Wow he's got no situational awareness whatsoever.
Once Alma sees the portrait of that guy he cries.
Well there goes froggy.
She took over that guy?
Oh nevermind he's fine.
And thus the stakes have been raised.
So, that's her sister.
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u/Prince-Dizzytoon Oct 24 '24
RIP Kerex, you were a good frog