You got everything money can buy, except what it can’t: Pride.



OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Joe’s fight against Mikio is already in its second round, with Mikio landing serious blows while Joe keeps getting up in true Joe fashion. Even though Joe doesn’t have a Gear, Mikio’s ACE A.I. is still formulating moves to counter him from his fighting style alone. Unlike other Gears, his requires close mental synchronization with the AI, so much so that he puts more stock in that than his own skills, even taking drugs to keep up with its rate. It looks like it’s working as the fight goes into its third round and he punches Joe out of the ring, but the junk dog just won’t quit.

On his last legs, Joe tries a bold new tactic: Just…standing there. With his shot all lined up for him, Mikio goes in for the kill. That is, until ACE stops him, thinking Joe might have something planned. Mikio’s tech crew tell him that he should be able to finish this in one more good blow, so he should be able do this without ACE, but he dismisses that, saying ACE’s decisions are his own. So, once the fourth round starts, it’s down to Mikio, completely dependent on his highly advanced Gear, and Joe, who believes in his own skill. Unsure if it’s either him or ACE choosing this, Mikio finally goes in for a hit to end it, only to give Joe the right opening to beat him down, winning the match and the entry to Megalonia. He also gets a chance to taunt Yuri, who is just as eager for a rematch.

Mikio rides off into the moon-set and Team Nowhere celebrates yet another victory. However, Fujimaki has something he needs Nanbu to do, which Joe probably isn’t going to like.

OUR TAKE

While Joe and co’s portion of development pretty much wrapped up last week, this episode is pretty much entirely from Mikio’s perspective, showing what’s been driving him, as well as what ultimately destroys him. Namely, his reliance on his Gear’s AI over his own human intuition and abilities. In flashbacks, we see some key interactions with Yuri once his Integrated Gear is chosen for further development by Yukiko. Mikio feels betrayed that Yuri is taking his sister’s side, but Yuri only says he did it to win. He then throws Mikio a punch, which gets blocked, but asks him if that came from his own mind or ACE’s. Mikio replies that ACE IS him, which basically sums up his biggest strength and weakness.

Because the synchronization takes so much mental strain, he ends up giving the decision making to ACE’s algorithms. Up until now, that had been a great asset, being able to calculate the fighting moves of any geared opponent he faced without needing to think at all, which got him this far. Then came Joe, someone with no Gear who had crawled out of the lowest dirt hole and had no Gear to rely on. His low class status made his ascension in the rankings churn Mikio’s stomach as someone who had started with so much privilege and many resources, but his lack of Gear was also ACE’s Kryptonite, meaning Mikio had no choice but to blackmail Joe to keep their match from happening. But when that didn’t work, he was forced to do something he never thought he’d have to do: prove his own worth as a boxer with his own mind and talents.

While his usual confidence and assurance got him some of the way, as the match continued on, it became increasingly clear that he had no experience facing someone with his own strength before, something he couldn’t deny anymore once a half-dead Joe stood in front of him and he couldn’t throw that last punch without ACE’s approval. In that moment, Mikio had completely lost himself, being unsure where ACE’s decisions ended and his began. He had become completely reliant on his Gear, whereas Yuri only wanted Gear that could make himself better, and Joe only counted on his own skills. Because, as many characters have said in one form or the other, it’s not about the Gear, it’s about the one behind it. ACE’s abilities could have very nearly taken Mikio to Megalonia, possibly even close to beating Yuri, but if he couldn’t believe in himself, he was never truly meant to win.

In short, another wonderfully layered, character-driven and thrilling episode of this consistently fine series. As for the bit at the end between Nanbu and Fujimaki, I have a feeling of what that could be about, but I’ll save my thoughts on that for next time as we enter the Megalonia Tournament.

Score 9/10