I gotta prove it. That I’m not a mistake.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Things are going pretty good for Yukiko Shirato, as her Integrated Gear has secured her company multiple investments and contracts, all while the hype for the final round of Megalonia has reached a fever pitch with the match only days away. However, there’s a hiccup. After Joe lit a fire in him with his amazing fight against Burroughs, Yuri has elected to get his Gear surgically removed so he can face Joe fair and square…which is a surprise to me, because I just assumed he could take it off whenever. It’s also surprising to Yukiko, who threatens to cancel the finals altogether to get Yuri to see reason, but he won’t budge and cuts ties with her. He then goes to see the secluded and reformed Mikio for the surgery.

His recovery is a hellish one and Yukiko is brought in to check up on him, but his condition and betrayal of her goals only gives her more reason to shut the fight down. She even has her assistant look into Joe’s fake ID card, which easily shows her all the proof she needs to disqualify him. But she can’t help but remember that he beat all of his opponents based on pure skill alone, which means he earned his place in this match more than anyone else in the tournament. She then pleads with Yuri one last time to put the gear back on, but he refuses, saying that he’s met an opponent he needs to give his all.

Meanwhile, Joe continues his training, with Nanbu calling in Aragaki and Miyagi to help him spar. Yukiko then arrives with the ID and Joe thanks her for taking care of Sachio for a bit. She also informs Joe of Yuri’s decision to remove his Gear, which only fires him up even more. As Japanese rap lyrics fill the night air, everyone stares up at the moon. Soon, the final fight will be here.

OUR TAKE

Obviously this episode is primarily about the calm before the storm that is the finale, but that doesn’t mean it was any less charged with energy and character growth. It’s also, fittingly, the first Yuri-focused episode that really gets into his head and past. Just like how Aragaki and Mikio were meant to build up Nanbu and Yukiko, Yuri has been a main in the cast since the beginning, and so gets his time to better set up himself. As Joe’s singular goal, he’s been pretty far off in the background, merely observing his new rival’s climb to the top of the ranks, but now we get to see exactly what his goals are and, even more importantly, how they differ from Yukiko’s.

While she is set on proving the performance of Integrated Gear, Yuri only wanted something that would help him win. Now that he’s used that Gear to make it this far, he’s seen this stray dog rise from nothing while only using his own power, so it would be an insult to face him with anything more than the same. They’ve been joined at the hip this whole time, but now, this close to the end, they’re needing to go separate ways, at least on this much. It’s great to see their characters work off each other when they’re finally in conflict with one another for the first time. This isn’t underdog Joe versus the over-controlling Shirato Corporation or even Yukiko, this is Joe versus Yuri. Not a tale of revenge or anger, just a passion for the sport. Two guys who just love fighting and are looking to get the greatest match possible from each other. Nothing more, nothing less.

We also get some returning faces from the aforementioned Aragaki and Mikio, each of them helping out Joe and Yuri to show how both they and their former rivals have grown and changed since letting go of their previous drama. In Joe’s case, Aragaki is kind of like Apollo Creed coming back to coach Rocky after Mickey died in “Rocky 3”, while Mikio is…one of the guys Ivan Drago trained with in one of the “Rocky 4” montages? Either way, glad to see these two guys back one last time. A shame we don’t get to check in with Samejima or Burroughs, but I’m going to go with my head-canon that they decided to get hitched and start a family of little shark-lions.

It’s honestly been awhile since I was this hyped up for a series finale, but this show has pushed all the right buttons to get me excited. Find out who lands the final blow next week…assuming you haven’t seen the subbed version.

Score 9/10