Star Driver - Episode 6

Given how its last episode was played for laughs in many respects, I suppose it was inevitable that Star Driver's sixth episode would return to the show's "serious business" - although I wasn't expecting things to get quite this serious at this point in the series.

The signs of a "heavy" episode are there from the very start, with Sugata looking a little depressed and distant while Takuto frets over a watch he owns and as chosen to take with him for one day only which has stopped working (and who is that depicted within the case of the watch?).  Wako's appearance soon brings about an opportunity to cheer Takuto up at least, with the prospect of a "date" as she takes him into town to get the watch fixed while Sugata makes himself scarce.  Cue a date/shopping montage full of the usual fun and frolics... although it seems as though the pair of them are being watched by a particularly disgruntled girl, which can never be good news.

With this distraction over, we get to the real meat of what this episode is all about - The day in question is Sugata's birthday, and an event he refuses to celebrate as it also happens to be the day he learned of his place in this weird world of Cybodies and the like.  In short, Sugata controls what is effectively the "king" Cybody - a fact that is not as much of a blessing as it sounds, as anyone who has ever Apprivoised with said Cybody has fallen into a coma, never to awaken.  Of course, you can probably guess what happens next - our mysterious disgruntled girl uses her power to attack outside of Zero Time, and only one person can prevent this attack on Wako from killing her....

At last, this feels like a real step forward for Star Driver, away from its sometimes frivolous characters and plot progression towards what feels like a more solid footing.  Sure, this is achieved via the same regimented episode layout of previous weeks (which could do with being mixed up a bit if you ask me), but I'm willing to forgive it that when it does such a decent job of progressing and shifting the inter-relationships of the show's main trio of characters while also moving other aspects of the plot forward substantially.  Just as Star Driver was threatening to lose interest to me, this instalment has managed to grab my attention somewhat.  Let's just hope it can keep it now.