Monday 28 February 2011

Level E - Episode 8

Level E being what it is, I had no idea what direction it might choose to head in next after the end of its Power Rangers wannabe arc... and what do you know, it duly brings us a love story of sorts - the anti-Kimi ni Todoke if you'd rather.

The main focus of our tale is one Princess Saki, a member of the all-female Macbac.  Saki is visiting the Earth because it's time for her to find a mate, a person who she will only mate with once, bear a child with, and then live with forever more until that person passes away.  Sounds lovely, doesn't it?  It probably would be, except that every race who has ever had a member of the Macbac species mate with it has died out within a few generations.  Of course, it's up to our Dogurian "Earth Defence Force" (minus the Prince, who has been sent away for obvious reasons) to both act as Princess Saki's guide, while trying their darndest to ensure she doesn't mate with a human.


Kraft and company's chances of preventing disaster for the human race seem pretty good, given that Saki can't speak Japanese, plus it's Christmas Eve and everyone around already seems to have hooked up with somebody.  However, Kraft bets without the looming disaster of love at first sight, which hooks in a lad named Mikihisa whose seemingly disastrous Christmas has just taken a turn for the better as he locks eyes with Saki, leading to her instantly asking to marry him.  While Kraft tries to defuse the situation by making full use of the language barrier between them, we inevitable end-up with a full on chase for the future of humanity as Mikihisa and Saki look to escape together.

Although this feels like a slightly clichéd concept in some ways, it doesn't really matter when it's delivered with such a tight and frequently funny script, carried almost entirely by Kraft and his subordinates Sade and (hilariously) Colin.  Yes, the premise is daft, and as per the last story arc I worry (probably needlessly at this juncture) about them running with said premise for two long, but as an opening gambit to this story episode eight works and it works well, and knowing this series we're in for at least a couple of twists and turns yet, particularly given the potentially amusing cliff-hanger to this episode.  In short, Level E looks all ready to continue to deliver its comedy goods this time around.

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