Watching 'Cannon Busters' Episode 7

The villains find out about about the previous battle that involved Philly, and report it to the main villain. They are all interesting enough for me to know that they are villains that look cool, with a total lack of any desire to remember their names, and with us passing the midway point of the show, this is incredibly concerning. If the villains are not interesting enough, then the level of engagement is only going to be dropped further and further. Regardless, the main villain does main villain things when the information is presented to him, threatening his own people and what not. The usual really. Thus far, while I have made comparisons between this show and others, the further into this show I get, the more I am starting to realize that I should be watching the shows that I am referencing instead of this. The main villain is incredibly one dimensional despite a strong opening.

Within this scene, the villain and his father talk about the dangers of using magic, and the consequences that would result in its usage. Throughout this conversation the emperor is struggling to break free from his bonds. It was established that if the villain used his magic to pull information directly from the mind it would leave the victim in a near vegetative state, which is clearly not the case here as the emperor is for all intents and purposes in good health, despite his bondage. To finish off this scene we find that the main villain is actually no more than a puppet for an even greater threat. Shocking.

We then move onto the prince, and the first thing that was noticeable about this segment is the fact that the animation here is incredibly stiff, so much so that it actually took me out of the show. During his interaction with Odin, we get to see that he is not nearly as insufferable as he was prior, which shows that he is learning, even if it is off screen, and we are left to connect the pieces ourselves. There is nothing wrong with characters changing off screen, however when you are depicting a character arc, the experiences that they go through, and showing them to the audience creates a deeper connection to the character while allowing us to appreciate the person that they become. This is because we see the hardship that they go through. Here, he moans, and the next time we see him, he is moaning a little less, and that is the extent of his character growth.

Thankfully we are interrupted from his speaking as a result of an ambush from a faction working with the enemy. The battle ends with the guard robots of the prince being destroyed, while the leader of the faction is taken hostage. Here the idealism of the prince is being tested bit by bit, and we are actually seeing change on screen which is a point in the shows favour considering I have spent much of this time criticizing it.

Going back to the central trio of the show, a new character, who seems to have beef with Philly, sets a higher bounty on him. This character is so uninteresting, and stereotypical that I only remember her as the warden of a prison. Meanwhile, Philly goes on to tell the story of the feud that he has going on with the warden. Granted the fight that occurs in his flashback is actually quite enjoyable to watch, and the main reason why is because we have an eclectic group of bounty hunters working together to fight and kill Philly. The most stand out thing about this group is the fact that they would not look out of place if you were to put them on a rig in Mad Max Fury Road. Guitar flamethrower and all. We end this fight with one of the best ends to the fight, while Philly spares the guitar bounty hunter, just so that he can walk towards the sun to a rocking guitar riff.

What is great about what is to follow is that we actually get some character development, and character progression for Philly. Considering he was at a stand still for so many episodes, we get to see him share stories from his past, and he actually trusts Casey enough to drive Bessy, something that he was vehemently against in the past.

The episode does keep going and we are introduced to a bounty hunter called Jojo, with the warden wanting her to kill Philly, and she seems to have a grudge against Philly too. This is a curious introduction as we do not actually see her, only a silhouette.