The other guy may be the one with the name, but Bundus is definitely a bro. Bro is a bro too, but he’s a good guy so that’s expected. A quality many great battle shounen share is the ability to deliver likeable and interesting antagonists. Those can overlap but they don’t have to – one or the other is still really good. Zodyl, for example, isn’t especially likeable but he’s certainly interesting. Bundus (happy birthday, Ohtsuka-san) manages to both, which is pretty much a prerequisite for being a bro.
What is Bundus actually after? We know he wants to “win” his showdown with the Santa boys but not why. In fact Zodyl is the only one of the Raiders whose goals we mostly know, because he’s not shy about sharing them. With the others it’s a bit of a mystery beyond presumable loyalty to him, which is itself enigmatic – why does he earn that loyalty? In fact, until this episode we didn’t even know what Bundus’ abilities or Jinki were. But we do now, at least in part – “Hands”. And he puts them to good use here.
Even Bundus appears to have been caught off guard by the giant trash beast actually taking flight. This, Zodyl says, is because the trash storm comes every six years and he’s engineered it to be able to surf it to the Sphere – though whether his team knows that isn’t spelled out. The chaos that ensues pretty much nullifies Dear’s ability to manipulate events with “Drain”. He’s got all the material he could wish for to punch, but when you’re in free fall that doesn’t matter. Eventually the Bro bros and Bundus wind up in a junked car, their fates thrown together in a bid for survival.
Long game enemies or not, there’s no question circumstances make allies of the trio here. It’s indisputable that Bundus saves Dear when he’s thrown clear of the runaway car (even Bones uses CG sometimes) and is about to be lost to the maelstrom. One doesn’t want to think of him as a total hypocrite – that’s bro power. It’s Bro who winds up saving them when Bundus spots a giant drainage pipe to take refuge in, and Bro uses “Cloth” as a slingshot when a half-buried utility pole offers itself up as an anchor point.
Making an ally is what Zodyl is trying to do with Rudo in the very eye of the storm. The argument he makes is not entirely without validity. If indeed Rudo’s goal is to reach the Sphere and enact his revenge, Zodyl plausibly offers the fastest and easiest path to get there. The rest of his case is weaker, though – because it’s one that makes sense for him, not for Rudo. To Zodyl friends might seem like dead weight, a needless encumbrance (so why the seeming loyalty from the Raiders?). But it’s different for Rudo, who’s only ever been offered belonging by Regto. How can he honor that memory if he throws away his friends in order to avenge it?
The name Rudo has given his gloves is “3R” – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Fitting for a boy who loves rehabilitating trash as much as he does. Maybe it’s not such a stretch to say Rudo views himself as trash being rehabilitated by the kindness of others, first Regto and now the Cleaners. Especially Enjin, who’s as bro as it gets. It’s not clear who the person who gave Enjin his name, or what the “big debt” he owes to them was. But it is clear that Enjin is the glue that holds his ragged band together, and he means to gather them back to his side now. Zodyl and his grand ambitions be damned.
The post Gachiakuta – 20 appeared first on Lost in Anime.
