S6E8 - TOMINO-THON! Combat Mecha XABUNGLE Part 2 (Episodes 27-50) & XABUNGLE GRAFFITI Review

And, you know, when we decided originally to split our coverage of Zebungle into two, uh, halves, we didn't realize just how distinctive the two halves were.

We just said like, "Hey, 50 episodes, that's a lot to cover." Uh, but we had never seen it, and I think it's pretty fascinating actually, when you look at Zebungle, just how different the second half is.

Um, and I think is more uneven, but also has a lot of very interesting things to it, including something I'm very excited to talk about today, which is the, a seminal moment for our Tomino-thon where we get our introduction to one of Tomino's most enduring character archetypes with what he does with Elchi Cargo in the second half of the show.

Yes, absolutely.

I, I was fascinated, Sean, because I thought ...

Last week I kind of patted myself on the back going, "Hey, episode 26 was ...

I, I found a really good...

I was right.

That was the right spot to end it." Made for a good discussion, um, 'cause that was sort of ...

Uh, I mean, we made that call together, but I think we were debating 25, 26, and I said, "I think 26-

Yeah

... is more the right one." And it's, it's correct because the 27 to 50 stretch, these last 24 episodes feel way more like a season two than the second-

Yes

... half of the show.

Like, this feels like if you go to the 2010s and you have Gundam 00 or Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, the way those do their season one, season two, where it is one big 50-episode show, but there's a pretty hard break in the story, and that's basically exactly how Zebungle works.

Like, there's, you know, they don't ...

Oh, I was gonna say they don't change the theme song, but they do.

They, they, we have a new animation for it that's like really, really cool, even if the song is the same.

And lots and lots of other stuff changes.

We go to a, a winter tundra environment.

We have, uh, a, a pretty heavy shift in how the show handles some of its, like, villains and stuff.

And then as you say, the main demarcation point is what they do with Elchi Cargo, which is both the most interesting thing in this batch of episodes and the most problematic.

But it is definitely-

Yes

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