Shangri-La Frontier - Episode 16
It's the first time in a long while that an episode is dedicated solely to the fight. Even though the general approach to this boss is much simpler than I originally expected, it was by no means less entertaining.
The choreography remains precise, but early on, you can feel the characters' desperation. I don't think I've ever faced a boss fight in a video game before that was more about surviving than actively fighting back.
This creates a completely different kind of mental pressure—like being told to run without knowing where the finish line is. Every time you falter (or, in this case, get hit by the boss), it feels that much harder to get back up to speed, but I'm glad everyone's having a bit of fun with this boss fight, precisely because of its uniqueness.
Survival Over Offense
This episode also makes it clear that this is probably the best—if not the only—attempt to succeed, given the enormous amount of resources that have to be invested in this plan.
I love the idea that Arthur might have single-handedly ruined the economy of this video game by buying up all the incredibly rare revival items in the entire country—just for this one boss fight.
While the series could have highlighted the currency even more to really drive home the cost of all the investments, it's implied that, in these real-time action games, most revival items are either rare or come with certain stipulations. And then, spending so much money at the end to get temporary skill buffs that keep you in the game was a nice touch.
Katzo and the Game's Economy
I wish I had seen more of Katzo as a fighter in this episode. While there was more of his quick thinking on display, and it was amusing that his best solution for dealing with the boss was to latch onto its face, as things become increasingly cartoonish, the fight loses some of its tension.
Fortunately, they manage to just barely bring that tension back by the time the team enters the third phase of the boss fight—which I assume will be the last.
We literally and figuratively begin to see the armor cracking here, but the question remains: what will we discover beneath the surface when all is said and done?