On the whole, the show seems to stabilize here and actually tell us a comprehensible story, solving most of the issues I had with the previous week’s outings.
The meat of the episode is Bisco fighting Pawoo as Milo works to heal Jabi, with both mushroom keepers telling the person with them the general truth of the situation. That truth is that mushrooms feed on the Rust to at least some degree, so Mushroom Keepers plant them where the rust is worst. However, the Mushrooms don’t start purifying the area immediately, so normal people see Mushrooms growing in areas of dense Rust and assume that mushroom spores cause Rusting. This, combined with the fact that Jabi says not all mushroom keepers are particularly ethical, generates a cycle of fear and hatred that brings us to the present situation.
This is, essentially, what I would have guessed from the basic pitch of the show and the previous episode, but it’s good to have it spelled out, given how strange the world is. We also learn what the main plot of the show will probably be: Bisco is looking for a legendary mushroom known as the Rust Eater (Sabikui, of the title), a species that can purge any and all rust from man or machine, in order to safe Jabi from his advanced Rusting. Milo is naturally quite interested in this as well, since big sis Pawoo is also at death’s door thanks to the Rusting.
Bisco defeats Pawoo in a quite well choreographed fight, knocking her out with a sleep-poison arrow. He meets up with Milo and Jabi, the latter of who insists on staying behind as a diversion. This is a problem for Bisco as he’ll need to synthesize medicine from the Rust Eater as soon as he finds it in order to cure Jabi, but taking Milo along would solve that conundrum, now wouldn’t it? Milo is eager to go, hoping to bring back Pawoo’s salvation even as he has to leave her behind. It’s not a clean or easy decision, but this is ultimately what’s done, leading to the pair escaping the city.
Along the way we see more of that pink-haired mercenary, the oddly sinister city leader, the gate guards and Bisco’s previous encounter with them, even the harlots and madame figure briefly. We also get some good senses of the characters involved. Bisco, finally, can be pinned down roughly as being hot tempered and immature, but mostly a good person. Pawoo is, as might be expected, excessively hard and uncompromising, with a big weakness in the form of Milo. Milo… well, we already knew his kindness and his willingness to go beyond the pale for his sister so there’s nothing really new there, but it is consistently portrayed.
At this point, I’m also fairly convinced that the art and motion that sometimes look odd are a deliberate style choice. Sometimes things don’t flow, or take on a flatter appearance, and that’s fine. I feel like one of the more relevant uses of that, especially in the action scene, is that you can see more of what’s going on. When we watch Pawoo and Bisco fight, if it was in the same gritty and high-detail style as the rest of the show it could easily become a dark blur. By simplifying there, we can see the cool moves and blow-by-blow flow if the fighting without being distracted by every intricate little bangle or blinded by the lighting. It’s not the only solution by any means, but I do feel as though it’s a solution and not a problem on its own.
Right now, it’s unclear if they mean to tell a “full story” in the twelve episodes of the season. They could, but with three episodes to get out of the first town I feel like the road trip could take a good deal longer than that. Either way, while I’ll be keeping an eye on the pacing, I don’t see any reason to worry just yet. All in all, it feels like we’re going for a fun ride, and we’ll see how it develops next week.