English Dub Review: ēlDLIVE “After the Shoplifter!”

The body odor is strong with this one.

Spoilers Below

Chuuta’s confidence is soaring now. Two criminal encounters under his belt, and people are looking up to him for his bravery. With Dulough’s help, he’s even becoming a master soccer player (Ah, I remember those days). But, a failed capture of a shoplifter quickly puts his Aunt Mimi, and his self-esteem, in the hospital. Oh, great! He’s flip-flopping again. Gonna quit elDLIVE, huh? Great. Just make up your mind and do it, kid. Dulough, on the other hand, seems to show some really good psychotherapy skills. He’s constantly pushing the little whiner on to do those things that boost his confidence. Of course, this may be out of self-preservation. Dulough’s physical form is directly tied to Chuuta’s self-esteem, and his injured aunt and nagging teammate ain’t helpin’ things.  Fortunately, aunt Mimi fights off the blues with a rousing speech about how much he means to her, and how glad she is he’s coming into his own. Morale boosted, time to go off on a shift. Might this have something to do with the mysterious, vanishing shoplifter?

Why, yes. Dude’s an evil extraterrestrial, and it’s a great opportunity to raise Chuuta’s rank in the organization so he and Misuzu can get some better cases.  Chuuta takes this one on by himself, but how to find said criminal? Body odor. Space Pheromones (SPH for short) are the basis of all extraterrestrial special abilities. Humans can’t smell them, but Dulough can, and their composition is like a fingerprint. Using this, they were able to figure out this alien’s MO.

Apparently, Gumshoe Alien Jim and his recently-murdered partner have been stealing bubble gum, which has “medicinal” qualities for their species. Wow, man. Don’t you know that bubble gum is a gateway drug? Keep that up and you’ll be doing hard lines of Mellow Yellow. Jim killed his partner to monopolize on the profits. The last time he was spotted was in a yellow MAC truck. Using some quick image analysis worthy of an episode of NCIS, they figure out where Jim is hiding out. Jim may be tiny, but his SPH force field packs a punch.

Gumshoe Jim is also apparently a shapeshifter, and attaches himself to Misuzu’s face. The boy and his buddy quickly think about the best way to get gum out of a shirt. Freeze it. Freeze it? Let me Google that… Nope, nobody says that. Then again, it’s probably too hard for Dulough to manifest SPH into peanut butter or olive oil. He can, however, shoot ice breath. Misuzu thanks him for saving her in that tsundere way. Fortunately, she can immediately pay him back by saving him from Joe blowing up. Was this suicide? No, it was the act of a criminal organization called Daymill. Daymill has wiped out planets and done other heinous criminal acts throughout the galaxy. And they’re headed this way. Until then, life is back to normal on earth, and Chuuta finally receives his elDLIVE uniform. But what’s with this dude in an evil-looking spaceship saying he’s looking forward to seeing Chuuta again?

So, they’ve finally defined this SPH stuff they’ve been ranting all this time and… I guess I can go with it? It seems weird that it’s all just manipulating pheromones that allows aliens to shoot energy beams and become invincible, but weird does seem to flow with the cut of this show’s jib. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Misuzu’s harsh tones aren’t just hatred and tsundere, but her intent is to push him to get stronger by being his resistance. This show is just filled with wacky, but the three main characters at least have enough seriousness and depth to make them relatable, even if Chuuta is an emo loser. He seems to be getting over it, though, so I can deal.

The animation and dub quality is just like the rest of the anime, and that ain’t bad. I wish I had more to say about it, but it wasn’t anything amazing either. I’m still glad Dulough dropped his distortion from episode one. Misuzu’s voice acting is one I will be paying attention for in future episodes. She’s been played a monotone and all-business so far, but the character is beginning to show depth, and I’d like to see how her voice actress, Dawn Bennett, lets that play out. I give this episode eight sticks of deodorant out of ten.