Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Rescue Wings – episode 2

March 13, 2006 on 1:00 pm | In Rescue Wings | 1 Comment

“Difficult Job”

A good episode that gives a feel for what the “rescue” part of this series will be like, with an unfortunate over reliance on the cliché to get its message across.

Hongo takes his helicopter to the affected regions and the rescue missions are underway. After discovering a large group of survivors, Hongo leaves Uchida and Hirogi to attend to them as he ushers away those in critical conditions.

This episode had a nice balance of domestic scenes and rescue scenes. The way in which Hongo is being portrayed makes him an infinitely more interesting character than the caricature of anger presented in the first episode; the separation of his gentle home life and pragmatic approach to work allows the character more humanity.

This new light makes Uchida seem petty in his scenes of sarcasm, which is an interesting twist. The idea of someone thrust into a job that they didn’t want is far from new, but this uncompromising approach to making the audience care more about the task at hand than about Uchida’s attitude towards it certainly sparks up proceedings.

The rescue mission itself went off well, but the direction plays into the hands of the expected to over dramatise scenes that were already dramatic enough. Saving a woman from a car that is situated on compromised ground is a fine scene; it seems somewhat trivialised by the fact that as soon as she is clear, the car falls into the water. It’s plausible, sure, but it feels like a show is being put on for the cameras.

Even more brazenly obvious than all of that is next episode segue: a cat in the wreckage leaves a trite taste on the tongue, and what it leads to is all the more dangerous.
Still, the grey island of earthquake affectation was a generally well conceived avenue for adventure; if the scenes play less into the hands of expectation, Rescue Wings will be quite good indeed.

Am I the only one disappointed that Megumi didn’t end up looking like Nina Fortner? Noto Mamiko, you’re cast forever in my heart.