Double Decker: Doug & Kirill Episode 9 Review: Don't Think! Feel So Good!

Some politician’s daughter is kidnapped and somehow 7-0 end up being involved. The army too. Oh and Doug gets his ass kicked. And gadgets. What the hell is going on?

Plot

The episode starts through the presentation of some new gadgets Apple has come up with which the team deems as completely useless. I mean, the rollerblades are pretty lame I suppose, but a flying backpack and camera contact lenses seem pretty damn neat to me. Anyway, immediately after that the agents are briefed about the kidnapping of the daughter of a presidential candidate or something (not that it matters) and are told that Esperanza is behind it. They set up a whole scheme, directed by the head of the military (who seems to be quite an important guy, I suppose) and the candidate, closely followed by Doug, goes to the pickup point with a suitcase full of money to collect his daughter. The rest of the team is standing by yet they get completely blocked out of the whole scene, and Doug and the guy get beaten up and also kidnapped.

We later find out that the people who kidnapped the girl are actually working with the politician to get him votes for saving his daughter’s life (that’s like the third time I come across this type of plot in a year, I mean, really?) but they’ve now changed their minds; they kick his ass and Zabel shows up (??) acting all badass. The candidate and his daughter are set free but Doug ends up getting his face kicked in at a parking lot somewhere while Zabel is questioning him on the anti-anthem bullet drugs 7-0 uses. Somehow, this enables Doug to deduct that Zabel is the head of Esperanza, with Z being at the top instead of A. Meanwhile, Kirill puts together a completely extravagant plan to save Doug’s life that would have never been accepted by any authority under regular circumstances but, well, this show makes very little sense altogether. Doug is rescued thanks to the use of Apple’s gadgets, the end.

Episode Highlights

The outfits: No, I will never get over this. I have watched thousands of hours of popular media in my life, and I REFUSE to accept that people who work in the police/military/anything wear this type of clothing. First of all, it makes you more noticeable and impossible to hide. Second, it is ridiculously uncomfortable, and third, why the hell do they have fancy outfits anyway – they’re going out there to shoot mutated monstrous drug addicts, not to have negronis in a rooftop somewhere.

Lame: Am I the only one who noticed how poorly the agents performed in this episode? It really felt like they are a useless bunch who looks good. Kirill was… stuck in traffic, Boxer and robot were stopped by SOME FALLEN POTATOES, and Pink and Kay failed to assist as they had their vision blocked by smoke. Really?

Too much CGI: I felt like this episode has way more CGI scenes than usual, and most of them in places where I wouldn’t have considered necessary. I wonder why? Probably budget wise – more computer generated imagery means less working hours for animators.

Themes and Trivia

Bamboo man: Hey, in retrospective, doesn’t Bamboo man look a lot like Alex from Clockwork Orange? Not an unlikely reference as the show seems to be heavily influenced by British trivia and culture.

Daughter kidnap: Yeah, having a politician sacrificing his daughter’s wellbeing to get votes/favour/whatever is not new at all. I believe the most concrete example of such a character is the series ‘BOSS’, telling the story of a Chicago Mayor. Pretty lame guy.

Ugh…

Bad. Nothing made sense, the plot was super loose, everything moved really fast; nothing actually happened.

How did you find this Double Decker: Doug & Kirill episode? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Fall 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!