NT Warrior: Hot Tempers!

Let's quickly talk about voice actors a little bit. This episode, and the majority of NT Warrior episodes, Lan Hikari is voiced by Brad Swaile. Before him, Lan was voiced by Alex Doduk. Doduk's Lan sounds much younger and a little bit more natural, where as Swaile's version sounds a bit more cartoony. Swaile's Lan is pretty nondescript, to the point where I didn't even notice the change of voice actors at first glance until I really listened for it. I don't have a personal preference between the two actors, and I don't know why they changed voice actors in the middle of a series, but I've heard Swaile's Lan so much more often that I typically associate his voice with the characters now.

I bring this up because if the episodes are played in chronological order according to their Japanese air dates, the voice actors switch back and forth a bit. These last three episodes for instance, were aired way later than they should have been, and the next episode will feature Doduk's voice again. This can be jarring watching the episodes in the correct order sometimes. Anyway, this episode is pretty good though.

Plot Synopsis
Mr. Match is watching a DVD of various... um... hot things, and is completely dispassionate about it. He figures the best way to re-ignite his passion is to get revenge on Lan and MegaMan by deleting MegaMan. He sends out TorchMan to wreak havoc on the city by turning up all the ovens and refrigerators, and even a hair drier that Mayl is using.

Well Mayl's hair gets ruined (although how the hell can you tell what is and isn't a good haircut in an anime?) and Lan laughs and makes fun of her for it. Upset, Mayl deletes Lan's homework, putting him in a sour mood now. MegaMan and Roll suspect that maybe WWW is involved with what's going on around town, but unfortunately MegaMan makes an off-cuff remark that infuriates Roll. MegaMan doesn't understand what he said, but Roll is angry and offended and quits speaking to him. Now both operators and Net Navi's are pissed at each other all around.

Mr. Match is getting frustrated and can't figure out why MegaMan hasn't shown up to stop him yet. TorchMan suggests that maybe MegaMan forgot about them. Mr. Match says "Then let's remind him who we are then!" And what sinister method do they use to contact MegaMan? An e-mail of course, which they hand off to Roll and GutsMan to deliver.

Well Roll reads the letter and lets Mayl know about TorchMan's challenge, so Mayl decides they'll go in Lan's place and tear Mr. Match a new one. Dex sends GutsMan to get a hold of Lan and MegaMan before things get out of control. TorchMan then fights Roll and is winning quite easily when MegaMan shows up just in time to save her. Unfortunately MegaMan himself starts to succumb in battle so Roll, feeling bad about being the reason MegaMan is injured comes up with a plan to save him.

With TorchMan and Mr. Match defeated, Roll and MegaMan make up, and MegaMan apologizes for hurting Roll's feelings. Lan runs in to see if Mayl's ok, and she gets a bit smug asking if he came to save her. Well Lan throws that back in her face and says he "would never do that!" The episode ends with Mayl and Lan arguing like a bitter married couple.

Critique
This is an excellent "Battle of the Sexes" type of episode, and MegaMan and Roll's parallel story to Lan and Mayl's compliment each others nicely. Mr. Match hasn't gotten enough screen time until this episode to be a real interesting character, but I love that the show is finally exploring this pyromaniac, whose crime spree seems hilariously insignificant, especially to Lan who doesn't even notice. Even Roll and Mayl have different concerns, "We'll get you for wrecking the town and messing up Mayl's hair!" I love these early episodes with trivial concerns.

Rating: Thumbs Up.