Axess: Chaud vs ProtoMan

Plot Synopsis
Dr. Hikari is working with BlazeQuest to come up with a new PET that is resistant against Dark Chip influence. When Dr. Hikari misplaces the data cd at his home, Chaud heads over there to pick it up. As he's leaving, Lan goes out and talks to him in the park.

It doesn't go well and they get into a fight. Chaud tells Lan his plan was great to use the Dark Chip, but Chaud should have let Lan infect MegaMan, because ProtoMan is the superior NetNavi and the two of them would have been better Net Saviors. Lan throws Chaud to the ground and Chaud finally breaks down into tears. Lan tells Chaud not to give up, and that they'll get ProtoMan back somehow, and that Lan will do everything he can to help Chaud. This seems to help Chaud a bit, and he picks himself back up and thanks Lan.

Later, Nebula isn't too happy about this new PET, and they send ProtoMan and GravityMan to BlazeQuest to retrieve the data cd. GravityMan wreaks havoc in the lobby with a dimensional area, while ProtoMan breaks through the network security. Lan shows up Cross-Fused to help out Chaud, while Chaud uses the network security and his own battle chips to try and stop ProtoMan. Chaud says he'll keep ProtoMan from the Data CD even if he has to delete ProtoMan himself.

Chaud backs up the Data CD and removes it from the system while Lan finally takes down GravityMan. The plan a failure, ProtoMan returns to LaserMan to report in. LaserMan decides to use another dark chip to further corrupt ProtoMan, rewriting his data to make him more menacing. The episode ends as Chaud promises to bring ProtoMan back.

Critique
See, now this episode would have been a perfect follow up to the episode previous to last where Chaud infected ProtoMan. Instead, we got the super model hijinks of whatever the fuck that last episode was.

This episode really develops Lan and Chaud's relationship, and shows how different Chaud has been since the show started. We really see Chaud's snide and arrogant personality from before seep through, but it's a defensive tactic to get Lan to leave him alone, and it really puts all of Chaud's character into perspective since the early episodes. Without ProtoMan, Chaud thinks he is nothing, and it takes Lan to show Chaud that Chaud is strong enough to fight for ProtoMan.

I've always said that Battle Network had weaker characters than Star Force, and that's mostly true, but Battle Network always had the potential for strong characters. Geo developed really well from his own personal suffering and overcoming his weaknesses. The characters in Battle Network don't really suffer aside from a few blips in the series, so none of them really grow into something better.

NT Warrior has managed to work a few choice stories around the characters suffering real traumatic experiences, although they do tend to fall into the status quo after a while, but occasionally, we do see that Battle Network has all the tools to make compelling narrative. The fact that Chaud's dilemma is sympathetic now, shows how well they've worked with the character... at least recently. I mean, I could probably complain hours on end about how certain episodes suck balls thanks to Chaud alone, but at least this new arc works well for him.

Rating: Thumbs up!