Plot Synopsis
Commander Beef is returning from a mission
over seas to track down Mr. Gauss who's looking to score some Dark Chips from Nebula. Before he arrives, Mysteriyu and Black Rose get in contact with Lan and drop a bombshell on him; Commander Beef's identity is Masa! Lan is shocked at the news, but apparently everyone else already figured that out a long time ago, even MegaMan, further pushing the idiot NetBattler Savant theory. Also, everyone has already figured out that Black Rose and Mysteriyu are Sal and Miyu.They're not supposed to know Commander Beef's identity though (making you wonder why the hell Sal and Miyu would reveal it to Lan) so Lan tries extra hard to keep Masa from knowing, that Lan knows, that Masa is Commander Beef.
Higsby on the other hand is frustrated at the news, because Ms. Mari has a crush on Commander Beef, and he blurts out Masa's identity right in front of her. This causes her to track him down and confront him about this, but Lan covers for him.
Masa and Ms. Mari go out for a walk down the fish market, and Lan is afraid he's going to reveal his identity to her, so Lan goes and keeps Masa away from her. While distracted, Mr. Gauss mistakes Ms. Mari for Ms. Yuri and takes her away to a secret warehouse. Lan and Masa spot her, and Lan gives chase while Masa runs off to change into his Commander Beef costume.
Higsby meanwhile, is pretty pissed that Masa is back, so he and the others spend some time sewing Commander Beef costumes. Back at the warehouse, Lan and Commander Beef jump to Ms. Mari's rescue, but are thrown off guard when Gauss shouts Commander Beef's identity in front of Ms. Mari. Ms. Mari is shocked again, but before it sinks in, Higsby, Mayl, Tory, Shuko, Miyu, Sal and Rush all show up dressed as Commander Beef. They claim it's Commander Beef day, which is why Masa is dressed up like him, fooling Ms. Mari.
Everyone jacks in their navis and then proceed to beat the shit out of MagnetMan. MagnetMan defeated, Gauss is arrested and put in cuffs. As the day comes to an end, Masa is about to reveal his identity again, but Lan stops him and says something along the lines of "a little Commander Beef is in all of us."
Critique
Okay, so the synopsis really makes this episode sound stupid as hell, but lets look over the upsides to this episode. You've got a Masa centric episode, with both Higsby and Mr. Gauss playing key roles, so already you've got a recipe for quality.
While the plot itself is kind of a mess, there's a great deal of humor thrown in, and it doesn't at all come off as repetitive watching the show, versus reading this synopsis. The whole episode is played up as ridiculous as possible, and it is a nice change from the melodrama that is generally associated with Axess. Lan plays off of Masa especially well this episode, and pretty much delivers one great line after line.
The only problem with this episode has little to do with the episode itself. Why has Masa been taken out of the main cast, and why is this the last time we'll see him this series? I'm not 100% on this, but I don't think Masa is ever seen again until the Beast series, and even then it's a parallel dimension Masa.
That doesn't take away what this episode has going for it though, and it's one of the strongest episodes as far as humor goes this season. Just look at this ridiculous couple of shots of Lan and Masa trying to hold back their secrets.
Rating: Thumbs up.
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