Axess: It's All How You Look At It!

This episode is similar to a scenario in Mega Man Battle Network 4 Blue Moon.

Plot Synopsis
Shuko is a depressed girl with a run of bad luck so bad that the entire town considers her a jinx to have around. All the shops around her close, hoping to ward off her misfortune before her presence taints them. Bad news for Higsby though, as he's having a Net Battle tournament that Shuko excitedly enters.

On the day of the tournament, there is a heavy downpour of rain and Shuko chalks it up to her bad luck. The contestants Lan, Mayl, Higsby, Tory, and Shuko, prepare for their match, a five-way brawl where leaving the battle platform disqualifies the contestant. Shuko brings out her Navi, AquaMan... scratch that, SpoutMan (this one isn't the dubbers fault this time though, there's a dispute with DC comics that resulted in the renaming), and SpoutMan is so adorable to everyone that he throws them off their game. In the fight, Lan slips up with his battle chips, and NumberMan manages to throw his doom dice so it lands on a corner. Afraid of being cursed with bad luck, all the NetNavis back away slowly from SpoutMan until they accidentally fall out of the arena, leaving Shuko the winner. Shuko is absolutely ecstatic about this sudden turn of events, and happily claims her prize, a 10 pound bag of rice.

Unfortunately, Shuko's rice cooker is broken, so Higsby lets her borrow his. It just so happens, however, that the power plant is shutting down the power for a week for routine repairs (they must have PG&E! Ha, obscure Californian power crisis reference!). Shuko starts blaming her bad luck and starts crying, so determined to make her feel better, SpoutMan sneaks off to repair the power. In doing so, he trips up a few security alarms, which make him start bawling. When SpoutMan cries, he releases tons of water from his spout, enough to flood the entire cyberworld!

Lan, Higsby and Shuko run to the power plant to try and stop SpoutMan, but the waves surrounding him are too much for MegaMan and NumberMan to break through. Shuko calls the situation hopeless and starts lamenting her bad luck, when Higsby finally tells her she caused her own misfortune by exaggerating her problems. If she had been more positive, SpoutMan wouldn't have gone off on his own. Shuko tries to think up a solution to the problem then, and determines that they can stop SpoutMan by plugging his spout.

MegaMan performs a DoubleSoul with NumberMan, raising his analytical abilities high enough to accurately pinpoint his attacks. MegaMan plugs SpoutMan's spout with an Elec Sword, bringing him under control and stopping the floods. Later, Shuko gets a job assisting Higsby with the chip shop, and has decided to have a more positive outlook on life. After all, she's luckier than Higsby.

Critique
Shuko is probably the most annoying new character to me, and the writers don't hesitate to ramp up her annoying whining as much as possible. I know Shuko is acting to get the intended effect, but damn if it isn't still annoying.

Other things work in this episode, Shuko aside. The little bits of bad luck are humorous, Lan has some decent lines, and for no particular reason, one of the extra characters has "ze outraegous French Axsent! No?" Also, Higsby has the best line in the show. "You have to have a good outlook on life, althought you don't have to be as upbeat as Lan, he's so gung-ho!" Oh man, Lan could not have been summed up any better than that.

Also, we get a new DoubleSoul, which is always a plus to see in action, and MegaMan's voice gets modified like NumberMan's which is a nice touch. The little details are what save this episode, but Shuko really comes close to killing it.

Rating: Thumbs up!

Also a side note, it looks like Ribbita showed up this episode, so I suppose I was wrong about her voice actress disappearing for a while. I don't really recall her showing up again though, so maybe this was a one time deal, or maybe I'm just talking out my ass. (Probably the latter).