Real Drive 05: I am Ah-nold

Episode 05: Sous-Marin Item
More Screencaps from Real Drive 05
Minamo finds in her hands a rather large amount of money as salary for her involvement in the rescue of Bob Zhouen. Instead of using the money to splurge on herself, she decides to buy a pair of Sous-marin glasses similar to Holon's for Haru. However, a problem occurs when she realizes that the brand has long been phased out and a rampaging maniac, whose name sounds like a bad pun of a US senator we're all familiar with, is after the only pair she did find. Fortunately, Souta, who's revealing himself as a fanboy who collects action figures this episode, comes to her rescue. But not before forcing Holon out on a date. WTF?! That's Real Drive, baby. Get used to it.

Leave it to Souta to ask an Android out without even realizing it.

This episode is definitely the most action-packed yet. We've got Iron Schwartz (who turns out to be an avatar based on the game data of "Iron Schwartz," a character from a Real Fight game) running around Hanamichi and the mall, beating the crap out of random people and snapping their arms or legs. The people don't even know what hit them.

That sounds scary, right? But you wouldn't think that once Minamo is face to face with the fearsome Iron Schwartz. The scene takes a comedic turn as Minamo, unaware of Iron Schwartz's unusual hobby of snapping people's bones, insists that the Sous-marin glasses she's wearing belongs to her. It appears that Iron Schwartz lost an item - his trademark pair of Sous-marin glasses.

And so begins a hilarious chasing scene halfway around the city.

Hay! <3

Souta also gets to showcase a few cool moves here. Apparently, ever since Holon kicked his ass in the first episode, he's been in a kind of funk where every so often he gets flashbacks of said ass being kicked by said android. That's obviously not a good thought to sleep to at night. What's worse, he can't talk to his little sister about it since she's been spending much of her time in Haru's house lately. When he finally decides to get Minamo and have a little heart-to-heart talk with her, brother to sister, Minamo is nowhere around Haru's house. Instead, there's Holon, the object of his painful flashbacks.

After an awkward moment, Souta finally gets to tell her how he could have won their match if he had done this or that. Holon tells him that if he had taken some of her blows, he could have bounced back afterwards with a significant chance of slowing her attacks down. But Souta was like, "Take some blows? From a frickin' android? Are ye nuts? Not unless I want bruises on my flawless skin!"

Holon takes it in the mid-section and has to reboot.

As it so happens, Souta and Holon are at the same restaurant that Minamo chooses to hide from Iron Schwartz. This guy is really persistent, and apparently, very, very good at martial arts. Even Holon (who's revealed to have a hobby of fighting in game matches) can't subdue him. She gets thrown across the room, her system going on temporary paralysis. While she recovers, Souta takes over, trying to at least slow Iron Schwartz down with little success.

Finally, Minamo throws him the Sous-marin glasses, thinking that the fighting would stop. However, this only leads Iron Schwartz to take on a fighting stance against Souta.

I kick thee in the face, sir!

The match somehow turns into a Real Fight game, with the game announcer calling the shots. Souta gets the beating of his life before Holon switches the lights off. Iron Schwartz momentarily goes blind and Souta takes this opportunity to make himself look cool in front of the restaurant crowd. He wins and everyone is happy, not to mention relieved to find dear ol' Ah-nold has been disabled.

All's well that ends well.

Back in Haru's house, Holon makes a report about the recent incident while Minamo and Souta sit in the couch, studiously avoiding talking to each other. Haru arrives and gives Minamo an old pair of Sous-marin glasses which he found among his things.

The series seem to have taken on a slice of life turn. Not that I mind. The random everyday things occurring around Minamo is doing a great job of making me forget about the techno mumbo-jumbo going on in Meta Real.