Infinite Dendrogram (Episode 7) - Showdown City

Ray receives the reward for defeating the Gouz-Maise gang and it’s much more than he’d imagined. He tries to track down Hugo to give him his share and ends up in the Showdown City to see a fight.

What happened?

Ray and Nemesis meet Marie Adler for breakfast to attempt to get some more information about the Superiors. Marie is fairly vague and dodges a lot of questions until Rook and Babylon arrive. She has some other business to take care of, but leaves them with some tickets to an upcoming player versus player tournament in Showdown City. There, Ray bumps into his brother, Shu and they catch up over lunch. Ray tells Nemesis of his brother’s background and discovers that Shu is in Dendrogram almost every waking moment of his life. He finally bumps into Hugo and gives him some of the reward money, but Hugo is oddly closed off and gives Ray a cryptic clue.

Infinite Dendrogram Episode 7 Figaro and Shu

What was your favourite element?

Honestly, this episode was a little bit of a disappointment. The series had a week off and after the excitement and action of the previous two episodes, it was an unfortunately place to break as this episode really didn’t benefit the momentum. It managed to drift back to the meal conversation format which got pretty old pretty quickly. I can’t believe how often these characters are sitting around having something to eat while they drop some more exposition on us. It wasn’t all bad as we did get to see a bit of a fight in the arena and hints at something a little more sinister going on in the background. There is hope that it’ll regain it’s form, but we’ve had more than enough meals in this series to last a lifetime.

Infinite Dendrogram Episode 7 Babylon and Nemesis having lunch

What have you learnt?

Using dialogue to provide exposition isn’t anything new. Many a fantasy story has characters sat around a fire, eating and talking. If it’s done right, it’s a great way to learn more about the world and the characters. However, this can’t be the only way to drop information on the audience and it isn’t. So, to rely on it so heavily is a bit lazy and while I appreciate it’s probably a great way to say time and money while animating, it doesn’t help with the flow of the story. There needs to be a balance between the quieter moments and the action. It’s probably a good idea to look back at your own work and ask yourself if you are relying on the same technique too much. Variety is always better.