“Beyond Practice” does two nice things: it starts to give us a clearer picture of why Techno is the whacked-out antisocial genius that he is, and it ups the perversity level of the show immensely. The opening scene is of Techno and the Hitomi robot he’s had since episode 1 holding each other one last time before Techno pulls the plug. And then things get weird.
Techno forces Hitomi to come over, using his giant spider to tie her up and drag her to his house. There we meet Techno’s grandpa whom he quickly stuffs into a closet. The grandpa is nonplussed, but Techno grows increasingly manic as more people interrupt his perfect day (I’m glad you spent it with me) with Hitomi. Poor Hitomi has to sit through his ever more insane insistence that they are, in fact, alone, and finally asks Techno a question: Where are your parents?
The question gets lost in the subsequent shuffle when G2, the Hitomi robot, puts itself back on-line and decides Hitomi is an evil influence trying to steal her Techno. Combat ensues, with G2’s breasts flipping open to reveal a pair of rockets. That’s something I’ve never seen before, and so Don’t Leave Me Alone, Daisy can be recommended on those grounds alone.
Finally, we also get to hear Daisy shout at Techno: “I hate your guts!,” something he’s deserved since episode 1. Of course, seeing the robo-Hitomi makes Techno’s weird experimentation hit a little closer to home for poor Hitomi, especially after it’s revealed that Techno and the robot have done “this and that.” It makes even clearer Techno’s weird position: everything is a sort of experiment, revolving around his search for knowledge, so he has no moral strictures placed on himself, which leads him to do some really sicko things (with robots, apparently.)
Yamakawa X is in this one, and as usual he’s hilarious. He finally finds an unlikely friend, and…ah, hell. No sense spoiling it. Just watch this one.
Rating :A-
