Secret Level – Episode 8 “Armored Core” Recap & Review

Armored Core

Episode 8 of Secret Level sees us whisked off to the world of Armored Core. An old-school aug at the bar starts a fight, and it doesn’t take long for him to get smacked out and end up in the snow. Pilot laughs it off though, still puffing on his cigarette. He’s disillusioned with the world around him, and the “voice” with him seems to be his only friend.

However, Dispatch calls through and has a job for him to do. Sunrise is in 40 minutes and Pilot needs to be onboard the Shrieker before that time. The target is inside the mountain, and as he gears up, we learn a bit more about this Voice. Apparently, it’s a malfunction inside Pilot’s brain and it could well be part of Shrieker itself. We don’t really get many answers here though, as Pilot instead heads across the surface to his destination.

It doesn’t take long for the action to break out, and our protagonist works well to destroy the enemies inbound. With resources low and things looking bleak, our pilot manages to make it inside his objective.

It turns out they’ve crashed into a lab, and their target happens to be a mech suit. There’s a human inside, augmented just like our pilot. It appears that they didn’t want to kill him, they wanted him to help. However, Pilot is too far gone and he methodically crushes his objective, uttering “nobody’s like me”, before slipping back into the shadows.

The Episode Review

Armored Core is an interesting choice for this episode and it captures the bleak hostility perfectly here. The fact that this is probably the most photo-realistic episode of the bunch is just a cherry on the cake at this point.

The show has done really well to capture the essence of these different worlds, although I must say seeing Sifu as the only cartoonishly animated episode is a bit disappointing. Hopefully the second half of this season features more of that, and shows off the prowess of various animators.

Keanu Reeves brings this pilot to life in a compelling manner, and the reveal at the end with the augs is a nice touch too.