Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On - Season 1, Part 3: Search and Rescue
Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On is a 2016 Japanese animated television series based on the spin-off game of the same name in the the Monster Hunter video game franchise. The first season contains an astounding 48 episodes, so I will be covering them in four parts; one for each twelve episode DVD release.
This is part 3 of a four part series. Reading Part 1 first is advised.
Opening Song: Panorama (by Kanjani)
Credits Song: N/A
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end.
Episode 25: Diabolical Diablos, Horned Wyvern
The Riders follow Reverto into the desert to investigate a tainted kinship stone and Fahail arrives a short time later with a Wyverian, Chief Nolma, who does not approve of Riders because they use "nature's bounty" as tools. Reverto assures him that the Riders aren't like Dr. Manelger, just as the blighted Diablos from before appears, giving the Riders a chance to prove themselves by killing it and restoring the kinship stone. Lilia then locates another tainted kinship stone near a volcano, but Cheval chooses to hunt down tainted monsters instead because he "can't stand being around Lute anymore."
Episode 26: The Mysterious White Dragon
Lute and Navirou try to discern the species of the white dragon the legendary hero Redan was said to ride into battle. Debli introduces the duo to his mentor Nedan, who claims to be a descendant of Redan and regales them with stories from his time as a Hunter. For a 5K deposit he offers to take them to the nest of a white dragon, but the egg turns out to be a khezu egg painted white. When called out on his con, Nedan admits to his deception, saying there are no white dragons - if there were someone would know about it, that, or they've gone extinct.
Episode 27: Dovan Volcano Memories
Lute, Navirou, and Debli make their way to Dovan Volcano where they have a run in with an armored uragaan (tire monster). The one responsible, Dr. Manelger and his sidekick Itsy-Bits, retreat further into the Volcano after its defeat.
Episode 28: Onward, Numbers!
While searching for Dr. Manelger and Itsy-Bits, the trio uncover an old lab and felyne's taken against their will to perform hard labor. A group of cats used in Manelger's experiments introduce themselves as "The Numbers": Number 1 / Beats (Rathalos Genes), Number 2 / Cryo (Zamtrios Genes), Number 3 / Fifi (Flashbug Genes), Number 4 / Spex (Kecha Wacha Genes), and Number 6 / Floof (Basarios Genes). They also claim Navirou to be one of them - Number 5 (Zinogre Genes). Navirou then recalls having set out to find a way to power a machine they built to free the enslaved felynes, but he was washed away in a storm and rescued by a cat named Pansy.
Episode 29: The Dragon in the Sea of Fire
Navirou uses his thunder abilities to power the machine, enabling the group to confront Manelger and his armored agnaktor (lava lizard). During the fight the agnaktor becomes inflicted with the blight, but they manage to purify a kinship stone at the center of the arena, freeing the agnaktor. They escape the volcano only to discover Ratha has been inflicted with the blight since the nargacuga fight.
Episode 30: Parting Ways
Cheval arrives in armor crafted from an azure rathalos he has slain and Mille (on a brute tigrex) and Hyoro (on a white monoblos) confess to having taken on Hunter quests. They now believe themselves as strong as any Hunter, as well as "chosen" to save humanity. Cheval tries to kill Ratha but when Lute gets in his way, he decides to abandoned the fight for the time being.
Another good music track plays this episode, but like before I can not find the name.
Episode 31: Be the Forest, Be the Beast
Reverto, Lute, and Navirou investigate a mine said to contain one of Manelger's armored monsters and come face-to-face with the armored uragaan. Without enough room to swing his longsword, Reverto has the group retreat to a narrow passage. They find Pansy trapped in a crevice and after freeing her, all escape to the surface where two armored uragaan's appear. Lute kills them with a glavenus (red/blue monster), but recalling they weren't blighted, comes to regret his actions. Reverto tries to cheer Lute up by recounting his first real hunt against a dangerous monster. He recalls how he feared for his life when the monster got the upper-hand, and upon killing the beast felt like a monster himself, but at the same time felt closer to the natural world. He had become the beast in the forest - developed a kind of kinship with it.
Episode 32: All-Out Airborne Assault!
The group catches a boat (helmed by Silva) to Naubaka Island but a storm rolls in and a blighted seregios soon reveals itself. Because Lute is too sea-sick to do anything, Avinia, who had come along to investigate reports of blighted monsters in the area, flies out with Frostfang to deal with the seregios.
Episode 33: The Wolf Raven Strikes Back
The group makes their way to Naubaka Island's felyne village, Koapni, where they discover the farmer's crops have been blighted. After defeating a blighted yian garuga (large beaked bird), they start searching for a tainted kinship stone.
The yian garuga this episode is technically a "Scarred" variant.
Episode 34: Rainbow Beach Blockade!
The Koapni chief's pickle weight is stolen but the group tracks the thieves to a nearby cave where they battle a blighted lagiacrus (crocodile). The pickle weight turns out to be a blighted kinship stone that, once purified, is returned to the chief.
Episode 35: The White Dragon's Egg
Back in Gilderagan, Lute, Navirou, Lilia and Simone leave on a mission to find the legendary white dragon. They manage to locate Redan's old village, now nothing but ruins, after being chased by a congalala (emerald variant) and uncover an old stone carving proclaiming the egg to be at the base of a great tree. They battle a zinogre (scaly wolf) to gain access to the tree and the egg just as Dr. Manelger spirits it away.
Episode 36: The Great Manelger Chase
Lute, Navirou, and Reverto check in at a Hunter's tavern to see if anyone has seen Dr. Manelger's airship. The group follows a potential lead to salt caves in the desert, only to fall victim to Vim, a rogue Hunter performing black market quests. Because Guild Hunter's are not allowed to turn their weapons against humans, Reverto challenges Vim to a brawl and wins.
Final Thoughts
The show continues to follow the video game's plot-line while only marginally expanding upon the cast, although, they have started to showcase the monster's unique traits a bit more but this is done almost exclusively through Navirou during battle sequences. And I wish they had upped the WOW factor a bit more, such as using an amatsu (elder storm dagon) instead of a seregios; as it stands the show is pretty stale. There isn't much at stake and each episode resolves itself without effort. The series is also no stranger to recycling clips to save on animation, but it was done so frequently this collection that I thought the video had glitched after seeing the same clip (plus dialogue) of the Numbers and Lute sea-sick so many times.
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