After a short delay, we are proud to bring the review for the next four episodes of Betterman. We are grateful for your patronage and we thank you for flying El Grande Jeffe' airways...

Betterman Eleventh Night - Nebula
Keita wakes up from a nightmare about the worms (see last episode) and finds that Akamatsu's base is enshrouded in a thick fog. Akamatsu and Asame decide the danger is too great, and the neuro-noids will be transferred to Mode Warp with new divers instead of Hinoki and Keita. The two kids talk about all that's happened up to this point - and Hinoki's happy because she doesn't want to do this anymore. Meanwhile, Akamatsu and Yanagi talk, but Yanagi is distracted by "voices in his mind." Asame goes to BPL - a biotech facility researching new ways to feed the Earth's population. Akamatsu and the crew will follow her and make the transfer of neuro-noids there. At BPL, Asame meets Dr. Omasku, the head of the facility, and tells him abut the Animus flower the team found in India - a flower that needs blood to grow. She asks the doctor for his help in understanding Betterman and his ties to the Animus. Dr. Omasku snidely comments, "tell me something I didn't know" and reveals a field of the Animus flowers growing at BPL. Something is so wrong here...

Betterman Twelfth Night - Dragon
Lifting above the fog, Akamatsu and the team fly to BPL to transfer the neuro-noids to Mode Warp. A plane of Mode Warp specialists, including the new divers replacing Hinoki and Keita, joins them, but their plane is attacked by a swarm of bugs which eat their way into the aircraft and it's crew, killing them all. Taking the shape of a dragon, the swarm then focuses it's attack on Akamatsu's plane. Keita climbs into the Kakusaijin and forces the bugs to retreat; however, the pilot has been killed and the plane crashes into the wetlands outside of the BPL complex. Miraculously, all the team survives, but are scattered. Keita and Hinoki, in the Kakusaijin, are immediately set upon by more worms while Kaeda and Sakura, in the Tryon, are beset by beetle bugs. Bugs also confront Yanagi, but amazingly, they ignore him. Asame wakes up in the BPL complex and figures out Dr. Omasku is possessed by Algernon and has created all the monsters the team has fought, and he's creating more. Meanwhile, Dr. Omasku hooks himself into a bio-tube and directs his insect creatures to form UBER- MONSTERS and destroy the Akamatsu teams. It looks like curtains for our guys, so where the heck is Betterman?

Betterman Thirteenth Night - Nectar
It's a three-way slugfest with Betterman tangling with the swarm monster Icarus, Keita and Hinoki in the Kakusaijin going against wormy Medusa, and Kaeda and Yanagi in Tryon versus the battling beetle creature Heracles. It doesn't look good for our guys. But all is not lost as Keita convinces a reluctant Hinoki to help him draw Medusa into the swamp, where he boils the worm creature into soup. Yanagi cleverly introduces Heracles to liquid helium, which gives the beetle-thing a chilly reception. Meanwhile, Betterman entices Icarus to follow him into a cloud, where the reverberations of Betterman/s sonic attack destroy the swarm, but perhaps at the cost of Betterman himself. Meanwhile, the two neuro-noids enter the BPL facility and discover the missing bodies in the capsules. They are being used as food for the Animus flowers. Dr. Omasku releases pheromones from a great belladonna lily, which causes out team to lose control of their senses. Will Betterman be able to save them from the doctor's evil clutches?

Betterman Fourteenth Night - Soul
The unexpected arrival of a female Betterman causes the belladonna lily to die, freeing out team from its fragrant spell. But Dr. Omasku has several monsters at the ready to take on this new Betterman. The neuro-noids split up after Asame explains the intricate balance and communication between the plant and insect worlds - this may be the key to Algernon. The Kakusaijin runs out of power just as the King Behemoth attacks - Keita and Hinoki leave the robo and barely escape on foot. Meanwhile, outside in the swamp and out of contact, Akamatsu muses that Algernon may be playing a part in natural selection - survival of the fittest because of the Earth's over population. Dr. Omasku prevents Keita and Hinoki from freeing Chandy, the "lizard girl" from India, but Keita manages to release her when the doctor is distracted by King Behemoth battling the female Betterman. Enraged at her "father", Chandy destroys his bio-tube, effectively killing Dr. Omasku. But King Behemoth can't be stop by one Betterman...

I guess the producers decided the audience would need a rest because this series just gets more and more intense as it goes along. 11th Night acts as a "catch-up" episode, with a lot of flashbacks and exposition in the first half about just what the heck has been going on. It basically sets the stage for the next three episodes once Asame reaches the BPL facility and meets Dr. Omasku. Now the other three episodes jump right back on the fast track. More monsters, diabolical doctors, plot galore. There has been no let down in the series' complexity and characterization, although Hinoki's self-doubting is getting a bit repetitive. How many times does she need to come through to save the day and still be plagued by low self-esteem? Face it girl, you are not the idiot you think you are! Everything else continues at a high level, and we, the audience, still don't have a clue how the series is going to wind up. I thought Dr. Omasku was the main villain, but he's dead and there's still four episodes to go. Who or what exactly is Algernon? I've got a feeling we may all be in for a shock when the truth is revealed. Maybe Mulder was right all along... I'll catch up with you folks next week for the pulse-pounding, senses-shattering conclusion to the epic that is Betterman!

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