High Rise Invasion, Ep 9: Which of Us Will Live a Cool Life?

Sniper Mask fights another sniper who aims to kill other God-Candidates, threatening Yuri and Kuon.

Episode 9 – “Which of Us Will Live a Cool Life?”

Hmm.

High Rise Invasion showed us more proof that a narcissist with too much power can cause much damage. Aikawa, the unfriendly God-Candidate, has a high opinion of himself and it doesn’t appear that he deserves it. Unfortunately, he assembled an army of yes-man with superhuman powers who follow his every whim, so these circumstances will add chaos to High Rise Hell. The scene that cemented my low assessment of his intellect was when he suggested that the unknown (to him) Railgun App user flexed the Dark Tower power to give him a personal warning. That’s dumb, paranoid, and egotistical. And none of his talking Masks will disabuse him of such a ridiculous idea. This God-Candidate is too stupid to realize his efforts at creating peace, in his dictatorial way, only create chaos. Someone needs to oppose evil, even if it’s dumb, and Rika is in a nice position to do that.

We’re deep into High Rise Invasion’s season and it already started using strong Masks for comic relief. Remember how scary they were in the first two episodes and every encounter was life and death? Our main characters became too strong for free-range Masks and the powerful Masks have become supporting characters in response to that developing strength. We should expect that to happen in any story with superpowers and monsters, where the scary opponents will naturally become the enemy people instead of the monsters. High Rise Invasion is still building suspense for what the Guardian Angels do and what is their agenda. The anime smartly reserves those details for the final story arc of the season.

Heh.

The High Rise Invasion Netflix splash screen is smoking! Also, there’s fire. The way Dealer Mask notices the helicopter with Soldier Mask sounds like she doesn’t coordinate her activities with other Guardian Angels. Aikawa the God-Candidate claims the helicopter avoids God-Candidates, but he didn’t hear the Soldier Mask say, “not yet.” We already knew Aikawa has a warped perspective, so this is not surprising he’s wrong about something else. Good for Rika. His facial expression shows he thinks that guy is full of it. Uh oh. Rika is suddenly in a Mad Max movie. Absurd, he says. Rika is a cool dude.

Aikawa needs Policewoman Mask’s chest for comfort. Okay, he’s not totally trash. Just mostly trash. Thanks for that, High Rise Invasion. Uh oh. Aikawa dispatched White Feather Mask to do something about other God-Candidates. Haha! The other masks don’t have Policewoman Mask’s comfort equipment.

Sniper Mask doesn’t know how to use apps on a smartphone. Old-fashioned hipster. His memories of Rika start coming to the surface now in High Rise Invasion. Nice. Sniper versus sniper, and that White Feather Mask is a babe! She’s smart too. If both snipers can dodge bullets, how about shooting something that can’t dodge? Like how about that bridge Sniper Mask stands on?

Look at Yuri go! Kuon goes right to her Railgun App. Ah, here’s what the High Rise Invasion episode title is about. Rika and Sniper Mask had a running contest on whose life is cooler. Sniper Mask thinks that dying by falling from a rope bridge is lame, so he can’t die that way. Dying by a headshot from a beautiful sniper is much cooler than losing his grip.

Mayuko noticed the Dark Tower lighting up and clouds started to circle around it. Kuon has a cheat code. Oh! Ein Mask cut White Feather Mask’s rifle. The sniper isn’t a threat anymore. She’s still enough of a threat to Ein Mask though. She wears white. Sniper Mask is back on the board. Time for White Feather Mask to run away. Ha. Ein is a spoiled Mask. She wants head pats! Boo. Low-resolution upskirt shots on Yuri aren’t worth that camera angle, High Rise Invasion. Har. Tanabe is still dramatic about revenge. By my count, we’ve only spent one night in High Rise Hell and we’re still on the second day since Yuri found herself here.

Oh, right. That Mad Max Mask with the tanks on his back had a flamethrower. So that’s what the Netflix splash screen references. Who did Aikawa make Flamethrower Mask burn? Doesn’t matter for High Rise Invasion. We don’t need more proof that he’s a bad guy, so that’s a waste of screen time. Ooh, he made White Feather sad. I hate him even more. Oho! She blushed because she thought Sniper Mask was so cool asking for a headshot. I hope Kuon doesn’t find out, but I also want to see her pout about it. Guh, Aikawa is narcissistic. Everything other people do is in relation to him, whether they know him or not. This guy is so dumb, it’s laughable. He’s not a good enough villain to make megalomania charming. I wonder if the masks under his control are subtly sabotaging him.

Oh, this is nice. Yuri and Kuon compare notes about their God-Candidate powers. Yuri needs to activate that Mask immunity thing as soon as possible. Huh? Kuon activated that ability before she awakened! Did High Rise Invasion make her so adorable that those crazy monster masks couldn’t attack her? I’m leaning toward the affirmative. Yuri realized she’s not as adorable as Kuon. Do your best, Yuri! Mayuko had a notion. Girl talk happens in the restroom, so she drags Kuon in there. Toilet paper makes me laugh. High Rise Hell has no shortage of the stuff. There’s the girl talk. Mayuko asked Kuon directly about her crush on Sniper Mask. Kyuun~! No, of course not. Why do you ask? Oh, it was to get Kuon to admit she’s firing up the Dark Tower. Way to go, Mayuko!

Free-range Masks still pose a danger, so Yuri better learn how to activate her adorable power quickly. Have we seen masks besides Mayuko try to escape High Rise Hell by provoking death? The rules say Masks can’t kill themselves, so we have another malfunctioning mask in High Rise Invasion. My confidence in quality control for these electronic devices continues to plummet. The point of this scene is for Kuon to confront her sheltered nature. Also, we haven’t seen red blood in a while, so let’s go Netflix!

Ahahaha! High Rise Invasion has been postponing Yuri meeting Sniper Mask as an ally for so many episodes, so it slays me how scared she is still. It’s barely been a day since he attacked her and Mayuko fed him a grenade. Kuon is more flustered than Yuri! All that talk of her crush on him continues to make her heart flutter.

Oh, dear. Yuri still has her omnipotent persona in front of the formerly bad doctor. Hilariously, the actual Railgun user is nearby. That’s just fun. When Yuri last blustered her power in front of the doctor, she wasn’t a God-Candidate, but now she is, so she keeps playing the long con on him. Mayuko likes seeing Yuri act tough. Yuri doesn’t like scaring little boys though. Has High Rise Invasion given this Uzuki a proper introduction yet? He just appeared under the doctor’s care.

Policewoman Mask always makes a good scene. She’ll be interrogating Rika into the next episode. Lucky him!

The complete first season of High Rise Invasion streams on Netflix.