Thunder 3 Episodes 6-9 Recap: Do The Small Three Finally Join The Shibuya Battle?

After showing a glimpse of the dark, brutal and violent alien takeover of the parallel world, the four consecutive episodes (6th to 9th) of Netflix’s “Thunder 3” focuses on the Rebellion’s attempt to fight back against the merciless invaders. Previously, as alien attacks across the globe became more rampant, college student Segami lost his father in the hands of the invading extra-terrestrials. Combat pilot Yamashima, who had lost his pregnant wife in an alien attack, sacrificed his life in a kamikaze attack. Small Three came across Segami, who brought them to the Rebellion after deciding to join their fight against the aliens.

Spoilers Ahead

Futaba Makes a New Friend

Inside the alien warship where she has been taken by the aliens, a teary eyed Futaba roams around in search of her brother.  Her crying stops as she comes across a stinking cute mini dog/bat hybrid creature, who is seen held captive inside a glass cage. Futaba, who instantly forms an endearing bond with the creature, names it Kyuu, after the sound of its calls, and frees it from the cage. While playing with her new friend, a tired Futaba dozes off in the room with Kyuu in her arms. In the meantime, another troop of alien warriors arrive at the scene, and surround an unsuspecting Futaba. As she wakes up, they start blasting her and Kyuu with their supercharged plasma guns, and as their firing stops, for a moment it seems that Futaba has lost Kyuu in the vicious attack. However, it seems the creature is invulnerable like Futaba as well, as it emerges completely unscathed. Desperate to protect it, Futaba accidentally runs in superspeed by thwarting the alien combatants, and leaves the scene. Later on, she comes across a giant mech the aliens have been building, which they believe will not be needed against weak earthlings. Futaba catches a glimpse of the head honchos of alien invaders, which includes their lion-faced supreme emperor as well. It remains to be seen whether Futaba manages to flee the warship on her own after getting an idea of what she is capable of in this reality. 

Segami Steps Up

Segami reaches the secret hideout of the Rebellion where members have joined to prepare for their first major retaliatory attack against the aliens in Shibuya. It takes Segami some time to process the fact that he is going to put his life on line by facing these immensely powerful monstrosities in direct armed combat. By the time he wears his advanced armour, all the members, except the cocky yakuza guy and Genius Sumeragi, have left for Shibuya. The yakuza guy is surprised to learn that Segami doesn’t have the alien bodily fluid made miracle drug, Empoweral, with him, which allows users to manifest a random superpower for ten minutes. When weapons and shields turn ineffective against the aliens, this is the last resort to save one’s life and to bridge the gap of strength between themselves and the invaders. Sumeragi is confident enough to let Segami have his Empoweral, as he will manage with his wits and tactical prowess. 

Without any training whatsoever, Segami learns whatever he can by scanning the QR manual of Rebellion training, which details the weapon and armour kits of the Rebellion members. As the battle ensues, an unprepared Segami is hesitant and confused, and to help him out, one of the senior warriors steps in front of him to teach him the ropes while shooting at the aliens. Segami barely gains some confidence and starts shooting at his adversaries, when he sees his comrade getting his head blown away in a gruesome display of violence. A terrified Segami remembers his mother’s affection upon believing that his end is near, but once again he finds resolve by seeing the indomitable attitude of the Rebellion fighters. The rebels manage to kill a few alien enforcers when one of their giant warmachine manages to take down a number of the rebels. While retreating frantically, Segami notices his high school crush, Tashiro, is valiantly fighting off one of the enforcers while being chased by it. Segami conquers his fears and hesitations by attacking the alien, trying to draw its attention towards him, which provides Tashiro a window to inhale Empoweral. She gains the power to switch any object in any position of her choice, and using this ability, she takes down several aliens. However, the superpower only lasts for a limited time, and has a side effect of turning its user frozen as a cooldown procedure, Tashiro needs to get to safety. 

As Tashiro and Segami reunite with the rest of the rebels, the battle appears to have intensified much more. One of the female combatants is revealed to have gained powers to grow gigantic, while the yakuza guy gains powers to summon any kind of weapon of his choice. Yamamoto gains the power to drop vehicles at any place of his choice, and using their Empoweral induced powers, the rebels manage to hold on their own quite well against the aliens. As Tashiro’s cooldown effect starts kicking in, Segami takes her to safety, and uses his vial of Empoweral to gain superspeed. Using his newfound powers, Segami takes down several alien threats on his own. 

Genius Sumeragi’s Heroics

Despite the rebels’ remarkable resilience at display, the alien war machine continues to thwart them and undermine their efforts. At this point, the creator of Rebellion, Genius Sumeragi shows his unbelievable courage by climbing on one of the war machines on his own, to kill its pilot and takes its control to turn the tide of the battle in the favour of rebels. 

Two powerful alien generals are called in to assist the group troops, and in a brief scenario, the narrative shows how crooked and callous these invaders really are. While returning from office, two colleagues, who possibly have romantic interest towards each other, plan on spending time together. Right at the moment, one of the generals – the trigger-happy one, brutally kills the unarmed civilians while remaining completely unprovoked. Another general, the one with some sense of honour, chastises his partner for wasting their energy weapons against small fries like the civilians. He believes in taking on worthy opponents, like he killed a powerful, worthy combatant two centuries ago while colonizing another alien world. Upon being called, they set off to the battle scene, and easily knock out all the rebels present in the scene. Sumeragi’s war machine too gets destroyed as the aliens target it to take away the advantage. Sumeragi uses another war machine to keep the generals at their toes, but it too gets shot down. 

From the cloud of debris, Sumeragi manages to show his superior marksmanship by killing the trigger-happy general. The so called honourable general feels like he has finally faced a worthy opponent after two centuries, and pleads Sumeragi to show his face. Sumeragi emerges from the shadows, and engages with the general in combat. 

Do the Small Three Finally Join the Shibuya Battle?

In the prime reality, Pyontaro and Futaba’s parents are worried sick for them after waiting four weeks for their return, to no avail. Doc, who is concerned for his students’ absence as well, visits their place to ask their whereabouts. Before leaving, Doc takes his unique game CD which allowed Small Three to traverse to the parallel reality in the first place, as he had a hunch that they might have been crossed over to another reality by playing the CD. Doc and a bunch of his students are dumbfounded upon seeing how playing the CD creates a portal to the parallel reality, and they too decide to venture to the other side. They find themselves as the centre of attention as once again, denizens of this reality are greatly surprised to see manga sketch lookalike people walking among them. They liken Doc and his students to Small Three, as they have already created quite a buzz during their stay. Doc plans to visit the home of his counterpart to learn more about this reality, and hopes to rescue Small Three and Futaba by doing so. 

Meanwhile, at their counterpart family home, Pyontaro, Tsubame and Hiroshi learn about the ongoing Shibuya battle, which is being livestreamed. Alternate Pyontaro encourages Prime Pyontaro to use his powers for good and help the Rebellion. Pyontaro, who is still a kid after all, is hesitant as he is not accustomed to face realities of warfare, no matter how insanely powerful he is in this reality. Tsubame too is a bit apprehensive and cowardly, but Hiroshi appears to have inculcated the heroic mindset within himself. He is moved to tears seeing the plight of the people who are losing their lives in the battle, and he is determined to make a difference by encouraging the rebels to carry on their fight. Hiroshi’s inspiring words finally encourage Pyontaro and Tsubame to venture to Shibuya to help out the rebels, and as the ninth episode draws to a conclusion, the trio head towards Shibuya by jumping a single, massive leap. 

While there was no dearth of action and brutality in the four episodes, the makers are stretching the plot a bit more than needed, which is contributing to a rather slow pace overall. Futaba’s segments through all four episodes could have been shown within a single episode. Small Three’s arrival on the battle scene has been held off for way too long than needed, in order to pad up the episodes, as viewers aren’t as interested to see a gruelling human vs alien battle anyway. Setting up the premise with superpowered cartoon characters as heroes, it doesn’t feel like a wise decision to keep them on the sideline for so long. Hopefully, in the upcoming episodes, things will take a turn for the better as the Small Three give these alien scums a reality check. 

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