Supernatural: The Anime Recap - Episode 1 "The Alter Ego"

Due to the semi-obscure nature of this anime and the fact that people have very mixed reactions to it, I proposed to the Pop Trends crew to allow me to run this feature in order to spare the Supernatural fans the trouble of watching it. Otaku K and Doctor Q have different opinions on it and since I covered it in a previous post, we decided to recap this 22-episode series.

The fact that I own it on DVD didn’t hurt my chances either. Though if you want to follow us by watching, I think YouTube has the full episodes.

So, let’s begin.

 As a treat to fans, the DVD version has the dynamic duo of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles introduce each episode. This is promising, because we all have to admit that these guys are the reason any of us watches the live version of Supernatural. They tell us the first episode is based on the sixth episode of season one. What happened with the pilot episode? Well, let's see what happens in the anime version.

Jared says that the fight scenes in this episode are good. My inner Padalecki fangirl believes your every word, sir.

We begin with a screenshot of a creepy green eye over a full moon, with your token suburban house on a street. Don’t forget the ominous violin music in the background.Inside the house, we have a sexy girl tied to a chair. She’s dressed in a transparent baby doll and panties and is crying while a highly disturbed man sharpens a paring knife. He tells her he’s going to kill her because she rejected him

 Wow. A minute into the show and already it's kinkier than the live one. 

The girl tells him that she doesn’t know him. In a plot twist, he tells us that he’s her husband and proceeds to carve her up, releasing copious amounts of blood that transitions into the Supernatural logo.

Um, Good intro, I guess.

Its morning now and the best character ever in this show makes its debut. Ladies and gents, the Impala has arrived with the cast.

Awww, Yeah!

And the first thing I pick up? Why the hell is Anime Dean whistling happily while driving and wearing sunglasses? Was this a thing in the show?  Anyways, next to him is Anime Sam, who is sleeping and having an ominous plot device in his head in the form of a flashback of when he was a baby. 

We see what I assume is the Yellow Eyed Demon. Sure, let's go with that. But boy he looks...not scary. Sam also sees a burning woman in his flash-dream screaming for him and someone shooting some critters of sorts, but this is irrelevant because he wakes up and Anime Dean receives him with the line:

"Wakey wakey, Sunshine!"

Wait, what? Who wrote Dean’s lines? 

Let's take a minute to address a pet peeve of mine in this show. Why it is that English version of Sam Winchester is voiced by Jared Padalecki and yet sounds off? The characters physically resemble each other but Sam sounds like his voice is too big for his anime body. Is it me? I think it is. 

Back to the plot, Anime Dean conveniently fills us in that they're heading to Missouri, because they heard of sexy nightie girl’s murder. Sam whines that they should be looking for their missing dad but Dean insists on solving this case first because that's what dad would do. 

Once in Missouri, the boys do their trademark fake feds bit at a police station to get some info. I’ll give the animation team accuracy points for putting Sam in his token fake fed trench coat but I'll take style points for sticking Dean in that ugly-ass jacket. Speaking of accuracy, Dean has black hair now and they both have brown eyes. Deal with it.

We feel the same way about that jacket, Sam.

They're looking for a Detective Boyle in order to inquire to him about the murder but Dean immediately spots a hot girl and stares at her like a creepy uncle in a birthday party and they immediately find out in true cliché fashion that she is the detective. She takes them to see the "Killer", who reveals as he cries that he found his sexy wife dead, so apparently he's innocent. The boys look at the security tapes, because that's a thing in the suburbs apparently and see him walk in the house the night sexy girl was carved up. Sam thinks he's innocent and manages to spot a single frame where the dude looks at the camera and his eyes look different. They decide from this single frame that this thing is a doppelganger.

Sexy Detective Boyle takes them to the crime scene. While she opens the door, anime Dean takes in every dimension of her butt. Seriously, Dean? Are you going to tell us the exact circumference of it later? 

No, Dean. Just no.

Anyways, she says she slices her finger open, even though in reality she paper cuts it, but it gives Dean the perfect opportunity to hit on her. Sam puts a stop to it and we as an audience thank him for doing so. Remember this part kids, it's going to come in handy later. 

The boys discover that Boyle was friends with the dead girl. Of course, as she explains this, anime Dean decides this is yet another opportunity to hit on her. Meanwhile, Sam makes the observation that there are no traces of spirits so whatever it is can’t be a spirit. While Dean still hits on the detective, Sam opens a window and finds a pretty big trail of blood leading to the sewers. How the actual police missed this trail is beyond me. Not only is it huge, but it starts at a window, drags down a white wall and ends pooling at a sewer. Sam lies and says he saw nothing and for some reason, everyone believes him.

Now the boys are trudging down the sewers. True to the actual show, Sam bitches about how he's not so sure about rock salt bullets in his gun but Dean helpfully educates us that real bullets won't kill a spirit which is an awesome thing to know if you haven’t seen the live show and probably the smartest thing Dean has uttered so far. 

Wait, didn't Sam state that it wasn't a spirit as they checked the crime scene? I'm confused now.

The boys hear a noise and almost shoot a rat in surprise. Dean jokes about how he almost shot it, but there's someone behind Dean! Sam helpfully points this out instead of shooting it. Turns out it’s the girl’s husband, who proceeds to one-shot Dean with a crowbar and moves very quickly to try to take down Sam.

Let's take a moment to point out that Sam, hunter wingman extraordinaire, actually faces the creature which actually stops and remains completely still for about a minute.

And Sam does absolutely nothing. 

Except point both, his flashlight and gun at it. 

WHY ARE YOU NOT SHOOTING?!

The thing jumps up into the pipes and of course, proceeds to knock out Sam too. Way to go, Sam.

Sam wakes up only to find out that he's tied to a pipe and dangling over a pit. Of course, the first words he hears are from Dean, who's not tied up and is looking at him while standing on the edge of the pit.

"Wakey wakey, Sunshine."

Kill me now please.

To his credit, Sam immediately realizes this Dean is a fake. Fake Dean proceeds to read Sam's mind and educates us on the fact that real Dean is messed up in the head too. I’ll admit, it’s nice for the show to give us some background on Dean, especially since all we’ve seen him do is hit on the detective. Fake Dean tells us that the real one is actually lonely since their dad straight up abandoned him and that he thinks Sam was having it easy in college while he hunted monsters. For those who haven't seen the live show, this is actually good. It gives you a little perspective on the boys.

Of course, Mr. Monster then proceeds to leave Sam dangling over the pit and says he's going to show Detective Boyle a good time.

Yes, fake Dean is a pervert too, people. 

In a futile attempt to get free, Sam struggles against his ropes and dislodges a rock from the wall of the pit. The rock comically falls down and hits real Dean, who wakes up from this rock and is dangling in a similar manner to Sam right below him. 

Yes, a rock to the head brings you back from unconsciousness in the Supernatural anime.  Winchesters, everybody!!

While Dean pulls a lighter from his pocket and burns the ropes off in true anime style. Sam immediately fills real Dean on the dastardly plot of what he now knows is a shape shifter (didn't he know this before at the police station?) which basically consists of showing Detective Boyle a good time.

As this happens, the shape shifter decides that apparently Dean isn't a good skin for it (can we blame it?) and we are treated to the monster inflating like a balloon then deflating like one, followed by creepy green fingers sprouting from his chest and proceeds to shed the skin. We see its true form, a green creepy Slenderman-like thing with the worst collagen injection ever.

GAH!

Back at the pit, Dean finally burns the ropes and in true anime style, grabs a rope before he falls into the pit. He makes a quip about Tarzan as he swings to a convenient hook and chain nearby and climbs out of the pit. Clearly, Dean is the most resourceful hunter in this episode as all that Sam does is cheer him on. Once free, the boys are in the impala where Sam explains to us as he reads from daddy's journal that shape shifters have the ability to change shape. 

Stanford will miss your awesome reasoning skills, Sam.

Dean also proceeds to educate us that killing it will be a snap, because unlike vampires and “things like that” all they need is to shoot it with a silver bullet. Sure, let's go with that Dean. I hope that "things like that" do not include werewolves.

They race to the detective's apartment. Which of course, Dean visits alone. Once inside the apartment, Dean explains to her about shape shifters. Obviously she doesn't believe him, but continues to speak to him as she drinks a large beer.

The face of a drunken skeptic.

She calls him out on his fake fed bit and points a gun at him. Dean remembers that finger she paper cut earlier and notices it's magically healed. See, I told you to pay attention! Realizing this girl is a fake; Dean grabs dirt from a plant and tosses it at her face. Then in a move only seen in anime and break dancing videos, he proceeds to do a spin kick while using her coffee table for support, knocks the gun from her hand and snatches it midair. 

Because anime, that's why.

As he calls her out on her miraculously healed finger, a SWAT team approaches and threatens to shoot up the apartment if Dean doesn't come out in thirty seconds. He asks the shifter who he is and the fake girl screams and jumps through the skylight and runs away, confusing the SWAT team who just saw all that with a helicopter spotlight. They burst into the apartment and Dean wonders what to do now.

Meanwhile, Sam runs up to the SWAT surrounded building, but stays in an alleyway watching all this go down. A cop comes up behind him with a gun but as he's going to surrender, he reveals himself to be Dean trying to prank him. Understandably pissed, Sam takes the gun, as the SWAT team discovers a bound, naked SWAT guy. How Dean managed to duct tape a guard and strip him in 30 seconds is beyond me, but let’s go with it. In the meantime, we see the Impala racing away from the whole scene.

In the Impala, the boys are wondering if Boyle is okay and what happened to the shape shifter. Dean says that they need to find both, her and the monster and suggests trying to find the shifter's nesting area. Sam complains that it will take forever but Dean shuts him up and says to look for the nearest entrance to the sewers. Sam uses his magical laptop with worldwide magical Wi-Fi to look for it, only to have Dean point a gun at him while he drives the Impala.

Confused, Sam asks what's going on and they both proceed to accuse each other of being the shape shifter. While Dean is still driving, in the middle of a busy highway nonetheless, Sam attempts to disarm his brother. They swerve, and a shot is fired, narrowly missing Sam's head. Dean expertly drives the Impala against traffic, dodging vehicles and fighting off Sam simultaneously. Of course, Sam drops the gun and gets kicked in the head by Dean (who's still driving and dodging traffic, by the way). There's some blood for good measure.

Sam plays possum while Dean taunts him and then he grabs the gun and points it at Dean. They talk about how Dean doesn't believe Sam is the real Sam, but in the meantime something more awesome happens. 

Another Sam comes from out of nowhere and stands right in the middle of the traffic filled interstate and shoots the oncoming Impala, which brakes mere inches from this Sam that just miraculously appeared in the middle of the interstate. Mind you, interstate Sam managed to shoot Impala Sam straight between the eyes, effectively killing the shifter and scaring the crap out of real Dean without getting hit by a semi.

I think this is the single most badass moment in all of Supernatural history. Way to make up for not killing the monster earlier Sam. Even interstate Sam cannot believe how badass he just was, as evidenced by his expression.

"Oh my God Dean, I can't believe I actually didn't get run over doing this crazy crap."

The boys go back to the sewers, where Dean jokes about Sam shooting himself while carrying Detective Boyle. She thanks them for saving her life and asks about them being monster hunters. They reply it's the family business, which is an awesome nod to the live show. Of course, Dean then proceeds to hit on her one last time for good measure.

She declines and we are grateful for that. Cue credits.

Wait, what's this? A scene after the credits? The boys bid farewell to Detective Boyle and she assures us the innocent people will be released. All is well. Then she watches them as they drive away.

What did we learn in this episode? 

1. According to Sam, shape shifters have the ability to change shape.
2. Anime Dean is an awesome break dancer and a notorious pervert.
3. Shape shifters die with silver bullets.

Next Time on Supernatural the Anime: The boys almost hit a girl with their car and decide to help her find her missing husband instead. Also, Sam cries and Dean pervs up some more. But you already knew that.

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