I no longer trust this show. Not one bit.
It is not because it never takes itself seriously enough.
It is because IT DOESN'T WANT TO.
Upon the end of the first part of The Sound of Thunder, which actually took the show in a more sober direction, I had expectations that we were actually going to see a more serious turn for a change, that this "Thunderman" would be a tyrannical despot who willfully torments the people of the town with endless rainfall, and that we would enjoy a decent battle between him and Haru which would maybe give us some character development for Elie.
How was I rewarded for my patience two weeks later? An idiotic movie star side villain weilding a giant clown hammer, his bubbleheaded girlfriend, their FILM CREW, and a seemingly endless medley of hypnotic dancing, horrible dub songs, inappropriate dialogue, comic mistaken identity, and a special effects machine that they simply FORGOT TO TURN OFF.
You know a Rave Master arc is bad when it doesn't need Elie's sense of non-humor to make it worse.
I have come to the conclusion that the Shadow Guard requires all of its new recruits to take intelligence tests to determine their rank, as it appears that all of their lower-tier officers and their henchmen have IQ scores in the single digits.
It has also become apparent that the purpose of this show is not to entertain. It is to suck the mortal soul out of its unfortunate viewer, stomp on it relentlessly and repeatedly while wearing golf shoes, and then cast it into the Pit of Ultimate Despair where it shall know nothing but pain, suffering and abject misery day and night for all eternity.
To paraphrase the great philosopher Crow T. Robot, I want to hurt this show, but I can never hurt it the way it hurt me.