Back to the old post format for now… By the way, how long is this series going to be? I’m not so keen on doing anything that spans more than two seasons.

— Whoops, I thought the threat from outer space would be featured in this week’s episode. Apparently not. We’ll be clashing with the Capital Army once more, boys. I really hope this doesn’t become a weekly pattern.

— It looks like Bellri’s mom hasn’t had much luck in voicing her complaints about the violation of the Ag-Tech taboo. I’m just not a big of fan of these characters randomly talking to themselves. If they have thoughts or concerns that we need to know about, why not just make it a voiceover? Or why not just let us see her have a conversation with His Holiness? That would be even better.

— The cheerleaders continue to stick out like a sore thumb. They’re kind of like Raraiya, in a way. The difference, of course, is that Raraiya will eventually become one of the primary characters in the story, seeing as how she can pilot the G-Self. These cheerleaders, on the other hand, are just… out-of-place. What are they even doing here?

— You’re kidding me, right? You wouldn’t think that tiny mask is enough to fool anyone, but that cheerleader girl don’t seem to recognize him.

— I like how the colonel is like, “Yo, if you want me to violate the taboo, I… will totally do it with more staff and resources.” At this point, the taboo is more like a guideline than a hard-and-fast rule.

— The colonel goes, “But the Army is working so hard to rescue your son.” Well, we know they have other reasons, but he does remind me that Bellri’s mom doesn’t seem as worked up about her son’s absence as she should be.

— Raraiya still sucks.

— The characters mention a place called Towasanga. A quick Google search tells me that it’s a moon colony. Bellri adds that it’s the holy land for the religious faction, the same people who manage the distribution of the Photon Batteries. Aida obviously doesn’t believe that Towasanga is sacred. In fact, Klim suggests that the G-Self was manufactured there. Raraiya immediately starts chanting “Towa!” over and over because she’s an idiot. Personally, I don’t know what to make of the place. On Earth, we have all these anti-science practices, but on some moon colony, they can freely create a mecha as strong as the G-Self? What exactly are they cooking up there, then?

— We meet Mick Jack, a new character. In fact, it’s another women who can operate and fly a mecha. Seems to me like the Amerian side of this conflict is a little more egalitarian than our Capital buddies. I mean, you don’t see any pirate cheerleaders, now do you? Just for that, they get my vote.

— But of course, that’s not entirely fair. After all, Bellri’s mom is in a position of power. And aside from the cheerleaders and Raraiya, the rest of them aren’t badly portrayed. I’m not going to say that the anime is progressive or anything, but it could have been worse.

— For a pirate corps, these guys are pretty lax. They pretty much let Bellri and gang go wherever the hell they please. Bellri’s at least useful since he can help fight in the G-Self. I’m not sure why they’re so goddamn patient with Noredo and Raraiya. In fact, I’m not sure what Noredo even contributes to the story other than looking jealous every time Bellri glances at another female character, woman or otherwise. Sure, the story has women in various roles, but again, Bellri’s mom is the only one who’s really holding up the end of the bargain on the Capital side.

— Aida: “Those kids trail behind us like baby ducks. Just pretend they aren’t there.” Done.

— The whole thing’s pretty casual. The tall dude in this shot looks like he’s been lounging on the beach or something. You’d hardly know that he’s fighting for his country’s energy independence.

— Even though she can hide it quite well at times, I know Aida is still worked up over Cahill’s death. The only problem is I hardly know anything about Cahill. Sure, she’s lost someone close to her, but I don’t know, it’s just hard to relate to Aida when we’re this in the dark about Cahill and how much he really meant to her.

— Hm, we see Bellri randomly kick Klim’s ass. The latter might be a genius pilot, but he can’t fight. What’s kind of underrated about this show is that the characters aren’t static. It’s kind of silly for him to wrestle with Klim in the middle of what is essentially a mission briefing, but at least they’re doing something. In most anime, characters just stand still and rotate as talking heads during any given scene.

— Then there’s this… well, it’s not really an odd moment. It’s just a moment — an interaction between Aida and an unknown character (at least, I don’t think she’s been introduced to us) that the show has decided to highlight.

— Apparently, Bellri and Noredo have been planning to escape in the G-Self for a while now. I still get the feeling, however, that this won’t come to pass when they finally get the chance. I don’t know, I just don’t see Bellri returning to the Capital Guard at this point.

— I won’t get into too much detail about the ensuing battle scene, because that’s not really my strength. I generally focus more on the characters and their motivations when I evaluate anime. I’ll just say this: I have kind of a love-hate relationship with the fight choreography in this show. I honestly think the fights in this show are more interesting to watch than the ones in Gundam Build Fighters Try. At the same time, however, the editing isn’t very smooth. I said this in the first week, and I still think the criticism holds true: the scenes lack flow. For instance, we jump from Luin’s mecha being somewhat restrained to ripping off Montero’s head in a follow-up scene. What happened in between? Then after he wins the fight with his beam sabers, the Capital Army guys just turn tail and run without Luin so much as issuing any order. It just feels like a few small things are missing from the these scenes that would make the whole thing feel a whole lot more cohesive.

— It also feels like the scene is unnecessarily prolonged because we have to watch Bellri bumble around in the Core Fighter until it finally joins up with the rest of the G-Self.

— For a support character, Happa’s alright. He’s got some personality.

— Damn, just how much water is stored in those water balls?

— After forcing herself to praise Bellri, Aida walks off to the side and sobs quietly to herself. She feels as though she’s betrayed Cahill by thanking the kid who killed him. The whole “let’s call it even” thing probably hit Aida the hardest. You kill her precious Cahill, and you want to call it even because you defended the Megafauna? Yeah, that’s not going to happen. It doesn’t help either that everyone else on the ship seemingly wants to keep the kid around, especially Klim who repeatedly tries to recruit Bellri. This probably makes Aida feel as though no one else cares about Cahill’s memories; she’s alone in her mourning, and this sense of isolation only serves to enhance the pain of loss that she feels. Of course, it’s an inevitability that she’ll eventually forgive Bellri. It’s just a matter of when. Nevertheless, I still think the characterization would go a long way if I knew why Cahill matters so much to Aida.

— Still, it strikes me that there’s been a whole lot of crying in this series. Hell, even Dellensen has shed a few tears himself. Oh well, at least none of these scenes have been as bad as this.

— At the end of the episode, Noredo and Bellri reiterate their desire to escape when the opportunity arises. Noredo even claims that they’ve been spying on the pirates, but I question whether or not her spying is very effective. I guess we’ll find out eventually.

— In the previews for next week’s episode, Bellri claims that he’ll make the biggest mistake of his life. I wonder if this spells the end of our buddy Dellensen. Nevertheless, killing such an important figure in the Capital Army would explain why our hero can’t switch sides again.