More Chaika shenanigans. And I’ll get to Harem Hill one of these days. I just need to find time in the schedule to watch five painfully terrible episodes.

— Hartgen seems mad. Put him down for yet another hero who hasn’t fared too well since the end of the war. Too well in the mind, that is. Again, it still looks as though Claudia is the only former hero(ine) who has her ducks in order. It’s one of those stories where you don’t feel like rooting for anyone. After the last two episodes, we know for sure that Gaz is an asshole. You don’t experiment on and discard the lives of living things in such a systematically uncaring way if you’re a good guy. But on the flip side, the former heroes are all kind of pathetic, aren’t they? Even the Alliance of the Six Nations seems to be flapping about like a headless chicken. The Kliemann Agency? Led by an emotional and potentially vindictive Vivi that I can hardly trust. As for our heroes themselves? They look like a bunch of easily manipulated pawns. Yep, there’s no one to root for.

— Guy interrupts our heroes’ fruit de mer eating session to direct them towards Hartgen. Guy pretty much isn’t on their side. This doesn’t deter Toru much, though. It’s inevitable that our heroes meet up with Hartgen and probably enter that tournament as well. Everything just feels so predestined. It doesn’t feel like our heroes are in control of their fates whatsoever.

— Elsewhere, the Kliemann Agency are one step behind as they investigate the remains of the secret laboratory from the last two episodes. They then engage Kiril and Ursula in conversation. In other words, it’s storytelling by exposition again. Nothing interesting to talk about here. Just the Kliemann Agency deciding once again that their enemy is Chaika. It’s frustrating, because there are a lot of silly assumptions being thrown around. For instance, so what if Chaika acquires all the remains and powers up her special gundo? How does this alone plunge the world into war? To put it simply and clinically, war is a conflict between two distinct groups. Chaika is one person. The dots just don’t connect. What do expect me to believe? That Chaika will instantly charm an army to her side because she has a powerful gundo? Secondly, they’ve run into and worked with Chaika and company before. Nothing suggests whatsoever that Chaika even has war-like aims. It’s all just presumptions upon presumptions upon presumptions. In the end, no one here is likeable. I don’t want to root for any of these assholes.

— Chaika knows she’s not Gaz’s daughter, but she still feels the compulsion to gather the emperor’s remains. Well, she’s been programmed to, so of course she would “feel” that prime directive to continue with her mission. Toru’s solution? “But we just have to keep going until you feel satisfied.” Uh… it must be easy to have such a one-track mind. I don’t know how dangerous the rest of this mission will be, I don’t know how dangerous it’ll be when the remains are all in one place, I don’t even know if I should allow myself to be manipulated or not… but by golly, I’ll keep going until I get that vaguely satisfied feeling. Again, I don’t want to root for these guys. Their mindset just doesn’t jive with me.

— Red Chaika and her gang arrive first and quickly get through the qualifying rounds. It seems like the inner walls of Hartgen’s principality have turned into a war zone. Wouldn’t this be enough to drive the rest of the sane citizens away? Meh, we’ll never find out.

— Alveric is now a heartless killer. I wonder if he can even be redeemed anymore. Actually, it would be kind of lame if he was. After all, how many people has he killed since he’s become Hartgen’s bodyguard? It would be silly for him to turn back to normal, then just move on with the rest of his lives as if he had done nothing wrong.

— Oh God, a conversation between Chaika and Niva Lada is almost as bad as a conversation between two Chaikas.

— How can our heroes lose when they have a goddamn dragon on their side, right? Well, they can only fight in groups of two or three, so someone’s going to have to sit out. The smart thing would be to make Akari sit out, and have her do her ninja spying nonsense, but….

— Plus, how are they going to get around the fact that Niva Lada doesn’t look anything like a Gundo 99% of the time?

— I’m pretty sure if you can hurl bodies hard enough to crack a thick, stone wall, those men are probably dead with shattered skulls.

— It turns out they’ll just call Niva Lada a reserve fighter and that’ll suffice. Okay then. But what about Frederica being the fourth wheel? Or are going to use the same excuse for her as well?

— Being unable to live in a world without war is such a cop out. Anyone who believes that isn’t even trying to change themselves. But hey, enjoy yet another cryptic conversation involving Guy.

— Later that night, Toru and Akari intend to steal Gaz’s head all by their lonesome. This means sending Chaika back to the barracks. That can’t be a good thing. When have our heroes ever succeeded without Chaika and her magic by their side?

— Guy then shows up and leads Niva Lada away. He also tells Chaika that her job is done. Welp. Chaika asks a few questions then just watches as her gundo walks away. Why doesn’t she put up more of a fight? Oh well. End episode. Like always, I’m vaguely bored with the story.