Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans #35 – Chad is still processing the news about last week’s shock romantic revelation. In fact, he seems to be taking it kind of hard. Maybe he had his eye on Merribit and has now lost his chance. Actually, considering what else is going on in this show, he might have had his eye on Yukinojo for all we know.
Speaking of which, we finally get a reminder that Yamagi is still thinking of Shino, just as Shino has another outburst of flamboyant heterosexuality. I’m torn wondering about what happened that gives Zack leverage over him – on the one hand, it’s funnier not to know, but on the other hand, maybe there’s a hint lurking in there that Shino is putting up a front.
Meanwhile, spies, leaks, and conflicting loyalties mean that anybody who is anybody knows approximately what Fareed is up to when he tries to sneak back to Mars. In retrospect, it might have worked out better for him to publicize the reason for his trip. People might have listened to him about the whole “Mobile Suits might wake up the slumbering Old One” thing.
But here we are. Sharp-eyed viewers may recall the world map that we’ve seen briefly a couple times, showing that the coastlines of future Earth have had a lot of bites taken out of them. (This is probably why the capital of Arbrau is in Edmonton.) It would seem that the Mobile Armors were responsible for that. Fareed says they have no controllers – so were they used by both sides, or was the war itself all of humanity versus them?
Magical Girl Raising Project #10 – And just like that, we’re down to five contestants. Hardgore Alice in particular feels wasted; we never got a chance to really get to know her because she spent so long as a cipher. Now she’s gone, a victim of the dynamics of an anime industry where few production committees are willing to take a risk anymore on anything that lasts longer than a single season.
The rabbit’s foot which is supposed to allow something lucky to happen seems to mostly be concerned with its own survival. It doesn’t help Alice at all, and it causes Koyuki to be traumatized again.
Who’s going to be the last one out before the semifinals? Cranberry looks like the final boss, and I’m still sure it’s going to be Ripple and Snow White taking her down. Tama is safe until we get a flashback to how she became a magical girl, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see that next week. (Of course we haven’t seen Cranberry’s transformation story either, but I have a gnawing suspicion that she actually is an elf.)
Swim Swim is the sort of person who could coldly sacrifice Tama, but then again she’s the person who gave up 25 years of her life for a magical item that wasn’t even suited to her because she thought it was the duty of a leader to take the worst hit. So I could see their upcoming fight with Cranberry going either way.
BBK/BRNK #22 – It is time to unpack the high-budget special effects and the extra-ominous music! The comet turns out to be the head of Deus Magna, and it’s just as empty as those of the ordinary buranki. Who can fill it? Not Guy, who has gone to great lengths to make sure he can get control without being absorbed into the cranium of a buranki. I do believe Shizuru will achieve her ambition of becoming a stone before all this is over.
Reoko is stuck reliving her memories, and Migiwa is also trapped in some kind of altered consciousness, possibly also within Deus Magna. She seems to be communicating with Ōbu, but it talks with the voice of Guy. She may be talking to the neural network of Deus Magna, with it taking on Guy’s voice as it connects to him.
Outside, everyone is wailing away with everything they have, even Team Asia. Ryūki’s reconciliation with his team feels like it could have done with a lot more gravitas. Even if he’s a pompous buffoon, the moment would have been a lot better with less wacky overacting from the limbs.
(Crunchyroll — AnimeLab — ADN)
Izetta: The Last Witch #10 – Izetta and Finé both wind up safe in hiding. While they argue about who gets to have a pity party, Germania assembles its forces to begin the blitz of Londinium.
Instead of rocket-powered V-1 bombs, this assault features slightly different weapons (my WWII expert notes that the wings are wrong) powered by condensed magic. And the Germanian skunkworks has a few other ideas about how to use pure magic, like turning it into a gigantic bomb.
Yes, despite focusing entirely on Europe, this show has decided to be yet another anime parable about nuclear power. The conclusion is always that humanity is better off throwing it away entirely, which suggests that Izetta will take up Müller’s half of the magic stone, and she and Sophie will drain all the magic out of the world forever. At that point, everyone reverts to conventional warfare and the rest of the war matches what happened in our timeline.
Cheating Craft #9 – It’s back to the academic grind for Mumei and Kō. This week’s test takes place in every generic remote tribal area ever, with guest proctoring by Crocodile Dundee.
But it’s all a sideshow to another fight between Mumei and Gennu. Kō finishes the exam with her usual efficiency, leaving the guys to wage a spectacular but inconclusive fight with crimson threads vs. paper and flaming ducks.
We also find out what Anri’s special move is, though I’m not sure how that fits into the overall scheme of things beyond keeping distractions away from Gennu. Is she the one actually in charge, or does she just like seeing a couple of guys wailing on each other like Kō does?
