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Shit hits the fan.

Fuuuuuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck Iok with a spiky hot poker.

We already knew he was an idiot and a spoiled rich brat, but no, he’s a murderous, bastard, vainglorious war criminal.

But shit was this episode GOOD, from beginning to end.

I stayed with tears welling in my eyes for most of the time… probably from Akihiro and Shino’s initiative (and Orga’s reaction)… and at the end I was just ugly sobbing and I’m not even ashamed.

Ok, ok, I’ve mostly composed myself, I’ll try and do the usual bullet point list…

• Mika… Mikatsuki still won’t show his feelings externally (now he’s even hardly capable of it physically), but he sure learned how to relate to emotions. We see it both with the old boss, and later at the end with Atra. Those were the eyes of someone who lost a newfound friend, and whose closest friends hurt because of that. Someone is gonna get SMASHED by the Barbatos Lupus Rex.
• Akihiro, Shino and Ride’s plan. Can I have a FUCK YEAH? These were just kids, Human Debris in the case of Akihiro, and used to follow orders… now they’ve grown, they took the initiative, they had loyalties to repay, they decided to find a way not even their Brave Leader Orga could see. Yamagi, too (he had almost finished preparing the boosters by the time they finished telling the plan to Orga). Orga’s stance when thanking them is not lost on me: he’s taller, but bent his knees to deepen his bow, to underline just HOW MUCH he’s grateful to them.
• I just noticed for the first time: the Ship-City of Gjallarhorn has a super long ramp… probably a mass driver capable of putting small ships and MS into space (like the Mass Drivers in Victory). Neat detail (it will probably never ever become relevant, I just appreciate this bits of worldbuilding put in the background by the designers).
• McGillis has contacted “his comrades”… I assume that’s the people preparing the Baal, since it’s now practically official.
• Julieta has been witnessing Iok’s “style of noble command” and boy is she unimpressed. Even someone like her, driven by an unhealthy devotion born from a life of indoctrination is disgusted (maybe subconsciously, at least at first, when she asks to sortie with the Julia I believe also to distance herself from that bridge and Iok).
• Lafter: “I’ll protect my family”, wiping her tears away. And later on, all her combat. She is FIERCE and she being a pretty blonde with heart-shaped earrings NEVER puts her status as an ace pilot in question.
• The little exchange between Naze and Amida about how men’s obvious lies… and how a woman that really loves them sees through. He only says “She sees through everything, uh?”. Sigh.
• Barbatos stripped down to the frame, again! We already saw the previews of the Rex and it looks cool… hope to see it ready in the next episode (probably after another narrative time jump).
• Iok. Fucking Iok. Ignoring surrender signals, shooting on civilians and employing forbidden WMDs. Fucking Iok. That was some fierce Julieta side-eye and shade on the bridge.
• The Dainsleif Graze and their spike-holding companions: will we see some P-bandai of these? Or possibly the components will come out in a future HGIBA addon package.
• By the way… the purple IO Shiden looks very nice. I’m considering a repaint in my future…
• The Checkov’s Combat Mode Bridge…
• The Reginlaze Julia. It indeed looks pretty badass and I like its spikyness and its whipswords.
• The combat between Amida and Julieta… YES. Amida is piloting an old model, vs the top-notch new monster… and Julieta still can’t beat her. Hell, she even perceives how Amida considers her little more than a nuisance, a disturbance to the mission.
• The shot right through one of the barges. Thanks for the kick in the feels, it’s not like at this point I was sobbing.
• ALL of Akihiro and Lafter’s exchange. They are cute af. And Akihiro is still a clueless dumb oaf (and still the comic relief).
• Badass Ride Mode: ON! His “little moment” was nice too: I love how he looks up to Azee, his teacher and instructor, and she IS proud :)
• Did I mention how fucking Iok must die? I did, uh…
• SHINE ON AMIDA! Dammit for a second I almost hoped, even if I knew I shouldn’t have.
• …and Naze’s last hurra. Thwarted. Damn.
• I wonder if those are purely supposed to be metaphorical ghosts of the two lovers together forever, or are they similar to the afterlife newtype ghosts. Probably the former, though Julieta seemed to have a newtype perception of Amida’s death herself, earlier.
• The tears. All the tears. Lafter’s desperate wailing, but also Azee, too reserved to show herself cring even if she’s alone in her MS. All the rest…
• Orga’s offscreen “Bro…”. Fuck I’ll start crying again.
• And next episode, the funeral. Despite Naze giving back his fraternity cup it looks like Teiwaz will give them an official ceremony.
• And bad-fashion-Teiwaz-guy is on the list with Iok. I hope he gets his ass beat.