Men! There are men in this world! Men on the base!

The episode starts with Miyafuji taking a tray of milk and cookies down to the hangar for the mechanics working on the Striker Units. They don't respond to her, and when she presses a bit more, one of them apologizes and says, "Commander Minna has prohibited us from having unnecessary conversations with the Witches."

Though Miyafuji doesn't really understand why, that probably is a good idea, and not because Wilcke is trying to start a yuri farm.

More (spoilers) below the fold

The Akagi steams past the base, apparently repaired from its battle. That suggests that a considerable time has passed. The Captain of Akagi comes to the base to see Miyafuji. His name is Sugita, and he thanks Miyafuji for helping to save the fleet from the Neuroi attack. Apparently no "important" ships were lost.

Miyafuji says she didn't do anything, but Sakamoto reinforces what Sugita says: "If you hadn't been there we would have been wiped out."

(They're not lying, by the way. It's true that Miyafuji didn't actually knock out that Neuroi, but between her and Sakamoto they kept it busy long enough for the 501st to come up and finish the battle. Because the Neuroi was shooting at Miyafuji, it wasn't shooting at Akagi or the other ships.)

Sugita gives Miyafuji a gift. Then he looks towards Wilcke and says, "As the prelude to the counteroffensive operation, our time to attack has come."

That sounds ominous, doesn't it? Or hopeful. So far the best they've done is maintain stalemate. Sounds like someone has a plan to genuinely win this thing.

UPDATE: Looks like Miyafuji has an admirer:

Sugita invited Miyafuji to visit the Akagi before it set sail, but Wilcke refused to allow it. I think maybe the main thing that Wilcke is trying to do is to protect her girls from constantly being hit on, but maybe the point of this episode will be that she's been overdoing it.

UPDATE: Turns out he's from Akagi and it's a love letter he's handing her. Just as she tries to take it, a gust of wind, and... well, we've seen it all before, haven't we?

UPDATE: Doesn't last long. Wilcke shows up and chews out the boy, whoever he is. I'm not really sure if he's from Akagi, actually.

Later, Wilcke is shown looking pensive, gazing out the window. She has a flashback:

UPDATE: The Captain's gift turns out to be a collectable figurine:

UPDATE: Action stations! Incoming attack from Gallia! Scramble! Scramble!

UPDATE: The enemy is a recognized type, "300M" according to Sakamoto. But as they attack, it pulls out a new trick:

It separates into pieces.

Wilcke closes her eyes and her magic glow comes up for a moment. Then she announces that there are 210 of them and says where they all are.

UPDATE: It seems there's still just one core, and if it can be found and destroyed the unit will vanish. That's Sakamoto's job. In the mean time, Barkhorn, Wilcke, Hartmann, and Perrine all go in for a dogfight. Miyafuji's job is to guard Sakamoto while she searches. Bishop's job (as Perrine's wingman) is to use long distance shots to cover Perrine's back.

Perrine begins to fly in, lamenting, "If I use this my hair will be a mess later."

It seems like a good time to haul out that attack, considering.

UPDATE: The dogfight is brutal. Sakamoto and Miyafuji hover above it as Sakamoto searches, but she can't seem to find the core.

Then Miyafuji, with some sort of sixth sense, notices another group of enemy above them in the sun. She flies up and gets all but one. The one she missed was the core.

It begins to fly back towards Gallia. Sakamoto, Wilcke, and Miyafuji pursue it, all firing, but it's Miyafuji who makes the kill. That's her first. (And I was wrong about when it would happen.)

But the flying shrapnel afterwards penetrates Sakamoto's shield. That's not good. Fortunately, it doesn't hit her.

Everyone swoops in and congratulates Miyafuji on her victory, except Perrine who gets snotty about it. The others ride her about it.

Wilcke is quiet and doesn't look happy. It turns out they're over the Calais coast, which is the location we saw in Wilcke's flashback. She flies down; the others begin to follow until Sakamoto tells them to wait.

UPDATE: Another, more extended, flashback. Seems there was a "miracle at Dunkirk" in this world, too, only it was Calais, and the Germans were among those evacuated. Wilcke was there.

So was the love of her life. Husband? Boyfriend? Not clear. Anyway, he didn't get out in time. Wilcke finds his car, and there's a gift in it that he had meant to give to her. A dress, and a letter.

UPDATE: Akagi steams out to sea, on whatever mission it has to take the war to the enemy. The boy we saw is indeed crew; he laments that Miyafuji never came. Then Sakamoto, Miyafuji, and Bishop buzz it. They hover next to it and Miyafuji shouts her thanks.

UPDATE: On the bridge of Akagi, the captain is told that there's an incoming radio transmission. When he hears it, he immediately orders it resent to all ships in the battle group. It's played on the loud speaker.

Back at the 501st's base, Wilcke is singing. Sanya accompanies her on the piano:

The dress Wilcke is wearing seems to have been what she found in Calais.

UPDATE:

There was a chart going around which showed the 11 witches lined up in order of tit-size. Yeager was the biggest, and Wilcke was #2. Looks like they meant it, too.

UPDATE: Wilcke is in her quarters, still wearing the dress, looking out the window at the night sky. Sakamoto enters and they talk.

Wilcke says, "When I lost him, it was really painful. I thought that if I'd have to feel this way, then I should have never fallen in love."

"But I was wrong."

"I see." says Sakamoto.

Wilcke continues: "But, even now, I'm afraid of losing someone. So, I've got to make the effort to never lose anyone." She turns and points a gun at Sakamoto.

Sakamoto doesn't cringe. She turns to face Wilcke, and we fade out for the end of the episode.

UPDATE: Well, the next ep teaser shows Wilcke and Sakamoto calmly talking in the hangar, so presumably Wilcke doesn't kill Sakamoto on the spot.

UPDATE: This seems to be about Sakamoto's shield failing. The next ep teaser shows shots going straight through her shield, and her getting hit and her gun blowing up. I wonder if Sakamoto's power is failing?

And I wonder if that's something that Miyafuji can cure?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 01:07 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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