Dragonaut / First Impressions

Summary:

After laughing maniacally at the power of love, Asim sends Garnet forward to attack Jin and Toa, but Gio blocks her way. With Garnet unable to beat Gio, Asim orders her to show her true strength, and Garnet’s left eye glows red. Remembering how, 15 years ago, she had gone through a Resonance when a very young Asim, Garnet now unleashes her power and stabs Gio right through the gut. She then tries to get Jin to hand over Toa, but when he refuses, she calls the power of love a sham and charges them. Gio, however, gets in her way again and manages to both break her sword and knock her into the wall. This gives everyone the opportunity to escape, but Gio is too injured to make the trip back to Earth, so they instead head to a nearby Girouard mining facility. There, Toa offers to heal Gio, and after expending a lot of energy – which in turn causes her back to glow red – she’s able to close his wound. Toa feels a bit light-headed afterwards and has a hard time staying on her feed, but she claims to only need some rest. Gio then apologizes for her having to do this for him, however Toa points out that he’s always been protecting her, so she wanted to save him.

Jin decides that they should rest here until Toa and Gio recover, and just as Akira is wishing for a hot springs, they find one. It’s actually the by-product of an ice melting system, and the two pools allow the girls and the guys to bathe separately. As he sits in the water with Gio, Jin recalls all their times together and attributes where they are today to Gio. Jin thanks Gio, and after the two tap their fists to the other’s chests as a sign of unity and camaraderie, Jin talks about them protecting Toa together. On the girl’s side, Akira notices Toa experiencing some pain, but Toa claims that she’s fine. Akira then brings up the topic of what was glowing on Toa’s back when she was healing Gio earlier. Toa says that it was nothing, however Machina reveals that it was a stigmata. Machina knows that Toa’s death draws near and explains that Dragons live longer than humans, but they’re not immortal. When it comes about time for them to die, the stigmata appears, and it gets brighter as they get closer to death.

Toa doesn’t want to tell Jin about this and explains that she knew it would happen from the beginning. As original dragons, they are part of Thanatos, and when they finish their duty of bringing their comrades back, they approach death. Toa believes that this is a fate that they cannot escape from. Akira then remembers how scared she was when she first met Machina. She had thought that Machina was beautiful and saw her as the ideal woman because Machina was in every way the opposite of her. The two of them quickly became like old friends, and Akira began to love her, but in her heart, she reminded herself that Machina wasn’t human. That’s why she always felt it was weird to love a dragon. It wasn’t until she met Jin that she felt differently, and she believed that he could change the relationship between man and dragon. She thought that if she was with him, then she might see something new, and it was the earlier scene of Jin and Toa together that finally convinced her: if two people accept and believe each other, then it doesn’t matter if they are human or dragon. Machina then recalls what Toa had said about not being able to change your fate but being able to change your destiny, and she feels that Toa and Jin have proven this.

Gio and Jin then rejoin the girls after having finished their bath, but before they leave this place, Akira brings up how this particular spot looks like a church altar with how the light shines on the nearby ice blocks. She suggests that Jin and Toa have a wedding here, and Machina makes a pair of rings out of ice for them. Shortly after Jin places the ring on Toa’s finger though, Asim interrupts them with his clapping. Seeing Garnet suddenly leaping down to attack, Akira jumps in her way, and the result is that she suffers a deadly blow across her body. Machina counters by elbowing Garnet in the face, and once Gio takes over to fight, Machina rushes to Akira’s side. Struggling to speak, Akira urges Toa and Jin to make a new human and dragon history, and she utters Machina’s name and touches her face one last time before dying. Overcome with grief, Machina starts screaming and going berserk, and unlike everyone else, Asim is ecstatic about this. Red markings appear on Machina’s skin as her clothes turn black and her hair darkens, and one more scream confirms that this isn’t the same Machina as a moment ago.

Preview

Holy crap, did they throw enough plot twists into this episode? There were at least two or three episodes worth in here, from Garnet being a dragon (is she a full dragon though? she only has one red eye) to the fact that Toa’s going to die soon (no indication how soon) to the wedding to Akira death (they brought out the good animation team for that scene) and finally to Machina going berserk. As fun as it was to watch everyone happen all at once, I can’t help but think that the pacing could have been better – they could have gotten rid of some of the repetitive capture/escape stuff from the beginning and spread the current part of the story out a little more.

I got a bad feeling about Akira’s future as soon as she started making a speech about her past with Machina (as my friend pointed out, in game-terminology, that was the death flag), but I didn’t seriously think that she’d die. A part of that I think was due to the relative lack of death in the series so far, particularly if you consider how Kazuki seems to survive everything. Unfortunately, Akira’s death and Machina subsequently going berserk probably means that Machina won’t live much longer either. It’ll be interesting to see what (and how much) happens at the end of this arc next week because there’s now the Machina stuff plus the escape from Mars plus whatever the Lindwurm Unit ends up doing. At least, I assume next week is the end of this arc since episode 18 is supposed to take place one year after. In any case, if there’s one thing Gonzo did right with this episode, it was that it made Dragonauts pretty exciting to talk about again.

64 Comments

  12. Things I knew would happen
    – Granet beeing a dragon. I mean come on….it’s the only explination as why she’s able to go one on one with Gio
    -Akira dead. They were making us love her a bit too much. And that last scene with her and Sieg was kind of like a final goodbye

    Things I did not know:
    -Toa is dying. What the fuck….where did that come from?
    -Berserk dragons. I knew dragons could go wild…but Machina…..REALLY scary

    DmonHiro
    Reply

  14. If Gonzo has some kind of intelligence left, they better still come up with a happy ending of some sort, contrived or not, considering how utterly predictable and boring a tragedy would be at this point.

    Tamario
    Reply

  16. This is all Witchblade all over! I don’t know why I torture myself everytime with a Gonzo show. They killed the best character, KAzuki better be dead too. Rest in peace my precious akira, you made this show awesome! 🙁 🙁

    golthin
    Reply

  21. I guess Garnet wasn’t affected because she wasn’t pumped full of the red pills/capsules before being exposed to the energy field.

    I guess Jin and Gio will partner in the end after all… unless Gio pulls an deus ex machina (pun!) and takes Toa’s place as “sacrifice”.

    Alkard
    Reply

  24. Still, if people didn’t think Gonzo could pull off decent plot twists – then this is one,I suppose, if yet not a very good one – and one I could rather have been without, actually..
    🙁 .

    I REALLY hope Toa won’t die. That’d sort of of kill off the chance of any real happy end :(.

    Next episode is called “Roar – The Blazing Morning Star”. Wonder if that last line is a reference to Thanatos…

    SpectatorBeholder
    Reply

  26. No….no…not Akira-Chan…this series has killed off 3 characters I fell in love with…First Nanami, Then Widow, now…Akira-Chan??!!! What is with the story of this series?! Kill off all the characters before the last ep?! Sheesh….I may have just lost all reason to watch this anime….

    JT
    Reply

  33. That seems wierd to kill off akira because Akira gave the show more than the one demensional validty that it would of had if it were just jinn and Gio on their crazy advertures trying to save princess peac..err i mean Toa. If Toa dies now the next most valid main character is….. Kazuki and quite frankly the mere thought of that angers me GREATLY. In other words i dont think Toa will die because well it doesnt make any real sense unless Jinn and Gio have some bigger destiny that transends their eventfull yet strangely meaningless (in relation to the plot) lives!

    WingZero zxt
    Reply

  34. Hm… So since Prof. Yuri has huge breasts, does that make her a dragon too? Nawwh.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    I miss Akira, and I’m scared of Machina now. The next best thing down the plot twist line is probably seeing Kazuki finally break out of emo mode and figure out the whole berserk thing that happened in ep 1 and this one.

    kalamunki
    Reply

  36. now I wonder if Machina/Makina will be an Emo Pissed Dragon from now on…..or if she’ll get together with Jin and go kill a few noob bad dudes….who knows…still…Why Akira-Chan??? She was cute! So was Nanami! Though makes me wonder…what a Emo Pissed Dragon will look like.

    JT
    Reply

  45. OMG. that was amazing. it would have made a GREAT episode 4, since absolutely nothing of plot significance happens between 4 and 16.
    Oh. and Dark Machina is such a blatant ripoff of Dark Sakura.

    Akira was one of the only good characters in this show.
    and next time, we get to see Amadeus and Howling Star going a bit berzerk

    Rauzes
    Reply

  48. WHY! Why did they have to kill the only character with dimension to their personality. Akira actually seemed to have a point in this anime struggling to find the relationship between dragons and their dragonauts. 16 episodes in and we’re still left with two main characters who scream each other’s names for the chunk of their screentime. talk about let down..

    SeeingStars
    Reply

  50. Mother ******?! WHY?! WHY DID AKIRA HAVE TO DIE!?

    . . . figures. evil Gonzo. very evil. and i should’ve expected that garnet is a dragon. only women with breasts that large can be a dragon >.

    Can@@n
    Reply

  52. Garnet doesnt have hte weird red crystals in her. thats why its indirect and thus shes immune. stronger dragons are immune without the red crystals injected into them.

    and.
    Garnet has seen a dragon go berzerk before. remember ep 2? remember spiritus? i didnt think so.

    Rauzes
    Reply

  54. @TheEFG:
    I’d have to agree with you on the fact that the series will probably make Toa end up the same was as Nia in Gurren Lagann. only this time the death is expected >_>! Anyhow, I really wouldn’t mind seeing Kazuki again, IF and only IF they make him break out of emo mood. He’s really not cool right now.

    Pyro
    Reply

  55. Aw, Akira+Machina was my favourite thing about this series.
    I hope Machina doesn’t go the same way as Akira, but it seems likely. If she at least gets revenge for Akira that’ll be some consolation, but I wonder if she can return to normal after that…

    And the thing about being able to change your destiny means that there may be hope for Toa yet.

    Auto
    Reply

  56. I hope Machina kills Asim….I bet that she’s gonna off that wacko.

    Still though Akira was cute! Why did they do that huh?! I mean sure it’d be ok if she got injured…but Killing her??!! and since Toa may die Jin by the end of this series might go a bit Psycho….

    Yeah, Kazuki to me is just funny now…I mean he went from pathetic to psycho in 14 episodes.

    JT
    Reply

  58. Why do they have to kill akria! 🙁

    I really wonder how the story is going to go, i mean come on we have a psycho Kazuki which is probably to waste air time. Jin and Toa dont exactly do much apart from run away from each other then find each other then say each others names for half of the show, and now their supposedly married, imagine they have children, some mutant dragon human (maybe a sequel.. nah). And Gio seems a tad bit retarded. I wonder is thantos actually going to play a part in the story.

    Other than that great episode.. 😀

    hmm
    Reply

  61. I expected them to kill off Akira. I’ve personally been wondering when it was going to happen for the last few eps. And then after her little monologue I figured the end was coming soon. Which is a shame, like many of you she was my favorite character. I mean, she really was the perfect sacrifice character. Not truly vital to the story but everyone loved her.

    Did anyone else find the hot springs part amusing? “Hey, we’re at an enemy base and they’re probably chasing us. Lets get naked and go take a bath.” I mean, honestly? And maybe it’s just my sick and twisted sense of humor, but I was half expecting to Jin and Gio to start making out during that scene. Screw Toa, I’m now rooting for a JinxGio ending. They’ve had enough other plot twists… (Since this is the interweb, that last comment is pure sarcasm. I would cry if that actually happened)

    rbg
    Reply

  62. Well, Gio was still pretty weak and Earth is quite a long way away, so they needed to let him rest a bit.

    (But yes, I was thinking the same… ‘hot springs? now?’)

    @shawn
    normally I’d see where you were coming from, but I find the whole murderous rage thing a bit intimidating 🙂

    Auto
    Reply

  63. I understand why they needed Gio and Toa to have a good rest before flying back to Earth. What I don’t understand is why have a wedding ceremony in enemy turf? Never mind the fact that place looks coincidentally like an altar. Surely they must know Asim is hot on their tails, as being stressed several times by Gio, Jin and Toa. And surely Toa isn’t going to expire that soon, or at least long enough for them to return safely? Okay, I feel kind of bad for blaming Akira for her plan (she’s my favorite too), yet I can’t help but feel that was one lame set up to kill her off. If they wanted to kill her, why not ambush them while they were on their way out (sans wedding ceremony)?

    Dav
    Reply

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