「眠れ、地の底で」 (Nemure, Chi no Soko de)
“Rest, Beneath the Earth”

Even with all the Sanger/Wodan build-up last time, it was all about the Branstein brothers’ revenge like the preview suggested. Their cousin Leona Garstein (Sakakibara Yui) was eager to help out as well, which had me eagerly looking forward to seeing Archibald get what he deserves. The episode even took a trip down memory lane to remind us exactly why that is, going back three years ago when Archibald cruelly made Elzam kill his wife Cattleya (Maeda Ai) to save the lives of everyone in the Elpis space colony. It caused the very rift between Rai and Elzam seen today, which made it all the more sweet to see the two of them finish him off themselves. Who says nothing good comes from exacting revenge? When it’s a villain with no redeeming qualities, I say kill the bastard!

Leading up to that, there was plenty of action to go around this time, featuring various new scenes to go with it. Unfortunately, the same SRX Variable Formation sequence was used, though it was still cool to see them bust it out again. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the music that’s played during Pattern OOC, which extended well into the ass-kicking it delivered with its Hi-Finger Launcher this time around. Everything that followed suit was pretty over the top in that awesome kind of way, from the Double Blade Kick that Ryuusei had Ryouto perform with him in the Exbein Boxer to Mai hoping onto Rio’s AM Gunner in her R-Gun because SHE CAN. Those were some “oh what” moments that quickly became a “oh hell yeah” ones. While we did get to see the start of the Dygenguar/Thrudgelmir fight that will pick up next time, Tetsuya ramming the Earth Cradle with Kurogane’s Titanic Drill followed by a good chunk of guys rushing in made me want to see what was going down inside more than outside. It was heart-pumping mecha goodness all around (for me anyway), which came with the obligatory group shot squaring off against their enemies.

Along with the heated rivalry happening outside, The School children need to rid themselves of their past demons next, namely the wretched Dr. Setme, and saving Ouka is pretty key to doing so. Cuervo seems intent on helping her after realizing how heartless Setme is, after she hooked up Ouka to the GEIM system and let it destroy her sanity as if she weren’t even human. What he’ll actually be able to do is another thing though, considering the thrashing the Rapiecage gave to Arado, Seolla, Shine, and Latune. Granted, they didn’t want to attack Ouka to begin with, but the mind-controlled GEIM System is supposed to be pretty overpowered like it was depicted to be here. I won’t say too much more so that I don’t inadvertently ruin any potential surprises, except for how Super Robot Wars is a robot series that knows how to deal out the fan-service like no other. They may as well have called it the Bondage System. Yikes.

* The opening sequence was updated a bit more, this time with an “evil” Excellen to go with her Rein Weiss Ritter.

 

Preview

25 Comments

  1. I thought I’d be really disappointed since they didn’t show zanpakutou vs zanpakutou yet that was still awesome!!!
    I screamed hell yeah! when that bastard finally got served. That wretched seimei is pretty clever too, by using that helmet so that ouka can control her robot without directly piloting it.
    and evil excellen really sexy too! I hope I can see her in the next episode ^^

    KGFJ
    1. I’m waiting for it too. Though I haven’t seen it cuz I’m waiting for the .avi format to be released so I can watch it on my Xbox. Netbooks don’t take well to big .mkv files. :]

      p.s. Gosick episode 8? -curious-

      Shirt
  2. Don’t worry it was heart-pumping mecha goodness for all of us. I was also quite excited when R-Gun powered mounted the Gunner. HOLY SHIT inducing moment indeed.
    And damn , I have never been teased this much in my entire life, I can’t wait anymore, with this and Madoka and other stuff next week looks so far away.
    Bondage System indeed. Now someone talented should edit out Setme from the pic…

    Rockmanshi
  3. Wow we got trolled again. Sanger vs. Wodan didn’t happen after the foreshadowing last episode. Still got some nice action though. The SRX+Boxer combo was awesome. Heck anytime the SRX is on its awesome.

    They may as well have called it the Bondage System
    The funny thing is, this series has been pretty mild in the fanservice. For on Obari show anyway.

    fragb85
  4. Yeah, I agree, the fanservice is pretty much in line with what you see in the games.

    The battle sequences in this episode were unbelievably cool, and at last, Archibald got what he deserved. Next week, Wodan VS Sangar? Sure hope so after all this buildup.

    Sol Fury
  5. What IS the GEIM system? What does it stand for? What does it do? I only really see increased speed so far, so is there something else? And what exactly does it do to the pilot?

    Other than that, Archibald dying a gruesome death was very satisfying. That ugly ass Setme must receive the same next episode.

    xcswmboy
    1. It showed up first in Divine Wars / OG1, it was developed by Adler originally. It is effectively a battle computer system that uses the pilot as a biological computer – the time limit referred to is the point at which the pilot stops being human and loses themselves to the machine. It’s not pretty.

      No idea what the acronym stands for.

      Sol Fury
  6. Everyone involved had at least a great scene of action, it made this episode great.

    Also, it was very clever the way they managed to shoot Archibald. And then the R2 with the Chakram. Man, I’d be terrified too.

    Ray
    1. There’s SRW OG Gaiden, which brought in a few more villains from I think it was Impact and undid the deaths of a couple of characters.

      You’ve also got the whole Lord of Elemental Gaiden game that could potentially be adapted as well.

      Sol Fury
  7. Good episode, plenty of action in all the right places. That group shot gave me the chills.

    However, I am wondering how they’re going to fit the end-game into the last few episodes. Assuming the previews aren’t genital-teasing *again*, the next episode will resolve both the Earth Cradle related plots. Which gives four episodes to show

    Show Spoiler ▼

    And a few minutes more for the epilogue. It’s not impossible to do an episode each, but it’s going to be packed as far as I can see. I hope Obari has thought this out well; and saved a sizeable chunk of the animation budget.

    J Jay
    1. I can see those four elements all blending together. Especially since 1), 2) and 3) could all happen back-to-back, and 4) could feed directly from 1).

      Bear in mind, I’ve not played the games for this part, so I’ve no idea how it should go. But I agree with your comment on 2).

      Sol Fury

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