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「拳（いかり）」 (Kobushi (Ikari))
“Fist (Rage)”
If there’s one thing that Argevollen’s done well so far–whether inadvertently or intentionally–it would be how it’s almost impossible to tell what’s in store every episode. It could be another small battle that the Independent Unit 8 gets caught up in or further development on one of the many subplots that have been introduced. The preview never seems to give away enough to suggest whether it’ll be one or the other, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this episode was the latter. Week after week, I’ve been hoping that the series would build upon one of their subplots, so it was great to see Samonji reveal to Tokimune that he was with his sister Reika at the time of her death.
Thanks to the opening sequence, I fully anticipated Tokimune to be furious with his captain over his sister’s death; however, I can’t say the same about Samonji being completely unaware that his subordinate is Reika’s younger brother. That was quite surprising, because up until now, I thought that Samonji was being lenient with Tokimune’s insubordination because he feels responsible for his sister’s death. As it turns out, that’s only partially true. Rather than being lenient because he knew Reika and Tokimune are related, it looks like Samonji is lenient because he feels that Tokimune’s willingness to disobey orders to save the lives of his comrades is something he couldn’t do with Reika. I get the sense that he regrets not putting Reika’s life before orders, judging from how he almost wanted Tokimune to punch him over and over again. I saw that as his way of repenting, even though it’s highly unlikely that Reika’s death was entirely his fault. If anything, he feels “responsible” only because he didn’t try to stop her from taking part in the “experiment”.
Speaking of which, the big unknown at this point is what this “experiment” is and what role both Reika and Samonji played in it. If I’m interpreting the preview correctly (which is always hit-and-miss with this series), then the next episode should reveal what happened back then. The focus looks like it’ll be on a distinctly different-looking Trail Krieger, which could be the “experiment” that Samonji’s been referring to. That’s my best guess anyway. For now, I’m actually more curious to see which direction the story takes after clearing up this subplot. Will Tokimune find a new person to pit all the blame on and strive to avenge his sister against, or will he just make amends with Samonji and press on to try and win the war? It’s hard to say, but there’s little doubt in my mind that he will continue piloting Argevollen under Samonji’s command, seeing as it just received a bunch of upgrades care of Suguro.
Other than that, Cayenne’s motives are definitely questionable after he nonchalantly said that Ingelmia is going to win the the war (and asked Samonji if he slept with Suzushiro yet). I don’t know what the deal with him is, but the writers have made it pretty clear that he shouldn’t be trusted. Whatever the case, we’ll probably see a lot more from him as the series goes on.
Preview
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I was thinking the exact same thing. I guess he was just being a nice guy?
Remember Tokimune said “but you could have done something to change the situation”. And the commander says “yes, but I didn’t, I was weak” or something like that.
I think Samonji wants soldiers who are capable of disobeying stupid orders to do the right thing. This is something he couldn’t do when he was young, so he expects Tokimune to have guts the didn’t have back in the days.
Aside from that obvious ‘Wham’ in the end…
What kind of stupid questionnaire that can make the one asking the question:
https://randomc.net/image/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
go like that?
Cause it didn’t make any sense for me. neither did the one (trying to) answer them…
https://randomc.net/image/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
I think Suguro was trolling them
basing off how things are going, it’s entriely likely that his sister was the test pilot for Argevolen
At first I was thinking that but maybe the company that built the Argevollen used the data from Reika experiment as a stepping stone.
Overall, a quintessential “Argevollen paced” episode. “Going with the flow” as Divine suggested last week does seem to help when watching. While perhaps not the most dynamic, action packed episode, I did think this was one of the better ones. Some random comments:
— I must admit I was surprised to find out that Samonji didn’t know Tokimune is Reika’s younger brother. And yeah, not sure why he was so lenient with Tokimune before. Maybe Samonji saw some similarities between Tokimune and himself at a younger age. IDK.
— If I was Samonji, I’d be sorely tempted to accept that drink offer given how Toshikazu likes to play “Should I tell you?” games. That was frustrating just watching. Just get to the point please.
— Perhaps reading too much into this, but Toshikazu’s nonchalant remark about he believes Arandas is going to lose the war was a bit intriguing. I’d think he’d be a “little” more concerned about that. Makes me wonder exactly what is his relationship with Kybernes Corporation. Kybernes certainly doesn’t seem to care which side wins. Actually, they seem more concerned about either side winning too soon. Longer the war drags on, the more money they make.
— The “U-Link System Questionnaire” skit was just… kind of odd. I guess that was supposed to be comedy… or something.
— Seems to me that telling someone that you’re responsible for their beloved sibling’s death after they’ve been drinking alcohol is not the best idea – especially if that someone is as emotional as Tokimune. So no surprise at all that Samonji was punched – even disregarding the not-so-subtle foreshadowing comments about punching officers during Samonji’s conversation with Toshikazu. Frankly, it almost came across as if Samonji actually wanted to get punched in an attempt to assuage his guilt or something. He didn’t even attempt to fight back or defend himself. Lucky for him Tokimune’s brawling skills seem about as good as his piloting skills (i.e. not very good).
— As for Reika, my guess is that she died in some reckless test experiment related to Argevollen’s development. This looks a bit too similar to Argevollen’s ultimate form to be mere coincidence IMO. Same goes for all those comments about “fate” and “destiny”. Maybe reaching here, but if Reika was the original Argevollen test pilot, that might help to explain Tokimune’s surprising “link level 17”. Looks like we’ll finally get some answers soon enough – next episode in fact (please don’t troll me on that Argevollen).
After eleven episodes, the story finally seems to be getting somewhere. Looking forward to the next episode more than I have in a while.
There appears to be some ominous-looking box inside the tail-krieger at the end. I guess inside is Nanjo Reika, in a form or another.
At that point, it wouldn’t sound impossible that they’d reveal she’s now “part” of Argevollen.
Evagelion? They still rip the ideas from this “old” Anime? A Machine with a Human Soul, i just hope it is not the Red Mecha…
Look at Homeworld (yes the PC Game). Where a Female Human scientist connected herself to be the Main Computer. Thats a way to give a Machine a Soul, too. But here in Homeworld, it was her free will
I think i begin to see why Argevollen do not have that many Attention here on Randomc
They switched now from Action on the Battlefield (active) to Conspiracies behind the Front Lines (passive)
the part of this Shadows power plays in this Soup, is to strong and overlaid the entire meal now
The Balance is of the edge
It’s funny, I had little trouble with this show’s pacing in previous weeks when people were complaining about it, but this episode seemed overly drawn out to me.
Ah another fine example of Argevollen pacing, give an intro that finally hints towards something intriguing, give a incredibly long and dragged out middle, then end with with something else hinted at being interesting. That bar scene was stretched out too long IMO and did not have much to keep one’s attention beyond yet more misplaced fan service and Samonji’s arrival, not to mention the aptitude test felt off. Nevertheless though the things revealed here have me curious about what will happen next week, first time I can say that about Argevollen 😛
The most interesting part here had to be Cayenne though as the way he worded the “inevitability” of the Blues (so much easier to remember than Ingelmia) winning the war combined with the “punching of a superior officer” bit seemed to hint towards a bit of treason with a potential shake up (culling) of the Green’s command staff. Considering Cayenne’s knowledge of this experiment that keeps popping up, he likely wants the war to be extended for whatever reason that has to do with Argevollen and the earlier experiment.
Looking at the preview too I agree with Divine that next episode might be a flashback that (finally) details what the experiment was and what happened to Tokumine’s sister. Would certainly be welcome considering it is about the time when multi-cour cliffhangers start popping up.
I really like this series about real life in the military putting aside the fancy shounen all-around purpose like the A/Z guy.
The single unit 8 cannot win alone despite they have prototype w/ invulnerable armor its still cannot win against an army of thousand without any back-up support from any unit available to fill gap in the front line.
We might actually get a considerable amount of plot movement next episode…finally.