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「私であるために」 (Watashi de Aru Tame ni)
“To Be Who I Am”
Much like the first season, the story breaks away from the laid back pacing and picks up drastically in the final two episodes. Mio’s fading powers are one focus, as is the all-out attack on the Neuroi Hive hovering above Venezia airspace. The real surprise? The Yamato has been equipped with a device that transforms it into a Neuroi for the task. It turns out the research that was put into the Neuroi-powered Warlock from season one has been revamped into some stable yet time-limited form. Evidently, it wasn’t a great idea to bank the entire “Operation Mars” on this newly developed alien technology and assign the Strike Witches to a support type role, though I must say it was pretty awesome seeing the Yamato take off from the ocean’s surface and head straight for hive, shooting down hundreds of mini Neuroi while continually regenerating itself.
Upon seeing that, I was left wondering if the idea to apply it to a battleship stemmed from the Warlock possessing the Akagi when it went out of control. In all likelihood, it was probably just to get the biggest Neuroi-infused weapon the military could muster, given how the plan seemed to entail firing the Yamato’s main cannons at close-range. It’s just a shame their Neuroi-powered magic dynamo had to act up just as they were about to fire, since the operation was pretty epic every step of the way. Starting with the witches doing their thing and the Yamato transforming into its Neuroi version, it sure looked like there wasn’t going to be a repeat of the blunder last time.
However, with the way the story played up Minna and Mio’s objection to the plan in the first place, it was almost scripted that it would mess up at same point and let the witches retake the spotlight. In this case, “a witch” would probably be the more correct phrase, as Mio’s wavering magic and sudden loss of all offensive abilities have pinned her as the one to jump start the dynamo while everyone looks on from afar. Admittedly, I’m still expecting to see the yet to be mastered Shin Reppuzan get the job done though. Mio’s feelings of frustration and helplessness over being unable to protect anyone or anything have been emphasized so much that it would feel wrong for her not to make up for it in the finale next time.
Incidentally, the revelation Reppumaru’s power comes with the costly trade-off of consuming the user’s magic powers made it come off as a certain chakra-eating sword, but it did go on to show how Mio’s been desperately prolonging her active service. The negative effects aren’t too different from ones that Gertrud experienced with the Me 262 V1 striker unit back in episode four, so it kind of says a lot when Minna will let Mio continue using the katana in spite of her obvious disapproval towards it. In any case, I can’t really see anyone dying in this series, so any potential death flags that may be waved are pretty moot. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how the hive gets destroyed and hoping it’ll be with a Shin Reppuzan.
ED10 Sequence
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ED10: 「Over Sky」 by 世戸さおり＆田中理恵 (Seto Saori & Tanaka Rie)
Watch the 10th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
Preview
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MIO HAIR DOWN…. MIO HAIRRRRR DOWNNNNNNNN….!!
HUZZAH!
OMG!!! the mioxminna has turned so blatant!! KYAAAAAAAAAAA~!!! i await for the next episode! it seems REALLY INTERESTING!!!!
The best episode yet.
I think that there might still be a 3rd season because of the huge roster of witches(I heard)
it was really a good idea to pick this up and we are nearing its end…
and yay, more mioXminna scenes
yeah mio hair down. thats new
I wonder, why her Eyes gone blank. As She took Repuzan in her hands.. Out of Energy? No. Sword Evil? perhaps
Rumor: She will use The Sword, to help her out. This Sword will “Burn” all He Defensive Magic Power into Offensive Magic.
a hint was given.. The Marks of the Sword is still visible…Imagine her, doing True Repuzan, in order to Protect someone
The preview somewhat hinted Yoshika doing that or something similar like being able to give or replenish Mio’s magical energy.Mio deserves to deliver the finishing blow after all that she has been through just to master the Shin Reppuzan.
On the other hand, it won’t be bad for them to show Yoshika using the Shin Reppuzan herself for she has the most amount of energy compared to the rest except that she has the least amount of control over them.
I wanna see Yoshika save the day. What good is it for the main character to sit back and let a support character save the day in the final episode of the series?
Well, she can “Hug” the Captain. Help her to Fly, and so Power he up, with her Power. So the Captain only focus is Charge her SuperFinisher Move. That could be a solution. So She stay’s “innocent” and the Captain is the Hero of the War…
But you Guys are right, the last Preview SS. Show me, whats up. She is focus on somethink in her hands, holding infront of her.. And what perfect “tool” can it be?… Right, a BROOM STICK!… Joke aside. You know what i mean 🙂
Holy shit, I originally meant it as a joke a few weeks ago, but it seems the writers are actually serious about turning the Yamato into Space Battleship Yamato. lol
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato
Question remains as to why the Neuroi Yamato cannon is malfunctioning. Could the hive manage to control the Yamato’s core, or is the core, despite being restrained by the magic-dynamo, managed to resist, recognizing that it is shooting at its “relative”? (I have long given up on hoping that questions about this new Neuroi hive, or even the humanoid Neurois in season 1, would be answered in time this season)
Anyone fancy a Dark Side Ending? – Mio doesn’t die, but instead, her frustration at being powerless makes for perfect bait for the Neuroi to subvert her into the Dark Side with promise of renewed power, and thus turn her into a Neuroi-Witch hybrid, setting up an amazing cliff-hanger for season 3 with her as the main antagonist.
But SW has so far been so light-hearted that I doubt it’ll happen. So Yoshika to save the day it will be then. 🙂
That was one amazingly exciting episode!
When the Yamato rose from the ocean, I was like FK YEAHHH…but of course, something had to go wrong with that technology. I’m pretty sure they didn’t even test it properly (when the Yamato’s captain went “It’s working” I started shaking my head). The battle between the Strike Witches and the fleet of mini neuroi was an impressive one too.
And seriously, Mio is one fine babe. I’m sure the Shin Reppuzan will be pulled but I’m not sure if it will be Mio or our little heroin, Yoshika, who will make it happen.
Oh hey the plan didn’t backfire and the Neuroified Yamato has YET to attack the Allied forces (funny saying that, and seeing the King George V work with the Bismarck).
I spot King George V as well as a few Fletchers and the good ol’ Bismarck. Damn this was a high-risk op.
Also, Shinjiro, I was half expecting the Uchuu Senkan Yamato theme to start playing. I muted MPC and opened winamp for that reason.
I think the battleship on the last row to the right is the HMS Hood which was ironically sunk by Bismarck in reality.As well as seeing the Tirpitz and the HMS Prince of Wales in the plan.
All this and US (Liberion) contribution is a couple of fletchers? No Essex class carriers? No Brooklyn class cruisers? No Iowa class battleships? Meh
Awesome episode!! still, can’t get enought of Mio.
Can’t wait for the final!
Wow, this is just awesome! Can’t believe next week is the last episode already. Hopefully there’s another season which could probably answer many more questions that this series had brought up.
I don’t know but I was laughing at the part where Yamato was all mighty turning into a Neuroi, flying at the hive and shooting down many smaller Neurois, then finally just poke the hive and got stuck.