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Many an old friend made a welcome return appearance this week.
I’ve missed you Salty Dog, with your arrogant incompetence and your ridiculous coffee-cup communications system. Captain Earth has turned out to be quite good fun after all, which I always felt it had the potential to do but it’s never been able to quite so consistently and persistently as it has during the current stretch. It’s never been a show that took itself too seriously, but there’s a certain confidence in the irreverence now that makes it seem as if the writing has finally settled into its comfort zone.
Indeed, the only real complaint I have is that the launch sequences are shown in their entirety every damn time – which wouldn’t be a problem if they were 15 seconds long and not about two minutes. Aside from that it’s all good, with Puck emerging as quite a tasty big bad – he’s certainly enjoying his newfound physical form, though it would certainly be ironic if he’s taken down in the end by Kube’s jealous assistant.
We’re still in the stage now where everyone – the Intercept and Ark factions, and the Planetary Gears – is getting in each other’s way. But eventually they’re going to all get on the same page and figure out who the real enemy is. For now GLOBE remains the most competent of the bunch despite their frontline troops being kids, and Nishikubo outsmarts the Arkists yet again by sending Hana into orbit to avoid contact with their “investigator“, who’s come to take her into custody. Meanwhile Akari is having way too much fun as usual, flashing her forte to Pitz and cracking wise about Daichi and Teppei being the fated pair (which they probably should be, though Akari herself loses in that scenario).
Perhaps the key Akari moment and indeed the key in the entire episode comes when she manages to hack into the Kiltgang control system, using an opening left when Moko takes over the Kivitos unmanned interceptors sent to fight them off. We’re at the point where you can see things really start to unravel for the Planetary Gears – their group dynamics suck, they’re habitually being beaten back by the Midsummers Knights, and at least two of them (including the most important one) are having serious doubts about their entire plan. The humanity inside them is obviously not extinguished, and the only questions for me are when they end up teaming with Globe, not if, and whether only some of them come around rather than the entire group. Once it happens, the final arc of Captain Earth can really begin in earnest.
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Roger
July 27, 2014 at 1:12 pmMY GOD! THEY DID IT. CAPTAIN EARTH FINALLY DID IT. Man, that was four whole minutes of repetitive transformation.
Honestly, this episode is a letdown to me. I like the fact that the cup phone is back, but the whole of the ep feels meh. it's just the same repetitive thread: Planetary gears attack, kids launch, PG's overwhelm our heroes, then some stroke of luck saves them. And I just find it rather dumb that it is only now that Amarok goes on suggesting that they should just all attack at once. And why the heck are the other PG's not here?
Another oddity that I found in this ep is that it is only at the end where Teppei mentions that only a PG can destroy his own ego block. Shouldn't he have said it long ago, since he destroyed his own ego block after all.
admin
July 27, 2014 at 1:18 pmNobody asked…
Roger
July 27, 2014 at 1:30 pmShouldn't he have been courteous enough to give that info even if nobody asked? After all, they are fighting the enemy, and any information would have helped greatly.
maverickmann84
July 27, 2014 at 2:25 pm@Roger
Haha I'm not sure how many weeks, or times, you and I have mentioned the transformation sequences, but I'm pretty sure you called it that they'd do one back to back. I want someone to make a time count of minutes wasted on those sequences.
I don't mind Teppei saying only a PG can destroy his own ego block bc he did make sure to add "YET" to that. It definitely came across more like he was finally admitting "if this didn't do it then nothing we have currently will do the trick" instead of just saying "oh yeah btw that was never going to work….did I forget to mention that?"
I don't mind the fact that they didn't attack in groups before. They even showed them arguing and discussing their lack of "teamwork" even going so far as to laugh at the notion of them working as a team. They are clearly very selfish beings, and didn't care to find each other until they needed help fighting the "midsummer's knights".
My problem with this ep, and often times anime (Japan in general), is the attitude many of the villains have. 1) What kind of logic is: "they are finite beings so they deserve to be our food" "we were once finite beings"? I won't bother to point out how dumb that is. It was better left at they just consider humans food bc humans have energy the PGs use. That logic you find in anime too often of "equality is a lie/fantasy so we can commit any atrocity or not care about other sentient beings" is not only such an easy way out, as far as motivation goes, but mostly it's far too common in anime. Not even just in villains either. Whenever I hear that in an anime (especially from the good guys) I just want to punch the creator in the face. It's not only an overly literal and simplistic viewpoint, with no intelligent way of defending it, but also it makes Japan seem racist, sexist, and classist in such a pathetic way, That shit is what I found to be the most annoying part of Mahouka, and that's saying a lot. 2) What is that Salty Dog woman's problem? You cry that the team, that has been the only effective defense to this point, isn't capable bc they are kids, only to have your plan fail miserably. Then you get all angry when you don't die, after practically begging to use the backup defense plan. And then they just let her leave? She does all that nonsense and essentially admits she is your enemy, and then you let her leave? I know Salty Dog has it's own agenda, but I'm pretty sure dying isn't preferable to letting the midsummer's knights protect Earth. Since the preview showed them trying to kill Teppei and Daichi next episode, there needs to be some explanation for that strategy since they have no real plan to protect the Earth. Also Globe needs to not let them keep coming back, or letting them attack their team without retaliation. It's too annoying that they keep acting like it isn't happening.