In the name of all that’s holy, Gil, please blow it up.

Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki – 09

This has been kind of an odd season for Sidonia no Kishi.  Compared to the first the story really hasn’t progressed all that much – partly because of an increased focus on the romantic comedy lately, but also because the was with the gauna has become pretty meandering.  It seemed like the first two episodes were a typhoon of plot development, but since then it’s been more of a gentle breeze.

Maybe the headline this week is that Shmoomugi has a cell phone – which should tell you something about the episode generally.  As for Nagate’s “inspection” tour with Izana, it went pretty much how you’d expect based on prior Sidonia experience – Nagate being clueless and awkward, misunderstanding leading to physical attack, nothing but teasing on the romance front.  About the only cliche missing was moeblob and Yuhata interrupting just before a kiss, and that only because Tsumugi had to work late.

Having established that Izana is all-in for Nagate (and I think choosing your gender for someone – even unconsciously – is all-in) it was inevitable that she be put in danger, and that’s a recon mission with the latest weapon de jour in the Lem System.  Planet Nine (it looks an awful lot like Saturn) is the focus, an important beachhead in the fight against the hive cluster.  One of the pilots scheduled for the mission deserts (honestly, I think her analysis of the situation was pretty much spot-on) and lucky Izana is chosen to go in her stead.  As usual on missions she seems pretty much in over her head, but she’s able to spot an “invisible” gauna no one else can see (did she gets some cybernetics in her eyes too, and I just missed it)?, and as things stand, seems to be in pretty serious trouble with no Nagate or Tsumugi to save her this time (though they are holding hands as they watch).  Is this the day Izana finally steps up and saves herself, rather than have someone do it for her?

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works – 22

If the alternative is watching another episode like that one, Gilgamesh’s vision of the future starts to sound pretty good.  This is definitely one of those “Mom always said, if you can’t say anything nice…” episodes of “Fate” that come along once in a while – the ones that make me cringe in almost physical pain as often as not.  And not coincidentally they almost always seem to involve the same character, doing the same stuff.

I think it’s best if I leave it with this: this ep was everything awful about UBW in its worst moments (apart from the loli and Kamiya Hiroshi’s performance) neatly tied up with a bow.  Endless soliloquies full of mumbo-jumbo, horrifying tsundere pandering, doe-eyed Saber lingering close-ups, glacial plot drift.  Hopefully it’s out of the system now and the series can finish on a better note, especially since for all my convictions that there are times as a blogger where you have to cut bait and walk away, there’s no way I’m dropping a show after 22 of 25 episodes.  I know UBW can be so much more than this – I hope it proves it before it’s done.