So my completely baseless theory for the moment is that Augmented Human C4-621 is a Frankenstein monster assembled from the salvaged spare parts of C4-617 through -620 after they all got shot to bits.
So, sorry for the long radio silence, everyone. I recently came back from a short vacation to find that I’d lost my job of seven years, and have been scrambling somewhat since to get everything in order before my last paycheck ran out.
I’m hoping to get some kind of from-home editing/proofreading job, the sort of thing I’ve always wanted to do but never bothered to look into because I thought it was beyond me Because Reasons. If I can get something like that, I could ideally spend more time on all the writing I’ve been neglecting because my old job was burning me out so much on stress.
In regards to helping pay my bills, a friend suggested I set up a Ko-Fi account. I don’t know that I really have enough followers/produce enough content for much to come of it, but then, that’s sort of a self-defeating cycle, isn’t it? So, here is a link to my sparkling new Ko-Fi.
It’s just the basic account for now, but I’ll consider bumping up to the Gold if there’s much interest. I can definitely think of some things that might be worth putting behind a donation bar--I have loads of deleted scenes, previews, stray observations and discarded story ideas that could fit the bill. If you like what I’ve written for IBO, Fate/Zero, Yuletide, or really anything at all, please consider going and dropping a few bucks in!
I have the next chapter of the story I just posted pretty much ready to go, but I’d like to get further on the chapter to follow before I get ahead of myself. Time permitting, I still (of course) have a great deal of meta I’d like to write. Anon who sent the question about stuff the boys could/would do post-series, I did get your question, and I’m sorry I haven’t answered it yet! I promise I will get there eventually!
Otherwise, I invite everyone to join me in anxiously awaiting news of the mysterious Multiple IBO Projects allegedly in development. Oh, and celebrating this, too:
HE HAS LITTLE PAPERCLIPS HANGING FROM HIS LITTLE TAIL HELP IT’S TOO ADORABLE AAAAAAHHHHHH
Also Dante mouse stealing electronics instead of food because of course he is please let these be in the next Orphanchu box please please PLEASE
And but so, we reach the end. Very annoyingly, tumblr is doing that thing again where it won’t take this full post, so regrettably, I’ve had to break this up again. I really thought I was going to get away with the whole thing, too. Apologies to all for the double post; it will be up shortly.
EPISODE FORTY-NINE—McGillis Fareed
Poor Eugene looks so happy when that transmission comes from the other end of the tunnel. Chad and Ride are still a complete mess, however.
Ride’s inside the little shack that gives access to the maintenance tunnels; Chad’s still in the car. In the driver’s seat, no less, mere hours after having been shot in the shoulder. I assume this means either a) Ride doesn’t know how to drive a car or b) Ride was too much of a wreck to drive a car. Atra sure knows how to drive a car, though; I wonder if she, too, was too distraught to try and drive, or Chad had to convince her to stay put at Kudelia’s? Either way, now that he’s alone, he’s clutching a wound he’s surely exacerbated in getting himself and Ride here.
Back at HQ, word makes its way around quickly.
Dante has probably been in the tunnels himself, rather than coming in when he heard the commotion. His head for hacking means he’s of more use down there with the cables than out on patrols to watch the unmoving Gjallarhorn lines.
Akihiro is with Derma in the barracks, probably visiting with him where he’s been resting.
After the credits, we join the rapidly-diminishing number of named first-season cast members in Orga’s office. It occurs to me just now that, with Shino dead, Dante is now the leader of his unit, which is probably the in-universe reason he’s been at the last few group meetings with the others. He is, in any case, being the most loud in his grief, pounding the wall and raising his voice about how it was their moment of truth, and Orga can’t just die like that.
Akihiro tells him to knock it off.
As Eugene tells them (and probably himself) that Orga secured their way out, and therefore did his job as Boss, Dante returns to glaring at the wall with a tight grunt of pain. Akihiro, having just filled in the last square on his Bingo card of interpersonal loss, says that it’s their turn now.
The adults in the room bring up a problem—that though the escape tunnel should be ready on time if they keep working, there’s now a morale issue. Some members no longer want to escape, but would rather go down fighting, as revenge. Eugene protests, using some very admirable adult logic to point out that they don’t even know if Gjallarhorn is responsible for Orga’s death.
Dante is looking like he’s maybe in the go-down-fighting camp, and Akihiro says, evenly, that he understands that group’s feelings. Eugene reminds him that he was there for Orga’s last words (well, his last orders, anyway; I think the audience were the only ones who got his last ‘words’), to which Akihiro responds with a flash of rage, teeth gritted, eyes sharp.
Hush comes in and gets Akihiro’s death glare turned on him, which actually freezes him in place like a small prey animal staring at a predator.
This goes on long enough that Eugene has to prompt him for what he wants, which is that Mikazuki wants to talk to everyone—a series-first!
They troop out along with everyone else, into the hazy dim light of the oncoming dawn.
Derma has joined as well, like the trooper he is, in here with the first-season kids, who’ve been hanging tough since the very beginning. He’s never shown hanging out with these guys other than here, but I wonder if he bunks with them or something?
Akihiro watches Mikazuki with narrowed eyes. I can’t imagine anyone—even Akihiro, who was probably the one closest to Mikazuki outside of Orga and the girls—has any idea where Mika’s headed with this dialogue. It’s really the closest Mikazuki ever gets to being a main character in the sense of getting up and making an active choice to lead others, rather than just be followed. I wonder if McGillis would be surprised to see he’s capable of it?
Leading or not, his eyes are intense. Dante swallows at the sight of them, showing that his danger sense is in fine working order. Mikazuki, it turns out, is not here to deliver a big rousing speech; he’s here to threaten everyone who’s talking like they might forget what Orga’s last order was—to live. Seeing as he’s standing on top of Barbatos while he lays down the law here, it’s pretty terrifying, regardless of the triumph the soundtrack and the breaking dawn are trying to sell us.
As we get into daytime proper, Eugene narrates the plan: Mika, Hush, Akihiro, and Dante will be leading the team to hold off Gjallarhorn until the guys in the tunnel can make it through to the Chryse side. Akihiro is watching Gusion, being watched by Barbatos in the background.
Akihiro is probably already aware that he is very likely to die today. Perhaps he’s thinking of Masahiro, and the others.
Dante, meanwhile, is looking at something on a data slate with Yamagi—troop distributions, perhaps, or tunnel progress. It’s a nice echo of the similar shot they had back at the beginning of the season preparing for Dawn Horizon, if a bit depressing--none of the other people who were in that shot can be here now, after all.
Well, one of them could be!
Derma, god, you death-seeking cruise missile, get out of here.
Akihiro, who probably knows every thought going through this kid’s head, tells him he isn’t coming along with them, giving Derma a shock with his brusque tone.
He follows this up by saying that he and Derma aren’t just Human Debris who can die anywhere now—Derma still has a job to do, and it lies ahead.
I feel like this is the youngest we ever see Akihiro look, and it’s wonderful and painful. He’s saying a goodbye here, and he must know it. “Lets both follow the Boss’s orders.”
Derma knows it too, I think, from his flinch of pain and bowed head.
Meanwhile, Eugene is telling the kids that he and they will be backing up the main four in Shidens. Two of them agree, attentive and dutiful; the other two are whispering about whether or not Eugene can even pilot a mobile suit, and how many people they’ve seen or heard about him being beaten by. Chad ‘crushed’ him, apparently. Guys, Eugene is trying to Have A Wistful Moment, here, geez.
More than chit-chat is here to ruin the moment, though, as Gjallarhorn finally opens the attack.
Dante goes out side-by-side with Akihiro, for the first time in the show, I rather think.
They’re going to be ground to bits out here, against so many opponents, Dante says, still looking pretty grimly pleased about the prospect—he gets to be on Team Go Down Fighting, after all.
True, says Akihiro, but lets at least get ground down as slowly as possible!
Then there’s a pile of drama with McGillis and Gaelio, and it is some of the best stuff in the series, about which I will have much to say another time.
When we finally get back to our boys, it’s an episode-ending montage sequence, in which we get a few more quick shots of Dante and Akihiro, hard at work going through the meat grinder as slowly as they can possibly manage.
And that’s a wrap on this one. Next, and last, the finale.
Okay, gang, I am officially finished with the re-watch, and all that’s left is formatting and posting. I’ll be doing that in two posts--one now, one later in the week. in the meantime, lets get into the last big space battle, with...
EPISODE FORTY-FIVE — If This Is the End
We open right up with Chad and Dante this episode, engaged in combat with a some stripe of Graze unit or another. These guys are taking more work to put down than the usual goobs, we see as it takes a lot of shooting, a grenade, and one of those Rodi machetes to get the job done.
Chad says that they’ve strayed from the battlefield and need to get back to the Isaribi. Dante wonders aloud how the battle is going, and Chad, in a surpassingly rare moment of raising his voice, flares back that there’s no way it’s going well.
Back on the main front, Orga is promising his teenaged followers girls and money (neither of which they have a damn clue what to do with, a disparity a number of reviewers observed back when this episode first aired). Akihiro, ever the ascetic, fires back that he doesn’t have or need ‘em.
The fighting continues after the credits, with another brief shot of Akihiro, and, cursing at Arianrhod and still hurling machetes like a champ, Derma. He’s down a Rodi-arm, too, which is a nasty bit of foreshadowing, I must say.
Some Graze units close in on the Isaribi, but Chad and Dante return in time to drive them off before anything too serious can happen.
Dante is the first one to react to—something, an alert beep starting up in his cockpit. It could be the arrival of Isurugi and company, but, more likely, it’s a heads-up that Arianrhod’s forces are falling back, as another of Rustal’s signature false flag plays goes live.
Dainsleif shots pepper the field, swiping the Hotarubi and Shino’s Flauros Ryusei-Go. Our Debris boys seem to have been enough on the outskirts that they don’t have to evade much; we get a shot of Akihiro, and can hear Chad and Dante reacting as well from their Rodis.
After two volleys, Arianrhod goes to standby, to see if any signals of surrender go up. This gives Tekkadan some time to regroup, pulling people off the Hotarubi, and collecting some bodies, which we find Eugene, Chad and Dante paying some quick respects to, possibly having just finished moving the bodies in themselves. Eugene uses harsh words—idiots cashing in before they got to the finish—while Chad apologizes that bodybags in a storage room is the best they can do for the dead at the moment, and Dante promises revenge for them.
Afterward, they report to Orga on the bridge, Eugene that they’ve finished moving things over, Dante with the more technical report about fried weapons control and reduced propulsion, and Chad with the bleak summary that the Hotarubi could be remote-piloted and used as a shield for the Isaribi.
Eugene asks what their next play is and, when Orga starts talking about McGillis and retreat, interrupts to ask where they’re going to retreat to. When Orga turns his gaze on this blatant display of lip, he finds the three staring at him very seriously indeed. Eugene looks actively angry; I think Chad and Dante are mostly just wondering if Orga’s really thought about what he’s saying.
Dante echoes Eugene, observing that they don’t have anywhere to go back to unless they win. Chad says that if it is the last battle (as Org has been repeatedly claiming), then they need to see it through. As I commented in the last post, neither Dante nor Chad show the slightest fear at the prospect of dying out here; they’re 100% willing to give everything they’ve got for the chance of victory. (Orga’s used those tactics all along, of course, and here is where the fruits of those tactics finally begin to wither—but Orga’s tactical insight and how his deep-rooted insecurity feeds into his strategies are an entirely different essay topic.)
Shino interrupts to announce his own idea, and his audience goes from this:
to this (note the sudden profligation of sweatdrops):
Once the terminology is out of the way, however, the boys find that Shino’s plan is indeed to their tastes.
‘Nice and simple,’ Dante says. ‘Like us, right?’ Chad jibes.
(Help, I love them.)
And we get one last lovely shot of this group-togetherness, as Orga allows himself to be pushed by his followers’ confidence into a plan you can see his gut instinct rejecting as too brash. Enjoy those smiles while you can, boys.
The whole gang guards the ships as the Hotarubi pulls the Isaribi on towards this last fateful shot; you can see Gusion and the Rodis swooping and circling around the ships along with all the other unique suits Tekkadan has.
Akihiro and Ride, and probably a great many others, yell at Shino to shoot.
And—well, we all know how that went.
One last thing to bring this episode to a close: it’s easy to miss in all the gut-curdling screaming Shino is doing as the credits kick in, but someone in a Rodi is bringing Hush back into the mobile suit bay. No definite way to say who—maybe Derma, who’s backed-up Hush in the past?—but here’s the shot of it, in any case.
EPISODE FORTY-SIX—For Whom?
The bulk of the first half is taken up with the retreat from the combat, and the sacrifices made to ensure said retreat is successfully. We can spot the Rodis here and there, but the first time one jumps out as significant is when Derma gets pegged by Arianrhod’s parting shots and an explosion goes off in his cockpit.
A Rodi perched on top of the ship flies up and retrieves him, returning fire. No one calls out on the commlines, so there’s no telling who it was. Dante is the more dramatically appropriate choice, as he’s much more closely tied to Derma, but Chad does do an awful lot of rescuing people through the second season, and it might make sense for Dante and Derma to have been mirroring each other’s positions on the Isaribi’s sides while Chad held down the center.
Thank god for whichever one of them it was, though, because as I believe I noted in posts made back when the show was still airing, Derma was the number one character I wanted to make it out of the series alive, and it’s thanks to the other Rodi’s quick response that he did.
Later, we find Derma outside the medical area, now down one arm. Atra apologizes that all the beds are full, to which Derma says it’s fine, that everyone else is worse off than him. And I feel the need to point out here that, while several of the guys we see in the quick shot of the med-bay are indeed wearing more bandages than Derma, there are an awful lot of them who still have all four limbs attached, so I am—to say the least—skeptical that they are all in worse shape than Derma.
Color me totally unsurprised that he would say so, though.
He slides down the wall, certainly already thinking about how useless he’s going to be even if he recovers, when our other three ex-red stripes show up en masse—a strikingly uncommon sight, outside of the opening credit sequences—to check on him.
Akihiro goes down to one knee, saying his name, but there’s no response, and Akihiro himself is still clearly figuring out how to approach the issue.
Dante jumps in to say that Derma’s lucky, that it was just his arm. I’m sure he means well.
Derma says, harshly, that he wishes he’d died out there, because—as he now says out loud—he’s no use to anyone as “an incomplete body.” The camera cuts to an extremely tight shot of Akihiro, close enough to hear the low, ragged inhalation he takes.
He then thanks Derma, which startles the boy’s eyes opened again.
And it’s not, as one might expect who didn’t know exactly how many people Akihiro’s lost in his life at this point, a thanks for his service, or his sacrifice. In a direct callback to the aftermath of the Silent War Arc (over ten episodes ago), when Akihiro told Lafter that he wishes he’d talked to Aston more when he was alive, Akihiro tells Derma that he’s glad he’s still able to talk to him.
And then he thanks Derma again, for surviving, using the boy’s full name this time—Derma Altland.
Much like me by this point, Derma begins crying.
God only knows how much of what Akihiro’s communicating he’s really receiving, but I think he must get the gist of it. He knows Akihiro was Masahiro’s brother; he knows Akihiro had taken a personal interest in both Derma and Aston after Tekkadan took them in. He knows, certainly, that Akihiro lost those Masahiro and Aston as surely as Derma himself did. I’m sure Derma’s tears in this scene are, in part, shed for what he’s just lost, and for the uncertainty of the future, but my hope is that some of his tears are also for the gift that Akihiro’s just given him—the reminder that Derma matters, that there is at least one person in the whole wide, cold world that is glad of his existence.
Shakily, he accepts the thanks.
And, barring a few shots taken from the closing moments of the first season, that is the last of the Human Debris for this episode. Which is just as well, because much more would probably have destroyed me completely. Lets move on along.
EPISODE FORTY-SEVEN—Scapegoat
We rejoin our boys in Orga’s office in Tekkadan’s HQ, back home on Mars after quite a lot of time away. They’re discussing McGillis when we first find them, with Dante putting in that he thinks the man is both dangerous and crazy, for still thinking about fighting Arianrhod.
When Eugene floats the idea of turning McGillis and Bael over to Gjallarhorn, Chad and Dante get the first reaction, exchanging solemn looks, with Dante agreeing that it could be a chance for Tekkadan to just start over.
It’s a nice thought, but one that ignores how much of a name Tekkadan has made for itself, as we will find. Akihiro objects on different grounds, though, saying that the boss he knows would never betray an ally like that. Recall that he praised Lafter for ‘seeing through her obligations’; even though he doesn’t really know and, given the man’s involvement in Aston’s death, probably doesn’t really like McGillis, Akihiro is against betraying him. And of course, as far as his regard for Orga goes, Akihiro was handed his freedom by Orga, for nothing more than being an old ally and staying out of the way of the Third Division’s coup, back at the beginning of everything.
Orga agrees that it wouldn’t be the right thing to do, but hedges that ‘the right thing’ doesn’t matter to McGillis anymore. We don’t get to see anyone’s reaction to this, as that’s when a news program starts talking about their ties to McGillis, and they have more pressing things to react to.
Dante is impressed that Tekkadan made the news—as people thought of as revolutionary heroes, no less! I think this is probably a flash of Dante’s thing about recognition, rather than the first time he’s ever seen his group mentioned on the news—I mean, they have to have been on the news before, given all that stuff with Hashmal, right? And protecting Kudelia? And so on? But Dante’s always valued being known, and I’m pretty sure he’d take notoriety over being unknown any day, so even in a situation like their current one, he’s still a little pleased to see Tekkadan in the news.
The others are decidedly less thrilled.
We find them again later, when Orga gathers everyone up to talk about how to proceed—namely, that anyone who wants to get out should do so immediately.
Dante protests, along with Eugene, while Akihiro watches with serious eyes, just saying Orga’s name under his breath.As protests grow louder, Zack cuts in to be the doom-saying Cassandra no one wants to listen to. Derma is on-scene, we find in a series of crowd-pans, having drawn in close behind Chad and Dante.
Afterwards, as everyone is making their final preparations, Orga makes a last-ditch effort to give up first McGillis, and then himself, to Rustal Elion. Rustal refuses—as to why Orga’s life alone isn’t enough, he gives Orga some schpiel about organizations being groups of members, and one person’s death not erasing another person’s crime. Personally, I suspect it’s more that Rustal is canny enough to know it wouldn’t make Gjallarhorn look good, noble, or powerful to publicly execute a lanky Martian teenager for getting caught up in adult affairs—thus are tyrants exposed, and martyrs made. The average citizen of the system probably only knows Tekkadan as an organization name, and better by far for them to stay that way—just a name, with no faces associated with it that might touch peoples’ hearts.
In any case, Eugene and Akihiro catch at least the tail end of this conversation, and while Eugene has Orga by the lapels, Akihiro is clutching at where his red stripe used to be once more, looking actually hurt that Orga would try to pull a stunt like this, that Orga could be so oblivious to how much he means to everyone. (He’s a little off from where the red stripe would have been; I am willing to concede that he might also just be clutching at his jacket to keep from laying Orga out with a right hook.)
“You gave us life when we were nothing but walking corpses,” he says, and “You made a family for us.” And more than a lot of the members of Tekkadan, Akihiro values family, as Orga well knows.
Orga implicitly agrees to talk things over, which presumably is what leads him and Eugene down to the cafeteria, where we find Dante and Chad again. Chad is summing things up, that they’re now on wanted lists and have nowhere to run, so long as they are who they are.
This tips Kudelia off to the plan that will end up saving what few survivors that make it out of this series (good teamwork, guys!), and she asks why they don’t become someone else? It’s impossible to change their personal data on Mars, but on Earth…
47.10
Chad namedrops Makanai as he figures out what she’s getting at, which I have to say I’m a bit impressed by, but then I suppose he had lots of time to figure out the exact nature of Arbrau and Chryse’s relationship when he was on Earth. The gist of it is that, since Chryse is still technically Arbrau’s colony, all Chryse ID records are handled back in Arbrau, so if those records can be adjusted, Tekkadan can, in fact, disappear. And, as Chad has recalled, Tekkadan is on good terms with the best possible person in Arbrau to help them with that, its honest-to-god Prime Minister.
The next bit of good news comes from Merribit and Dexter, here to announce that Tekkadan has scraped up some funds after all, and Dante turns a look on Chad like, “Holy shit, are we about to get away with this?” that I deeply enjoy.
Dante’s also the first to ask what’s going to happen to Tekkadan as the credits begin to roll, though. He’s not the only one the name means a great deal to, of course, but as I mentioned above, I’d imagine a significant amount of his current self-esteem is tied to Tekkadan’s fame, so it’s no surprise he’s the first one to voice hesitation about, essentially, betraying and abandoning the lily emblem they’ve been bearing all this time.
Mika responds with a content smile that where Orga is, is where everyone belongs, which Dante accepts with a rueful kind of cheer. Chad seconds that, even with a different name, they’ll still be themselves.
Kudelia gets up to contact Makanai, and that’s when everyone realizes the outside lines have been cut. Also we find out where Akihiro’s been, as he shows up with his lieutenant to announce that Tekkadan’s been surrounded by Gjallarhorn forces.
EPISODE FORTY-EIGHT—Promise
After some intro material, Chad is the first person we hear talking after the credits, relating the state of Tekkadan’s communication—the cables have been cut, and all their LCS drones get shot down as soon as they send them up. Dante summarizes as we cut into the group meeting, that without methods of communication, they can’t get any outside information, let alone contact Makanai like they’d planned.
Eugene observes that, while Gjallarhorn hasn’t done anything yet, they could attack at any time, leading Dante to ask if they should attack first, then?
Eugene shoots the prospect down due to the disparity in the size of their forces, and Akihiro asks Orga what they should do.
Orga, for his part, reiterates that if they can make an escape, the victory is theirs—they demolish the building, make it look like they’ve been wiped out, then go ahead with the plan to contact Makanai. This plan impresses Dante, who smiles about it only briefly before returning to a frown when Eugene stands up to remind everyone that they still don’t have a way to escape. In lieu of two screenshots, I offer this in-between one.
(Do your best, Dante.)
Yukinojo gives the team a method, though—old maintenance tunnels—and Orga reiterates to everyone, over a batch of serious-face pan-overs, that the upcoming battle is not about killing anyone to end the battle, but rather about every single member of Tekkadan making it out alive.
Dante makes a curious face here, as Orga tells them to never back down on living—he’s the only one to make a verbal response, rather than just nodding resolutely like we see Eugene and Chad do. The obvious difference is that Eugene and Chad have both led before—even aside from his position as Orga’s second, Eugene was always in the captain’s seat of the Hotarubi, and Chad of course had his position as leader of Tekkadan’s Earth Branch. One can assume they’re both familiar with the concept of victory being how many heads you can count at the end of the day.
Dante, on the other hand, has always been out on the front-lines, in a mobile worker, a mobile suit, or even just a team of dudes with guns and armor. I’m sure he’s very used to the idea that Tekkadan’s victory will be bought with Tekkadan deaths, one of which might be his own; historically, that’s what most of Orga’s battle strategies boiled down to. Hearing that victory means him—means everyone—living is basically unprecedented for him.
As Orga walks away, Eugene complains a little about him, just like the old days, to which Dante responds in kind—that Orga seemed more like his old self just there. Chad concurs, noting Orga’s confidence. And they’re right; it’s been a long time since Orga’s had that fire and self-certainty. Being free of all other chains and requirements, and no longer obligated to listen to McGillis, Orga is more like himself than he’s been in a long time—Dawn Horizon or earlier, I’d say. (Orga and McGillis parallel each other in an interesting way in that regard, I think. Neither of them is very good at adjusting the way they operate for scenarios outside what they know, though McGillis hides it better. More on that another time.)
Feeling the group’s confidence, we get one of Akihiro’s rare smiles, and the four go off to get back to work.
At the tail end of the next scene, when McGillis finally realizes that he’s on his own for this one, he gives Orga a way to get a small group out, by taking a car while all of Gjallarhorn is focused on Bael breaking through the lines. Orga contacts Chad to get the car prepared, and get Atra and Kudelia as well, as they’re heading for Kudelia’s Admoss Company. This, I think, solidifies Chad as next in command after Eugene (who was off investigating the tunnels at the time), which is certainly gratifying to me.
We find Chad doing his best to carry out those orders in the next scene, where he, Kudelia and Merribit are having to convince a reluctant Atra to leave. He doesn’t use an honorific with her name, I notice, which is a bit nice—it speaks to him seeing her as a peer, rather than someone removed from him by rank or social distance.
This scene also puts him in the room for Kudelia saying right there out in the open that Atra is carrying Mikazuki’s child. It’s easy to read it as a running gag in combination with his not knowing about Merribit and Yukinojo’s relationship, but it’s not played anything like as comedic, and Merribit’s reaction indicates that it’s the first she’s hearing of it, too. I’m pretty certain this is the first anyone outside the Bracelet Trio has found out.
For her part, Merribit is staying behind. I’m certain she, too, is reluctant to leave behind the man she loves, but aloud, she claims that she still has work to be done. She tells the other girls not to worry, that they’ll meet again—the iron flower won’t wilt so easily, which brings a smile to Chad’s face likewise.
The next time we spot him, he’s finishing up getting the car ready.
Two cars head out when Bael does; given later dialogue and setting shots, I’m assuming the second car is headed for Yukinojo’s best guess as to where the old CGS maintenance tunnels are going to surface? Chad’s driving one car, we can assume since we don’t see him in the shots showing Ride and Orga or Kudelia and Atra seated, but someone else must be driving the other, and we never see the driver of that second vehicle.
Anyway, they make it to Admoss in one piece, at which point Ride and Chad take up watch out the windows while Kudelia reunites with Cucubita, who’s been very worried. When Cucubita drops the bomb that the news is saying Tekkadan is refusing calls to surrender, though, they close the curtains.
Chad’s the first one to articulate the understanding of why Gjallarhorn was so intent on blocking their communication—because Gjallarhorn is manipulating the media narrative, exactly like we saw them do back on Dort. Orga knew already, of course, that Rustal had no intention of accepting a surrender from Tekkadan; now he knows that Rustal won’t even let the world see that Tekkadan tried to. A scapegoat.
They put the talk aside, though, to get on with matters at hand—contacting Makanai. Kudelia and Orga are the ones to make the call, though Chad and Ride are right on hand.
Makanai plays reluctant for a bit, presumably because he is so old and has been in politics for so many years that it is actually, physiologically impossible for him to just agree to something without being kind of an ass about it first. (I love him.) As Orga goes to beg, though, Makanai interrupts with a cheery comment about how hard it is to refuse the one(/s) who saved his life. He’s directing this at Orga, but it’s likely he’s referring to Tekkadan in general. Tekkadan, of course, is the organization that delivered him from exile and returned him to power. One other alternative is also possible, of course.
Chad is the one who actually and directly saved Makanai’s life. While we don’t know that Chad greeted Makanai at the beginning of this phone call, we do see Chad straighten up in response to Makanai’s aforementioned dialogue, and say the man’s name aloud in the way of one who knows when he’s being talked about and is responding accordingly. Certainly I prefer the reading that Makanai’s line there is obliquely aimed at Chad, or at least Tekkadan-as-represented-by-Chad, because it means the Silent War arc was good for more than just stripping Tekkadan of assets and members, beginning the season-long process of knocking them all the way back down to where they started. It means that Chad’s prior courage and devotion to duty are now the vehicles by which Tekkadan will be delivered. Not bad for a third-stringer!
Makanai says, in any case, that they should hurry to Earth, as there’s someone there so worried about them that it’s hampering his (and therefore also Makanai’s) work, leading to a nice little exchange between the group and Takaki. The prodigal returns! Chad doesn’t lean over the video screen, but does contribute to the conversation, wide-eyed at the news that Takaki’s working at Makanai’s office now.
Takaki credits Orga for his current circumstances, though vaguely enough that we still don’t know exactly who landed Takaki this job, or if Makanai just reached out himself—a plausible enough idea, I think, given how much attention Makanai had clearly been paying to the young men of Tekkadan’s Earth Branch, both before and after the bomb.
In any case, after the call ends, Cucubita and Atra bring in some drinks for everyone (coffee?), which I imagine go almost completely untouched. Chad points out that they still don’t have a way to get to Earth—Gjallarhorn will be watching the Isaribi. Seeing as Chad was piloting the Isaribi back in season one, and thus presumably the one dealing with port authority on both Dort and Earth, and Mars when they went back home, he probably has a good idea of what he’s talking about here.
As it has been since the first season, though, the girls from the Turbines are there to pick up the slack. Orga is jubilant in his rebellion against certain death, and his mood is catching.
Chad and Ride bring the car around while Orga has a last conversation with Atra and Kudelia. Then, as Orga heads to the door with Ride, Ride says the cursed words: “It’s quiet.” The soundtrack pretends not to notice what’s just happened, and we get a look around outside. Chad is standing outside the car, and looks around at something.
For the third time this season, I knew my favorite was dead, so dead, but nope, his luck continued to hold out! Turns out he was just looking at Orga and Ride coming down the hall! No problems at all!
Ha ha…
I provide the rest of these screenshots with no further commentary, save to note that Chad’s reflexes are as sharp as ever, and wonder if this will be the scar that sticks with him where the healing tank washed all signs of the office bomb away. I suppose it must be so.
Check back later this week for the last two episodes, and wrap-up, and thanks to everyone who’s read along this far.
After somewhat longer than I’d been intending, I’m back with the next post, after which I will likely go watch another episode or two in hopes of having a follow-up soon! In the meantime, though, I misstated last time that the Earth arc was over; turns out we have one last wind-down there before we move into the Hashmal arc...
EPISODE THIRTY-THREE — Sovereign of Mars
In the continuing saga of my being delighted by Makanai and Chad, Chad is literally the first person Makanai asks about when Kudelia, visiting him in an unreasonably gorgeous hospital room, tells him that Tekkadan will be withdrawing from Earth. He even says that he’s heard Chad’s already out of the hospital, suggesting Kudelia is not the first person he’s asked for information about the young man—he quips that it’d be bad for his conscience if such a young man died protecting someone of his age. We will continue to see this gratitude play out over the course of the season, both in some small nods and some very big ones indeed. Keep an eye out!
On that note, though, we cut over to the young man himself, sitting by himself and looking over a data slate.
Immediately, Akihiro and Lafter arrive, and Akihiro guesses in one try that Chad is looking over a list of the fallen. As Chad blames his shortcomings for the (not inconsiderable) length of the list, Akihiro tries to tell him that it isn’t his fault, to which Chad breathes out an uneven breath and shakes his head, but doesn’t argue the point, instead commenting that this must be how Orga feels all the time.
The sharp-eyed may notice something on the data slate that the show has avoided telling us up to this point—that Aston has taken Akihiro’s last name, Altland. Hold that thought for just a sec.
Chad folds in on himself, saying that he hates every second of still being alive, that it would be much better to step forward and take the hit himself. What they tell him after this—and what is there to tell him, really?—we don’t see, as Akihiro and Lafter take their leave.
Lafter comments in this scene that she didn’t know Aston had shared Akihiro’s last name, to which Akihiro replies that a lot of the Brewers’ kids didn’t have last names when they came into Tekkadan’s care, but that “they” had taken good care of Masahiro. He doesn’t mention Derma here, but we will, much later, find out that he has the last name as well; Akihiro gave it to the last two surviving members of Masahiro’s unit.
This is extremely touching, but also makes me wonder about our own Tekkadan trio’s last names. Were they captured at an old enough age that they remembered their surnames, or is it just a difference between CGS and the Brewers? Perhaps the bosses still used full names at CGS for, oh, scheduling rotations or rollcalls, whereas the Brewers just threw children into combat as necessary with no more attention paid to it than that? Or perhaps Maruba Arkay was more careful with his record-keeping than Brooke Kabayan?
In any case, Akihiro says that he wishes he’d talked to Aston more when he had the chance; that it’s too late after someone’s died. Remember this line for later, because it’ll come up again, and it’ll be a heartbreaker.
After some politicking elsewhere, we return to Takaki and Fuuka’s apartment, where Fuuka is staring sadly at the photo of the two of them with Aston. She asks if he remembers when they took it.
It was, we find, the day they’d randomly decided on for Aston’s birthday. Fuuka made “a great feast”—for context, I invite you to look at the cake and two modest side dishes on display in the photo—and Aston talked more than usual. I like to think they had to rope a neighbor into taking this picture, explaining Aston’s deeply discomfited expression and unwillingness to look at the camera.
Otherwise, this scene largely exists to shed some more light on Takaki’s conflict about what to do next with his life, so we’ll move on.
We find Chad and Akihiro in a group chat about Tekkadan’s next move, as Orga relays the terms of the deal McGillis is offering them—that whole “King of Mars” business that will prove to be so very costly for everyone involved. As Eugene asks what that’s even supposed to mean, Chad fills in that king ‘means someone important, right,’ illustrating very succinctly for us how woefully little these young man know about history. A shame, really, as some time spent with a history book might have provided enough examples of downfalls-brought-on-by-hubris that some of what’s to follow could have been avoided.
Like Mikazuki and Eugene, Chad and Akihiro are both cool to go with whatever Orga decides. Chad, at this point, is likely just so ready to be out of a leadership position, and Akihiro has never really second-guessed Orga ever since watching him get the Third Division out of that elephant vs. ant situation with Gjallarhorn back in the CGS days. No surprises here.
Takaki, on the other hand, is getting out while he can. He cites Fuuka’s happiness, and the happiness they have now, as things they’d be throwing away chasing an even bigger reward; he knows more people will die in pursuit of that golden ending, and he just can’t take risks like that, that gamble with his kid sister’s happiness. Akihiro, who, you’ll recall, has talked with Takaki before about younger siblings and how important they are, looks like he knows exactly how Takaki’s feeling here. He probably would have even if Takaki hadn’t spelled everything out, of course, but Takaki’s honest and earnest that way.
Chad, curiously, seems more reluctant to let Takaki go, protesting when Orga accepts Takaki’s resignation. I can’t imagine he begrudges Takaki his decision, but I wonder if he worries? We were told, way back when, that people like the orphans of Tekkadan can’t get good, safe, reliable jobs, which is the whole reason they work as child soldiers to begin with. Perhaps he’s concerned that, in choosing the happiness Takaki has now, Takaki is losing the very means he has to maintain that happiness?
As if to confirm this, we find them afterwards walking down the hallway, with Chad reassuring Takaki that Orga will try to find Takaki a good job on Earth. (And man, I don’t know if it’s Orga or Kudelia or what, but given that we find Takaki later working for Makanai, someone sure came through on this.)
Takaki apologizes about leaving, but Chad tells him not to, that the Earth Branch was saved thanks to him (a very generous assessment) and that they’ll always be family, even apart. This is a very sweet thing to say, but a dangerous one as well, if you look at this series through the lens of the many, many yakuza/mafia story tropes it’s been playing with since Day One. Mikazuki, perhaps a bit more aware of this, coldly rejects this, and tells them that Takaki’s only family is Fuuka now, so he doesn’t have to worry about Tekkadan anymore.
Akihiro tells them not to mind Mika’s brusqueness, that he’s doing it to be kind, and reiterates the message—that Takaki shouldn’t worry about Tekkadan’s fate from here on out, and should instead concentrate on living his life with his sister. He also thanks him for being friends with Aston, because Akihiro is resolved to remind us at every turn that his life is an unending parade of tragic loss, which has in turn made him extraordinarily sensitive to the value of camaraderie.
After ducking back in on Makanai and Kudelia, we have one last scene that is just determined to completely break my heart: Akihiro and Chad surveying the paltry few crates containing the personal effects of the dead Earth Branch members, and talking about places to belong.
Specifically, Chad says that Earth was like a second home for them. A strange thing, he thinks, since when he was Human Debris, he didn’t think there was a place for him anywhere—much less two places.
Indeed, if you consider a stray comment from one of the Earth Branch kids some time ago, that people in Edmonton were happy to see them, it’s very possible that Arbrau might have been a more welcoming home than Chryse. I remember reading a staff interview once, about how the person in question thought of Tekkadan as people who spent their lives at work. You can see the truth of that observation in this: while it may or may not be the case that some members of Tekkadan have apartments or houses to go back to, the only ones who we ever explicitly see go home are Biscuit and Takaki—the only two members who are willing to leave Tekkadan to protect the happiness they already have.
Even if it was just for a short while, I’m so glad the Earth Branch kids, and Chad in particular, had a shot at knowing there was someplace else that would welcome them home.
As if to accentuate that his time in the spotlight is done, Chad gets the preview text this episode. He notes that to protect the place he belongs, he’ll have to start training again when he gets back to Mars, and calls to Akihiro let him do sit-ups with him. (Truly, Akihiro’s exercise regimen is a black hole from which no character even tangentially related to him can escape.)
EPISODE THIRTY-FOUR — Vidar Rising
After several episodes away from home, we finally return to Mars, and with it, Derma is onscreen again, standing with Yukinojo watching a Landman Rodi get lowered into the hangar.
He asks if there’s been a pilot decided yet, to which the old man replies that of the three Rodis that made it back, Chad will have one, but the others haven’t been assigned yet. Derma asks, politely but very directly, to be able to use it, and Yukinojo, a bit surprised, notes that it’s a machine salvaged from the Brewers, and probably tied to bad memories.
Derma acknowledges that to Human Debris like him, the Rodis were basically coffins. However, if Aston piloted one on Earth (died in one on Earth), then he’ll do the same. Derma, just to be clear, is now the only surviving member of what was originally a tight-knit group of five. I’m altogether certain the kid is dragging around a death wish the size of Jupiter by this point, and just… Thank god he managed to connect with Dante, because I think he would otherwise be far too depressing a character to even think about.
Speaking of the devil, Dante appears to point out that Akihiro figured Derma would say something like that, and already arranged it (Mikazuki is not the only person who can cut seniority lines for personal protégés, it seems). He says that he’ll pilot the third, and exhorts Derma that they’ll show the world what former Human Debris can do—Derma, of course, had not used any such past-tense phrasing about himself a moment ago. He agrees, though, soft and emphatic.
Meanwhile…
Keeping true to his words in last episode’s trailer, Chad is out training (read: keeping just ahead of Hush, despite being in a much lower end machine). This is the very first time the audience has seen him in a mobile suit, and he’s looking happier than we’ve seen him in ages, rowdy and competitive, like he’s had a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. Lafter and Azee observe as much themselves; that Chad is unusually “amped up” after the bad time he had on Earth.
He’s still in good spirits a few scenes later, when he runs into Yukinojo back in the base. The old man compliments him for getting stronger on Earth, which, as he generally does, Chad downplays, saying it’s thanks to Yukinojo’s good maintenance. Yukinojo gives him a good friendly slap on the arm for this show of modesty, and says they’ll be counting on him, presumably a fairly standard, “Welcome to your mecha piloting gig,” phrase.
He notices something weird, though, sniffing at the air. Shortly afterwards, he interrupts a cute OT3 sequence between Mikazuki, Kudelia, and Atra to worriedly insist that something is going on with the old man, because he doesn’t smell anymore.
This leads to the revelation that Merribit and Yukinojo are dating, hence the old man keeping more on top of his hygiene. Chad—had not yet heard the news.
(I’m so sad we don’t get a real reaction image out of this, by the way, just a camera-pan-up-while-yelling-happens gag.)
Outside, Akihiro is critiquing Ride’s exercise regimen, in that it doesn’t have enough food in it, and Ride tries to be mature (he has to lead the young kids now, with Takaki gone) in the same sentence as he says something childish (he skipped dinner because he doesn’t like the bean stew they were serving). Akihiro jokingly chides him (a true rarity) that wanting to be strong is all the more reason not to be a picky eater, and I sit here wondering if he remembers that fish he turned his nose up at back in the first season.
Chad comes running up to ask if Akihiro had heard about the whole Old Man/Merribit dating thing, only to get a nonplussed, “Uh, yeah, duh?” reaction from Ride, and the observation that it happened when he was away on Earth from Akihiro.
Chad demands to know why no one told him, prompting Akihiro to ask, in confusion, why anyone would, leading to the above delightful teary-eyed face, and the helpless, muted question of, “Hey, we’re on the same team, right?”
Pretty much everyone at the time this episode aired took this display to mean that Chad had been harboring a crush on Merribit, and I’m inclined to agree. Firstly, because it’s the reading that makes the most sense of behavior that would seem really out of type otherwise. Secondly, because it means that if you believe, as I do, that Chad and Yamagi have got something going on in the epilogue, his earlier crush on Merribit suggests that Chad has a type: Yamagi and Merribit share a lot of traits, though Merribit has definitely grown more into them. Both blonde, both dedicated and soft-spoken, both coolly professional, and both with a not-very-deeply-buried sarcastic streak that gets more biting the more worried they get. It’s a really great bit of continuity, I think.
And that is the last of the red stripes we get this episode—finally, a short write-up!—so lets move on to the next one.
EPISODE THIRTY-FIVE — Awakening Calamity
After some unusually ominous opening narration and a duck-in to Saisei, we return to Eugene giving the sub-leader types some progress reports and instructions. Looking at who’s in the room suggests that Chad has landed himself something of a leader position since he got back—we have the head mechanic, the Teiwaz liason, the captain of the Muscle Squad, the captain of the Shooting Star Squad, and Chad. I don’t remember him having a particular group under him, but if he gets a squad name, I look forward to hearing it!
(He is still a bit hung-up on the news about the adults dating.)
Later on in the cafeteria, we find some discussion of pay raises. Shino, as was ever his wont, wants to go celebrate with girls, inviting Eugene and Chad along with him. Eugene, having had some time to think on it since that first night out at Saisei way back in season one, refuses, citing some very smooth-sounding talk of not being able to buy love with money. Chad immediately asks Merribit if this is true, and when she confirms, says he’ll pass as well. I cannot quite decide if I think it’s cute that he wants a real relationship or depressing that he had to double-check on the possibility of buying it. Either way, I hope Merribit is being paid extra for the amount of babysitting she does with these boys. (Akihiro is in this scene, but does not deign to participate in the nonsense.)
The next sequence, taking place in Kudelia’s office, starts out with some delightful OT3-building (Kudelia is handling Atra and Mikazuki’s money!), but derails somewhat when we find out that she is doing this for Ride and Akihiro as well, and is open to doing so for Hush if he’d like her to. The scene focuses more on the general inability of Mars’ disadvantaged children to handle money, but it’s interesting to note that Akihiro specifically has left his funds in Kudelia’s hands. Chalk it up to one of many, many conversations I wish we could have seen.
Returning to Tekkadan, we have a brief comic interlude of Chad puzzling over a shift in relationship dynamics between Shino and Zack, but don’t get to find out what went on with The Girls last night, as Eugene comes in with some assignments.
The main pilot trio (Mika, Akihiro, and Shino), as well as Chad, Hush and Zack, will be guarding Orga and his guest (McGillis, not in his Montag persona for once) during the latter’s visit. By this point, we can see that Chad is well nestled back in with the main fighting force, rather than stuck on a ship’s helm or on a different planet entirely, and it’s nice to think he’s getting some legit camaraderie back in his life.
McGillis takes a second to greet the other members of Tekkadan after shaking hands with Orga. Shino is the only one to verbally respond, while Akihiro makes a sound of acknowledgement and bows his head; Chad notices the latter, and hurriedly echos it. I wonder if the etiquette levels with Gjallarhorn are very different compared to what Chad dealt with on Earth? Or perhaps he just trusts Akihiro’s cues more than his own experience?
Akihiro drives the car on the way out to the mine as McGillis and Isurugi explain a bit about what they’re expecting to find there. This prompts Chad to ask if they shouldn’t be bringing some mobile suits as well, if the thing at the excavation site is so dangerous. McGillis drops the information that no, mobile suits might awaken the mobile armor, as they’re archenemies. As he’s been eyeballing Mikazuki all episode, he adds that Mikazuki’s Gundam must have fought mobile armors as well, three hundred years ago.
This attracts a bit of Akihiro’s attention, as the other Gundam pilot in the car, and he wonders what sort of monsters these mobile armors are, that mobile suits were made just to fight them. (And he has plenty of reason to wonder, seeing as his own Gusion is strong enough to crush lesser suits with ease and totally shrug off point-blank self-destruct explosions.)
McGillis doesn’t use the words Artificial Intelligence here, but says the mobile armor thinks by itself and fights automatically. Probably drawing on both his experience as a ship pilot and his close friendship with a hacker, Chad asks how that’s possible. McGillis mostly dodges the question, just explaining that the capacity to fight on its own is why it could be so destructive, back in its heyday.
(Akihiro and Chad, left with the car.)
As Iok shows up, here to ruin everything (as was ever his wont), Orga runs up, yelling at Chad to call Eugene and get him to send mobile suits out—Chad has in fact already got headphones on before Orga’s even started talking, because Chad knows a bomb about to go off when he damn well sees one.
It is too late to prevent the doom, though, as, with a fluid rippling of lights that looks it belongs to a different show entirely, a back-up chorus the likes of which we won’t hear again until Bael, and a sound effect like absolutely nothing else in the series, the mobile armor awakens.
And we will come back to this before too long, hopefully, with what I anticipate to be somewhat shorter posts, as the series is now well and truly past focusing on the Human Debris cast as Human Debris. I don’t doubt I’ll still find some stuff to ramble about, but things should speed up from here on out. Thanks for reading!
I LIIIIIIVE. Welcome to the latest in a series of posts documenting (extensively) the presence of the Human Debris and ex-Human Debris cast in Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Today, we (hopefully in one post) bring an end to the Silent War arc. Join me as I finally resolve my feelings on the conflict in Aston’s words and Aston’s actions, and we finally get to see Akihiro use The Clamps on someone.
EPISODE THIRTY-ONE — Silent War
We return to find our Earth branch kids, barely more than children all, out on an honest-to-god warfront. I much doubt it’s something any of them are familiar with, beyond those few days outside Edmonton; I can only hope their shelter and food situation is slightly improved this time around thanks to having official government sanction.
Aston is taking out his frustrations by punching the hell out of Earth-type Grazes.
Afterwards, we find that Takaki is, predictably, much more outwardly affected than Aston by the Tekkadan losses that the Silent War is piling up. Aston remains watchful but largely straight-faced as Galan Mossa comes over to lay on some pretty but solemn words about how well they’re doing so far, the two of them in particular.
Throughout the series, we’ve seen the Human Debris are largely awkward about being praised (save Dante, who always just looks pleased by it); Aston takes the compliment with no more than a blink, and I can’t imagine he thinks that Galan is being sincere here. As ever, though, he keeps his thoughts to himself.
The next morning, we find the two of them dealing with some grousing from the troops. Aston begins the scene with his attention seemingly elsewhere, but he’s quite quick to turn his attention to the matter at hand when people start making things difficult for Takaki.
It’s interesting that everyone in the tent jumps when Aston speaks up and tells them not to question things too much. The guy in the front looks legitimately spooked, even, and afterwards one of them gripes that Aston scared him by talking so suddenly. It certainly indicates the degree to which Aston has shut down interpersonally with the onset of the war. Or perhaps he never engaged much with this group to start with? That would certainly be in line with his characterization before and after here—that he connects with precious few people even on his own “side.”
He looks slightly put-out after the fact, like he feels awkward about something. It could be that he himself isn’t sure what prompted him to speak up—unsurprising, as he still hasn’t put a finger on his feelings for Takaki—or that he’s aware that it’s an unusual thing for him to do.
Afterward, though, he and Takaki retreat to go hang out by some Landman Rodis (get used to these; they’re pretty much the mobile suit of choice for the non-Akihiro members of the Human Debris cast). Here we find Takaki talking out his feelings while Aston eats one of the energy bars Takaki turned down earlier, when Galan offered.
I know; color me unsurprised that the ex-child slave Aston is more capable of eating food when it’s offered to him than Takaki, though he has a moment of pausing and staring at the energy bar when Takaki brings up Fuuka’s cooking.
Takaki asks Aston if he feels anything (an awkwardly-phrased question, given who he’s asking it of), then clarifies that he feels like the whole situation feels off, and confides that he can’t seem to keep on top of it.
For just a moment, Aston leans over, about to say—well, we don’t know, because he pulls back into himself almost immediately, and doesn’t manage to get an answer out before they’re interrupted.
Aston then gets to watch Takaki have a very small meltdown—a mere lapse, really—when some Tekkadan kid calls Galan Mossa their captain, and this clearly gets Aston thinking. When we next return to them, we find him with a renewed determination to protect Takaki and Tekkadan, propelling himself to the front of the detachment.
He calls for the other mobile suits to follow him, demonstrating that he almost certainly has a ranked position of his own. Assuming he’s on a comparable level with Derma (who, you’ll recall, performed quite well in team maneuvers with Shino and Dante), it’s no surprise that Aston is a fine squad leader, regardless of how much he’s personally connected with those under him.
Very gratifyingly to me personally, both Takaki and Aston’s thoughts go to Chad in this sequence, the former thinking he has to be strong while Chad’s gone, the latter wondering if Chad’s awake yet. It does my heart good to see people within this show caring so much.
We return to space, where Tekkadan Main Branch is still very concerned about how little information they have about matters on Earth. Speaking of things that do my heart good, there’s also Orga’s comment that he chose people for the Earth branch that he knew he could rely on. Ah, Chad, so trusty. I wish we knew how long the Earth Branch had been in place; I’m very curious how long Aston had been with Tekkadan before he got designated “a person Orga could rely on” and sent (or chose to go) with Takaki and Chad to Earth. Had it been only a short time, leaving Aston to be taken aback by Orga’s trust, or long enough that it wasn’t such a wholly strange concept? Alas, we have no way to know.
Akihiro, characteristically working out his stress with exercise, and engaging in some renewed ship-teasing with Lafter, the first time the show starts actively highlighting their developing bond via lingering shots and other characters’ responses. He claims, when Lafter teases him about it, that the working out is just his hobby, but his thoughts are, we find, with the Earth Branch, as are everyone’s. (This layover marks, incidentally, the first time Eugene and Kudelia work closely together for any stretch of time, which is interesting to see in light of the finale.)
We get a very brief shot of Chad in one of the regeneration baths when Fuuka goes to visit him at the hospital, along with the frankly baffling tidbit that regeneration tech takes longer on Earth, despite being allegedly more advanced. I have to regard this as plot handwaving of the highest order, or else assume that there is some money changing hands behind the scenes to keep Chad and Makanai under. We know that it’s Rustal’s specific goal to draw the war out for as long as possible (or at least we know that Iok assumes so; Rustal has a bit of a funny look on his face and is, as ever, enigmatic), so it’s no stretch to see their influence here.
We have another scene that reiterates what we already knew—that Aston is willing to hurl himself indiscriminately into a fray he just got out of for Takaki’s sake, and that Galan is playing Takaki like a fiddle—so while we wait for the plot to give me something new to talk about, here is this amazingly relationship-accurate photo of the stars of this arc:
Meanwhile, the Hotarubi arrives on Earth, and Akihiro, keyed up and ready to get some actual news on what’s going on with one of his best friends and adopted kid brother, does some rare out-loud complaining about how long it’s taking to get down to the surface.
Following, there is a staggeringly interesting exchange between Radice and Galan Mossa, in which the latter comments that animals (the Tekkadan kids) just need to be fed and petted now and again, and they’ll follow orders without thinking. He singles out Aston in particular, as Human Debris, and I am left completely floored at how little this man has grasped the personality of the boy he’s jerking around. Just because Aston is a quiet sort and doesn’t complain, Galan assumes that it must be because he’s just so grateful for the attention? Like, holy shit, how can one man be so wrong in so few words? Rewatching this arc only increases the satisfaction of watching Akihiro stave this guy’s everything in with Gusion.
In any case, back on the topic of relationship-revealing framing shots…
Cee-ripes.
Anyway, Aston finally, after who knows how long in-story, has an answer prepared for Takaki’s question earlier in the episode, about why their current battle feels “off.” He posits that it’s because it’s the first time they’ve fought under anyone but Orga, and is quick to second-guess himself with I thinks and maybe nots. He’s deeply uncomfortable sharing his thoughts and feelings (and his thoughts about his feelings) this way, as we can tell by his muttering and refusal to turn around and face Takaki with his answer.
He says, though, that he doesn’t really care who the orders are coming from, as it’s Human Debris’ job to fight (whoops, it still matters). Takaki, as he’s done every time, gets upset and Aston, as he ever has, fails to predict or comprehend Takaki’s outbursts on the matter.
Takaki confesses his fear in watching Aston fight, the recklessness of it, the disregard for his own life, and nearly begs that, while he knows their work is dangerous, to please not give up from the start, because the war is drawing to a close, and soon, they’ll be able to go home. Aston agrees, but he still clearly has reservations, and we are still left with framing like this:
Two boys, two cots, two guns leaned against the wall, sharing space in a single tent, united under a single light, but still irreconcilably separate, the gap between them never bridged, a border drawn out in the form of that rear support bar. It’s unsubtle directing, but tremendously effective in leaving the audience with chills of unresolved tension.
In the final scene, we see McGillis launching solo, ready to put an end to the whole farce after a full month of hit-and-run tactics from Galan and Tekkadan. As Galan tells everyone the battle to follow will be the last one, Takaki eschews his normal squad leader position in a mobile worker and climbs into a Rodi. He and Aston share a last glance, and, as one of them always does, Takaki turns away.
Akihiro gets the preview text, with the same sort of conceit his preview was given the last time—grunting underscoring his narration, as if we’ve caught him exercising (and, in this case, complaining about Mikazuki ditching training).
This brings us on into…
EPISODE THIRTY-TWO — My Friend
We find the Arbrau forces stalking an unaware McGillis, and Takaki rapidly getting lost in his own head at the prospect of finally putting an end to the conflict. In some marvelous continuity from his very first appearance, Aston pulls Takaki out of it with talk of methodical execution of their usual tactics—exactly the same way he talked to Vito way back when.
They renew their promise to go home to Fuuka together, and, shortly, find themselves assaulting McGillis, while Galan, oh so gallantly, holds off some random Gjallarhorn goob.
McGillis pegs them as Alaya-Vijnana users immediately, and tries to call on them in Orga’s name. His language here is, frankly, kind of above their level—he doesn’t tell them he’s allied with Tekkadan, or that he has any kind of communication with Orga, but just asks if Orga has given them their orders (which of course he knows Orga hasn’t). Takaki is largely confused by this, but the more practical Aston has got no time for idle talk from an enemy. Thus bolstered, Takaki takes the lead and charges McGillis first, much to Aston’s chagrin.
Alas, Takaki is not the fighter Aston is, and the ensuing fight does not go well for them.
Aston, like a champ, even as he’s horribly wounded, manages to lockdown McGillis, who we finally get to see in a truly dangerous situation, one that is out of his control. This will become a growing problem for him, and one that made me like him way more, but we’re not here to talk about him, are we?
Mikazuki shows up just in time to save McGillis, looking none too pleased about it. He gets ready to pursue the fleeing Galan, but pulls up short as we find Takaki, not taking the time to ask a bunch of stupid questions, has already made it out of his Rodi, across the field, and up to Aston’s busted cockpit, yelling his name and already in tears.
Aston isn’t doing so hot, and his mind is in a pretty bad place, and we finally get that bit of his characterization I’ve been puzzling about from the very beginning.
Amid flashbacks to his life with the Brewers (perhaps the one on the left in the top picture is the unseen Pedro?), he narrates that Human Debris couldn’t survive if they had feelings, that the feeling of mourning your comrades would get you crushed, so you killed your soul instead. However…
The flashbacks move to Tekkadan—not just Takaki and Fuuka, but Akihiro as well, still marked with a red stripe and wearing a searing look of tenderness on his face—and Aston says that he wishes he’d never met any of them, so that he’d never have to lose a life in which he had them.
I remember watching this scene for the first time with my heart in my throat, terrified that the show would let those be Aston’s last words, and leave Takaki to carry them forever. It would be breathtakingly cruel, I thought, and nothing made me more emotional in this episode than the release of tension when Aston’s tears spill over, and he breathes out a ‘thank you’, and smiles.
Having watched the series again, my thoughts remain largely as I’ve laid them out previously: I don’t believe that Aston was ever as shut-off as he believed himself to be. Even in his own memories, we can plainly see the anger in his face as he watches Masahiro get kicked around by Kudal. But I’d also forgotten how prominent Akihiro was in his last, fleeting memories, so his heightened emotions clearly aren’t for Takaki alone. The primary difference between Aston with the Brewers and Aston with Tekkadan is that Tekkadan values his life and, more importantly, values the lives of his comrades. This means he can speak out in their defense, if he chooses to, and he can let himself get attached, because he knows that neither he nor they are going to be ordered to die meaninglessly.
Tekkadan thus becomes a place of freedom for Aston, where his opinions—seldom though he offers them—are valued, even sought out. Where he can spend his life—spend it like coin, if he chooses—actually protecting people he cares about, rather than being forced to stand by and watch them die for overseers that view them as worth less than the grunt suits they pilot. With Tekkadan, Aston can allow himself the freedom of caring and so, over time, he does. It doesn’t mean that he didn’t care when he was with the Brewers, just that Tekkadan’s approach of treating every member like family actively encouraged the caring he’d always done, and it wasn’t until he was on the edge of his own death that he realized: caring for others doesn’t just mean that you want to protect their lives, but that you are allowed to grieve for your own when you can no longer be with them.
Did Aston have romantic feelings for Takaki? Well, all that talk of the both of them going home to Fuuka is pretty telling, given that no other members of Tekkadan talk of anywhere other than HQ as being their home. But in the end, I think it matters less how Aston thought of Takaki than it does that, through Takaki and Tekkadan, Aston learned what it meant to value his own life—even if that was just in the moment of losing it.
Meanwhile, back at the Earth Branch HQ, some long-due karma is catching up to Radice. Eugene and Akihiro set to interrogating him, mostly through some very convincing intimidation and a bit of restrained violence against nearby inanimate objects. He flips on Galan like a salmon breaking the surface of a river. It isn’t until Lafter comes through with word of Aston’s death that Akihiro begins to get physical, with spasms of rage that he keeps admirably on top of, all things considered.
I include this to marvel over Akihiro’s upper body strength, as he just casually overhand tosses an adult man of no small size across the room. All that exercise is certainly not just for show! He tells Radice quite plainly that he’ll be next, after Galan Mossa, and claims the right to deal with the latter. No one contests him.
Echoing Aston’s disinclination to talk to McGillis (and Mikazuki’s disinclination to chat with anyone), once Akihiro tracks down Galan, he wastes no time attacking him, not responding at all to the man’s verbal sallies until Galan guesses that he’s lost a family member. Even afterwards, he doesn’t really engage except to grimly return a taunt—that if decent people die first on the battlefield, congratulations, Galan Mossa, on being such a decent man.
Afterwards, when Lafter calls to him, he tells her he’s alright, adding, with bitterness like we’ve never heard in his voice before, that he’s alive. This bitterness—over surviving when the people he cares for most dearly keep dying all around him—is something he’ll have the whole rest of the series to carry, and it’s not over for him yet. But, all in due time.
We get one last mention of Chad before he’ll be back onscreen, as Takaki requests permission to deal with Radice himself. When challenged by Mikazuki—who has a dangerous impatience about him, very ready to gun the man down and be done with it—Takaki proclaims that the issue is the Earth Branch’s problem, and per Chad’s word, he is in charge of the Earth Branch. The others take him at his word, with Akihiro commenting, once they’ve reconvened in the hall outside, that they don’t really know what happened, so it’s best for Takaki to make the call, for all that the Turbines gals think he’s too kind a boy to kill someone.
That’s the last of the Debris cast for the episode, save another shot of that recurring photograph of Aston, Takaki and Fuuka, seen as Takaki goes back home, and, as Fuuka realizes the significance of his coming back alone, his narration draws the Silent War arc to a close.
I hope no one got too tired of me rambling about Aston, and everyone will join me next time for the wrap-up from this arc and the beginning of the Mobile Armor story, at which point these write-ups should get back down to a reasonable length again.
