Summary:

Trude and Shirley argue over who should ride the smooth vibrations of the new Karlsland Jet Striker prototype first; Francesca gets the jump on them but her bad vibes about the ghost in the machine put Shirley off too. They compete with three challenges and Trude easily wins the first two, gaining a much higher altitude and being able to carry a much heavier load like a Gundam levelled up with a Meteor. But Yoshika and Erica notice how tired Trude is and, true enough, after winning the speed challenge, she passes out and splashes down. Speculating that the Jet Striker drains a Witch’s magic dangerously fast, Minna locks down the Jet Striker and confines Trude to quarters.

Mio, Perrine, Erica, Shirley and Francesca are sent out to intercept another Neuroi that turns out to be a MIRV/Dragoon-type. Shirley is assigned by Mio to take out the core but, just as our USAgi-eared Witch is about to be scissored, Trude turns up to save the day, having jail-broken the Jet Striker. But she passes out soon after and Shirley has to break the sound barrier to manually stop the Jet Striker and rescue Trude. Back at base, Minna punishes Trude for her insubordination and Erica’s younger twin, Ursula, turns up, with loads of potatoes, to  apologize for the now ruined Jet Striker’s problems.

Reaction:

Being a Trude fanboy, I was delighted by this episode. There was plenty of fanservice including seeing her with her hair down. I also enjoyed how she brings out the best in her friends like Erica with brilliant moments, which make the characters so loveable, like half-asleepedly putting her jacket over her exhausted friend before wandering back to her messy side of the room, popping in the radio earpiece, going hehe about how things worked out and, at the start, being tsukkomi to Trude’s boke uptightness.

Although one of the things I love about Trude is her uptightness, I was relieved when that, in combination with her recklessness, was toned down after Ep 4 of the first season.  It resurfaced here with her insistence on taking the risk because ironing out the kinks in the Jet Striker could win them the war but it was not blatantly suicidal like before. Otherwise she might need to get the same lesson that Teana received from Nanoha.

There were other recurrent themes and motifs included Shirley being a speed demon (from Season One Ep 5 where she first hit Mach 1) and Trudie breaking the chains to get at the Striker Unit (from Season One Ep 12) but given that I’m more familiar with the characters and that the characters themselves have matured since the first season, everything about the girls and their interactions just felt right. And that’s high praise for a series that was originally produced by terminal late stage GONZO (with AIC as co-pilot).

A final note. The scene where Francesca begged Shirley not to use the Jet Striker and Shirley agreeing immediately pretty much confirmed them as OTP in my book; they communicate so well and trust each other so completely. And yet this episode also opened my eyes to why there are a not inconsiderable number of Shirley x Gertrud shippers (of which this fanart by Kisetsu is my favourite because it successfully captures how a tsundere uke’s seemingly angry reluctance in response to a direct approach by a seme is largely grounded in the former’s fear of embracing her own hidden but embarrassingly intense feelings and desire); their bickering has a cute tension about it (best captured by the eye catch) and when the dere comes, in the tender embrace that Francesca rightly felt threatened by, it’s pretty sweet.

Add: Evirus, too, feels the Barkhorn love.

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