Buttons and Barndoors, this episode was infantry-tastic! The Amaterasu’s supplier, AGI, throws a small party for the crew as part of the afterservice. A festive spirit is in the air, and everyone is super excited at the prospect of eating gourmet food! Shinon and Kouki’s relationship is now in the open, and it’s open season for some good natured teasing from the crew. I’ll bet Sanri is glad to have the spotlight drawn away from her and Takai, at least.
Back in the Kingdom, the funeral for the late Supreme Chairman is underway. Isabelle has her opposition clamped down and set to “mysteriously vanish.” Down at the Galaxy Channel HQ, crude commercialism rears its ugly head once again, as Peter receives word of an impending attack on the Amaterasu, but deliberately doesn’t warn them so Dita can capture some action footage.
At the party, Ciska and company are enjoying the free food and booze, and the AGI representative expresses his admiration for what the Kiba rebels have accomplished. Meanwhile, a commando squad suited up in Terran Marine suits stealth their way into the docking bay with orders to cause some light damage as a warning to AGI and all those who aid the Amaterasu. Thankfully, a handful of crewmembers stayed behind to repair the ship; Kouki and his engineering crew (because they weren’t invited 
), Hisaka (because she shuns flashy events), Sei (who prioritizes ship maintenance over partying), and Dita (because Peter told her in advance to film the engineering dock, without specifying why). Hisaka and Sei lay the smackdown with some M249 machine gun suppression fire, while Kouki and Chiba get into some clunky power loader suits to try a flanking maneuver. The AGI dock security force tries to ward off the attackers, only to be taken out by the Kingdom marines’ remote detonated C4. Spec Ops FTW!!
The marine commander calls for a retreat now that their mission has been accomplished, and they make a break for it. Kouki and Chiba attempt to pursue them out of the confines of the dock, since they need evidence that the Kingdom was behind the attack. However, at this rather large distance, the miniguns on the suits have poor accuracy, and the marines easily SRAW both of them, wounding Chiba and killing Kouki. The crew’s morale hits rock bottom when the news breaks, and on top of that, AGI has decided to break off their contract with the Amaterasu, leaving them high and dry. Poor Shinon is alone once again, further reinforcing the dangers of becoming the main character’s love interest.
Damn, I was totally rooting for the engineer to get the girl, but then the writers just had to off him out of left field. Stop hating on the engineers, man! Chiba even remarks in the episode that engineering sucks because there aren’t any chicks around. Tru dat, bro.
It looks like Shinon’s going to go back to her usual cold and efficient self next episode. Her recovery time is quite remarkable, though she could just be holding it inside of her very well. Kouki was a fool to chase after the marines even though the power loaders are clearly outmatched by the marine suits. Maybe he felt that desperate times required desperate measures? Sorry chief, but this ain’t Gundam Seed. Hopefully, Ciska will keep his cool and not order some kind of suicide attack on the Conquistador next episode. As the crew’s emotions become more ragged and the situation becomes more dire, I’m fully expecting the sh*t to hit the fan.
Related posts:
5 Comments
I don’t quite know where/how you see that Shinon’s gonna be back to her “cold and efficient self”, since SSO doesn’t have previews. But at the end of ep10 she was nothing of that – a very bitter scene.
I’ll say only this much: She _will_ be a bit different for the rest of the show.
PS: You wouldn’t by chance happen to be an engineer? ^_^
Oh, I quickly skimmed through the next episode – sort of my own ghetto preview, if you will. And yes, an engineer is me
um i heard kawada mami person sung a starship orperater song and ide like to know wut other songs she wrote n e body know???
Kakai’s true reason for not replying to Sanri’s confession thus manifests. Guys in war animes need to learn one thing. If you are not a main character, and the show suddenly highlights you. Do not under any circumstances, confess to a girl. It’s a Death Note for you.
Unfortunately, Kouki’s death has reinforced what I feel is, one of the negative points of SsO. I will explain more once I get to the last episode.