Summary:

Isara notices some rustling in the tall grass, and Alicia thinks it’s a spy. Rosie glomps the intruder, only to discover that it was merely a porcavian. As Rosie complains about getting scratched up on the animal trail, Welkin decides that sending a small group down the hidden animal trail to flank the supply camp is the key to success. Alicia, Faldio, and most of Squad 1 is sent through the tall grass, while Squad 7 backs up the Edelweiss and holds the enemy’s attention.

Alicia is very nervous about the assault until Faldio breaks her tension by pulling a simple prank on her. All charged up, Alicia recklessly barrels in without cover support, and a sniper manages to graze her left thigh. Sgt. Ramal Valt and Faldio deal with the remaining snipers, and Alicia charges into the camp, to Radi’s surprise. Faced with mounting losses, Berthold reluctantly takes Radi’s advice to retreat with the ragnite, and Welkin vetoes Faldio’s decision to pursue the retreating Imperial Army. Alicia then uses some Post hog ergo propter hog arguments to lobby for keeping the porcavian (whom she names Hans, after that kid in episode 1).

Reaction:

It’s crazy how after Welkin figured out that Hans can do everything Alicia can do inside the Edelweiss (i.e. nothing), he decided that Alicia was expendable as the vanguard of the flanking squad. The battle plan this episode was the stupidest yet, although perhaps Berthold’s forces were still tired from whipping Georg’s forces so hard. If this had taken place in some mountains, the idea of an awesome animal trail would have been easier to swallow. At least we got to see Largo actually being a lancer for once, and he went 1 for 1. Also, before anyone starts talking about how the Imperial snipers are totally n00b, it’s important to note that they were using their scopes to check out Alicia’s zettai ryouiki. The Gallians clearly designed the uniforms to be anti-sniper, and the Imperial snipers still hit 50% which isn’t too bad.

Aside from the fighting, the episode was alright, although the jokes about poop and nuts didn’t really do it for me. We learned a little bit about most of the characters, and it was interesting to watch Berthold swallow his pride and order a safe retreat. At first I also thought Radi was gonna start talking some smack, but the generals managed to work together for their common goal. In fact, I’m finding it a little hard to root for the Gallians because of how they keep winning due to their one uber hero unit (Edelweiss), while the Imperial troops keep following the right steps and losing anyway.