Slightly less rushed than last episode. Minagi runs away from home because her mom can’t remember her. Her mom had a miscarriage that caused her to go a wee bit mental. She started thinking that her older daughter was the miscarried baby, when she finally realized that was not the case she went really mental and forgot she had an older daughter. Yukito, being our hero and all, realizes that Minagi just needs a push in the right direction so he not so subtly puts Minagi with her mother. Her mother’s memories flow back and they are reunited. In the meantime there’s Michiru, the little girl that’s always with Minagi. Turns out that she’s a dream made real by this mystical woman in the sky. So now that Michiru is has served her purpose she has to leave, or rather disappear. Minagi gets a call from dad, who has a daughter named Michiru who bears a striking resemblance to the older Michiru, and Minagi gets to be with her all over again. Yukito then returns to Misuzu’s house to take her to school, and finds her unconscious on the floor. Next episode please….hayaku!!
I’m in love with this show. It’s my favorite this year. There are seven more episodes, and if they maintain this quality, it’s going to be hard to beat for some time. Between Minagi and Mom being reunited, the realization that Michiru is a spirit, Michiru leaving, Minagi rediscovering Michiru again, this was one bittersweet episode with more emotions than I’ve seen in a long time.
Yes…I cried.
Aoba and Ryouhei kick the crap out of the ancient Jinki(s). The old pilot probably can’t pilot the Moribito anymore because of his injuries, and Aoba meets another team, the Heaven group. They also have a Jinki similar to Moribito, and Aoba and its pilot get into a little rivalry. Aoba wins with a sparkly display of speed from the Moribito, much to everyone’s surprise, but not mine.
While this is somewhat following formula, it’s nice to see this old formula played out this way instead of the flashy Gundam Seed style. I like that the characters have a hesitation about fighting, as in they feel scared, yet know they must fight to survive. They’re doing well in not making it look to easy. Aoba piloting the Moribito in the competition got tired doing it. It’s physical work, where as in Gundam Seed it’s like the pilot playing a video game.
That said, the show has several “Extend” sequences that parallel the Aoba story. They seem like some kind of flash forward to something that hasn’t happened yet. At this point they’re disjointed and confusing, but I understand that the time lines meet up sometime in the future.
After Aoba’s encounter with the ancient Jinki she meets the ringleader of the “Angel” group, which just happens to be dear old Mom. She doesn’t want anything but Aoba’s inheritance and Aoba storms off in a huff. Ryouhei nicknames her ahobaka, which made me chuckle and is now my cat’s nickname. Aoba tries to get on the mechanical team of the Moribito, but gets scolded by the old foreman. They send her off to clean the document room, which of course has a manual from the Moribito in it. She reads and learns and at the end of the episode gets to pilot the Moribito in a life or death situation.
I still like this one quite a bit, it’s quite reminiscent of Mobile Suit Gundam, and I do like the old tech feel of the Moribito and the mechanical staff.
