Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There! – 11

If it’s one thing this episode has taught us it’s that you should never cockblock a Goth-loita demi-gods plans for the night. Anime truly is the greatest teacher one could have, even more so than a yellow squid creature that moves at mach speed but not quite on the level of a gangster leader with a tendency of destroying Cresta cars. But all things considered, I highly doubt Rory even needs a plan to seduce Itami. Just grab him, throw him into a bedroom, lock the door and he’s yours. He wasn’t completely unwilling the last time you tussled so all you need to do is give him a push. Still Rory’s purposeful sabotage of the dark elf’s request for the green men to help her is unknowingly cruel on her part. That, and quite frankly I want to see the JSDF take on that fire dragon she wants them to kill. This dark elf however is quite naive for her age, as anyone with common sense would know that it’s a bad idea to show that you have something immensely valuable on you. If that piece of adamantite isn’t stolen from her in the next few episodes then I consider this shows representation of humanity to be completely unrealistic.

In other parts of the world we have Pina in a bath planning out negotiations for increasing the number of nobles in favor of a peace treaty. Admittedly I scoff at the idea of the military not using threats or a monopoly of goods to gain an advantage in negotiations and only play it non violently. That may be another of the authors nationalistic tendencies coming through. We also have Tuka and her delusion of her father being still alive. I find it funny the way that anime seasons can randomly land on similar topics sometimes as Tuka isn’t the only delusional girl this season. It’s pretty clear with the reemergence of the fire dragon threat that Tuka is going to be involved somehow. Itami has a point with helping Taku, one cannot just half heartedly do the job. It has to be something to commit to no matter what but with how this show is going it likely Itami who will take that position. He’s already got Rory and Lelei charmed, Tuka looks to be next on the list.

Animation had a bit of a hiccup here as Rory crying was shown with two frames of jittery animation that was just odd. The CGI animation though I must admit has gotten better. There’s potential for this style of adding drawn lines to CGI models. The Harrier jets at the end of the episode had points where you could have been fooled into thinking they were actual 2D animation. The dragon still looked off putting when flying, but when breathing fire and roaring it worked well. Ultimately it comes down to how much movement frames the models are allowed, as it can make or break the illusion. But any attempt to blend 3D more naturally into 2D is certainly applauded. Next episode looks like our dark elf isn’t going to get exactly what she was expecting.