Welcome to another instalment of space opera mechas, this time though the episode leans towards to Alien-inspired thriller as the story unfolds mostly inside the spaceship, but for my money this is the best episode Id-0 has pulled off so far. To even my surprise, this show just keeps getting better and this episode gives more insights about Ido and his (possible) connection to that loli tailed girl Alice (codename: Ore). Its success also has something to do with excluding the scenes involving the masked man and focus on the dynamic between the cast and most of all, give Maya a necessary development as a true protagonist.
Prior to this episode, she serves mainly as our perspective, our “lenses” towards getting accustom to the new cast and the new environment she ends up with. This episode, however, shows us how much she cares for Alice and how she stands up for herself to do what she feels necessary. In particular, she acts even before Grayman’s approval in order to save the girl when the communication was lost and her burst out when seeing Alice outside the space is just goddamn effective. There’s no hurt when the show giving us a lead worth caring for so I hope ID-0 continues to flesh her out even more.
Now to the main plot of this episode, the “Alien invasion” in question is the foggy space dust, itself a satellite that Alice summoned last episode, and now its main mission is to bring her back. The satellite can transform into various forms, from foggy form to hard solid and it proves to be a hard case to crack for the gang. At long last, our band succeeds in luring it out of the spaceship, but it grabs Alice outta space as well. But Alice freakily survives, as she’s encasing herself in an energy barrier and swims towards Ido (remember everyone said she’s special. Yes, she’s THAT special). Her presence again gives Ido some flashbacks of his long-forgotten past. He knew this girl all along and calling her “Alice”. Now who’s exactly is Alice? Who is the real Ido then?
Most people have guessed, and I tend to agree with that hypothesis for now that Ido was the masked man. It makes sense narratively that Ido had to face his past demon to really become his true self, you know, the fight with the enemy both from external and internal forces. About the reason the masked man abandoned him then? I think more along the line with cutting one of your personality to fully commit to power. But of course, all of this are just guessing game for now and I’m sure we will have a clearer picture in ID-0’s later episodes.
This episode does set up nicely what direction ID-0 is heading for the rest of the series. Plot-wise, there will be an ongoing conflict between this Pirate gang and the police authority. There are men who seems like to control the Orichalt for themselves. Then we have Maya growing as a valuable member of the team, and the secrets surrounding Ido and loli-girl Alice. They hold quite a trump card here (Alice), the question now is how they will treat her? As a member of a family or as a captive for negotiation?
