Talk about an interesting wake-up call here. For a while this episode played out like you’d think it would, with Madoka eventually heading into the battle again (I like however, how she actually waited until she was given permission to take off, and how she actually received careful instructions of the upgrades in her new machine), but I really like the darker twist at the end of this episode.
Before we’ve seen Madoka try and try to keep the damages that were caused by the fighting to a minimum. I thought that this would be just a good way to keep continuity in the series, but this episode really starts playing with it. The thing is that before, Madoka only had to fight a small amount of enemies. Now that they’re actually bringing in entire armies, it’s much more difficult to prevent stray bullets from hitting anything. The results was that people indeed got hurt as a defeated mecha fell into a field full of people.
The question is why these people weren’t evacuated. This episode showed some huge overconfidence issues in the good guys, as they probably didn’t expect the enemy to bring in an army like this. Either that, or they lack the authority to actually pull out a mass evacuation, these are the only reasons I can think of why they didn’t do that.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I was thinking the same thing — WTF why the hell were there people out there watching the battle as if it was a spectator sport?
I’m sure there was some kind of contingency in effect, since the frigging mecha were targets for aliens and posed a danger for the sitting ducks, the civilians in the town would be evacuated at the slightest sign of trouble.
So the lack of evacuation plans didn’t quite ring true – which makes the events contrived.
this.
Had the same thoughts as well. None of those would’ve happen if they did the norm xD
I don’t think anyone was expecting the fighting to get close to the town, much less for the Kiss fleet to actually fire on the city. Their only targets should have been the Vox and the Pharos, which had moved far away from the city itself. My heart skipped a beat when they actually bombarded the city rather than Pharos. Rather evil little gut shot there – setting up a race against time between the fleet recharging their weapons and Pharos recharging it’s shields, only to redirect the bombardment to the defenseless town.
It’s a miracle that the trio had the power to generate that shield. Looks like Villagiulio was planning this from the start – setting up the three kids to shield the town while ordering his subordinates to fire on it. And those Ovids are manned too. I’m not sure why he didn’t just use unmanned remote weapons to hem in Orca and the other Voxes.
All this just to provoke another Rinne blossoming?
Well, Kamogawa can thank its lucky stars Kirius, Izo and Array were feeling chivalrous! For a moment there, I considered what would happen to Madoka if the town really was leveled before her eyes, killing everyone. Perhaps it’s best we never see that particular Madoka…it wouldn’t be pretty. But the shield didn’t keep everything from getting through, and an ovid falling on a schoolyard is still a big deal in this series.
Can Madoka weather the sting of failure and the knowledge her actions led to bloodshed, or will it overwhelm her, enabling Asteria to say “I told you so”? Looks like there’s just one more episode to answer that. I’ve enjoyed this series, but I don’t think it needs a second season.
What?! The next episode is the last?! Um…I have to disagree. I need to know who Yurikano is…maybe her potential relationship to Madoka. What Villagiulio is really up to. (I suspect he’s a much-easier-to-read version of Last Exile II’s Luc.) What Lan’s brother and his side are up to. Who/what Asteria is. What the Rinne actually is and what it can do if it’s being powered by positive energy like joy/happiness/love instead of the dark stuff like pain/despair. Plus some more jersey club fanservice, including for the previous generation. I think I’m close to developing a fet…um…attachment to jerseys. Haven’t felt this about this look since Karekano.
Also…Youko makes it….right?!
I kinda wish a bit more of Guilty Crown’s budget got shifted here instead. Guilty Crown is apparently a whole lot prettier to look at, a whole lot more painful to watch.
Apologies for the weird bolding. I fail at html.
Totally agree.
Guilty Crown has been an expensive disaster, while Rinne no Lagrange is just getting better and better with a more modest budget.
There is a second season. It’ll air next summer. 😉
I think they did mention an evacution. Someone asks the person who got hit by the robot (forgot their names) “why arent you joining the evacuation?” something like that. They stayed behind to show their support.
Dumb and dumber.
A global alien invasion ensues, and a bunch of lackabouts line up to cheer for the overmatched heroes?
Melodramatic cheese.
Oops. Layabouts. My bluster got the best of me.
True enough. But then again, I could see that happening. People are quite dumb, especially when it comes to observing things in dangerous places.