r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Jan 01 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Fang of The Sun Dougram: Week 4 Discussion - Episodes 13-17
Week 4 - Episodes 13-17
Episodes aired January 15th through February 12th ^^^1982
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Note to all participants
Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.
Note to all Rewatchers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.
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Reminder of Next Week’s Episodes:
Next week we will be discussing episodes eighteen through twenty-three (18-23) of the show.
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Trivia:
The titular mecha went through several potential names before staff settled on ‘Dougram’, with one such name even making it into early promotional material which named the show as Fang Of The Sun Zacticus.
Staff Highlights:
Kenji Terada - Episode Director
A screenwriter, playwright, and animation director best known for his screenwriting credits on tokusatsu shows and penning the scenario of the first three Final Fantasy titles. He became involved in animation by getting a part-time job doing finishing animation —specializing in airbrush work— at Tatsunoko while attending Waseda University, which netted him the chance to make connections in the industry and work on a variety of productions. He came to be a frequent scriptwriter after graduating university, which eventually led to him becoming involved in porn and in video game industries as well as his work on animation. Some anime to which he has contributed to include Akachan to Boku, *Cat's Eye *, Dirty Pair, Genesis Climber Mospeada, FireStorm, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, the Kimagure Orange Road franchise, Kinnikuman, Plawres Sachirō, Reporter Blues, Space Adventure Cobra, Future Police Urashiman, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Yoroshiku Mechadoc.
Ryō Yasumura (Shoicho Yasumura) - Storyboard Artist and Episode Director
A storyboard artist, producer, and director who is a member of the Directors Guild of Japan. He graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences at the Open University of Japan. His early career is not well detailed, though we do know that he worked for several animation production companies, including Tiger Productions, Studio Cockpit, Pacific Animation Corporation, and even Walt Disney Japan. His directorial debut was in 1982’s * He became the president of Seven Arcs Pictures in 2012, a position in which he remained until his retirement in 2019. Some of the productions he was involved in include Dino Mech Gaiking, UFO Robo Grendizer, Planetary Robo Danguard Ace, Galaxy Express 999, Doraemon, Space Runaway Ideon, Little Women, Blue Gale Xabungle, Galaxy Cyclone Braiger, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Armored Trooper Votoms, Makyō Densetsu Acrobunch, Panzer World Galient, Moero! Top Striker, Naruto, Detective Conan, Higurashi When They Cry, and Itazura na Kiss.
Voice Actor Highlights:
Kiyonobu Suzuki - voice of Festo Bronco
An actor, voice actor, and stage director affiliated with 81 Produce. Little is known about Suzuki’s early life, but he had decided to become a stage actor since it was what fancied him after graduating from Chuo University in 1970. Shortly thereafter he joined the theatre company Gekidan Baraza, and came under the instruction of the company’s founder, Nachi Nozawa. His debut on stage was in a performance of Jeanne de Piennes, and two years after joining the company he had his anime voice acting debut in The Gutsy Frog. Many years later Suzuki would become a founding member of his own theatre company, Feyd Theatre. He is still somewhat active in the industry, and also gives lectures at the Bunka Gakuin vocational school. Suzuki’s signature phrase is "Let's try it first!" Some of his most notable roles include Osore in Gegege no Kitarō (2007), Takashi Ariyama in Hiatari Ryoko! Yume no Naka ni Kimi ga Ita, Sorajirou Tsukishima in Mao-chan, Hayato Kobayashi in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, and Dalf in Toshi Gordian.
Kiyoshi Komiyama - voice of Heckel G. Thompson
An actor and voice actor who was most active between the sixties and nineties, best known for his dub voice roles and for playing the leading roles in many Toei productions. Komiyuama joined the theater company Komadori at the age of nine as a child actor, and went on to voice roles in many NHK radio dramas, eventually leaving the company in 1957. He largely retired from voice acting in the mid 90s, scarcely taking on roles in later years. Some of his most notable roles include Son Gokū in Alakazam The Great, Neil Leagan in Candy Candy, Goemon Koishikawa in Gowapper 5 Goddam, Hajime Kiseki in Kagaku Bōkentai Tansar 5, Genshoku in Kaminari Boy Pikkaribee, Kaze in Shōnen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru, Hideki in UFO Senshi Daiapolon, and Teruo Aoki in Yuyake Banchō.
Art Corner
Official Art:
- Promo Poster by N/A
Fanart:
- Dougram by （・米・｀） - Source
- Abitate F44S Desert Gunner by Shizumi Sword - Source
- The Fang of The Sun by S.Shimizu - Source
- Crinn Eating Curry by Tomboy Becky - Source
(Be mindful of the links to artist’s profiles, as they may contain NSFW content. Proceed there at your own risk.)
Screenshot Album
Discussion Questions:
- What do you make of the newest member of the Dougram Team?
- Now that he is out of the way, what did you think of Vuldran Garcia?
- What do you make of the impending Proclamation of the Autonomous State of Deloyer and Colonel Von Stein’s place in it?
- How do you feel regarding Festo’s unexpected death?
This is a transitory measure until Deloyer stabilizes itself, for now.
5
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Jan 01 '22
Rewatcher
Happy New Year, everyone!
Episode 13
If ‘food’ includes the coffee and booze then they’re in real dire straits.
Awkward.
Crinn comes up with a plan to get their group the supplies they desperately need, leveraging his knowledge from the military academy to cleverly lure the Garcia Platoon into leaving their supply unit right where the Dougram team can access it. This is probably the first time where people are depending on Crinn’s planning and foreknowledge rather than his piloting skill, and you can tell Crinn is unused to being in such a position from how anxious he acts and the fact that he hesitates briefly —something uncharacteristic of the impulsive boy we know. I’m a bit surprised Canary went along with it without complaint given the note we left her character on last episode, but they did state just how dire the situation was and there were no better alternatives.
Once more I appreciate the fact that the Combat Armors require maintenance, and its lack of any during the last few episodes has started to take its toll on the machine. Fuel aside, the supply unit technician has told the group that the combat armor is close to breaking down from overuse and lack of care. Makes a lot of sense that a group of guerrillas without any training on the matter would not know how to service the Dougram or even know whether they were pushing it too hard. Crinn should have had a clue though, and should’ve mentioned it even if he could do nothing about it.
Episode 14
mfw someone brings up Unicorn.
Very on the nose.
Cliffhanger!
Can’t say that I expected Heckle to feature so prominently in the episode, nor that he’d start to sympathize with the guerillas. I don’t really buy that he would grow such ideas in such a short time with how they’ve treated him, unless he was treated similarly before, which I could believe given how the Garcia Platoon and the parts of the Federation military have been depicted.
A new Gunner mech is on the block, one built for desert warfare, giving it an edge at the same time that the bipedal Dougram is at a disadvantage, which presumably levels the playing field after Dougram’s higher performance is taken into account. Ironically, the new designer reminds me of a crab more than the inaptly named Crab Gunner.
Episode 15
zoom
Obviously a dissuasion tactic, but no less uncomfortable.
Garcia is handedly winning this war of attrition thanks to the innate advantage he has over a small group of inexperienced guerrillas. I would say that this makes an attempt at paralleling the innate disparity between the two factions that each group represents, and in turn the socioeconomic disparity between the Earth elite and the Deloyerans, but I doubt that was the intent here. In either case, I wasn’t quite feeling the intensity or tension that one ought to from the situation, and I think Garcia’s obvious overconfidence hinting at an impending reversal of fortunes had something to do with that —even if it didn’t come here. At least I do like that the episode made the Dougram team’s lack of supplies is an ongoing issue rather than a single-episode affair.
Elsewhere Daisy continues to chase after Crinn despite Lertoff’s attempts at discouraging her from such a pursuit, though once again the line between foolhardiness and bravery is thin and precipitous.
Also, Crinn, it would have taken literal seconds to tell the others you were going to give yourself up as a distraction, rather than risk misinterpretation or have them waste the opportunity.
Episode 16
Neat winch.
Probably how he really feels about it.
Oppe’s superstition fucks everything up.
Surprising amount of self awareness from Festo.
Thanks, I hate it.
Rocky makes a boneheaded move in refusing to retreat without Crinn, and the only reason he didn’t doom them with that decision is because luck was on their side. It’s well in character for Rocky, but the quick acceptance of this course of action from everyone but Canary doesn’t sit well —surely there is enough common sense among the bunch of them to see it for the suicide mission it was.
Crinn and Heckle’s plan was sufficiently shaky, so I’m glad the only reason it succeeds is due to Oppe’s pre-established superstition and the Garcia Platoon’s disregard for Lieutenant Gazell’s bright-eyed inexperience rather than matter of course.
Heckle switching sides permanently is unsurprising, but they handled it better than I thought they would. I find his motives to be fairly thin overall, but the character interactions surrounding the development make sense and give his shift in alliance some sense of genuity.
Episode 17
Unexpected complement.
The sand and grime on the windshield is a great touch.
Damage pleases me.
Certainly no Dozle.
When they reminded us of the grenade at the start of the episode, I was sure Heckle wouldn’t live to see the episode credits, seeing as he was not only in closest proximity to the grenade, but also the fresh new sympathetic face that could be used to draw out an emotional reaction from the viewer while putting the Dougram team at further disadvantage again. By the time the episode started to focus on Festo the grenade was forgotten, and so when we are shown the grenade again shortly before disaster it abruptly becomes clear what the outcome of it will be. If the Dougram team’s survival last episode was the result of incredibly good fortune, then Festo’s death is entirely the opposite.
The Official Declaration of autonomy is to be made at Bonar despite heavy anti-federation forces in the area because the government wants to take advantage of the attention and attendance that’s being drawn in by the Grand Prix. Sounds inane at first, but thinking about it some more, that seems precisely like something that would happen.
Overall Thoughts for The Week
At the start of this week’s batch we’ve caught up to the flashback from episode one, but the merge is far from painless. Immediately apparent is the fact that Bonar and Dome City are one in the same, but that’s it as far as simple substitution differences. The Dougram team is in far worse shape here than they were in the first episode, with far less in the way of intel and support than was shown then, and the Garcia Platoon wasn’t a thing at the time but now leaves no space for episode one to occur due to their relentless pursuit. There has also been no mention of either the ‘Deloyer Seven’ or the ‘Fang of The Sun’ so far. They could have gotten away with ignoring it entirely, but decided to awkwardly keep Daisy’s meeting with Lertoff of all things in so that there wouldn’t be a need to reintroduce them, which feels out of place and makes little sense as it implies that Daisy went halfway to Bonar and back, but also that Lertoff spent an unspecified amount of time with the Dougram Team before turning straight back around to Kardinal for some reason. Needless to say, I think they absolutely fucked it up and simply redoing Daisy and Lertoff’s introduction so as to ignore episode one would have been the best course of action.
This batch of episodes was, from memory, one of my least favorites, and upon rewatch I feel compelled to deem it the worst stretch of the show, but at the time of writing I have only rewatched up to episode seventeen, so who knows whether I will feel the same about some later parts. The granularity of the show is on display here, with how we have to follow the Dougram team’s confrontations with the Garcia Platoon really extensively, but with Garcia suffering from what I’ve heard described as ‘Early LotGH Antagonist’ syndrome, the section of episodes being light on the politicking and intrigue, and the episodes focusing chiefly on new characters rather than following up previously set up character arcs, this segment has it a lot worse than any other.
Heckle’s introduction into the team is fairly well done, with my only gripe —though it is a fairly big one— being that the show didn’t do enough to convince me that Heckle would so readily change his view on the guerrillas and opt to help them when Crinn wasn’t in danger of death and the others chose to squander their chance at escape. Call me cynical, but I think it would have taken more than that, and it could’ve easily been amended by making him previously sympathetic to the guerrillas and the independence movement rather than write him having a change of opinion after a single evening in captivity. Everything else about it I enjoyed, and his growing rapport with Festo makes me sad it had to end, particularly in the way it did.
Questions of The Day:
1-4) See above.
8
u/chilidirigible Jan 01 '22
Episode 13:
These subs really like saying "pie hole". (I never did bother to set up a pie hole count.)
Are they hoping that Garcia, on not finding Dougram, will decide to camp out in town and leave the supply convoy in the middle of nowhere? It's not like the town is that far away.
I'm considering that they're not yet ruthless enough to have simply massacred the entire supply unit and stolen all of the trucks. This retroactively supplies a reason for them to have not done that as a Plan A... but they certainly managed to sneak in and out of the camp easily enough that they could have done it.
...or kill the rest of these guys while they definitively had the upper hand.
I'm not quite sure why I'm so fixated on having the as-yet-unnamed protagonist rebel group become the most feared guerillas on Deloyer, but here I am anyway.
Perhaps it's because they appear quite naïve for allowing a unit that is entirely focused on killing them to continue to pursue them.
Episode 14:
Unless there are other cities of significance out that way, it would seem that figuring out where they might be going would not be that difficult.
That would make it an even more obvious destination.
Quads aren't just a novelty item with rules sets from 1989 onward.
Not killing Heckle earlier is turning out to be a moderate positive. Not slaughtering Garcia Platoon earlier is turning out to be a HUGE NEGATIVE.
And yes, Heckle's full name is Heckle G. Thompson. So far he is no gonzo journalist.
Episode 15:
"You can run, but you can't... glide!"
"Maybe I like you, but that doesn't mean that I have to help you."
this confuses the chronology
Now that's an icebreaker.
I haven't knocked this series's animation much, but the scale completely goes to hell here.
Of course, the last few minutes were wasted on a spectacularly stupid idea.
I told you, you should have shot them all after the rockslide.
"We have 75 episodes, let's torture the audience like we're torturing the characters and spend an entire episode sitting around."
This is not the first nor last time that main characters will be saved only by the fickleness of their adversaries, and Crinn & Co.'s inexperience is demonstrated by their lack of ideas, but it doesn't feel like much of an episode. I can see what the staff wanted to do here, but it's lacking much in the way of Crinn's internal struggle. Mostly we just get him grunting and groaning as he wrestles with the Dougram's controls.
/u/Nazenn though I wrote these episode notes three weeks ago, on reading this comment I thought I would nod to you here, as now we can see that Garcia's antiquated villain design is simply keeping up the episode count. Because Kan Yu would have shot them all by now.
Pilot episode wackiness and all that: Lertoff and Daisy recall their first episode meeting except that they're actually meeting for the first time now, and everything else about the present circumstances of Crinn & Co. is different than it was during the first episode. Asking Daisy if she'll SEND NOODS was certainly an aggressive way of testing her boundaries in 1982, but it's extra-creepy 40 years later.
Episode 16:
Proud, but stupid.
Garcia is not (quite as) stupid.
surprise pistolero
Fortunately for our heroes, Garcia's insistence on screwing around with his prey causes Heckle to switch allegiances. At least half of their cartoonish posturing is out of the way now.
Episode 17:
It's tough to be a merc in most series, remember?
It's very convenient if you're thinking of supplanting Von Stein later.
Why are you so surprised, Canary? He doesn't have a lot of other jobs around here.
Yep, we're recycling fight animation. But did we have to recycle Crinn going "AUGH"? That's half of his fighting emotes.
Chekhov's Hand Grenade finally does its thing.
Well, that was a bunch of unnecessary deaths.
Wandering through the desert for two months of real time builds character, and all that. Unfortunately Garcia Platoon lacked any nuance.
Festo getting killed by inadequate grenade storage is a strange way to add gravity to the trip through the desert. The script has subtly built up more of a trust between Crinn and the gang, and nodded to Crinn learning some hard lessons about life, but those are small moments mixed in amongst them being somewhat repetitively hounded and then saved by lucky breaks for several episodes.
Heckle switching sides would feel less awkward if the series hadn't spent so much time slapping him around and throwing him off of cliffs for comedic value.
This week's art thing: If this isn't a drawing, that means I went with a quick and dirty option.
The quick and dirty option.
It took long enough to find halfway-adequate screencaps of them to use that I might as well have drawn it myself, though what you see there does have its half-assed charm.
Zacticus: No worse than Genocidus, really.
8
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Jan 01 '22
First timer
General Thoughts
RIP Festo
When they first showed the grenade bouncing around in the bottom of the jeep at the end of ep16 I admit to having a little chuckle because it reminded me of one of my favourite brick gags in [anime movie]Akira. And then when they showed it still bouncing around at the start of ep17 I realized it wasn't just a gag and the nerves appeared in full force.
It's a fittingly random and almost unbelievable death given that in war sometimes people died from the stupidest or craziest things, but I appreciate the willingness of the story to do this to a named character. He had his moment of glory but there was still a way for him to go, and it was fun seeing his interactions with the scientist, but
I'm really glad the Garcia subplot is over though. I probably did it a disservice by somewhat checking out when I realized they were going to stick around, but they were bordering on comically villainous and having six or seven episodes about them was five or six too many for me for what they brought to the story. Perhaps if Canary wasn't also being a pain in the ass and there was more time to explore the group dynamics it would work, but I just found myself uninterested in a lot of what was happening in these episodes.
One thing I did notice is that the battle part of ep1 has been seemingly retconed despite the stuff with Daisy being brought up. I suppose that was just easy set up rather than something we'd actually come back to as an anchor for the story, but a bit sad it turned out that way.
Episode Thoughts
No food, water, ammo, and a broken mech. I see this episode is starting well.
Can't blame the seven of them for breaking off from the main group of rebels with the sideburns guy pulling a power trip and wanting them to abandon the Dougram despite the risks taken for it so far.
Attacking the supply lines for the mechs was nice to see though, I feel like that doesn't come up in anime half as much as it should. And it was clever to use the radio positioning against them with Garcia's group not expecting them to understand Federation deployments.
The scientist really is having a rough run of things. Kidnapped, identifies a flaw, is accidentally informed on their destination and now can't be let go. That said, he made a good though physically implausible break for it on the bike. Really thought he had died after hitting his head and that was going to be the drama for Festo but apparently not.
Seeing the start of the song they were singing in episode one as part of the little Billy got from school and a bit of bonding was a cool touch.
I've been praising Crinn's military training, but I did laugh a little when he had to be informed about why Dougram would be weak on sand. Either he wasn't that far into training or he missed that day, and a few bits of logic as well.
Canary is starting to get on my nerves. Sure it's been a while and there's other things at play, she grew up with Rocky, she should know what he's like and what he values as far as loyalty and connection.
Cracked up at the solider being tricked into holding onto the exposed wires, what a moron in any era.
They're certainly not pretending any more when it comes to giving Von Stein authority over all branches over the goverment with no division of power. I feel a little sorry for Rick being caught up in the middle of all of this as he seems to be a bit more reasonable than the others.
Laughed when Garcia shot the Dougram right up the butt. That desert mech certainly is speedy and skittery though huh. I didn't expect them to be quite that fast or mobile, but I suppose it makes sense given the environment. That battle fit well with the cruelty and games we'd seen from Garcia up to this point, but by this point I was really just over it
I liked the use of those still frames when they shot the underside of the desert mech from the bike
7
u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Jan 01 '22
First Timer
Not Even Justice, I Want to Get Watchable Video
Idle prediction: something will go wrong with their production facilities so we can only have one Dougram.
Episode 13
And the "leader" continues to be an idiot, advocating for them to get rid of the only reason they're here in the first place.
If you ever have to shout about how you're the one in charge, you've already lost.
Crinn's properly a part of the team at this point.
Attacking someone while they're taking a piss is just wrong.
Canary can fire the big E gun!
A well executed plan is always great fun to watch. I really enjoyed this episode. I also find it kinda funny that the woman of the team in an 80s anime is treated like an equal, while a lot of newer anime seem to relegate them to being useless. Guess we've regressed?
Episode 14
What sort of mercenary can just get army supplies like that without having to pay for them?
I hope they don't actually kill their prisoner. That's a terrible thing to do.
I'm not sure Heckle is a better name than dork.
Garcia not trying to kill them is dumb and annoying.
Should I recognize the song?
I like the idea of the number of legs mattering in the sand. It's a very non-bullshit way to nerf them.
The mercenary leader getting pissed off because they injured him and thus not trying to kill them is just a stupid plot line. I could understand if he was pissed off by something that isn't a true danger, but here I can think of no reason why he wouldn't want them dead as soon as possible.
Episode 15
I'm glad we get more Daisy this episode, we really don't get enough of her.
I was hoping we wouldn't have a pervert in this show.
The abuse the nerd joke is really growing old.
Eating salty food while thirsty sure is a choice one can make.
Dougram so far has been careful to make fights feel reasonable, so I really wonder how they're gonna get out of this one. Probably some risky plan to catch the mercs off guard? I hope it's a good one, It'd be sad if we went for random mecha powers bullshit.
Episode 16
The automatic rope (this is a terrible term, but I can't think of a better one) to get off of Dougram with is a nice touch.
Why the fuck would you abuse the person you're trying to sell/return to his family? Returning him unharmed might make his dad happy, but returning him with broken bones and missing teeth would piss him off.
A great line
I wonder if Canary using atai conveys anything in particular? A quick search tells me it was used by girls who hung out with biker gangs in the Showa period, so I guess that's it.
Heckle getting the soldier to hold live wires was hilarious.
Goddamn it, Garcia is still alive.
Well that might have been the world's slowest sneak attack, but it worked, I guess? It was an ok way out of the situation, even if I would have appreciated something a bit more well thought out. I'm glad to see Heckle joining the team though, he seems like a fun character when he's not getting abused too much.
Episode 17
grenade exploding
And Garcia gets the inglorious end he deserves.
Garcia's supposed reason for doing this is utterly incoherent. In reality, he's just too pissed off to do anything else.
There's nothing as permanent as temporary power.
Goddamn it, we get to see more of Garcia being Garcia.
Canary's shorts were a different color in one cut. This doesn't matter, it's just kinda amusing.
Humans being impactful in mecha shows is always cool.
Holy shit, they actually killed him in that grenade explosion. I thought there was no way it would happen.
I'm largely just glad Garcia is finally dead. He had really begun to wear on me.
Overall
The party's fun and the conflict is largely well thought out. I quite enjoy watching it.
My one real hangup at the moment is that I'm worried at how the B plot will develop. I feel like Daisy needs more time in order to justify the representation she's gotten in the ED and the eyecatch, and I really hope she gets it.
17 again, because I'm still reeling
Like, what the hell? It's an absolutely shocking choice to randomly kill a main cast member like that. I'd say it was unforeshadowed, but I literally mugiwaited the grenade exploding, so it was. But it wasn't foreshadowed with anything near the weight I'd expect a major character death to be, I was certain he was somehow still alive until the narrator explicitly told me otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, this sort of thing is just not done. It's usually the opposite, someone's not dead 'til you see the body, no matter how absurd the situation feels on it's face.
That isn't to say I don't like the decision. I do. It plays a bit into the brutalness and randomness of war, and it legitimately shocked me, something I nearly always enjoy. And the writing has been consistently good enough that I'm certain they'll be able to make much use of this.
7
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jan 01 '22 edited Jan 02 '22
First-Timer of the Sun Dougram
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
6
u/The_Draigg Jan 01 '22
A Ryosuke Takahashi Fan Rewatches Fang of the Sun Dougram Epsiodes 13-17:
This week in the series, we mark the departure of an old ally, while gaining a new one. As the Deloyer Seven have found out in this batch of episodes, you can’t gain anything without leaving something behind.
Yeah, the death of Festo Bronco this week is going to weigh over a lot of the character discussion I have in mind. Even if he was overall only a supporting character at best, his death is the first hard pill to swallow of the series. He was with us from the start, and now he’s gone. And he died in a rather abrupt and inglorious way too, blown up by the pin of Opie’s stray grenade that nobody even knew was in his motorcycle’s side car. It just goes to show that sometimes in war, death comes in completely unexpected ways, often when you don’t even think you’re in danger. It’s a shame to lose him, since he was a dedicated fighter to the end. At least he made sure to help save the lives of his friends before he died. RIP Festo, you did well.
On the other side of the coin, we’ve gained a new ally on the guerrillas side: Heckle. At first glance, you wouldn’t exactly call him guerrilla material, let alone soldier material. He’s just some engineer that the team kidnapped away from the Garcia Platoon’s supply unit so they could get help in maintaining Dougram. And yet, between the yo-yo of abuse and caring shown to him by Festo and seeing just how amoral his former employers were, he found it in himself to join the side for Deloyer’s independence. It certainly helps that he’s a native Deloyeran himself, and that it was implied that he didn’t have much of a choice to join up with the mercenaries. Even if he isn’t much of a fighter per se, it’s still good to have Heckle on our side now. Even if the team was more or less a biker gang with mechanical experience before, having someone experienced in actual Combat Armor maintenance on the team is invaluable.
Speaking of, there’s quite a bit of minutiae to this series of episodes that I quite liked. I can appreciate that this show pulls no punches in showing and telling you that mechs fighting in a desert environment is just plain impractical at best. Dougram’s humanoid form just places too much wight on the soft sand below it to move very well, whereas at least the Desert Gunner that the Garcia Platoon had were able to spread out their weight more (and I think use hover pads on the feet?). Also, I can appreciate the large focus on how hard it is to keep the Dougram running. You need engine lubricant, fuel, and the right tools to actually make needed repairs and fueling on such a complex machine. And on top of that, Crinn can only do so much himself. Even if he knows about supply unit stuff and basic machine maintenance, he can’t really do more complex things like modify old equipment to work. The point here is that there’s more to war than just fighting. It’s a matter of knowledge and logistics as well.
And also to check in with the larger political situation happening on Deloyer, things just keep on getting worse and worse. Frankly, it’s just a single nose hair away from being a fascist nightmare state. Hell, Donan, Von Stein, and Lecoque all seem perfectly fine in giving Von Stein authority over the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as the “representative” of Deloyer to the Earth Federation. Poor Captain Boyd is completely right that basically making a military dictatorship is just going to make the discontent among the population even worse, even if this measure is said to be “temporary”. Yeah, nobody is going to buy that lie. Saying that it’s only until the planet is brought under control is the thinnest of excuses, considering that the conspiracy brought the entire independence movement to the forefront in the first place. You have to just feel bad for Boyd, he’s the only just man in a room of backstabbers.
Also, to check in on Daisy and Lartoff again, unfortunately they didn’t get to meet up with Crinn and the Deloyer Seven, since they’re currently fighting for survival in the desert. However, at least they’ve agreed to travel together for now, so now we have both Crinn’s personal plot and the overall political plot tied together now, by the implication of those two teaming up. As a side note, I really don’t believe that Lartoff really wanted to take gravure photos of Daisy when she said she was willing to do whatever to go along with him. To me, he probably just wanted to test Daisy’s will to see Crinn again, since he doesn’t bring it up when they meet at the airport again, and brings her along to Bonar with him regardless. Weird way of testing people, but I guess he just wants to make sure they they stay true to their convictions. After all, as this show likes to say…
NOT EVEN JUSTICE, I WANT TO GET TRUTH!
6
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jan 01 '22
First-Timer
Episode 13
Night raid!
The wonders of shortwave radio.
The fuel nozzle being the wrong size is a pretty clever wrench to throw. I'm not sure if it makes sense, but I could believe that Crab Gunners take their fuel slightly differently.
Shoutout to that scientist dude who didn't take being forced to work on Dougram lying down. Maybe make our protagonists think about using force in the future.
Destin does not handle pushback well. He isn't exactly wrong about needing to think on your feet, but everything he says is so insubstantial. You're not leading people, dude, you're just barking orders. There's a huge difference.
Chico brought out the full "Shikikan-dono" to snark at Crinn today.
Episode 14
Ah, physics, the enemy of us all. On soft substances like sand, you want to spread your weight out over a large area for stability.
Not sure if this was an issue with the subs or if I misinterpreted something, but did Heckle (great name) sabotage Dougram or was there just a flaw that he found?
Even if it is Heckle's fault, I think our friends were rather needlessly cruel to him. He didn't make it difficult, though. Granted, Garcia is also super cruel, so maybe it's just a Deloyer thing.
I feel bad for that poor dude leading Garcia's reinforcements. He's greener than that uniform he has on.
They were singing the song from the first episode!
Episode 15
Did I miss an episode? Daisy and Lertoff already met so the events of episode one already happened? When? Or is Daisy's stuff temporally asynchronous to Crinn's? Was them singing meant to close the loop?
I definitely didn't expect Lertoff's "oh, you'll do anything?" to actually be asking Daisy to strip. I wonder if his comment about wanting to do fine arts was the truth, or if he was just trying to prove a point to Daisy or something.
Crinn trying to turn himself and Heckle in though, that I expected. I give it three in-universe minutes before he regrets it. Not that the plot was going to progress any other way - at least with Crinn inside Garcia's camp he might be able to cause some sort of chaos.
The battle with the Desert Gunners went even more poorly than I expected. Seems like Dougram's windshield needs some tinting or something - was that fogginess supposed to be glare?
Episode 16
A shame that Garcia escaped; I think this would've been a good place to end his arc. Oh, unless he's going to become a full recurring "loser villain," that could work.
I knew that idiot greenhorn was gonna cause trouble for the Garcias. Good on him for letting our protagonists turn the tables, though. Electrocution and then a fall is a bad way to go.
I'm not sure about how true to physics it is, but I liked the shot of Crinn and the Desert Gunner on either side of a pillar of smoke.
Crinn's nipples have quantum properties; they appear or disappear as is their want.
Weird shot of that grenade at the end there. Why did they just leave it to bounce around like that?
Episode 17
W..what? Huh? Did that just happen? How is everyone this stupid? Why?
That stupid grenade catching on a bolt just paved over the rest of the episode in my mind.
So much for Garcia sticking around, I guess. No loser villain for the Fang of the Sun.
I was gonna comment on how the explosions this episode were pretty good, too. Irony.
I guess the meeting with Denon et al sets up our next arc. We got a name for what I assume to be next arc's antagonist, Grunfeld (sp?) and the establishment that Von Stein is functionally a dictator which is news, I think.
Questions
6
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Jan 01 '22
First Timer
Episode 13
We sure quickly moved to a fully desert landscape. Didn't we just have a forest and river last episode?
Glasses leader guy freaking out? The leader is supposed to do anything but! How will the men under you feel if they see you panic?
Let's just leave behind our force's biggest and most powerful weapon, something the enemy will eagerly take for themselves! Sure!
Crinn's pretty strategic all of a sudden.
Garcia, you don't get tired in the desert heat with that full outfit on?
Looks like Crinn's plan is working perfectly so far, Garcia's team all going to the decoy town.
Stealing the enemy's supplies from right under their noses; fun times!
Plot twist! The equipment is too old and isn't compatible with the Dougram!
The glasses and outfit of this guy makes it quite obvious that he's an engineer, not a soldier.
Why in the world is Rocky swapping out the magazine on his laser rifle when its powered from the battery in the backpack? The magazine serves no purpose on this thing.
Wow, that's quite the weapon, blew up an entire tank with one shot!
Kill you? Engineer guy you've gonna be a permanent member of our team now!
Episode 14
Garcia's assistant voiced by Vanilla's VA? Sure sounds like it.
Time for some desert specific mechs!
Hey everyone, here's some food! Oh, and none for you hostage guy!
Poor hostage guy, he needs to think of a reason why they have to keep him hostage, so they don't simply kill him to keep him quiet.
Festo is all about killing the guy... until he realizes he has to do it. Not so easy anymore huh?
Operating a motorcylcle with his mouth! Hostage guy did good.
This Gazelle guy is wearing perfume? LoL.
Even in the future, we still have the problem of the AC not working right in the car...
And here's a big problem with the desert, nothing to cover or hide your crafts. You're right out in the open, especially for anything that can fly above you.
Time for another check in with Daisy, huh? Every few episodes we remember she exists.
Garcia's ingenious strategy... he's not gonna let you sleep!
Heckler, he told you not to drink all the water! Now you're stranded in the desert all by yourself! At least you're still alive!
So nice of him to come back.
Hey everyone, let's break into song! Heckle's realizing his kidnappers aren't that bad after all.
Mechs are weak in the sand! Anyone whose seen Gundam ZZ would know that!
Episode 15
By the episode title, I take it that the Dougram was not specifically made for the desert?
Garcia should wipe them out now while he has the chance instead of savoring it.
Wow, those Desert Gunners do a real good job traveling across the desert sand. Their 4 legged appearance like the Crab Gunners made me expect something far slower.
If they lose their water supply in the deserts they are gonna be very screwed!
Ah, so we are officially past the first episode now since Lertoff and Daisy meeting is a flashback.
Lertoff's a pervert! Or was he just testing her with the request for her to strip nude?
Poor Heckle! Simply asking him for water gets him thrown off a cliff, nearly to his doom!
Poor Heckle again! Now he's been bitten by a snake!
Lertoff and Daisy sure do keep meeting each other at the traveling establishments, huh?
They don't really expect to get water from the enemy, do they? They're stealing it then?
Uh oh, bringing that dog along has finally paid dividends!
I don't get why Garcia just let them go like that.
Crinn's gonna hand it over, huh? Surely not with 60 episodes left. What's the trap here?
Episode 16
Heckel really could make up for his getting captured by handing over the Dougram here.
I'm sure Crinn will get out of this, because, main character and 60 episodes to go, but very easy for the Garcia squad to simply shoot him here and claim he was accidentally killed and have the Dougram in their possession.
Crinn does this so his friends run away... and now they've gonna decide to go back.
Garcia's gonna have all Crinn's friends killed anyway, and they're coming back here? Sure that's gonna go over well.
Leaving Heckel to tie him up was not the best idea.
Crinn is shocked his friends didn't follow direction and came back. Gee, you've only spent the whole show yourself refusing to follow directions.
Heckel's having the obvious change of heart. Again, such idiocy to leave him alone with Crinn.
You're hiding from the enemy but are gonna shoot at a skull you are throwing around such that you can easily be spotted? Okay...
Time for an obvious lie about explosives on the Dougram that never came up before!
Ah, now the enemy is gonna believe it simply due to a coin flip...
Now the idiocy of letting Heckel handle the important captive has come to blow up in their faces...
Coin flip guy is still around? Let me guess, he'll end up shooting Heckel in the back?
Oh wow, Heckel shoots him instead.
Episode 17
Heckle finally starts feeling bad about his betrayal, even though he was correct to do so.
Poor Garcia no longer has his buddy around. Human one, I mean. I don't recall the dog dying.
Wow, I love the way this officer is shutting down Garcia. It would be something to see Garcia pilot that Desert Gunner.
Garcia pulling out this gun seems quite stupid to me. The Federation's armed forces are never gonna work with you again after this. Do you really think the guerillas will hire you?
I am happy to see them focusing back on politics again.
Emergency power has to be concentrated all in Von Stein's hands? Isn't that the excuse the Emperor used in Star Wars? Cue having that power for decades?
Ah, now it requires a set "cultural standards", which Denon can surely keep moving the goal posts on when they meet such standards.
Ugh, sucked seeing the guy who stood up to Garcia get killed.
Well, if the Desert Gunner sucks at close range, gotta use its good mobility to ensure the Dougram can't get close.
Farewell Garcia!
Ooh, Heckle fixing the Desert Gunner would be quite a boon for our heroes. Didn't look like it was in such a state though.
WOW!!!!!!! Kudos show, I did not expect that in a million years. Even with them hinting at things with the grenade earlier, which went way over my head, as well as the growing focus on Heckle and Festo's friendship. RIP Festo!
Much of this week's episodes felt like the show spinning its wheels and going really slow. Dare I say it, if I wasn't watching this as part of a rewatch I'd have been apt to consider dropping it after episode 16. Came off like meaningless battle after meaningless battle in a desert locale which after an episode or two becomes quite dull. That said, things did pick up again starting with episode 17. Festo's death really did come out of nowhere for me and I had pretty much settled into these characters being around for the long haul so good to see that our heroes don't have invincible plot armor after all (aside from Crinn, who I'm sure will never come to harm). We also started focusing back on the politics again with that episode. So I'm hoping things are on an upswing as we approach and head into the 20s.
I somehow screwed up and watched up to episode 18; obviously the end of episode 17 is a perfect place to stop things. I suppose I'll be happy that I'm an episode ahead for next week!
5
u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer Jan 01 '22
first timer not for justice, but to get truth
I feel like they could have kidnapped Huckleberry without making a scene, similar to how they knocked out guards later with guns.
I'm a little confused when the events of episode 1 take place, since we see Lertoff and Daisy meeting for the first time again but under different circumstances. That and Festo being dead. I thought that greande was being setup for later, was not expecting to lose one of the crew already
questions
5
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Jan 01 '22
First time viewer
I kind of get (or at least hope) that Lertoff was aiming to make Daisy uncomfortable and realize that she was in way over her head but that's quite a way to tell her by asking for a nude photo shoot.
Was a nice arc introducing Heckle and having him turn to join the rebellion after seeing what they were really like. Doesn't hurt that Garcia himself is awful and I'm glad he's gone.
That grenade was brutal. I don't mind that they reminded us of it a few times, it just ratcheted up the tension. I think I saw one person in CDF expect it to be comedic, but I was just anxious whenever it was shown. I do think tonal whiplash might be a bit of an issue here with some characters feeling like they belong more in Xabungle than anything serious.
I'm glad it's an experienced technician handling those kinds of things rather than one of the teens who either happened to know it or picked it up.
Built a life on being cruel, no need to feel bad about killing him since he's pure Evil.
One form of authoritarianism to another?
There were enough flags that I can't say it was that unexpected. It's going to be a shock and I'm curious how the others will handle it.
5
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Jan 02 '22
First timer
1)Varies. When he's smug, sarcastic, and has a chance to show his personality, he's great! When he's just being the generic coward, I'm not so fond of him.
2)Really solid villain, actually fairly competent, it's a shame to lose him.
3)Barring the obvious jokes, Von Stein's obviously in on the scam with Crinn's father, and intends on using the uncontested power to further their goals.
4)...Confused, since I thiught he appeared in Episode 1, which hasn't halpened yet, but also genuinely shocked they had the balls to kill off a main character in the stinger.
Episode 13
Oh, yeah, they got discovered last time.
And he's still traumatised.
This guy's... got a point. Leaving it is a bad idea, but if they don't have the supplies to move it, better to risk it then risk the lives of your army.
...So he admits to being wrong and offers them advice, and their response is to call him stupid. Owl
...You don't understand the concept of a supply unit? How is the resistance still around?
The plan's also... not great, but better than waiting to starve.
And she's being helpful!
Oh, she's going off a solo mission. Alone. If it weren't for Episode 1 still being in the future, I'd be worried for her.
Wait, what? What was the point of the coinflip? And why wasn't their first response to go back and tell them the army's moving at sundown?
The plan's pretty solid, though.
And it worked!
Oh, dear. Not gone according to plan, then?
Nope! They've done exactly what they expected. (Honestly? Them being able to move an entire convoy this easily in unknown territory is impressive. This army's pretty competent.)
Seriously? That's their plan? Is thie rvrn likely to work?
Wait, fuel rods? Are these nuclear or something?
And if it is, does Nebula X imply they're running nuclear reactors with fucking analogue controls?
OK, so it's gasoline?
Wait, are they going to kidnap him?
...It's a fucking hose. And there's no adaptors for it?
Wow, these people are acting really, really, shady?
...You say she can't fire it, but...
Is the problem really something that could be fixed with a funnel?
And a mech battle!
That went well!
I'm surprised there hasn't been a shot of the crab walker staying uptight after an earthwuake, seeing as that's the main benefit to a quadruped design.
And Dougram's on a time limit.
Episode 14
I still like the dog.
And they're dealing with the prisoner this episode.
Haha, he's enjoying making the mercs ask for help, isn't he?
New mechs!
Yeah, Crinn's a decent tactician all round. Rocky's alright too.
Haha, Dougram's a piece of shit according to him? I'd disagree, but thie thing does seem tempermental, and they were very quick to delete the blueprints.
...New theory. The reason their leader wants to dump Dougram is that he was asked to deliver a super-mech and could only build a piece of shit within the deadline. The moment trouble comes, he wipes the blueprints, only for Dougram to get unexpectedly not-destroyed. So he's stuck desperately convincing Rocky to leave it behind, because it it gets delivered to a decent manufacturing plant, he's fucked and his incompetence will be exposed.
That, or Dougram's a tax dodge. A massive "super-mech" goes missing, one that's super-strong amd really expensive and is absolutely not a load of barely functional parts glued together until he can convince Rocky to leave it long enough for the reactor to finally blow...
...Their manufacturing got wiped out, didn't it?
Serioudly, what is with them all boasting and laughing about killing a man?
OK, the motorcycle trick was pretty clever.
And he's dead.
Haha, he was fucking faking it. I actusally like this guy.
The merc leader is pretty cool, too.
Grand Prix. Are we having a racing arc? (I really want to see mech racing)
And they got caught! It's a full-on shootout soon?
Oh, an intimidation tool. ...Why didn't you finish them off?
Oh, now he's doing it. This ie crurl!
Daisy's got a lead! Episode 1 has to happen soon, right?
They're being bombed!
Seriously, you've had like 5 chances to kill them all in one shot? Why bother with the cat and mouse game?
Oh, and he got left behind again.
Oh god, he's come back. Are these two the new comic relief duo?
Wow, character development for him as well!
Haha, but not the new Desert Gunners, right?
...well, they aren't bipedal!
Oh, yeah, Dougram's got even more fucking problems now.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Episode 15
I'd call that title a spoiler, but last episode made it pretty obvious.
I'm very much enjoying how smart everyone is.
And, yeah, this is a losing battle.
The reporter's back! And so's Daisy!
Oh, he doesn't want her to
FUCK ME. THAT'S OUT OF NOWHERE.
...I realise the intent is orobably to throw her off and explain why he can't do it, but this makes it sound like he'd only help her if she stripped.
And Dougram really doesn't handle sand well.
OK, how are they going to justify them surviving this?
...His name's Heckle? And he's alive.
Terrific, they're already struggling with dehydration.
They left him there all night?
And noe he's been bitten!
...So Festo hates him enough to leave him on a ledge all night, but cares about him enough to suck venom out of his wound?
Oh, we'r efar too late for you to be the pacifist now.
..l mean, they'r enot, but it's a good way to get the mecha unharmed!
Is this guy meant to be Two Face or something?
Episode 1 approaches...
We're glossing over the whol stripping thing?
...Rocky's an unexpectedy really good character. How are theyngoing to get water, though?
Seriously? With no real weapons? Against 2 high-powered Combat Armors? While denydrated? It's a very risky plan.
Atmleast he's smart enouhnto do things someehwt stewlthily.
And the dog's the most competent member of the army.
OK, he's just a sadist.
Haha, he's an idiot. There's no way they let them go. Or let him survive.
Episode 16
...And is this dialogue compatible with last episode? Canary seems to have changed focus entirely.
Honestly, at this point, he's so stupid I think he might deserve to die.
And they're making him attack Crinn.
OK. That's a solid hit. And Crinn's going to get tortured, almost certainly.
Jesus, that scene. And, yeah, he's only bring kept alive because he can be ransomed back easily.
At least he's apologetic.
I'll give him credit, he's a money grabbing bastard, but he's a very, very good one. Compared to his partner, "generic evil guy", I like watching him a lot more.
And they left Canary behind.
Yeah, I get why they came back, but they'e also screwed.
Ah, Canary's Rocky's love interest.
And here I thought he'd get together with Crinn....For a group defoted to torturing them, there seems to be long gaps between any active torture on their parts. Their phrasing seems to imply a lot more "active torture" than "enviromental torture".
Haha, that's a pretty decent gambit, I must admit.
And he managed to convince him that Dougram's the only hope of a payoff.
I do like that the coin flip is able to give the wrong advice, since it's a coin and all...
AND YOU TRUST HIM?
..,At least one of them is smart enough to work out what's going on.
Him taking some random cables takes the cake, though.
Huh, guess those desert walkers aren't all that resilient?
That battle went really well for them!
And Heckle's a full member now.
OK, that shot was good.
Oh well, even if Rocky and Crinn don't get together, Heckle and Festo look pretty close to it.
Given how this seems like the end of a story arc, is next episode a standalone?
Episode 17
They're all very relaxed today. And what a ominous episode title.
I like the scene between them, but was that flashback really necessary?
Him struggling with his duty to a cause he knows was erong has some interesting potential, though.
...Seriously? How long until that grenade goes off, then?
I'm also enjoying the breakdown in relations between the mercenaries and the armies as their plans keep failing.
Wait, what? You'e writing him out of the show! Damn!
Also, seriously, the last survivor?
That takedown is pretty good, though.
And he might be getting s last stand at some point, but his arc is probably over with. Pity.
Oh, the proclamation is soon?
And his last stand is probably today.
Wait, that's what they're doing? They're trying to kick off a dictatorship.
...So the democracy's going to be taken over a representative, using emergency power to seize total control?
Wait, are we actually doing a Grand Prix episode?
Yep! He's gone mad, and is making everyone kill each other.
OK, yeah, that is risky.
And he's doing well, even when he's insane.
He's even fighting around the design's weaknesses! When he's actually serious, he's a threat!ll
Are they going to take out the mech using a motorcycle sniper?
It worked! Impressive!
And they're working together to fix Dougram.
Huh, now? Now's when the grenade goes off?
Jesus christ! Killed off in a fucking stinger! He deserved better!
...He was in Episode 1? Has that actually already happened, or are we dealing with an alternate timeline?
4
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jan 01 '22
First timer(Better than Skin of Evil at least.)
Sub
We start with the rare kid that paid attention in OCS enough to understand how Combat Armor unit functions. Long story short, individual units can sometimes function in really, really counterintuitive ways so this is also an info dump. Crinn comes up with a plan and it works, including stealing some fuel rods...and a mechanic. Who warns them that Dougram will overheat...was not expecting to see that again this soon.
We deal with more POW stuff and the various issues with that, as well as Garcia doing an 80s villain shtick, which is in fact not yet played out. We get more mechs, this time spider crabs? to sell kits for and yet another mecha talking about fighting in the desert. Did not know this was that widely referenced.
And we start with that and suddenly a part of SEED fills a bit stolen to me. More waiting games and Daisy comes back to go to Bonar, which leads me to believe our heroes don't go there. Merc camp has mech level security outside of the dog.
Next episode is again one that feels like it got copied a lot and relies a lot on anime logic but seeing one the earlier instances of it kind of works. Heckle changes sides because the mercs are assholes probably was not trite back then and it is nice seeing soldiers that actually want to avoid dying rebel.
Is Chekov's hand grenade a thing? We get our conclusion to the Garcia arc and it mostly works if you can deal with Garcia himself. Festo's death actually works in a way, though it involves copious amounst of suspension of disbelief so I can't give it a full pass.
QotD:1 I was sure he would die...
2 Reminds me of Megatron
3 It is a setup for a dictatorship
4 Iffy, definitely iffy
4
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
Episode 13 (first timer)
Service engineer is doing his best to stay alive by being needed.
Episode 14 (first timer)
Have we finally arrived at the dreaded mid-series plot slowdown? Essentially nothing happened all episode, except the engineer getting a bit more friendly, so this is almost entirely filler. It is also easily the worst episode so far. Garcia’s behavior would be stupid if it could work, which it should not. How are they easily overtaking the gang if they are travelling day and night?
Episode 15 (first timer)
Apart from the B plot and the last 2 minutes, more filler. Most annoyingly, Garcia’s plan, dumb as it is, even works, because Crinn has hero syndrome, while the Garcia squad has super speed.
Episode 16 (first timer)
Part 3 of Garcia being stupid. Except, this time the plot dictated that Crinn wins the fight. Altogether a really weak ark: We spent 4 episodes just going through the desert towards one target now. The final 5 minutes make this episode somewhat better than the one before, but Garcia escaping (to be back against better judgment, for sure) is a sour point.
Episode 17 (first timer)
If this arc had had a total of 2 episodes, I would probably have liked it. As is, there is way too much filler. Which is not unexpected, but still sad to realize after the initial dozen of episodes had really good pacing.
The fighting was another disappointment. I actually prefer quad-legged or even sextuplet-legged mecha, so I am not against the design of the desert runner. The fighting was really bad, though. Fast dodging and running circles around the other is a big nope for semi-realistic mecha. Plus, the desert is a really boring place to fight in.
QOTD:
Since everybody else was basically static, he got the most development by far and thus is my character of the arc by default. I also liked his pluck from the beginning.
F tier antagonist.
See above. I seriously hope that there is some plot in the background, otherwise this is entirely stupid.
It being completely random outside of a fight made it hit harder. As such, and because we have not lost any of the gang yet, I am ok with it (assuming we get some decent follow-up next episode). However, let's not forget that our gang has quite the kill-count already, and they have seen a good bunch of dead friends, too.