And how many drinks have you had tonight miss?
So it turns out the scene from last week wasn’t as romantic as it looked, although Alto did spout some pretty words which made Sheryl’s heart dokun dokun.
Hime to the rescue!
He asks her if she wants to still sing and she says she is alright, but ends up falling and so Alto catches her. Alto tells her not to lie to herself, after all how will her songs reach all those people otherwise? He says that he too used to stand upon that stage so he can tell the difference between real and fake and of course its at this point that Ranka had walked in on them.
Alto’s words move Sheryl to tears, this time not tears of frustration.
Klan meanwhile wants to know where Mikhail’s heart lies (I won’t cry yet I won’t I’ll make it through this post! *stifles sobs*)
Just for randomness, because DAMN HE’S PRETTY!
As if bursting in on them like that wasn’t embarrassing enough for poor Ranka-chan, she apologizes and runs away only to fall down the stairs and begins to cry, rather pathetically I might add. In fact, Ranka isn’t very likeable in this episode at all. I don’t really find myself having much sympathy for her even though she’s suffering from a broken heart.
But maybe that’s just because Sheryl is so spectacular in this episode, showing so much growth and strength despite what’s been happening to her. Hime is definitely taking notice that’s for sure and if Ranka wants any hope of winning his heart she’s going to have to do a lot better than crying like a kid who had their lolipop stolen.
I guess this is the beginning of her downswing, much like how Sheryl had to hit rock bottom, Ranka will have to experience some kind of low before she can rise to the top triumphant. Because I really don’t feel like she’s going to continue to be this pathetic through to the end of the series, but while she may be able to salvage her musical career with some hard effort, I’m not so sure about her romantic aspirations.
Damn that had to hurt!
The sniper takes his shot at the President but the shot is blocked by a Varja who rips him in two, the attack has begun and the Varja are ruthless as usual.
The Ozma/Cathy tag-team go to work!
Leon isn’t too happy when the President calls him since he realizes his plan has been foiled and Cathy and Ozma prove what a kick ass combo they are as they use the distraction to get out of Leon’s clutches.
I totally love Cathy and Ozma as a couple, they are cute and compliment each other rvery well. Cathy is a strong woman and while she lost her way for a little while, when she dated that haircut challenged twat Leon. I think she’s finally back on the right track and as long as he can make it through the series alive, now that Ozma is relaxing on the big brother bit a little, that might mean this time round he has more time to devote to Cathy 
I think Bobby will be okay at losing his dear Ozma to someone as long as its Cathy and Ozma is happy.
*There, there Bobby, its okay*
Alto finally runs after Ranka and begs her to sing to pacify the Varja, to protect the city, for everyone‘s sake. But she’s still upset over seeing him and Sheryl together and says that she can’t. She cries that she isn’t an instrument to fight the Varja and says that she’s had enough.
Seriously although you probably should be feeling bad for her, really all you feel is irritation. You just wanna shake her THIS ISN’T THE TIME!!!!! Suck it up, put it aside and fighto!
Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Nanase is really jealous right about now.
Thankfully Sheryl answers our prayers and quite literally slaps some sense back into Ranka, hugging her close and telling her that she needs to calm down. She tells Ranka that she understands having your heart in a song but she’s a professional and must do what she can. She tells Ranka that her song has power, a power she could never have even if she wished for it.
Finally the combined efforts of Sheryl and Alto pay off and Ranka returns to the top of the building to sing. As she does so though she thinks about how her chest hurts and instead of pacifying the Varja, they fight even more viciously than before.
I have to say Ranka-wise this week, EPIC FAIL, in my opinion as she is right now, she just isn’t deserving of Hime.
Away from all the action Grace notes that the emotion factor of Ranka’s song is -7.3 just as waves of little Varja fly out of nests. Ozma notes that the situation is just like that of 11 years previously.
This makes me wonder how everyone will react later when it eventually gets figured out that Ranka’s moods can control the Varja. I would particularly recommend staying away from Klan and well I’m a bit irritated as well, because we all know I share Klan’s fondess for a certain pretty boy sniper.
Leon gets in contact with Grace wanting to know if the current situation is her doing. But she tells him it isn’t although she had considered the possibility. She asks if he wants her aid in getting rid of the President but an annoyed Leon says he will deal with the situation himself.
I really enjoyed getting to see that smug look of Leon’s drop for once as Grace slapped him in the face with his ineptness.
This week’s eye catch *stifles sob*
Back in space the Quarter have been informed of the situation, but soon they too find themselves in the thick of it with Varja appearing everywhere.
Alto, Luca, Mikhail, Sheryl, Ranka and Nanase are all together with the guys fending off the attacking Varja with guns. Luckily because they are only small ones the guns are effective but with the ridiculous number the odds are against them.
As Sheryl looks on, Nanase tries to console a quiet Ranka, saying that it was okay because she wasn’t feeling well and tells her that she is the peoples hope. Luca chimes in saying that maybe the output wasn’t enough and that if they can get to SMS and find Canaria’s fold wave amp they might have better results.
And this is probably part of Ranka’s problem, because too many people are babying her and sugar coating everything. She’s never going to grow up if you make excuses for her, for crying out loud girl, stop hiding behind everyone!
The group decide the best course of action would be to head towards SMS headquarters.
Nanase gets hurt however and she and Sheryl get separated from the group. Alto attempts to go after them, but Sheryl tells him they’ll be fine and they should go and stop the chaos.
Alto still isn’t convinced but Sheryl’s fire seems to be back as she yells “who do you think I am” and so he leaves, dragging Ranka with him, telling Sheryl he will definitely come rescue her.
As they are running the warmth of Alto’s hand causes Ranka to remember something. She remembers how once before someone pulled her hand and it was warm and she sees a flash of small Brera.
You know its going to be really hard to win Alto-hime if you are going to think of Brera all the damn time…
Yes Mistress.
As for Brera he seems very concerned about Ranka and wants to go after her. Grace however says that the Varja will not harm the little Queen and forces Brera to do her bidding. She wants Brera to take care of the arriving Varja from space, since the destruction of the Frontier would mess up her plans. Brera eventually submits and remote activates his Valkyrie.
The fact he can remote control his VF-27 its totally freakin sweeeeet!
The President tells his subordinates to concentrate on finding Ranka and tells Leon that he has given all governmental authority to the battle frontier so he’ll be receiving his orders from there. Leon tells the President to leave it all to him as he has his lackeys open fire and gun President Glass down…
And Leon’s smug factor raises once again, although I still think he’s got a long way to go before he reaches the Magnificent bastard proportions of Grace. He took out one man, she took out an entire freakin planet. And that is why no-one can really respect you Leon, Grace has bigger balls than you do!
Back at the SMS base Mikhail is upset over a dead comrade so Klan tells him to calm down. Asking Luca what they have in the way of weapons, he gives them a quick rundown, a few basic EX-Gears and Valkyrie based weapons which gives Klan an idea.
Cathy’s Sorrow
Taking a short cut to the Battle Frontier, Ozma and Cathy come across the bloody body of President Glass, her father; poor Cathy, but at least she had Ozma there to comfort her
Klan is stripping in order to put her plan into action, it seems she intends to use the miclonization tank to revert back to her normal Zentradi state, which of course will allow her to use the Valkyrie weapons.
Before she gets into the chamber though she wants an answer from Mikhail to the question she had asked him earlier about where his heart lies.
CHU!
He tells her that its missing in action and he’s currently searching for it, that maybe he has just forgotten if it even exists. Klan calls him a coward and kisses him telling him that she likes him. She tells him to remember and yells out at Alto that he should remember too.
Klan is so kick ass ^-^ I’m glad she got her feelings out in the open and got to lay one on Michel-kun.
Sheryl brings hope
Finally we get to find out what happened to Sheryl, she is tending to the injured Nanase in a shelter, full of scared, angry and frightened people. Sheryl overhears a father talking to his child (the man is Canaria’s husband) He tells his son not to worry because his mother and her friends are out there fighting for them, and that he would give his life to save him. This strikes a chord with Sheryl who remembers Alto’s words from earlier, about how she shouldn’t give up because people wouldn’t be able to hear her music. She clasps her earring and begins to sing, with everyone stopping, they don’t think about how scared they are or what’s happening outside, they just listen to Sheryl’s voice. In this moment Sheryl really shines.
Her song continues to play as we see everyone fighting for their lives. Luca is checking over the fold wave amp and says its working. Mikhail is talking with Alto and says, “If you really care about someone, you’d give your life for them right?”
MICHEL-KUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you Klan
Varja go to attack Klan as she lies in the chamber and Mikhail goes to protect her. He successfully destroys one and Klan awakens and warns him of another. He deals with that one also only to have one jump up unexpectedly and spear him it breaks free and heads for Klan once again, so Mikhail goes after it. Holding on he fires repeatedly into it, with the fire opening a hole up in the hull. He apologizes to Klan for not be able to tell her until this moment, that, he likes her too, he, loves her… and then he gets sucked out into space. With the hull closes up Alto screams out his name as he futilely reaches for him.
And I’ll tell you right now, that the more Sakura watched it, the more that scene mad her sad. My pretty, pretty Michel-kun is gone! in fact typing this is making me misty eyed.
He went out with a bang and has probably one of the most emotional character deaths I’ve ever seen. He died protecting his loved one and proved once more what an awesome guy he was, its only a shame they waited until such an extreme situation to put their cards out on the table.
*sobs* What will I do without my pretty, pretty Michel-kun?
Sheryl singing Diamond Crevasse contines to play as the credits roll and it ends with a solitary shot of Mikhai’s broken glasses upon the floor.
Next week, Klan will take no prisoners…
Wipe them out, all of them
I agree Klan, they must suffer for taking away our beloved Michel-kun!
Ranka…even from the Ranka fangirl pov, Ranka was pretty much a failure this week. Though oddly enough, that made me happy. In every mech anime series…ever, when an otherwise nice girl has her selfish rock bottom moment, it’s not long until she gets her crazy character development and turns into SUPER DIVA OF LOVE AND PEACE!!! Or something.
Sheryl hit the bottom and is now at her best. Ranka goes the same way (but because Ranka’s had such a sparkly nice life considering she can’t remember the only bad things that ever happened to her, her rock bottom seemed really shallow).
And Michel…all that can be said is T_T for me. I weary of Klan’s revenge too, I hope it doesn’t lead to her death as well.
Mikhail’s death shall not have been in vain for Kelin will kill every bug she sees to save the fleet. Oh and hopefully Alto-hime can come to a decision after hearing Mikhail’s last words for him. Ranka better start doing better next time though it looks like it might be too late already, but time will tell. Oh and she better stop day dreaming of Brera.
Sheryl was just awesome and came back with a bang. If Sheryl gets rejected then I am hoping both Sheryl and Klein will form a support group. Though if it will end with the next ep I hope Alto-hime chooses Sheryl.
I hope Kawamori showing us a lot of SherylxAlto-hime moments wasn’t all just preparation for an epic troll, where weepy Ranka wins hime’s love because she needed another hand out. Then again if Kawamori must drag out the love triangle then I hope Ranka gets redeemed quickly.
@FuyuMaiden
I’m pretty sure that Klan doesn’t get killed, since the preview shows that she has the time to be micronized again. On the other hand, the way she’s crying in the cockpit of what’s presumably Michel’s fighter pretty much squashes any hope for a miraculous save for Michel.
@FuyuMaiden, I agree I’m sure we’ll see a turnaround in Ranka’s character soon. It happened with Sheryl so its bound to happen with Ranka.
As for Klan if death is awaiting her, she’ll at least last long enough to hit the Varja hard enough to get some good revenge in!
@Crusader, yes Klan is going to be amazing, once she gets over the shock and one would hope that this is the kick up the butt Alto-hime needs to make a decision.
I agree Michel-kun’s death will not have been in vain.
I’d like to see Ranka-chan redeem herself too if its going to go on for a bit, but even if she does do some growing up, I don’t know if she can mature enough to really deserve to be in a relationship with Hime.
At this point (apart from the maybe dying thing) Sheryl is far more compatible with Hime I agree. On a professional level they understand one another, he has told her more of himself than Ranka, she’s cared to find out more about him than Ranka does. Neither does Sheryl ask for his support like Ranka does. Hime provides it when she needs it, but she doesn’t go seeking him out wanting him to fix all her problems for her. Yes Ranka has a LONG way to go.
Even the dying thing isn’t really a good point against Sheryl, I mean even if she’s dying, isn’t it better to be with someone you really love for a short while, rather than someone you just have affection for in the long term?
@Yoo, I agree there is no hope for Michel-kun *cries*
A shame to see Michel/Michael/Mikhail go, but at least he died well.
Good point that things might get difficult for Ranka later when it’s discovered that her mood affects the Vajra’s behaviour.
@ The Animanachronism, definitely a huge shame despite knowing why they did it and yes he got a good send off. I’d have been even unhappier if he didn’t.
Thanks, I mean I’m sure after this anti-Varja sentiments will rise and well if they hate Varja they’ll probably not be too fond of anything that has a close association with them at first in any case.
oh god. Let us have a moment of silence for Michel.
Poor Klan. But yeah, he did die well. I’ll say it’s on the same par as Kamina’s death.
*Observes moment of silence along with Hoshi*
Very long quality post, Sakura
Oh, don’t worry, Kuran wiped plenty of Vajra
@Kitsune, thanks ^-^ Long is true, not sure about the quality though!
I know I just watched 21, Klan was spectacular!
Luca looks like he grew a pair overnight too, he definitely looked less shouta! XD
@Sakura, Klan was indeed spectacular, but she should have had more screen time!
@Yoo, I totally agree while she was certainly badass, there was not enough footage of her badassery!
Aw damn it, I just finished watching the episode… There are too many tragic deaths lately, just too many… This one was almost on par with that of Kamina’s, and diamond crevasse is just such a great song…
Sakura, I can assure you that the quality is there
Indeed, Luca developed quite well, I wonder how long it will last
@Choux, very true, the whole thing was so well done, the way the music complimented it all, its something that this show has done well all season.
(Much as I love you Gundam, Sunrise you should be taking notes, this is how you do a death scene!)
Aww thanks Kitsune!
LOL true, although if the rumors hubby’s been hearing are anything to go by we won’t be seeing too much of the new Luca and concerning Alto-Hime, Crusaders dream will be coming true…