Impression:

I just want to give everyone a quick warning regarding the last-minute or so of this episode. There is some very graphic stuff going on that is of a sexual nature. If you are bothered by sexual scenes, especially ones that seem forced, then I suggest that you watch this episode with caution. Also, for those of you that don’t always use headphones while watching anime, you may want to put some on if there are other people around.

I guess we got a little bit of information regarding the valvraves. JIOR realized that it was stupid to be truly neutral. Without a military force to speak of, they had to develop something that was capable of taking on entire armies without being on a large-scale itself. That sounds ridiculous, but the JIOR scientists discovered runes located in particles. These runes contained the information necessary to develop the valvraves. Unfortunately, Takumi-sensei doesn’t know a lot about the project itself. He was taken off of the project due to issues with the higher-ups and he was forced to observe the students. Apparently, all of the student were specially groomed for this operation. I assume that is why they can pilot mechs and handle things like command center defense.

We had a pretty major event take place in this episode. The school was holding elections for a Prime Minister. The school plans to land on the moon which is a neutral territory. This is good because Dorssia can’t attack them while they are there, so they can start-up things like trade with other nations in order to sustain their independent country. Dorssia is planning a final strike before all of this happens, but that will have to wait. Obviously, the student council president will be running, but it took some convincing to get Shouko on board. Her father is missing and she hasn’t shared this with anyone. Haruto says that he will save him and that he can’t sit idly by while someone inportant to him is crying. All of this happened while Saki was eavesdropping. Shouko heads over to give a candidacy speech while Haruto talks with Saki. This final scene is a back and forth between the speech and a very graphic scene. Shouko wins over the crowd by saying they should hold their school festival on the moon. It built a lot of morale amongst a group of people who should not have to deal with the trials of war. On the other side of things, Haruto finally lost control and attacked Saki. This wasn’t the kind of attack where he hijacks her body though. People will say that some of the actions that were taken during this scene may blur the lines between forced and consensual, but I will call it what it is. That was a rape scene. The last thing we see is Saki telling Haruto about Shouko’s victory in the election with a dead look on her face and a jacket that is partially covering her body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Opinion of the Show:

I am still on board with this series. I think that the emphasis on building and maintaining an independent nation is something that is very cool. We are getting a real look into the political side of things and the effect that a charismatic leader can have on a group of people. Having said that, they aren’t skipping out on the action to give us this and that is something that I really appreciate. Something that Cain was talking about has me really curious. Apparently, he is the right hand of the current Dorssian leader. However, this leadership change was at the cost of the king. I guess that Cain and his partner in crime overthrew the monarchy in order to gain power. I think that this may be connected to L-elf and the princess. The king is no longer in power, there is some major corruption at the top, and L-elf wants to take it down. I am guessing that he grew to love the princess and he is fighting to bring her father back into power. That would be really cool, but it is speculative. Although, saying that the king’s faction would overthrow you would appear to insinuate that he lost power. One could guess that the valvraves are a pretty old species that allowed Cain and the current Dorssian leader enough time to find a way to gain great political power. Anyone that is familiar with the DC Universe in western comics would know that such an outcome is the goal of an immortal villain known as Vandal Savage.

Before we get into things, I must warn you that I am going to be very descriptive regarding the rape scene. Alright, look at that face in the picture. That does not look like someone who just had some consensual sex. Haruto lost control and began to rip off Saki’s clothing. The stuff that people are using to debate whether or not this was a rape scene are as follows: Her feelings for Haruto, the fact that she was willing to accept his hijacking, and the intimate way that she was holding him during the act. I will give some ground to the way that she was holding him. When Saki realized exactly what was going on, she put her arms around him and held his head. Obviously, this was meant to comfort Haruto because he has been suffering internally for quite a while now. Then, she held his hands in a laced fashion. I am going to say that this is because of the way that she feels about him. Saki is jealous of Shouko and she was not too happy about the fact that she and Haruto were no longer the only pilots. It is because of this that I feel very bad for Saki in this situation. At some point in the scene, you could tell that she accepted what was happening. That dead look on her face can be considered the result of the fact that her relationship with Haruto was advanced due to a curse. The flame was ignited by the animalistic lust of monster, rather than actual romantic feelings. Even if she wanted to be intimate with Haruto, that was definitely not the way that she wanted it to go down. “Did he only do that because of the curse?” That is a thought that should be resonating through her mind. “Where does our relationship go from here? Will he use me when he becomes a monster and then run back to Shouko to give her his actual affection?” A lot of questions should be asked at this point. Before I get too serious, I want to know if the sexual act would have happened with anyone, or if Saki is special due to the fact that she also lost her humanity. If that is not the case, then both Takahi and L-elf almost got raped. The L-els one makes me laugh. On the using a cultural festival to win thing, I am actually fine with that. It builds morale and it could bring in some nice funds. L-elf can handle the important stuff regarding the nation. All of this has me really excited because there is a big fight coming up and a lot of plot points that are getting fleshed out. I just want to know what will happen with Shouko’s confession.