Impression:

I just realized that I have been spelling the title of this series incorrectly for a really long time. I have been putting “Apreggio” instead of “Arpeggio” since episode two. Why does this bother me so much? Well, I actually care about spelling and stuff. Add that to the fact that I was in band and I should know that the fucking word is “Arpeggio” and I am more frustrated right now than I should be.

That was actually a pretty sad scene.

Once again, things picked up where they left off in the last episode. Haruna and Kirishima have broken through the defense wall at Yokosuka and they have started to attack the port. People were dying and things in general were simply not going well for the people. Iona and company stepped in to fight, but things did not look good for the kids. They are up against two fast battleships and they are low on supplies. With almost no special torpedoes to speak of and a super gravity canon that can’t be used, they would need something like plot armor to pull off this one. Luckily, we are dealing with the protagonist’s crew and that means they will find a way to pull through. They used a sunken city to help mask their assault and several remote operated torpedo launchers to aid in a multi-front attack. The strategy seemed to be successful in this game of cat and mouse, but Haruna and Kirishima have a trick up their sleeves as well. They combined their ships and started to set up for a major assault. It seemed like a pretty powerful attack, but this made it easy for Gunzou and company. They could take out both ships at once. One of the remote launchers fired an erosion torpedo right before the firing of the super gravity canon and the crew sank two Fog battleships at once. Oh well, it’s not like they died.

I really like these naval battles.

Current Opinion of the Show:

It might seem odd, but I am definitely enjoying this series. It is different in a very fun way. We got back to the tactical aspect of the series and that was great. I liked the abnormal tactics with the remote launchers because it actually made sense. Was there a lot of plot armor involved in this win? Of course there was. A submarine that is low on supplies and without its big weapon has no chance against two fast battleships. Was this meant to emphasize the importance of human tactics? Most definitely and I think that we will continue to see that as the series progresses. Think of that and the whole mental models being humans thing as the main themes of the series. How will they link to the purpose of the war? I have no idea. However, I am very interested to see what the secret behind the Fleet of Fog is. Someone built those things and I doubt that they became self-aware to start a war.

I could do without the CGI fan service shots of mental models.

Let’s talk about the human side of the mental models. They made sure to focus on that in this episode with the regret and desire to not die that we saw at the end of the episode. Haruna escaped with Kirishima’s core, but I don’t know what they plan to do from here on out. Will they recover with the aid of that little girl and come to appreciate humanity leading to their exit from the Fleet of Fog? Probably, but I would hope that the series won’t be that level of predictable. Will the sinking of both Haruna and Kirishima reinforce some sort of notion in Takao’s mind that Gunzou thinks she is special? I hope so because that would be a hilarious addition to their next encounter. I think that the reunion of Gunzou and Takao is the thing that I am most looking forward to in this series simply because of the fact that it is almost too ridiculous to handle. I assume that they will meet up fairly soon because Iona and company won’t make it very far in their current state. Almost no ammunition and a super gravity canon that is out of commission equate to rough sailing as a target. Oh well, let’s get back to some hilarious romance.

Hyuuga didn’t have one?