Brave Witches – 07-09

…them’s the breaks…

Goodness, there is lazy, there is really lazy, and then there is yours truely, vis à vis me keeping up with this series’ posts. Alright, let’s break it down.

On a Holy Knight

Someone has to get it…

When we spoke last about Hikari, she had barely cleared the hurdles, just managing to squeak into the ranks of the 502nd. She has all the perspecaticty that a teenage go-getter is able to muster, and that really does work out in her, and her flights, favor at the most dramatic of times. But her lack of magical power in comparison to the rest is the sticking point. So when Grandpa Orussian Winter and the Snow Girl settle into Petersburg for a comfy stay, it’s Hikari that pays the bills in the form of the dreaded anime cold. She’s been pushing herself constantly to prove her worth after all.

Everyone has fun in their own special way….

But with the change of the seasons, that means that the Saturnus Festival is just around the corner (so it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas) and the group has to literally take stock of their blessings if not their actual physical stock, which is in short supply. That last attack on the town took out their storage facilities and that means that food stocks are so low they’re forced to subsist on dumpling (suiton) soup pretty much exclusive. Of course, for the sake of drama, this means that Saturnus is cancelled…But the festival means a great deal to Nipa-san, so she and the rest proceed to un-cancel it, sharing with each other the chores and the meaning of the holiday in their countries.

REKT!!!!

But this doesn’t go off without any complications; we’re about 2/3 a way into the episode so the Neuroi just have to attack just when everyone is messed up on ‘shrooms. Yes, they’re literally high as kites and can’t fly like them, That means it’s up to Nipa, who recognizes and doesn’t eat the laughing mushrooms that Krupinski picked,  to fend of the attack. While Hikari is still recovering and thus grounded, she is able to help spot for the invisible on top but not the bottom Neuroi from the ground. But just when things are still looking outgunned, the air cavalry comes in the form of the fan’s Saturnus present. Merry Cameo!

Happy Saturnus! Can you spot the guest appearences?!

Grape Juice for Your Eyes

…some people just know what they want…

Along with re-establishing the supply lines between the different bases and commands, the 502nd is looking forward to getting some much needed upgrades, not to mention news about the Neuroi in general. Now at first, I was scratching my head at one aspect of the episode, and that was the inclusion of the Liberator. Looking at the linked article, it looks like it barely addressed any of the specific needs it set out to, high command was unkind to the thought of it, and were of the mind that if they could drop this little thing into Resistance territory, they could drop much better weapons.

Gotta have foreshadowing…

But that’s our world, not the Witches world, so it has to be something else. I think that when you couple this up with the potential return of the Warlock unit (and that was a clever use of macaroons), and what the alternate world’s high command still must think of the continued use of witches in general, it makes the sort of symbolic and indeed literal sense it served in the episode; in biting the bullet for Hikari as a good luck charm and a plot coupon.  You may disregard it, but you never know when that pinch is gonna happen, and better to have than not. So when it comes to the plot we have a far ranging mission to assist a Brittanian Witch in escorting the delivery fleet to Murmansk. Nipa, Kanna, and Hikari didn’t know if they could rely on their commander…

Krupinski was REKT last episode, now she’s hungover this one…

But we have a euphemism on board, and that is grape juice, which is also Krupinski’s horndog nature, oh and wine, she gets drunk, but recovers quick. Our Flying Officer is honest about who she is to a fault, and that is part and parcel to her personality. She works hard, and is a credit to combat, as we saw her taking on a dual Neuroi on her own. That gives her all the lien she needs to play hard, and she isn’t at all shy about her wants or her preferences. So while she is shaping up to be a great team leader, it’s her individual style that really makes the character stand out, like her or not, tolerant of her or not. I like a character like that, you never know who is going to come through in a pinch, despite their personality.

…and she got her Brittania Kitty in the end….

Break Witches

Breaking Naoe

So this episode takes us right back to Kanno, and she is my favorite hot-head. As always, she hard to prove herself and wants to grow stronger in combat. We’ve known since the second episode that she looks up greatly to Takami, and feels that that is the level she has to reach to be of true worth. Having the little sister around in Hikari has been a thorn, of sorts, in her side, and one she’s gotten used to; and in some cases has enjoyed having. But that’s a hot mix for a hot head, and it probably couldn’t be maintained for long. With Hikari also wanting to prove herself just as badly, that gives Kanno just the right push to want to prove that she’s up to Takami’s level and doesn’t need Hikari to even come close to replacing that.

The Neuroi and that supply line has become the big story of the show so far, and no one wants to suffer should it be broken. So after a few more recent attacks, everyone is motivated to see this come to and end. This doesn’t end up well, as Sasha ends up paying the price for Kanno’s continued brashness in combat missions. She’s all about that punch, so much that she ignores the danger around her. This shakes her confidence to see one of her commanding officers take the heat. This sits on her pretty hard, making her hesitate during a strike. Now that would be just one detail, but there is a new plan being hatched that needs that hot head to get clear, and soon.

She leveled up her tsurgi issen!

We know that Hikari has a special power that drains her and takes up a great degree of her concentration, leaving her open to attacks, her Contact Eye. But now we learn that she has to get in close, touch the Neuroi to find the core (given that Warlock reared it’s head, this may come in handy soon). So now she needs support more than ever. And like true melodrama it comes down to Kanno to get the job done. Broad strokes people, it’s get stuff done. And like the greatest punch in the world, it does get the job done.

Breaking Extras

Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen and Sanya Litvyak to the rescue!

I wonder if the Land Striker (scroll down) units will be back?

We got Neuroi everywhere, witches…

I’ll keep this bit short but to the point. I’m really enjoying this show still. It has a great many faults, and the chief one is Silver Link’s barely average animation and CGI blending, but that is hardly news. As I said, this stuff is pure melodrama, but it’s pretty good melodrama, at once taking itself very seriously, but not afraid to nudge and wink and have fun with itself. I like my Witches just fine, even if I drag my feet to cover them.

Oh look we got a Miyafuji, too! Oh and Takumi is out of her three month long coma! Dramatic!