天下制覇

A joke so old that it’s become topical again. Wow.

Impressions:

Every week I hope and I pray that the preview for the next week will have PANDRA finally forming. Lord knows that they’ve been running PANDRA ads during the ZKC broadcast for going on two months now. I said it near the start and I’ll say it again, this show really needs an antagonist. Kyosuke is great and all, but he’s not that malevolent just yet. If he puts together a team of super villains and builds a giant floating skull to hide in a lake… I’ll be on board. Hell, just give Shiho her derringers already and I’m with it. She’s got them in the OP. It is impossible to go wrong with "girls with guns." That’s a proven fact.

This week’s was alright I guess, but it felt a bit silly at the same time. Aoi seemed to conveniently forget to teleport (or choose not to) whenever extra drama was needed. Why not teleport to safety from the start? Who knows. Then after the finally got it into her head to make the missiles hit the plane… which took entirely too long, she proceeded to teleport what appeared to be at least a mile away from the entire mess in one jump. And all that’s not even getting into how in the hell the missiles were even tracking her. Jets and missiles are not made for precision target shooting. Well, some missiles these days are, but I doubt if generic Vulcan Russian despot would have those and moreover, be willing to shoot them and expect them to hit a teleporting target about 3 feet tall.

Otherwise, pretty much as expected. Member A becomes a malcontent, goes off more or less on her own for a bit, learns the value of team, everybody gets a hug.

Brief Summary:

BABEL has a special mission that’ll determine the fate of Japan, but Minamoto’s flying solo with Aoi on this one.

Meanwhile, the girls are still fitting in at school. Aoi overhears the teachers talking about her and saying how good she is, but that she relies on the others. This translates to trouble at home as Aoi is eager to assert her independence. As she’s about to storm off (and after Minamoto’s been levelled for trying to get involved), he tells her that he’s got a special mission for her only. The other two are rather annoyed/disappointed.

The mission is that they’ll be delivering a case. It’s high priority and would cross a no-fly zone, which is why they need a teleporter. Aoi understands and teleports the two of them out of the plane… a little ahead of schedule as Minamoto yells orders while she just sort of teleports them around randomly in the air until she gets fed up with it and lands them. I’m pretty sure momentum doesn’t work that way.

After a picnic, involving some affectionate Aoi arm nuzzling, they go back to the skies, but are intercepted by some local despot/rebel leader’s forces and taken captive. Why they didn’t teleport away is beyond me. Despot guy (his name is something crazy like Paparishishiki) takes the case and locks them up. Aoi gets into a funk over how she failed The Children and can’t do anything without them, but Minamoto cheers her up by telling her how concerned the other two were about her. They’re a team after all.

Vulcan despot Papi pays them a visit to taunt a bit and Aoi sends him off with a limp and bruised testicles. Minamoto reveals to her that his shoe contains an ECCM and pops it out. They quickly retrieve the case, but Aoi’s got to make the rest of the trip alone or they won’t make it in time. She hugs Minamoto and tells him he’d damn well better survive before taking off. Papi wakes up and runs out a hidden door. Minamoto starts lurking around and takes over the comm center.

Meanwhile, Papi has a jet and is attacking Aoi. He fire missiles at her, which somehow manage to track her. She teleports around dodging them. Back at home, Kaoru and Shiho reaffirm their trust and faith in Aoi. She finally figures out to teleport back onto the jet so the missles take down Papi as the cavalry, called by Minamoto, arrives.

They deliver the package… a special pillow for sleeping, and Aoi nearly causes an international incident by beating on the president of… Russia I guess. Back at school, Aoi’s in trouble for sleeping in class, so the teacher sends her out. She mistakenly refers to all three of them as young whippersnappers, so the other two hug Aoi and decide to go with her because they’re a team. Go team!

Preview:

Kaoru’s family issues.