Impressions:

I am quite disappointed with this show, and I really dislike writing full summaries for shows I don’t especially like, which is why I stopped with this show a few episodes ago. However, since it’s the last two episodes of the series, I guess I should illustrate the important points…at least. Note the following list of events is not necessarily in the order it happens the episodes.

Episode 11:

Mister meets up with Franca and Katana outside Gigabanks. Katana stays outside to defend against the oncoming force of the 12 Sisters, while Franca and Mister go through the moving labyrinth that is Gigabanks. Eventually, they make it to the top where all the money is kept. Franca’s wish of seeing her father is granted by the video of him that was left there. The 12 Sisters arrive as Katana is locked in battle with June. Marciano confronts Mister…

Episode 12:

When the Coyote arrives at the scene and starts blasting away at Marciano’s men and the 12 Sisters, several supports of Gigabanks break off and the entire thing tilts to one side. Marciano is able to run up the side of the huge structure and engage in a duel with Mister. The cavern starts to cave in and the two sides flee before being crushed. Angelica forces the whereabouts of the photon bomb from the President and informs Mister, who goes off to stop it. After succeeding to do so, he encounters Marciano in the air. They just need one pass to determine the winner: Mister.

Conclusion:

- Mister only makes it out with a small portion of the assets, as fitting everything on the Coyote would have been impossible.
- Franca accepts herself as a Coyote.
- Mister and the others plan out their next big hoax.
- It is revealed that Marciano was once a Coyote. She somehow lost her body (assumption), and was rebuilt as an android by that doctor whose name I forget. I had been WTFing for the whole time she fought with Mister, thinking “What the hell is she made of?” When that question was answered, I continued WTFing, but this time, I was thinking “What the hell is Mister made of?! She’s a freakin android for god’s sake – it’s not right for a normal human to defeat an android!!” Even for a tankish old fart like Mister…
- The President seems to have something to do with the Guild, perhaps once their leader or sponsor.
- Angelica had met Mister eight years ago after seeing him ride a gigantic tidal wave/tsunami. In the end, she realises her true feelings for the man and the reason why she had been bent on capturing him for so many years.

Yes, the finale did reveal many questions, though quite a few were still left unanswered. Though the purpose of this was to leave a hook, I felt that such a large chunk of information not being delivered was unnecessary. Firstly, Bruce’s connection with Mister – that question was probably already answered but I was quite ignorant of the facts from the show, so…next, Marciano’s past was still left as a mystery. Although from the facts given, we can make some assumptions. As Marciano was once a Coyote, I believe she decided her ways of living was wrong and decided to right herself by overthrowing the Coyotes. She somehow lost her body because of Mister, and because now she can’t live a normal life as a woman (eg no children) she’s lived the rest of her life trying to avenge herself as an android. In the end, Marciano wasn’t nearly depicted to be evil enough and Mister wasn’t good enough either. Even if Marciano’s ways might be wrong, it’s hard not to pity her. For me at least.

Another thing that bothers me: Angelica’s first encounter with Mister…or rather, first sight of him. She had been on the ground, looking up a gigantic wave that matched the height of the surrounding skyscrapers. It is highly unlikely for her to spark enough of an interest in the Mister to research him. Heck, it’s quite unbelievable that she’d be staring at a figure that would be almost impossible to see while knowing full well a gigantic torrent of water was about to engulf her. I guess the whole thing was meant to make Mister look cool or something, but in the end I still didn’t like him. Sure, he saved Graceland, and fulfilled Franca’s wish of seeing her father again, but to me he’s still just some old hag who doesn’t even know how to shoot a gun. In fact, practically no one knew how to fire weapons, even the oh-so-mighty 12 Sisters. In all the shootouts there were, the bullets all seemed to miss by miles. The 12 Sisters are too weak as well, and their characters aren’t developed enough either.

Franca…another thing. I seriously doubt that there exists such a girl of such a young age willing to go on such a life threatening journey. How old is she anyway? It seems that she magically gained the courage of some war veteran overnight, willingly participating and offering to join in such pressuring situations. Bishop and Katana also brought the whole team down as well. They’re meant to be professionals, but they act like young imbeciles. I did not see the purpose of Bishop at all apart from being a mechanic and errand boy, not to mention a buddy for Swamp to argue with when he got bored. Katana was somewhat more useful being able to steer the ship so skilfully, though I wish his past would’ve been explored more. All I got after the end was how he’s the ‘one-and-only Katana’, so he must’ve gotten that name somewhere and done something to earn it. Even if he made it up himself, he would have needed to do something memorable. It would have been much better if these little things were explained more.

So, after all that yapping (and I probably have more to complain about, but can’t be bothered), what do I really think of the series? Truthfully, I thought it sucked, but you would’ve picked that up by now right? The first episode was very good, showing the best of the 12 Sisters and some nice scheming and detective work. Where was that the rest of the show? The end wasn’t that bad, as it did wrap up the story quite nicely. It gives the feeling of life-goes-on, just like many other ‘happy’ endings. It does leave room for a sequel, though I don’t see what it’ll be about. If it’s another scheme to achieve something big, it would more or less be a repeat of the first series. An OAV continuation would be nice though, to tie up a few loose ends; explain some character’s pasts a bit more, explore what the 12 Sisters and Mister’s crew do after everything that happens etc. All in all, I’m very glad the series has finished. What a relief…For the first time, I’ve had to force myself to watch something, as I really didn’t want to stop blogging with only a few episodes left (it was a bit over halfway when I started getting really bored).

Final rating: 5/10 (I like to think of things as anything below 50% is a FAIL…)

Episode 11:

Episode 11:

Impressions:

These two episodes were definitely better than the last two, with a more interesting series of events taking place. There was also a dash of romance at the end of episode 10, when Mister saved Angelica, who in turn felt obliged to stay with him on Graceland. The one problem I have with this series still remains. I still don’t like Mister anymore than the other factions (well, since Mister and Angelica have kind of joined forces, there are only two main sides now). The dialogue in episode 9 was pretty good, which is why I got to like both Swamp and Bishop better. It was also good how they were able to work together in the end (well, sort of). Franca’s also better for her cute ‘desho?’ and several other similar times. Octo, Nove and Dece has gotten my liking just because of their sheer cuteness. But seriously, do androids age? I’m liking May more now, as she remained faithful to her new friends, Angelica and Chelsea, and helped them out when they were escaping. I was expecting her directions to be a trap. So after that, I still don’t like Mister any better. Firstly, he smokes, and I hate that. It’s probably meant to make him look tougher and such, but that combined with his attitude just makes him seem more like the antagonist. I can’t help but think that May will have to choose between killing Angelica and remaining faithful to Marciano sometime in the later episodes. That’d be good though; makes everything that much more dramatic.

Episode 9:

Episode 10:

Brief Summary:

- Episode 9
- Bishop and Swamp infiltrate ‘Jupiter’ (the satellite where the photon is located)
- Bishop and Swamp eavesdrop on the meeting and discover that the bomb on Jupiter was a bluff, and the real bomb is buried on Graceland under Godwing, which is right next to Gigabanks
- Bishop plants a voice transmitter in the meeting room where negotiations regarding Graceland’s fate are taking place
- April, Octo, Nove and Dece attack the Jupiter, and accidentally destroy where the photon bomb is meant to be
- Everyone believes there is no bomb and fighting between the Federation and Liberation armies resume
- Angelica and Chelsea are captured by Marciano and May is recovered
- Bishop and Swamp escape the Jupiter and head to Graceland
- Mister, Katana and Franca make it onto Graceland

- Episode 10
- May is given a new body
- Angelica and Chelsea are put in a holding cell
- Mister, Katana and Franca make it to where Gigabanks is buried, through the war zone at Godwing
- They manage to make it through security by disguising themselves as guards
- Bishop makes contact with Mister and explains to him about how there IS a photon bomb on Graceland, and that the timer to its destruction is still ticking
- Marciano gives out search and battle orders as if it was the last day before Graceland is destroyed, even though she does not know about the whereabouts of the real bomb
- Mister finds out about Angelica’s presence on the planet and goes to look for her
- Angelica and Chelsea escape from their prison with some help from May
- Mister locates Angelica and Chelsea as they are being pursued by Marciano’s troops
- Mister saves them when their vehicle gets overturned
- Working together, Mister and Angelica destroys their pursuers as Chelsea drives
- Mister tells Angelica to escape the planet while she still can
- Angelica tells Mister she will stay with him as she needs to capture him (when in fact she is just in love with him)
- Mister instructs her to evacuate as many people off Graceland as she can, which she agrees

Impressions:

I have lost almost all my interest in this series. What started off as a show with heaps of promise turned out to be a below standard show where it isn’t even clear who the protagonist it. Mister would seem to be the main good guy, but personally I like his side least out of the three (Mister, Marciano and Angelica). With Maricano’s side, it’s the 12 Sisters I like, not Marciano herself. Those androids are showing more of their feminine side – no, human side – of themselves, which is pretty cute. I’m beginning to like Angelica and Chelsea more too, as they are just more interesting than any of Mister’s group. And May, the one with only a head held captive by Angelica – she makes Angelica’s side so much better. It’d be cool if May had to go up against the other sisters (how with only a head? Don’t ask me…) Mister hasn’t really done anything to make him a hero or anything relatively interesting. Katana and Bishop are easygoing but aren’t fun at all. They just don’t do anything. Sigh… only four more episodes. How will things turn out? I wonder…

No Summary…

I’m so disappointed in this series that couldn’t even be bothered writing a summary (although I did get some screenies). Wai Wai’s Little Blog provides a nice summary – have a look there.

Whai Whai’s Little Blog [Episode 7]

Whai Whai’s Little Blog [Episode 8]

Episode 7:

Episode 8:

Impressions:

That episode was total bullshit. It was the worst chase/fight scene I’ve ever see, and I don’t mean the visuals. They were nice, all the guns blazing, explosions and destruction … BUT! Everything else was crap! Ah … it’s been a day since I watched the episode and I’m not quite sure what I’m angry about now, but I’ll try to remember. Let’s see … First of all, the few mecha elements thrown into the show: the shots of Mister holding Franca in one of the enemy planes, that was a joke! The same angle and shot type were used the whole time. Mister and Franca did not even move, and as if you can pilot, manoeuvre and shoot with one hand on the joystick! They could have at least made the scenes more dynamic. And before that, when Mister and Franca had hijacked the plane. Firstly, how’d they get that rope attached to the plane, and how did they climb up without getting noticed by the other planes, in a relatively short amount of time, while the aircraft was going at high speeds, with the wind in their faces, not to mention the height that even someone is not afraid of heights would cringe to see.

April and January were a joke as well. They’re meant to be androids so make them slightly more formidable in combat! The first episode gave me the impression that the 12 Sisters were pretty much immune to sidearm fire. But no! Outside the elevator, they took a hit from Mister, which caused them to flinch and didn’t compose themselves until a long time after (a long time considering that, as androids, their reaction time should be way faster). When they tried to take down Mister, the first showed a trail of bullet holes in the ground trailing Mister and Franca. January and April are more than capable of aiming better! And when Mister actually finds himself in the midst of gunfire, only one bullet hit him! And why the hell did April or January run after Mister and Franca as they were shooting! That’s the logical thing to do! It’s like when in those kids’ shows where a person is going to be run over by a train and all he has to do is jump out of the way, yet he tries to outrun the train instead! How idiotic! This is the same kind of idiocy!

When Franca was kidnapped by Marciano, I was honestly very excited. Not because I don’t like Franca or anything, but her getting kidnapped would make an interesting arc in the show that would hopefully bring its ratings back up. Even then protagonists can’t win in everything they do. They have to have ups and downs; successes and failures. But that thought was diminished when Mister performed a spectacularly CONVENIENT rescue! Not to mention that Mister had three wounds – one in the arm and two in the thigh. If a normal person was shot in the thigh like that, they’d be screaming and writhing around in pain. The blood would also be gushing out and spilling everywhere! But fortunately for Franca, Mister is some sort of superhero who is not prone to these things, and is able to drive a car up to Marciano’s ship and NOT get hit at all by the armaments. Franca’s escape was the worst. How is it possible that there is a seat right there with an eject button for her to use? Okay, that one is quite possible, but if Franca was supposed to be rescued this episode, then it should have been more exciting, and the procedure more exciting.

When Mister fainted inside the Coyote, I thought, “It’s about time!” Took him long enough to collapse. But he still should’ve collapsed ages ago, yet he was able to walk from the dock of the Coyote al the way to the control room. He should’ve blacked out as soon as he got out of the stolen plane. Unless later we find out that Mister is a form of superhuman with genetically engineered DNA or something, then I can stand by the above three paragraphs. Well, I seem to have figured out why I was so angry. Four main points: first, Mister is a bullshit hero; second, the sisters are bullshit antagonists; and both lead up to the third point, everything was too convenient! The fourth one is how Franca was rescued…

Summary:

Following the opening of the gate to Graceland, the Coyote is ambushed by Marciano’s aircraft. Because of this, Katana is unable to land and pick Mister, Franca and Bishop up. Meanwhile, Marciano dispatches her android assassins to secure Franca and Mister. Mister and Franca become the targets for a couple of the attacking planes. Mister uses a smoke bomb to distract the pilots while he attaches himself to one of the aircraft with a rope, grabbing onto Franca at the same time. Unaware of their presence, the pilot continues to fly until it is too late. Mister opens the cockpit and throws the pilot out. He takes his place, swerves around and destroys two other nearby planes. In the Coyote, Swamp goes to operate the main turret and starts returning fire. Bishop can do nothing but to and avoid all the gunfire.

Ready to take off in their aircraft, the sisters await April’s directions and the order to go. She tells March, June, August and January to go after the Coyote while she takes care of Mister. January isn’t happy with this as she wants to avenge September’s death and kill Bruce herself. April does not oppose her and the two take off together. The others do the same but focus their attention on the Mister’s ship. When Mister finally downs the planes pursuing him, he contacts Katana to find out where he is. They decide to all meet at the marketplace above. Franca breathes a sigh of relief, but she does it too soon. April and January locate Mister and immediately get behind him. He gets sandwiched when April moves in front of him and cannot avoid damaging the plane. When the right wing goes up in flames, he grabs onto Franca and ejects the seat.

In the marketplace above, the Coyote’s appearance and an emergency announcement drives all the people away. Katana manoeuvres the Coyote into a side street, allowing Swamp to ambush any tailing enemies. Above them, March, June and August are flying around, looking for the Coyote. When it proves hopeless, they decide to destroy all the buildings to drive Katana out, but this ends up making it more difficult to locate him. January and April land to pursue Mister on foot. When March, June and August resume their endless search, Bishop contacts Katana and tells him that he’s in the marketplace’s central square. Katana agrees to attempt to get there and pick him up.

In Marciano’s mothership, February manages to hack into the Big Pink’s surveillance system. She is able to locate the Coyote using this and quickly informs Marciano, then April. She also locates Mister on one of the security cameras and directs April and January there. The two finally encounter Mister and Franca outside an elevator. However, Mister had hid himself on the roof of the lift and surprised April and January. After firing off a few shots into the two androids (which did nothing), he makes a break for it with Franca. Before Mister succumbs to the gunfire, Swamp fires a shot through the roof of the building at April and January. January’s arm is torn off, but she still wants to go on and secure Mister. April tells her that they should retreat as it is almost time for ‘that’.

When the enemy retreats, Katana flies the Coyote to Mister and is about to pick him up, when he realises that the reason everyone turned back was because Marciano’s is about to bomb them. This turns out to be true. The Coyote is damaged and crashes, and Mister and Franca are separated by a giant mound of debris from which the blast came. Marciano orders for a ship as she wants to go see Mister personally. When Mister composes himself, he calls for Franca, who is unconscious. The sound of his voice wakes her up though. Mister tells her that he is about to get over to her side, when he realises that he’s at the gunpoint of April. He is shot in the leg (or was it the arm? He had a wound on his thigh and was clutching his arm … I think he was hit before as well…) and drops onto his knees. April seems to be enjoying herself. Hearing the gunshot then silence afterwards, Franca decides to go to Mister, but is restricted by July and Marciano. After a desperate negotiation, Franca gives Marciano her pendant in exchange for Mister’s life. However, Marciano takes her with her and leaves April to do whatever she wants with Mister. He is shot in the leg again, and before April can finish him off, Chelsea drives past and Angelica fires a few shots at April. She drops her weapon and is ordered to return to the ship. April and January quickly hurry away. With the major threat gone, Angelica points her gun at Mister now, who is staggering towards her car. She threatens to take his life if he doesn’t stop walking, but he response by saying that he had made a promise to take Franca to Graceland. Angelica falters for a moment. Mister asks Chelsea if he can borrow the car. Chelsea agrees and gets out of the vehicle. Even as Mister drives off to give chase to Franca, Angelica does not fire.

Mister catches up with Marciano’s ship and is able to avoid the barrage of bullets that is thrown at him. Franca straps herself to a seat and ejects it. She manages to fly directly to Mister. The two are caught by Katana, who seems to have repaired the ship … right. Although Marciano has the pendant now, Franca had not told her about what it does. When Mister gets on board the Coyote, he collapses and stops moving. Marciano fumes at the escape of Franca and gives out orders to capture her. Katana avoids all fire quite effectively, none of this concerns Franca as she fears the worst for Mister.

Impressions:

I’m starting to like this show less now. It’s going quite slow, but hopefully things will get interesting now, as Mister is finally going to Graceland. The Sisters are also becoming a bit impractical – worrying about clothes and putting on makeup? What kind of android does that? It also seems to me that the 12 Sisters are losing their touch. September was not able to kill Swamp or Mister when she engaged them (of course, neither Swamp nor Mister are allowed to die yet). If the people who created the Sisters were smart enough to implement such humanistic qualities, why weren’t they able to make them more efficient in combat? We’ve seen that October, November and December have superhuman strength, so I assume the others have as well. They can all survive bullets and their reflexes have to be better than humans, so why did September suck so bad? This goes for the rest of the Sisters too. They are not meant to lose so easily and frequently. They are meant to put up a fight; give the protagonists a challenge. Things better get better soon, or… (I was about to say stop watching the show, but I know that’s not gonna happen, even if the show does become crap – which I highly doubt it will. It’s only the third episode out!)

Summary:

Marciano’s Sisters pursue Mister after he saves Franca. In the ship, Katana is ecstatic about finally being able to go and locate the treasure on Graceland. Bishop tells him that he should wait until after the treasure is found before celebrating. Katana claims that judging by the way this are going, they are almost guaranteed to obtain the treasure. Mister cuts in and says there’s a problem, which Bishop agrees to. Katana is confused. He is told to look at the radar to see if anything is behind them. When he checks, he is shocked to see numerous planes close behind. He realises that the 12 Sisters are still after them. Bishop asks him what they should do, and Katana replies quickly saying they should run away. Bishop is annoyed at Katana’s quick reply, making it seem as though he had put no thought into it. As he stands up, about to start an argument, he accidentally initiates the boosters and their ship lurches forward. After regaining his composure, Katana says they should just leave the Sisters behind and head straight for the treasure. Bishop thinks this idea is absurd, as they will only succeed in leading Marciano to the treasure. The two get into a pointless argument about their next course of action. Interrupting, Mister says that if they go to Graceland right away, they would have to search every inch of the planet for the treasure, which is utterly impossible to achieve in one week. Katana asks about the pendant, thinking there’s a map inside, which Mister denies. Before further questioning, Mister says he will solve everything later, after Marciano’s 12 Sisters are dealt with.

In one of the pursuing aircraft, the Sisters are discussing on how they should go about capturing Mister alive. March says she likes melee combat, but she’s worried she’ll get her clothes dirty. (March is the blue-haired Sister with her hair tied on both sides. The screenshot on the third column and third row features February (top) and March (bottom). August agrees and comments on how her clothes were made quite recently. (August is the short Sister with blonde, braided hair. She can be seen in the screenshot in the first column, sixth row.) February is surprised at her two comrade’s responses, as she says she has never needed to buy new clothes. In another plane, January, who is busy putting on makeup, wonders aloud if there will be any enemies left when they reach Mister’s location. (She is the battle-loving blonde, who can be seen in the screenshot in the second column; fourth row). April, leader of the Sisters, tells her not to be late if she wants to attend the party, and by that she means the battle (second column, first row). She then asks if anyone has heard anything about May’s whereabouts (fifteenth row, first column). September gives a negative response (fourth row, third column). Sensing that April is upset, June tries to comfort her by saying May will be fine.

Back at Mister’s ship, he calls for everyone to get ready as the fun is about to begin. Excited, Bishop exclaims that it is just like how things were three years ago. Without warning, the ship accelerates (and does a few twists), prompting the enemy to begin firing. Mister climbs into the cannon control chamber and begins to retaliate. As the chase continues, Mister says that it will take three days to get to Graceland if they take the ‘Coyote’ (their ship’s name?) This reduces the time they have to locate the treasure to only two days. He yells for Franca and asks if Swamp has tried to contact her recently. Franca has trouble recalling him at first, but them remembers him as the guy who was Bruce’s right hand man. Mister asks Franca about Swamp’s whereabouts, as Katana and Bishop take the ship underwater. Franca says Swamp had told her to contact him if she was ever in trouble. Katana and Bishop both tell her to contact him at the same time. As Mister and the crew lurk underwater, he tells of a story about a town in a country in a civil war. A grouped of saddened kids in the town gather to talk things over. In their attempt to find a way to stop the war, they discover a new enemy: germs. Mister chuckles at his own story. The newly discovered germs brought the country together as everyone started working together to fight germs. Franca, Katana and Bishop are all confused, unable to determine what the story has to do with anything. Mister ducks down from the cannon control, calling everyone an idiot. He says they should go there for help even if they don’t want to. Katana and Bishop finally realise what he means – Marciano. This causes Franca to remember the evil woman, and how she had been the one who had killed her father. They emerge from the water and are immediately picked up by the enemy’s radar. The pursue resumes and guns begin to blaze again.

Near where Mister and the Sisters are flying, in a small country church, Swamp is leading the audience in a melodic thanks to God. After the session, Swamp and his men gather downstairs and discuss Mister’s escape from Sandvil. They are discussing about why Bruce (Franca’s dad) chose Mister to inherit his treasure, as Swamp was the more likely candidate. As they are talking, their radar detects an air squadron nearby, heading towards them. Lookouts atop the cliffs confirm that the incoming aircraft are Marciano’s. Swamp orders them to fire on them and to make sure they all get shot down. With this order, his followers begin to attack, using rockets to destroy the planes. In the end, only one aircraft makes it out unscathed – Mister’s ship. (I’m not sure what happened to the Sisters).

On a private space craft, Angelica and Chelsea are enjoying their meal. Chelsea suggests Angelica get some rest while she can, but Angelica ignores her and enters the captain’s cockpit. She asks the captain to speed up. They are on their way to Ku-Rong, where the 12 Sisters had appeared, around the same time as when Marciano defected from the Guild (I mean, killed all the Guild members). She goes back and opens a closet. Inside the enclosed space in a birdcage is the head of May. Angelica demands for her to tell her what’s going on. She enquires about the revolt that had occurred, when at the same time the Sisters had appeared on Sandvil and Ku-Rong. She asks her why they are targeting Mister.

Mister and the others have gathered in the safety of Swamp’s property. They are watching the news when Swamp starts an argument with Bishop. It seems they have some unresolved issues to settle from the past. Mister tries to have a friendly conversation with Swamp, but he wants to get straight to the point. Swamp thinks Mister has come to ask him about the pendant, but Mister already knows about the pendant. The secret to the pendant is that it’s actually Bruce’s fake eye. Everything that Bruce has seen is stored in the pendant. Mister says he had come to ask Swamp to join the operation. As the two parties argue among themselves about the proposal, Mister says that in order to find the treasure, they need someone who is equal or above Bruce’s capabilities; namely, Swamp. Interrupting everything, a group of old ladies come bringing fresh vegetables, cheese and bacon. When they leave, everyone decides on preparing breakfast.

When Mister finishes his job, he goes upstairs to th3e church to have a private chat with Swamp. Swamp gets straight to the point and says he never saw Mister as Bruce’s successor. He asks him of his intentions. Mister says his intention is to bring Franca along. Mister says he wishes to give Franca the assets, but not to Mister. Mister asks Swamp if he desires money, which he says no to. Swamp repeats his first statement about not seeing Mister as Bruce’s successor, and wants him to prove to him he is worthy. Both bring out their guns, seemingly pointing at each other, but when Marciano’s forces arrive, the two shoot and manage to kill the two soldiers at the side of the building. The Sisters arrive and begin attacking. Mister and Swamp manage to kill off most of the normal soldiers, but after a fight with September, they run away and take off in Mister’s ship, along with Franca, Katana and Bishop. It looks like Swamp will be joining the crew after all. As they are being chased, Mister’s ship transforms into a giant robot/tank and bombards Marciano’s squadron with missiles. Sadly, September had died in the attack.

Episode 2: The Girl of the Pirate Hideout

Impressions:

The second episode was pretty good, but I think the first one was better. The first episode presented a far more interesting story (and more bloodshed!) I’m also quite disappointed at the Marciano’s Sisters’ performance this episode. I hope it’s not one of those shows where the antagonist shows up every episode and loses each time. It’s probably too early to say such things, so I’ll see what happens in the next few episodes. I’ve also noticed that the Sisters act far more like humans than cyborgs. The shock, surprise, anger and other emotions displayed are a sign of excellent engineering – technology must have advanced a lot. The way they move and recoil is also very human. But then again, it depends on what you like to determine whether this is a good or bad thing. Personally, I like it how they are very human – makes me forget they’re cyborgs. The last part, how Mister is saved, is far too convenient. A larger struggle between the Mister’s ship and the 12 Sisters would have done the job – Katana and Bishop exchanging fire more as Mister is falling, maybe some rockets…

Summary:

A red-haired girl is gloomily staring outside the window from her room. She lies down on her bed, staring at a photo of her, Mister and her dad, with a disappointed/sad look on her face. As numerous thoughts are probably going through her head, she lets go of her pendant, letting it dangle from her neck.It’s blue with silver caps, and is the size of her finger.

Madame Marciano is attending her prosecution trial for sending out the 12 Sisters against a single Coyote – Mister. She and seven other guild members have gathered in the room, sitting around a round a large, circular table. They want to know why Madame Marciano sent the Sisters in to capture one man, and what she wants from him.

Angelica Barnes has recruited Chelsea as her assistant. Chelsea has found Mister’s file, which shows his name as Luis Gonzalez, which is obviously false. He had been charged with causing a twenty-five car pile up after crashing his car. He had been drunk at the time. He was sentenced to a year of imprisonment. In the car, Angelica explains that Mister only had 10 days left before the end of his sentence. The reason he had broken out remains unknown, but it means something urgent has come up for him. Back at the conference, Marciano has ordered the 12 Sisters to perform a coup d’état, killing most of the guild members. The remaining guild member tells her that she has forgotten about something. How this ends and whether he is killed or not is not shown.

Elsewhere in some sort of garage, the news reporter is talking about the Graceland Liberation Army yet to respond to the surrender request. Apparently, the planet will be destroyed by explosives in seven days. The channel suddenly changes to a guy who calls himself Super Soul. He starts raving on about random junk until Bishop (one of the guys who freed Mister) unplugs the power cord. Bishop tells Katana (the other guy who saved Mister, and is now working on repairing a large ship) that two hours, fifty-nine minutes and thirty seconds have passed, which means he now has thirty seconds left to finish the repairs. Luckily, Katana only has one last spot to weld and he finishes with two seconds to spare. There had apparently been a bet, as Bishop surrenders his watch.

Upstairs, Mister is shaving his year-old beard. Bishop comes up and tells him they can leave as soon as he’s ready. He also apologizes and tells him that he had been lying when he said that the ‘young lady’ had wanted to talk to him. We later discover that the ‘young lady’ is the girl from the start of the show, as well as from the photo, called Franca. Mister does not get angry. Instead, he grins and says he had thought so. Bishop reminds him that they don’t have any time left, as Graceland will turn to dust in seven days. Distracted by Katana who is still celebrating, he yells at him to keep quiet.

In a bar, a news report is being broadcast regarding Marciano’s recent attack on Sandvil prison. Everyone at the bar knows it’s Mister as they all have some sort of connection with him. They argue about whether he got out or not. Although this argument isn’t the catalyst for the following occurrence, it is the conversation which leads to another, which eventually starts a large brawl. As faces are being smashed, tables destroyed and blood spilled, Franca steps up onto the bar and hits someone on the head with a frying pan. Everyone stops and the room goes silent. Franca says with a commanding voice that she will not forgive anyone who destroys her shop. The guy who she hit with a frying pan comments on how the shop isn’t hers, but actually Mister’s. Someone asks if Mister has tried to contact her yet, which makes her feel sad. Right on cue, Mister steps in, causing a celebration among the people in the bar, who are in fact ‘coyotes’. Franca isn’t too happy though as she walks up to him and slaps him.

During the night as Franca is playing her harmonica on the roof, she is approached by Mister, who she asks why he escaped from prison when he was about to be released 10 days later. She doesn’t expect an answer from him as she already know about the planned annihilation of Graceland, where the ‘treasure’ is. She says that if he doesn’t find the treasure soon, taking care of her up until now would have been a waste. Mister says it’s not the case. He wants to sort Franca’s thoughts out before Graceland is destroyed. Franca’s father was killed by the guild (the one Madame Marciano was in) and he left something behind on that planet. Mister asks Franca if she wants to know what it is. He tells her that if she wants, he’ll take her to see the treasure with him. Franca cannot believe this as she’s always thought Mister only wanted the treasure and didn’t really care for her.

Before anything further can be said, two helicopters pass over them. The 12 Sisters have returned! Their mission is to capture Franca and Mister alive. One of the sisters asks Marciano why she never tried to capture the girl, as it would be easier to just get the location of the treasure from her. Another sister informs her that if this was possible, Mister would have done so already. Both Franca and Mister immediately recognize the danger and are already heading down the stairs. Mister tries to contact Bishop but there’s a high level of interference. As he is running, he falls down a hole in the stairs, prompting Franca to call out ‘Mister!’ She looks down and sees he is perfectly fine. When she gets to the same level as her, Mister says that’s it’s been a while since she called him ‘Mister’, which makes her blush. She then points to a door and says that there are weapons in there for him to use.

In the bar, the coyotes are no match for Marciano’s men, their numbers dwindling very fast. Bishop and Katakana are struggling under the barrage of bullets, forced to hide behind the bar. The few remaining survivors open a cover at the back, allowing Bishop and Katana to escape into the sewers. When they are safely underground, the coyotes leave their safety zone for one final stand (except they get blown to pieces by a rocket straight away).

In Sandvil, Angelica has found out about the guild’s move against Mister. The authorities haven’t done anything about it yet, as they receive benefits from the guild. Chelsea starts to think about this, which causes Angelica to get pissed and asks her if she has anything else apart from her memory and large breasts. Chelsea says it’s useful to have large breasts, as she makes friends easily and gets free food. She shows Angelica her contact book, indicating all the people she’s met. Angelica snatches it away and notices one name in particular – Super Soul!

Back the raid on the bar, Mister is readying his armament as Franca recalls the time her father was killed. It had happened in space – Mister’s ship was attacked and damaged, which resulted Franca’s father’s death. He had spent the last few moments of his life in Mister’s lap. Just before passing away, he had given Mister the pendant which Franca now has. Franca starts talking about how Mister had stopped traveling for her sake. He hadn’t taken the pendant by force, even though he could, as the whereabouts of the treasure is in the pendant.

Mister proceeds outside and manages to overcome the men shooting from down the hall. Before he and Franca can escape, one of the survivors throws a tracking device onto Franca’s skirt. Tracking their movements, a squad of soldiers led by one of the 12 Sister’s ready themselves outside the elevator, which Mister and Franca are meant to be coming down in. However, they are mistaken and discover the tracking device on a rat. The enemy quickly relocates Mister, who is on the roof. Franca tosses a grenade into the helicopter which found them, blowing it apart. The explosion sends both Franca and Mister to the other side of the roof and over the edge. Mister manages to grab her arm, keeping both of them suspended by his other arm.

Madame Marciano reminds the Sisters that they are not allowed to kill them. The connection with them is suddenly lost. It appears that all transmissions are down, which is replaced by Super Soul’s voice. He had done so at Chelsea’s request.

Bishop and Katana make it to the ship they’ve just repaired and leave the garage to search for Mister and Franca. With tears in her eyes, Franca tells Mister to take the pendant and to let her go. She says that he’s been kind to her for long enough. Mister says that it’s her that’s what’s important to him, not the treasure. Mister lets go of the edge of the building, sending both of them plummeting to the ground, just as one of the Sisters arrives at the roof to capture them. They fall for what seems to be quite a long time before being caught by Bishop and Katana. As the ship flies off into the distance, Franca tells Mister that she will go with him to Graceland.

Japanese Name: ラグタイムショー
Release: 07/2006
Episodes: –
Genre: Adventure, Sci-fi, Shounen
OP: “COYOTE” by Naoki with Power Sound
ED: “COYOTE” by Naoki with Power Sound (yes, it’s meant to be the same)

Impressions:

Wow. Nice. The first episode was great. The first half may have been a bit slow, but the high-quality action-packed second half was extremely enjoying. The shootouts, explosions and blood-gushing did not disappoint; I was glued to the screen the moment the ‘12 Sisters’ arrived. However, like any other Anime, there must be something that I personally do not like, and this time it’s the character design. The investigator is okay, but the female police associate – is just completely wrong. I didn’t even realise she was a girl until sometime into the episode; I had thought she was some relative, but it turns out she’s actually a police officer (I wasn’t paying attention when she was proving her identity). What hooked me this episode were Marciano’s androids. They are so cool! They certainly need to make reappearance and show off their capabilities more. I’m also quite confused about the protagonist in the series. I would say it would be Mister, if he is the main characters. But if he isn’t and Angelica is, then I don’t know. Hopefully more information will be revealed in the next episode – I can’t wait!

Summary:

Angelica Barns is an investigator from the Federation Bureau, who has been searching for a criminal for four years. The criminal had evaded capture for the long period of time by constantly stealing and changing identities. However, to make things easier I suppose, he is known as ‘Mister’. For the last year, Mister had suddenly disappeared. After tracking down the man to a prison on the planet ‘Sandvil’, she travels there via a space shuttle and is greeted by Chelsea, the female police officer. They are driven to the prison by a man who blows bubbles, and does not seem significant at all at first. On the way, Angelica sees for the first time a giant centipede-type insect. Chelsea explains that these bugs have poor sight and rely solely on their hearing to detect prey. As a counter-measure, tall poles with sound emitters are erected, sending out sound that is irritable to the bugs.

At the entrance to the prison, they are stopped by security for a search. She is met by Frank Duston, warden of the prison. As they are talking, the metal detector goes off above Angelica’s briefcase, so she opens it, revealing a large amount of weaponry. However, she has permission to use them from the Federation Government and the President himself (or herself). As Angelica is printing off information on all the inmates, Frank asks Chelsea who the investigator is (referring to her importance and status). She says she doesn’t know much as she was simply dispatched to the spaceport to greet the investigator and take her here.

When the printing is done, Angelica brings the documents to the warden and asks him for assistance. He asks her about why she is here and she explains about ‘Mister’ and how she believes he is currently locked up in the prison. She also says that she had gotten a phone call last night saying Mister will appear at the Sandvil prison that day. Frank thinks the call was a prank, and suddenly receives a phone call himself from a man claiming he is from the Red Desert Liberation Movement. He is informed that 10 bombs have been placed in his prison. Frustrated, the warden hangs up and uses this as an example to back up his prank call theory. However, before he can finish speaking, several explosions occur outside the window, destroying a good portion of the fortress walls. The security begins to panic and the inmates start an uproar. Angelica tells Chelsea to request the bomb disposal team. The warden is still in shock and murmurs about why it had to happen. Angelica says that this is only the beginning.

Soon after all the inmates are evacuated onto the inner field, the bomb disposal team arrives. The warden informs the leader of the situation as they are walking. Near the entrance to the building, the leader tells Angelica who is about to follow to leave everything to the experts. After he disappears through the door, Angelica begins to suspect something and asks Chelsea about where the car they came in was parked. Inside, the leader disperses his team and makes a call – to the bubble-blowing guy from the beginning! Back outside, Angelica checks under the rear seat. Nothing is there. She concludes that the thing that triggered the metal detector were bombs hidden under the seat, and were smuggled by making use of Angelica’s permit. The culprit is the driver from before, who must have an alliance with one of the members of the bomb disposal team – the leader! The investigator says she knows all this because Mister had used the same technique on planet ‘Carnival’, which means everything must be a ploy to break Mister out of prison. She immediately places a lockdown on the prison, meaning no one and nothing can leave. Time passes and Angelica asks Frank to look through the inmate’s profiles and find anyone who was held in block four for the past year.

In some other unknown place, a woman in what seems to be a mansion of some sort receives a phone call regarding the Mister’s planned jailbreak. She authorises the ‘12 Sisters’ to go the prison by helicopter and raid the area.

Back in the prison, it has already gotten dark and there’s still no sign of Mister or his accomplices. Chelsea notices something in the night sky. Angelica recognises them as Madam Marciano’s. Soon, the 12 Sisters become visible, who are parachuting into the prison grounds. They load their weapons and easily gun down the security, killing everyone mercilessly. By the way, the 12 Sisters are actually androids immune to normal gunfire. This event it definitely the highlight of the episode, and I hope their’s more of it in the next one.

When all the security have been slaughtered, Angelica tries to make a stand but her petty pistol shots do not even make a dent in the androids’ body. The android, May, lunges at her, but before she can kill Angelica, someone standing on the roof of the prison fires a homing rocket at the android. It makes a direct hit and completely vaporises the android’s body, leaving only the head. Everyone ceases what they are doing and looks up. Mister, the bomb disposal team leader and the driver are standing on top of the prison. Mister tells Angelica that he had been waiting for ‘them’ not her, and also yells out ‘Diamond Head’. Realising what he meant, Angelica retreats into the prison with Chelsea and the warden. The leader of the 12 Sisters gives the order to capture Mister at all costs. Inside, Angelica explains the ‘Diamond Head’ incident. The National Bank on planet Diamond had been broken into by Mister, using the tsunami to get rid of any defences. He is planning to do the same here. Soon, the ground begins to shake, and it takes some time for the androids to realise their fate. The insect repellents (the sound-emitting devices) have been deactivated, meaning the arrival of sandworms is imminent. Sure enough, before long the prison is engulfed in a ‘tsunami’ of the giant bugs.

The next day, the police and health services have arrived. The ‘guild’ also arrives and takes away the android remains. Chelsea argues that it is vital evidence for the Sandvil police but Angelica tells them that the guild has control over the police, so there’s no point arguing with them. She decides to quit the force. Angelica offers her a job that isn’t properly explained in the episode, but I assume the job is to be her assistance.

In a space shuttle in space, Mister and his two accomplices are enjoying a scrumptious meal. As he is eating, he is given a picture of himself with a small girl called Franca. Mister smiles.