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Impressions:

Looks like the second half of that video from the pendant will have to wait until later. This episode was alright in terms of the things that happened, but the animation and character design was slightly worse. The whole scheme to get to the warp gate was interesting to watch, but the infiltration was too easy. I really didn’t like the neko lips Franca had when they were exchanging the Persia – it so does not suit her! Sure, they’re meant to make characters cute, but it just doesn’t work with sunglasses that make their eyes seem smaller. I’m not all that interested this show anymore, so its priority has gotten down. You should’ve been able to tell as this is way behind. I don’t dislike the show. If I did, I’d stop watching right away, so I’ll keep going and see how it goes.

Summary:

As Mister and the others are enjoying a meal cooked by Franca, Mister reaffirms their current situation. He says that if they were to go to Graceland via a normal route, the trip would take 21 days. Katana deduces that they will need to go through a warp gate, which is correct. The nearest gate facility happens to be called ‘Big Pink’ and is located in the ‘Woody’ star-space. The plan is to get to Graceland via that gate. They must prepare for an inspection and watch out for Marciano. Even if they do get there, the planet will be engulfed by war. Getting into Giga Banks also proves a challenge. Mister explains that their ship will be easily spotted, so he’s already sent a message to Big Pink. He claims to have the perfect bait to pull this off. During the meal, the news comes on. The first report is about the high-yield explosive called ‘Jupiter’, which will be launching at a certain time. It seems that the explosive’s target is the gate at ‘Moon Walk’.

On Angelica’s ship, the detective is interrogating the head of May, as Chelsea watches from on the bed. She asks the cyborgs why Marciano defected from the Guild, or rather, destroyed it. May says that Marciano has her own way of thinking. Angelica asks her what they have to gain from doing this. May gives an interesting response: she asks Angelica (as she is eating a piece of sushi) if she ever thought about why she’s eating the sushi. I can think of a few reasons; she’s hungry or she likes sushi etc., but Angelica does not seem to find a reason. Because of this, she asks another question: what did Marciano order May and the other sisters to do. May actually answers this question. Marciano had wanted the sisters to go the Ku-Rong and capture Mister and Franca alive, and then force the location of Bruce’s assets out of them. Angelica doesn’t know anything about the treasure and ponders about this for a while. Further discussion reveals that May actually knows where Mister is headed for currently.

Back on the Coyote, Katana goes to check on things inside the cockpit and sees Franca huddled on the chair, looking gloomy. Talk of what they’ll do when the treasure is obtained reveals that Franca still isn’t convinced Mister cares for her, and had only looked after her all this time was for the pendant. She says that she’ll part ways with Mister once the treasure is found. Naturally, Katana tries to convince her that she’s wrong, but she isn’t too sure. She is sad because she thinks she will be abandoned and buries her head in her knees. She asks Katana to keep what she said about Mister a secret. He agrees. Suddenly, something starts to beep near the controls. It seems like they’ve been contacted by ‘Akishake’. Things are going well … Franca cheers up somewhat.

A short while later, the Coyote docks at ‘Akishake’s ship. Mister and the others dress up as casual looking dealers, wearing holiday shirts, hats and sunglasses. They pretend to sell shirts, which is part of their plan. The officers on board get sick of hearing negotiations on shirt prices and ask for the sample of ‘Persia’. Mister retrieves it and it is analysed. The results indicate that it is indeed the real thing. The executive officer of the ship agrees to buy it. On a side note, Mister asks him where they’re headed. The executive tells him that they are heading to Afusai via the Big Pink warp gate. Mister asks him if they can go through together secretly. He reluctantly agrees. Franca and Bishop then deceives him. They convince him to buy a shirt, and as he is reaching for his wallet, Bishop says he’ll hold the Persia for him. The executive absentmindedly hands it over to him, allowing Bishop to make a quick swap. As this is after the analysis, no one realises it’s now a fake.

The Akishake ship reaches Big Pink and proceeds to dock. Nothing suspicious is detected during the scan and they are allowed to continue. Once they dock, Mister, Franca, Bishop, Katana and Swamp leave the ship, bypass the security with fake IDs and sit down at one of the plazas. Franca notices that the gate to Graceland has been closed, but Bishop says that this doesn’t mean it has ceased to operate. Mister briefs the others on the plan: deactivate the remote gate controller so they are able to manually open it. Mister even has the blueprints for the building. Angelica and Chelsea suddenly come past, but they do not notice Mister and the others, who are now hiding their faces. They decide to leave when Angelica goes out of sight. As they are walking, Franca notices a holiday poster advertisement on a window. She thinks of how beautiful the place must be. She asks Mister if he’s ever been to that place before. He says no and that they are not blessed enough to visit such a wonderful place. However, contradicting his own words, he goes into the holiday agency and signs up for a trip of five to Aquaria (which is the place on the poster). Franca turns around, tears falling.

The plan starts now. The team will split up into three groups. Katana and Swamp will first move the Coyote to the warp gate. Bishop will navigate through the vent system to locate and terminate the remote gate controller. Mister and Franca will open the gate manually once the remote link is gone. The staff at the monitoring station identifies Marciano’s ship as one of the ships that have requested entry to Big Pink. They are forced to accept as they know Marciano’s nature and don’t want Big Pink to be obliterated. Back to the plan: everyone is to head to the gate when their job is done. As soon as Bishop terminated the remote link to the gate, the monitoring people pick it up. The overseer does not think of it as a big deal as the gate is closed anyway, so he simply requests the repair team to go take a look at it. Franca and Mister find themselves in earshot of a conversation between Angelica and the manager of Big Pink. She is asking the man to tighten security around Graceland’s gate (not that there is any anyway, lol). The decision will take time as even though the man is the manager, he can’t make decisions on his own. When Marciano has identified their targets (Mister and the others), she heads for the gate to Graceland as the 12 Sisters arm themselves.

As Franca and Mister successfully open the gate, Angelica decides to head there herself and go through if Mister does as well.

Marciano’s combat ships have caught up to the Coyote, which is pretty bad as Katana has to pick the others up as well. After being lost for some time, Bishop manages to make it the gate. Mister and Franca do as well. They cannot board the Coyote as if it slows down, its destruction would be guaranteed. When it veers off again, its pursuers begin to fire. Marciano’s ship approaches as well and the 12 Sisters (actually 11) prepare to enter the fray.

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