+ | N o v a s t o r m | +

Impressions:

This episode is my favourite so far, as it combined everything that makes a good watch (that a show like this is capable of I mean): action, mystery, blood and a lot of insight into Orlando’s past, something I’m sure a lot of viewers want to know more about. There were a lot of explosions and freaky Orlando-on-killing-spree shots. The gushing blood from his leg injury was a nice touch. I’ve seen a few anime where someone gets stabbed really badly, yet after a little dribble of red the blood seams to stop, just like that. There was a lot of mistrust this episode too, with Machs wondering what Orlando’s really like. This is sure to escalate very soon, seeing as how Machs was so shocked when Orlando took a strike to his leg without so much as a second thought, that he called him a monster (monologue) instead of saying ‘thankyou’ (for saving his life). Soon, probably everyone’s going to start distrusting Orlando except Alice, and the Pumpkin Scissors will spilt up. Then, during a mission where both sides try to take on the evil-guy-of-the-episode on, they find that they have to help each other out. After saving each other’s lives, the team make up. The truth should be revealed soon (unless the entire series is going to revolve around figuring Orlando’s past out), but I’m not sure whether that will clear all the distrust up or worsen it. For now though, I just want to see some more gore and big door knocker explosions.

Although it wasn’t as significant as the past few episodes, there was a bit of development with both Orlando’s and Alice’s feelings, though this was not as a pairing. The two merely worked off past experiences together to advance their, um…interest in each other. As Retsgip pointed out, Orlando probably just admires Alice for her strong will and duty of justice, which could definitely spiral into true love anytime now…nah, not true love, but his interest in her will definitely increase as they spend more time together (well, what else could that dream of her be?) Speaking of his dream, the Alice part wasn’t the most important part so why am I talking about that so much? The most significant part of the dream was the first part, when Orlando dreamt of what seemed to be his creation (or at least times when he was still in his 901 ATT platoon. There also seems to be something to do with German, but anime tends to include of foreign languages in anyway, mainly English, German and French. And what about that scientist at the start of the episode? Was that part of the dream too, or something that really happened? I think it was an event in the past, but not part of the dream as there wouldn’t be any way for Orlando to have been there to dream about it. Unless of course, the script writers decided to be lazy and just make everything convenient for themselves, which I think it highly unlikely. On a side note, the quality returned to normal this episode, so let’s hope it stays that way.

Now once again, I fall onto the topic of the blue lantern! Or blue will-of-the-wisp, to go with the anime saying. I know there are definitely people who are insane enough to run up to an enemy tank, but it’s Orlando’s face when he goes into Terminator mode that tells me it’s definitely something more. If indeed he is part of some Empire experiment some time ago, it’s quite likely the lantern somehow alters his body chemistry or something to allow the desire to kill to take precedence over everything else, including pain and fear, when in combat. However, there is a flaw in this and that was shown when Orlando allowed himself to be wounded to save a fellow comrade’s life. In real war, this would be highly inefficient. I doubt that this was intentional during the 901 ATTs’ design, so it must be that Orlando is developing some control over himself when he fights. From his dream, we know it’s most likely that the only thing that should be in Orlando’s mind is the word ‘kill’ (in German), so him being able to process other thoughts during his berserker rage (namely, ’save life’) means he could well become a monster tank killer while in his normal state of mind (but still with all his fear and pain receptors switched off I guess). Nevertheless, I love the blue lantern idea as it is just incredibly awesome to see Orlando go calm-psycho and blow everything to pieces. Even though I still haven’t gotten enough of these tank battles, someone from Memento said that this will be the last tank battle in some time. I guess it’s time for some more thought out battles, drama and conspiracies.

Plot Outline:

- A scientist is reading something, and when her assistant returns with some reports, decides to resume the experiment of their ‘boy’ (most likely the 901 ATT project)
- In a dream, Orlando and a squad of other guys are taking on some tanks with all their blue lanterns on
- To interrupt things, Alice appears in the dream and Orlando wakes up
- He comments to some friends on the street that his dream had been nice (it seems he constantly has bad dreams)
- At HQ, the team and their superior discuss the automatic shell re-loader in the tank that the Viscount had in episode 2
- It seems that this is advanced technology so the Pumpkin Scissors are sent to find a tank expert and enquire about this
- Before leaving, a female technician asks Machs about Orlando’s true nature, which makes him start doubting the 901 ATT
- The group drive to the expert’s place and ask about the advanced tank, but get no answer (though it seems this is because the expert is not exactly who he seems and wants to keep the information a secret)

- When everyone except Machs leaves, he notices a gun identical to Orlando’s in a display case on the wall
- After asking about it, he discovers that it was a part of a plan to create a rival tank in the form of infantry
- However, nowadays, such a big gun is only effective against tanks at point blank range, which makes Machs think of Orlando
- The team then make their way to the garage where the technician from before is repairing Viscount’s tank
- However, an APC in the corner equipped with a cannon starts firing shots at the tank, destroying it
- Machs gets caught in the blasts and lays helpless on the ground as the APC approaches him
- Orlando saves Machs life, taking an injury to his leg, but manages to kill the operators inside the tank
- During the ordeal though, Machs is wondering why he isn’t thanking Orlando for saving his life, and instead thinking of him as a monster
- Back at HQ, Machs makes his report to his unit’s overseer, before the death of Viscount is announced
- Alice falls asleep beside Orlando in the hospital, but wakes to find him gone (he had returned to below the bridge where he sleeps)
- Note: It’s most likely that the tank expert organised the destruction of Viscount’s tank as well as the death of Viscount himself

Preview:

Next episode - #5
Seems like some nurse and patient become focuses of the story…

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