Impression
What exactly is a machine-doll? I’ve always just assumed it referred to Yaya, but evidently an automaton is very different to a machine-doll – the latter is apparently created through divine mechanics (I have absolutely no idea what that means!) and is a hell of a lot stronger, at any rate. Sin seems to be truly unbreakable – not only is he fully autonomous, he can take one of Yaya’s kicks without any problem. Even Lustre Cannon isn’t much of an issue for him. Yaya’s been battered up by him a couple of times now, and even Sigmund had trouble – god knows how they’re ever going to defeat him. Cherubim wasn’t much of a match either, although I was glad to see Loki turn up and lend a hand (I’m sure he enjoyed his little reward from Frey :D). Sin did mention that all six of Magnus’ automatons was too much of a challenge, even for him – so perhaps they might get somewhere if Magnus decides to be a bit more proactive (he just seems to be observing for now). I don’t know whether Raishin’s pride would allow that to happen, though – I’m pretty sure he’d rather suffer and emerge victorious instead of letting his brother clean up the mess.
It seems like things got a little more complicated this episode, which is worrying given that this show’s ending next week. I had no idea there was a third party involved in all this upper-class politics. I thought Sin and the kid were acting on behalf of the Granville family, who intend to protect the Kingsforts. I sort of gathered that he wasn’t too happy with that… but it turns out that they have their own independent agenda – to show off Sin to the top brass of the academy. Clearly the whole deal over killing the headmaster is just a little side project to them – and to be honest, they didn’t have any faith in Charl to begin with, especially as Rutherford was the strongest magician of the 19th century. A lot of people would have trouble killing him, let alone a renegade student.
By choosing to help Charl and Henri, Raishin’s making a conscious decision to involve himself in a mess that could very well get him killed – that’s something both Shouko and Charl herself are aware of. I swear he spends most of the show in hospital or something… and Sin’s ardent desire to kill Raishin really doesn’t help things! We did get a great battle between Charlotte and Raishin in the process – although it wasn’t in a formal, Evening Party setting, it was still really exciting all the same. You can tell that Sigmund’s actually really strong, even with limited mobility due to all the trees – it sort of makes you wonder what kind of battle they’d have had if they fought on Raishin’s first day. He managed to give Yaya a good run for her money, and proved exactly why Charl has a place amongst the Rounds.
It’s the final episode next week, and everything will (hopefully) be wrapped up. There’s a lot of loose ends, but I think Unbreakable Machine-Doll generally manages to get through a lot of material each week, so I hope that holds true next time as well. It doesn’t look like we’re going to get a Raishin v Magnus fight any time soon, but that can wait for a second season, eh?