Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta Episode 8: Overwelming Defeat

Everything happened so fast. There wasn’t any sort of ‘dramatic exit’ for any of the students, they were simply shot down and that was it, the fight moved on. I can’t say that I’m used to it, especially considering mecha series often have this scream happen before any pilots are shot down. But it was a nice effect because it served as a shock factor because nobody has time to prepare for it, it just happened, BOOM, just like that! It was brutal to see the students, (even Faustos) to be killed so quickly. Too many students died today, and it is unfortunate to say the majority, (if not all the noble students – it varies whether they had chosen to follow Fautos into the battlefield to defend Isla) were killed off, along with our beloved Wolfgang and Marco. Had the mysterious fighter with the seagull (who we know is now from The Holy Levamme Empire), Kal-El and Airi would be good as dead right now.
AND THANK GOD AIRI IS OKAY. Had they killed her off, I don’t know what I would be doing right now. Screaming into my pillow and crying, yes definitely that-but Airi is one of my favorite characters, it would horrible to lose her. She was amazing today, even though the circumstances were incredibly grim, she was shot in the shoulder and then stayed down for a bit, unmoving (but was still conscious) and then shot a Silver Fox down like a boss. It was really scary though because she knew that she was losing too much blood and the minute she loses conscious, there’s a big chance that it’s game over for her.
My favourite part of the episode though was when she and Kal-El were bonding, and she decided that she would now from this point on identify Kal-El as her older brother. Funny enough Kal-El doesn’t like that and would perfer being the younger brother (hahaha how cute!). I really do appreciate their bond as siblings despite the fact they are not blood-related and I am glad this will definitely not turn into a love triangle that most of us dread so much.
I am proud of Claire for getting on her feet, being active in attempts to aid her comrades. Unfortunately since she lacks experience with the riffle, Ignacio did the shots in her place. But thank god they showed up where the students were fighting on the ground! They were able to catch the enemy off-guard by shooting from the sidelines instead of from the trenches, and even saved Sharon’s life in the process. Claire had indirectly saved her friends’ lives right then and there. But that wasn’t enough for her. She continued to search for a way to enter and participate in battle. Their academy where all the planes are stored was engulfed in flames, destroying their supplies, making it difficult for the engineers to salvage them. Luckily they were able to get a hold of one plane at least and take the skies where Claire was trying her hardest to call the wind.
I was rooting for her to successfully get her powers back, and save Kal-El in the process, but the cliche was overwritten with a far more interesting twist with the mysterious fighter as mentioned in the above.
Speaking of the mysterious fighter, who we now know serves The Holy Levamme Empire. Their plane was wicked. You can tell just by the speed and how it flew around that this is far more advance than Isla’s planes. Speaking of particular planes, we know that the Sky Clan have plenty of Silver Fox aircraft in their hands. They were the ones that annihilated most of students in a blink of an eye. They are probably, though it may be too soon to say- the Sky Clan’s best aircraft.
The Sky Clan are not the type to hold back. If bombing the city and wiping out Isla’s airial forces wasn’t bad enough, the Sky Clan even dropped off parashooters onto the island to force ground battles to take place. Frankly is a miracle that they hadn’t taken over Isla already.
Yet despite the fact they were spared from take over, the Island of Isla still suffered an overwhelming defeat.
Their city thoroughly bombed and cast into a sea of flames, they are now short (or already out) of supplies with nowhere to restock (gee, what a brilliant plan! Go into a territory where you KNOW there will be dogfights and have no place to re-supply!) and paid the price of the loss of many lives, including the students.
It is kind of a pity that the preview gave it away that Kal-El will figure out who Claire is next week. At this point I don’t think he’s going to be mad at her as much as I initially anticipated him to be. The real question is whether he will stay true to his word of, “You are who you are”. Claire is Claire, and actual person as oppose to Nina Viento is simply a figurehead.