TORIKAJI IPPAI
Impression
Wow, the entire episode was practically a battle scene! I sure wasn’t expecting something as action-heavy as that. It even meant there was no time for extended toilet lewds (although they did slip some not-unrelated stuff in, like Shiro’s cat peeing or Shiro getting her butt fondled at the end). Alas, some things just don’t change. I was glad they didn’t run into the Musashi again, though. The Musashi feels like the final boss, and the Harekaze’s eventual fateful encounter with it will end up being a lot less exciting if they’ve already spent the entire series repeatedly meeting. And I’m pretty sure they weren’t heading in the same direction anyway, so it’d have been weird if the Musashi really did just pop out of nowhere. Instead, they found the missing Kongou-class Hiei – no, not that Hiei. And not that Kongou either.
Akeno felt extremely captain-like today. Not only in terms of her clever plan to trick the Hiei into shoring itself once the tides had changed (while under the mind control virus, I doubt they were thinking too rationally) but also in terms of her decisiveness as well as the way she got everyone to rally around her. She did it! She’s united the ship! It felt like the first time everyone on board had well and truly accepted her for some reason (especially Kuro) not least of all because she could just as easily have carried out her plan by barking orders at the relevant girls and not completely telling them what was up. Akeno is definitely becoming a better captain, although the boundless optimism and Nanoha-like resolve seems to still be there to a hilarious degree. Her self-confidence is amazing, it makes everyone around her look like worried defeatists. Or maybe it’s just Shiro and Kuro. Shiro’s also accepted Nanoha, it seems. They were staring into one another’s eyes and everything. Now kiss!
With each naval battle, the Munetanis back at base come closer and closer to figuring out the secret of the rats. Or the RATts as they’re apparently called. I’m rather unimpressed by the name, surely they could have done better than that? A ‘gene transfer experiment’ of some sort went wrong, and out came these rats with literal mind control powers. It’s not actually the case that each infected girl has a rat of her own – it’s just one rat per ship at least, although there may be more. Which makes sense, come to think of it. Otherwise, there’s no way all the people on board one ship would be so coordinated in the way they attack. Whoever is in charge on the Hiei or the Admiral Spee are passing orders to the others through bioelectric currents and moving them that way. Though this then raises the question of how Moka, whose ship has been well and truly overrun, is managing to escape the mind control. Is there a trigger factor of some sort? Is it enough that she’s locked herself somewhere, given that others are taken over via bioelectric signals?
I’m glad they’re keeping the Munetani family relevant, by the way. Now all they need is to bring back that perfect fluffy supply ship captain girl. I have to admit that I prefer Mashimo to Mafuyu, not least of all because I like mature and gentle onee-sans voiced by Nakahara Mai better than rambunctious tomboy ones. Although both are fine. And Mafuyu has revealed to us the priceless knowledge that Akeno and Shiro’s relationship has progressed to the point where the latter will shield the former from having her butt groped for an extended period of time. Shiro’s butt has apparently also gotten softer since the last time it was fondled. This entire ship is full of incorrigible perverts, I swear. Look at Kuro! She has such a look of longing on her face! It’s like she’s saying ‘why aren’t I the one fondling Munetani-san’s ass right now?’
