Thinking about it more deeply, hopefully seeing those two die right in front of her will force Ascouer to grow up a bit. Perhaps she won't anymore treat missions like visits to an amusement park. Hoping she would realise her witless actions might have dire consequences would be too much to ask, though. With her IQ she will probably only blame the enemies (not understanding they were only doing their job, just like she should be doing) and never look into a mirror.
Space Train wreck lumbers on:
[Himatsubushi] Kiddy Girl-and 10
-----------------------------------
This episode was worse than the last for so many reasons. Overused plot devices were a joy to see for the thousandth time (moping around, youngest child re-encourages leads, repeatedly playing flashbacks of the other pair dying, etc).
But by far the worst was that Ascoeur and Kufiyu somehow inherited the G-class abilities of the other pair. How convenient! Rather, how contrived. There were a couple of reasons that ES members were given powerful anti-aging effects or even reincarnated as necessary. Their abilities were unique. You can't just pass on abilities from one person to the next, or even worse, "somehow remember how they used them." WTF! There was exactly one case of an ability being passed on in the prior series, and that was because they were mother and daughter. I expect an actual explanation for this in near future, but I doubt we'll be that lucky.
The only bright spots are that we might finally get some action now that Ascoeur and Kufiyu are getting their own ship, and hopefully they won't waste any time putting them on stupid fetch-quest missions and it will mostly involve them encountering the Shadow Workers repeatedly. Additionally, Ascoeur's reaction to Trixie and Troseinne's death was to become much more cautious, as shown with her being exceedingly careful with her work in the cafe.
I had not thought this had aired these past two weeks.
[ANBU] Kiddy Girl-and 11
-------------------------------
It is interesting that none of the Shadow Worker pairs trust the others, nor does Gaktoer trust any of them. I won't be surprised if this total lack of trust leads to their defeat by the intrepid trio and the rest of the GTO once they are allowed to act once again.
Saphir and Rubis are also the only really likable team for me. Rubis is very straightforward, she doesn't really care for G-Society's goals, but it is obvious she has some reason to hate everyone in the galaxy. She is very genuine. She threatens when she gets angry, and she's happy and confident when she is being treated well. Saphir's tendency to trash her room was also a pleasant surprise, not one you'd really expect given her way of speaking and the way she acts around others. Same goes for her hidden behavior that the Koa the maid stumbled upon. It wasn't really clear in the end whether it was Gaktoer she was seeing or someone else.
The good news is that next episode we will finally discover what happened in the past, and possibly the specifics of what happened to Eclair and Lumiere.
It is at least a little intriguing that of all the people working for the GTO, Gaktoer is most interested in Ascoeur. Not Dia, who seems like she might already know about what happened 25 years ago, or perhaps how much of a part she plays in it. Even her powers would make it seem like she would be the one G-Society would be most interested in. But yet again, Ascoeur seems to hold some larger role in all this.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Sun, 01-03-2010 at 08:04 PM.
The truth revealed in this special report!
[ANBU] Kiddy Girl-and 12
---------------------------------
So we finally are definitively told what happened, why Trixie and Troseinne were so important, and what really happened to Eclair and Lumiere. They're not dead, they just aren't accessible.
Geacht'er (Gaktoer) singlehanded wanted to destroy the universe for undisclosed reasons. Then he built G-Society after his first attempt failed. Meaning he is using the Novelesse with false promises of returning their status. Shocking!
I really liked the effect that the area around the marble also causes space time cessations. It's a lot like a black hole. That also probably explains where so many of the other former ES members are. They would probably have been the first to try and rescue Eclair and Lumi. While I can't say I was really surprised that Ascoeur went dashing in there, to her credit, the area around the planet looks like a normal debris field, rather than one massive time space distortion. She didn't know, and Kufiyu didn't really suspect it would be that bad either.
It was nice seeing Chevalier again too. He was reborn as a baby at the end of Kiddy Grade, so it seems this time he was given a much more thorough explanation of who his mother was, what she does, and wasn't left on his own this time. Eclair came to visit him quite often, and even gave him a cheerful goodbye before her final mission. I liked the meta moment of Che and Tama (both voiced by Wakamoto) addressing each other in some way or another (as near as a myuu~ can be construed as communication).
We also got confirmation that Hiver and Sommer are Mercredi and Armburst reborn. Even though their relative ages are now reversed, she is still like a very responsible teenage girl and he's still a lady killer.
The bigger mystery remains who exactly Ascoeur is and why Geacht'er is so interested in her. He killed off Trixie and Troseinne to prevent the crisis from being reversed, so perhaps Ascoeur somehow holds the power to unlock it and let the explosion proceed. Or it could be something else entirely. Whatever he did to her to make her stumble allowed him to confirm that she certainly is whoever he has been looking for. The one thing for sure is that we are still missing two pairs of ES members from 25 years ago (Viola and Cesario, Dextera and Sinestra) and Eclipse herself. The two pairs may be trapped near frozen space-time, but Eclipse was certainly around long enough to put Mercredi and Armburst into their new bodies.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Sun, 01-10-2010 at 08:40 AM. Reason: proofreading
I haven't seen you discuss this Ryll, or maybe I missed it... what are your thoughts on Trixie and Troisenne graves?
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/KI...Large%2005.jpg
Trixie III Eclair
Troisiene II Lumiere
Clones? I do remember lots of clones on Kiddy Grade, but can't recall much of the series.
I'd call this episode another useless one if it wasn't for the load of information that was given. Still, sending the girls to a vacation planet in the next episode seems a bit of a stretch. Even this trip to the frozen space planet was nothing but a vacation cruise.
Gaktoer not trusting anybody is certainly given considering his history and goals. If you are trying to destroy the galaxy, the only person you could tell about it is another lunatic - but two lunatics working together would never end well for either one. You have a lonely job if the task is to kill everybody around you. He has actually done remarkably well in building the G-Society all things considered; how easy can it be to build a big society over 25 years if your dream is to end all societies?
To be honest I don't make much of it at this point. Back in the episode where the girls went to the old GOTT headquarters and found Tama (eps 5), all the dates on the portraits of the ES members were copy-pasted. It would have made sense if there were dates for certain ES members who are either dead somehow or stuck in the frozen space-time, but all the dates were the same. All the dates. Even the two pairs currently employed in the GTO have dates for their deaths.Originally Posted by RyougaZell
Furthermore, the two focused on in that episode, Alv and Dvergr, died at least 25 years before Eclair and Lumiere disappeared according to the recent time line established. But every portrait says The Death SC 0322 and To Heaven SC 0328.
There may be something specifically later on, but for now, given all the inconsistencies with English that Kiddy Grade/Girl has always had, I'm just going to ignore it.
The clones in Kiddy Grade had very short lifespans, but who really knows what happened to them. Perhaps some of them had children and Trixie and Troiseinne were the result of that.
The curves revealed in this special report:
Episode 13 - ANBU
Curves and a whole lot more...
I guess we didn't need to wait long at all for it to be revealed why Geacht'er is so interested in Ascoeur. She just so happens to be an ultra pure-bred Novelesse. Only three people arrived the day before they went after the mainframe, which audibly recognized at least one of the three as a Novelesse, and the agent directly mentioned that is was a Super VIP.
The argument could be made that it was Di-air, but Geacht'er doesn't care about her in the slightest it seems, and supposedly being a pure-bred himself, it would make sense that he is after her for that reason.
That and the birthmark. What else besides a high Novelesse would have such an conspicuously shaped birthmark?
As swimsuit episodes go, this was a pretty entertaining one. Fanservice and a decent action episode all wrapped up into one. I was expected something like a little pervert typing away at the computer taking pictures of girls and keeping them there to create some kind of harem, but it was a nice surprise of the system going berserk in an attempt to maintain security due to the high numbers of social elites with a previously special status.
Strange that a series that so many poor and completely pointless episodes in the beginning actually makes a swimsuit episode with substance.
I kind of expected that a Shadow Worker pair would show up to rescue the Novelesse girls.
I wasn't actually as amused (in a negative manner) by this ep as many of the earlier ones. Perhaps because I didn't expect too much from the obligatory swinsuit episode in the first place, perhaps because it didn't have the kind of super stupid decision making the earlier ones have had. What they did here made sense more or less.
I could totally buy Ascoeur being an ultra pure-bred Novelesse. She's certainly stupid enough to be the result of extreme inbreeding.
A nice flashback followed by an episode that begun as crap but ended being awesome.
ANBU Episode 14
ANBU Episode 15
It wasn't really a surprise that Ascoeur is a Novelesse, though I won't deny that I kinda expected her to turn out to be Geacht'er's mother or something. Given how she was her approximate age in the flashback episode, that possibility was ruled out. How do you stop a stalker who uses what seems like the astral plane? Geacht'er being able to both be seemingly invincible by...phasing in and out of time I suppose, and being able to use his overwhelming attacks seems a bit unfair though. Having him showing up and stalking Ascoeur frequently could get really annoying really fast.
Interesting that Q-feuille is Eclipse's daughter. It's somewhat hard to understand what that means though. I'm fairly sure that Chevalier wasn't Eclair's biological son, so it is hard to say what their exact relationship is. It might be that Eclipse actually gave birth to her (who would be the father then? Probably a combination of Eclair and Lumiere's dna). Or perhaps she used her ability (quantum teleport) to create her, and the strain killed her. A third possibility (since we didn't see Q-feuille and Eclipse together) is that Eclipse is now Q-feuille, where I had previously suspected Ascouer. Given how powerful Eclipse was, I'm still struggling to understand how Q-feuille's birth/creation could kill Eclipse.
Then there is still Di-air. Her introduction made it seem like she was artificially created as well. She seems to have been relegated to comedy relief and omega kawaii sort of moments. They haven't been taking advantage of her ability, nor have they given her any character development lately.
I wonder what happens when Letuchia finds out that she's not all that special.
The series has certainly improved, but it still feels like they are wasting a lot of time with comedy relief episodes and stupid moments. There are already a ton of characters, and none of them have truly been given proper development besides Q-feuille and Asceour (and only barely). Di-air seems to have been forgotten about. The series has still been rather unfocused. Are the Shadow Workers supposed to be the trio's adversaries or not? Geacht'er took their place without the cast properly fighting any of the other pairs. The first Saphir and Rubis fight didn't really count since both sides retreated.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Sat, 02-06-2010 at 08:17 PM.
The scene with Geacht'er with the shadow workers aboard the space ship gave me an impression Geacht'er might not be related to Ascoeur in any way and is only using her amnesia as a tool to try to make her join his side. It wouldn't be that hard for him to get a fake birthmark as well. The flashback could have been anything, even something the shadow worker implanted since he was messing with her mind anyway. Shows a distinct lack of longterm planning on Geacht'er's part in any case to first murder the two people Ascouer respected the most right in front of her eyes and then proceeds to ask her to join him. The man isn't much of a strategist. Must be his ego that's blocking everything else from his vision.
Who knows. The important thing is that at least we didn't get a "I'm your father" scene.
Of late the moments I've been looking forward to the most are the super deformed still images in the middle of the eps...
I won't disagree there. The Sommer one from the swimsuit episode was very amusing.
A heart of ice on a planet just as cold
[ANBU] Kiddy Girl-and 16
------------------------
A very entertaining episode. Saphir had me fooled for a minute there, particularly when she was humming a lullaby to Di-air. Nevertheless, I expected her to rage if/when she found out Ascoeur was Geacht'er's sister. But alas, he had already told her and lured the not-so-bright GTO into a trap, again. Still, Saphir almost killed Ascoeur, and actually might have if Rubis wasn't there.
Now they've killed Tikhon (temporarily I imagine), and stolen Q-feuille, who is vulnerable due to her recent memory issues. It's not a far reach to assume that the illusion pair are going to brainwash her. Saphir will no doubt report on Di-air's full capabilities as well.
Ascoeur is turning out to be rather reliable, if only her superiors hadn't allowed her and Q-feuille to walk into this very obvious trap. She is still a bit dumb, but you can't really fix stupid. She's going to have to train up harder and maybe even gain considerable control over her power without Di-air if she is going to rescue Q-feuille and defeat Geacht'er.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Sun, 02-07-2010 at 05:55 PM.
Little sisters:
Episode 17 - ANBU
- - - - - - - -- - - - - -
Geacht'er is the biggest siscon in my recent memory. Seriously, that dude seems to have a hobby, or a compulsion, of collecting little sisters. First Letuchaia, then Ascoeur, and now even Q-feuille just because she seemed to be conveniently without memories. If Saphir reported Di-air's special power, he no doubt plans to add her as well into his merry family. No wonder he's starting to gain weird glances from his underlings.
I wonder if Letuchaia can keep her mouth shut, though. Until now she was the only little sister yet now out of the blue she must share the position with a former enemy. No doubt this is only Geacht'er's newest plan to ensnare Ascoeur, but telling Letuchaia it's all to gain yet one more sister wouldn't really help.
It wouldn't actually surprise me if Geacht'er himself was behind Rubis and Saphir's long torture. No better way to gain loyal workers than to rescue them from pain and hopelessness. All the "democracy" people might have been thugs he hired to play the role. If he killed them all during the rescue, nobody would ever reveal the truth to those two.
At last, real answers:
[ANBU] Kiddy Girl-and 18
-----------------------------
RZ's instincts were correct. Trixie and Troiseinne were the 3rd set of clones spawned from the ether in an attempt to save Eclair and Lumiere. I wonder if this had an adverse effect on Eclipse because normally she would reincarnate Eclair and Lumi, but she was remotely cloning them. As such, while creating Quatre-feuille, she succumbed.
However, I still can't imagine someone as powerful as she simply dying. Di-air and Q-feuille are pretty much the same age, so maybe, just maybe, Di-air is Eclipse with diminished abilities, reborn like a phoenix of sorts. I'm clinging pretty desperately now to the idea that she is alive, but I don't want to call her dead without seeing a body.
Given that only the Ascoeur/Dia/Hiver parts of the episode were filled with real content, the middle parts with Letuchaia's futile efforts to play tricks on Q-feuille fell really flat. There was the flash of Geacht'er's eyes showing he would never consider Q-feuille to really be his little sister, but that was about it.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Sat, 02-13-2010 at 10:42 PM.
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