So there was a shikai... cheap trick if you ask me, but maybe I'm just angry I didn't see it coming.
Character design really is poor/not to my liking and I do not see anything I can attach to. I might drop it in the next eps, depends on the other new shows I guess.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
Like what I see so far. When are the other 3 pictured girls going to show up?? Oooooo can't wait.
I'm kinda disappointed there's no real interaction between Ichika and his sister outside of anything IS or school related. You'd think they'd have tons to talk about and shed light on his back story.
I too was pleasantly surprised. Not only is it a male voice (unlike the typical polite female one), but it's also that unusual deep growl. Wonder if it's that way because IS are made for girls.Originally Posted by KrayZ33
Thinking about it, I could forgive them if that horrible CGI from the first episode was used to convey a virtual battle simulation. The battles themselves don't look to be using that technique.
As for design, I'm not too fond of the Byakushiki, but I do dig the Blue Tears. On the other hand, it simply makes no sense for Ichika to be equipped with an opponent-damaging sword. If the whole point in tounaments is to deplete the opponent's shield, and he's only in the school for training, something that can actually endanger the opponent just seems out of place. IS boasts that awesome shield, but it's just thin metal (or a suit depending on where you hit) if you can bypass it like the Yukihira can.
You talking about the Form Fitting? I didn't mind it, but I also don't see why it let him survive the missiles unscathered. It didn't look like it used any shield from his counter (not that I went back to check), and if it did, then it would mean that he would have been saved anyway?
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Agree with these sentiments pretty thoroughly. The Blue Tears is a stylish design where the Byakushiki looks ungainly and ridiculous. If his machine is meant for closing and aerial melee, shouldn't it be more streamlined to increase acceleration? They said it wasn't meant for defense, but pure offense. It's very bulky, even in Form Fitted mode.
It seems like a huge hazard for his sister to have given him the Yukihira. The last thing I think the school would want is a student wielding a weapon that is actually capable of injuring another student during a training exercise. Yukihira is a weapon only suited for killing, though I also think it is silly that it somehow depletes Ichika's shield in order to bypass the opponent's. Maybe it would make more sense if they went behind the tech of the shields versus Yukihira, but they did not.
Lastly, I felt that it was stupid that they'd force Ichika to go out into battle without Form Fitting first. Cecilia had certainly Form Fitted to her own machine. They repeated multiple times the excuse that, "they only had so much time on the practice field," but that just came off as a plot device. They wouldn't let him use a practice machine because they wanted to gather data, so they receive delivery and immediately shove him out with it? Sorry, I didn't buy that. For the competition to be fair, they either should have both been in practice machines, or he should have been given at least two hours to familiarize himself with his own personal IS.
There was no legitimate reason that the could not have postponed the fight a few days more (or simply rescheduled).
the funniest thing was when his sister said something like "thats what you get for not paying attention to your weapon characteristics"
oh sorry miss world champion for not having time to read weapon stats/descriptions while getting shot and nuked at the same time!
Normally it comes down to two things:
1) Weapons normally use up ammo storage(even beam weapons), while shield uses up energy. Ichika's sword draws from the shield instead. (why they don't use a battery pack, who knows)
2) The sword uses up shield energy in a way that counters the opponent's shield (counter wave?), or if it leaves their shield intact, attempts to mimic their shield in order to get by it (sync wave).
The other thing I thought was funny was the sister's comment about Ichika's left fist clenching. He's got to have some sort of subconscious foresight for that to happen (ie his body knows he'll screw up, but he doesn't). Clenching his fist could mean that he's being confident and thereby thinks he knows everything and stops being cautious, but by no means is an indicator that he will fail. You've got to have a smart enough opponent to take advantage of that overconfidence to happen (like Cecilia).
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I saw absolutely nothing wrong with this setting. First of all, how do we know Chifuyu gave her sword to Ichika? It was a similar sword, yes, but as far as we know, the mysterious core might dictate what manner of a weapon materializes, based on the person. And the core might give a shit about the suits being used (right now) only for nonsense show business instead of real warfare. The scientist behind them sounded like a difficult person to deal with anyway.
On the other hand, if the sister did give such a sword, what's wrong about it? She's an ace herself, is she not? If the dude can defeat any opponent while remaining with one unit of shielding on his own machine, he's the winner. It'll just be down to discipline and training. Chifuyu looked like the kind of person who wouldn't cut him slack.
The same goes for this duel. I'd say they let Ichika fight with an unform fitted machine on purpose. For those two this might have been an important match, but for the teachers and the academy it was a golden opportunity to see what a dude piloting a women only suit could really do, academically. You can always study him under controlled circumstances later but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity since Form Fitting likely only happens once.
Another entertaining episode. And I wasn't even going to watch this pile of cliches...
The problem, is that she gave him a sword that seems to serve no other purpose than to harm the other pilot; It doesn't deplete the shield during the attack, it bypasses it. With that weapon, he can't win tournaments by depleting the opponent's shield - he wins by taking them out. Unlike Freezing, it doesn't sound like these were used for war, nor do the combatants have close to unlimited regeneration ability.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Liked this episode, though some flaws have me nitpicking:
- Orimura´s IS skills are too fantastic. They made his entrance-victory seem like a lucky chance, and now he fought on equal ground with one of the IS prodigies. Yeah, yeah, he knows Kendo, but come on. Sure, this isnt an untypical flaw in anime, still I hoped for a more down-to-earth approach here. Like, have him desperately evade his opponents attack, then give him one OMG!-attack, but let him lose, ultimately. But he was in perfect control over the IS from the beginning of the fight.
- Coming from the above, WHY couldnt have evade the first rocket attack?
- A few dodges and the girl praises him for being the only one ever to last that long against her? What bunch of loser did she fight against before?! lol
But he IS a prodigy. These two episodes portrayed him as someone who is unable to understand IS suit's technical theories, but is right at home once he sits in one.
I can only assume that dodging like he did was beyond the skills of normal IS pilots.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
As long as he can get close a long range attacker will lose. As simple as that. Under normal circumstances a sniper wouldn't fight under circumstances where close combat is expected.
Bill, that could be a valid point, but if he develops some coldness, he can force the opponent to surrender (or die). That should be an option. Or he could damage the machine and render it incapable of fighting, shields or not.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if he developed an attack more suitable for this show business.
Well, again, they made his entrance victory sound like he got lucky. I dont remember where they portrayed him as a naturally skilled pilot, he´s just special because of being the only male pilot.
Well, he is the only know male pilot, and brother to the best IS pilot ever.
His sister, best pilot ever, is a friend to the IS creator.
IS system is totally closed and under control of said creator.
It's not hard to guess that said creator decided no males would have access to IS suits as a political/philisophical choice. It seems like the world is at peace, one could think it is thanks to the IS being controled by women. It is a well managed, overpowering force that would just stop any war in a matter of minutes. Give that to males, and the world is doomed.
So now the question is why would that creator allow for an exception, even for a friend's brother?
Regarding that guy's abilities, I guess he shares some qualities with his sister. It seems he was also at a fairly high kendo level, so knows how to handle a battle, strategy, reading the oponent and so on. I guess they want us to swallow those 2 things are enough to explain his godlike control.
Regarding the battle itself, it's as Kraco said, the match is really unbalanced in many ways:
Female Prodigy vs Male total rookie-> Female as an advantage
Fitted IS vs Standard setting-> Female as an advantage
Long range Attacks IS vs Close Combat IS-> Male as an advantage, since there's no surprise effects and no place to hide.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
Didn't they say this was his second time piloting a machine? It doesn't quite make sense since that would mean his entrance exam would be his first time, but he mentioned that the first time was a shock to him, and he couldn't understand the suit the first time he touched it.
And his entrance victory was lucky. The examiner crashed into a wall, rather than being defeated like in Cecilia's case. However, he entrance wasn't a lucky one. You don't need to defeat an examiner to pass.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I don't think you have to assume. He and Cecilia were the only(?) two freshmen in their class who defeated an instructor. Cecilia because she has a Fitted IS and is very skilled at long range combat with a variety of tricks up her sleeve (that Ichika was able to see through), and Ichika because he dodged the instructor's attack and she crashed into a wall.
Dodging is a skill he's apparently quite good at.
Luck alone doesn't explain his victory against the instructor. Unless the instructor sucked balls (not literally). Such luck is born out of natural talent. He had enough talent to evade and cause the instructor to lose control over the situation. Sure, it probably wouldn't work a second time but that's irrelevant.
Besides, somebody once said that luck is an integral part of being a succesful warrior.
Regarding the match outcome:
It's a technical loss, yes, but one he couldn't have known regarding his rookie status.
And it is not satisfactory for Cecilia either. From her perspective, there's no way she wasn't able to defeat him easilly and it's a loss to her she won like that. Moreover, she was mere shield points away from a huge slash that would have had her to lose.
Then, she starts geting feelings for him because he's so strong (or so it seems), so the typical harem shounen is back on track
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
I'm not so sure Cecilia would have used a Fitted IS in an entrance exam when everyone else had a training one.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Another point here, I think I prefer Freezing's approach thus far. Power isn't something that corrupts men but not women. It does not discriminate, it corrupts equally. In fact, aside from Cecilia's haughtiness (which barely counts, if it does at all), I think they've really danced around that issue.
I can't see how they could have possibly not had an incident so far.
Unless Houki's sister baked a system into those black "no user serviceable parts" boxes that detects hostile, life-threatening aggression and shuts the system down, someone, somewhere, will inevitably use the IS's for nefarious purposes. I didn't see the two weapon systems automatically disarming when the horn went off. Ichika still had to stop himself from swinging. Maybe the academy can remotely shut down any IS that is registered to them.
Not all maidens are pure hearted angels. Things may change, but I'm not very satisfied with the idealistic viewpoint they've presented so far. It is a good idea that they've gathered so many girls from so many varied nations and encourage them to become friends at the same school, but they do grow up sooner or later. Mai-Otome touched on the same ideas, and that didn't work out that well.
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