Kyoukai Senki episode 23 – Hunting Party

June 16, 2022Episode Review,  Mecha Discussion,  ,  
It is quite apparent that the next conflict will be the last. As we’re in episode 23 and we’re still in the setup phase of the “war”. They are pushing many subplots towards their end so that they can (potentially) tie up as many loose ends as possible with the final battle. All three sides are taking steps to ensure they are the ones that come out on top in this conflict.

Firstly, the NAC side. The big wigs are all here and they are putting on their war paint. All of their resources are poured into preparing troops for the next big conflict with the New Japan army. Brad’s father is quite keen on using Ghost to deliver the finishing blow, as does his boss. Brad is obviously excited to use the Phantom to fight against the MAILeSes and will not hesitate to “remove” any obstacles that get in his way. Now that Louise have been “warned” by the NAC’s secret service, she might stay low for the moment…or just disregarding all of that and plant a huge red flag on her head since she seems genuinely worried for Brad. Although, the men in black could also be Brad’s men that just acted as if they are investigating him so that Louise would back off. It could have been any option, and we will find out soon.

Next is the warmongers – German and his “sponsors”. Dude’s as mysterious and as alcoholic as ever. Although his sense of aesthetic is sorta lame. Ares tried to jumped him but of course they failed. Although in the raid, we got to see how competent Ares soldiers are. They are actually pretty professional as soldiers/fighters, but yeah their planning department isn’t very good. They didn’t cover any exits and their intel could use some work since German got out of there barely breaking a sweat. But with this chase, I assume that Ares will somehow catch German off-guard and put a bullet through his head in the end.

And now to the most important side: the New Japan alliance. Yatagarasu and the allied blocs are amassing AMAIMs and getting ready for battle. But most of the screen time was used to show their mourning for Mashima’s passing. The pilots took it hard, especially Shion. And it’s nice to hear her conveying what she kept bottled up inside, as well as seeing Gashin being both pragmatic and understanding as well. He has grown a lot and has now become the “leader” of the gang (or at least it feels like so). He feels like the experienced soldier that is leading the two into battle. Amou was also depressed, although not to the point we saw at the start of the season. I was glad that Shion got her development this episode, which will definitely influence her action in the upcoming war.

So far nothing ground-breaking just yet. They are still keeping everything by-the-book and maintain an average pace on everything. They haven’t cranked any aspect to eleven for fear of unbalancing the rest. Let’s see if they are going to take some risks and be more liberate in orchestrating the finale or they will stick to the Buddy Complex/Gundam sort of ending. Although according to the opening, they might pull a Valvrave instead.
>Reryuu<

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