By The five Spearhead Squadron members travel across a green field in their Juggernauts with several scavenger units including Fido behind them. They stop their Juggernauts and get out. Anju fills her canteen along with Kurena as Shin and Raiden drink from nearby. Theo tries to pet a stray cat that runs atop Fido. Rain soon starts falling so the five of them flee to a dry place where they start a fire. They put out the fire as a large group of Legion units travel by off in the distance. The next day Shin and Raiden stand before a river and talk about how they can’t make it across. They are soon joined by the other three. Theo claims small gaps in their cockpits will enable water to flood in. Raiden says Haruto, Daiya or Kujo might have just jumped in. It’s been a long past three days. With all the recon units that were out there Raiden thought it would be tough. Anju says the good weather has helped. Kurena says it’ been two weeks since their special recon mission started and they’ve lasted longer than she thought. She thought they’d have died on the first day. Theo asks where they are and she says she has no idea as they turned off their location trackers long ago. He comments on this being freedom and skips a rock across the water. Raiden asks what their plan is; they’ll need a bridge to cross this body of water. It is possible the Legion’s recon units will come back. Shin asks if they really need to move forward right now, which the other four are happy to hear. Anju says she has to do the wash and Raiden says they’re not in a big hurry. Things cut to later as the five of them stand by the water removing their clothes. Kurena has fun chasing after butterflies. Wet clothes hang on clotheslines. Raiden and Shin go fishing. Raiden says it feels like they’re the last people alive. Shin quotes something he said in the past about how if this is the last thing he sees maybe it’s not so bad. Raiden asks how long ago that was and Shin says he never took him for a romantic. Talking about the slain, Shin says he doesn’t think they’re dead, but when they die they just disappear. Their mind and will don’t stay behind. Raiden ask how many of them there are now and Shin says 576. Raiden as if this includes his brother and he says yes. Raiden asks if Shin took a memento of his brother’s name. Shin says yes and that Fido knows. Raiden says Shin and Fido are really close. He says now it’s just a question of how far they can take them. Shin says without resupply there’s a limit to how long they can keep going. Raiden asks Shin if there’s anything he’s going to regret. Raiden says Lena asked Shin once if there’s anything he wanted to do, places to go or things he wanted to say. Shin asked what he said and Raiden says he never thought about it. Shin says his answer’s still the same. Things cut to later as they eat some fish they caught. Anju is happy about them finally being able to do a wash of their clothes. All they really need now is a big barrel or something to put water in for them to be able to take a warm bath. Fido beeps and Theo asks if it’s thinking about its container, for which they can use cloth to patch up any holes. They dismiss the possibility though due to the fuel it would take to heat it. Fido makes another beep and Shin says there’s a town nearby. Theo asks how can tell what its saying. Shin says they should be in old imperial territory and he’d like to see what their towns were like. Later they head through an abandoned city street. Kurena catches up to Anju after looking at some old clothes in a smashed storefront. Raiden tells Shin they look like ordinary kids walking together and the same goes for him. They used to be ordinary kids from different towns and without the war never would have met. Raiden asks Shin if the Giadian Empire brings back any memories, to which Shin says no. His parents were born in Giad but he’s never been here and doesn’t remember them at all. Raiden says some distant ancestors of his were from Giad but it doesn’t feel like his homeland either. Shin stops as they walk past a tunnel and Raiden asks Shin what it is. Shin starts walking through it until Raiden tells him to not run off on his own; he’s not a little kid. Shin says it’s nothing; they’re probably fine. The Legion hasn’t noticed them and they’re not going to run into them. Raiden says if he’s tired the pillbox there is a good hiding spot. Shin apologizes and says he’s used to hearing the Legion’s voices. There are more of them now that they’re in their territory, but it’s not that bad. The other three call for them and they catch up. That night Kurena and Anju take a warm bath in one of the Scavenger units. Anju warns Kurena not to be too loud as she expresses pleasure over the warm water. Kurena says the boys should have joined them and Anju says this is why she keeps getting treated like a little sister. Nearby Raiden asks Shin why he thinks Kurena never matured and Shin says he has no idea. Theo is glad they were able to take a bath, due to Fido finding a boiler. It’s been nine years, but the fuel they found was still usable. Shin tells Fido good job for finding it and chuckles at its reaction. Later, the other four look at Shin as he sleeps. Anju says she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him sleeping that peacefully and they talk about how he’s softer and more willing to laugh now. Kurena says she’s sure he’s at peace now that he’s finally achieved his goal. Raiden says he spent five years searching for his brother but finally put him to rest. Anju says he finally found someone he count entrust him to, which Raiden replies to it being Lena. Kurena says it kind of ticks her off and they chuckle.
The next morning, Raiden and the others wake up and find Shin is missing. They see his Juggernaut is still here so he didn’t go on without them, although he did take his rifle and handgun. His Para-RAID has been turned off. Theo asks Fido if it knows where he went. Raiden thinks to the tunnel they came by earlier and they head there, finding an old zoo once they’ve made their way through. They pass by various cages containing bones of dead animals, eventually finding Shin by a Legion unit. Raiden runs in front of Shin, who tells him it’s fine, there’s no danger and the Legion unit can’t move. The Legion unit has a large hole in it. Shin tells them he could tell it was approaching them little by little for a while and he was going to ignore it but it felt like it was calling him yesterday. He says it was an Eighty Six like them, and its last words were “I want to go home.” Shin pulls out his pistol, sticks his arm in the hole and fires. Shin asks Raiden if there are any other surviving countries beyond the Republic. Raiden claims he’s heard stories about some places beyond the old borders where the Legion don’t go. He asks Shin if he thinks there are any survivors there and Shin says yeah. Raiden asks if he wants to live there in peace; he couldn’t imagine what it would be like. Shin says in a fairy tale journeys like this end with you arriving in paradise. Raiden asks if its paradise or heaven and says if he could count on something like that he’d have blown his own head off long ago. Kurena, looking at an elephant skeleton asks if they’re going to die like this too. Fido beeps. Raiden says to stop talking and go forward and Fido affirmatively responds. They chuckle at this and Kurena claims Fido is being bossy. Raiden says Fido is more than just a dog that beeps. They decide to head back to the water to make it to the other side. The remainder of the episode is a variety of flashbacks, primarily from Fido’s perspective. On October 11, 2144, Fido comes across a younger Shin carving out a piece of an old Juggernaut. Shin looks at Fido and walks towards it, which beeps as he nears. Shin comments on Fido’s squadron and comrades being gone, and if it will go back with him. Several months pass with Fido following Shin. Things move forward to April 1, 2148, the day Shin and the others arrived at the Spearhead Squadron. An Alba member taking their photos says they have six months left. Shin is the last to have his photo taken and frightens the photographer by throwing a screw once he’s done. Shin says he wants to ask a favor. The next day Aldrecht examines Fido and tells him to stay with Shin to the end. Nearby Kujo writes 179 days left on a chalkboard as someone yells at him to wipe it off. A few weeks later Kurena excitingly tells Fido about how Shin grabbed her when she tripped. Another week or so later Kaie, Haruto and Lecca ask Fido to help in determining which cans of food taste worse. Another two weeks pass and Fido witnesses Aldrecht get hit in the head by a ball kicked by a nearby squadron member. A week later Fido sits behind Kujo as he stares at the starry sky, saying the stars, sky and wind have always been there and have nothing to do with them. Things move forward to June 13th as Haruto, Theo and Daiya have band aids all over their faces after a failed attempt to see the girls naked. Theo asks Fido it it’s a boy and it nods. A couple of days later Kaie asks Fido about flowers and we briefly see her on the happy night with the sakura blossom trees. A few more weeks pass and Kurena tells Fido about Shin complimenting her. Another week passes. Anju looks at a poster on the wall saying “Seeing them will change your life” and claims you can’t change your life that easily. She walks off as we see Daiya nearby staring in secret. He comes up to Fido and says they should go to the North Pole. Things briefly flash to the night with the sakura blossoms again as Anju and Daiya dance. Two more weeks pass. Fido watches as Shin mercy kills Daiya, then later that night as Anju stands alone outside and falls to the ground. Fido flashes through some happy times like fireworks and seeing some butterflies. We see a few more brief moments with Kurena and Shin talking to Fido. We cut to Haruto talking about how it would be fun to be on the special recon mission with the other five and him asking Fido to come along. We see the next night as Theo says he’s amazed he’s made it this far and throws his drawing pad in a fire, wondering if he’ll be next. Three days later Aldrecht thanks Fido for its service and asks him to keep them safe. Fido looks at a large nearby structure and flashes back to months before when the entire squadron gathered before it for a photo. Later, Shin carves out a memento of Rei from the Dinosauria and briefly showing it to Fido. On October 30th, Fido sits before a fire and then explodes.
In stark contrast to last time’s action packed episode we get what is by far the quietest episode of the series thus far, one that is almost entirely new content not included in the original light novel. We don’t even get any dialogue until more than 2 minutes into the episode. I enjoyed spending time with the five remaining Spearhead Squadron members in the aftermath of the big battle. They are finally able to live their lives with some freedom and a much reduced fear of death (although they still need to be aware of any possible nearby Legion). By far the most effective sequence of the episode though was the last 5 minutes or so as we see things from Fido’s perspective. This brings us back to older, happier days in the Spearhead Squadron. We get some funny sequences such as Kurena gloating to Fido about any of her interactions with Shin, whom she obviously has a crush on or Daiya hiding in the background as Anju looks at a poster. Alas we are also hit with some pretty sad sequences such as Anju in the aftermath of Daiya’s death right after this, or Haruto talking about how fun it would be to be on a recon mission with the others knowing that he dies shortly afterwards. While this episode doesn’t dismiss the concern I have with the show rushing through its climax in the prior episode, I did still find it a fairly good episode and was glad we got it. Throughout much of the show we’ve been alternating ending themes between “Avid” (my personal favorite) and “Hands Up in the Sky” but get both of them here, albeit playing in the background as dialogue occurs over them.
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