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Fafner: Exodus Ep. 14: The March for Dawn

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Summary

Dustin attacks the car Kamal is riding in, injuring him. Dustin says he should have obeyed ROE Alpha and Kamal asks if it’s a sin to save his comrades. Kamal tells him Billy is there, but Dustin doesn’t believe it since he had assigned his brother to the rear lines. Kamal says Narain had selected him and tries to take Dustin’s gun. Dustin shoots and kills him. One of the exodus’s camps is attacked by the Azazel type during a sandstorm. At another camp further ahead, Billy and Jonathan express relief that they beat the sandstorm. Communications are down because of the weather and Miwa senses the Azazel type. Narain wonders if the Festum predicted the weather. The Fafner unit and civilians at the rear camp get wiped out much to the Azazel type’s delight. Emery senses this and says the Festum are displaying the humans’ powerlessness. Narain discusses the situation with the Tatsumiya team and Soushi concludes that some one with military knowledge is helping the Festum, or there’s a Festum with a great understanding of the human mind. Kazuki brings up the Gregory type he saw and Maya wonders if it’s giving the enemy information. Narain says the Esperantos would have noticed that. The Esperantos figure the enemy goal is to draw the Sein and Nicht away. They decide to move the main camp into the middle of the line and move in a W formation so the main camp is equidistant from the rest. It will increase their travel time but everyone agrees. The journey continues and a great sense of solidarity forms between everyone. Most of the Festum they encounter turn out to be non-hostile but there were those they had to fight. Their true enemy remained hidden and the Gregory type watches on as Miwa cries.

At the thirteenth camp there is fresh water and plenty of wild game so everyone enjoys a good rest. Kazuki, Soushi, and Maya go stargazing and Kazuki asks Soushi what the Festum world is like. Soushi tries to explain but the other two have no idea what he’s talking about. Soushi says they can’t really understand it unless they come into contact with the Festum and Kazuki says if his life can be useful for that purpose he’ll do it. Soushi encourages Maya to speak her mind and she reminds them that they’re fortunate to have a place to go back to. Soushi compliments Maya for never forgetting the things they’ve almost lost. Yumiko gives Walter an inhibitor shot and he thanks her for allowing their pilots to fight for this long. He also tries to apologize to her for something but Billy interrupts. Emery had also gotten a shot due to her proximity to the Mir and notes that Soushi doesn’t need one. She says that to the Festum he’s a thorn in their side that won’t let them forget pain. Soushi says that allowed them to evolve but Emery says he’s an eternal existence and the pain allows the Festum to exist in the world. Soushi says his life will end soon as a human and Emery hopes that will be his blessing. At the nineteenth camp they receive contact from Dhaka and Narain is certain Kamal will send a rescue team. Akira is glad they’ll be able to return to the island soon, but Hiroto wants to keep going since he promised Seri he’d bring back hope. Ai asks if Seri is his girlfriend, but Hiroto denies it. He says he wants to spread peace to the rest of the world. Narain and Soushi anticipate the enemy’s next attack and Kazuki and Soushi volunteer to stay and guard the rear. That night the Festum attack from an unnatural cloud. The Sein and Nicht break through it and encounter the Azazel type. Hiroto is about to be attacked by some flying Festum but reinforcements from Dhaka arrive. Hiroto waves to them and says how humanity can band together to find hope. Dustin snipes Hiroto’s cockpit, killing him. Dustin declares ROE Alpha in effect.

Commentary

Damn it, Hiroto! I warned you about those death flags! To the show’s credit they were actually laying it on so thick I thought it was going to be a red herring and some one else was going to bite it but nope! Well played, Exodus. Well played. Hiroto was really likable so his death hits hard and the knife is further twisted by how he was killed by a fellow human. Dustin stubbornly insists on following ROE Alpha even though it’s obvious Narain’s forces aren’t infested. The extended version of episode one from the Blu-ray gives some insight as to why but it doesn’t prevent his name from going in my Death Note. We get a bit of levity before all the bad stuff happens but it’s pretty abridged. It’s not like they could show every step of the Exodus so it worked well enough. They’re a bit too quick to dismiss the Gregory type but that’s probably a bad idea.

Overall Rating
4/5

Fafner: Exodus Info

Director:
Takashi Noto

Writer:
Tow Ubukata

Mechanical Designer:
Naohiro Washio

Character Designer:
Hisashi Hirai

Musical Composer:
Tsuneyoshi Saito

Format:
26 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 01.08.2015 – 12.25.2015
Streaming 01.08.2015 – 12.25.2015

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