By Soushi pilots the Mark Nicht remotely and attempts to have it rip out its own core. He fails and gets assimilated, but he manages to break free. Fumihiko, Kazuki, and the others are briefed on the new pilots. Mimika has high physical abilities, Reo excels in martial arts, and Sui is a genius on Soushi’s level. Sakura compares the former two to Kazuki, and says Sui is the successor to the Siegfried System. Kazuki asks if the three are friends and Kenji says they spent quite a bit of time together so teamwork should be fine. The new pilots are shown their Fafners and they ask what the units’ names are. Canon gives them Irish names but the pilots ask for new ones. They’d also like to change the Fafners’ colors. Canon tries to explain the characteristics of Fafners, but Sui rattles off the explanation himself. Sakura, Kenji, and Kazuki arrive and Sakura forces Kazuki to give the new pilots a speech. He tells them they’ll have to deal with orders they won’t like, but they should remember that no one thinks it’s okay if they lost them. Everyone has faith in them, so they should have faith in others. Mimika, Reo, and Sui suit up with varying degrees of difficulty. Mimika puts on the Gobain helmet but takes it off because it smells of sweat. Rina scolds Sui for putting his suit on wrong and fixes it, giving him a face full of breasts in the process. When Reo comes out he forces himself not to look at Mimika’s butt. Hiroto, Akira, Seri, and Rina begin their training. Fumihiko and Chizuru meet with Mimika’s mother Yuuko.
Yuuko is informed about her daughter becoming an active pilot. Hiroto tells the new pilots to be their Fafners and refer to themselves as their unit names, but only Sui remembers what the names were. Soushi joins Yoko and Canon and tells them about his failure with the Mark Nicht. He says if they can get rid of it the Mark Sein should be usable again. Canon objects but Soushi reminds her that the Sein is their most powerful unit. Fumihiko and Chizuru meet with Sui’s parents. The Kaburagis would rather fight themselves like their daughter who was part of the L Project, but Fumihiko tells them Sui will be the one fighting. Reo’s father cries while decorating a cake after being told about his son. Chizuru remarks how it never gets easy and Fumihiko thanks her for all she’s done. Chizuru says she never thought Fafner technology would be used worldwide and Fumihiko asks about Jonathan. Chizuru says he’s driven and it’s scary how much he resembles a younger Mitsuhiro. Jonathan tells Yumiko and Maya about how Miwa and Emery gave him a purpose different from his father. He also tells Miwa about her father Michio and Yumiko thinks Jonathan is a pretty good guy. Kazuki does some pottery when Tsubaki appears to him and asks how he’ll bless the world. Fumihiko enters and comments that Kazuki’s pottery has a long way to go. Kazuki says he can still pilot a Fafner if needed and Fumihiko makes note of it. He adds that in the meantime Kazuki should focus on showing the new pilots the way to avoid losing their hearts to war. Rina complains about having to play the weak one during training. Akira comforts her and reveals he’s thinking of applying for the expeditionary forces. Seri gives the new pilots protective charms from her shrine and her grandfather hopes he won’t have to put more pictures of dead pilots up. The Nishio’s have a family meeting where Rina objects to Akira joining the expeditionary force. Akira says Miwa might save the world but Rina accuses him of just wanting to go with Maya. Ikumi tells Akira to decide for himself. Mimika deodorizes the Gobain helmet and puts her charm in it. Reo cuts out a picture of Mimika to put in his charm when his dad calls for him. His father gifts him with a real katana. Sui puts a strand of his sister’s hair in his charm but his mother catches him and slaps him. Sui tells his parents he’ll protect them and the island just like his sister. The next day Canon gives new names to the Fafners: Amaterasu for Sui, Susanoo for Reo, and Tsukuyomi for Mimika. They are happy with the names.
Thankfully no huge info dumps this episode. Instead we get to spend some quality time with the new generation of pilots and their families. I’ve always appreciated Fafner’s positive portrayal of family. Most mecha pilots have terrible home lives but here we clearly see how each set of parents are torn up by having to send their kids off to war. That wall of the dead really drives home just how dangerous it is. It doesn’t dwell on that darkness, though, as there’s plenty of humour to be found in this episode. Canon in particular gets a lot of laughs and it’s hard to believe she was the way she was when she first appeared. The new pilots are all set to go but it remains to be seen how good they’ll be in real combat.
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