Gasaraki Ep. 3: Tantric Circle

A U.S. General reports about the status of their surveillance of Belgistan during a media press conference. He announces that the next stage of their plans, stage three will soon take place when regular forces will be sent into Belgistan. He refuses to comment regarding the losses suffered earlier in Belgistan’s capital and whether the U.N. is trying to set military precedent by entering Belgistan, angering the media. The JSSDF performs tests on TA Focus 2, piloted by Rin Ataka. Hayakawa tells his technicians that he’s not sure whether they’ll be deployed or not due to constitutional issues. At that time Lt. Colonel Hirokawa tries to convince the Japanese Prime Minister that the U.S. would not raise a concern were they to deploy the TAs in Belgistan. The Minister of Justice gets upset and is against the deployment. The TAs return to a large hangar and the pilots disembark. Two men in suits have come to take Yushiro back to the Gowa estate but he requests to talk to Lt. Hayakawa first. Captain Kaburagi wonders if Yushiro would be deployed in Belgistan along with them. She thinks that while it was okay to have him be involved with the testing of the TAs since Gowa was responsible for their development, a civilian shouldn’t be allowed to be deployed overseas with them. Kazukiyo is pleased with the improvement of of the TAs, but Kiyotsugu still has concerns, particularly the fact that the TA’s artificial muscle ‘Mile One’ only responds to Yushiro. Kiyotsugu still knows little about the sample of Mile One that they possess and thinks they would need a complete structure to fully understand it. Kazukiyo says they’ll use Yushiro to supply the missing parts. Yushiro returns to the Gowa estate and meets Misuzu in front of the stone weather wheel in their backyard. Misuzu says that when they were younger they used to think that the weather wheel could grant wishes. Yushiro asks her if there’s anything she wishes for but she says everything would fall apart if she were to say it. Misuzu asks Yushiro to promise to return. Yushiro says he’ll be fine and that there’s little chance he’d see actual action if deployed.

Yushiro goes inside to see his father and brothers. Kazukiyo tells him that he’ll be deploying tomorrow. All Yushiro says is “I understand” and says no more even after being questioned about his lack of a reaction by Kazukiyo. Kiyoharu is hesitant to send Yushiro to Belgistan but Kazukiyo desires real life situations to test the TAs in. He also wants to find out what happened with respect to the explosion in Belgistan. Kiyoharu thinks that the Minister of Justice will cause problems for them but when Kiyotsugu turns on the TV it is revealed that he was recently killed in a car crash. Hirokawa reveals to the Prime Minister that U.S. forces are entering Belgistan and that should they fail, they should deploy the TAs. The Prime Minister agrees to send the TAs and take responsibility for doing it without the approval of the U.N. security council. Yushiro and his JSSDF colleagues get on a plane about to leave for the Middle East. A member of Symbol reports to Council member Meth about Miharu’s recovery. He is concerned about their ‘puppet’, Colonel Stilbanov. Major Nozomi Takayama, a fellow TA pilot apologizes to Yushiro for having him come with them as a civilian. He says he’ll make sure he gets back to Japan unharmed. Yushiro says he’s participating with his own free will. Meanwhile the U.S. forces, made up of a number of tanks make their way through Belgistan. Bipedal weapons from Belgistan fire upon two of the U.S. tanks. The Americans fire back with all of their tanks but fail to hit any targets. Belgistan’s forces, made up of a number of crafts similar to the TAs spread themselves out and quickly overtake many tanks with their missiles. The Belgistan forces quickly charge their way towards the tanks and destroy them with ease from close range. Their mission completed, the Belgistan forces retreat. The U.S. colonel looks in horror at his forces, which have been completely wiped out. He reports the losses to the Regiment Commander. The Regiment commander wonders how Belgistan got such weaponry. His assistant thinks that they must have been supplied by an unknown multi-national corporation.