By Atra helps Nadi and the boys unload the new supplies sent to the Isaribi. Kudelia runs into Mikazuki, who comments that she looks busy. She has to prepare for things on Earth, and when he asks why she’s doing that when it’s not certain they’ll even make it, she answers that they will if it’s Tekkadan. Kudelia asks again to shake hands, and when Mikazuki answers that his hands are dirty again, she counters that hers are too. She says her hands are dirty with everyone’s thoughts and blood, but she’s proud of them, so Mikazuki shakes hands with her. On the bridge, Orga goes over final preparations with McGillis, who is sticking with the pseudonym Montag. Kudelia comes to the bridge and thanks Orga for bringing her so far, but he notes that the biggest challenge is ahead of them. She asks Orga to take her to Earth and vows to work to make everyone happy. At a Gjallarhorn station, Carta is informed that they’ve detected the Isaribi. Gaelio calls Carta and bristles at having to address her formally. She asks about McGillis and yells about him to Gaelio, who explains that he’s on vacation. Carta tells Gaelio that he’d better get results or face punishment. Chad reports to Eugene that they’ve been picked up by the Ariadne as planned. Earlier, Eugene visited Shino in the hangar and revealed that he’s worried about messing up and getting everyone killed. Shino tried to lighten the mood by joking that since Eugene screws up sometimes, they wouldn’t blame him if he died. However, Eugene got serious and declared that he wanted to be more responsible. Shino kicked him away and thinks they should both try to be cool. On the Sleipnir, Gaelio and Ein look over the repairs to the Schwalbe Graze and the upgrades to the Gundam Kimaris, which Gaelio thinks will be enough to beat Tekkadan. Gaelio comments that Carta hasn’t changed at all, even after being given a figurehead command. Ein asks if he knows her, and Gaelio answers that he and McGillis have known her since they were children. The captain announces that the Isaribi‘s Ahab Wave reaction has been detected. McGillis tells himself that if Tekkadan thinks their actions signify progress, they need to show it to him.
Gjallarhorn sends a halt order before its ships open fire. However, the ship keeps approaching and two Ahab Wave reactions are detected. The Brewers ship emerges from the weapons fire, acting as a shield to the Isaribi in tow. Eugene controls the ship through Alaya-Vijnana and tells Chad to connect him to the Brewers ship as well. Despite the added strain, Eugene maneuvers the Brewers ship to take the brunt of the attacks. The Isaribi then breaks away, and Carta yells at her men to destroy both ships. The Brewers ship is destroyed and unleashes a cloud of nano-mirror chaff that scrambles Gjallarhorn’s sensors and communications. Carta orders that they use light signals to inform the fleet to flood the area with maximum LCS and fire missiles with time fuses. Radar recovers and picks up the Isaribi on a collision course with the Gladsheimr station. The ship crashes into the station, altering its orbit enough that it will fall on Earth. Carta orders her forces to cease pursuit and instead rescue the personnel on the station. Elsewhere, Orga, Merribit, Biscuit, Kudelia and Atra ride inside the Montag shuttle until they’re attacked by Ein. Shino’s Ryusei-Go and Kutan take on Ein while Mikazuki’s Gundam Barbatos fights Gaelio. Shino is caught up in wires and forced to eject from the Kutan after coming under fire. Akihiro’s Gusion Rebake engages multiple Graze Ritters. One of them targets the shuttle and is instead attacked by Lafter and Azee’s Roueis, which are the Hyakurens re-armored to disguise their Teiwaz affiliation. Mikazuki notices that the Gundam Kimaris is faster thanks to its extra boosters. Gaelio stabs the Gundam Barbatos with his lance, but its new reactive armor absorbs the hit and is purged. Mikazuki tosses Gaelio’s lance aside and attacks with his mace. As the shuttle begins re-entry, Shino gets caught up in Ein’s wires. Mikazuki tosses Gaelio’s lance back at him, but Ein jumps in and takes the blow. Gaelio asks why he did this, and Ein answers that he’d lost his pride, but Gaelio helped him find it again, so he can’t let him die. Ein’s cockpit pod is ejected from his suit. Carta vows to get revenge on Tekkadan for making a fool of her. Several Graze Ritters attack Mikazuki, but McGillis arrives in his Grimgerde and helps take them down. McGillis is impressed that Mikazuki could recognize it was him. As the heat of re-entry increases, most of the Graze Ritters fall back. Mikazuki tells McGillis to go because he has other things to do. Akihiro and Shino return to the shuttle, but a Graze Ritter attacks Mikazuki. Mikazuki kills the Graze Ritter pilot and uses his suit as a shield to survive re-entry. Mikazuki thinks back to when he was younger and Orga told him they had to go to the place where they really belong. Everyone on the shuttle is relieved to see that Mikazuki is safe. Mikazuki looks around at Earth and sees the crescent moon that he’s named after.
Although this episodes features the long-standing Gundam tradition of the atmospheric re-entry, that part isn’t the actual focus for most of it. Instead, we get some smart tactics on Tekkadan’s half using distraction and sneaky tricks to fight an enemy with an overwhelming numerical advantage. They’ve been towing the Brewers ship for a long time now, and it finally serves a purpose as a shield to protect the Isaribi and a chaff dispenser to temporarily blind Gjallarhorn. This allows Tekkadan to knock Gladsheimr out of orbit and thus turn Gjallarhorn’s attention away. And during this whole time, the shuttle is sneaking by until Ein spots them and ignites a new battle. However, Mikazuki is ready for them with new armor and almost kills Gaelio, but Ein takes another wound for him. However, this time he looks a lot worse off than the last time. McGillis is certainly betting big on Kudelia and even going so far as to shoot down allied forces. Carta is a pretty ridiculous character and doesn’t seem particularly competent, so it’s no surprise Tekkadan got the better of her. The opening scene has Kudelia asking Mikazuki to shake hands again, and this time they do. It’s of course a call back to the beginning of the series, and it serves to demonstrate how much the two of them have changed since then. As of this point, there are only six episodes left, so it remains to be seen what Kudelia can accomplish in that time frame.
Comments