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Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep. 36: Stained Wings

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Summary

The Hashmal fires its beam cannon into the sky and attacks Iok’s Reginlaze. One of his wingmen tries to help and is taken down. The Hashmal emerges from the excavation site, and McGillis tells Orga that they should retreat. Orga asks how they can stop the Hashmal, and McGillis answers that they have to destroy it, if they can. McGillis is annoyed that the precautions he took to prevent this were ruined by Iok’s foolishness. The Reginlaze and Graze Standard Types open fire on the Hashmal, but it moves and quickly reappears behind Iok. A Graze pushes Iok out of the way before being hit, and another is taken down by a mass of Plumas. Iok’s men plead with him to pull back and think about the Kujan family’s future. Iok retreats as his remaining wingmen are overwhelmed by Plumas. As Tekkadan retreats, Zack notices that the Plumas have attacked an industrial facility. Rustal tells Julieta and Vidar that they’ve lost contact with Iok, but Vidar doesn’t want to jump to conclusions. Rustal wants them to follow up and get reliable info on the mobile armor. Julieta thinks to herself that she can get an Order of the Seven Stars for Rustal if she defeats the Hashmal. Shino’s team inspects a Gjallarhorn mining plant that was attacked by the Plumas, and they meet up with Orga to give their report. Dante reports no survivors, and McGillis asks for Mikazuki’s assessment. Mikazuki answers that it moved beautifully like the birds he saw on Earth, but McGillis interjects that it’s a calamitous angel, not a bird. He explains that mobile armors were developed for the sole purpose of killing people and once eliminated a fourth of the population. He says the Calamity War was brought about by mobile armors, and Gjallarhorn created demons to hunt the angels. Dante also reports that the fuel and materials warehouse was destroyed, and Zack adds that he saw the same thing elsewhere. McGillis explains that the Plumas are resupplying, but Orga is sure they can defeat them. Isurugi passes along intel from Proto that the Third Ground Base they were just at was destroyed. In addition, a Halfbeak class ship from the Arianrhod fleet is heading to Mars. McGillis wants to ambush the Hashmal and asks for Tekkadan’s help. He notes that while it’s Gjallarhorn’s fault that the mobile armor activated, Tekkadan dug it up to begin with. McGillis tells Isurugi that he’s starting to want an Order of the Seven Stars. Isurugi briefs everyone on the Plumas, which are produced by the Hashmal and can repair it. With enough supplies, the number of Plumas can multiply infinitely. Mikazuki suggests separating the Hashmal from the Plumas, and McGillis wants to set a trap along the way to a populated area, the nearest of which is Chryse.

McGillis and Isurugi leave to get their mobile suits and rendezvous in three hours with Tekkadan. Julieta’s Reginlaze and the Gundam Vidar enter Mars’ atmosphere and split up to cover more ground. Mikazuki and Hush travel to the Admoss Company to warn Kudelia about the threat of the Hashmal. Kudelia notes that the old shelter built when the land was first settled isn’t big enough for the entire population. She intends to stay behind because she doesn’t want to set a bad example and allow the weak to be left behind. Atra decides to stay as well, and Mikazuki heads to the valley where Tekkadan plans to ambush the Hashmal. Nadi delivers the Barbatos Lupus, and Merribit brings Orga a Tekkadan jacket. McGillis gives Isurugi the Helmwige Reincar, an improved version of the Grimgerde, while he pilots his Graze Ritter. Yamagi and Eco are surprised to see the suits at a civilian spaceport. Akihiro and Ride track the Plumas from the top of a canyon. The Hashmal is attacked by Iok and changes course away from the trap route. Merribit reports to Orga the news that the Hashmal has changed course southeast, taking it toward an agricultural plant. Ride takes off in his Shiden to try to evacuate the plant workers. Mikazuki launches in the Barbatos Lupus and heads for the canyon. Iok laughs and believes that he’s defeated the Hashmal, but Julieta arrives and tells him he’s an idiot. He gets back into his cockpit because he wants to avenge his men, but she yells at him to stay out of the way. Akihiro’s Gusion Rebake and Dante’s Landman Rodi open fire on the Plumas to buy time for Ride. Orga calls Mikazuki and tells him to lure the Hashmal back onto the trap route. The Hashmal fires its beam cannon at the plant, but Ride blocks it with his Shiden. While he emerges unharmed, the beam is deflected away from him and still hits the plant, setting off large explosions. Filled with rage, he starts wildly attacking the Plumas with his partizan. The Plumas begin to overwhelm him, but they’re blasted from above by Mikazuki. McGillis and Isurugi stop when their path is blocked by the Gundam Vidar.

Commentary

McGillis is right to be annoyed that all of his precautions were for naught due to Iok’s incompetence. His men sacrificed themselves to save him, but he’s such an idiot that he’s not worthy of the sacrifice. We learn a bit more back story about the Calamity War and the role of mobile armors as automated killing machines. Which of course raises the question, who would create autonomous weapons that indiscriminately kill mass numbers of people, and why? I’m not sure we’ll ever get that answer, but it’s good to at least know the cause of the Calamity War. McGillis and Tekkadan quickly come up with a plan to ambush the Hashmal and clean up Iok’s mess, until they’re interrupted once again by Iok. This episode alone puts him beyond Jerid Messa and into a whole new level of loser. Ride has a close call at the end, but he gets a timely save from Mikazuki. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles such a monster on his own.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Iron-Blooded Orphans Info

Director:
Tatsuyuki Nagai

Writer(s):
Mari Okada
Hajime Kamoshida
Michihiro Tsuchiya
Toshizo Nemoto
Shinsuke Onishi
Hiroyuki Yoshino
Mayori Sekijima
Tatsuto Higuchi
Yousuke Kuroda

Mechanical Designer(s):
Naohiro Washio
Kanetake Ebikawa
Ippei Gyoubu
Kenji Teraoka
Tamotsu Shinohara

Character Designer(s):
Yu Ito
Michinori Chiba

Musical Composer:
Masaru Yokoyama

Format:
50 episodes; 9 compilation episodes

Airdates (TV):
Japan 10.04.2015 – 03.27.2016 (S1);
10.02.2016 – 04.02.2017 (S2)
U.S. 06.04.2016 – 12.11.2016 (S1);
10.08.2017 – 04.28.2018 (S2)

Airdates (SE):
Japan 04.29.2022 –

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