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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 13 April 2007 17:00 |
 Sara's finally beginning to get at least some respect from her hate club - which is just as well, as if there'd been much more of Noelle and Arisu's antics I'd have given up on GunParade Orchestra. Sara and her unit have to resort to unusual methods of getting hold of extra equipment, before the approach of spring becomes an excuse for a short holiday...
6 - The Seven Golden People
The 4th make it through their latest mission - not without the usual bickering with Sara, mind you - but the battle leaves a number of their mecha seriously damaged at a time when they can least afford to be out of action. When HQ refuse to give the unit the supplies they need to get their damaged units back up and running again, Sara heads off to HQ to make a sersonal sppeal - and is surprised to find half of the unit wanting to tag along. The fact there's a hotspring near HQ has nothing to do with everyone's enthusiasm, I'm sure. When the general responsible isn't very forthcoming, her subordinates decide a little unauthorised acquisition may be in order. That's stealing, to you and me...
7 - The Spring Isn't Far
Spring approaches, and the 4th are enjoying a break from active duty. Enjoyable enough for most of them, but some of the unit are beginning to get a little bit bored. When a request comes down from HQ for the unit to help with the search for a missing horse, it looks like a good opportunity to do something useful - but Kojima-sensei seems strangely reluctant to do anything sbout it. As for Sara, she's too worried about getting her latest literary masterpiece - a letter to her academy teacher - safely in the post, while there's a sudden burst in enthhusiasm for carrying out maintenance on the unit's equipment...
If anyone can explain the significance of the penguin - other than being the unit's mascot - I'd be hugely grateful. Its constant cryptic conundrums are yet another part of GunParade Orchestra that manages to annoy me.
Thankfully, the sniping from Noelle and Arisu has died down a lot, with Noelle even giving Sara a certain amount of grudging respect now - and with her sidekick no longer on-side with her, Arisu's far less vocal than she used to be. I really can't stress enough how much of a good thing this is - fair enough, Sara's only 15, which isn't really the sort of age that command comes naturally to, but the two girls were really out of hand and the lack of any real effort to bring them back into line was hugely annoying. That's out of the way now, and the series is that bit more enjoyable as a result.
There's a distinct lack of genjyu action in these episodes, to - more of a focus on the characters and how they handle problems and each other, which is a bit of a change of pace but actually quite enjoyable.
I'm still not hugely enamoured by GPO - I keep watching hoping it'll get up to the standard of GunParade March, but it's not really looking all that hopeful that'll happen. There are just oo many characters here that are difficult to connect to, and the result is a show that's hard to get into. Maybe my persistence will pay off yet... |
