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Now in Japan
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Saturday, 24 March 2007 00:00 |
 Sara Ishida's battle to keep some sort of control over her unit continues - I suppose that's the problem of using schoolkids in the military. With her command problems inevitably leading to performance problems for the 4th, she needs to get her team to actually work as a team for once - but her methods of trying to do that leave a bit to be desired...
3 - A Bridge Too Far
Saika's injured, but the unit are ordered back into active duty after more genjyu are sighted in the area. As usual, some of the squad seem happier to ignore their orders than carry them out, but Saika manages to talk some sense into them from her sickbed, and Sara once more leads her troops into action. The Genjyu are tracked heading towards a nearby town, although projections show they're likely to skirt around it rather than attack it. Sara decides on an interception mission to cut off their projected path - but once again, two of her charges disobey their orders and decide to try and protect a town that doesn't really need protecting...
4 - One Special Day
Christmas brings a break in the action for the 4th, and the base is preparing for their Christmas party. Just for once everyone seems to be getting along - possibly as Sara's gone off to be by herself, as she's begun doubting her abilities after the failure at the Aomori bridge and because of Satou's continued criticism. Iwasaki, who'd been hoping to spend the day chatting her up, goes out to look for her - he's got two concert tickets he doesn't want to go to waste, but Sara's in such a depressed mood that he has a hard time persuading her once he's found her. He's not the only one looking for some seasonal romance, either - but Arisu and Noelle aren't having any luck at all, and finding out that even the hated Sara has someone chasing her doesn't help their moods...
5 - Underground
New Year, new start, and for Sara that means another attempt to stamp her authority on the those members of the squad who'd rather see the back of her - especially since, even though Genjyu have been sighted near the city, the military are refusing to deploy her squad thanks to their "sloppy" performance. For Noelle, that's almost a dream come true - until she realises that if the current situation continues, the squad's likely to be broken up. Another genjyu appearance inside an enclosed section of the bridge body threatens to bring down the second span, though, and because of the limited maneuvering space available the 4th is the only unit available for the job. Can Sara finally lead a successful mission, or is this the end for the 4th..?
Right. To be blunt, Sara is completely hopeless as a commander - to allow the shenanigans with Satou and Sugiwara to go on for five episodes, having her authority undermined the whole time, is something anyone in a military chain of command shouldn't allow. Both girls should have been severely disciplined quite some time ago, but instead Sara takes a softly-softly "it's okay" approach - partly as she's beginning to think their criticism of her abilities may be spot on, but that's beside the point. To be honest, it got to the point where every time one of the dynamic duo opened their mouths I just hit mute, as the whole storyline was beyond annoying. For me, then, that was about a quarter of these episodes written off as a waste of space.
The 4th is Sara's first command. People make mistakes, especially under pressure, but you have to wonder how many of Sara's failures are simply down to Satou and Sugiwara refusing to follow her orders and doing their own thing. It was good to see several other members of the unit finally take them to task for this, but in anything claiming to be a military unit, their behaviour simply shouldn't have been tolerated - and Sara needs to have enough confidence in her own abilities to treat them accordingly.
Enough of my grumbling, though. Episode 4 gave us a break from the action against the genjyu with a fairly typical Christmas episode - except from the angle that none of the gang who are looking for romance actually find it. It's refreshingly free of the usual bitching, too, so was probably the most enjoyable episode here.
Eps 3 & 5 both see the 4th in action, with 5 finally giving Sara a taste of success and maybe - just maybe - earning her some respect from Satou at least, thanks to her efforts to ensure the safety of her team, even at the risk of losing her own life. Curiously, there seems to be a gore-free approach to violence here that GunParade March didn't have - any killed genjyu just neatly phase out of existence, no blood or guts on show. That's possibly because this is the TV version of the show - I don't know if the DVD release "corrected" the issue, but it's one of my pet hates.
Away from Arisu and Noelle, I do enjoy GunParade Orchestra - but those two are so far off the "annoying brat" scale that it really risks completely spoiling the show for me. Fortunately there a signs there bitching may be coming to an end - not soon enough - so I'll continue watching, in the hope that they improve. Fingers crossed... |
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