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Wednesday, 14 January 2009 00:00 |
 After the fanservice fun of last episode, Linebarrels of Iron throws a curveball and goes off in a far more serious direction this time around, when an unexpected betrayal rocks JUDA and leaves the organisation in disarray...
Sometimes you do things when under pressure that you wouldn't do any other time - and last episode's kiss between Kouichi and Risako may just fall into that category. Now that they're both back at school, Kouichi's beginning to dread running into her again - especially when he finds out that the incident is now public knowledge in class, where everyone's assuming that they're now an item. Risako seems quite happy with this, if a little embarrassed, but Kouichi isn't sure how to react - and Emi seems to have a dose of jealousy to deal with. Meanwhile, there's a traitor within JUDA who's about to throw a spanner in the organisation's inner workings...
The episode starts much in the trend of recent Linebarrels episodes, with Kouichi and Risako getting some stick over their recent romantic interlude - you can't be caught kissing and not expect a reaction from your classmates - but there are far more serious things to worry about this time around. Even Emi's rising jealousy, which may otherwise have been the main event, is thoroughly overshadowed by events in the second half of the episode, events that left me thoroughly surprised and more than a little confused - probably the last things I expected to feel after an episode of this series.
The trigger for events is the apparent mutiny of the JINRAI divisions, or at the very least a portion of them - Domyouji, who's been established as being a JINRAI pilot, apparently manages to stay out of the way as other units rise up to seize control of the country, while at the same time Moritsugu rises up and kills JUDA's president. But it's left unclear who Moritsugu is acting for - JINRAI, KATO-KIKAN, or perhaps someone else? That's just one of several questions left hanging at the end of the episode. For example, just how seriously injured is the president? What are those behind the JINRAI up to? Is Kouichi dead or deader(!) at the end of the episode? There's a lot happening, and while you never quite lose track of it, enough goes unexplained here to really leave you hanging at the end of the episode - the worst sort of cliffhanger.
There's even some emotional baggage thrown in to mess with the characters. The Risako / Kouichi / Emi triangle is one aspect of this, while Yamashita's confidence takes another huge knock when she learns of Moritsugu's treachery, thanks to her hero-worship of him - in her eyes, he could do no wrong, and seeing him turn out to be the bad guy is almost more than she can handle.
You could maybe argue that the rapid switch from fanservice spectacular to action & intrigue is a symptom of a show that doesn't quite know what it wants to be, and that's an argument that's hard to refute. That would also normally be a symptom of a show that wasn't very good - but there's just something about the way that Linebarrels is presented, and the sense of all-around fun that goes along with the series, that means you can't really hold the show's failings against it for long. It's just too enjoyable to watch. Go see for yourself.
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