Thank goodness my military abuses acronyms and backronymns…
I am sure many people will balk at the idea of having to hold it in as uncommon, but these people have never had to go without a toilet or even a honey pot. You’d be surprised at how attached people can be to the idea that you have to have a toilet, but those people do exist and it takes them a while to get use to the idea of using a bush or some other ad-hoc container to relieve oneself. If you haven’t heard of the term trucker bomb feel free to enlighten yourself, but in any case, let me tell you they aren’t just for truckers. Kanata’s comms watch pretty much demonstrated why a comms watch usually includes two junior enlisted or at worst one senior enlisted and only for two hours at a time, tops. Still it was rather strange to see them get overawed by a rotary phone though I guess in a renewed age of snail mail a telephone is really something though they are by no means secure. I probably found this episode to be more comedic than most since it seemed like the old soldier’s tale about why you never volunteer for anything. Kanata found out the hard way and forgot to ask about important things like when is her relief to arrive, and what she was allowed to do. General rule in an all volunteer force is that you can do other things while on phone watch depending on your command mostly because they want you to at least be awake instead of passing out on the post. It usually ends up being a book or paper work but at least it is better than staring blankly at a phone waiting for it to ring.
In a way Kanata is lucky since modern radios use encryption protocols which can be every intricate and therefore easy to screw up. So even if Kanata has a old ass rotary phone for comms it is at least more reliable than the radios I have to use where you have to sync up in more ways than one. Other ways that Kanata suffered the revenge of reality was when she failed to keep a clean uniform on hand… I am not sure what their laundry cycle is like but I prefer to take laundry in as often as possible since you never know how long the wait can be and it sucks to have to wear a uniform day in and day out for a long period of time. Sure there are those who play it off as manly but I swear some people just really stink when they do it. I would have given Kanata a good talking to for changing out of uniform beofre liberty was granted, but her clothes were so gaudy I think it would have been punishment enough, after pictures… I am not sure why their cider is clear though maybe it might have something to do with the fact that I am only familiar with the local methods of preparation where they turn out colored dingy gold. Still I guess Kanata isn ‘t as clueless as we are led to believe I am curious to see how she realized that they were bootlegging, but another time I suppose. Noel really threw Kanata under the bus this time, she slept while Kanata was on watch. Suffice to say Noel is lucky she out ranks Kanata though if it were up to me I’d give Noel a full day watch in response, the least Noel could have done was grab food or watch the phone while Kanata took care of business. I suppose however Kanata only has herself to blame since she was unwilling to just use that bucket.
Kanata and her bladder problems aside it seems that we are getting more little tidbits of information to work with mostly in regards to Rio, or perhaps Rio-hime. I highly doubt that Rio would be the bearer of Iliya’s Trademark item if she were simply a relation. I think they are leaning towards Rio being somehow related to the ducal line even if she doesn’t bear the name of Arkadia . It’s not like Rio is a great general at this time nor is there much hint that she has a lot of military support, more likely Rio was born to the same father as Iliya but she was simply never acknowledged as being legitimate, as Iliya was still heir apparent and any monarch worth his salt would not publicly promote two possible heirs in a time of war. With Iliya seemingly dead and no indication of there having been any surviving male heirs if there were any to begin with it seems that the Arch-duke is in dire need of an heir if he’s asking, or getting some other old guy to ask, a titular stranger to save his country. Rio going enlisted on her dad was probably in no small part to her mom having to die alone and probably unacknowledged. I hope to see more on this later, but if it is as I suspect that Rio is being asked to be a head of state then she has quite a challenge ahead of her. With the peace talks still involving even the mention of reparations then it must not be going well since there doesn’t seem to be a clear cut victor from the last war. If on the other hand, Rio is designated as being royalty but not named heir, and the other side is run as a monarchy then Rio is probably going to end up in a political marriage if things get real tense. Given how low the population is it might not be too far fetched to bring out previously unknown nobles after all the recognized ones were lost fighting the war. If nothing else Rio seems to get plenty of attention these days and I would not put it above political necessity if Rio were asked to marry some guy from the other side to cement an uneasy peace. That is of course one possibility the other being that Rio does have yet to be revealed massive military backing or she is expected to conclude negotiations as a person armed with great political power.
Well time will tell and hopefully the momentum they have going will be maintained as we go into the end game. Whether Rio ends up as a Joan of Arc, Otto von Bismarck, or Princess Royal Victoria I am sure they will make it interesting. I have my doubts things are going to just hit the fan, maybe it’s not going to go the traditional anti-war route and be about the laborious and fraught path of peace.
That’ll teach you to volunteer…
If only you could test it by calling them instead…
Perhaps but Takemikazuchi allows for Caller ID…
Seems so normal now…
Too bad you don’t have a cheat sheet for your nine line report…
INDEED.
Poor Kanata has no coffee…
Is that insubordination Rio senses?
Because that’s not your MOS…
But cooking for one is quite different…
If you seen military ration that’s not very reassuring…
Kanata is not as dumb as you thought…
Yeah so tell me how she found out…
Ah the invisible hand of the black market…
BUT I WANT TO KNOW…
Don’t tell me…meat is back on the menu…
Well it’s not like they all get off to a smooth start unless it’s a Carthaginian Peace…
Reparations? Good luck with that…
Me being one of them…
Bah NEWFAGS…
Worry not most of them were more interested only in the costume.
Such an idyllic place…
Ah so that’s what they call moonshine…
Iliya had such pretty cursive.
As long as your are within earshot you are good.
Well fuck you too hippie.
I am looking for a Hugh Jazz…
At least he’s not doing this and that with altar boys…
This is always why you do your laundry when you have one unused set of unifroms…
I think she planned this…
She’s either being sarcastic or has crap taste.
I wonder if in the future they will happen upon a cosplay shop and think that we wore them in our daily lives…
If only it were cordless…
Now you’re thinking! Just make sure to rinse it out a couple times, with bleach.
Remember Kanata if you have to go…
…
Rio thought Kanata was confessing.
Worst pick up line EVAR.
Make sure you fill out a requisition for some adult diapers next time…
…
Seems it was a prank call…
Yeah she didn’t even ask for this billet…
It’s only been a year or so…
And it better not be a sponge bath!
Rio-hime it is time to embrace your destiny…
Noel really threw Kanata under the bus…
Rank has it’s privileges…
This is going to be fun…
It’d be scary without context, but we have context so, HAHAHAHA.
19 Comments
Bleh. I could’ve done without this episode.
And miss Kanata pissing? I don’t think so, Tim.
Please stick to your traps and leave the other fetishes to us, thanks…
But was it not worth it to get yet more evidence that Rio is a hime?
Yes! I want explanation on that cider too! It looks like freaky vodka!
I don’t think that it is cider…
Last picture of Kanata is OH SO EXPLOITABLE… Showing her trying to hold it in all this time has appeal for those with a particular fetish…
Can’t believe you left out that priceless screenshot of her “IGOTTAGOBUTICAN’T” expression which can also be taken out of context. Having external plumbing does have it’s benefits when you’re pulling a 6 hour OP in the middle of the jungle. Fortunately the 1121st isn’t co-ed, so they’ll probably stop laughing at her soon enough, although I’d probably want to give her a hug for hanging on for so long…
Back to the topic of Rio and her relationship with her father, will we be seeing more plot development into GRIMDARK territory? Sounds like it’s the case of the heir and the spare, except that the spare doesn’t want to have anything to do with family obligations…
Its worse on convoy sometimes, and there ain’t no where to go…
Even if Rio is a spare she still cares, only she hates her dad.
I would wait until after Kanata dealt with her business before hugging her last thing I want is for her to piss all over me as she reaches her limit.
Depends on whether if you can get hold of AF piddle packs, strangely enough I have never felt the urge to go while in a convoy, although we had the contingency option of an empty 1.5L soda bottle (JARATE!!!). We’d be screwed if someone had to do a Number 2 while on the move…
As for our unfortunate Pvt. Sorami, yes a cleanup is in order even if Rule 36 might apply…
We just had to improvise, it really sucks when they make you hydrate and then let the convoy run longer. The seating on a M1151 isn’t hat I call spacious with full gear and weapon…
Sometimes I wonder if it was intended that the M1151 would rock passengers to sleep.
>BUT I WANT TO KNOW…
BUY OUR DVD WITH SPECIAL DVD ONLY EPISODE (TM)!!! Sometimes animators are such marketing trolls…
At least this was not as bad as Endless Eight as a marketing ploy…
Fascinating Crusader you and I reached a similar hypothesis on what Rio’s father asks her. Either she assumes the throne if the treaty stipulates he abdicate or Rio is married off as per the treaty.
The guys in town and the guild sees Rio as wife material. Rio is irritated by those old guys probably trying to win her favor. She is not at lieast a ojikon like Kureha. But if her father has any say to the matter he’ll get rid of her suitors by firing squad. Though the girls would beg to differ on the wife material as Rio plays with the knife too much that pieces of the choping board get included in the meal.
For that matter Kaifun-lite Seiya would like Kanata as his Minmay if she’ll get out of that military uniform.
Mishio is too fascinated by that African Owl. At least she didn’t want to cook it like Rio did.
As for how Kanata found out probably the Blu-Ray special set between ep 7 and ep 8.
Yeah the last image may be taken out of context. This episode exploited some fetishes at the expense of Kanata.
Rio being royalty she’ll never have to cook she’ll have her own personal chef. I wonder how desperate the old man is for peace or rather how much peace is worth to him. I doubt that he just started trying to get back into Rio’s life he’s been trying for some time judging by the regular letters.
The last shot simply demonstrates the importance of context, I wonder what would happen after a few months and people forget… I hope they don’t use it as marketing.
Great writeup Crusader, I really enjoy reading your insight every week for this series. Good call on the war reparations issue too. As a person living in a place where war reparations from WWII are still unresolved and a big deal, I know first hand what a sticky and divisive issue it can be.
Anyway on to the episode, I’ve been hearing some rumblings about how this episode was a step back for the series and completely unnecessary, but I feel that these concerns are unwarranted. If people look closer, they would notice that every episode so far has followed a pretty specific formula. Each episode has been episodic in nature (forgive the redundancy), while revealing hints about a larger and all encompassing plot in an almost casual manner. What I mean by this is that pretty much every episode has been relatively self-contained yet still manages to be connected through the dropping of hints of the larger world.
I could go through every episode to illustrate this, but for the sake of brevity I’ll stick with this one. While the main event of the episode were Kanata’s antics while waiting for the phone to ring, we were still given great hints of bigger things to come. Kanata’s extreme commitment to her watch underscored the great importance of the hot-line, and by extension the capital, which foreshadowed something big upcoming. And of course by the end of the episode we were given some good plot progression with the phone call Rio received.
I think that this episode format really helps to showcase what makes this show so great, at least to me. While the main draw of the show are the characters and their various interactions, it has shown that it can still have this against the backdrop of a larger and deeper plot. What’s more is that the story is presented to us through a fantastically detailed and incredibly interesting setting.
Well that pretty much sums up my opinion on the show so far, and I can’t wait for more.
After the talk about the peace talks going bad wither there will be a resumption of hostilities or general amnesty. Even with a general amnesty there is no guarantee the wounds would heal. Spain enacted it after Franco but the scars to show up from time to time.
I like how it is rather tue slice of life in that stuff is still happening but life goes on until it directly effect the characters.
Certainly it seems that much will be asked of Rio in the coming episodes.
I have to agree since we know the context it’s fine to laugh at Kanata as much as we want. Haha that was funny enough at the end. Noel really threw her under the bus. But since it seems Noel has night shift it’s not really a big deal for her to be sleeping during the day. Guess this goes to show what will happen when you have so few people in a base. Still the bucket was a valid option, desperate times after all….
Apparently Yumina’s weird tastes have spread since even the kid thought Kanata looked really cute in that outfit.
The really interesting parts came with Rio. I’d agree it’s either taking over in a political position or being married off to help settle the peace. Though considering how tense the relationship seems to be with her father I’d be amazed if he had the guts to call her up to say he wants to marry her off.
If Noel had the night watch she really lucked out as there was no longer a need for it. As for Yumina’s tastes it might be because she’s eccentric.
Even if her dad asks Rio to be married off I think she might go through with it for her friends and every one but him. Rio still cares about those around her she certainly seems like the kind of romantic that would do it for the sake of peace.
I continue to really enjoy this series.
The slice of life sitting on top of something top of something greater is a format I’m really enjoying.
Life goes on, after all, during times of peril. And it is not only the key players that see any change.
I think it’s made for a more encompassing and rich setting, without having to have resorted to someone spending entire episodes explaining things and hours of research/debate online :d Kinda getting tired of that.
Not to mention, I just really like the casual way they handle a lot of things, when a lot of other shows would overdramatize it for effect.