Recap from the previous episode. Nebula gets beaten up, and triabeater gets the core of the last idol, hiems.

Back at modenkind, Makoto is throwing her frustration, saying that it must be due to some wrong setting on Nebula, that’s why she cannot pilot it. But Ami steps forward saying that Nebula isn’t all just machine, and points to the harmony between Haruka and Imber. Makoto is angry enough to throw a punch at her, only for Asuza to stop her in time.

Saku Hibiki chooses to show up and rub salt into everybody’s wounds.

At home, a confrontation between Makoto and Asuza. It’s been 7 years since Makoto started piloting Nebula, and she has always tried her best. Why did Asuza not praise her once at all all these while, did she not care for Makoto? Asuza can only hug Makoto as she pours out her woes. Asuza replies that she did care for Makoto, and had thought that Makoto would understand.

Asuza secretly gives Haruka a call….

Makoto wakes up the next day to find Haruka visiting. Locking her out results in nothing as Asuza had given Haruka the key. Haruka even invites Yayoi along! Seems like Haruka’s energy is exactly what Makoto needs. Though in the end Makoto can’t stand them, they did help Makoto to understand the way Asuza shows her love to Makoto.

However, Makoto’s punishment has been decided though. Nebula is unlike Imber. In exchange for letting lots of people pilot it, once it has an argument with somebody, that person will never be able to pilot it. Thus Makoto gets fired as an idol master.

Surprise of all surprises though, she ends up joining triabeater.

Thoughts

 Best episode of the series so far. I thought the scene where makoto and Asuza has that confrontation/hugging, was superbly done, with both the scene composition and the music. And it seemed as though Makoto was on the path of redemption already.

 It helps with all the answers rolling in as well. So Asuza and Makoto arn’t blood sisters, just two people who moved in together because it was convenient. It does explain away lots of contradictions. haha. Develops a little more background on what happened to Asuza as well.

However I can see it now. Makoto joins triabeaters, but at the final battle, gets moved to help modenkin, helping them win.

Haruka is still missing, while the main headquarters is making a fuss about retrieving the last idol core at all cost.

Back with Chihaya and Haruka, in the end, Chihaya does not shoot Haruka. Haruka goes on a rant about qualities of Imber, hoping to introduce Imber to Chihaya. But in the end, Chihaya gets sick of her ranting, and points the gun back at her.

However, due to Hiemus, the ground starts shaking. Chihaya tries to make it to Imber’s cockpit, but gets thrown off.

Anyway, Makoto is ranting non-stop about getting Nebilum to work. In the end, she starts up Nebilum without permission, to go retrieve the core. We catch a glimpse of what has actually been troubling Makoto all these while. Seems that her sister Asuza had actually failed once, and was unable to pilot Nebilum after that. It’s an emotional baggage and Makoto does not want the same thing to happen to her.

So in the end, Makoto goes into the volcano. But there, she meets Riffa with Ebi, and promtly gets trashed. Luckily, at this point, Imber finally awakens and Haruka arrives at the scene.

The plan was to give up on Hiemus, and strike the volcano with an equal energy blow from Imber, to counter the earthquake forces when Riffa retrieves Hiemus. Thanks to perfect harmony between Imber and Haruka, Imber succeeds, even smashing right through Nebula.

Thoughts

 Makoto displays so much angst and emotional baggage that it’s irritating. Should someone like that even be piloting anything.

A little frustrated with the show, because there’s so much promise in the series, yet every episode just seems to ruin it. Gah.

Mondenkind Japan arrives in iceland, together with Mondenkind EU’s Saku Hibiki. It would appear that the EU’s group were tracking down why the region had stopped experiencing earthquakes for the past 20 years, finally finding what should be the core of the 5th idol.

At the same time, we see the Turiavita people running through some medical tests….

The search is on! (as well as the attack by Turiavita)

Meanwhile, Makoto is feeling all cranky. Yukino says that it’s something she can understand, which is the feeling of having loss someone before.

Fight on! Imber vs Nebilum. Nebula vs Ebi, which is the Epimetheus I and “piloted” by RIFFA. Azusa realises that the Epimetheus comes from the research of Professor  Kaien and Tell to create artificial Idols. Karasu and Riffa apparently were part of the experiment to create pilots that are more compatible with the idols.

Makoto gets trashed up badly. Haruka isn’t doing too well either, but at least manages to hold her own. The fight goes on until Ami starts to hear very bad unharmonized music, which suddenly reaches resonance.

This causes all the idols to suddenly shut down, with Imber and Nebilum falling into a valley, while RIFFA is washed away with a flow of lava.

 In the valley, Haruka sees a Chihaya moving towards her, except she soon collapses.

Chihaya wakes up later to find herself in a cave, with Haruka lying beside her. Apparently Haruka saved her after Chihaya  suffered excessive heat losses. Haruka initially mistakes Chihaya to be Azusa, so Chihaya ends up introducing herself as Mondenkind EU’s Kisaragi Chihaya. The show ends with Chihaya retrieving a gun from her bag even as Haruka introduces herself.

Thoughts

I so very much want to love this series. But there’s just so much going wrong.

One part I don’t like is that there’s too much mystery. Mystery of each character just keeps piling on, without revealing anything. Sure, it might make for a grand finale, but the path there is just not good.

There’s a lot of extra stuff that just don’t fit. Sorry, “fanservice” done in such a lame way is just not needed. Thanks.

Makoto is just going more and more wrong. haha.

Loads of mysteries everywhere, like how Azusa looks like Chihaya. Just plain coincidence? And what’s with all those looks that Azusa keeps giving Hibiki. Ah wellz. -shrugs-

The episode starts off with a scene of a young Makoto with her older sister, Asuza, who was then an Idol master. Makoto wanted to know about Idols having hearts, something that Ami and Mami had said. But Asuza mentioned that though it’s true, it’s a difficult concept to understand. But Makoto will, when she grows old enough to pilot Nebula.

Time for harmonization to take place. No surprise that Haruka+Imber combi resulted in extra ordinary high results. But surprisingly, Asuza asks Iori to harmonize with Nebula as well. In the end, Iori+Nebula showed much potential for growth, even though Makoto+Nebula still have overall better results for the time being.

In the end, after various consultations, Iori is chosen as the master of Nebula, while Makoto becomes the backup.

Makoto looks for Ami, asking why she had come back in the first place. Ami tries to explain how she felt something when Imber had first played the melody for her, and felt that by coming back, she can find some of the answers she has been looking for.

Makoto insists that the idols are just machines without hearts, just requiring skills and good judgement. But Ami argues that because Makoto follows that, her technique and potential does not have room to grow. Ami thinks that Makoto understands this too, just that she’s in denial of it. Makoto grabs Amis arm in anger, and starts to have flashbacks of a damaged Nebula and scenes of her sister injured.

First mission for Iori is to retrieve a drop for raw materials, instead of destroying it. An elated Iori stays awake till late at night, doing the necessary calculations and preparations.  Unknown to her though, Makoto had logged in to the system using her sister’s password, and making some changes to the data.

The beginning of the mission goes well, so does the capture. However, when its time for the return trip, things start to go wrong. In the end, the raw material is classified as a drop and is designated to be destroyed by missiles from the america side.  The missiles are spot on of course.

In the end, investigations conclude that the incident happened as a result of Iori’s miscalculations. Iori herself is not hurt too badly though, but she can no longer be Nebula’s master.

A final scene sees a crying Makoto telling herself that this incident is evidence of the fact that idols do not have a heart. Before she goes to bed however, Asuza is seen telling Makoto that she just change the base’s system password, and asking her if she wanted to know the new password as well. Makoto declined.

Thoughts

If Iori had been killed off, it would have been a big surprised. However, up to know, I didn’t know Makoto and Asuza were siblings. I should have taken a note of their family names.

Looks like Makoto has more issues then shown previously. She still seems to have a nice side though, with regards to love for crabs. Chances are the issue would be resolved. Hopefully soon, since it means that know Haruka would have to work with Makoto very closely.

Harmonising and tuning of Imber is taking place, but Ritsuko and team can’t quite succeed in doing things right. Azusa and Joseph explains that Imber needs to be upgraded, so that with the upgraded capabilities, Turiavita would be less likely to attack, and hence the idols would not need to right.

Turiavita used to be part of the research of Mondenkind, but during a Dawn of Purple Moon incident they tried to steal the idols. Thanks to a fire, and alert personnel, only nubilum was stolen. Mondenkind has two more, while the last two are missing in action.

Seems that in the end, only one person can perform the tuning properly, Futami Ami. Ami’s an ex-technician, who is an actual idol now.

Haruka drags Yukiho and Iori to the tv studio to look for Ami, with Iori PRETENDING to not actually be excited about seeing celebrities.

They do succeed in finding Ami, who seemed very surprised that Haruka is the pilot of Imber. However before they could chat much, they’re interrupted by scenes of a director saying that Iori is the one that he needs, giving Iori dreams of stardome.

In reality, he actually just needs an actor to dress in a cockroach costume. And of all luck, they meet Yayoi who is in a starfish costume. Guess what happens next.

However, in her dressing room later, Ami only tells Haruka that she should stop becoming an idolmaster, because idols can only cause sadness. In addition, she hands over a datacard, which Azusa says is a tune that Ami created with an idol.

Harmonizing imber the next day still fails. Even as Haruka rushes to seek out Asuza, she meets Makoto, who tells her that Ami is simply not coming back.

Meeting up with Ami, Haruka questions her about what she said of idols causing people sorrow. Ami replies that she does not think that the idols have hearts. In the end, she reveals that the song she had given to Haruka was composed by her twin sister, an idol, and her together. Yet her twin sister was killed by an idol.

Haruka goes back to question Makoto, who reveals that Ami and her sister Mami were once people who believed that idols have hearts, and cared for it tenderly. Yet one day, the idol, Tempestus went out of control, taking away the pilot in a blast.

While pondering all that has happened, Imber suddenly starts playing Ami’s tune. With this, Haruka resolves to meet Ami together with Imber. With Imber playing the tune, Haruka convinces Ami that the idols indeed do have a heart. Ami ends up playing together with the tune on the piano, remembering the times of playing with her sister.

In the end, Ami agrees to harmonize Imber, while making a promise with Haruka to search for  Tempestus and get the answer to why he disappeared with her sister.

Thoughts

I actually got abit confused with the plot, but it seems that there quite a few people who enjoyed this episode.

Obviously  Mondenkind has 2 idols, one is missing in action, + I’m guessing Turiavita has the other 2, (Riffa having drawn the one that’s not shown)

I’m most curious as to why Makoto is so against people thinking that idol has hearts. Seems that Ami’s story has a part to it, but I’m guessing that there’s a serious story behind it all. I wonder when that part will be revealed.

p.s. Kotobuiya has a 1/8 PVC of Haruka in uniform out.

Is it me or does Ami look even younger and more loli.

Yayoi arrives outside Haruka’s school only to have Naze tell her that the whole school is out on vacation. Vacation?? Everybody is out on some obscure island so as to conduct tests on the Idols that cannot be conducted on the mainland.

So you have your typical beach activities.  As well as a Haruka who refuses to appear in a swimsuit because she’s shy. This leads to the focus on Yukiho and her figure, leading to extreme jealousy.

Even as all the testing is going on, Haruka cannot keep her mind off Imber. Rushing to where all the tests are being conducted, she ends up looking at Imber’s core.

There, Azusa   gives her a short brief on the history of the idol. When the moon broke up, the silicon type cores were found in a crater, and apparently gave off unlimited energy. Apparently thanks to the work of 2 scientist, they managed to create up a robot interface, creating an idol.

In the end, Azusa and Haruka end up having a philosophical discussion on whether or not Imber has a heart.

IMber got painted pink! But while at an onsen later that night, Iori notices that Haruka is still feeling a little troubled. Iori then tells her that Imber is nothing more than the Imber and that it’s fine for Haruka to be herself.

That night, Haruka goes out on a date with Imber for a ride over the ocean. In the middle of the oceans, Haruka and Imber have a heart to heart talk (assuming Imber has a heart). Opening her jacket to reveal her swimsui, Haruka wants Imber the be the first to see her like that, to know more about her, even as she learns more about Imber. As Imber starts recording, Haruka starts to introduce herself,  about everything again. At the end, there’s so much that Haruka wants to learn about Imber.

Thoughts

You either like the bonding between Imber and Haruka, or it’s creepy to you, but I guess it’s a good development, and a step that the show must take.

Maybe one of the scientist who created the idols was Chihaya’s mother, hence Imber as the first idol would belong to her.

Are the introductions finally over and we’re getting on with all the exciting parts?

One part I liked was Makoto playing with the crab. Soft side of her!

Panic reigns as the mechanic crew start their repairs on Imber. Even Yukiho seemed a little out of sorts until the captain gives her a chance to visit Haruka, saying that everything else is under control.

Meanwhile, Nebula is recovered as well, with a frustrated Makoto inside. As the story goes, it seemed that Makoto had attacked Nebilum, and was one blow away from finishing it off, but Azusa had forced her to make rescuing imber the priority.

Meanwhile, Iori is caught pacing outside Haruka’s ward, resulting in her being red-faced. In the end, she only enters after Yukiho arrives as well.

While visiting, Makoto arrives, but reacts indifferently to Haruka, instead asking the nurse to quickly give her the after mission checkup. This of course pisses Iori off, while Makoto explains away that what happened had nothing to do with her, especially since Haruka was already unconscious by the time Makoto had arrived.

Back at the Turiavita(the enemy), Chihaya faces up to how “mother is very angry” for having failed the mission. Riffa as well is “debriefed”, and says that there’s no way they can be tracked to their location.

Meanwhile, captain and naze are briefing to the central organisation as to what happened to Imber, covering everything up as an accident.

Haruka is plagued by what happened, finally waking up when everything in Imber’s cockpit seemed to go blank. Azusa who was beside her explains everything about the Turiavita.

Yukiho and Iori receives news that Haruka had woken up. But when they arrived at the base, they find Haruka staring at Imber while seated in a wheelchair. Haruka cannot face Imber without thinking about how her parents had hated her and abandoned her. Totally depressed, Haruka even declined to meet Yayoi, not wanting her to see Haruka in her depressed state.

The next day was a start up test for Imber. Yet it failed to start up successfully, leaving Haruka once again with images of her parents.

While it rains outside, Iori questions Haruka. Haruka explains that Imber seems to have gone all quiet. It was all Haruka’s fault that Imber got hurt so badly, if only she had trained harder, and Imber probably now hates her. There’s no turning back once a person hates you.

At night, Haruka sneaks out to talk to Imber, and tries once again to start it up, but fails to do so.

Another day passes by, this time Makoto is assigned to test start Imber. However, just as she climbs into the cockpit, Iori suddenly catches hold of her and drags her out, jumping into the cockpit herself.

Iori proceeds to scold Haruka for being stupid, but Imber was being real stupid as well.

At the same time, we see that Haruka had returned to her home town without a single word. Lying on a grassfield in spring time, Haruka cannot help but let the tears flow as she really felt alone.

Surprisingly though, Haruka finds Imber landing behind her, though she does not notice Iori standing in the trees. Even as a flower drops into her palm, Haruka can only express thanks to Imber.

Thoughts

I couldn’t quite help but feel that Haruka is a pretty messed up character. Not that she’s horrible, but people with a traumatized background shouldn’t be pilots, much like what Makoto has been saying about feelings.

Though lacking action, this episode had this subtle and interesting way of developing characters, what I feel anyway. So overall things were still pretty interesting to me. It’ll be interesting to see how the idol and its master will develop from here.

Next episode will see some beach scenes!