This episode starts off well enough. The girls are getting a briefing about their enemies, the Shadow Workers, in the director's office. The girls occassionally interrupt by blurting something out. Also, we find out Pauki and Letuchaia are apparently related. Yet episode 8 had Pauki absolutely entranced by Letuchaia and Letuchaia tsundere for Pauki... moving right along.
The opening scene ends with the title card and the next scene has previously mentioned duo entering a hospital. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, in the hospital is gawking at them as if they were bigtime celebrities. A younger girl even gives Letuchaia a flower. And maybe it's the animation style or something, but they seem more colorful and animated in this episode. I might even go so far as to call them cute this time around, whereas they looked kinda creepy in their initial appearance.
Letuchaia is a lot more expressive overall in this episode, though that may be because she's going to visit her grandmother. Or rather, their grandmother. They're cousins, apparently. I'd accuse them of incest but... it just doesn't seem to be there this episode. At all. In fact, watching them interact with each other, their grandmother, and the two nurses present, they REALLY seem like entirely different people than they were in the last two episodes.
As the conversation goes on, the subject of the shadow workers soon comes up. Their grandmother and the nurses seem to be impressed with the other shadow workers, but Letuchaia says she doesn't think they're very reliable. Because they're commoners. This leads to what will take up the majority of this episode, Letuchaia showing spy footage to her grandmother. Apparently she's had Core, the maid if you recall, working temporarily for each of the other Shadow Worker pairs and recording everything that happened through a pair of glasses with a video recorder.
We start with Rubis and Saphir, or rather just Rubis. She wakes up from a nap or something to find Core has a feast prepared for her. Rubis eagerly digs in without even questioning the meal. After eating it all she suggests Core might be a spy and the food might be poisoned, which is her excuse for eating Saphir's share. If Core really DID plan to kill you off, Rubis, I think it'd be done already considering she apparently managed to set up a table full of food without you noticing...
Saphir soon returns just as Rubis is questioning Core on whether or not she finds Letuchaia and Pauki annoying. If this were episode 8, I'd totally agree with Rubis. Anyway, Saphir comments that Rubis is lazy and could really use a maid, then opens the door to her bedroom and finds that... GASP! IT'S COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY CLEAN! Yes, not only did Core prepare a rather large meal in their apartment or whatever it is without Rubis noticing... but she cleaned up Saphir's room while she was at it! Said room was apparently burried in the Trash of the Titans before Core got at it. Saphir is upset by this because she knew where everything was when it was like that. ...How?
Saphir gets over this rather quickly, though, and then starts to get undressed while still in the foyer... only to absentmindedly reveal a hickey on her neck. Seems like someone was out having a bit of fun. Rubis calls her an idiot and says she must have had fun with them last night. Wait, "them"? Seems like someone was REALLY having a bit of fun. Saphir doesn't take the comments well, though, and freezes Rubis on the spot and tells Core to leave.
Back in the hospital room now, it seems the grandmother and the two nurses are a bit shocked by the way Rubis and Saphir behave behind the scenes. Seems like a silly thing to make a big deal out of but then again I'm not a Nouvlesse. Letuchaia then starts to talk about the other two, Torch and Shade. Pauki tries to stop her, but Letuchaia is going to go on with it anyway. After the eye catches/commercial break anyway.
The eye catches are about turning their grandmother into a superhero. The end result is basically a shoutout to Mazinger. She's Drill Granny now.
Seems the reason Pauki didn't want Letuchaia to talk about Torch and Shade was because they're rather popular with the girls. Cut to Core cleaning Torch's room. She picks up a rather long strand of hair from Torch's bed but Torch, who is watching from nearby, uses his illusion power to make it disappear and says that cleaning is pointless. Certainly seems so at first, as his room is perfectly clean. The truth, of course, is that it's another garbage pile like Saphir's. In Torch's case it's all mostly piled off to the sides at least, but it's still a messy room. He uses his illusion powers to hide it, but the truth is revealed when he trips over something.
Honestly, say what you will about Torch's laziness, but personally I actually like seeing characters with odd powers putting them to mundane, everyday uses. In a way it can make a character feel more real. Let's face it, if you had special powers like that then you'd totally use them for something perfectly mundane too. Assuming you weren't trying to keep them a secret, at least.
Anyway, moving along, Core goes back to making Torch's bed but Torch protests. This eventually leads to Torch suggesting she see how comfortable said bed is and then throwing her down onto it and climbing on top of her! Yeesh! Pretty forward there, Torch! He gets pretty lonely when Shade isn't around, apparently...
And then Shade walks in before they can take it any further. He's a bit upset, but doesn't seem to be taking it too hard. Torch introduces Core, but Shade isn't too interested in a maid. Shade then pulls Torch aside and tells him to get rid of her, but Torch seems a bit hesitant to let her go so readily and tells her to just clean his room instead. Shade then leaves, presumably to take a shower.
After Shade leaves, Core finds an old picture of the two. Apparently they used to be ES Members, though working for the galactic police instead of the GOT. Shade returns at this point. I don't think that was even a minute he was in the shower unless there was a time skip after Shade left, though there was no indication of such. He returns obviously wet, wearing a robe, and drying his hair with a towel. Since there's no way Shade even got IN a shower in that length of time I can only come to one conclusion... he wanted in on the action so he stripped off, put on a robe, and wet his hair to make it LOOK like he had been in the shower to set up a "hot scene", If You Know What I Mean.
Well, that doesn't actually happen. Instead he tells Torch to take down that picture. But Torch refuses. He won't take it down. And he won't forget the day he first met Shade. Or the night he asked Torch to join the G-Society. The two stare longingly at each other...
Until Shade remembers Core's there, at least. He quickly tells her to leave. As she's leaving, though, Shade leaves as well to meet with Geacht'er. Boy, he sure didn't stay long. Core asks Torch about this, resulting in Torch asking her if she'd like to keep him company in bed. Core quickly leaves, though. I think we can chalk Torch up as being not too picky when it comes to which sex he beds. After leaving, Shade decides to mess with her a bit by making it seem to Core as if the floor is covered in cockroaches.
This concludes Letuchaia's report and leaves the two nurses feeling a little hot under the color. Although Core didn't seem too interested, seems they certainly wouldn't mind keeping Torch company. The taller, black-haired nurse compliments Letuchaia on her sleuthing and the other comments that Geacht'er appointed Letuchaia to be his sister, thus why she's a princess. Letuchaia starts to gush about it.
Unfortunately, it seems it's time for their hospital visit to end as Pauki gets a call from Geacht'er. After the two kids leave, we get a bit more dialogue from the grandmother. None of it is particularly important. Nouvlese discriminated against by the commoners, join the G-Society, blah blah blah.
We then shift to the end of the meeting between the two children and Geacht'er, where Letuchaia has just finished making the same report to him. Seems she was asked to spy on them in their daily activities. Geacht'er thanks the two and kisses Letuchaia's hand, causing her to get all gushy and lovestruck. Pauki has to drag her out. Incidentally, he's obviously aware of the way she gets around Geacht'er but shows no sign of jealousy. Not that he did before, but I'm pretty sure the Pauki from episode 8 definitely would have been a bit jealous of Geacht'er getting such a reaction...
Saphir arrives next and hands off her own report on the activities of Letuchaia, Pauki, Torch, and Shade. Geacht'er thanks her but just gives her the cold shoulder, thanking her and then telling her to leave. The irony. As she's leaving, Saphir passes by Shade and gets pretty jealous, freezing part of the hallway as she passes through.
Shade, on the other hand, gets a much more heartfelt thanks as he hands over his own report on the other four Shadow Workers. Shade apparently realizes the obvious in his inner monologue, though: Geacht'er trusts no one. He wants to believe he's different, however...
After everyone's gone, Geacht'er loads up a hologram of Ascoeur based on her appearance at the anniversary ceremony and reaches out to her. I can't for the life of me imagine why he'd be interested in her...
Back at the GTO director's officer, we now find out that the G-Society is trying to replace the GTO as the governing body. Seems Geacht'er plans to conquer the entire galaxy. Make note of this. Also, mentioning such has gotten us yet another flashback to a certain death scene. The director decides it's finally time to tell the girls about the "Frozen Time Incident". The episode ends with a close-up of Di-air's face with an expression that suggests she knows something about this. O-kay then...
This episode... well, it didn't suck I guess. Not good, not bad, feels kinda fillerish, and did someone else write this episode? The characters, Pauki and Letuchaia in particular, seemed so different in this episode...
Next episode: The Space of Frozen Time
