Haven't updated this in a while. I actually got a bit sidetracked watching better shows/videos. Didn't help that I think everytime I tried to liveblog this episode, something would happen to the video and I'd have to reload the page and start over... ugh...
Vacation^2? What's that supposed to mean, anyway? "Vacation Squared"? That doesn't even make sense.
Of course, this episode doesn't try to make sense. Though it does try to come up with numerous excuses for this fanservice episode.
We start out on Planet Lirio where Alisa and Belle are apparently on vacation. Belle is pretty excited, looking out a window from the orbital space ring, and then turns around to find Alisa is already wearing her bathing suit. When questioned on this, Alisa points out that this is actually the dress code on the planet. Belle looks around and only now notices that EVERYONE around her is wearing a swimsuit as well. There's limits to how oblivious a character can be. Especially if it's just for the sake of plot exposition. This scene ends with someone tapping away on a keyboard.
Also, yeah, Lirio is a girls-only resort world where swimsuits are the dress code. Because what this anime was really lacking was a fanservice planet.
After the title screen, the scene changes to the GOT headquarters where Ascoeur, Q-feuille, and Di-air are being given a mission. An emergency mission. It seems many high profile individuals are trapped on Lirio have gone missing and any agents sent to the world have gone missing as well, while any male agents/teams just get shot down by security. So the Y-chromosome is kill on sight? That seems kinda... harsh.
Anyway, because of this, they need ES members. Q-feuille suggests one of the other teams go, but they can't because there's a male ES Member in each of the other two teams. I don't see why this matters, honestly. If it's an emergency why not go in guns blazing anyway? A ring doesn't seem like the best defensive structure anyway. Especially not if most of the weapons are forward facing as if all potential threats would come from the sides of the planet. This is something a lot of sci-fi series seem to forget but space is three dimensional. There's literally nothing stopping an attacker from coming straight down on top of the rings, subjecting themselves to minimal fire in the process.
The best part about this is they actually call this security system "powerful". Then again, to the GOT, actually having armed guards present would be considered a "powerful" security system. Episodes 2 and 9 showed us just how "great" GOT security is.
The girls take the mission of course, though said mission is really just a glorified vacation/fanservicey beach episode and the girls themselves aren't treating it like it's anything more than that either.
Next scene, the girls' ship comes out of warp near the planet Lirio. On the way there, they pass through a debris field that apparently is all that remains of the male rescue teams. They must have sent a lot, then, considering that the chances of encountering the debris field - or there even BEING a noticeable debris field - are next to none.
And now I'm left trying to picture what the people who sent these teams were thinking, too. "Hey, that male rescue team we just sent was shot down instantly! Think we should try again?" "Sure, why not? We Have Reserves."
What's really interesting in this scene is that security lets their ship get pretty damn close, almost docking even, before finally questioning why they're there. So now the only clear explanation for why the rescue teams were shot down at all is that the station has some kind of y-chromosome detectors and shoots down any ship with a man on board. A private resort world for women is one thing but this is getting kinda nuts. Are we sure this planet isn't really home to or run by a group of feminazis?
On another note, when the voice asks why they're there, what's stopping them from just, say, lying? Security seems pretty lax once they get inside the orbital ring anyway. Sure, there's a security checkpoint before going down to the surface, but I'm not seeing anything stopping a (female) assassin/spy/whatever from simply sneaking on board and bombing the place. And doing so would probably cause a fair bit of fallout from the station to hit the planet as well, causing widespread devastation and...
I seem to be getting off track here but, if you ask me, a hole that obvious is just waiting to be taken advantage of.
Huh. Spaceport is looking pretty empty compared to how it was at the start of this episode. Then again, this anime seems to only draw extras when its convenient.
The girls are all in bikinis now, which seems to embarass Q-feuille. Ascoeur, on the other hand, is happily showing off a rose on her inner thigh which is apparently her Charm Point. Ah, the Pink Haired Nitwit is back. Dear nitwit... HOW THE HELL CAN IT BE YOUR CHARM POINT IF NO ONE EVER SEES IT!?
Come to think of it, Ascoeur's been acting particularly dense and childish in this episode. Feels like it's been a while since I've called her "Pink Haired Nitwit". And not just because I haven't updated in a while...
Of course, the girls seem to have a bit of a problem now that they need to pass through security. Namely, Typhon. The fact that they've gotten this far with it seems to back up my earlier statement. But how do they get it past security now? Why, put it in a bikini, of course!
No, really. That's what they do. And it works. Even the best of security in Kiddy Girl-And is pretty damn lax. We haven't even seen one istance of a security guard or security bot or anything.
As the girls take the elevator down to the surface, we get another shot of our mysterious typer hearing an announcement declaring that the security level has increased. This seems to worry her for some reason. Lady, if they can sneak a mecha past security, I don't see why this should be such a big deal.
And now that we're finally on the surface, cue shots of girls in bikinis. Lots of shots of lots of girls in bikinis. Q-feuille notes that they don't seem very trapped - an excellent observation if I do say so myself. Ascoeur and Di-air make straight for the water, only for Q-feuille to drag them out. Her valiant efforts at trying to keep them focused on the mission completely fail when they encounter Alisa and Belle, however.
The girls go from suddenly meeting at the beach to being gathered at a table at some cafe or whatever you'd call those places by the beach that serve drinks. Beach house? Anyway, scene shifts like this always seem a bit off to me. "Oh, hey, it's you! We're completely surprise to see you here but let's go somewhere else so we can discuss how surprised we are to see you here!"
While the girls are drinking, we see the security bots dragging some girls back to their hotel rooms. Apparently the instant anyone tries to leave the planet, they get dragged back to their rooms. Security is also rather strictly enforcing the swimsuit-only thing. With that you'd suspect this whole planet is being run by some pervert that doesn't want the girls to leave. If that was the case, it'd at least make sense compared to what the actual reason turns out to be...
We get a brief vacation montage before Q-feuille remembers that they're supposed to be on a mission and suggests they try to find a way out. Alisa and Belle can't be bothered and keep making excuses. All the girls on this planet seem to be taking this whole "trapped" thing pretty damn well. Honestly, I don't care how great that resort world is (and it doesn't seem that great to me) if people were being kept from leaving, it'd eventually cause mass panic, people trying to force their way out, and the entire resort world starting to get frightened, depressed, and worried.
Also, it seems Alisa and Belle don't know that Ascoeur and Q-feuille. I think it's saying something that it's more than halfway through the series when we finally find out and I, for one, can't think of any reason they wouldn't know. Alisa and Belle work for the GOT, and ES Members hardly seem to have secret identities to begin with. So one would think that they'd already KNOW that the girls are indeed ES Members. They don't, though. In fact, they don't even believe them when Di-air suddenly blurts it out.
And now we're at the eye catches. The first one has a dramatic close up of Sommers wondering where the Chief's fanservice is. Please don't remind me of episode six. The second eyecatch has the girls wondering if fanservice is part of the mission. Now where did I put that lampshade...
Next scene, it's nighttime and the girls are sneaking around outside. Robots are posted as guards, and not particularly threatening-looking robots. I mean, when you have things like Typhon going around these humanoid-looking things might as well be cannon fodder. The girls then move to the entrance to the underground facility where the main computer terminal is, which is blocked off by an army of those robots. They accidentally get the attention of said robots when Di-air excitedly repeats what one of the girls said - as usual. Di-air is 7 years old but apparently she has the mentality of a 3-year-old.
The robots give chase, but their movements are slow and clunky. They're also not firing at all. The girls easily manage to slip away and make it back to the entrance while the robots are all out looking for them. They think they're in the clear when suddenly the door opens and another army of robots come out. Just when things are looking bad, Typhon swoops down and grabs the girls. Typhon dives down again at Ascoeur's command and flies into the entrance to the computer terminal, which has a rather long and large access tunnel for some reason.
Near the end of the tunnel they spot more of those robots. Ascoeur tries to take out her comb, which she apparently hid in her bikini bottom, but drops it. Q-feuille then takes her bombs out of her top, but apparently they're made of chocolate and thus melted. Why the heck are her bombs made out of chocolate?
Finally they just do the sensible thing and have Typhon blast the robots. They then finally reach the computer terminal and smash in the door to head inside. Inside the terminal they find images of sleeping girls everywhere, seemingly confirming that this is all the mad plot of a pervert. They also find a girl passed out by the control console.
When they investigate, she comes to and they find out she's one of the special forces members that were originally sent to resolve the situation. Huh. Continuity. Go figure. She informs the girls that they need to shut down the system. No mention at all of why she had passed out in the first place. And we also find out what's REALLY going on now.
The security system is out of control.
Yes, apparently the security for an entire planet is completely automated and has gone out of control. The security system was designed to increase security whenever a VIP showed up and lately Nouvlesse have been showing up, which are apparently considered "super VIP's", thus causing the security level to spike out of control. So the reason no one's allowed to leave and everyone must wear swimsuits is because of security.
Who the hell thought this security system was a good idea? And shouldn't there be an actual human or twenty monitoring this just incase something goes wrong? Normally you would at least have computer technicians on hand or checking up on things occassionally, one would think. Of course, in the Kiddy Girl universe, Stupidity Is the Only Option.
Anyway, the special forces agent is trying to delete the noble data from the system but apparently the security system is just using the camera footage to restore it. I don't have a clue as to how that makes any sense. The security system then suddenly goes completely haywire. Fires start, the sprinklers come on, people panic and try to flee the hotel but the security bots stubbornly refuse to let anyone leave in spite of the emergency. Another glaring flaw in their programming that there really should be an override for.
In a fit of desparation, the special forces agent grabs a pipe and starts smashing the computer console and instructs the girls to do the same. Finally a move that makes sense! Assuming there's no back-up terminals, at least. A planet is a pretty big place afterall.
This actually leads to one of the more interesting scenes, brief as it is, where TAMA and Typhon get in on the destruction and start blasting everything. This musch destruction causes the system to shut down which... isn't what they wanted apparently? But then the system comes back online anyway and now the robots are going out of control and attacking people.
Now the girls are finally forced to just go in guns blazing and call down Mistral from the orbital space ring. This is something that ANY ES Member team could have done, and likely could have done better than these three. Back at the hotel, the guard robots have shown up to force the girls back to their rooms. One of them tries to grab Alisa, but only ends up pulling her top off.
The robots stop their attack when Typhon and the girls arrive on the scene and start blasting them, and thus are determined to be the more immediate threat. As expected, Typhon is able to blast these guys apart like they're nothing. Mechas show up on the scene, however, and these actually give Typhon trouble... until a laser blast from the orbital space dock takes them all out. These blasts can take out battleships but apparently cause no damage to the surrounding terrain. Go figure.
They also cause no damage to an ES Member's ship, it seems, as Mistral finally shows up just as the girls find themselves blocked in by several lasers and actually withstands a continuous stream of laserfire to protect the girls. Okay, now THAT was cool. Q-feuille then gives Mistral permission to attack, leading to Mistral taking out the attacking lasers with just a few well-aimed shots. As cool as this scene is, it further backs up my claim that either of the remaining ES Member teams could have handled this.
In the aftermath, all the robots are destroyed but one of the destroyed robots suddenly gets back up. It moves to attack Alisa and Belle, but then Q-feuille and Ascoeur remember they have time/space powers and quickly dispatch it. Seems the non-secret is finally out. Still can't believe they didn't know. I mean, didn't they see them using their powers in the very first episode?
The special forces agent has apparently managed to fix the system during all of this. The day is saved and the episode ends with Alisa and Belle promising not to tell Mi Nou that the girls are ES Members. Okay, now Mi Nou seriously must know about this already considering she occassionally takes calls from the Director requesting Ascoeur and Q-feuille's presence. Since when was this such a huge secret anyway? Seems she really doesn't know, however, as she appears at the end to say they're not getting dinner for taking a 3-week vacation...
This episode was just dumb. It existed for fanservice and that's about it. When's this series supposed to "grow the beard" again?
Next episode is titled "A Time of Meeting". The uncreative episode names continues...
