Girly Airforce

Okay, a 4th Anime (Mitsubishi F-2). Too bad, she's a piece of scenery.

Episode 7:

I think it's nice to see that both Kei and Gripen managed to defeat Phantom. But even then, I'm still unsure on what to think about Phantom's character. Sure, she is respectable on Kei after the defeat but I'm still rather torn on her. And it seems that there is also a hidden plane in JSDF and is called a perverted plane. Not sure why it was called that. Anyways, feel that next episode will be the attack against Zai's base so I'm gonna wait for one week.

Episode 07:

• Aw man, I would have loved to see the Anima of F-2. But I guess that explains why she isn't with the three main girls—she's on defense. But with Gripen mentioning F-2's a pervert... I guess F-2 likes a lot of skinship with a dash of Les Yay? (Let me know via PM if the light novels are translated to English somewhere.)
• Also, wow. The Taiwanese Air Force is still kicking. Mainly because the regular main threat IRL—the PLAAF—had its ass thoroughly handed to them by the Zai

and At least I got the impression that F-2 is a "perverted plane" because of how extensively it was modified (perversion of the original) and not because of Anima's personality.

Edited by NHunter on Feb 26th 2019 at 9:50:58 AM

It'd be hilarious if F-2's Anima actually turned out to be a Lovable Sex Maniac. Especially towards her fellow Anima.

Hope she appears before the season ends to put the wild mass guessing to bed.

x3 (OT: RIP, Chester Bennington.)

Edited by IncognitoNinja on Mar 1st 2019 at 12:17:39 AM

F-2A is ...strange.

Meanwhile, we get another new Anima. This time, in blue.

Episode 08:

• Loved that Big Damn Heroes moment by F-2A, though at first I thought she was going to be a Silent Protagonist similar to any Ace Combat player character.
• As soon as I saw that silent girl who looks suspiciously like Minghua, I had a hunch that was F-2A's Anima. Proven right minutes later. Despite only appearing that way to Kei (and the audience), F-2A looks pretty wearing that flowery, lavender-colored goth-loli dress. Also, talking to Kei via text on her smartphone sort of reminded me of Eucliwood Hellscythe.
• Nice of F-2A to give tips to Kei on how to improve his relationship with Minghua. Though that line about Kei being "a partner in passing on [Minghua's] genes"... If F-2A could speak, I can't help but imagine her in Origami's voice.
• Damnit Kei, you NEVER go full Ichika-level density!
• The Stinger... Is that an F/A-18? Legacy Hornet or the Super Hornet?

Edited by IncognitoNinja on Mar 1st 2019 at 9:11:15 PM

Episode 8:

Well, we started with scene at the beach I guess which is nice. Also, today's episode is about more information regarding the purple jet Anima. Not gonna lie she looks beautiful and so that's why she looks like Kei's childhood friend, Minghua, because that purple Anima are able to copy the person who's on their memory (E.g. If Kei thinks about Gripen, said Anima will change her face into Gripen). And speaking of childhood friend, dammit Kei you messed up after you made up with Minghua which is funny but cringe at the same time.

Episode 9:

Well, we were introduced with two new character of course, Rhino and the Anima Scientist from America named William Shankle. Unsurprisingly, America also developed the same technology on Anima but not as successful as it is in Japan and only Rhino is the one who survives. Shankle guy feels rather suspicious because of his views on Animas as nothing than a machine that is easy to solve rather than humans just as Haruka pointed out and tries to study Gripen due to her feats in beating the simulator. Oh yeah, speaking of Gripen... She's cute when eating pizza hehe

A rather late Episode 09 post:

• Was that Kenjiro Tsuda as William Shankle? Also, I'll be laughing my ass off if D.C. Douglas (who voiced Dr. Schroeder in Ace Combat 7) voices Shankle in the English dub.
• What was that dream about? Foreshadowing?
• I have a bad feeling those UCAVs will be prone to hacking from the Zai (somewhere along the lines of "Turned Against Their Masters"). That aside, I hope to see Hornet's plane in better detail in the next episode.

Anyway, I was looking around on the Ace Combat subreddit (actually searching posts that reference Girly Air Force) and I found these:

• Meido Su-57? Also, is that actual light novel cover art?
• Brawler drones apparently resembling the Quox drones from Ace Combat Infinity.

C'mon, man, it was clear from the very first second that those drones will become enemies to the Anima force. Though, you do forget other option - them failing to discriminate between Anima and Xi and attacking the closest target (which will just happen to be the protagonists).

As for Rhino herself... I'm not quite sure what to think of her. She looks cute, but I personally find her to be a bit too ...annoying? so far. Quiet Gripen is definitely a better girl.

Edited by NHunter on Mar 12th 2019 at 3:10:47 PM

Right, glitchy IFF.

Also, I'll probably need a rewatch, but Rhino/Hornet feels like a more demure, mature, and subdued version of Eagle. (The vibe I get from the latter is Dumb Muscle, Genki Girl and acts like Daddy's Girl in front of Yashirodoori.) Sure, Eagle has a nice rack going for her, but personality-wise, I prefer Rhino/Hornet.

And finally, I did check out the official Japanese site for the light novel series.

Confirmed planes/Anima:

• Rafale-ANM (ANM being the code word for "Anima") - So if she has Girlish Pigtails, does that make her a Tsundere? I kinda remember The iDOLM@STER's Iori Minase—the series' resident tsundere voiced by Rie Kugimiya—being on the Rafale in Ace Combat 6.
• Su-27M-ANM Flanker - So sadly, no Su-37 Terminator or other Flanker variants.
• MiG-29SMT-ANM Fulcrum
• Su-47-ANM Berkut - THE quintessential Russian Cool Plane.
• Su-57-ANM - Even though the site tries to hide her identity under question marks, the fact that she looks similar to the one on the light novel cover I linked earlier, the plane on the cover having wider wings than the F-22, plus the occasional sprinkling of Gratuitous Russian on her mini-profile confirms that she's indeed the Su-57 PAK FA.

@Incognito Ninja Just off-topic but yea... I think that was Kenjiro Tsuda as Shankle... Might need a rewatch or not

Well, between those two, Rhino is undoubtedly the better one. But that doesn't mean that her inquisitiveness (however good-natured it might be) can go a tad too far at times.

As for the Anima that haven't showed up on screen yet:

- Flanker probably encompasses all of Su-27 derivatives (and uses airframe of Su-27 herself since it's the most well-known Sukhoi plane). Is being stronger due to greater fame a thing in this universe?

- Berkut (aka Su-47)... Now that's a surprise. It's not a production model in Real Life, so seeing it get an Anima is not what I'd have expected.

Edited by NHunter on Mar 14th 2019 at 8:00:14 AM

Episode 10. Just copy this from MAL poster cuz I'm lazy af even if it doesn't tell what I truly feel:

Kei's dreams where he speaks with Gripen, every time I felt it more mysterious, but Gripen mentions interesting information that could have relevance in the following episodes.
Kei still does not know how to tell Minghua that he will go on a mission to Shanghai to defeat the Xi.
Phantom is more and more intense, she almost makes Kei get killed by "truck-kun" and her reason was only to hurt him so that he does not participate in the mission. Phantom reveals the true intention of this mission, which is that the Brawlers acquire live data from the Japanese Animas and thus can fight on a par with the Xi, but despite this revelation Kei does not panic and decides to participate anyway.
Kei finally tells everything to Minghua, but before he tells her that she is the most important person for him and the girl gets very excited, but Kei does not say the words that she wanted to hear and Kei gets a big slap for being a insensitive inept. In the end is Minghua who senses that Kei is doing dangerous things and that now he will go to a dangerous mission, but in the end she understands him and wishes him success in this new mission.
Eagle is like a little girl, she is so annoying.
The Animas and Kei arrive at their new base, an aircraft carrier of the United States, where they are received by the friendly and mysterious Rhino, although Phantom does not accept her at first and with Eagle at first she clarifies that she is stronger than Rhino and she gives the reason to her and thus Rhino earns her trust easily.
The plan to attack Shanghai seems well planned, but I have a feeling that something unforeseen will change the course of this mission.
Rhino organizes a welcome party for the Animas and they spend a good time with the soldiers, although Phantom does not seem very sociable and Rhino tries to integrate her to the party, but in her attempt she treats Phantom as "veteran" (for Phantom it was as if Rhino said she was an old lady) and finally Phantom join the party.
The part of the cabin made me laugh a lot, Kei is very aware of how feminine Gripen is, but as she is not human she is not ashamed and ends up undressing in front of Kei.
I love the relationship between Gripen and Kei, both are concerned about the welfare of each and both swear to fight together to return home safely and so we are left with a mission that can change the situation of humanity.

I watched the first episode, it was good!

@Incognito Ninja, you were right, man. Though, at least based on the dialogue, it wasn't direct hacking of those drone-crafts by Xi. More like Xi exploited their internal logic by altering themselves to present human's combined force as the intended target based on whatever ambient field those drones use for their IFF.

And then we have this ghost airport and whatever is going on with Rhino

Episode 11.

Yeah...they got hacked. And from the looks of it, the daughters might have gotten hacked as well, with a Lotus-Eater Machine, and Kei getting dragged into it due to synchronizing with Gripen one too many times...

And Rhino is hacked too but pretends she isn't so that she can quietly deal with Kei and Gripen?

Speaking of other Anima, Eagle and Phantom are likely alive too and will probably show up in time to resolve whatever mess the Kei and Gripen ended up in

Edited by NHunter on Mar 21st 2019 at 1:50:56 PM

Off-Topic: Apologies if I haven't been replying this past week or so...

For some reason, I frequently get a "Server not found" error when I try to access TVT from my usual home PC—but the site works just fine when I access it over at a net cafe.

I have a suspicion that my home PC IP address has been blocked/banned (and I can think of a few reasons why—some mundane, some worst-case), although I do wish they'd give me a notice via the email I used to register for the site.

Back to the discussion (though I don't know for how long):

Episode 11 (at halfway point as of this post):

• So the Zai have their own Arsenal Birds? Uh-oh... And they can indeed hack the Brawler drones. Double uh-oh.
• Man, I'm starting to get Muv-Luv: Alternative vibes from this show. I was almost expecting a Big Damn Heroes moment from the Russian Anima, though.

Episode 11:

Very late but on this episode, due to unable to fight against Zai in a big operation, Kei and Gripen went to rest in Shanghai but unsurprisingly, it was deserted. What's most surprising is that the power is still running despite being deserted in the first place. And man! That ending though! I'm a bit surprised that Rhino could turn into a bad girl after all.

Episode 12:

Turns out that the Shanghai Airport is a trap all along and Rhino is Evil All Along. But I can't blame her as she did get corrupted in some way and this episode ended up on fighting Rhino as a final battle and press f to Rhino. And the Episode ends with Zai is still not defeated. yay!

Anyways, final thoughts on this anime: Eh... It's pretty okay. Nothing stand out that much but I have to admit that there are several unanswered question in this so yeah... I wouldn't mind if this show got a Season 2 cuz why naut

A really belated post.

Girly Air Force ep. 12 (END):

• Ah, damn... So Rhino's Zai nature resurfaced (probably thanks to that signal in the previous episode) and attempts to kill (or perhaps assimilate?) Kei, and nearly gets Gripen to return to the fold. Shame, Rhino kinda grew on me, only to be lost like that... (Inb4 another Zai core is recovered and another Rhino is created from that core—as if that comparison to Kantai Collection back in episode 03 wasn't enough.)
• An open end with only more questions than answers—and I've yet to see the Russian (and lone French) Anima appear. But considering what happened to Rhino, I wonder if any of them will turn on humanity as well?

I'd love a season 2 as well, but if it doesn't happen, I'd love translations of the light novel instead.

OT/PS: I'd rather see Myne get ravaged by goblins or naughty tentacles, that cyka.

Edited by IncognitoNinja on Apr 4th 2019 at 1:38:37 AM

Considering that the US apparently tried to keep their anima with failsafes, which is what screwed Rhino, it's possible that they actually have had more success than we thought, but they simply rejected the ones that were too uppity. Also, I kinda hope that if the US shows up again that they can have a bit of a heel turn. It's not impossible that backlash would find its way home and they'd be forced to let thru Anima without safeguards tacked on

If we get another season, I'd wager we'll see an A-10 anima