Yuki and Shino gets a history lesson about the Quincy-Shinigami war, while Kirge battles Ayon.

Summary:
Back in Soul Society, Yuki and Shino are dispatched to meet 13th division’s sixth seat Hidetomo Kajoumaru. Yuki wonders why the shinigami and Quincy fight each other, and Hidetomo gives Yuki and Shino a quick history lesson about the conflict. Basically, shinigamis purify hollows and maintain the soul balance between Soul Society and the human world while Quincies destroy souls which upsets the balance and can lead to destruction of both worlds. The shinigamis tried to negotiate but the Quincies wouldn’t listen, and so 200 years ago the shinigamis decided to wipe out the Quincies.

Meanwhile in Hueco Mundo, Ayon grabs Kirge and repeatedly slams him into the ground. Apacci comes to taunt the downed Kirge but gets stabbed by Kirge for her troubles. Kirge then gets back up and powers up some more.

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Can Ichigo please hurry it up and put an end to Kirge? Not too surprisingly, Ayon appears and gets a few hits in on Kirge, but Kirge is far from beaten and probably is going to power up and wipe the floor with Ayon and the three fraccions. This fight seems somewhat pointless and is taking longer than it should. I rather see the Vandenreich invading Soul Society, but that didn’t happen this week either. Rather, we have a short history lesson about the Quincy Shinigami conflict, and most of us know this stuff already. Obviously, the Vandenreich/Quincies are want payback for the previous war, but there is probably a lot more to it since what was told is only the shinigami side of the story. Mayuri and Yamamoto are hiding something from most of the other shinigamis, and it’ll be interesting to see why Quincies refused the shinigami’s offers so consistently.

From the feed of A Product of Wasted Time

Kabuto gets thrown for a loop.

Summary:
Kabuto cuts Itachi in half. Sasuke tries to grab Kabuto with Susanoo but Kabuto jumps to the ceiling. Sasuke and Kabuto spit sprays at each other and Kabuto get the better of it. Itachi then appears in front of Kabuto who stabs Itachi with Sasuke’s sword, but one of Itachi’s eyes becomes clouded and he turns into crows. Itachi gets the sword back and slices at Kabuto, but Kabuto dodges. Kabuto thinks he has the upper hand, but Itachi declares that he is already controlling Kabuto’s destiny with Izanami. Kabuto doesn’t believe Itachi and goes after Itachi and Sasuke again with the stomach snake technique. Kabuto manages to damage Itachi once again and then stab Itachi in the back, but then Itachi turns into crows, gets the sword back and slices at Kabuto and the slice shaves off the tip of a horn that Itachi should have already sliced off. Kabuto now knows something is amiss but still doesn’t believe he got genjutsued, so he goes after Itachi again but the same sequence of events occur. Back in the real world, Itachi stands in front of a still Kabuto and explains to Sasuke that he used Izanami to put Kabuto into an infinite loop that Kabuto cannot escape from.

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Hahahahaha the magic Sharingan strikes again! Despite this being the inevitable conclusion, I am actually happy that Kabuto finally got trolled by the Uchiha magic eyes. The fight was getting long in the tooth since Kabuto had a long flashback (which I was hoping was induced by Izanami but it wasn’t) and didn’t look like he was going to do anything spectacular to beat the Uchiha bros. I was hoping Kabuto would do something cool like pull out another zombie or something, but he was just going to rely on Sage Mode senses and speed and sealing shut his own eyes to win. Kabuto should have known from his research that Sharingan techniques are beyond reason lol. Kabuto getting stuck in an infinite loop is pretty hilarious, and given this is a forbidden Sharingan technique that cost zombie Itachi one of his eyes (how does that work… I thought zombies can regenerate any part of their body) Kabuto is unlikely to break out of it… on his own anyways. Itachi has Kabuto stuck in a loop now, but does that mean he can make Kabuto recall the zombies?

From the feed of A Product of Wasted Time

Ao joins Generation Bleu and gets a tour of the company’s facilities.

Summary:
Team Pied Piper and Ao fly back to Generation Bleu’s headquarters which is a strange structure sticking out of some mountains. The Triton is taken into the landing bay and Ao meets the company’s technical director Alexander Boyer who will be repairing/making adjustments to the Nirvash. Rebecka gets the job of look for Noah but instead finds Gazelle’s group, and Gazelle demands to see the boss. Meanwhile, Ao is taken for medical testing. The staff tell Ivica that Ao almost perfectly normal, except that his eyes may see a wider spectrum of light than other people. Fleur and Elena then lead Ao into the underground city that houses of the Generation Bleu staff. While at the security desk, Ao sees internal news coverage of Noah on the loose and runs into the underground city to find Noah.

Gazelle, Han and Pippo are taken by Rebecka to Christopher’s office. Gazelle reveals that he and his friends saw Team Pied Piper taking out the cube from the Scub Coral which caused the coral to go dormant, and Gazelle also notes that the cube was similar to the small cubes that infected his FP and led up to the Scub Burst. Gazelle questions what Generation Bleu is really up to, and Rebecka silently reaches for her pistol. However, Christopher decides that Gazelle and friends are interesting and hires them into the company. Rebecka takes Gazelle’s group to take a train and they bump into Fleur who doesn’t quite recognize the three men from Okinawa. On the train, Rebecka’s phone starts ringing, alerting her to a Scub Burst event in progress.

Back in the city, Ao and Elena walk around trying to locate Noah, and they find the sloth with three girl pilots and the leader of another IFO team, Team Goldilocks. Ao and Elena chat with Team Goldilocks, and the team leader Bruno welcomes Ao to Generation Bleu but advises Ao to leave or else he will do something that hurts his loved ones. Team Goldilocks then gets to signal to sortie for the Scub Burst event, and so Ao and Noah follow Elena back to Elena’s apartment where Elena leaves Ao outside and gives Noah a shower before tossing Noah out of the apartment. Fleur returns to find Ao and Noah outside the apartment and Fleur wants Ao to think about why he came to Generation Bleu.

Gazelle and gang follow Rebecka to the command center where Ivica and Christopher are watching Team Goldilocks in action. Team Goldilocks investigate a suspicious storm cloud approaching the coral. The three IFOs piloted by Maev, Maggie and Chloe fly out to the check out the cloud, and to their surprise they find an UN IFO flying nearby. Giant limbs of a Secret/G-Monster then appear out of the clouds to knock the UN IFO and Maggie out of the sky, and the remaining Goldilocks IFOs are also in trouble. Having lost contact with his pilots, Bruno calls headquarters for reinforcements, and so Ivica and Team Pied Piper are asked to launch.

Ao is standing in Elena and Fleur’s apartment not sure what he is supposed to do when the girls get the call to prepare for launch. Ao reluctantly follows and Ivica arrive to show Ao where his flight suit is stored. After changing into the suit, Ao and the girls grab their IFO keys from Rebecka, and Alexander informs Ao that the “Mark I” will be designated Nirvash from now on. The IFOs and their pilots are then loaded onto the Triton and the Triton blasts off into the sky.

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Late post because I had to deal with what turned out to be very difficult final exam over the weekend, but regardless of how badly I did the academic semester is over, so I should have a little more time to devote to this blog. In episode 5 of the show, Ao gets a taste of his new home at the Generation Bleu city inside a mountain. Not the most dramatic or exciting of episodes, but such transitional episodes are necessary in the story. In his search for Noah, Ao meets another IFO team in the Goldilocks, and the Goldilocks leader Bruno gives Ao some worrisome and somewhat cryptic advice. ao then spends the latter half the episode being unsure about his reasons for coming along to Generation Bleu HQ. Fleur and Elena weren’t exactly the most welcoming teammates, but they weren’t hostile either; they acted somewhat indifferently and let Ao figure things out on his own. Of course, Ao ends up joining Team Pied Piper on the mission and so we’ll have lots of action next episode.

Other than Ao, Gazelle, Pippo and Han also managed to score some jobs at Generation Bleu. Gazelle and friends really didn’t plan this thing out very well since Christopher could have certainly silenced them for good, but the Generation Bleu boss decided that the three guys were interesting and let them stay. I’m not sure what sort of jobs that Gazelle and friends got though. Gazelle does raise some good questions about Generation Bleu and the thing they do with the glowing cubes. Christopher didn’t exactly give them an answer (or at least it wasn’t shown to the audience), but we’ll find out soon enough now that Ao is part of Team Pied Piper.

From the feed of A Product of Wasted Time

The Diva is attacked in the desert while on its way to the Federation command center.

Summary:
The Diva is on its way towards the Federation command center and is flying low over a desert to avoid detection. However, the Divas is shot from below by Vagan mobile suits moving in the desert and forced to land for repairs in a rocky area. The crew gets intel that the Feds have lost a lot of units in the area due to three Vagan desert mobile suits known as the “Phantom 3″. Flit, Seric and the bridge crew then devise a plan to get out of the situation. Kio is outside the bridge trying to listen in, but he then bumps into his aunt Yunoa who is the ship’s medical officer. Wendy is also on the ship as Yunoa’s aid and Wendy is seen chasing down the three kids who somehow ended up on the ship as well. Kio then meets Shanalua who gets Kio to go to the hangar for some simulation training. Outside the rocky area, the Phantom 3 pilots Godom, Deymon and Gratt spy on the Diva using their binoculars, and the three plan to attack after finishing deploying autonomous drones in the nearby sands.

At the hangar, Kio takes a break from training and talks to Rody and his helper (and also Dique’s grandson) Wootbit, and Rody states that he is getting the AGE Device to make desert equipment for the Gundam. After Rody is called away for some other business, Kio talks to Wootbit but Wootbit is jealous about Kio’s “special status” and gives Kio a shove. Kio feels a bit down about this and doesn’t perform well when simulation training resumes. Shanalua wonders what’s up with Kio and tries to comfort him with a little forehead to forehead, but Kio states that he’s alright.

Suddenly, alerts ring throughout the ship as the Phantom 3 are approaching in their Gomel mobile suits. Seric and squad sortie to meet the enemy, with Seric and two members acting as bait to draw out the drones and Shanalua and Obright going out on the ground to pick the drones off. The Gundam’s desert pack is not ready so Kio and Flit go out in the Normal form. Upon stepping into the desert, the Gundam is confronted by the Phantom 3 who move really fast around the Gundam in a circle to create a cyclone. The Phantom 3 knock the Gundam around for a bit and go for their combined attack finisher, but Kio dodges using his X-Rounder powers. However, the Phantom 3 prevent the Gundam from escaping and so the Gundam is still trapped. Back in the Diva, the AGE device has finished making the new G Hopper and Wootbit pilots it out. Wootbit blasts the cyclone to get the Phantom 3′s attention, and Shanalua provides cover so that Wootbit can get to the Gundam. Kio detaches the Core Fighter from the G-ceptor to combine with the G-Hopper to form the AGE-3 Fortress that can hover above the sand and has four beam cannons. Kio follows Shanalua’s advice and leads the Phantom 3′s on a run. Kio blasts two of the enemy Gomels, and then Deymon ends up jumping onto the business end of one of the Gundam’s beam cannons and gets blasted to smithereens. Kio then uses the Fortress’ four beam cannons to torch a large swatch of desert to destroy all of the drones. After seeing Kio’s awesome performance, Wootbit decides to be nice to Kio and the two shake hands.

The two remaining Phantom 3 retreat and vow to avenge their comrade. Back on the Diva, Kio is happy about the victory and thanks Shanalua for her advice during training earlier, but Shanalua doesn’t share the enthusiasm and states that war is nothing to be happy about. After Shanalua walks off, Seric tells Kio that Shanalua’s family has suffered because of war so she’s never happy about it, but Seric encourages Kio to celebrate for a bit.

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We get a desert battle for the first time in this series, and the AGE-3 Gundam gets a new equipment outfit out of it. The AGE-3 Fortress does exactly what it looks like it will do: it has the hover jets to move quickly along a service, and it has four beam cannons that can blast a whole lot of enemies. Perfect against loads of drones that hide themselves in the desert and the Vagan Desert Sharks… I mean Phantom 3. Unlike the previous Gundams, the AGE-3′s new equipment packs are actually aircraft in their own right and require a pilot. Is each of the packs going to have an unique pilot like how Flit was piloting the G-ceptor and Wootbit was piloting the G-Hopper?

On to the developments in this episode, the Divas is flying slowly towards the Federation command center, and the ship is flying slowly a low because it wants to avoid detection. Well, that plan obviously failed. The Divas doesn’t have cloaking technology, and something that big moving not so fast can’t be that hard to spot especially if the Vagans have any sort of spy satellite. I found it funny that the Divas is shown flying through what looks like North America, but I don’t recall there being any deserts in the plotted path shown in the episode. Their Earth must have different geography than the real Earth lol. It was also amusing how another Gunhale, a Madorna, and even Kio’s aunt Yunoa ended up on the Diva. It must be fate that these families have members that serve on the Divas. I have no idea why the three kids Kio rescued ended up on the ship though. Don’t they have parents (or an orphanage) to go to?

Moving on to the characters, any three group of bad guys in Gundam reminds me of the Black Tri-Stars, and the Phantom 3 fits the bill. Like the Black Tri-Stars, the Phantom 3 has a signature combined attack, and also one of them gets killed off by the Gundam first. The sand cyclone attack was pretty ridiculous even by Gundam standards, but I suppose it appeals more to younger target audience that Gundam AGE has. Another new character introduced in this episode was Dique’s grandson/Arisa’s son Wootbit. Wootbit was pretty upset about Kio getting the spotlight earlier in the show, but he quickly understood that it’s destiny for a Gunhale to play sidekick to the main man from the Asuno family. Lastly, this episode focused a bit Shanalua. On one hand it looks Shanalua is going to be a good mentor/big sister figure for Kio, but on the other hand Shanalua’s behavior is a little suspicious, especially when she’s doing stuff with her phone. Could she be a spy for the bad guys? We’ll see.

From the feed of A Product of Wasted Time