The one thing I never expected was for this episode to be about Grumbly, but I'm sure not complaining, as she was the only understudy left without a big moment of her own (I think all of Sonata's cute moments through the show count as hers, though I wouldn't mind being wrong about that). It was a bit weird seeing the focus go to her inmediatly after the elections debacle, but then again, it's Grumbly, so her being pessimistic should come as no surprise. Hell, it's literally her thing. The bungee thing was a bit too sudden of a reference to me, but I sure as hell enjoyed Grumbly kicking the crap out of that lever after failing at first, right after gaining her Kirara at last. What a perfect way to showcase her appeal as the clumsy, often failing girl while still making her look like a badass.
Everything else was pretty well done and exciting as well, from Nagisa and co. infiltrating the base, to the mech hijacking, and I sure as hell wasn't expecting an illegal casino to come into play, and for it to be the reason as to why the first episode infiltration went so smoothly. What a bunch of shady businessmen the DGTO is. Aizendad doesn't seem to mind, even if he seemed to be getting a profit too, as he acquired more data on how the kirara work, in fact, he's probably been using the casino affair as a way to safely acquire that data without fear of running out of study samples for a while now. Basically, things are still going just as planned for the douchebag.
Now you have to wonder, what's next? With all the understudies seemingly finding their place, or at least not angsting or whining, the big ugly secret of the DGTO out, and just reaching the half point of the show, it looks like the perfect point for things to heat up. Or we could just have yuri antics. That would be nice in its way. Right..?
Details
-Dammit, Mimori! Is everyone trying to NTR Nagisa now?
-So, the mic sabers can cut through mechs, but not people? I read somewhere it has an stun mode. Can anyone confirm this?
-I'm surprised Chieri didn't pay attention to wearing the successors' outfit, but I suppose it's understandable when your best friends are infiltrating an evil stronghold.
-Those are some cutesy icons you got for codified talks, girls. Kinda want to have chibi Nagisa head as an avatar.
-Grumbly's kirara kinda looks like a water bear