Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season - Episode 7 Discussion / Poll

[wingdarkness]

@Double 120% - MSG never intricately examined character motivations...It was more straight-foward and more focused on the pure reality and brutality of war...Everything was centered around Amuro having to protect the ship, so with that set you had to have alot of action...00 is more about world-creation and character study...The Gundams STARTED the war and had the advantage so there was never a defensive dynamic like in most G-show setups...

As for Tomino, if he had his way Turn A would be the last thing we ever saw...I love Tomino and his style, but I also can sense the sour grapes of an old guy whose work has been changed from his strict ideal (I respect his disgust though)...However the bottomline is that Gundam is a franchise, a franchise that self-sustains itself through merchandising...I'm not ignorant to that, so within that set I can judge the work...We all know this $hit is about selling toys, but the question is can you make a show good with the understanding that you're gonna whore mechs in a varying degree? That's the test of a Gundam director and I'd say Mizushima is passing that test unlike the last show which whored every mech to the point it's prolly being banned in Amsterdam it whored so much...

A good deal of us understand the complex obligation that goes into creating these shows while understanding the economic construct that exists for something like Gundam...The question is can a show be good within that understanding? The last show failed, this one hasn't failed IMO...Again I understand your frustration and appreciate the old skool Gundam passion that seemed to somehow evaporate from this forum in recent years, but I can't lie...I'm enjoying this show, because it has going for it a real interesting dynamic where the director has chosen to respect the sophistication of the fanbase at large by not pretending he's not rehashing a story that has been told before...Mizushima understands this $hit has been told over and over again, so he chose to take one of the more taken for granted Gundam elements (character motivations) and make that the heart in which he tells the story rather than a fleeting element the audience already understood...Being a guy who never directed Gundam before I think he's done a great job of not just recreating souless homages left and right and nonsensical action for the sake of action...Unlike you I haven't sensed an overt whoring effort by Bandai that's been more obvious than it was since Gundam Wing brought Gundam off of life-support in the 90's....Feels less than GSD by a longshot to me (But that's the evil of an opinion)...

[Celestial]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Actually this is more or less what Gundam is normally like. You've probably just been watching the Seed universe for far too long. Gundam is historically a pretty slow moving franchise that focuses more often on the characters and their interactions with one another then on flashy robot action. There's usually a skirmish of the week but yeah...this IS the Gundam I remember as opposed to how it's been for the greater half of the 21st century.

Indeed, too much action simply makes the show shallow and CE-ish.

We want substance and story, not h4x-beams-going-off-like-there's-no-tomorrow and brainless massacres of dumb, useless grunts.

[C.A.]

Originally Posted by Double 120%

Your posts.

Alright I'll just ask this is a direct manner.

Are you convincible or not? Will you start liking Gundam 00 after arguing and seeing that we have some good points?

There's this whole bunch of us who've also seen the entire Gundam franchise, but we still like Gundam 00 alot.

There's always this group of unpleasable fans and its a law of the universe that they must exist for each item, you may just very well be falling into this group for Gundam 00. If that is true, there's no reason to continue arguing but to leave you alone.

So are you someone who we can convince to start liking Gundam 00?

[MooMooFarm]

Gundam using the ES21 story telling format = instant success. Too bad Japan is too fail to figure it out. Lawl.

We want substance and story, not h4x-beams-going-off-like-there's-no-tomorrow and brainless massacres of dumb, useless grunts.

Substance and story are overrated. Code Geass is about the only mainstream anime in the last 5 years to have re-hashed Substance and Story into something entertaining.

There's always this group of unpleasable fans and its a law of the universe that they must exist for each item, you may just very well be falling into this group for Gundam 00. If that is true, there's no reason to continue arguing but to leave you alone.

Clearly the unpleasable fans are the ones who HATE 00. It's people like you that make me want to see a dream war in reality where the Animesuki carebears fight the World of Warcraft Q.Qers. It'd be an EPIC fight where two very polar ideals meet each other, each side not having experienced such extremities of the other faction. And I'd want some troll fansubs too for every language just because I'm so damn fair to the rest of the world.

[Synria_]

Fairly nice ep. Glad to see Allelujia and Marie together... so touching... wish the colonel would just ditch the federation, since obviously he has no interest in it anymore. He should just stick with celestial being. Now that they parted, I can already see some drama either with Col. Smirnov or Marie dying in some twisted crap later on.

Now that I think about it, this is probably my most favorite pairing. Higher than Saji and whoever, or Marina and Setsuna... if there is any at all.

[rpgman1]

Good episode overall. Saji can't shoot because of contradicting himself. Seems to focus on Allelujah and Marie finally being together. Can't believe Sumeragi is jealous of Al. Setsuna actually smiled! Tieria was shocked to look at a clone. Next episode is definitely interesting. Probably seeing betrayal or more likely distrust among CB members.

[MooMooFarm]

Originally Posted by Charred Knight

I would positive rep you but it states that I can't. Is this series Zeta Gundam or Gundam Seed Destiny? No, but the characters are a lot more fascinating than in either of them. With Gundam Seed Destiny they kept force feeding us action which ended up making the Earth Alliance and ORB look like a joke because they lost every battle.

So far the A Laws have been shown to be great pilots with Barack and Andrei being above average, and Soma and Mr. Bushido being excellent pilots.

So far the action seems to be on par with Turn A Gundam

From what I remember there is more action here than in Turn A Gundam, and

See, it's stuff like this which keeps getting me mod messages =[

How can you people put Soma above Barack? Sure, Barack is the new guy, he's not a girl, nor does he look cool in any way. He's a genuine grunt with a name. But if you look past the fact that he's a destined mid-card, you'll see he's done stuff Soma has never done, and that is keep up with TWO gundam meisters at the same time. He has the edge over Tieria during their 1v1, and he never took a hit against Cherudim + Seravee. He's the only guy so far in the series to fight TWO CB gundams at once tag teaming, let alone coming out of it unscathed.

It's silly how this board won't even recognize that as mid-card greatness. But hey, it's expected. Short story, Barack is way ahead of Soma at this point in every single way. Until Soma pulls some plot crap where she literally goes DBZ mode, she's inferior to Barack in every way. She got shot by ALLE the GIMP. Or are you saying Alle the gimp has a better firing rate than Lyle AND Tieria together?

[Synria_]

Did anyone notice that once they found Allelujiah, Sumeragi says "I didn't lose my reason to fight" or that was the sub based on gSS. Does this mean Sumeragi fights for Al. and there may be deeper emotions between the two? Is there a possible love triangle in here??

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

Well, that's it for me. Better stop before I offend someone >.> oh noezzzzzzzzzzz. Though this forum was 10x better years ago when there were funny trolls that can make Koda-like posts ^_~ every day. Wonder where they all went?

Unfortunately not everyone agrees with the sentiments of you and your idol there that every discussion should consist of trolling 24/7. If you're so desperate for your idol's posting style then why not just leave and go post on her blog instead of trying to force a formula on a forum that is never going to fly? Cause really I don't see how any of that nonsense adds to the discussion and I'm sure that if that's all your are going to be here to do then more than a few people will be glad to show you the door on your inevitable way out. Because what you don't seem to realize is that it's not a matter of offending anyone so much as few here want to put up with stupid BS discussion about nothing. Catch my drift?

Originally Posted by Double 120%

Nowadays, Bandai has become so concerned with selling and pushing models that they structure the entire series around the release of their model kits. Right now, Gundam 00 doesn't even have a beam saber for crying out loud! Even the original Gundam had that! It doesn't even make sense to launch with less than half your weapons! I've seen GM's with more weapons than that!

Do you even realize how contradictory that sounds? How does lack of weapons even begin to translate into pushing model kits. And why is this coming up in an episode thread where said episodes content is primarily focused on character development. Obviously that is part of the goal Bandai has in mind for a successful Gundam franchise, but it's people like you that try to make the Gundam franchise out like it's just about selling models that really grind my gears.

Horizontal Integration is Bandai's game with Gundam. If they were just interested in selling toys they would simply invest in a series of commercial spots everytime they have a new model kit. Instead what we get with Gundam is a television series that goes hand in hand with a toyline that is based around it and vice versa. It is not the sole purpose of the TV series to sell these model kits because the company also has DVD sales to worry about. And that is a different beast altogether. This is why the Gundam franchise is a constant struggle to find a balance between providing good television that people will want to own once the chance arises and a profitable model line to go along with it that people will also want to own because they like the design and have an interest in the hobby of putting together gunpla.

What he have here is an argument that does not fit in at all with the criticisms you seem to be desperately trying to make. In fact it's just a stock argument that people try to use constantly and not a very good one at that. For this reason I urge you to think about what you are trying to argue next time before just borrowing tired horses that have long since been beaten to death. They are useless and will get you nowhere at all.

[Charred Knight]

Originally Posted by Double 120%

Can you honestly say this is the show's "identity" and not the sponsor's "interference"? Ever notice how the appearance of characters, suits, and battles nicely coincide with the release of the model kits and other merchandise? I don't presume to know what the Director wants in this show, but I work in the industry and I do know you definitely have to structure the show around the sponsors demands and requirements. And what annoys me even more is that you guys don't notice it. They've got you hook, line, and sinker. At least be aware.

Even Tomino complained in interviews I've read about sponsors and Bandai's interference with the shows he made about when he could and couldn't show certain ships, suits, etc. How can you make the show the way you want it when you know can and can't show certain things in certain episodes? Answer, you do the best you can and work around it, but in the end I feel it hurts the show if there is too much interference from producers/sponsors, which I feel is happening in Gundam 00 right a little too much right now.

And MSG didn't have half of what you've seen in 00? What exactly haven't you seen in MSG that you've seen in 00 (other than the obvious tech stuff like Trans-am etc which I would say is just the evolution of a running joke from Char's Red MS from MSG)? MSG had plenty of action and did it all in around 36 episodes. Ironically, it was cancelled and cut short due to lack of funding and sponsors, but it spawned the franchise you have today. You may not like the old school, but you gotta give it respect when its due. The story and character development you hold true to in this series (as well as many series you just referenced) is basically a re-make of what has already been done in the older original UC series.


EDIT: I would also encourage anyone reading my messages to refresh a couple times before responding since I tend to write a basic response then add more on top of that for a few minutes after the initial post.

What the hell are you talking about? No one is saying that MSG was shit, we are just pointing out that their doesn't need to be 10 minutes worth of action ever damn episode.

Your post has absolutly nothing to do with what we where talking about your just lashing out at us for liking a series you do not like claiming that we don't respect Tomino. No one has disrespected UC Gundam in this thread, you are making phantom accusations to make yourself look good.

Pretty soon your going to be offering us Amontallido

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

See, it's stuff like this which keeps getting me mod messages =[

How can you people put Soma above Barack? Sure, Barack is the new guy, he's not a girl, nor does he look cool in any way. He's a genuine grunt with a name. But if you look past the fact that he's a destined mid-card, you'll see he's done stuff Soma has never done, and that is keep up with TWO gundam meisters at the same time. He has the edge over Tieria during their 1v1, and he never took a hit against Cherudim + Seravee. He's the only guy so far in the series to fight TWO CB gundams at once tag teaming, let alone coming out of it unscathed.

It's silly how this board won't even recognize that as mid-card greatness. But hey, it's expected. Short story, Barack is way ahead of Soma at this point in every single way. Until Soma pulls some plot crap where she literally goes DBZ mode, she's inferior to Barack in every way. She got shot by ALLE the GIMP. Or are you saying Alle the gimp has a better firing rate than Lyle AND Tieria together?

That's because Barack is kind of like Wedge from Star Wars, his impressive but frankly his not memorable, with Soma now gone I predict that Barack will get more screen time taking on the Gundams. The second season has been really impressive so far, so I think Barack may move up, and hopefully get a custom unit.

[Darkside]

10/10, something finally goes my way in anime! Al x Marie ftw ^^

[C.A.]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

Your posts.

You would have alot more people listening to you if you actually used your wit to actually seriously discuss and not troll.

Doing stuff for personal lulz does not work in this forum.

You know you're speaking nonsense anyway and probably just have more lulz when more people reply to you, I'll just leave it here and you can have one more post to laugh at.

[Charred Knight]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

^_^ Not that I didn't know that, but thanks for affirming with me. I was simply poking at the person's lack of awareness in subtle facts. And umm, Barack won't get a custom unit most likely, because from his character design, to his voice actor, to his story development, he was destined as the STOCK named pilot. Like, more stock than Louis and Andrei. He doesn't have any relationships, he's just meant to be THE Ahead pilot. No custom NADA. Hence like you said, he's forgettable like certain people on this board; but it shouldn't mean we ignore them!

VA?

You mean Tetsu Inada? The VA for Harry Ord, Elzam Von Branstein, and Lu Bu? If Barack becomes misused it will not be because of his VA who has voiced two ace pilots, and the most powerful warrior in Ancient Chinese history.

Also the fact that Barack has no relationship helps him, someone needs to fight Tieria and Lockon, Mr, Bushido is too busing fighting Setsuna, Ali isn't a part of A-Laws, and Andrei has the who le Allelujah, and Louise thing going on.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

Unfortunately not everyone agrees with the sentiments of you that the show should just be watched and everyone should be happy go lucky with rainbows and sunshine. If you are so desperate for people to stop complaining about 00, then why not just leave and go set up your own blog instead of trying to force everyone to say only positive things about 00 unless it's within your own liking knowing that regardless of time, this forum will always have people complaining?

Do I seem like I want rainbows and sunshine? I suggest you can that argument as it's getting old. Get rid of the notion that my goal is to be a "animesuki carebear" and welcome the fact that I don't greet points of contention that I find ill-founded, trollish or borrowed and forced into the equation with open arms. They will be debated and I won't always do so with a gentle hand.

Cause really I don't see how any of that nonsense adds to the discussion and I'm sure that if that's all you're going to be here to do then more than a few people will be glad to show you the door on your inevitable way out. Because what you don't seem to realize is that it's not a matter of offending anyone so much as few here want to put up with you Q.Qing about other people Q.Qing. Catch my drift?

Lame copycat style reply. Moving on.

You've been here longer than me, and you don't even realize this? Are you the same type of person that would pick Republican or Democrat and believe eventually one side wipes out the other?

I have no idea what you are even talking about here so moving on again.

I don't have a very fond memory of people on this board. There's wingdarkness that constantly shoots up crazy theories which half of are hilariously inconsistent (IN MY OPINION DURRRR), LoweGear who knows every damn spec of Gundam, VoV or whoever that guy with the two guns holding chick avatar is that talks way too much about Bushido, Jafri who ..... yeah you all know. But you? I just recall you quoting other people, then claiming they hate the show and blah blah blah yet never post anything where I'd go "woah, he's like almost the first person to think of that!".

Oh I don't think they're going to have very fond memories of you once this night is all over. By the way, trolling is best carried out in a more subtle manner. Stop being so obvious. Remember that bad trolling Wingdarkness talked about? You're fitting the bill.

And as for the stupid discussion thing, feel free to point out any points in my trolling posts that are entirely made up for lul and have no points in them. I might not be the most serious poster, but I'm pretty damn sure my posts have been more informative than yours. I offer facts and satire, you offer opinions. Feel free to prove me wrong by showing me a post somewhere that you said Barack took on two gundam meisters and took zero damage before I did, even though I already did last week.

Now that one is funny. Like I said, bad trolling versus stirring the pot by just barely shirking the edge of the truth, there's a difference. That difference also happening to be the one between your ideals for what this forum should be and what you are actually accomplishing. You're in over your head a little here. When you have something new to add besides tired 4channish style posting let me know. Been a slice.

Now as for discussion, I would like to touch upon the point Wingdarkness made earlier about how Setsuna didn't seem to have learned anything from this encounter. At least so far. I find this actually is a little bit worrisome because a) We have been under the impression that his personality and way of handling things has been improved this season, but have never really seen it and b) a lack of reaction indicates that Setsuna has not recognized his defeat and what he might need to do to improve in order to do better against Mr. Bushido the next time, which seems a bit foolish.

The problem here comes from what may happen in the future because if Setsuna suddenly does beat him without having undergone a certain realization in order to do so then it could end up feeling cheap and will do no honour to Mr. Bushido nor Setsuna himself. They are building this confrontation up to be a big one in the future so I hope we at least get to see Setsuna recognizing his opponents skill in the coming episodes and taking steps to prepare for the next confrontation. Mr. Bushido should not be allowed to get the drop on the 00 Gundam a third time like he's been doing. How does the saying go, " 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster."

1. Mr. Bushido is only interested in fighting the 00 Gundam. Use this to your advantage.

2. Mr. Bushido insists on close quarters combat and is nearly unbeatable in this regard. Make a point to keep your distance when engaging him.

3. Mr. Bushido prefers to fight alone. Find a way to use his "comrades" against him as a distraction.

4. Mr. Bushido will not fight an opponent who cannot defend himself. Make not of this if you want to avoid combat with him.

Time to get cracking Setsuna. Of course I don't expect many or really any of these points to come into play in the future, but they are worth noting just the same. This is where Setsuna could potentially start in his quest to overcome his adversary.

[Mangaka-chan]

I think Setsuna's personality has been improving (he smiled 7 episodes into the second season where as it took him 19 episodes in season one to crack a smile), so those four years spent wandering and thinking about things have done something for him. But as for if he'll pick up on Mr. Bushidou's weaknesses, I'd say it's a toss up. I think Setsuna does have an instinct for fighting or else he wouldn't have lasted this long (you can't credit just good luck for making it out alive as a child soldier), but I don't know how good of a strategist he is. Maybe his gut instinct will pick up on the things that put Mr. Bushidou at risk but I think it's hard to say if we'll see him really do that.

[Charred Knight]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

See this guy people? He just replied back to me the PROPER way. He posted fact followed by support statement. But I still think Tetsu Inada voiced Barack in a manner that made him less memorable! Perhaps it was his intention or that's what the scriptwriters told him to do? I don't know, I'm not hating on the guy. I simply mean his voice isn't like WOAH it's BARACK. It's like, oh hey Barack's on the screen. His voicing has the same impact as Howard or Daryl to me, but maybe it's because I didn't see him in other works that you mentioned? =]

And umm, Lu Bu? There was a Three Kingdoms anime? WTF? Lol. Was it that really ugly old one that you can see on crunch roll? As someone that likes 3K, I really wish if they'd make an adaption of Ravages of Time though it'd probably fail as hard as Berserk and Blade of the Immortal.

Its the Dynasty Warriors Video game series which is huge in Japan, personally I have no problem with Inada's Barack.

[Nightwing(T_T)]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

By normal military standards, you might be right, but by Gundam Standards he's well within his rights...It's not like the A-LAWS are some totally federal sponsered outfit that have "Go ALAWS" army ads to attract confused teens...This is a private militray organization, much like the PMC trust who hire skilled fighters like Ali to do their bidding...If Bushido has a "get out of jail free" card, then he can GO, he can collect 200$...The episode isn't completley clear whether or not the other ALAW fighters saw Bushido purposely leave Gundam 00 alive or just his abrupt fleeing of the scene, so Bushido doesn't really have anything to be reprimanded for with a slashed off arm for his troubles...

From a peanut gallery perspective, I'm sure it's fair to view Bushido's actions here as ridiculous, but in-terms of understanding his character-build, to say he needs to "cut the honor bullshit out and start to act like a real soldier..." , that totally betrays the intended effect of the faux personality...He chooses to be this character, so he doesn't have to cut the honor bullshit out and start to act like a real soldier...Graham Aker was the balance that equally measured fighting passion verses military practicality...Mr. Bushido is only the fighting passion side of that balance...

wish I could rep you right now excellent post!

[Kaioshin Sama]

Some impressions now that I've seen the subbed version:

Honestly I wasn't a big fan of the battle this episode, but as I've said I can live with that because it wasn't the main focus. It was cool to see Sumeragi get right into things instead of hitting the bottle the second she gets depressed which gives me far more confidence in her as a strategist then before. Can't say her strategy was all that brilliant but she did what she needed to do in making the A-LAWS go away so that Kataron could get out of there.

Setsuna's duel with Graham was brief but probably the most interesting part of this short skirmish. As Ian predicted Trans-Am did eventually cause the 00 Gundam to overload, but not before he did some equally serious damage to Graham's Ahead. I have to wonder how the battle would have gone if that hadn't happened. And then there's Saji who as I suspected couldn't pull the trigger. I was ready to give up on him altogether but then he finally did what he should have done all along if he wanted to be helpful. Put his engineering certificate to use on the bridge in order to help repair the 00 Gundam with Ian. I also got a bit of a laugh (not sure how appropriate it was) out of the Meisters not realizing Allellujah was missing until the A-LAWS had left. Are they really that uncoordinated when Sumeragi is not in the picture?

Of course Allelujah was off elsewhere after getting shot down by and shooting down Soma and finally all of those convince commands he's been using on her pay off (speaking of which this is great because when an SRW rolls around with 00 in it means I get to use my favourite female character.....maybe). I've gotta side with the group that doesn't feel this is too soon. In fact it's been a long time coming. 27 episodes at least since the beginning of season 1. Speaking of season one we also finally get to see what was up with all of those flashbacks Allelujah was having about being lost in space and killing some kid. So that was when he escaped from the Super Soldier facility and his Hallelujah finally kicked in in order to help him survive the ordeal at any cost. A blessing and a curse. The way I see it these past couple of episodes and their focus on Allelujah are making up for all that time they forget about him for at the end of last season.

As for Marie, boy is she different from Soma. She even sounds different in how she lacks that gruff tone that Soma always had when talking. I disagree with the idea that she's been reduced to some sort of moeblob now though. She's merely gone from being unnaturally bloodthirsty and arrogant to something a bit closer to a normal human being. Being a super soldier really isn't all it's cut out to be. When Sergei showed up I also knew exactly what he was planning to do the whole time and that was to execute Soma Peries in battle. He didn't do this for Allelujah or himself though as you know he would gladly like to seek retribution for the death of his comrades, he did it for his daughter as one last gift before he said goodbye to her. Celestial Being up one pilot, A-LAWS down another.

And while this episode carried with it a fairly upbeat tone, it also brings us quite a bit closer to what I think is going to be the main plot. We finally see what was up with Ali's attack on Azadistan and there's no doubt that the A-LAWS were unnofficially behind it. This is how they roll. If they can't get a country to join the Earth Federation then they will force it in, and if that means having a crazy guy perform go black ops on an entire region so that they can come in, restore order and install a friendly government then so be it. By the way, does this sound familiar to anyone. Subtle, but at the same time obvious to anybody who's been reading the newspapers in the past 5 years. The preview also seems to hint that this is a step forward in Aeolia's plan. Wait though, I thought Aeolia's plan was through world peace unless........world peace ends with an innovator in charge and the next step for humanity. Enter Regena Regetta and her bragging that she and Tieria have something in common and that also includes Ribbons. It looks like we are going to be heading into a Tieria focused series of episodes now and with it I sense we'll be getting some answers to questions about what is really going on and our entrance into the core plotline that will define the rest of the series.

One other thing I noticed as that Soma and Louise seem to have hit it off in the previous episode and she's the next most reluctant pilot in the A-LAWS group. The one that most certainly doesn't belong. The fact that Andrei had to step in and save her and that she just keeps making all of these made charges makes it hard for to see how she can continue to function as a member of an elite military group. If she only knew the truth about what was going on and could speak to Saji and Soma then it's easy to see her path to getting out of this mess and heading over to Celestial Being too. They're less of an enemy of the kind that would do what Nena did to her family then the A-LAWS are with their willingness to destroy an entire country just to see that it falls in line behind the Earth Federation.

As a side note, I wasn't a fan of the Tommy Heavenly6 insert song at all. Give me Taja any day. Can't say it really fit the scene.

In the end I think this episode deserves about an 8.5/10 rounded up to a 9 for the absolutely solid animation and choreagraphy throughout. If the shows been good so far it looks like it's about to really hit it's stride this season.

[C.A.]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

I also got a bit of a laugh (not sure how appropriate it was) out of the Meisters not realizing Allellujah was missing until the A-LAWS had left. Are they really that uncoordinated when Sumeragi is not in the picture?

Well, when I was in the army, we had exercises with battle simulating equipment. We normally don't know who is dead or missing until the fight is over where we count the remaining strength of the section. Unless someone died beside you, you probably would have full focus in your fight and have no idea about who's missing.

[Deathkillz]

If I have to summerise my feelings for this episode in two words they would be; "HELL" and "YEA!"

Skipping what has been said before I bet that there are some moaning about how random and wtf-bad it was for Soma to just "realise" her real personality, Marie, but I personally don't see that as a problem. Because I enjoy the series for the action-drama it is somewhat easier for me to overlook such details even if it is pretty major. I prefer to enjoy watching this series lightheartedly rather than criticise (which is sure to cause tiredness and annoyance). So in that light I give this episode a whopping awesome out of 10 for going "just as planned"

Marie and Allelujah makes the perfect couple ^^