Maybe I shouldn't have, given to what extent they went to not actually show the fighting against BETA (seriously, if I had obscene amounts of money I'd cut a check a check for a few millions to the animation project), but I absolutely loved this episode and was on the edge of my seat for pretty much the whole thing (I think it helped that I didn't watch Ep. 10 until earlier today, so I got to follow the whole thing back-to-back). The sheer drama of the Soviet's Evil Plan and the question of whether it would be thwarted or not kept things tense, and did the rapid cuts between different groups of people.
I have to say, the Soviets are continuing to resemble the "Evil Empire" of the Cold War--and what gets me is how far back this plan had to go, for them to set it up by not filling in the BETA assault tunnels.
(I wonder, though--how did the Soviets know that Yui would bring the Type 99 cannon along to this live-fire test; given how much second-guessing she was doing of herself over the decision she made it seem like it was much more of an "on a whim," "spur of the moment" choice. The other possible question mark--how did they know the BETA would show up on time?--was actually addressed in the previous ep. with all the talk about how certain BETA behaviors were only to be expected, so that seems to have been adequately handwaved by the script.)
Big props to Vincent for pitching in and doing his bit to not only protect the data but to also help flag down Argos Flight to go save Yui. Points off for him commenting about how Yuuya apparently acted like a Japanese person despite having no interaction with Japanese culture (see, there's that "aspects of Japanese cultural behavior are somehow inherent in their biology" thing again; you may insert your favorite snarky remark about the author appealing to a right-wing Japanese audience).
And then, just as Yui and Yamamoto are desperately trying to accomplish
something...BETA shows up. (Yui's new strategy: hide behind the railgun and let BETA nom their way through it to her!)
Speaking of handwaves, here's another one I like: part of the problem that Yui's having with physically destroying the Type 99 is based upon the resistance of the various parts to heat, which is itself necessary for the weapon to stand up to its own rate of fire. Nice that someone thought of it.
Anyway, while I really wish that we could have seen Yui in her Takemikazuchi again here, it looks like it's going to have to be Yuuya to the rescue. Looks like we're going to have a big finish to the arc to wrap up the first half of the show. Hope they saved enough budget to make it exciting!
Edit: First!
