(L) Soukou no Strain (Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry)

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Guido

Patience. Just another four more days to get the OST.

? The OST came out back on Wednesday.

[Guido]

It seems that ANN has uploaded the titles for the last three episodes, but I will suggest caution since many times ANN has become a not so trusty source of information.

Spoiler:

11. The Beginning of Revelry

12. Libertad's Offense and Defense

13. Last Wish

Onto the last confrontation. The last episode says it all.

[c^2]

Originally Posted by Guido

Patience. Just another four more days to get the OST.

Does that mean that it is in the mail?

Would it also include the song that replaced the current ED song, Umi no Opal, only on episode 9?

What was the name of that song?

The song is 「アウローラ～ひとすじの曙光～」by Yoko, and it is the last track on the OST (HMCH-2007). It also includes the TV version of the OP/ED songs, so I couldn't be happier. (didn't like the single version of Message too much.) Go here for the full track listing; for some reason, many places truncate it.

The CD can be found at amazon.co.jp for ￥4050, with an extra ￥1100 for express shipping if you are impatient. (That includes shipping to North America, other places vary a bit...)

[Sonhex]

Screenshots from ep 11, major spoilers of-course...

Spoiler for ep11:

- We learn how Ralph got his scar
- Medlock surrenders or is captured by the Libertad
- The end battle begins with the Reasoners vs Ralph

[Guido]

Spoiler:

Medlock turning the tables on Ralph isn't quite surprising. She was virtually his doll (no pun intended) hostage, and it was a matter of time before Ralph make her mincemeat.

What it surprises me is that she got the guts to pull out her escape all the way to the end, taking advantage of Ralph's diseased condition. Because even with a diseased body, Ralph's still a hell of a shooter before anyone else can twitch a muscle.

It also startled me that Medlock took Emily all the way along with her, until their escape shuttle was retrieved by the Libertad. She could just had used her as a hostage until reaching the hangar, then leave her (Emily) and take her (Medlock) escape.

[Seska]

Originally Posted by Guido

Spoiler:

It also startled me that Medlock took Emily all the way along with her, until their escape shuttle was retrieved by the Libertad. She could just had used her as a hostage until reaching the hangar, then leave her (Emily) and take her (Medlock) escape.

Spoiler:

Ralph surely nows how to fire the Shipweapons.... Well Emily is somekind of livesaver/hostage, if you see this in this way...

and we see in the Screencaps, that the other Emilys are not 100% Clones. Well, they share the same mind. Look alike. But, the symbols on her bodys are diffrent. This is the proof, that they are not 100% Clones. I bet, that the Symbol on the real emily we know is the key, they are looking for. Yes, the speacial Gate .

[Shinji103]

Spoiler:

Hmm, looks like we'll have episode 12 to have the final fight (maybe stretching into episode 13), and have at least half of episode 13 to have a "whay happened to everybody" (or rather, what happens to who's left ) segment.

I can't see this final fight lasting more than an episode with just the Libertad Strains vs. Ralph and his Tumors. And I definitely don't see huge Union and Deague forces poping up out of nowhere to support they're respective allies, unless something new or unexpected is thrown in the mix.

I don't think we should expect to big a death count on the good guy side, since it's just Ralph on the bad guy side and a bunch of Tumors. Although they come en masse, so they could end up taking some of the good guys with them. But as it stands, it's highly unlikely that we'll have a full cast kill-off or anything.

Of course, this may not be an actual final encounter possibly. It could be like Black Lagoon and Mahoromatic, where they have this half of the series, then later they make the second half.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Yes, ep11. More Soukou goodness.

Spoiler for ep11:

I really couldn't understand a lot of the dialogue, unfortunately, but it seems to me that the escape pod might not have range enough to get to a Deague base. The scene of Ralph actually feeling what the Emilies felt when one of them was dissected was excruciating. Lottie calling for Sara to join the sortie was thrilling, even if it was a bit hard to fathom.

Next episode: next Wednesday, February 7, at midnight. Confirmed on one of the official sites.

[Seska]

Dont forgett, the Libertad found NO Ally Base in the System. Where they should be, reason are unknow to us. Perhaps this will be a hint for the future? (No this is not a Spoiler... See last scene in Episode 10). Its to perfect to be a Battlefield only for them...

Spoiler:

Btw, GIRL POWER FTW!!!!! (The Strains are now only females pilots)

Mfg,
Seska

[ccardoso]

Originally Posted by Seska

Dont forgett, the Libertad found NO Ally Base in the System. Where they should be, reason are unknow to us. Perhaps this will be a hint for the future? (No this is not a Spoiler... See last scene in Episode 10). Its to perfect to be a Battlefield only for them...

Mfg,
Seska

I have a feeling that a supposedly friend fleet is coming to welcome the Libertad...

[Shinji103]

Yay, Strain discussion is back! And we've got people pouncing on the raw release too, lol.

But still waiting on the OST torrent, grrrr.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Spoiler:

Hmm, looks like we'll have episode 12 to have the final fight (maybe stretching into episode 13), and have at least half of episode 13 to have a "whay happened to everybody" (or rather, what happens to who's left ) segment.

I can't see this final fight lasting more than an episode with just the Libertad Strains vs. Ralph and his Tumors. And I definitely don't see huge Union and Deague forces poping up out of nowhere to support they're respective allies, unless something new or unexpected is thrown in the mix.

I don't think we should expect to big a death count on the good guy side, since it's just Ralph on the bad guy side and a bunch of Tumors. Although they come en masse, so they could end up taking some of the good guys with them. But as it stands, it's highly unlikely that we'll have a full cast kill-off or anything.

Of course, this may not be an actual final encounter possibly. It could be like Black Lagoon and Mahoromatic, where they have this half of the series, then later they make the second half.

Spoiler:

No massive kill-off from th Good Guys side?

Are you kidding?, do you know that their enemy is Ralph?

Ralph alone can and is able to decimate an entire fleet on his own and not to mention toast any other Reasoners piloting STRAINs, that is not Sara in her STRAIN.

He still has his Gloire-type STRAIN to put a hell of a fight in spite of his deteriorated body.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Guido

Spoiler:

No massive kill-off from th Good Guys side?

Are you kidding?, do you know that their enemy is Ralph?

Ralph alone can and is able to decimate an entire fleet on his own and not to mention toast any other Reasoners piloting STRAINs, that is not Sara in her STRAIN.

He still has his Gloire-type STRAIN to put a hell of a fight in spite of his deteriorated body.

Spoiler:

The good guys have Sara. Who, as has been shown, is more than capable enough to take on Ralph alone, and her Strain is more than capable of standing up against the Gloire-Type. In fact, the only reason Ralph is still around is because Sara didn't deliver the killing blow when she knew she could have and pulled back. But now Sara has made up her mind to kill Ralph, so that won't happen again.

Thus, Ralph is taken up by Sara and doesn't have the chance to attack anybody else. Unless Sara can't get to him fast enough, but he got to him almost immediately after launching back in episode 4, so there's no reason to think she won't be able to next episode.

[Deathkillz]

ep11 ~ oh boy ~

Spoiler:

pretty much what everyone else had already said ~ ralph's past is revealed completely...i guess the alien that blew up in his face merged her memories with him which gave his mind a bit of a knock into the "insane" catagory ~ also it seems that the aliens has the ability to teleport ~

we see the group of captives escaping the union ship through a portal and they start to get their revenge...not knowing anything ralph attacks them thinking its the new "strains" from deague...but when he finds out the truth, disgusted he turns into a traitor for the sake of a greater good in his mind ~

and the plot heats to boiling...
sara + reasoners + gambitches VS ralph + a few billion TUMOR

[Guppy]

Spoiler for ep. 11:

Ahh, they pulled that one off nicely. I've seen it so many times in games, movies, TV and anime and I know it's a cliche, but the massive launch scramble as both sides throw everything into the last do-or-die battle always gets my heart rate up.

I thought Lottie's little monologue to the bridge about how they need Sara out there was a bit unnecessary, though. With or without launch clearance, it should have been patently obvious that the only way anyone was going to keep Sara and RAM-DASS out of this fight was to put a gun to her head - and probably not even then.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Spoiler:

Hmm, looks like we'll have episode 12 to have the final fight (maybe stretching into episode 13), and have at least half of episode 13 to have a "whay happened to everybody" (or rather, what happens to who's left ) segment.

I can't see this final fight lasting more than an episode with just the Libertad Strains vs. Ralph and his Tumors. And I definitely don't see huge Union and Deague forces poping up out of nowhere to support they're respective allies, unless something new or unexpected is thrown in the mix.

I don't think we should expect to big a death count on the good guy side, since it's just Ralph on the bad guy side and a bunch of Tumors. Although they come en masse, so they could end up taking some of the good guys with them. But as it stands, it's highly unlikely that we'll have a full cast kill-off or anything.

Of course, this may not be an actual final encounter possibly. It could be like Black Lagoon and Mahoromatic, where they have this half of the series, then later they make the second half.

I have to hold on an in-depth review for this episode, until the sub is released.

Like Kaoru Chujo posted, this episode was almost full conversation. Strangely, I liked be left on suspense to what they were saying.

I praise the staff for their right choices of music tracks. At times were inspiring and at others announced the gravity of suspense to advent the start of the final showdown.

The episode confirmed again the origin of the Emily and gave away such other tidbits like how Ralph got his scar.

Spoiler:

Basically, Ralph and Sara's stories have been fully told and are intertwining to return back to the beginning; their last confrontation.

I think the only detail left is both Emily's current account of their meeting with them.

In addition, I have not been this excited for a sci-fi story to make preparations for a final clash between space ships since a long time.

Spoiler:

The mood and timing reminds me to Vandread Second Stage when in the eleventh episode the Pirates were joined by the combined forces of Tarak, Mejele, the race of telepaths that Hibiki encountered, the people of the planet who were tarjeted for their skins, and the Rabat fleet to oppos the massive fleet of the Earth's Harvesters.

It was nice to see the Reasoners and Gambee pilots setting aside their differences to fight Ralph's threat, and a nice touch that the late Isabella's group of henchgirls mended their scars to keep focused in the coming battle.

It was good also to see that after the exchange they had about their brothers, Sara and Lottie's friendship rekindled and grew-up. Lottie sees now Sara as a comrade in arms, who she can entrust her life to.
As well it was inspiring to watch Lottie saying to her subordinate Reasoners that Sara's their most precious comrade of them all, regardless if she (Sara) is Ralph's sister. She acted a true leader would to dispel any resentments among the ranks to foster trust so as the other Reasoners and Gambee pilots would come to accept Sara as their fighting comrade, forgetting their previous prejudices on her.

What I could understand from what Sara said for the preview is that she no longer sees the current Ralph as the brother of her childhood.

Spoiler:

Now her face says it all. She's going all the way to the end to stop Ralph and has no regrets with killing him if that takes to stop the endless wave of killings.

Do you know what ending I'm rooting for?

Spoiler:

For Sara to deliver both Emily to their homeworld and staying by their side there.

Because if I understood somewhat this episode, then both Emily are the only remaining survivors left.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Seska

Dont forgett, the Libertad found NO Ally Base in the System. Where they should be, reason are unknow to us. Perhaps this will be a hint for the future?

Spoiler for they explain at the beginning of ep. 11...:

Apparently Union found out that Deague was planning an invasion with millions of ships. The Union fleet left to ambush them.

[c^2]

Spoiler for episode 11:

In this episode Emily refers to Ralph as onii-chan, which I find interesting. Is this a result of the deep connection that she and Sara shared in the previous episode? It seems as if their consciousness were merging or something.

Then again, has Emily said a single word to Ralph? Perhaps it is nothing.

Spoiler for episode 12 preview:

STEP 12「リベルタッドの攻防」

リベルタットに迫るクンルーンを迎撃すべく、奮闘するセーラとロッティ達空間機甲科のメンバー。しかし、圧 倒的なトゥモールの前にクンルーンの衝突を許してしまう。そして現れるラルフのグロワールストレイン。「今 日でケリをつけてこい！」ロッティの言葉により、セーラはラルフを追って艦内へ突入する。その頃、リベルタ ットのブリッジではクンルーンが自爆する事が判明し、自爆装置を直接解除する為にメルチとデュファルジュは メドロックを道案内にクンルーンに向かう事になったが…。

[Guido]

For episode 11: How come Medlock never got a cold, forced by Ralph to wear only a towel?

Spoiler:

Even it was a freaking long way for the escape shuttle to reach the Libertad, and I must assume that the Deague ships must be pretty cold on the inside for the staff not bothering the dark at all in order to save expensive costs.

[Seska]

Spoiler:

She hit the Selfdestruct button, to get the Escape Pod systems Online. Remember, Ralph destroys all her IDs. For the Shipsystems she is no there. She only succeded in escape cause of Emelys ID. And if someone has a Gun on you back, did you sense the cold? No you have other things in your mind, than get a Cold. And if she catch some "cold air" then its the Vaccum of the space . Every Lifesupports have a heater onboard....

And i agree, here Emely shouts "Niiiii-chan"... She didnt it bevor. Only after Sara dive with her MIMICs brain. The two minds and memorys mixed togehter. And we know the Emelys shared the same mind. Ergo, what the MIMIC knows, Emely knows it too. If someone display the MIMIC Colors that its eyes catch up, Emelys mind see them, too. I think some kind of this transfer basis was in the mind of the Scienties while research the "Instantt" Communications.....

And, did i see it right? Some Emelys in the Tubs with her brains wired. Has opend the Gate, and the others that were out of this, was then the Strain pilots?. Okay, but how the heck was they Ship fixed? Pass back in time? But then, why they dont used it to fix her Ship bevor Crashland on the Astroid? Perhaps they where seeking/hoping for Help? ... and as a sideeffekt of the activation of the Gates, their bodys dissapers?...

Mfg,
Seska