What is happening this week? First, Gundam Reconguista had a good episode, now Psycho-Pass has its best episode of the entire season? With an unexpected surprise song from the first season, and a well-written episode, this felt like the Psycho-Pass of old; the Psycho-Pass I first fell in love with.
Psycho-Pass Episode 10
Picking up right where Kamui left off last episode, aboard a passenger train, he derails several trains for a sinister plot: to overload the Sybil system. With Dominators in hand, Kamui and crew start doling out “justice” to the innocents. Chief Togane orders the annihilation of Kamui, even at the cost of those aforementioned innocents’ lives. They’re quickly painting the Chief more and more of a villain ever since the reveal a few episode back, and it’s rather lazy development.
Speaking of the poorly handled Chief, her conversation with Akane as the Inspector headed to stop Kamui was terrific. Particularly towards Akane and her management and controlling demeanor of the discussion. But my absolute favorite moment was in the background; the music playing during the conversation. I kept thinking back “I’ve heard this somewhere before, but where?” Then it hit me: it was from the first season, a song entitled: “Sono Juukou wa, Seigi o Shihai suru” that is as incredible now as it was then. The build, the placement, and the very next scene leading to the climax; it all worked wonderfully and had me entranced the entire episode. Psycho-Pass has only had a handful of quality episode this season, and this ranks up there with easily my favorite. With only one episode left before the new cour starts and Psycho-Pass likely gets dropped by me, I eagerly await to see how the shot from this week’s cliffhanger affects the story, but I doubt I’ll proceed any further than that afterwards.
Terra Formars Episode 12
Terra Formars sets up its finale in the only way it knows it how: with destruction and utter downtrodden means. The Annex crews are learning more and more about the Terra Formars, along with getting completely decimated, so much, that I honestly have no idea what to expect come next episode.
This episode was certainly more of the pace I am more accustomed to and enjoy about this show; no pointless backstory, no drawn-out sub-plots, simply action and moving the plot forward. That’s certainly not to say that the plot is still anything more than good, but it’s at least enough to keep one entertained enough to get through an episode. Unfortunately, the bulk of the story felt rushed and packed in to the last half, and probably could have been told better were previous episode of Adolf and Keiji not have been has robust about those character’s lives as they were.
As the credits grew closer, still more humans were dying as secrets were revealed and the odds were evened up once again. As the final episode’s title (“Terra For Mars”) teases us with a conclusion that will either mean everything’s wrapped up in a pretty pro-Earthling bow, or they will provide a second season to tell the whole story. I’m honestly hoping the former is the case, but the humans aren’t victorious; they’ve been lucky to even make it this far, and how often do you actually see the “bad guys” win? I mean, to be fair, the Terra Formars are simply defending their planet their home. A planet we, the humans, sent them too to ready for us because we destroyed one planet already. Sure, they attacked us on the first expedition, but we were invaders, we were foreign entities that occupied and planned to reclaim their land they helped make inhabitable. It’s hard for me not to see this through their eyes, or at least try and understand why they’re retaliating. Either I’m overthinking everything in Terra Formars, or this plot is just as silly now as it was when it started. And luckily it’s coming to a close soon, and I can leave the world behind, only to look for more and better shows in the new season on the horizon!
Gundam Reconguista in G Episode 12
It looks like the whole gang is here, and the cast of characters is about to get a bit larger, just in time for the finale. This was an actually compelling episode that, while featuring more of that seemingly unnecessary fighting, led to a great cliffhanger that will welcome me back for the last episode of the cour.
Bellri and crew of the Megafauna head closer and closer to the moon, but are preempted by the Capital Army once again, as Captain Mask and his fleet aim to take back the Capital tower. Usually I’m critical of the actions of most of Gundam Reconguista’s characters, but the direness most of them presented, especially Captain Mask, was very fun to watch. Mask was destined not to lose again, and despite having to suck up his pride and eventually flee, put up a valiant effort. He’s not a “bad” guy, he’s not a villain, so he’s commendable in his various efforts to stop the Amerian Army. It’s just such a shame this character growth is coming so late.
The setup for the finale gave us a quick glimpse at the third group that will get tied up in this space drama: the “group behind the moon”. Okay, you come up with something better dammit! The unknown army is ready for battle, and has already fired the first shot. With the Amerian Army holding the Capital’s Pope atop the Capital Tower, will that even be a tactic worth holding onto now? If they Moon people already know that though, and didn’t outright attack the tower from the get-go, perhaps they’re willing to hear any requests, or have an amicable talk. Or maybe they need the Tower, but not the people inside of it. I haven’t been this excited for a Gundam Reconguista episode since the premiere episode! It’s nice to be giddy about this series again.