Time for a bit of espionage.
What They Say:
Episode #10: “Fortress in the Sky”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The more that Chaika and her saboteurs travel, the more volatile their world appears. The group arrives in a mining town famous for it’s productivity only to discover it has fallen on hard times. The local lord has been taking the majority of the resources for his own personal use, which includes powering a massive flying fortress. To make matters worse, he has also kidnapped all of the young woman in the area for his own personal use, whatever that may be. Chaika’s arrival in town causes quite a stir in the now heavily male populace.
Toru realizes quickly that they’ll have to take to the sky if they want to reach their target. Of course that means striking another deal with Frederica, who is already annoyed that Toru won’t face her in battle. Doesn’t she realize her fun would be over if she killed him?
Upon finding no easy way to break into the fortress from the air, the only thing left to do is to sneak in with the next group of captives. That means Akari has to put herself in harms way to sneak inside and find out the best way to get the others in. However, she’s not alone. Vivi and Zita are also on board, with Viva a bit too eager to prove herself to Gillette.
Elsewhere, Gillette’s supervisor Chief Konrad is in a meeting with the other heads of state trying to figure out what to do about the Duke Gavarni who owns the floating fortress. The powers that be believe he is gathering forces to stage an attack, and Konrad urges patience in the matter. He’s not the most convincing man in the room, as we’ve seen in past negotiations, and the king decides to send forces to deal with the errant Duke. Gillette sends out a message for Vivi and Zita to escape, but up in the sky there’s no where to go.
Of course Toru’s group knows nothing about the incoming forces and continue with their plan to steal the remains on board. Akari shows them a way in and it’s saboteur time. The group makes good progress at first, but are quickly ambushed and Frederica is taken by surprise and is incapacitated. Toru and Chaika are separated from Akari, who is taken prisoner and taken up to the top floor. It’s then that we meet the masterminds in charge of the fortress, which include the Duke’s psychotic son and the wizard in charge of the mechanical minded legion of soldiers on board. It’s easy to guess what Akari’s fate will be in their hands, and I wasn’t surprised when they decide to use her to their own advantage.
Meanwhile Toru and Chaika meet a disguised girl, who is quickly revealed to be exactly who and what you’d expect on both counts. (Well, the second part of that reveal is given away after the end credits, but it’s extremely obvious.) She asks for their help and starts leading them to where she says the other captives are. She quickly separates Chaika from Toru, right when the enemy attacks once again. Chaika needs to stop being so trusting.
In Summary:
Chaika isn’t great at hiding it’s tells. It’s almost a constant stream of winks and nods to what were probably slightly more hidden plot points in it’s original written form. However, since all of the obvious reveals are instantly shown for what they are just moments later, it’s not big loss of suspense. I can’t help but feel the series is starting to repeat itself. We already have our second instance of mind control antics, even if the suspense is stronger this time. I bet by the end of this arc Gillette and Chaika’s group will be allies against the other Chaikas out there in the world. Right now everything feels so by the books I just wish the show would shake things up.
Episode Grade: B –
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.9.2, via Safari 7.0.4, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
I also hope to see some Chaika’s group and Gillette group team-up already if it happens.