This post has sat here waiting to be finished for a week, I feel genuinely bad. And I still need to write another... two.
Episode 22 - Dawn of The Final Day
Do you hear that? The volume slooowly being dialled up, summoning the spirits of ancient Gainax... where are we going? The top. How are we getting there? Hard work and
guts drills! Time to gattai into Moonbuster, combine your fighting spirit in
Coach's Kamina's memory, defy impossible odds and punch holes in space in time.
We're back in action mode again for a significant amount of time now, but the space battles (in both this and Episode 24) are very, very awesome and make me miss 2D mechs a bit. Modern 3D stuff can still look good, it's just not quite the same. And while Simon and Viral are smacking the Moon into shape, Rossiu rolls with the punches and sticks to his guns, for now...
Episode 23 - Just stay alive
In which Rossiu gets punched, rolls and drops his gun. Further intra-dimensional shenanigans,
Viral and Lordgenome's disembodied head both being elevated to full-time members of the crew and The Power Of Love
℗ aside, the real story here is obviously Rossiu's reckoning with himself.
What makes that all the harder to watch is that it's not the usual angsty miserablism that so often accompanies themes of suicide. Once again, he genuinely thinks it would be for the best if he just exits the scene quietly and is actually pretty calm and collected in his decision, as can often be the case. Been there, know that feel, Rossiu (though it probably would have helped if I'd at least had a Kinon, you git, you deserve that punch just for that). But Simon and his damnable will to live shows him it's still possible to get back up, carry on and find some degree of happiness while still being true to himself and even in what he sees as all his failures
at least until Elder Scrolls VI comes out and then I'll decide whether it's still worth carrying on for another decade or so. I still think it would have been a better joke if the holy book had been a telephone directory.
Episode 24 - Tomino's Revenge
Dayakka finds his inner Captain Bright and the rest of the crew find their inner Gundam characters too, by which I mean most of them perish in the vacuum of space leaving behind traumatised teenagers and an MC with a thirst for vengeance. At least Simon didn't say something along the lines of
"I won't forgive you, you're unforgivable!" (at least I don't think he did). If you didn't spend the whole of the credits on your feet saluting, you are not my aniki.
One two more things...
You're right to be suspicious Kittan, there is NO WAY they were that big back on Earth; wardrobe decisions alone cannot explain away an increase of at least two cup sizes and if that's an effect of space, how come it didn't happen to any of the other girls?