Majestic Prince ep13: so that was a thing…

Ah! Summer season is gearing up! And what better way to start up than with something comfortable and reliable? I missed you Majestic Prince. Even if only for the span of a week. I missed your steadying, quality production. Now let’s get started. I’m anxious to see where the next three months of anime takes us.

We start things off with most everyone recovering from their not so day off. With Toshikazu, Kei and Tamaki all sharing stories about how tired they are from their day of obligation to one thing or another. Izuru is relatively quiet, probably just to be nice, and also maybe he doesn’t want to brag about the manga he’s been working on lately. But that short-lived conversation is ended abrubtly when Ataru sprints around the corner screaming about something arriving.  That something arriving is he new ace pilot and their AHSMB.

The new pilot, named Ange, arrives with a new decked out highly automated machine, the Black-5.  It’s so advanced that it doesn’t need a pit crew.  That’s actually a fact I’m kinda sad about.  Even though we have a ton of characters already with these quirky pit crews quintupling the cast, I still appreciate the presence of each and every member.

Ange also comes with a very limited, reserved personality as ….Ange (I can’t use pronouns because no one has determined the sex, yet) timidly introduces …Ange’s self

Hold on a moment!

(*thinks*)

F*ck it!  I’ll just stick with “THEIR” for the standard pronoun for now.

As Ange introduces their self to the crew, everyone is a bit taken aback by Ange’s highly subdued personality.  Aside from the disagreement over Ange’s sex (and whether Kei should be allowed to provide a cake), everyone has positive feelings and it’s agreed upon to give Ange a welcoming party.  Izuru is volunteered to go invite Ange, and he also wishes to take the opportunity to show the new member his manga.  Unfortunately, communication is wildly crossed as Ange believes that the team sending an invite for a mock battle.  I guess it makes sense that they’d want to see the machine and pilot’s full capabilities before going into combat, but these knuckleheads weren’t thinking that at all.  Regardless, command has no problem with such a thing since for the reasons I stated before, it makes sense.

Everyone is excited to see what the new Black-6 can do.  Though we do get to see that at least one member of the team is rooting for Izuru.  (Come on, is there any doubt that there’s a crush going on here?)  And before the battle even starts you can tell something is different in Ange.  And that shows as the battle becomes a quick a furious game of target practice for Ange as Izuru is left dodging the entire fight until he’s completely outmaneuvered and checkmated.  It’s pretty embarrassing, but that’s pretty much standard for the Fail Five isn’t it?

After the battle, Izuru decides to start things off properly and clearly this time and invite Ange to the welcoming party once Ange’s gotten a chance to check out his new manga.  Too bad for him that Ange is still in “battle mode” and completely berates his prized creation before attempting to tear it to ruin.  Fortunately, Kei is coming by, and won’t stand for anyone insulting her crush and gives Ange a stern slap to prevent the manga’s destruction.  This seems to bring back the timid Ange, who scurries off.  It appears Ange never did make it to the welcoming party…

Back in the bowels of their HQ, Commander Idiot is still in charge, and is detailing the recent destruction caused by the Wulgaru.  It looks like the next mission of Team Rabbits will be to protect a key supply base.  And it looks like Ange will be part of the team for this, too.

We see before the mission that the quick, super maneuverable Wulgaru forces are decimating the base, just as expected.  And they’re being lead by that arrogant kid on the council.  It looks like he’s been expecting Team Rabbits and sets an ambush for them.  As the battle begins, Kei’s AHSMB is immediately singled out and takes a hell of a beating.  It seems the team is being effectively split up, and neutralized in every aspect, but Ange’s Black-6 is ignored.  With Kei isolated, Izuru tells Ange to save Kei, but Ange doesn’t move, Ange just stews and remains frozen until suddenly, explosively the Black-6 enters battle!

Holy balls!  If that’s not a berserker then I don’t know what one is!  In a flurry of anger, verbal venom and viciously aggressive combat, the Black-6 is able to completely chase off the entire squadron and almost kills that brat in the process!  Unfortunately, Ange’s split personality and consistent habit of ignoring orders in combat has turned off the entire team.

End of episode.

Oh it feel so good to have this show back!  And I don’t mind this new element at all.  And don’t mind me if at times I accidentally call the Ange the Green Ranger.  It’s the closest equivalent I can gather to the situation now.  Either that or Tera from the Teen Titans cartoon.  I guess with the high emphasis on mental state for handling AHSMBs and their “fight or flight” tendencies, it makes perfect sense that such an unstable basketcase like Ange would be so shockingly effective in their unit.  It appears that the “flight” aspect of Ange’s personality disapears in combat, and all that’s left is a need for pure destruction.  In a larger battle, Ange’s wanton disregard for orders and support would get the Black-6 captured or destroyed.  It will be interesting to see if Ange can meld with this team at all.  And team that only recently has gathered any chemistry.

And speaking of the team, it seems that their combat ability continues to wildly fluctuate.  Tamaki is still such a mindless airhead sometimes that, even in a small battle like this, she can be completely taken out of the fight with only the slightest bit of mockery.  And the same for the rest of the team, because they also were completely neutralized by some grunt bogeys as well.  They still have a very long way to go it seems.  Bad as it sounds, Ange saved their asses, and Kei’s life this time around.  And I don’t think the last half of this series is going to take nearly as leisurely a pace as the first.

Still, this was a good episode.  We got a interesting, if confusing character, a new unit, and a possible glimpse of the future of this show.  A more intense future, I surmise.

Further Reading:

• Episode 12