Majestic Prince ep18 & 19: will you live to see your legacy?

As excited as I was for episode 18, I had no idea the turn the story was going to take going into 19.  The heights of victory are so easily slapped down and forgotten by the next day’s defeat.  Or maybe the more appropriate term would be loss.  Majestic Prince episodes 18 and 19 are two more steps towards this series being one of the more exciting, well-rounded and quality mecha series of the decade.

Episode 18

Well this isn’t a good way to start! After the failure to kill the Wulgaru ace at the very end of last episode, Team Rabbits is left kinda strung out and hanging. There’s no backup plan other than to hold on and try again. But the longer the battle goes on, the more worn out the pilots and machines become.

Kei is fine out in space with Ataru, but Ataru’s Gold-4 is busy slowly charging that ridiculous rifle. Toshikazu is holding up well and looks amazing taking down those grunts, but Tamaki’s Rose-3 has suffered indeterminate damage upon reentry and is flying erratically (what exactly is the difference?). So Izuru is left on an island with Klein, and as we’ve learned from his previous high intensity battles with Jiart, he’s prone to high intensity burn out. So with this kind of set up, is there any chance for them to win? Via strategy, not completely. But Kei’s quick mind in getting the support ships to help her recharge Ataru’s gun makes sure they’re not out of the game for lack of speed. And it seems that Izuru may have one last charge left in him!

A last ditch plan is composed to pin Klein down for the last shot. Izuru and Toshikazu double team Klein with everything they have, it’s just another amazingly choreographed and directed scene with the camera smoothly rotating around them as they duel with Klein, piercing him over and over again. Tamaki is told to ram Klein with the Rose-3 and eject at the last moment before Ataru fires. The plan is executed flawlessly, as the Rose-3’s attachments pound Klein even further into the ground and hold him while the rifle hits its target DEAD-ON! If this doesn’t work, they’ll have nothing left to fight with…

It takes time to confirm, but Klein is dead and there’s nothing left of his machine. The results are soon apparent in space, as th Wulgaru forces pull back upon news of Klein’s defeat. Though it seems Lumes already knows of a back up plan, or is it someone else’s plan he’s mentioning?

With the various retrogrades out of the way, it’s time for everyone to face the harsh reality of what this battle and its results meant.

For Team Rabbits, it means they’re all completely out of commision for the immediate future. Every suit suffered major damage in some way, and short of the core, Rose-3 doesn’t even exist anymore! The mechanics all have their work cut out for them. Though I probably feel worst of all for Rose-3’s mechanics. As for the pilots, well Rin was busy b*tching them out for coming so close to failure, though at the end she does admit that is was the best they could have done and rewards them. Well, she tries to reward them, Izuru is so tired he’s caught sleeping standing up.

As for the GDF as a whole, they are decimated to the bones. The calls for mass production of the AHSMBs are more apparent than ever. And even worse, fear has started seeping into the populace on Earth. Though the Wulgaru were defeated, this was their first attack on Earth, and they damn near succeeded. I’m sure that governments of the world are as worried about anarchy and a world wide panic as they are of the Wulgaru at this point. The last thing of concern is that Lumes is secretly attempting to contact Teoria. It looks like she’s gonna have to talk to her brother eventually. What does he have planned?

Back on the Wulgaru home world, it seems their leadership is content to wait and observe. It’s clear that they’d win if they’d attack now from the viewer’s perspective, but they place a high value on those genes it seems. Plus it seems that Lumes and Jiart are trying to keep a secret. That secret is the one about Teoria being on Earth, and once Rada over hears this, Jiart hunts him down using the excuse of treason to eliminate him.

End of episode.

Seems like humans aren’t so different from the Wulgaru despite what Jiart thinks or says. Humans do weed out the weak, they do wage war for personal gain. But odd concepts like freedom and personal rights haven’t been completely tainted by lust, greed and pride yet like they have for the Wulgaru. The show is again hammering home this key difference between the humans and their “parent race”. The “Wulgaru way” has weeded out the weak for a long time, and this may show in their damaged, narrow population. Humans are latching onto their very survival at this point, at its not fair to judge them from such an unfair and racist vantage point as the Wulgaru leadership is doing.

Moving on, the battle in this episode was amazing, tense and pretty much anything I could ask for in a mecha or anime battle. Majestic Prince is so much more than this, but the battles have made this show the premier mecha anime possibly of the decade for me! It’s also just one more building block showing how Team Rabbits has progressed so far in the show. And so far, this has been their most complete and perfect team battle to date. Sure, there are individual issues they must conquer, but as a team they are near peerless.

I’m anxious to see how several factors play out with so little of the show left. Is Jiart

Wait a sec! I still have another episode to watch!

Episode 19

This episode starts very awkwardly.  I was expecting some down time, but even with Team Doberman and Ange showing up, I wasn’t expecting it to take this sort of turn.  Since Randy shows up, it’s to be expected that he shows the guys from Team Rabbits his new porn, this time featuring an actress he says looks like Ange… like I said, awkward.  Ange happens to be in the room and is actually in “angry mode” when watching.  A conversation about “feeling alive” starts, that leads into an argument, that leads into talk about what pilots plan to do after the war is over.

DEATH FLAG!

That said, one of the members of Doberman, Rakesh, is engaged to be married when he gets done with service.  It’s rather touching, and I don’t care what anyone says, she’s a ravishing full-bodied woman that I’m sure he’ll enjoy.

Back at command, the tender and perilous situation of humanity is quite apparent.  Earth is no longer capable of defending itself.  That’s a fact.  Their only hope now is to go on a last offensive and take out one of two targets.  The interstellar gate that allowed the Wulgaru to travel to Earth’s solar system, or the Wulgaru themselves.  And they don’t even know where the gate is.  That said, they have a general idea, and they’re betting Team Doberman on it.  Using some makeshift spacecraft, Team Doberman will be strapped to it and sent to Saturn to find the gate.  It’s a “black” mission.  One of the utmost secrecy and importance, and one they cannot be found performing.  The reason is obvious, if the Wulgaru catch wind of their objective at all, they’ll surely do everything they can to protect it.  And heightened security will not be their friend.

And with a few words to their comrades in Team Rabbits, and each of them then strapped to three separate rockets (GEEZUS this mission sounds insane), Operation “Eagle Landed” is underway!

“GOOD LUCK.”

………..

I hate obvious endings, but I love it when they still manage to illicit an emotional response from me.  This was a good episode with a great, though sad ending.  With this, the end game is set.  I’m sure the GDF and MJP will aim for the gate, the easier of the two targets.  The MJP will have to rely on Black-6 to pick up Team Doberman’s slack.  And hopefully they’ll be able to manufacture and push out the Rhinos before they enter the battle or there won’t be much point to the mission.  And as set up begins, this leaves us with important questions for what is likely the final stretch for this amazing series.

For the Wulgaru, is Jiart trying to protect his sister?  Also, is he thinking of possibly overtaking his older brother, the King?  I also get the feeling that the King knows more than he’s letting on, I can’t imagine such a powerful presence could allow himself to be so ignorant, even amongst this den of snakes.

For Earth, this is feeling very Gundam SEED-ish.  Or maybe I should say that it’s very reminiscent of a Gundam set up.  All these new units/technology being thrown into the final battle.  The inner politics going on beneath the surface threaten to undermine what little strength they have.  If this show has lacked anything, it’s been strong leadership, with Amane, Rin and Commander Metalface standing out as the only strong military leaders I’ve seen.  It’s no wonder that strong leaders who possibly don’t have long to live like Izuru and Toshikazu were offered positions as trainers.

And leads me to what I believe is a hidden fact, the pilots of Majestic Prince, especially Izuru are breaking down, genetically.  I don’t like the look on the doctor’s face during their examinations, especially for Izuru.  I’m guessing that the use of the Wulgaru’s technology and possibly their genes has left him with a similar affliction to what their race suffers from.  Like the cloned soldiers the Wulgaru use to boost their forces, Izuru may eventually just fail.  He may stop functioning like a piece of equipment well past its expiration date.  And for me, that may be the saddest conclusion of all.  It hasn’t been hinted at nearly as much doing these last 3 or 4 episode because of all the drama and action, but after all these kids have had some morally reprehensible things done to them.  And they may not live to see their legacy play out.  After all, we just saw how that’s not true for other characters in this show.

Further Reading:

• Episode 17