“Holy Shit!” -Han Juno

Summary: Picking up right where episode one left off, it is quickly revealled by Gazelle that the bracelet Ao’s so focused on keeping is actually a key to a IFO (Intelligent Flying Object) that is currently in possession of the Japanese forces that are off shore of the island. He asks Ao if he’s just going to stand there and watch their home be destroyed (yeah, the smugglers are actually also from Iwato Jima) and of course Ao’s like “OH Hell No!”, so he sets off together with the smugglers to “borrow” the IFO. They run into a bit of a problem when the Secret (which the people from the island refer to as a “G-Monster”) starts to attack the Japanese ship, forcing them to crash land on the boat. Ao miraculously makes it into the cockpit of the IFO, which syncs with his bracelet, tells him “Welcome Home Eureka”, and causes his hair to turn turquoise. Ao manages to pilot the IFO out of the water, and lo and behold, it’s the Nirvash! It’s a different color, and for some reason it’s now being called the Mark 1, but it’s the Nirvash all right. After managing to learn the controls, Ao proceeds to kick some Secret butt. The episode ends with Naru (who’s still alive!) finding Ao and reassuring him that it’s not his fault the monster appeared and thanking him for protecting her and their home. Ao ends up taking her to see the “Sea Giant”, which is what he calls the now safely hidden away Nirvash.

Elsewhere in the episode we also learn about Generation Bleu, which is an international rescue agency for hire (basically, they get called in when local nations can’t deal with scubs and secrets on their own.) There are different teams inside of Generation Bleu, one of which is Team Pied Piper, jointly lead by Ivica Tanović (who is my favorite grumpy bear man) and Rebecka Hallström with two IFO pilots, Elena Peoples and Fleur Blanc. Pied Piper also are dispatched to Iwato Jima but can’t interfere as they have not been specifically asked to help out. They seem amazed when they see the Mark 1, since apparently it hasn’t been operational in 10 years, ever since a certain turquoise-haired pilot left. It also appears that Eureka was on the island at some point and that something happened that made all the islanders extremely angry and distrustful of her (many of these feelings seemed to have spilled over onto Ao.) Naru’s family seems especially struck by this.

Impressions: LOTS of good stuff happening this episode. First and formost: NIRVASH!! I kinda like it in gray/lime green better than the original (don’t shoot me please.) It looks a little different that in the original E7 thought, as far as I can remember, besides just the color scheme. How great was Ao yelling at it “It’s not lost. Just pick it up!” when the Secret cut off the Nirvash’s arm? And then using that to bash it over the head? So. GOOD! The animation didn’t disappoint; all the IFO’s looked great flying around. I’m all over the design for the Secret, it looks like some kind of whacked out origami butterfly from hell (now with 50% more laser beams!)

One last shot of Ao as a brunette

Ao’s hair color change wasn’t that big of a surprise, since all the promo material showed him with Eureka’s hair color, but poor baby, now he’s got all kinds of military people after him for piloting the Mark 1 and his hair isn’t going to help him hid anywhere. I teared up a bit when the “Welcome Home Eureka” sign flashed in the Nirvash cockpit. Speaking of her, we get a some more little hints of what happened. This is what I’ve got so far: Eureka shows up –> She gives birth to Ao –> Something happens on the island (I think they say it was a scub burst), Naru is affected and gets sick –> Islanders get pissed at Eureka –> ??? (I seriously hope they didn’t burn her at the stake like a witch…) I’m hoping they fill us in more soon, because it’s sad not knowing what happened to her. JUST TELL ME SHE’S OKAY GOSH DARN IT. On a different note: I’m keeping track of how big Naru’s forehead is getting, as it seems to grow every episode (anyone else notice that? She’s probably a robot and there are tiny aliens up there controlling her.)

Now that is a really bad dye job

Final thoughts: Yay! We got a proper opening this week. It’s very catchy. If you’re like me, you’ll probably want to bust out an “ESCAaaAPE, kono kaze ni la la laaa la la I don’t know anymore of the words” every now and then. The music in general has been really good. I like a bit of epic strings in my soundtrack.