OP2: “LET’S JUST CRASH” by Mori Calliope
It comes a week late, but this amounts to the season break for Gachiakuta. #13 ended a mini-arc and ended on a cliffhanger, and 14 gives us a new OP and ED. That’s very much reflected in the tone of the episode, which does sort of play like a season premiere. It’s a measure of the scope of the story that we’re still very much in world-building mode. New characters are still joining the party, and in terms of the mythology, well… We’ve barely scratched the surface.
In the aftermath of the Amo encounter – unaware of what happened afterwards – the Cleaners head back to base as word of a “cloud” reaches them. That is to say, a storm of refuse from the Sphere which happens every time the Sphere moves. That word comes from August, who along with his sister Eliza run into the Cleaners at the office of the old doctor lady we met way back in the second (I think) episode. She has a name as it turns out – Alice Stilza – and was rather famous in her day as a pioneer in the field of body contamination. And as it turns out, August and Eliza are her grandkids.
As the gang are waiting out the rain of garbage, Semiu calls Enjin and warns him to take the back way as there’s currently an infestation going on. Rudo is understandably puzzled by this until Enjin explains that in fact these aren’t bugs but marauders. But nobody else seems too worried about it, and after seeing Semiu in action it’s easy to see why. These zaku are no match for her Foresight, and she makes it clear that they’re a hundred years too early to challenge her. And indeed, that they can never get into HQ without the permission of “the Hikikomori” which they most assuredly do not have.
It’s tradition for the team to get a meal together after a job, another instance of their casual attitude about most things baffling Rudo. I must say the food at HQ looked much better, but nobody seems to mind. Joining the party are Team Child, led by Bro Santa (Takagi Wataru). There’s also the pacifier kid we met earlier, Dear Santa – he’s still not talking, but Guita Hebby Fantasia (Naganawa Maria) more than makes up for that. She looks to be about Rudo’s age or a bit younger, and immediately glomps onto Rudo for a chat, which gives him a chance to show off his total discomfort with social interaction.
The elephant in the room is the growing interest in Rudo’s presence with the Cleaners. A live Sphereite remains a matter of great intrigue on the surface, and Enjin reckons it was the Raiders who baited the zaku into attacking in order to test their defenses. And – not coincidentally it seems certain – the two hooded figures dining in one of the booths are in fact the leader of the Raiders (Takeuchi Shunsuke) and Cthoni. She’s the manhole-portal Giver who was fighting alongside Jabber, and she uses her Shinki to whisk the Cleaners (Team Child too) – but not the Supporters – to parts unknown.
What Rudo has seem and the others have not is what the leader used to get his attention – a very familiar pair of boots. We don’t know where the Cleaners have been taken, or precisely why – a straight-up fight seems unlikely, as the Raiders don’t have a numerical advantage. But they have a very pissed-off Rudo on their hands, and as we’ve seen that almost always leads to interesting and unexpected developments…
ED2: “Ban (番)” by Karanoah
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