Appare-Ranman! – 12 – Showdown at Stone Hill

Holed up in a ghost town chapel, Gil once again demonstrates how ridiculously EEEEEEvil he is by forcing two of his three hostages to shoot the other if they want to go free, then shooting the “winner” in the back anyway. That leaves Sofia as his only hostage, warning her he’s the only thing standing between her and his men making sport of her. Meanwhile, the cars are all repaired thanks to a sharing of resources and skills.

The race as it was has been postponed, and the rules have changed: the ten of them vow to go into Stone Hill, rescue Sofia and take Gil out come hell or high water, which means they’re all on the same team until that’s all been done. Kosame’s wound is still tender but he decides to join the others, but it won’t be easy: Gill has one hundred men in that ghost town.

Even so, there’s never any doubt that the numbers advantage would be irrelevant, especially with two of the Thousand Three as the vanguard. For some reason Gil has his hundred men scattered randomly throughout the town, or his numbers would have worked a little better for him. Instead, the Ten Braves split up into complementary pairs and fight smaller groups of Gil’s men. Chase is the first to reach the chapel after pretending to be shot dead.

Everyone else gets their chance to shine, although it’s clear Al Lyon is the worst of the fighters in both firepower and good judgment. He allows Gil’s one woman fighter to goad him into charging her and almost gets killed. Thankfully that leads to an absolutely badass martial arts contest between Xialian and Gil’s henchwoman, a bout that’s sharp, focused, and simply fantastic fun to watch.

Appare has to use his trump card (an electrified net gun) early and Kosame’s wound reoopens, but most of the henchmen are dealt with by the time Chase sends up a flare, indicating where the others should head. But when they hear gunshots, they fear the worst as Gil learns the ransom is fake. He ordered his men to “slaughter” the racers, and the fact they didn’t obey him makes him extremely cranky. Hopefully the climactic rematch will go a little better for the good guys!

Darling in the FranXX – 07

After last week’s epic battle, the 13th gets some well-deserved R&R on a real beach, which makes this a respite episode and a beach episode. It’s a good time to let us spend more time with the pilots as they interact in non-life-or-death situations for once.

The other big news is that 002 and Hiro are officially partners and Zero Two is now a member of the 13th. The higher-ups pulling the strings assign extra surveillance to her and seem to want Hiro to safely “deliver” her somewhere specific. Hiro also meets a fellow young man who’ll be the one doing the surveillance.

But for now, splashing and floating in the ocean are the order of the day, and the male gaze is in full force, with even a “goody-two-shoes” like Gorou thanking the powers that be for such a wonderful experience.

Hiro got to meet Dr. Franxx, who warns him not to let 002 “consume his emotions” if he wants to always be her partner. That is obviously a challenge, since Two is extremely flirty whenever around her Darling, even leaning in for what Hiro thinks is another kiss before she licks his cheek.

Zorome, Goro and Futoshi are in the dark about what all this “kissing” is about, and when Hiro grudgingly describes it and how it feels, Zorome is so eager to experience it for himself he tries to kiss Hiro. Mitsuru and Ikuno don’t participate in the other girls’ and boys’ fun, but Ikuno also makes it clear that doesn’t make them alike.

Then Mitsuru finds a path and leads everyone through it, and they find an abandoned ghost town not unlike the one they appear in during the typical end credits (we get a girls-in-swimsuits sequence this week).

It’s a place that’s gorgeous in its decay, where nature is taking over what was once civilization. Kokoro finds a book on child-rearing, something I’m sure is not done anywhere near the way we know about in our world, considering the ignorance of the parasites—or maybe it is, but since it has nothing to do with their duty to protect humanity, they were never taught about it.

002 tries to tease Ichigo about the fact that she’s kissed Hiro, but Ichigo mostly stands her ground without revealing she kissed him too. In any case, she’s far from ready to surrender Hiro to Two.

After enjoying a lovely sunset on an outcropping, the squad returns to the beach to find a sumptuous barbeque awaiting them. There, Ichigo and the others officially welcome Hiro to the 13th. They welcome 002 as well, but she runs off to swim some more, and seems miffed her Darling did not follow her.

That night, Ichigo gets some much-needed alone time with Hiro as they both wake up in the middle of the night and take a nice starlit stroll along the beach. Seeing Ichigo step into each of Hiro’s steps ahead of her was a really adorable move on her part, and she has a lot of nice closeups of just how much she’s enjoying being with Hiro and Hiro alone.

Ichigo eloquently expresses her feelings, from telling him not to give “all his attention” to 002 “look at her too”, to how much their kiss meant and her desire to be with him forever. She’s relieved Hiro still remembers the “Ichigo Star” in Orion he once pointed out to her.

Unfortunately, Hiro interrupts her, but it’s because a shower of shooting stars breaks out, further adding to the magic of the evening. Ichigo sees them as a good omen; the light they give off looking to her like rays of hope. Rather than repeat herself to Hiro, she playfully calls him baka for not listening when he had the chance. As exotic and alluring as 002 is, Ichigo shows no signs of relinquishing her Best Girl status.