GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
That is the highlight of this episode, the battle between Ichika and Cecilia Alcott aka that English chick that is too proud of herself! This episode also adds more details regarding Houki and more info about the IS’s and why they are only a few of those.
The story behind the IS System is common if you think of it. I mean, we have a mysterious scientist creating a core of a machine in which after its creation. He or she suddenly disappears. My guess is that she will re-appear at the near end of the series and if he or she has a connection with any of the characters, he or she will try to give proper closure regarding their problems. In this case, we have Houki and her sister that turns out to be the creator of the cores of the IS System!
This episode also adds more to the relationship between the two childhood friends and like I said, the Gate Keepers vibe still continues to echo with these two! I mean, the guy is a quite a noob in terms of IS and the girl is quite knowledgeable about it. Add the fact that she will train Ichika with the IS! It seriously screams an early episode of Gate Keepers!
For the exoskeleton designs, I love every bit of it. Especially how they animate the scenes involving the equipment of the IS System on their bodies! Also, the animation of the suits on air is fantastic, especially when they pulled a scene in which they made they pulled something ala The Matrix!
As for the battles, it kinda reminded me of the Iron Man anime except that it doesn’t look clunky in midair. The transitions between CGI and traditional are fluid and what makes it fantastic is that Ichiki haven’t used his suit’s full potential yet until the near end of their fight!
With Ichika winning due to the power of his suit reached zero, we slowly see Cecilia’s softer side. I hope that they would abuse it to flesh out more of her personality.
Overall, the plot in the first part of the episode is pretty common and as for the fights, it looks good and I can’t wait to see more IS fights in the near future along with more Gate Keepers vibes on it! In the preview, we have a Chinese girl who becomes to close with Ichika and it kinda reminded me of Ukiya’s relationship with Fei!