Sun Oct 12 2008, 06:03 PM
Episode 3: Oracle Knights Attack
Plot Summary:
Luke and Tear are chain-cuffed and on board the Tartarus, the floating ship, with Colonel Jade Curtiss accusing them of being the source of a Seventh Fonon hyper-resonance energy signature, initiated from the capital city of Kimlasca where it subsided within Mulkath territory near the Tataroo Valley (where the first random encounter occurs), and illegally crossing the Kimuelasca-Mulkath border. Jade learns of Luke's full name, Luke von Fabre — son of Duke Fabre, marrying into the Kimlascan royal family — and Tear's full name, Tear Grants, and her association with the Oracle Knights, they are freed as prisoners per Ion's request with Jade asking Luke a favor because of his social status.
Jade's orders, from Emperor Peony IX of Mulkuth himself, are to head to Kimlasca to prevent an outbreak of war — a peace mission — hence the reason of Fon Master Ion's being on the Tartarus as he has taken the role as ambassador to deliver a peace treaty from the Mulkuth Empire to Kimlasca. He reveals information about a faction, the Grand Maestro, within Kimlasca that opposes the Fon Master and its leader, Grand Maestro Mohs, are raising tensions for war. Tear objects when hearing of this, stating that Mohs would do anything to follow the Score to bring prosperity, not war. Luke accepts Jade's request, thinking he might as well since they are bringing back to home to Baticul, Kimlasca's capital city.
Suddenly, klaxon alarms sound off, and Jade contacts the bridge to find out a flock of griffins and ligers of unknown size are on an intercept course, and the Tartarus begins to fire its main batteries (canons). The griffins descend and drop off ligers, the creatures from the previous episode, who board the ship and begin their attack. As Luke begins to panic and tries to escape, only to be stopped by a man with a large crescent sword. The man is known as Largo the Black Lion, one of the six God-Generals of the Oracle Knights, who leads the boarding of the Tartarus sent to retrieve Fon Master Ion. We find out Jade's true identity as Jade the Necromancer, with a fearsome reputation known to loot corpses, and both begin to duel resulting with Jade stabbing Largo in the chest.
Meanwhile, during the duel, Anise runs to bring Ion to safety only to be surrounded by soldiers of the Oracle Knights. Ion entrusts Anise with the peace treaty letter, and Anise begins to strangle one of the soldiers, only to be thrown out of a port window, with her screaming she would get her revenge on them.
Jade and Tear head to regain control of the bridge, leaving Luke to stand guard outside its entrance. Another soldier of the Oracle Knights begins to attack Luke, he hesitates but draws his sword just as the soldier runs towards him and the soldier falls to the ground with Luke's bloody sword protruding out. Jade and Tear come outside and see Luke is shocked after killing the soldier. Suddenly, they are attacked once more but by a Fon spell that knocks Luke and Tear unconscious but Jade dodges the attack. Jade meets Legretta, a sharpshooter wielding two pistols, associated with the Oracle Knights, has captured Ion. Soldiers of the Oracle Knights are then ordered to confine Jade, Luke, and Tear to quarters.
Luke wakes up and recalls his memory of killing a soldier, and begins to argue with Jade and Tear stating he doesn't want to kill anymore. Tear agrees with Luke, but explains that during battle, even though life is precious, it's a matter of life or death without any hesitation about the opponent's life. Jade changes the subject and quickly puts together a plan to escape and save Ion from the Oracle Knights. While they discuss this, the Fon Master and Legretta are seen elsewhere with the former casting a spell on a door. They then escape their quarters Jade, being the commander of the Tartarus, initiates a lock down of the entire ship causing the Oracle Knights to loose power and any attempt to control the ship through the bridge. Jade planned this lock down far in advance, knowing there's only one escape route on the ship and the group head towards it.
Outside, Legretta orders the escape hatch opened and sees Luke, Jade, and Tear run out of the hatch. Luke holds Mieu and utilizes his fire-breathing to clear the pathway from the Oracle Knights soldiers, while Jade holds his weapon near Legretta's throat. Suddenly, the tables turn as Arietta, another associated with the Oracle Knights, leaps out of the hatch while riding a liger. This causes Jade to be distracted and his weapon his kicked aside and attacked by Legretta. Once again, the tables turn again when Guy, Luke's servant, comes out of the blue and begins to attack the Oracle Knights.
Jade then orders all the Oracle Knights to go inside the Tartarus and lock them in; then he with Luke, Ion, Tear, and now, Guy begin to retreat to a rendezvous point planned earlier — the one Anise supposedly has headed toward after being thrown out. Later, they take a short break from running, with concern for Master Ion's well-being. With this short reprieve, we learn that Guy had ventured out to find Luke and saved him and others just in the nick of time, and that he's very nervous with females — especially Tear. Just as they begin to head toward the direction of the rendezvous point, they are suddenly ambushed by the Oracle Knights. Jade, Guy, and Tear begin their defense against the Oracle Knights, with Luke hesitating as he decides whether or not to unsheathe his sword. As this happens, an Oracle Knight begins to attack Luke, and both Guy and Tear notice this and run toward him, resulting with Tear blocking and injured by the Knight's attack and Guy finishing off the Knight.
Episode Impressions
With the last episode introducing key party members, this episode introduces a key members of the Oracle Knights. With Guy joining in, that brings a total of six members in Luke's party in his adventure: Tear, Jade, Guy, Ion, Anise, and himself — seven if you count Mieu. I like the pace of the story so far, it's not as hasty like Toradora! or Zero no Tsukaima where each episode breezes through much of the material to finish events taking place in a series of chapters or an entire volume; oh, the advantages of airing two seasons (2x13 episodes) in one season. In the episode preview, it looks like Tear recovers from her injury and we're going to be introduced to a couple of new characters. Luke is also seen joining the fight, not against humans, but monsters. By the way, the OP and ED songs are starting to grow on me now, I'm beginning to like them.
Anise takes a sudden liking to Luke, when she finds out about his social standing, and it appears she wants to climb up the social ladder with a possible future marriage. Yup, another kawaii! statement by Tear regarding Mieu in this episode.
By the way, I initially though Master Ion was a female (it's the pigtails!), but Master Ion is actually a male. I found it odd when I heard him say "boku wa..." when referring to himself in the second episode, thus my confusion until I looked up the Wikipedia article. Boku is usually used by males to refer to themselves; atashi is the female equivalent. My previous post has been updated to reflect the correct gender of Fon Master Ion. Gomenasai!
Plot Summary:
Luke and Tear are chain-cuffed and on board the Tartarus, the floating ship, with Colonel Jade Curtiss accusing them of being the source of a Seventh Fonon hyper-resonance energy signature, initiated from the capital city of Kimlasca where it subsided within Mulkath territory near the Tataroo Valley (where the first random encounter occurs), and illegally crossing the Kimuelasca-Mulkath border. Jade learns of Luke's full name, Luke von Fabre — son of Duke Fabre, marrying into the Kimlascan royal family — and Tear's full name, Tear Grants, and her association with the Oracle Knights, they are freed as prisoners per Ion's request with Jade asking Luke a favor because of his social status.
Jade's orders, from Emperor Peony IX of Mulkuth himself, are to head to Kimlasca to prevent an outbreak of war — a peace mission — hence the reason of Fon Master Ion's being on the Tartarus as he has taken the role as ambassador to deliver a peace treaty from the Mulkuth Empire to Kimlasca. He reveals information about a faction, the Grand Maestro, within Kimlasca that opposes the Fon Master and its leader, Grand Maestro Mohs, are raising tensions for war. Tear objects when hearing of this, stating that Mohs would do anything to follow the Score to bring prosperity, not war. Luke accepts Jade's request, thinking he might as well since they are bringing back to home to Baticul, Kimlasca's capital city.
Suddenly, klaxon alarms sound off, and Jade contacts the bridge to find out a flock of griffins and ligers of unknown size are on an intercept course, and the Tartarus begins to fire its main batteries (canons). The griffins descend and drop off ligers, the creatures from the previous episode, who board the ship and begin their attack. As Luke begins to panic and tries to escape, only to be stopped by a man with a large crescent sword. The man is known as Largo the Black Lion, one of the six God-Generals of the Oracle Knights, who leads the boarding of the Tartarus sent to retrieve Fon Master Ion. We find out Jade's true identity as Jade the Necromancer, with a fearsome reputation known to loot corpses, and both begin to duel resulting with Jade stabbing Largo in the chest.
Meanwhile, during the duel, Anise runs to bring Ion to safety only to be surrounded by soldiers of the Oracle Knights. Ion entrusts Anise with the peace treaty letter, and Anise begins to strangle one of the soldiers, only to be thrown out of a port window, with her screaming she would get her revenge on them.
Jade and Tear head to regain control of the bridge, leaving Luke to stand guard outside its entrance. Another soldier of the Oracle Knights begins to attack Luke, he hesitates but draws his sword just as the soldier runs towards him and the soldier falls to the ground with Luke's bloody sword protruding out. Jade and Tear come outside and see Luke is shocked after killing the soldier. Suddenly, they are attacked once more but by a Fon spell that knocks Luke and Tear unconscious but Jade dodges the attack. Jade meets Legretta, a sharpshooter wielding two pistols, associated with the Oracle Knights, has captured Ion. Soldiers of the Oracle Knights are then ordered to confine Jade, Luke, and Tear to quarters.
Luke wakes up and recalls his memory of killing a soldier, and begins to argue with Jade and Tear stating he doesn't want to kill anymore. Tear agrees with Luke, but explains that during battle, even though life is precious, it's a matter of life or death without any hesitation about the opponent's life. Jade changes the subject and quickly puts together a plan to escape and save Ion from the Oracle Knights. While they discuss this, the Fon Master and Legretta are seen elsewhere with the former casting a spell on a door. They then escape their quarters Jade, being the commander of the Tartarus, initiates a lock down of the entire ship causing the Oracle Knights to loose power and any attempt to control the ship through the bridge. Jade planned this lock down far in advance, knowing there's only one escape route on the ship and the group head towards it.
Outside, Legretta orders the escape hatch opened and sees Luke, Jade, and Tear run out of the hatch. Luke holds Mieu and utilizes his fire-breathing to clear the pathway from the Oracle Knights soldiers, while Jade holds his weapon near Legretta's throat. Suddenly, the tables turn as Arietta, another associated with the Oracle Knights, leaps out of the hatch while riding a liger. This causes Jade to be distracted and his weapon his kicked aside and attacked by Legretta. Once again, the tables turn again when Guy, Luke's servant, comes out of the blue and begins to attack the Oracle Knights.
Jade then orders all the Oracle Knights to go inside the Tartarus and lock them in; then he with Luke, Ion, Tear, and now, Guy begin to retreat to a rendezvous point planned earlier — the one Anise supposedly has headed toward after being thrown out. Later, they take a short break from running, with concern for Master Ion's well-being. With this short reprieve, we learn that Guy had ventured out to find Luke and saved him and others just in the nick of time, and that he's very nervous with females — especially Tear. Just as they begin to head toward the direction of the rendezvous point, they are suddenly ambushed by the Oracle Knights. Jade, Guy, and Tear begin their defense against the Oracle Knights, with Luke hesitating as he decides whether or not to unsheathe his sword. As this happens, an Oracle Knight begins to attack Luke, and both Guy and Tear notice this and run toward him, resulting with Tear blocking and injured by the Knight's attack and Guy finishing off the Knight.
Episode Impressions
With the last episode introducing key party members, this episode introduces a key members of the Oracle Knights. With Guy joining in, that brings a total of six members in Luke's party in his adventure: Tear, Jade, Guy, Ion, Anise, and himself — seven if you count Mieu. I like the pace of the story so far, it's not as hasty like Toradora! or Zero no Tsukaima where each episode breezes through much of the material to finish events taking place in a series of chapters or an entire volume; oh, the advantages of airing two seasons (2x13 episodes) in one season. In the episode preview, it looks like Tear recovers from her injury and we're going to be introduced to a couple of new characters. Luke is also seen joining the fight, not against humans, but monsters. By the way, the OP and ED songs are starting to grow on me now, I'm beginning to like them.
Anise takes a sudden liking to Luke, when she finds out about his social standing, and it appears she wants to climb up the social ladder with a possible future marriage. Yup, another kawaii! statement by Tear regarding Mieu in this episode.
By the way, I initially though Master Ion was a female (it's the pigtails!), but Master Ion is actually a male. I found it odd when I heard him say "boku wa..." when referring to himself in the second episode, thus my confusion until I looked up the Wikipedia article. Boku is usually used by males to refer to themselves; atashi is the female equivalent. My previous post has been updated to reflect the correct gender of Fon Master Ion. Gomenasai!
SimsHsia
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"