The Azur Lane Alliance fights the Sakura Empire fleet within a mysterious dark world created by Akagi and her Siren collaborator.
Episode 07: “VERGE OF DEATH – For Determination, For Love”
Hmm.
Azur Lane says hello to action-filled plot and fan service this week and goodbye to fanservice and ACTION-filled PLOT. The yuri boats couldn’t nurse their wounds forever. I’m still waiting for Enterprise and Belfast to do some beach lounging in skimpy outfits or join the other boats in the spa. Maybe after this serious arc is over, we’ll get a nice reward. Along with the naval warfare action comes the refrain of “War never changes, no matter what era we are in.” That’s a good sign that all the threads between Belfast’s Elegant Enterprise Project, Project Orochi, and what the Siren Observer really wants are tying themselves closer together for the main story arc. The Ayanami Friendship Project is going on the back burner for now.
Unfortunately for the impatient among us, Azur Lane‘s fighting scenes don’t give us any more answers for why Enterprise is so important to the Sirens, but we do get clues. Glowing golden eyes after seeing visions of other-selves is a pretty big one of those clues. On the Red Axis side, Akagi had more scenes concerning her “reunion.” The observer had dangled this prize in front of her right before the Black Cube got stolen, so it’s not like this hidden yearning in Akagi is a surprise to the audience. I like that it might be a big secret to the rest of the Sakura Empire, like how Observer’s presence is a big secret.
Azur Lane is taking its time with this plot development, but it doesn’t feel like it’s because the writers are treating the main story with that much care. Those scenes feel short. There’s only so much screen time to juggle between scenes of fan service and fanservice, to develop the themes of friendship and self-identity animating the characters’ stories, and to progress the action-adventure plot that needs an air of mystery to make its sudden revelations thrilling. For the main story, we’re still not getting answers, just foreshadowing. I suspect that’s going to change in the next episode.
Heh.
Flash forward? This episode is going to be serious business. Azur Lane is back to the “War never changes” theme.
This is weird: the streaming sites translate 死線 (shisen) for the episode title as “deadline,” but that’s if you translate it as two words, “death” and “line.” It’s supposed to be the point between life and death, not the date for your term paper.
The Azur Lane fleet is moving to meet the Red Axis. I love watching Cleveland and her sisters interact. They’re so genki!
Hornet is reluctant to fight. She might have issues about her older sister Yorktown being injured and how that has affected her other older sister Enterprise. There’s some fan service with Houston bragging about her own cute little sister Indianapolis.
The Sakura Empire gets to have its own pre-battle scenes. Takao and Atago wonder why they’re moving without completing Project Orochi, and if it’s tied to the Black Cube. There’s a lot of questions about Akagi’s actions from many boats.
Ayanami’s group of friends are fun to watch too.
Kyaa~! Laffey is so bold! She’s holding Javelin’s hand in broad daylight! Enterprise is talking like a normal girl. She’s smiling with her eyes! Belfast still has concerns, though.
Some more boats show up for the Azur Lane game fans. Observer “set something up” for Akagi. A strange dimension? Another Black Cube that sucks in battleships? The Akagi sequence looks like when Enterprise first touched the Black Cube. Well, at least it’s not storming in there.
Did we just switch over to a pink version of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works? Akagi claims this place is “her sea.”
Okay, how are WW2 prop planes going to keep up with next-gen stealth jets?
Hood has a nice line: “Elegance isn’t just for show!” That’s a lot of British battleships. Yay! Eldridge! Another sleepy little girl like Laffey. Here’s a couple of more boats from the Azur Lane game.
Yuudachi is totally cracking her knuckles, spoiling for a fight. Even the Sakura Empire boats don’t know what Akagi has done with this special “sea” of hers.
Here we go! Let’s get it on! Enterprise arrives while riding on one of her planes. Kaga wants her revenge. Zuikaku wonders if all carriers ride their airplanes now. Hey, Kaga and Enterprise do it, so she better train harder.
Uh, this really is Azur Lane: Unlimited Boat Works… Enterprise got distracted by Belfast’s troubles with Akagi. That seems out of character for her. Is she starting to care too much for Belfast?
That was an interesting montage of old naval fights and images of Avrora and Mikasa. Were they memories of past lives from other boats named Enterprise? Akagi expects Enterprise’s “will” to inhabit the Black Box after her death, but those yellow eyes say different. Obviously, the Siren Observer had a plot within a plot regarding Akagi. Observer remarks that Enterprise is “you again.”
Enterprise’s yellow light is expelling everyone out of the Black Cube.
Eh? Akagi turns into a dragon? Shouldn’t she be another kind of fox demon like her sister Kaga?
Suddenly, Akagi is in a field of red flowers, presumably with her missing sister Amagi. Lycoris, the Spider Lily, means death and reincarnation in the language of flowers.
This is good. Enterprise, like many other Azur Lane Alliance boats, doesn’t want to kill other boat girls. Enterprise also realized she’s afraid of the ocean because there’s so much death underneath its surface.
Spooky! Amagi has no face! Akagi’s reunion didn’t go very well. Amagi’s ghost, spirit, whatever says, “It’s not over yet.”
