The Azur Lane and Red Axis ships rest and recover after their battle over the Black Mental Cube.
Episode 06: “SHACKLES – Tying Bonds, Binding Hearts”
Hmm.
Azur Lane had a little bit of plot development and some character development that was PLOT development. For the main story arc, the Azur Lane alliance successfully retrieved the Black Mental Cube. Plus, they got Akashi the stray cat repair ship during the operation. Akashi appears to have grave concerns about allying with a Siren to defeat Azur Lane first and then defeat the Sirens. That’s a good kitty! The stray bits of info we got during the poorly animated debriefing are very interesting. Akashi confirmed that the Orochi Siren ship controls the generic Siren ships we’ve seen the Red Axis using. From what we saw the last episode and in this one, Akagi is driving force behind the connection to the Siren, but we don’t have the Siren’s motivation to stick to the deal beside the vague and disturbing intention to “build an ark.”
Adding to that disturbing imagery is what happened to Enterprise when she touched the Black Mental Cube. Recall that Edinburgh only poked it with a short skewer last week, so who knows what would have happened then. I’m not a dedicated player of the Azur Lane game, so I don’t know if what Enterprise saw was a vision of her past self, her future self, or an evil doppelganger that the Sirens hope to construct. For an anime adaptation, it would make more sense for them that fiery image to be a dark double, because that would tie in with remarks by Akagi that letting the Azur Lane Alliance have the Black Mental Cube also fits in with her plans.
As for the character development arcs, the Ayanami friendship quest saw a disappointing but not unexpected backslide when she slapped away Laffey’s extended hand of friendship. Ayanami’s heart isn’t ready to have a friend across enemy lines; Javelin’s epiphany last week was that she was ready. What was great about this episode is that Javelin and Laffey brought in the last short girl into their Ayanami Friendship project: Unicorn!
Before we get to how Unicorn was an obvious choice to include in this friendship conspiracy, we need to talk about her own PLOT development. Literally, her chest is growing. She’s self-conscious that a short girl like her is top heavy compared to someone like Hammann. Let’s not include all the stacked shortcakes of the Azur Lane roster in this discussion because maybe Unicorn hasn’t met them yet. Unicorn is a growing girl in need of an underwire! If that isn’t a human experience outside the purview of a techno-magical ship fighting sea monsters, I don’t know what is.
So, after discovering how important Unicorn’s breasts are to the story of Azur Lane, we can talk about how she was always meant to be part of Laffey and Javelin’s little cabal to make friends with the enemy. It was U-chan, Unicorn’s little mascot, who decided that Ayanami was a nice girl boat, otherwise, she wouldn’t have let Ayanami pick her up. Would an enemy do that? No. For Unicorn, end of discussion. Javelin was always the slow one, so it’s all decided. Let’s make Ayanami our friend!
Lastly, I have to mention how inconsistent the animation quality was for this fan service episode. Perhaps Azur Lane should have taken a break like Kandagawa Jet Girls did. Even worse, an episode that had so much fun stuff for fans of the game was almost ruined by fanservice censorship. There’s a bathhouse scene, so we should expect some kind of broadcast modification, however, there were strange choices in the steam censorship. I’m almost positive there is no actual nudity in this show (there’s one scene that is pure Blu-ray Purchase Bait), but the censorship makes people think there’s something even naughtier going on. The most egregious scene was when the Cleveland sisters asked Sheffield about the fancy lingerie the Royal Navy girls wear. It distracted from the very important topic of what Sheffield wears under her skirt!
Heh.
Does not Enterprise have pajamas? Girls are talking about underwear at breakfast… Northampton has some sporty sisters.
Azur Lane Academy is in session. What are these girls learning, anyway? Cleveland has some cute younger sisters too.
Akashi is just telling them everything about Orochi and the mass-produced Siren ships.
Who is the ship Enterprise sees inside the Cube? It’s nothing, Enterprise! Just say what you saw!
Kaga tries to be so reserved about how much she loves Akagi. Wow, these little Mutsuki destroyer girls are a whole pack of cuteness running around. “Please don’t eat us!” Does Kaga really have such a bad reputation?
Akashi got her shop together quickly. There’s a flower shop too. It’s like a human town, says Enterprise. Because they are, says Belfast. Enterprise just needs “elegance” in her heart, of course. Maid Enterprise? Yes, please!
Pool cleaning scene? No. Deck swabbing! Ha! Hahaha! Laffey has to tell Javelin to get back to work!
Bathhouse scene with extra steam and rays of light! Buy those Azur Lane Blu-rays! Confirmed, Sheffield goes commando! No wonder Akagi got bothered by her kick. Please click on those pictures so you can see how much work I did in finding out the names of the ship girls.
Ooh! Character development. I mean, Unicorn is DEVELOPING! Finally, San Diego will get into another monster eating crisis. Ha! It’s Eldridge in there, still leaking electricity.
Queen Elizabeth is rightly proud of her thermae bathhouse. Warspite agrees. I just noticed that Ark Royal is getting a nosebleed looking at the cute little destroyer girls…
Aw. Unicorn is going through changes. She thinks being short and stacked is a problem. So, only tall girls like Illustrious should have humongous knockers? WRONG, Unicorn-chan! Laffey is the best! “You have a great body. You’re awesome.”
This freaking steam when Illustrious and Wales come walking in! Um, buy those Azur Lane Blu-rays!
Finally. And aww. Javelin and Laffey have brought in Unicorn on their Ayanami Friendship project.
If Belfast wasn’t a maid attending Enterprise, she’d totally be stalking her. Jameson Irish Whiskey. Good Irish boat, that Belfast. Enterprise deems Belfast a naughty, naughty grown-up. Good. They should get naughty together.
And we’re back to the Sakura Empire. Oho. Prinz Eugen wants to flirt with Kaga. She also suspects she and Akagi schemed for Azur Lane to have the Black Mental Cube.
Such a sad dynamic when one person loves another who’s pining for someone else. The question now is: where is the Amagi carrier?
