Verdict: 9.5/10
Overall series review: 85/100

Final Impressions:

Well now, that was quite the ending. I can’t say I’m disappointed in how the series concluded. Though, I almost expected a massive war of sorts between the Union and Deague since it was brought up quite a few times in the last few episodes. But then again I realized that they couldn’t possibly pull it off with just 2-3 episodes remaining in the series. I didn’t really want any more numerous deaths since I think there was enough throughout the series as a whole so I’m glad there wasn’t a sudden series-end purge of the remaining Strain pilots. Ralph in the end died as expected and now Sarah and Emily (as well as the other doll Emily) are together for as long as they live. For my final words, I loved Strain’s story and the concepts of time and human advancement and cruelty. This series definitely earned a spot in my favorite mecha anime series of all time.

Verdict: 9/10

Impressions:

Action, action and more action! That’s what this episode was all about and damn was it all good. I feel bad for Vivian though, she was a hottie and wanted her to live. The big “uh oh” came in the form of when Ralph was rejected by Emily during the episode. He’s officially out of his mind now I think and a person like that is very dangerous on the battlefield. Well, I guess that more than guarantees that good ol’ Ralph will die in the next episode. Or does it?

Verdict: 8.5/10

Impressions:

We’ve got more revelations in this episode and most of them are about Ralph. Such revelations include why he supposedly defected to Deague in the past and the reasons as to why he is doing what he is doing currently. The whole time dilation explanation was amazing since I didn’t really expect them to explain that in such detail. Now with only two episodes left I do have to wonder just what will happen and who’ll survive. Ralph will probably die (he is sick after all) but I’m not sure about the other space squadron pilots or Sara herself. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Verdict: 8.5/10

Impressions:

Holy crap. Now that’s what I call a load of revelations. I mean, sure I had my suspicions of Sara’s Mimic from the beginning but I wasn’t expecting it to be what it turned out to be. Emily is apparently at least 600 years old but Strains are only 150 years old. Not only that but from what was presented this episode basically makes the Union look like utter scum. It just goes to show you how greedy humans can be to advance their own race by sacrificing and terrorizing another race they find different from their own. Also, if it’s possible, Ralph managed to redeem (or destroy? lol) his entire character in this one episode (although I don’t think he had to kill every last person on the crew of his ship…). Still, his intentions aren’t too clear just yet but that’ll change starting in the next episode and on.

Summary:

Lotti is having flashbacks of her brother before he was killed by Ralph. She then gets pissed after looking at a picture with Sara in it and breaks it. Sara is busy being interrogated while the others are doing their own thing to cope with Carris’ death in the last episode. Back to Lotti who is continuing to trash her room and then manages to spot a gun. Over at the Deague ship that Ralph is stationed on, another sample is mentioned to be on the ship that Sara is on. Ralph is in his room holding a document and then suddenly starts to cough up a lot of blood.

Meanwhile, Lotti is making her way towards Sara’s quarters with the gun she discovered earlier. After making into Sara’s room (she was allowed) she begins to talk about how Ralph killed Carris and her brother. She then starts to blame Sara for everyone that has died at Ralph’s hands. Sara then goes off into her own flashbacks of Ralph while telling Lotti about his past self. After hearing Sara’s words, Lotti then remembers more things about her own brother. The episode then closes with Sara delcaring that because she is the one that loves Ralph, her brother, the most that she must be the one to kill him and Lotti then promptly removes the gun she’d been pointing at Sara at the enter time.

Impressions/Thoughts:

Somehow I knew Lotti was going to act very stupid and irrational in this episode. However, it’s a good thing that she realized what she was doing and stopped. Much of the episode had to deal with interrogating Sara though, which I thought was going to bring back those bullying episodes of the past. I’m not at all sure if Sara is cleared of her so-called “spy” label as yet but I do hope to see her in action in some way in the next episode. However, that doesn’t seem to be very likely given the preview images.

Oh, and new ED!

Next Episode:

> Ralph is suffering?

Summary:

The episode starts out with Sara going off in search of the lost Emily. She leaves so quickly that she doesn’t take her communicator. Lotti, Lavinia and everyone else decide to gather in order to search for both Sara and Emily in the massive city. Carris meets up with Sara and calms her down, telling her that he has connections throughout the city and can help her find Emily. After talking with his younger (now technically older because of lightspeed travel) they set out in search of Emily once more but before that Carris decides to take Sara out for something to eat.

Eventually they encounter Emily, the real Emily who had happened to follow them. Emily then begins to run around to various places with Sara and Carris following her. Some fun scenes occur and nighttime arrives (with Emily asleep). The MIMIC Emily is shown in one of the garbage areas and the real Emily promptly awakens. Sara and Emily take off towards the garbage site but right then Carris receives a call from his brother about where Emily may be and then receives another call requesting that all students return to the ship.
Emily and Sara eventually find the MIMIC Emily while the others (excluding Lotti and Lavinia) set out in their Strains to investigate an unknown vessel (read: TUMORs). Ralph appears and takes the real Emily with him but not before Sara asks him various questions and Lotti comes in shooting, and hears Sara shout out “Nii-san”. After Ralph leaves, Lotti questions Sara on what she just said. We’re then shown Ralph escaping, but not before he impales Carris’ Strain and kills him. The episode then ends with Lotti still question Sara on Ralph being her brother. Here’s to hoping she doesn’t do anything stupid in the next episode….

Impressions/Thoughts:

A lot happened in this episode and a lot of it is quite heavy. All of the lighthearted things aside, one of the few things I’m curious about is just what connection does the real Emily and the MIMIC Emily share. She seems to be both but at the same time they seem to be separate entities. Next is what exactly Ralph is aiming to achieve. Since he’s willing to go as far as threatening his own sister and yet again killing one of her friends. It must be something very important, but it could be anything related to taking down Deague from the inside? The last thing I’m wondering about is Lotti’s behavior. Not that I didn’t expect her not to “turn” on Sara. But she has changed very quickly. I understand being angry at not knowing Sara’s true last name and affiliation to Ralph but she snapped a little too quickly in this episode.

And lastly, R.I.P Carris. For you are yet another victim done in by Ralph.