The target audience for these summmaries are those people who haven't seen it all, but are so hooked they have-to-have-it-all-NOW. You know who you are. Don't mind my dry sarcasm, and I'll try to keep my personal comments separate.
Please note that more often than not, all 'quotes' are paraphrases- not exact quotes.
*That Guy's a Sergeant*
A dark, snowy, Soviet woods through which a lone SUV makes it's way- inside a nervous young woman bites her fingers bloody. Her driving companion attempts to prevent her self-injury, but she says she'd rather die than stop. From behind the screen of trees rises a military chop, and not a friendly one either. A single missile flips the SUV, killing the driver, the young woman is thrown clear, but makes her way back to claim a CD-R....
Now the chopper is targeting the girl, who's out in the open, unprotected, and entirely defenseless. The pilot isn't the most chivalrous of men, and seems to enjoy shooting around her, taking his time killing her. She can only suffer...
Also from within the trees, the chopper takes a hit- administered from an Arm-Slave that moves to take up the girl's defense. This huge piloted robot manages to grab the chopper from the sky, and throws it to crash a safe distance away, all the while stepping around the girl without actually stepping on her. The immediate danger passed, the AS kneels for the pilot to get out, and the girl can only sit and stare.
Other Arm-Slaves appear to hold of more enemy units, while the pilot approaches the girl. He tells her they're there to take her home, which seems to bring some peace to her. He drugs her to sleep, but before she passes out completely she asks his name...
"Sousuke Sagara" is his reply.
Back at base, which in this case is a submarine, Kurtz Weber is regaling the AS maintain crew with the story of the event. Sousuke seems a little annoyed with the dramatic retelling, he doesn't seem to think it was such a big deal, much less as dangerous as Kurtz implies. Melissa Mao shows up in a way that abruptly stops Kurtz's antics with news that the Major is requesting them. Kurtz is playful with Melissa on the way- she doesn't seem to take him very seriously. He's a lewdish prettyboy- having even done modeling (1 2). She's tough in a cool sarcastic way, not to mention his superior. But games aside, they're all business when they get to the Major's office.
Major Kalinin has a new mission prepared for Melissa, Kurtz, and Sousuke- bodyguards for a civilian high school girl in Japan. The danger is possible kidnap, and neither the local government or the target are (or should be made) aware of the mission. Kurtz is rather pleased by it- the target's profile includes a photo showing her to be a rather attractive young girl, and he's even more pleased to know that the picture is a couple of years old. Melissa confirms their equipment request, Kalinin confirms form and paper requirements, and Sousuke confirms ...his sudden concern? Suprise? Trepidation? Whatever made Sousuke stay behind to ask the Major 'What papers?' seemed to be something along those lines but we don't know exactly what it was...but as part of the mission he is definitely the one who has to enter the target's high school undercover as a transfer student. Not only is he the right age, he's the right ethnicity. It's obvious, he's the one who should have the easiest time fitting into the japanese high school!
But is that right? Sousuke really doesn't know much, if anything at all, about high school, or japanese pop culture, or even about being an ordinary teenager. This is pretty clear, as Kurtz and Melissa have to be the ones who collect the right paraphernalia for the cover- gadgets, CDs, books and magazines... and condoms? Sousuke is pretty surprised by that one, and Melissa can't help but tease him for being such a playboy. But really, why do high school boys need condoms?? After all, Sousuke's apparently found an unintended purpose for them- they can hold nearly a litre of water!
All this makes Kurtz's current project harder- getting a snapshot of Sousuke for a civilian ID. But somehow, despite all of his grimacing, the final pic looks just like his normal self :)
While departing for Japan, Melissa asks Sousuke about his decision to use his real name on the mission, and he says it's alright, since there wouldn't be any records of him in Japan anyway.
Their helicopter lifts off from the deck of the Tuatha de Daanan, and literally disappears into a clear blue night sky.
The crew is already settled into an apartment near the target's, and fully monitoring Kaname, the morning of Sousuke's first day of school. While Kaname tries to wake up, Kurtz is suffering from Melissa's retaliation for his pleasure at hearing her in the shower, and Sousuke packs his schoolbag (in goes a gun, then a book, then probably some other weapon that's definitely illegal in Japan....)
Kurtz heads for the crew's stashed M9 AS (kept in a Macaroni italic truck, whatever that is...)- and prepares to find and follow Kaname to the school. And here we get to see the special ability of the M9 AS- The ECS function which allows it to become invisible. Nifty! Too bad it can still be heard and felt, but Kurtz is somehow gonna pilot this thing through the streets of crowded Tokyo :)
And there she is now! The scene is classic- a pretty girl on a pretty spring morning with falling cherry petals raining all over the place. Men stop and turn to look at her. She looks nice and cheerful, and alot older than just 16. Of course they stare, and Kurtz is practically squealing over how attractive she is. (He's got the picture of her pinned up in the AS...)
At the school a teacher is greeting the students and searching their bags! (is this common in real Japan?) Kaname's got some unusual books, such as 'Advice from the Dolphins -So Long, and Thanks for all of the Fish!'. Kurtz has followed Kaname, but gets a real suprise when she returns her friend's cheerful morning greeting by getting mad at her!
Seems Kaname accepted a blind date made through Kyouko Tokiwa, and the guy was a total loser! Who cares that he's a high society type, when he's that boring? Kyouko takes it all calmly, even cheerful, and Kaname doesn't seem to really be all that angry. But she's still so loud, Kurtz's change of mood is reflected by his picture of her falling....
Meanwhile Sousuke has failed to get by the teacher unnoticed- she chases him down and is outraged by his selection of inappropriate 'toys'. Quite seriously he tries to explain to her that no, they're quite real, fully loaded, and much too dangerous to be handled like that....
The fuss gets the attention of both girls, and Kaname shows clear annoyance with yet another military obsessed freak....
*Of course* he's in her class. (he is a plant after all!) Kaname can only sigh and roll her eyes as the teacher puts him through the new student ritual- introduction in front of the whole class, including allowing them to ask him questions about himself. Now Sousuke has a real opportunity to see how illprepared he really is- here are a few things he learned today entirely by mistake (and much too late to fix the damage).
Lesson number one- don't include your rank when introducing yourself to civilians while undercover.
Lesson number two- when undercover, and asked where you came from and have been, try to think of places acceptable to civilians. Don't be perfectly honest and say 'Afganistan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Iraq, and Colombia'
Lesson number three- even though it can be a survival skill, fishing is a safe hobby.
Reading is also safe, but make sure to fake your favorites- average civilians don't read the spec sheets on new military equipment, or military equipment review guides.
Lesson number four- if you decide you must fake a liking for something (like music), make sure your choices are appropriate and acceptable :)
Although he doesn't know it, Sousuke already has an admirer- Shinji Kazama, a classmate who really really likes military stuff.
Of course his biggest lesson doesn't happen until after-school activities. Although he's managed to keep an eye on the target all day (1 2 3), the problem comes when she's in the girls' locker room. He walks around quite a bit and seems frustrated even more so when the boy's baseball team is already dressed and warming up on the field, and the girls still haven't shown up...(he seems to think something bad may be happening, because the girls are taking so much longer changing:)
Meanwhile, Kaname's ready to go but hanging around ranting to Kyouko about the wierd transfer student. She's already feeling like he's watching her- their eyes kept meeting, during break he paced in the hallway peering into the room every pass- she just knows she's right!
Kyouko can only tell her she's beautiful, so of course he looks at her.....but why does Kaname notice anyway? Does she actually *care* what the new guy thinks? And this brings us to our first hearing of Kaname's patented 'I have NO idea what you are talking about!' nervous laugh. This pretty much settles it for Kyouko, who isn't fooled.
At this point the girl's locker room door bangs open, who else is there but Sousuke- who seems to have decided that there *must* be something wrong..., and this seems confirmed for him when the girls (many of whom are still only half dressed) shriek and proceed to throw stuff at him. Surely they aren't aiming for him, there must be some danger behind him!' seems to be his thinking, so he rushes in the room, grabs Kaname by the collar, shoves her to the floor and gets out his trusty handgun and aims at.....the empty doorway.
No problem here, folks, none at all. Unless you count a mistaken and in-trouble soldier who just busted into a girls' locker room full of half-naked athletes...
Okay, so Sousuke isn't the most knowledgeable guy, when it comes to regular life. But he is still smart enough to know when he's in for it- when let up, Kaname rants and tries to choke him (which he calmly takes), until Kyouko asks the burning question- What is going on?
Of course he can't tell them the truth (that he made a mistake relating to the safety of one of them)- so he has to go with a lie. Preferably a lie suitable for his cover....but what lie could they possibly believe? Would they believe he merely wants to *join* their club, having participated in the same club at his previous school?
Um...that's a no, but he goes with it anyway. It is, after all, the GIRLS' softball club.
Sometime later Kurtz is finally home after an exhausting day managing the M9- too many near mishaps for him (like nearly collapsing a wall by leaning on it, scaring little school kids...)- and Melissa rewards him with a nice cool one. Beer, that is. Foamy can beer, for which Kurtz is quite grateful.
Melissa is monitoring Kaname's appartment, and catches her on the phone with her sister. Kaname sounds calm and pleasant on the phone, and brings up the new guy in class...surely she's about to say something important or juicy, and Melissa is quite irritated when a loud racket enters the crew's apartment...
The clashing and clanging is none other than a disheveled Sousuke, handcuffed to a metal folding chair courtesy the GIRLS' softball club. Even he has to admire the job they did, although it sure made buying a train ticket home difficult :)
(comment- just imagine him trying to make his way through japanese streets like that- and imagine what everyone who saw him must have thought. LOL- and not exactly subtle ;)
Melissa manages to remember Kaname and her probably interesting mention of Sousuke and she lets him listen to Kaname saying he's....interesting. According to Kurtz, 'interesting' is better than 'boring', and Melissa tells Sousuke he looks happy, although he seems more surprised that she doesn't seem to hate him after all. Cut to annoyingly drawn out scene of Kaname looking happy laying on her bed.
End
There was a visual error in this episode- lazy of Gonzo! In the condom scene, Sousuke is wearing a white shirt (for the photo). But in his close up shots, it appears he's wearing an army green shirt.
Does anyone know for sure is Sousuke was just showing his bad sense of humor in this scene, or is he truly ignorant of the real purpose of those things? I mean, the guy hasn't lived in a closet his whole life, just militaries.
Again, why was the teacher searching bags before school? I'm not aware of anything in the story that makes this necessary. Or is it just something done to arrange it so the teacher finds his portable armory?
In the locker room, when Kaname is ranting to Kyouko about Sousuke, they show him peering into a room. Initially it does look like he's peering into the girl's locker room, but that's supposed to be a flashback of him peering into the classroom (which Kaname is complaining about at that moment).
personal opinion- a good quality episode, visually- and does a good job introducing the different elements of the show (military, school, comedy, with the suggestion of future drama)
However I think the final scene was boring.
It's slow enough to make me wonder if they ended up with too many seconds at the end- couldn't they have make a few of the other scenes a little longer and made this one shorter? Evened out the pacing at the end?