Egao no Daika Episode 6: Facing defeat

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It’s a shame that this series can be so hard to watch, since it has made some impressive strides in recent episodes. With the confirmation that Yuni was in the theurgear from the previous episode, it truly feels like the series is trying hard to merge its perspectives without distorting the timeline. There are no extraneous flashbacks from each side to give a more complete story. Instead, it feels like we’re always only getting pieces of it from different perspectives, which is surprisingly interesting. Additionally, this episode shows a ton of character development for Yuuki, and I think that’s promising.

Yuuki’s attempt to give herself up is a surprisingly illuminating attempt. At the beginning of the episode, she’s trying to find any way to stop the war, so she brings it up as a possibility only to have it shot down by her subordinates. At the end of the episode, she continues to pursue the idea, but her behavior has changed. She’s no longer asking for permission. She has made the decision herself (even if her subordinates end up defying her).

Yeesh, this episode was foreshadowing Izana’s sacrifice pretty hard, wasn’t it? Part of me feel like I should be incredibly suspicious about how reluctant this series is to confirm character deaths. Izana seems to accept his own death in the end, but it’s never explicitly stated and his wife is shown looking mostly okay.

I guess this counts as finally confirming Joshua’s death. At this point, I’m still suspicious, though. If it were so simple, why have so many episodes past without definitely saying it?

Also, I appreciate that Harold’s motivations are explored a bit more, but I didn’t fully understand his suicide mission. If he truly had this vendetta against Grandiga, why did he never go into battle in the earlier engagements?

After the reveal at the beginning of the episode, I was wondering if we might get a chance to see the reverse, a view of Stella’s unit from Soleil’s perspective. Since the Grandiga forces are so uniform, it’s difficult to spot any distinct soldiers within them. I was happy to see that the series didn’t waste any time making it happen, though.

It’s nice to see Yuuki taking charge in the battle. Also, she seems to have a knack for using terrain against her enemies.

I feel really bad for Yuuki at the end. She earnestly tries to help, but the actions of her officers make her look like a deserter. I’m curious to see how this plays out, though. Grandiga’s ruling party has mostly come off as tyrannical so far. So, it might be interesting to see Yuuki lead a resistance group against them. It would also give Stella and her allies a reason to join Yuuki, since they might start having doubts about their orders.