GATE: Season 1 – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Episode 16: The Fire Dragon, Once More

Overview

As Tyuule has her spy execute her plan to restart the war, everyone at Alnus secures ways to help Itami with his mission.

Characters & Story (with Commentary)

Topic 1: A Thwarted Assassination (Delilah, Noriko, Tyuule, and Yanagida)

On Tyuule’s orders [1], Delilah is supposed to kill Noriko. Someone who has begun to lose her desire to live since it is becoming apparent her parents died during the initial attacks. But, with Yanagida discovering Delilah was about to kill Noriko he draws his weapon. From there, a commotion begins as Yanagida and Delilah face off and with her stabbing him, and him shooting her, they both end up in critical care.

This leads to the army wondering who Delilah was working for and while all signs point to the Formar family, through their butler, fingers are also pointed toward Zolzal. Luckily though, rather than be rash as they were in the past, and decide to just assassinate Zolzal on sight, it seems an investigation will be done in terms of Zolzal and his associates. Which won’t be too hard because, thanks to Zolzal liking the way the Japanese cook, he seems to want to hire one as his cook. Thus leading to a way into Zolzal’s inner circle and with one of the cooks noting Tyuule’s personality around the palace, it seems she may become a prime target.

Topic 2: Once Again, The Fire Dragon (Yanagida, Itami, Tuka, Lelei, Yao, and Rory)

Before the Delilah attack, Yanagida was covering Itami so that his whole expedition was covered. But as he came to the Lt. General, he finds that what he thought could be a hard task for approval would be anything but. For never mind the Lt. General wants to make sure Itami is OK, for that seems like just an excuse for the paperwork, but what it seems he really wants is for his air force to try look into the Red Dragon’s flying abilities, and for Yanagida to broker a deal. Said deal? Well, the old man, Duran, is the king of the Elbe province where Itami is heading. Now, there is no brokered deal with this province, so technically Itami stepping onto their land is illegal. However, Duran will allow this passage if they help him reclaim his throne which, so it seems, his son has happily taken over. Yanagida, to a certain degree, agrees to this, but makes sure between resource rights, and no taxes paid, that Japan leaves the deal benefitting far more than Duran. But, considering the might of the SDF, how could you deny what seems like a request in which they aren’t touching the gold or silver, but will have access to anything else found. Of which, currently the people of Elbe don’t likely use so it won’t affect your present economy.

Shifting focus to Itami, he finds himself once again facing off with the Fire Dragon, as well as coming to Yao’s homeland. A situation which isn’t ideal since, for one, he still is a bit pissed at Yao so he doesn’t want to go to where she is from and then, on top of that, he isn’t that prepared to face off with a dragon. Granted, Lelei is using spells, and Rory fighting the dragon head on, but with guns, and a rocket launcher, they seemingly don’t have the necessary firepower. But, this whole thing is about getting Tuka to accept that her father is dead. Something which isn’t done in the way you’d think. For rather than maintain his current course of handling Tuka’s mental state gently, he puts a rocket launcher in her hand, tells her this thing killed her dad, say he isn’t her dad, and expects her to aim and fire accurately. Hence why everyone back at the base refers to him as an idiot.

Highlights

Spy Games: With the reveal of Tyuule being Queen of the Warrior Bunnies, and the possibility of her having spies throughout Alnus, if not the kingdom, so comes the question of how much damage could she do? Also, with her assassination attempt thwarted, what will her backup plans be? Also, will she perhaps push Zolzal to be more active and perhaps try to use whatever clout she has gained so he sets himself up? Especially considering the SDF now will have someone planted within the palace to send information back to Alnus.

Fire Dragon Fight: Though we have gotten some form of combat just about every other episode, said combat doesn’t compare to a Fire Dragon fight. Something which I won’t say is epic right now, despite fighter jets, magic spells, and Rory, but there is just a part of me which wonders if something bad could happen. I mean, while Yanagida and Delilah have just had barely missed dying, you have to wonder if anyone could actual parish. Be it Yao, or the people of her homeland, if not Itami’s allies.

On The Fence

Duran Family Drama: Politics has played a big role in the 2^nd half of this season, but mostly with Princess Pina’s family being the main ones we see being dealt with. With Duran’s family coming into play though, and likely a SDF fight being part of it, I do wonder how this may play out? Not because I think it is going to be handled in a bland or terrible way, but more so because Duran being alive and well, dishing out wise old man advice, sort of came out of left field. So I wonder what are the ultimate plans for him.

Things To Note

[1]: We learn this episode that Tyuule is queen of the warrior bunnies and Zolzal’s team of soldiers destroyed most of her clan.