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

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Episode 6: Ride of the Valkyries

Overview

As the SDF wages an utter massacre in Italica, so comes the issue of whether the SDF can become a friend to the people and not a foreign foe with dangerous weaponry.

Characters & Story (with Commentary)

Topic 1: An Utter Massacre – Princess Pina & Itami

As we saw last week, the forces of Italica, now reduced to minutemen, are of no match to the opposition. Civilians are dying in masse, and even one of Princess Pina’s top knights are vanquished. Thus forcing her to realize that this may not only be the end for Italica, but perhaps herself as well. But then comes the SDF and just as they have done many times before, using their advanced weaponry, a massacre occurs. One in which nearly the entire opposition party is wiped out. For with a combination of Recon Group 3, Itami’s team, Rory, and then armed helicopters with rockets and machine guns, the opposition is made into mincemeat with a handful of survivors.

Topic 2: Negotiations and Retreat – Princess Pina & Itami

With the battle effectively over, so comes negotiations of peace. Not with the people who attacked Italica though, it is more so between the rulers of Italica and the SDF. After all, the SDF are the people who won the battle and it is them that everyone is worried about. Mostly due to how things would be handled traditionally with expectations of occupation and oppression. However, in the end, the SDF doesn’t ask for much but tax exemption, and for humane treatment of prisoners. Everything else is so minor that it shocks Princess Pina as well as her representative Hamilton.

Though, while things end in the city on a peaceful note, the peace is short lived. If only because Princess Pina’s Rose Knight Order finally makes it to the outskirts of Italica and upon seeing the SDF, things get tense. So tense that Itami decides to step out of his vehicle to try to smooth things over, but with it appearing one knight might get violent, and him now wanting the peace to end, he tells his group to leave and this forces him to be at the mercy of the Rose Knight Order.

Final Thoughts

With Princess Pina, despite the assistance, re-establishing she sees the SDF as the enemy, and now her knights order having Itami, it does bring to question of what may happen? Will they attempt some sort of hostage situation, in which between obtaining weaponry or dispelling to SDF, that is the only way Itami will leave their grasp alive? Much less, being that the SDF took some of the prisoners from the battle, such as the magic user, what is going to come of that? After all, while the SDF do have guns, magic likely trumps a bullet, and maybe even a missile.

Also, it has been awhile since we’ve seen the emperor, or know whether the USA, and other countries, may want a piece of what the SDF is exploring. So there comes the question of when, and if, the political aspect of the show may return in the future. Much less, if the violence witnessed in Italica is just a prelude to something bigger.

Things To Note

The magic user who was helping the opposition is taken in by the SDF.