Hisone, Mayumi, and Ririko are becoming closer, but worry about F-2 as Elle remains stubborn and finally reveals the reason for her attitude.
With the others sleeping, Elle continues working on her raft, but she grows angry again about being a "zookeeper" and injures her hand.
A flashback reveals she first found out about the OTFs in an accidental way similar to Hisone, and the sight horrified her. Back on the mainland, Iiboshi gets supplies while Nao, on the base, worries about the others, though she notes she couldn't do anything to help anyway. Sada arrives with a kiwi yogurt for her and claiming kiwi is better for you if eaten with the skin. As she leaves, Iiboshi drives up to offer her Nao special custard in exchange for the yogurt; she turns him down, much to his despair. Back on the others, Hisone catches a fish, their first bit of protein after five days. She notes they only have two days left. Mayumi and Ririko notice their three OTFs have become close, and Hisone points out Elle's hasn't even tried to bond with them. They realize F-2 would be burning up in its disguise, and rush to help. To their surprise, he's not; Mayumi is in awe of the metal and Ririko compares it to a brazen bull. Ririko compares its tenacity to someone named Ken, a name they decide is better than F-2, and Hisone tearfully applauds the OTF for working so hard for Elle. Deciding to give it a lick, Hisone seems surprised, and requests the others join her. They notice she uses their TAC names, and she reveals she thinks they've become close enough to stop using each other's last names. Ririko dryly demands that she not do so, as she wants to keep her work and private lives separate, but allows Hisone to call her "Lilikos," and Mayumi permits her to use her nickname as well. Hisone excitedly tells them they can still use her TAC name, though Ririko points out this is no different from what they were doing before.
In the plane above, Iiboshi notices how complacent the OTFs are, and Remi says they're on storm will soon happen as scheduled.
Sosoda compares the women to yellowtails that will soon arrive after a storm, saying the test will hopefully help them, and Remi says the only remaining issue is Elle. To Remi's annoyance, Iiboshi ignores them in favor of talking about his favorite food. Back on the island, Hisone, noticing the coming storm as she collects water, wonders why the island has fancy shrine gates if it's uninhabited. Ririko calls her over to see a miniature shrine and points out some cave pictures that resemble the OTFs, now believing the island wasn't chosen because it's deserted. Mayumi rushes in to say they have a problem: outside Elle is trying to push her raft out despite the choppy waters, ignoring Hisone's suggestion to turn back. Mayumi is heartbroken that Elle intends to leave "Ken," and goes to help when a wave destroys the raft, but Elle snaps at her demanding to be left alone. As the storm begins, the friendly trio retreats to their cave base where Hisone struggles to get a fire going, which Ririko says will make sleeping difficult. Hisone brings up Elle and Mayumi reveals she's decided the woman is a terrible person, but she still feels a little bad for her. She decides to check on Elle, but Ririko stops her, pointing out she'll be soaked and end up sick, suggesting they wear their flight suits. Their suits fail to keep them warm, and as they shiver they notice something in the water, which turns out to be not Elle, but the Nao doll. Upset, Hisone rushes out to retrieve it, but Mayumi refuses to let her, causing her to burst into tears as the doll goes underwater. Ririko points out that they haven't found Elle yet, and suddenly realize they hear an afterburner and Ken is gone.
A flashback reveals Elle's past: ever since her youth, she wanted to prove to everyone she could be an F-2 pilot. Excelling in the air force, she saw an OTF in the sky one day.
This is revealed to be a dream as she wakes to learn the other OTF pilots all saw this same thing, but she says it's creepy they all dreamed it. The others urge Elle not to strain herself, and to her surprise, they reveal it was Ken who saved her, by activating his afterburners to alert them when he found her trapped under tree limbs. They agree on a special feeling the burner gave them, but Elle interjects her rage about learning they've named her F-2. She explodes and reveals that while they're happy as D-pilots, they don't understand her struggle to be a pilot. Any sign of weakness in the airforce resulted in insults from men, and becoming a D-pilot instead of flying an F-2 is something she can't stand. As she finishes her outburst, Ken suddenly steams up and collapses; they realize the heat from his afterburners got trapped beneath his plating. They decide to get him to the ocean, but he won't even change to Hotel format, so Ririko tells Elle she needs to convince him, as he'll only listen to her. She claims he doesn't listen to her, reminding them of their first training exercise. Hisone suddenly realizes he probably stays in Foxtrot to try helping Elle achieve her dream. He's only stayed cool on the island because he sneaked into the ocean while in Foxtrot form, which she knows because he was salty when she licked him. With Elle the only one who can save Ken, the others but still cold toward him, the others are left having to beg her in order the save the dragon's life.
As the higher-ups planned, this episode served to bring the girls together by teaching them about themselves and each other and bring them closer.
The end of last episode, Hisone, Mayumi, and Ririko were already opening up to one another, but we only saw a slice of this, and Elle was still by herself. Therefore, the girls had to continue working to truly become friends and get Elle to come out of her shell and accept her position as a D-pilot. We finally get to see why Elle has struggled with her title so much, as after all her hard work to prove herself capable of flying an F-2, she ends up doing something else. She had to have gone through terribly intense training, as we already know she worked harder than everyone to become great, but any error was enormous. While obvious, this is a poignant statement about how women in the working world are often treated, as despite working hard and becoming the best, anything besides perfection would earn Elle mockery from her coworkers. At the same time that Elle obviously developed a lot of anger over not achieving her dream, I don't understand why she feels like it's a downgrade. I personally feel like having a dragon choose you as its pilot would be an amazing job to get, but at the same time, Elle worked so hard to achieve a specific dream all her life, and it was taken away, making her hard work somewhat pointless. I like how this episode allows the girls to come together essentially by showing their differences; working together brings them closer but they explain their limits. Hisone is bold enough to already suggest the use of their TAC names rather than their last ones, the more traditional way of addressing people in Japan. Though she is much more withdrawn, Ririko agrees but shows her firmness in separating her work and private lives, putting her on a similar page as Hisone about their friendship despite feeling differently about the naming. Mayumi seems even more reserved about expressing her feelings, as we've seen when she was mad at Elle before, and more rolls along with what the others are saying. Despite this reserved nature, we get some openness from Mayumi in this episode, as she willingly shares her negative thoughts about Elle. Seeing F-2 continuing to struggle is honestly hard to see, as like the others point out, he obviously cares about Elle and listens to what she has to say. In return for constantly staying in a painful and dangerous form and saving her life, F-2 still gets the cold shoulder, being treated as nothing more than a tool. This does, however, make the ending of the episode more satisfying as Elle makes some decisions about her life and job. With the girls all coming together and better understanding their OTFs, we also see more of Iiboshi's true goals lurking in the background. We still don't know what exactly is going on, but the way everything has been planned out and how he knows so much about the girls is unnerving. There is a creepy vibe surrounding him as he talks about how he's in a way manipulating the pilots to further whatever his plans are. In the the episode's last moments, we even learn something we've seen throughout the series is a big deal when it comes to his plans, and there is more to learn. The girls are getting closer and learning about their dragons, and the mysterious Iiboshi's plans are becoming more and more curious as everything plays out.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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