When a famous designer returns to the base help Hisone prepare for her new position with a new flight suit, Nao's jealousy boils over. Hiroki Ikushima (Ray Chase), a fancy suited man, is returning from Milan, explaining to his driver that "the hands of destiny are finally in motion." Up in the sky, Hisone (Christine Marie Cabanos) struggles to control Masotan, which frustrates Captain Yutaka Zaito (Ben Pronsky). He tells Remi (Carrie Keranen) that Hisone just doesn't have the passion needed; she's the one female pilot he's struggling to accept. While Haruto (Bryce Papenbrook) cleans up and encourages Hisone after she's spit out, Nao (Sarah Anne Williams) tries to get Masotan to eat her by wearing a necklace of flip phones. She is successful at first, but Masotan immediately rejects her once he has the phones, and though she is angered, her rage is replaced with joy when Ikushima enters. Hisone because excited and nervous that he's back, but he ignores her in favor of meeting Hisone; he hugs her close in an awkward way to measure her hips. Later, Sosoda (Doug Stone) tells Hisone that Ikushima is the vice manager for Okamoto Kasei and Barnes Wallis; he designs specialized clothing. Hisone is confused, so he and Remi explain that the suits must be able to withstand the dragons' gastric juices, as well as serve as a data collector by doing biological checks. Ikushima reveals that, as Masotan had been refusing pilots for three years, his company had to focus on designing clothes to entice the dragon, and Hisone's success means they can proceed. She becomes flustered and demands HR when Ikushima gets handsy, saying he only cares about her body as he measures her. When he heads outside, Nao excitedly hands him a report she made on his last suit, but is disheartened when he simply asks about Hisone's diet when it comes to sweets. She is upset to hear he's working on a suit for Hisone, and he rambles about how a change in her weight, potentially in her bust size, would cause problems; he returns the report and leaves Nao as she becomes enraged. In a typical anime trope, Hisone sneezes due to Nao thinking about her, and is surprised when the cart woman Sada Hinomoto (Cindy Robinson) shows up. Pointing out that the woman appears when she's feeling down, Hisone explains that she feel like she's found her destiny since finding Masotan, and her life has been crazy since. Sada gives her some yogurt as she leaves, and Hisone, talking to herself, feels as though there's some importance to the old woman's actions. When Hisone goes to the mess hall, Nao tries to get revenge by swapping her food with a bad croquette she made, only for Hisone to gush about how good it is. Nao tries again that night, turning on a tape to read a story and prevent Hisone from getting any sleep, but it turns out the girl knows and enjoys the story, and it instead helps her nod off. Nao then finds herself in a dilemma, as she wants to hear the rest of the story; she gets little sleep while Hisone awakens refreshed. Hisone interprets the situation as Nao actually caring about her, believing the bully knew she didn't like mincemeat and so gave her the croquette, and knew she loved the story. Believing that Nao was trying to keep her from feeling homesick, Hisone decides the girl is actually very mature and that she might start using her first name. As Remi explains that posture is important while piloting a dragon, Hisone wakes now when she falls asleep, but the latter becomes angry when Hisone uses her first name. Remi chastises Nao for her outburst, bringing up an apparent relative of hers who was part of their force, which immediately gets her to quiet down. Hisone later gives Masotan a bath; she learns the humidity in the area requires that they clean him every few days, then she realizes she doesn't know the OTF's name. Haruto doesn't see the need to name him, but Hisone points out calling him the numbers of his armor would be like calling a person by their clothing. She suggests "Otofu" as a play on OTF, then asks Haruto about Chief Master Sergeant Kaizaki; he explains that she is Nao's mother. Though being a D-Pilot isn't hereditary, Nao had the most potential to be one before Hisone showed up, which gets her worked up. He thinks she feels pressured by this, but she instead praises Nao for being able to support the person who essentially took her dream. Pulling out the yogurt, which has been in her pocket since yesterday, Hisone says she feels like the cart lady was telling her to show support, so she's going to support Nao. Watching nearby, Nao finds her words ridiculous, but is stunned when Hisone then asks "Otofu"if he could let Nao be his pilot and begins praising her. Feeling pitied, Nao hurls her boot at Hisone, claiming she doesn't know anything and just does everything halfheartedly. She leaves and "Otofu" simply goes back underwater, leaving Hisone unsure of what to do next. In her room that night, Hisone chooses out loud to do nothing for now, sure she hurt Nao's feelings, not considering that the girl is right on the other side of the room, listening. Nao rants silently in her head that she doesn't need to calm down, as Hisone's the one who caused the problem; while flipping through a manga, she gets a new idea upon seeing a character upset she can't do a ballet routine after her outfit is ruined. The next day, Ikushima has Hisone try on multiple strange flight suits, much to her embarrassment, with him again making comical statements about his love for outfit designing. Commander Sosoda joins in as Remi sees Nao outside; when everyone leaves to have Hisone collect date in one of the suits, Nao enters to cut up the others. Remi is there, however, and demands the scissors before questioning the girl about her actions, but Nao interrupts when she compares her to her mom again. When Remi suggests she ask for a transfer if she's unhappy, Nao becomes more upset and resigns completely, then storms out. Nao rushes out and interrupts a conversation Zaito is having with another soldier to take his bike. She drives off the base and in a voiceover, Hisone explains that she still wasn't back the next night. The rude soldier from another group claims this is why women shouldn't be the pilots, as they're too emotional, then explains after Zaito brings up Nao's money that she would be charged a million yen fee for the search party they would have to put together to find her. The idea of that much debt horrifies Hisone, who immediately things Nao could end up becoming a night escort to make money, confusing the other troops. Hisone immediately then suggests that they let her search for Nao with the OTF, and though the rude soldier is skeptical that she could easily control him at night, Sosoda is on her side. When she runs into the hall, Hisone finds Ikushima and requests a suit, picking one out of his case; he is pleased with her "choice." She rushes to the OTF holding area, where Haruto is embarrassed upon seeing her skintight green suit, but "Otofu" turns away when she asks for help, then throws Nao's boot at her. Hisone realizes the OTF was affected by her outburst in a similar way to Nao, so she profusely apologizes for saying she doesn't even want to be a pilot. To Haruto's surprise, she stays firm in that she didn't know if she wanted to be a pilot, but that she simultaneously believes she's found what she's right for. The OTF finally accepts Hisone's apology, and the duo sets out to find Nao, in the process discovering his true name. The second episode of this series continues the fun, charming adventure set up in the first, keeping things cute and family-friendly with the comical situations overall, but still adding in some excitement with a dragon flight.
The story continues to be simple with its premises: a suit designer has returned and Nao is jealous, so she tries to ruin Hisone's chances at being a successful pilot. Much of the comedy comes from the fact that she just can't seem to do anything that truly bothers Hisone, in fact her attempts make the girl see her more positively. Of course, this episode also has a lot more humor that some wouldn't find as family friendly, with Hisone's skintight suits and Ikushima's comical strange statements. At the same time, the jokes never progress to a gratuitous point, especially because Ikushima doesn't actually mean anything perverted with his actions. He's really just an overzealous designer who doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on the idea of personal boundaries. In fact, I'm liking so far how the show has the female characters in a much better light than some other series or movies might do. Along with the characters actually looking like people, rather than having strange, disproportionate figures, women are the main characters here while the men are more to the side. This doesn't happen often, though of course Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli has famously had numerous young, female protagonists in his stories as an effort to prove girls are just as capable of taking a stand to protect themselves and be heroes as boys. It can be a good thing for female viewers, especially young ones, to see women in important roles, and here, where all OTF pilots are women, they are sure to get that. With just this one episode, we get a lot of character progression with Nao, rather than just keeping her as an angry girl who dislikes Hisone. It's clear she's feeling jealous of Hisone, and that's understandable since she was the top contender for OTF pilot, and Hisone suddenly swooped in and took her spot. She's obviously also pretty prideful, considering she didn't want to tell Hisone the issue she's having and a later point of the episode has her trying to act tough. There's also the fact that Nao's mom is clearly a big name around this place, and she is being held up to a higher standard as a result. I like that they simply brought up her mom a bit in this episode but didn't have it be the main point of her issue; it feels like something that can be another story later. Nao's angry outburst that Hisone doesn't know what she's talking about makes me believe her mom is a bigger issue for her than I already think, as being unable to reach her dream of being an OTF like her mom must be a big deal for her. Hisone does some learning in this episode, realizing she made a mistake by thinking she understood Nao completely and saying she didn't want to be a pilot in front of Masotan. However, she's obviously still quite the airhead, as she didn't realize Nao could hear her while talking out loud in the same room, and thinking the cart woman simply giving her yogurt was a sign from her to show appreciation. As before, the animation, art, and music are all fantastic, giving off a cute, relaxing feel and just looking and sounding exactly as they should. Honestly when I first started watching Dragon Pilot, I wasn't sure what to expect, and as I've been pleasantly surprised so far, I can't wait to see more of the simple, lighthearted fun.
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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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