New D-pilots have arrived at Gifu, and while Hisone is getting along with two of them, the last one has a chip on her shoulder.
Kakiyasu explains to everyone that three D-Pilots will be joining soon: Ririko "Jimmy" Kinutsugai, Mayumi "Morris" Hitomi, and Eru "Penguin" Hoshino.
Though she says they're more experienced than Hisone and the men are excited to have more women, Maezawa snarls that all D-Pilots are the same. Kogure notes that, with them coming from other bases, Hisone will be representing Gifu, and Hisone firmly declares her intent to be the base's face. Later, Nao grumbles about the incoming pilots' names being stupid, and that they and Hisone don't deserve them; she states hers would be "Sexy Jaguar." She hears Hisone mumbling in a bathroom stall and looks in to talk, learning she's reading a magazine about learning empathy. Hisone explains the festival inspired her to believe in her skills, and feels she needs to get better at dealing with people and be more like "Sexy Jaguar." One of the men calls them to meet the pilots, who arrive in a rather flashy manner, surprising Hisone by exiting their OTFs clean. Mayumi steps out from her large dragon Futumomo, a cargo plane, and after Lilico shyly exits her propeller-type Akemi, Elle launches from her's, which strangely stays in its F-2 shape. Hisone is disheartened to learn she still gets slimed because she disturbs Masotan's insides, and Maezawa plays tough guy, demanding that the new pilots train.
Maezawa yells sexist things about how hard they must train, and while Hisone tries to encourage Mayumi and Lilico, Elle speeds on ahead.
Elle surprises after, wanting to do flight training, disgusted when Lilico doesn't want to spend energy and Mayumi worries about Futumomo being tired. Inspired by her desire to try their best, Hisone agrees, which pleases Elle. The men are skeptical of Futumo,o and Akemi, but surprised Elle's is still in plane form; one says it has since she became its pilot. Elle is angered as Haruto does a checkup on it and tries to get it to relax, snarling that it's a high-quality jet and doesn't need to be coddled. Declaring that she wants to lead Elle during a session, Hisone enters Masotan, but while hyping him up that they're elites, she punches his insides and he skyrockets. As they spin wildly, Elle looks on in anger. Meanwhile, Sosoda and Remi discuss someone who is coming in person, who set up this training. Though Remi feels the girls are all different, Sosoda says the OTFs are able to sniff out talented people and find the common thing between the girls.
Hisone throws up after the training and is surprised but ecstatic when Elle invites her to go drinking, telling Nao they're going to bond over the power of alcohol.
While drinking, Mayumi cushes about Masotan's name, saying Futomomo's came from his chubby thighs, and her TAC name came from how he always gives more. Lilico dryly gives Akemi's name and says "Jimmy" came from how she's boring; as they talk, Hisone begins to cry at the thought of finally bonding and making friends. Disgusted again, Elle declares that naming their OTFs is a waste of time, as they're simply equipment for the base. She reveals her TAC name came from how she wants to be the first female fighter pilot, like the first brave penguin to dive into water. Hisone reminds her the OTFs are dragons, but Elle feels they don't have the fighting spirit she does and claims they and their OTFs are slacking, unworthy of flying. After she says they're making people look down on D-pilots, Mayumi sadly claims that while she knows she's not good enough, Futomomo always tries his best. Elle scoffs that she's just a capable zookeeper and should learn to better train her OTF. Zaito and Onaga bump into Elle as she leaves, and he invites her to do a round of drinks with him, especially since he'll have to shoot at her the next day. She blows him off, however, and he decides he's going to have to keep working at her to get through her armor, then decides to work out. The next day, Maezawa has them run through their flight plan, tasking Hisone and Elle with protecting the others while Zaito and Onaga attack. Zaito tries to jab at Elle, and only gets fired up when she rebuffs him again. As the exercise begins, the group gets off to a good start, but Elle's anger and pride leads to a problem for everyone, especially her OTF.
It turns out I was close last time around that someone would be introduced, as I thought the other D-pilots would be brought in one at a time.
In bringing in each of them we quickly get to learn about each of them and see how they all interact as a group, and as Remi says, they're all pretty different. We've now got the kind-but-loose-lipped Hisone, kindly Mayumi, self-loathing Lilico, and of course the angry Elle working off each other. I really didn't like Elle in her first appearance, and while I know this is to develop her character, this episode just made me hate her. I just felt terrible for her dragon by the end, as she obviously doesn't care about its wellbeing, and it gets no kind of affection or relief. There is a moment near the end where Hisone has one of her brutally honest moments with Elle, and I was surprised when it was turned to seem like it was terrible. As she tends to be, it was mean, but it obviously takes such an approach to get through Elle's stuck-up mentality. I did like Mayumi and Lilico with their contrasting personalities, however, as well as their adorable dragons, Futomomo in particular. The show continues to impress with its breathtaking art and fantastic sound design, giving us more treats for the ears and beautiful scenery to chew on. The silly jokes continue to get me as well, like the running joke for this episode of Hisone struggling to empathize with her fellow D-pilots following magazine tips. Though we now have more obvious conflict with Elle and what happens in this episode's o=conflict, the show is still overall simple and charming. This is part of what I love about it, as it's so calm and is a perfect way for me to watch and relax as I see all the care that went into each episode. I'm also pleased to finally be better recognize the characters' names, especially the male side characters, as I've struggled to remember them at all. There's new characters, new dragons, and a new dynamic now, and the end also hints at there being more than what we've seen.
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