Episode Five: Ruri-chan's Logbook

Basic plot:
As the ship makes it way to Mars, the crew now as little else to do but either deal with the dead of the space colony they passed the last episode, take a few long naps, meditate, or read their contract to find a little flaw in the deal.  Although the Lizards do shoot at the Nadesico as it makes it way through the sea of stars, the shots are weak and can go unanswered.  At the helm were Ruri and Megumi, but they're more interested in other things besides duty.  Yurika, because she's the captain, must fulfill the duties required for the dead, accompanied by Jun, Prospector, and Gort.  It's a pity there are so many people, so many ceremonies to do.  Akito and the kitchen crew also have their hands full as they prepare the meals for the dead.  Later on, the pair find themselves both in the mediation room, Yukira trying to find out such things as, "What is Captain?" and her "worldly desires", while Akito tries to realize his own emotions.  Soon this deep thought is halted when the maintenance crews and the other pilots decide there must be a revolution!  After reading the "very fine print", they realized that there can't be more than holding hands.  What is this, a kindergarden?, asks Seiya.  No, that's why we have that rule, points out Prospector.  In the midst of all this foolishness, the Lizards attack again, but this time, with force.  They must respond.

Loony Scenes:
 -Ruri playing her kanji (Chinese characters)-based games at her desk.
-Megumi taking shots at Yurika twice in one episode.  First with mentioning a wedding, then stating that anyone can be captain of the Nadesico.  Ouch, Megumi-san.  ouch.
-Yurika trying to figure out what a captain should be on the ship, the importance of the captain.
-Yurika and the wide world of religion fashion.  I swear, some of those have to be made-up stuff, though perhaps based on some religion or another.
-Yurika's meditation images concerning her love of Akito.
-The mediatition robots whacking Yurika and Akito, a common practice in Zen Buddhism to encourage meditators to clear their minds and release their "worldly desires."
-RIOT!-crazed crews, and funny things it, it's all about a no-sex clause.

Scenes to Remember:
-Why does Yurika see the (almost nonexistant) romantic suggestions in what Akito says and does?  Most of the time, there is nothing there for her to see.  Maybe she just needs help.  Then, of course, there's also her mediation session.  Even though Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi appeared only recently, she had already consider them rivals for Akito's heart.  Not yet, Yurika, not yet...
-It's rather interesting to see that both Martian natives (Yurika and Akito) were told of the diversity of Earth by two different crewmembers.  And speaking of that, I couldn't help but not ignore the doubling up of scenes in this episode.  Certain scenes were repeated twice and stuff.
-How Mei here reveals a critical point in her food-preparation to Akito when their conversation began with the large amount of spices kept for the ship.  When aksed why she had so many, How Mei replied that it was because the Nadesico was a battleship.  Years back, when she only knew how to cook Chinese, a young soldier, dying, asked for paella.  After his death, she realized that she must know how to cook much more than native cooking, as well as to use many more seasonings and spices, to satisfy every person she would ever come across.
-Oh my God, Seiya and Hikaru seem to be on the same page.  When he was giving his reasons of love and why the clause was a stupid idea, in pops in the giddy pilot giving commentary.  Their a goofy match right from the start.

Basic Plot:
A battle errupts as the Nadesico finally reaches Mars.  After taking out a really good amount of the enemy both on the surface of the planet and in the atmosphere, they enter the planet officially and do their thing-find survivers and stuff.  With the majority of the pilots, Prospector went to an old Negral instulation on Mt. Olmpus to recover some things.  Akito, with Megumi tagging along, heads to his home, the Utopia colony.  While the two were speaking, the earth underneath them collapsed and made them fall through to an underground chamber.  There they meet Inez Frensjue, who immediately claim that they should just go back to Earth, or die here.  She, a scientist that worked on the disruption field for the Nadesico, lives underneath the earth with other Martian survivors and knows what they are up against, but they don't have a chance.  Yurika, worried about what Meg and Akito, gets the entire ship to go to the Utopia colony to pick them, and Inez, up.  Before they could rescue the others down below, the enemy came and began their assault.  The Nadesico had only two choices now, either bring up their fields, thus crushing the people below, or stay unshielded, and take the assault full-force.

Loony Scenes:
-Akito fighting, while the Aesti-ladies (who are better known as the Three Angels) watched, commenting on the fact that he'll probably die.
-Also there, Izumi switching from serious to loony.
-Megumi commenting on his dependability, to which Akito looks like he face-vaults.
-Yurika not getting Megumi's challenge to fight for Akito.

Scenes to Remember:
-Inez's cold atittude and wish to examine and explain anything is her style.  One of the people behind the technology of the Nadesico, Inez knows much.  It is a shame she just loves to hear her own voice.  She was also very cold-hearted to the people she lived with before coming on-board.  They aren't her concern, apparently.
-Yurika was faced with a very difficult choice between sacrificing the ship or the lives of those below.  She made the choice necessary for the survival of the ship, but knowiung that the blood of those that died instead was on her hands weighed heavily in her mind.  She, in obvious distressed, asks Akito to relieve her sadness with a kiss, but he got scared and refused.  She wanted the man she loved to reach out to her and help her out of this sorrow, besides wanting to find out whether or not Akito loves her.  She'll just have to wait for another time.
-Megumi and Akito get a bit closer in this episode.  Their little excursion gave them some time together.
-Akito and Yurika also have their moment.  As the crew argue over what Yurika should do or give more information on the situation they are currently facing, both Yurika and Akito stood silently, taking it all in.  As she waits for what Akito has to say about the situation, he turns and Yurika a look.  A tough, do-what-you've-gotta-do look.  When Akito goes to comfort Yurika is also rather touching.  If he kissd her then, however, would it be a kiss of love, or one of pity?
-Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi had some respect for Akito.  The way he handled himself in the battle was rather commendable, if suicidal to the professionals.  Ryoko, in particular, found new respect for the cook.
-Did you see Ruri's reaction when Minato referred to her as Ruri-ruri?  How could you not, considering that the little girl rarely shows any emotion at all.

Basic Plot:
The Nadesico, shaken somewhat from the last fight, is still on Mars when they recieve a faint signal from the Crocus, one of the two ships that, back in episode two, were swallowed by the Tulip the Nadesico later blew up.  If this is the ship, what was it doing on Mars?  Also, after a small talk with Inez, Akito finds out a little about Ad. Fukube is becomes rather livid when he finds out that he was responsible for the initial destruction of Mars by the Lizards (the battle n the beginning of ep. one).  After finding the Earth ship, Ad. Fukube, Inez, and Akito (as punishment for taking a swing at the old admiral), go to the ship to check it out and search for survivors.  Once he got the rather-wrecked ship on-line, he ordered Yurika and the Nadesico to a nearby Tulip as the enemy approached to finish them off.  Yurika complied reluctantly, but at the price of the admiral's life?

Loony Scenes:
-The entire sketch of "The Why and How of the Nadesico."  Some highlights-
-Yurika in a big bunny suit, which gives her super good marks because she didn't go for the more anime-esque Playboy bunnie look, but not enough to cover the "God that's stupid-looking" negative marks she got.
-Inez, referring to the crew of the ship as "good kids", does showing that she has even less respect for the crew than Ruri-chan does.
-Gort with bunny ears, after allowing the show to continue.
-Gort blushing at Inez when she did that chest thing.
-Akito discovering his "Gai" is missing, only to see it being used very rudely on the show.
-Hikaru, wondering if Izumi understood anything from the show, comments on the thought that she thinksIzumi is asleep, but with her eyes open.
-Akito and Ad. Fukube sharing some spiked tea.
-Ryoko crying out for Akito's assistance, without realizing that he wasn't with them.
-Hikaru and Izumi mocking Ryoko shamelessly.

Scenes to Remember:
-Inez, when talking to Akito, tells him, and us, about her past and how she was found in the Martian desert, alone.  She commented on the fact that she was feeling a strange feeling when she's around him.  She also gives Akito the information about Ad. Fukube's past, military-wise.  She obviously felt it was necessary to tell the Martian something about the man he is under because obviously he didn't know.
-Also, Inez' need to explain really shines through the little TV show for the crew.  What better way to let everyone know how much you know then through public access!  Inez definitely has the right idea.
-Akito perhaps a little overboarded when he heard about Fukube's past.  He takes a swing at the old man.  He considers his taking over of the Crocus and threatening to use it against the Nadesico a cowardous act to cover his tracks, and conscious, by killing them.  He forgets about the brief tea moment they shared in this dark view of the old admiral.  When How Mei shows him the letter that Fukube left in the tea thermos for Akito and tells him that Fukube planned to take over the Crocus from the start, he cries out in defiance.  Is he suppsed to forgive him because of that?  The battle that we saw is perhaps not the battle that Akito believes it was.  I saw Fukube try his best to stop the Tulip from crashlanding on the planet.  Akito believes that he just didn't cvare enough for the people on Mars to do more in the battle.  Akito knew a lot of people that did not survive the Lizard attack, one of these, of course, being Ai.  He considers Fukube in fault for allowing this to happen.  His reaction, though wrong, can be said to be the very same reaction we would have if we were face-to-face with a person we could easily consider the bringer (or allower) of death to those we knew, whether it is a murderer or the commander-in-chief of an entire army.
-Ryoko, Yurika, and Ruri (at least I think it was Ruri, also...), who were standing outside of the kitchen door, listening to the conversation between Akito and How Mei, couldn't help but comment on the situation.  Ruri, of course, called the admiral a fool.  Ryoko stated the fools will always be fool, no matter how old they get.  Yurika, sadden by the loss of the admiral, could only wonder who should they learn from now.
-Ooh, who are those people chatting about the Nadesico at the end?  The first, of course, is Erina Won, the secretary to the president of Negral, and the other the president himself.  They really shouldn't be talking about other people behind their backs...

Basic Plot:
The Nadesico does survive the Tulip trip, but how?  The crew of the Crocus didn't.  Also, Yurika, Akito, and Inez find themselves at the observation deck for some strange reason.  Anyway, the ship and its crew now finds itself in the middle of a battle for the recapturing of the moon, a year or so after they originally enter the Tulip.  Since then, Negral and the military patched up their differences and began working together.  Now the Nadesico works for them.  Also, three new fools join the crew: Erina Won, secreatry-turned-subhelmsman, Akatsuki Nagare, a handsome "pirate" that can't keep his eyes off the ladies, and Ad. Munetake, who everyone remembers as the man who both lead the small band of Earth Forces representatives as well as a takeover of the ship while it was still on Earth.

Loony Scenes:
-Ruri trying to scary Yurika awake...kawaii nee...
-Yurika immediately reacting to Akito and Inez holding hands, while still asleep.
-Nagare trying to make moves on Minato, who would want any of that.
-Seiya apparently humping the foot of Nagare's mobile suit, at which the Aesti-ladies say, "Keep doing that until you die."
-Ad Munetake prancing around with that foldable fan he's carrying.
-Nagare and Akito trying to settle their dispute by playing sports, but Akito isn't really able to.
-All of Nagare snide remarks about Akito's fan devotion to anime.
-Megumi and Yurika agruing about Akito infrom of Akito.
-Akito blushing badly as Yurika's and Megumi's breasts were right in front of him.
-Megumi and Yurika arguing about who's heavier, thus who Akito will save from space than take with him to the ship.
-The crew listening in on the threesome's conversation.
-Akito stating that he was fighting to protect Gai's ideals, not either Yurika or Megumi.

Scenes to Remember:
-Nagare and Erina are up to something on board.  They are there for a reason, and it's not to actually help run and protect the ship.  They were there for something else, and the scene when the two were watching footage of Akito disappearing ("jumping"?) from his room and to the observation deck, you had to feel they were spies of some sort.
-Erina is a real bitch sometimes.  She's barely on board a day, and she's already yelling at the captain for being an idiot.  How mean can you get?  Also, as subhelmsman, Erina should wear a orange top, such as the ones Ruri, Meg, and Minato wear.  She, instead, wears a white top, which is the same as Yurika's and Jun's tops.  Is she e being snobbish and conceited by doing this?  Also, what is the secretary of Negral's president doing on board the battleship in the first place?
-Nagare is a character.  A self-proclaimed womanizer, he easily looks at theladies on board, and, considering that this is the Nadesico, there are plenty.  He easily becomes the opposite of Gai for Akito, as he instantly hits on Akito's love of anime as a weakness.  He does try to give Akito a reason to fight in the war, but he expected him to proclaim the majesty of war or the love of a woman as his reason.  He obviously hasn't known Akito enough.
-Akito's bouts with fear comes out again.  Perhaps now we can all see that Akito really doesn't like fighting because he's really afraid.  Ad. Fukube has become, to him, another person he knew that died.  He doesn't like knowing people he knew die.  This is a reason why he doesn't want to fight, why he just want to spend his time watching Genkigander III.  He just wants to run away from it all.  Sooner or later, he has to stop running and do what he has to do.
-You have to love Akito's gumption to call Gai's ideals his reason to fight, especially since two lovely ladies were with him, each expecting him to name one of them as his reason to continue.  Hikaru was joyous at this, however, as an otaku would be, because she knows of the ideals he was talking about.
-The fact that Yurika and Megumi went off after Akito is remarkable.  They, who are both inexperienced in being in a battlefield (of sorts), decided to risk ther lives to get him.  It ended up that Akito saves them both.  The conversation inside the cockpit of the Aestivalis is also rather remarkable because the two girls try to iron out and present their feelings to each other and Akito.  About time, right?