コッペリオン Ep. 05 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The Coppelion girls wake up, having spent the night in a ruined school. They are informed by Mishima that some “Shelter-Helicopters” are being used to take care of the nuclear waste and put it into large, temporary storage containers. However, one of the containers is destroyed by a tank as Coppelion finds a crashed vehicle, where they rescue a pregnant woman, Ibuki, and her father, Gojirou from JASA. The team soon discover they are being hunted by the 1st Division, a Japanese Self Defense Force unit sent to Tokyo to help with the evacuation, but were abandoned and classified as lost. Taeko is injured before they are rescued by Kurobe and Gennai in an armored vehicle, both of whom are companions of Ibuki and Gojirou.

The Japanese Prime Minister meets with Mishima about security for the upcoming conference on the environment. When Ibara reports in about the 1st Division, the Prime Minister panics and orders Coppelion to eliminate 1st Division. Ibara goes off on the man, leading to the Prime Minister vowing no evac chopper until they’ve completed their mission. Ibuki drives the group to the fortified JASA HQ and a spherical building they call Planet. The inside is very futuristic and they are greeted by a robot named Nosense, who registers the Coppelion members. Takeo is placed in an oxygen container to help her heal as the others get a tour, including a place that mimics a nice, clean place outdoors, complete with wildlife. Meanwhile, Mishima bribes Mushanokouji to speak with the “cleaners” group.

Thoughts/Review:

Since my Crunchyroll account is all jacked up at the moment (until they sort it out), I don’t know what chapters are covered by this anime episode.

I think there’s a nod to Nausicaä of sorts in this episode, both with the character of Gennai, and the artificial, uncontaminated planet element in the Planet building (there was a similar, uncontaminated place later on in the Nausicaä manga).

This cleaners group shown at the end of the episode finally shows us that there are more than just three high school girls and a small support team out of the radiation zone doing work in Tokyo. It is obvious that this cleaner group is from Ibara’s school, but why Mishima couldn’t speak to them, despite being Vice Principle, is more of a mystery.

I’m still at a loss regarding Aoi. Seriously, if she was born and trained for this mission, she should NOT be acting the way she does.  She’s a massive liability to the team and their mission.  Thus far, I can’t think of her accomplishments other conveniently finding that shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile launcher.  She’s really getting on my nerves.

The episode even brings up the cost of Coppelion, yet Aoi isn’t trained, and that 3-person team has no real support. They are dependent on a Chinook coming from their HQ to do anything. Had this been properly planned and done, the girls would have been trained to use a vehicle like the M1133 Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicle. It would possibly need a few tweaks (something easily done, considering the number of Stryker variants for different mission types), but it would give the girls a safer place to be (it is an armored vehicle), and it would give rescued people a place to safely be treated while they wait to be evac’d out.

In addition to being anti-nuclear, this series also appears to be anti-military with this rogue, 1st Division Self Defense Force unit, all of whom wear World War II styled German army uniforms for some whacked reason. So far, we haven’t seen much to indicate a reason for their attacking the temporary waste storage facility nor Coppelion, other than the fact that the Japanese government apparently abandoned them. The manga probably had a lot more details to explain things. *_*

Speaking of the Japanese government, I can’t say that I like this caricature prime minister they have in the series.

I’m also not sure why 100% of Japan’s military would be needed to guard some environmental conference in Japan so that not even a single helicopter could be sent to pick up Ibuki and her unborn child as well as Taeko.

I’ll keep soldiering on, pardon the pun, and see where this mess goes.