In this episode of Sora Kake, we are treated with a totally pointless baseball filler. Goodie. A mysterious masked QT-powered pitcher has been defeating professional baseball teams by striking out all the batters in the spirit of dojo yaburi. Former star player, Itsuki Kannagi, is called out of her forced retirement to deal with the menace.

The first duel on the mound results in a draw, and Kannagi goes through rigorous off-screen training with the demon of baseball, Leopard, to boost her QT power at the cost of her life. Meanwhile we find out that obvious identity of the masked pitcher to be Akiha, who was kicked out of the pros some time ago for being a QT user, and is now enacting her revenge on the league by beating all the teams single-handedly (with some QT enhancements from Leopard). Akiha soon finds out that using her enhanced QT powers are taking a strain on her body and that she has three more powered pitches to throw before her body gives out.

Itsuki completes her training and meets again with Akiha for a duel. Seeing Itsuki’s passion, Akiha throws aside her motive for revenge for a pure contest against her. Itsuki manages to hit Akiha’s QT pitch but falters afterwards from the force of the impact and dies. We then find out that the entire duel was a setup from the beginning to rid the world of QT powered baseball players, and Akiha powers up for one last throw against the bearded man and his assistant.

Masked demonic pitcher.

The crowd gasps in awe.

Min-chan, get outta there. You’re no match!

Those pilot shades are c’est magnifique.

Dramtic pose moment.

Children at the orphanage, because every sob story needs orphans.

Nina and Itsuki discussing various things.

This suit… These glasses… They’re quite simply…

FABULOUS!

Look alive guys.

Last up to bat is…

Itsuki Kannagi!

Can you withstand the force of my balls?

I never knew baseball was so violent.

Itsuki receives instructions to train with the demon of baseball.

Maid Imo and Nami don’t get enough screentime.

Akiha is a Char.

RIP Kazane and Takane.

This is a shrine, but where are the maidens?

Huzzah! It’s finally time for Leopard to make his appearance.

Leopard’s totally innocuous iron rod.

Grab my iron rod!

Now only one thing can stop Leopard from escaping his prison…

Boiled potatoes!

Itsuki’s back to whack some balls.

Seriously, the masks aren’t fooling anyone.

The crowd cheers Itsuki on. Banzai!

Whoa. Just like **** Ruth!

This is a baseball bat that shall bludgeon the heavens.

Nami and Imo arrive to cheer for Akiha.

The true Akiha returns.

If real baseball was this epic I’d be inclined to watch more often.

Sorry guys… I’ve done enough, right?

That green haired girl went down easier than expected.

ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ITSUKI?!

Impressions:
This episode was almost as pointless as Naruto or Bleach filler. While I’m happy to get an episode focusing mostly on the amazing Itsuki, none of it even matters at the end of the day. Let us never talk of this episode ever again.

What, that’s not a proper impression you say? Fine. I can’t help but feel that the whole QT users ruining baseball motif is a stab at the how the steroid era has tainted baseball for the past decade or so. The writers love to keep throwing all sorts of sexual undertones at us with Leopard commanding Itsuki to grab his iron rod and getting blown away by its power at first. The pitcher (Akiha) and catcher (Honoka) metaphor also peeks its head here too if you wish to see it. The masks Akiha and Honoka wear are no doubt a homage to Sunrise’s proud tradition of masked villains like Char, Zechs, Rau Le Creuset, etc. I don’t think there’s much more to really talk about since this episode bears no significance on the plot.

With the promise of getting to meet Leopard, Itsuki and Soldier UL join Akiha, Honoka and Imo in infiltrating the St. Artemis Rehabilitation Center on the moon to retrieve the part for Leopard, all the while the aforementioned Leopard hosts a very fabulous radio show dedicated to himself. In response, the ICP leaders send our two favorite bumbling ninjas to the scene to stop Akiha and company.

Akiha and Imo are separated from the group after they instigate a prison riot. Itsuki, UL and Honoka delve deeper into the facility and encounter a radical kung fu robot that bends missiles, deflects lasers and other nonsense. It’s as ridiculous and over the top as it sounds. The three receive a prompt ass whooping from the robot until Honoka decides to become his friend. They move on to the next room where they meet Sakura Shishidou, genius loli with a magical scarf and younger sister to Akiha.

Akiha eventually catches up with the group, where they soon learn that Takane is being held captive by the mysterious Aleida and her army of cardboard box headed henchmen outside the facility. The group rushes over only to be promptly defeated by Aleida’s hax power. As things start to look hopeless, Leopard suddenly appears to get Akiha and company out of this jam. Things only get hairier when Nerval suddenly announces himself and uh, starts to emerge from surface of the moon.

That chair looks really inviting.

Welcome to Space Lelouch’s Talk Radio Hour. Today’s subject is Geass, ethical or not? We’ll be taking your calls for the rest of the hour.

The oldest sneaking cliche known to man, crawling around through airducts.

Going through an ineffective laser security field is also a must.

Good angle of the ICP ninjas.

Better angle of the ICP ninjas.

Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak…

This is either a jailbreak or a Black Friday sale at Wal-Mart.

Takane bondage picture for Panther.

Aleida looking mysterious as usual.

Itsuki and Honoka find something strange blocking their way…

Robot has sent a friend request. [Add/Reject]?

[Rejected]

Secret Technique Number One…

Missile Bending no Jutsu!

He doesn’t take rejection well.

Honoka: Why do we even bother with missiles when they never work?

Blade Grasp’d. Try again.

Itsuki used Hi Jump Kick!

When you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

[Friend Request confirmed]

What a lucky robot.

Oh snap. Meet Sakura Shishidou.

As if we didn’t have enough problems, now we have a loli.

Sakura’s sentient scarf protects her from lolicons.

Takane getting some shock treatment.

We have your older sister. If you want her back, you must bring us a million dollars and the keys to a 1983 Volkswagen Scirocco.

I bet you googled ‘Volkswagen Scirocco’, didn’t ya?

This is probably the least intimidating army I’ve ever seen.

…Maybe I spoke too soon.

You guys got served.

What a waste of human life and cardboard boxes.

Leopard finally makes his dramatic entrance to save our heroes. It’s about damn time!

Will the real Nerval please stand up?

Dramatic pose moment.

Impressions:
Oh Sora Kake, how much more ridiculous can you get? I still can’t figure out whether or not the writers want this show to be taken seriously. It wants to be taken seriously yet keeps throwing ridiculous situations one after another at us, like the kung fu robot and cardboard box head men. Well at least we’ll probably get to see Takane kick some ass in the next episode.

Previous episodes:
Episode 4 – Panther
Episode 5 – Chong

In this thrilling episode of Sora Kake… Honoka and Akiha escape from the Nerval with Leopard’s brand spanking new gold orbs in their possession. Honoka and Kannagi hold off the Nerval’s pursuit while Leopard gets his new balls from Akiha. Leopard then orders Akiha to fire a very phallic cannon at the Nerval and they blow it to smithereens.

With the help of Nina, Kannagi fakes her death to elude the higher ups in the ICP that think she knows too much about the rogue colony incident. She then goes undercover as a transfer student, Mutsumi Shimoyama, and infiltrates Akiha’s school to… Get closer to her. Kannagi has a duel with Honoka in the courtyard that, surprisingly enough, no one witnesses. Kannagi then busts her own cover in front of Akiha, but our ditzy heroine doesn’t remember her. The mysterious student council later warn Kannagi that they know her true identity or something. Frankly, I stopped paying attention somewhere around the time Kannagi started stripping in front of Akiha. This is getting too ridiculous even for me. Time for screenshots.

QT-ARM vs Nerval: Who will emerge victorious?

Even though everyone knows missiles are totally ineffective against nearly everything in mecha shows, you must still fire them when possible.

I know the first thing you looked at is Honoka’s DFC. Admit it.

Incompetent cops in anime? What a twist!

Leopard’s shiny new gold balls. They are totally not a metaphor for testicles or anything.

Nerval mad. Nerval smash!

I HAVE DA POWA!

This is a QT-ARM. It’s sort of like a Valkyrie except not as cool.

There’s no way this could be phallic imagery…

Hello cleavage.

It’s just a giant space colony and nothing more.

Charging colony laser!

…Did the Nerval just get laser bukake’d?

That felt fabulously good. Why are you still here?

Leopard = Dung. Don’t piss off the Imoko.

One Leopard just got pwned.

Bunch of evil men. Those glasses reek of evil.

roflcopter. Darker than Black cosplayers.

Kannagi looking sort of dead.

Do assassins normally freak out this much when they see a dead body?

EEK! Blood!

My name’s Mutsumi Shimoyama. I’m not Kannagi Itsuki because my disguise has glasses.

Yay a transfer student!

No one supects a thing. Fools.

This is our secret love diary. For. Our. Eyes. Only~

Keep smiling. I’m going to get you eventually you airhead.

Kannagi contemplates the best way to get close to Akiha.

I like where this is going…

Insert totally appropriate “boing” sound effect.

Wait a second! Aren’t we moving a bit too fast?

I’m not a big meganekko fan, but I must admit I like the green haired Kannagi. Of course not having a shirt on helps too.

I’m crushing your head! I’m crushing your head!

Am I the only one that thinks the student council president looks a lot like a grown up Takumi Tokiha?

And why is it that student councils always have ulterior motives for being a student council?

Ye Olde Impressions:
Sora Kake keeps getting more ridiculous with each episode. Phallic imagery sure is fun. Leopard’s gold orbs/balls. No question what those are supposed to be. Leopard’s “sexual release” after having Akiha fire his giant phallic cannon. No question there either. That’s quite a way to relieve yourself, that’s for sure. Sora Kake certainly isn’t shy about the T&A either. There are even an assortment of chest sizes to keep all the fans happy. We start on the small range with Honoka’s DFC and move all the way up to Kannagi’s hefty assets with all other sizes in between. No shortage of cheesecake here.

Kannagi has the wrong idea of what it means to get closer to her subject, as in she’s trying to get intimate with Akiha instead of getting closer in the more traditional sense. She also doesn’t seem to understand the concept of keeping her cover by so brazenly putting the moves on Akiha and then running through the school with her shirt off. Not like I’m complaining or anything since she’s so hot though.

So yeah, Sora Kake is incredibly stupid but fun to watch. Two of my main three reasons for watching are Jun Fukuyama and Ai Nonaka. I usually don’t factor seiyuu casting into a show too much (unless it involves Houko Kuwashima or Mamiko Noto), but Fukuyama and Nonaka make this fun to watch. Fukuyama is using his Lelouch voice for the part of Leopard, and it’s hilarious to hear him in the context of being a snarky robotic giant floating eyeball.

I have no specific reason for liking Nonaka other than just liking her voice. While her Imoko doesn’t quite live up to two of her more recent roles, Fuuko Ibuki (Clannad) and Kafuka Fuura (SZS), her Imoko is still above par. Imoko going yandere and berating Leopard was gold, and I really think they could have a running gag going there.

My third and final reason for watching this is an obvious one — The fanservice. It’s titillating enough to keep me interested since the story is a big fat joke. Not too much, not too little. Just the right amount. Aw yeah. I especially love the needlessly skin tight flight suits and the cockpit seating position of the QT-ARMs. Wink wink. Aw yeah again.

If you’re wondering why I’ve skipped straight to an episode 3 summary, this is part of an experimental cross-blog tag team episodic venture between myself, Panther and Chong of the Team Blue collective. We’ll be taking turns blogging Sora Kake Girl in a 1, 2, 3 order like so, Panther -> Chong -> myself. If you missed their posts, here they are for your convenience you lazy bums.

Episode 1
Episode 2

See you again for episode 6!