LAST EDITED ON Sep-12-14 AT 04:04 AM (EDT)
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and state an unpopular opinion:

I'm a fan of B-29. Not the plane, though it's awesome - the character. Lots of fans like to villainize her for her role in Tokyo is Burning, Target: Hiroshima, and Target: Nagasaki, and, yeah, I can admit I see why. Zero's face when she realizes just how big a boot 29 is putting into the East Asian Academy's chances and point spread is heartbreaking, and the moment in Nagasaki where 29 just ignores her on her way to the drop point is the only time I've ever felt sorry for Hayabusa.

But all the people who bash her as a bad sport and a cheater are missing the entire point of spending Nagasaki focusing on her - we see her first exposure to the game in those flashbacks, see what she knows about how it's supposed to go and what a player's role is. There's none of the fair play and courtesy fans rag on her for lacking in it - she's been told her entire life that a good player is the one that wins, by whatever means, and like any eager young girl, she wants to please her parents and coaches.

And then, at the end-of-match handshakes, every time we see her, she's left standing on the field while the other players walk off, wondering why no one likes her when she's done everything she's supposed to. Even P-40, who's the only character we see her sneak past her handlers to actually try to talk to (the poster on the inside of 29's locker was a cute touch, BTW) brushes her off and is more likely to spend time with archnemesis Zero than her own schoolmate.

I don't actually like Target: Nagasaki that much; certainly I can't bring myself to watch it again very often. It makes me cry and I'm a wimp about sad endings. But I think it's one of the best-executed episodes in the show, and that B-29 needs all the hugs.

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"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."