Imagine for a minute if it had worked out exactly as planned. Unless they somehow manage to break off instantly and get clear, the Kaiser gets to see a squad of brave men salvo their rockets point blank into the thing and then promptly be incinerated.

Heh heh, oh man. Surely one Neuroi-san would be enough. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Thinking, heck, it's what Gryphon said. :)

>... but then the episode ended and I guess I got my wish, it wasn't a
>cliffhanger this time, but it just didn't feel like the natural end of
>the ride to me.

Well... you're not wrong, it really isn't. There is obviously quite a bit going on in this episode that isn't sorted out at the end. It's not clear to the reader or most of the characters what the heck was going on there. That's not intended to make them or you seem or feel stupid, though. It's just an indication that they're caught up in complicated events that they haven't fully unraveled yet.

This stems from several different factors, a couple of which are not necessarily narrative devices so much as artifacts of the process. One is that frontloading the mysterious action and then explaining everything in the back half of the same episode seems a bit... I don't know, weak? And the other is simply based in one of the limitations of the format. The "serial experiment" idea is to drop an episode on Friday, come what may. That's actually why last week's had a cliffhanger - otherwise, it would probably have run through, well, about where this week's ended.

Beyond that, though, where this week's ep ends is a fairly organic place to stop if the next episode follows through. It's a quiet moment with the immediate source of tension resolved, time for the characters to step back, breathe, and regroup - after which they can get on with figuring out what the heck was going on. And to be fair, at that particular moment, many of them have things to worry about that are higher on their personal priority lists - such as whether their commanding officer, their friend, and/or in one or more certain particular case(s) the imperfectly-acknowledged love of their life is going to make it. If it helps, think of it as a different form of cliffhanger.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Plus Shizuka's now been initiated into the 'sleeping next to Gryphon' club. That's a solid step forward in her story.

to be honest, I personally had a lot more trouble with the beamriding part of it, as my brain seems to keep insisting that the beam was actually providing more steering than just "hold the signal at bearing x azimuth y". Most likely assuming facts not actually in evidence there.

However on to the one point no one has discussed...
VonHammer. From her appearance last week, and on to now. I have to wonder if shes a DC of one (or more) of Martin "PC Hammmer" Rose's ancestors. Or maybe of Eiko's after having seen her in action. Or maybe even some sort of blend of both? Maybe its just seeing her backup weapon, but suddenly I really have this image of a young looking, but clearly mature Eiko, with her hammer's 'flame trail' matching her hair...

Well, no, it seems like your brain was probably right. The real Knickebein was just a navigational aid, providing information that the aircraft's pilot would then act upon, but in this implementation it's doing rather more. There will be a much more detailed analysis of how Operation Grass-Snake worked (and what it was meant to accomplish) in episode 07, next week.

>From her appearance last week, and on to now. I have to
>wonder if shes a DC of one (or more) of Martin "PC Hammmer" Rose's
>ancestors.

You do realize his name isn't actually Hammer, right? :)

Anyway, no, she's not (as far as one knows) related to either of them; she's the local equivalent of Hans von Hammer from the old Enemy Ace feature in DC's Our Army at War comics, and she looks like Me 109 from Fly Girls because the animators were having a little joke. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>From her appearance last week, and on to now. I have to
>>wonder if shes a DC of one (or more) of Martin "PC Hammmer" Rose's
>>ancestors.
>
>You do realize his name isn't actually Hammer, right? :)

*points at line G quoted* :p ;D

>
>Anyway, no, she's not (as far as one knows) related to either of them;
>she's the local equivalent of Hans von Hammer from the old Enemy
>Ace feature in DC's Our Army at War comics, and she looks
>like Me 109 from Fly Girls because the animators were having a
>little joke. :)
>
hmm. Yes, I think I saw something to that effect somewhere. :p guess its just the way you write her, especially here, really channels the way Marty wrote Eiko back when he was an active memeber of the collective. Could also be that I must semi shamefully admit that Marty's stories and appearances were the ones I liked best, especially the handfull of Thunderforce stories; and that fact is skewing my perceptions.

Who needs computers? They didn't need computers to make Fritz X work...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

No electronic computer... just the organic one between the operator's ears.

Edit to add:
and apparently that is what they did here. Looking at it I think I can tie down my initial problem with it: that there were 10 units involved that had to be directed; and for some reason I was thinking that each of the packs each of those poor suckers was strapped to were receiving individual steers and control inputs to keep them in formation. Certainly after having read the events of 6, plus our discussions here, have me saying "Dude, its cool, just believe the author has a good grasp on HIS DAMN STORY and let him tell it his way. You know this dude, trust him already"

*insert gallic shrug here*

It is, perhaps, worth keeping in mind that Operation Grass-Snake was not, technically speaking, a good plan. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

*SNERK*

Totally.

I think you're just having an off day - I parsed it immediately, and I have zero familiarity with Strike Witches going into it.

Given the size of the target and the fact that Gryphon tried shooting at it from what would have been reasonably long range for a normal Fliegerhammer, I'm... not sure your conclusion inevitably follows.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.