If I said this wasn\u2019t an especially great episode by Apocalypse Hotel\u2019s<\/em> standards, you\u2019d have to take it in context. This show has been an absolute revelation, the surprise of the season (Witch Watch<\/em> has also surprised, but it\u2019s not on the same level). It\u2019s also been on a freakishly good run lately, culminating in last week\u2019s abject masterpiece. This was not on that level for me, but still pretty damn good \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of room for that.<\/p>\n Basically I have two issues with this week\u2019s ep. First, the rod from God is a dumb idea in real life. As such, it amounts to a dumb idea in fiction too. Yes, it\u2019s a real proposed weapon that propeller heads have been debating since the fifties, and the series pretty much depicted it accurately. For myriad reasons it makes almost no practical sense as a weapon, which is why no government \u2013 no matter how crackpot \u2013 has ever tried to develop it. So there was a lot of narrative ink spilled over what amounts to a crackpot theory, with the seeming implication that it was actually a good idea.<\/p>\n The other issue I have is that this is really the first time I found Ponko \u2013 a character type I almost always<\/em> find annoying and had not at all with Apocalypse Hotel<\/em> \u2013 annoying. The constant whinging on about her dumb idea got on my nerves pretty quickly, as did her yelling and bawling generally. I still think she\u2019s a great character, and the revelation that she\u2019s actually an honors graduate of an engineering university on Planet Tanuki makes her even more interesting (I still haven\u2019t figured out what aging means to tanuki, if anything). But yeah, she was a lot to take here \u2013 let\u2019s hope they tone her down.<\/p>\n The whole \u201cVentura, Ventura, Space People\u201d thing was amusing in an almost Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita<\/em> sort of way. In fact I mentioned way back with Episode 3 that AH<\/em> kind of reminded me of that show and while I\u2019d sort of forgotten, it really does fit now that I think about it. That was a series that kind of limped to the finish line after a great start, but as an original I hope this show doesn\u2019t follow suit. And the advertising satellite idea was a good one, too. I mean, even robots get bored I\u2019m sure, and these guys have all the time in the world on their hands. Why not build a satellite and a rocket to launch it? The occasional E.T. is all the Gingarou has to look forward to anyway, even with an onsen.<\/p>\n But then the whole rod from God thing got in the way of the fun. Again, dumb idea on both sides of the fourth wall. And Ponko as a sort of reactionary right-wing politician<\/a> was kind of icky to be honest, a gag that didn\u2019t work at all for me. Frankly there\u2019s no way Yachiyo should have been won over, Nostradamus<\/a> or not. And I mean, maybe there are laws against that sort of thing for a reason? Does Yachiyo want the Gingarou to be a hotel known as a flouter of law and order in the galaxy?<\/p>\n Be that as it may, build the RFG they do (along with the rocket and satellite) and it takes 70 years to boot. Ponko is in charge of the project, and she can\u2019t solve the weight problem (working out doesn\u2019t help). Yachiyo arrives at the logical, practical solution \u2013 if she<\/em> goes instead of Ponko, all that heavy life support equipment can be left off. This seems to work pretty well until an untimely solar flare zaps Yachiyo for long enough to see her untethered and adrift in space<\/a>. I have had suspicions for a while that we might be headed for a tragic ending with Apocalypse Hotel<\/em> (the OP and ED seem to hint at it). But I think it\u2019s too early for such events here, and I suspect Yachiyo will make it back home one way or the other.<\/p>\n
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