The Armchair Empire - Anime Reviews: Infinite Ryvius Volume 3


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Infinite Ryvius Volume 3:

Tension

With the successful escape from the battle around Mars, the crew believes that they will be saved soon.

Episode 11: After the Party

After the battle in orbit of Mars, the crew of the Ryvius decide to throw a party now that they believe that a rescue is imminent. The party is being organized by Kouji, who is trying to keep preparations for the shindig on schedule; but despite the festivities, the underlying tension amongst the crew cannot be sated as conflicts and fights crop up over the smallest issues.

As the party starts, a series of strange incidents happen – Blue remains on board the ships’ bridge during the party, but insists that Juli go have fun (and the two characters appear to have a “moment”; the number of sightings of the purple-haired girl increase and no one knows who she is. The party is broken up by a news transmission which declares that the Ryvius is a terrorist controlled vessel that attacked the Mars fleet and is looking to sow general seeds of destruction… the message appears to rattle everyone including Blue who laughs maniacally at the revelation.

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Episode 12: Whereabouts of the Future

This episode sacrifices action for the sake of plot, and in this case, it’s a whole lotta plot. The crew are forced to face that they are now being considered terrorists and their requests for help are being ignored or intercepted. Still in orbit around Mars, the bridge team comes up with three potential plans of action which produces more tension.

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Amongst the main crew, tensions are heading towards a boiling point as people are feeling as though they are being tricked by the new leadership like they were with the Zwei. To placate the crew, the bridge staff decide to lie to the general populace and claim that they are coming under attack to justify their immediate evacuation of the Mars orbit.

Outside the ship, the groups that continue to plot move into high gear – the group that is trying to capture the Ryvius is bringing more ships to bear on their target; the group that is trying to prevent the capture of the Ryvius has now discovered the original plan to capture the ship and is trying to develop some plan of action; the mainstream military is trying to deal with the possibility that the crew may be high-schoolers (most don’t believe it because of the proficiency that they were able to defend themselves and instead believe that the students may be hostages).

Finally Kouji becomes unglued at the deception, and has the long awaited breakdown that he’s been earning (while alone of course).

Episode 13: If Only to Meet

With the evacuation plan, the bridge crew heads towards the outer solar system towards Jupiter and Saturn, and Blue decides to head to Saturn which has become a collection of independent nations not under Earth control. The bridge crew has now implemented a “points system” where people earn points towards supplies and food by working but can lose them by receiving demerits. This new system is to try and control the general populace, but signs of resistance are quickly evolving with the command staff being exempt and people attacking others for their earned points.

But before anything can be resolved… a new ships comes up towards the Ryvius and the bridge makes the call to battle stations.

Episode 14: To Be Too Conscious

With the Ryvius being approached, information shows that the new ship also possesses some of the same abilities as the Ryvius, namely the ability to generate gravitational distortions. The ship continues to barrel towards the Ryvius, and so the crew decides to leave the Geduld and fight the newcomer in regular space… except the new ship is coming right at the Ryvius and appears to be setting a collision course. The Ryvius is able to avoid collisions twice somehow before it is able to deploy the Vital Guarder to defend it… but the newcomer also has a Vital Guarder that it deploys! On board the other ship, they claim to be the Blue Impulse and refer to the Ryvius as the Black Ryvius and are planning to destroy their Vital Guarder first.

So far Infinite Ryvius has been able to keep my interest with its balance of the main plot and a variety of subplots that help to show a variety of character growths. The series has quickly become one of my current favorites and I look forward to the next installment.

- Tazman

(March 14, 2004)

“It's like a date?”

“Yeah, it's like a date, but without the privacy... the fun... the chance of sex.”

- Nitz and Cal (Undergrads)