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Infinite Ryvius Volume 02 – Vital Guarder

This science fiction retelling of “Lord of the Flies” (no, I’m positive that I didn’t mean Rings… it’s a book… read something besides comics man!) continues with the second disc. As alliances form, the good of the crew comes into conflict with the wants of individuals.

Episode 06: My Moment

With the aftermath of the escape of the Ryvius, the crew tries to maintain the positive vibe around the ship; most people believe that they will be rescued soon. However, the command crew has decided to not reveal to the general crew that they are currently in the sea after escaping the assault. Outside the sea, the chasing ships have decided to prevent the Ryvius from surfacing by launching a salvo of depth charges.

With the latest row between the brothers, Kouji suffers from the indignities of having people offer to cover for him as well as having Aoi investigating on his behalf. While Kouji’s team works on deciphering the Vital Guarder, Ikumi decides to confront Yuki about the attack on Kouji by suggesting that he grow up and stop being a detriment to the team. Just before Yuki can knock Kouji’s head off, the attack on the Ryvius starts. With the original plan of surfacing gone, the Zwei team decides that they should dive after avoiding the brunt of the assault. Before the dive is implemented, the main solid of the engines is reactivated, which protects the ship from the torpedo attack but cuts off the trainer ship (the area where the prisoners were being held) from the Ryvius.

Episode 07: The Changing Times

With the sacrifice of the trainer ship, Blue and his team decide that they cannot abide by the actions of the Zwei team any longer. Having a working knowledge of the current situation (thanks to Charlie) and the only weapons on board the Ryvius, Blue and his team seize the bridge and now command the ship. In an abortive attempt to stop Blue, Yuki tries to attack and only succeeds in being easily beaten and in now a prisoner of the team. Removing Lucson from command position, Blue names Juli the new Captain, orders that Kouji’s team continue training on the Vital Guarder, makes Kouji a member of the bridge crew (because of his suggestion to ride a current of the sea towards Mars), and makes Faina a support member for the bridge crew. Blue’s first move is to inform the crew of Zwei’s deception and to try and establish control of all aspects of the ship. Despite the first attacks’ utter failure, 

Yuki again tries to attack Blue but this time is beaten to the point of unconsciousness.

Kouji discovers his brother’s condition later the next day, and after another argument between the two, Kouji strikes his brother after Yuki suggests that he was a coward. The episode ends with Faina and Kouji heading back to the bridge, and being knocked off their feet as the Ryvius is rammed by a squid-like object.

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Episode 08: We Didn’t Know Anything

The Ryvius continues the course towards Mars, but as they approach relative safety,order on-board begins to break down as almost all non-essential duties are ignored. Kouji continues to be used by Blue’s team as a mouthpiece to the ship by issuing orders and propaganda intended to calm crew members.

Upon breaching the sea outside Mars, the Ryvius is met by a group of ships too numerous to be a rescue operation. Having sensed a trap from the beginning, Blue orders the crew of the Ryvius to battle stations and plans to deploy the Vital Guarder in defense. The order to battle stations causes the crew of the Ryvius to descend into anarchy as they believe that the latest news is all part of the continuing lies issued by the command staff. The bridge erupts in a flurry of activity as Juli tries desperately to convince the pursuers that they merely want to surrender while Blue takes control of the weapon systems and returns fire on the enemy ships.

Episode 09: Vital Guarder

The Vital Guarder is finally deployed with the lift ship to engage the enemy targets, which is actually a minefield deployed along the orbital path of the Ryvius. With the detachment of the system, most controls and support on board the ship temporarily shut down; this leads the chief engineer to speculate that the Vital Guarder has been the primary supply for the Ryvius systems all along.

Using the primary weapon for the first time, the crew of the Ryvius are stunned to see that the main weapon is a gravity field that collects all of the mines and crushes them. Seeing the enemy fall back, the crew falls into a sense of false security and doesn’t notice that the enemy has regrouped from the failed attack and has set up a new minefield with an additional trap. After receiving an order from the bridge to clear a path through the minefield, Yuki believes that the tactic will lead to a trap and takes sole control of the Guarder’s systems. Deploying the system himself, he destroys all of the mines and even defends against a series of warships laying in wait to attack the Vital Guarder with torpedoes. However, this aggressive movement may have dispersed the attack, but the bulk of the Ryvius is unprotected and the Vital Guarder has now moved out of contact range… which is a problem with the enemy forces regrouping.

Episode 10: Even If You Can’t Believe

The splitting of the Ryvius and the Vital Guarder becomes more intense as action on the two ships is shown. The command of the Vital Guarder (one member of Blue’s team and one of the Zwei team) is considering abandoning the Ryvius and running away; however this animated discussion is partially picked up by the bridge of the Ryvius. The potential of being abandoned leaves the bridge in a state of panic again with fear ruling all potential plans.

Making things more difficult is a group of ships that has come astern and has started torpedoing the Ryvius. Amongst the general crew, the populace is quickly becoming a mob as people search for space suits or run towards the forward decks. Kouji refuses to believe that the Guarder and his brother would abandon them, and he convinces the bridge to maintain course and wait for the Guarder to link-up.

Up to this point in the series, I’ve been impressed with the way that space ship battles have been treated as being more like a conventional submarine battle than the reckless mayhem of other space battles. It makes for a more slower paced action where the drama on board the different parts of the ship take precedence over gratuitous explosions and CG. A great show so far!

- Tazman

(February 4, 2004)

“Wussy! Wussy! You're weak! Christopher Reeve could kick that guy's ass!”

- Rocko (Undergrads)

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