Angels Fall First

Okay, first part of this is me just ranting about the episode itself and then I'm going to get into a bit of a character analysis.

Not much for me to scream about in the majority of the first half of the episode other than I think I prefer Sub Ogata's voice over Dub. Idk, I just feel like it fits him better for the most part.

That and Iharu's whole sequence about how he thought he was hot shit and then got reality checked hit so hard because he's soooo ADHD Gifted Kid coded and it hurts soooo good. And I really liked the shot of his face going through his emotions. Like you can really tell that he felt relieved that Reno failed and immediately wanted to kill himself for thinking that. God bless Anime only content.

The part where I really started to go insane was when Iharu got slammed into the tree and Reno came to save him and said "Thanks" only for Iharu to silently respond with "Don't leave me" Like.... BUDDY... HE SAID THANK YOU. I get you don't believe in yourself right now but damn.

And this is where I get into the character analysis of it all because I think this episode finally clicked a lot of things about their characters for me. Reno can't help but be honest and I don't think that guy has the ability to lie anywhere in his body. He's not completely dense but I do believe he's dense to other people's feelings, like he can't read context clues in some spots. Iharu is honestly a lot better at reading people than I thought but he's so loud to himself I think he drowns out his capability to be nearly empathic. He has moments where he just reactionarily speaks what the other person is thinking and automatically follows it up with what would dismiss the problem. Its almost kinda funny when you pair this with how they answer the question in Hoshi Night Nippon because Reno takes a react first-consequences later approach and Iharu is the guy that at least likes to think for a second which is even MORE interesting considering HE'S looking like he's supposed to be the rebel hotshot.

(also side note about the podcast- I prefer the Dub version because it definitely sounds more HoshiKaf plausible than the sub. I can see with the sub how it could come across as NaruHoshi tho. And of COURSE Hoshina isn't going to say anything on love one way or another and quote a bullshit statistic because if he spoke his True thoughts on the matter he's getting canceled.)

And the more I was thinking about them, the more parallels I started seeing to Kafka and Mina.

HOLD ON... HERE ME OUT FOR A SECOND.

Someone (I think a few people actually) have said some things about how Kafka is basically leading a new generation of Defense Force officers that can grow, learn, and move past the trauma that their previous generation went through and how it really can be the power of friendship that can keep people together. With that in mind, I think Iharu and Reno are supposed to be what Mina and Kafka didn't get the chance to be.

Iharu-Good grades on paper but if failing on the physical aspect of this whole thing, can and is good at evaluating the situation, loud-brash-not afraid to make others talk it out but will shut himself down for the benefit of others, and the piece de resistance- is afraid of being left behind. Honest to God, I think somewhere unconsciously I connected Iharu and Kafka together and it just expressed it as them being good friends. Iharu is getting a taste of what being in the Defense Force would have been like for Kafka if he had made it in with Mina.

Reno-Supposed prodigy that was a lottery draw, is gaining a lot of attention from the DF because of his unnatural aptitude levels and compatibility with powerful weapons, is feeling so much responsibility on his shoulders to save everyone around him, but this is where he diverts from Mina. He's fully accepting all this responsibility and is icing out everyone around him for what he thinks is their safety. Mina had to grow up with the pain of the pain of waiting for relief, of waiting for someone she could rely on to hold her up. Reno knows this but can't stand the thought of them not being there in the first place so he freezes them out (literally) in an attempt to keep them alive for a job he wont let them perform.

Kafka feels like he's a failure because he never got the chance to step up. Iharu feels like a failure because he's trying his best to step up to the rest and can't reach them anyway.

Mina feels responsible for everyone's lives because she was made out to be a shining, solitary beacon of hope and power and now can't drop the persona to save herself. (or, at least I think we would have gotten this if she had the opportunity to be fleshed out a little more.) Reno feels responsible for his friends lives because if he doesn't make himself into a beacon of hope and power, he won't have anyone alive to be his friends at the end of the fight.

And that's why it hurts so much when Reno calls Iharu amazing. Reno truly believes Iharu is amazing because he's honest and loves the fact that Iharu is there. Iharu responds with bewilderment because he can't see a world for himself where he's equal and respectable enough to be on someone's level that is Reno- WHO IS UNINTENTIONALLY BUT CURRENTLY TRYING TO MAKE HIMSELF IMPOSSIBLE FOR IHARU TO REACH.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

its such a small moment but it fully cemented in my insanity for these two. God, it makes me want to do more with Kaiju! Iharu because with all this in mind now, I can just feel this corruption arc of Iharu accepting and wanting to fully be a Kaiju because then it means he can be on the same level as Reno and Reno doesn't know why Iharu wants to be like this because he thought he was making it pretty clear that he was just looking for a friend but Iharu's taking it all the wrong way because he feels like Reno is coming from a place of pity and I NEED TO SCREAM SOME MORE-AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!