Argento Soma

This episode focuses on new characters, a young girl named Hattie and her dog Walton who live in Montana with her grandfather. While playing in the forests surrounding her home with Walton, Hattie comes across Frank. Never having seen anything like Frank before, Hattie believes that he is an elf from her grandfather’s stories. « read less

Now with a new persona and a fabricated past, Ryu is transferred to FUNERAL as a SARG pilot with the purpose of collecting classified information for the long-haired man. Ryu intends to try and kill Frank while serving in FUNERAL. Upon meeting the personnel of FUNERAL, Ryu comes into conflict with Dan immediately. Dan senses something about Ryu that he doesn’t like, especially when Dan catches Ryu using the computer system while collecting intel (but Dan didn’t know what Ryu was doing or looking for). The episode ends with the arrival of another invader outside New York (which has already been abandoned because of earlier invasions) and with FUNERAL dispatching everyone except Ryu. « read less

Now that FUNERAL knows that Frank can be somewhat controlled by Hattie, some simulations are being run to determine how well she can give Frank orders and how well he can use them. During the testing, Hattie becomes unnerved once she sees the SARGs firing their weapons because she associates gun fire with losing her parents and her grandfather (her parents were killed 5 years prior during an alien attack and Hattie was left comatose due to ahead injury sustained during the attack). To protect Hattie, Frank escapes from FUNERAL with Hattie and Walton during a nasty storm that prevents anyone from tracking them. Frank brings Hattie back home to Montana where he is mistaken as an invader by a reconnaissance fighter and is fired upon. « read less

This episode serves as an introspective episode with Ryu and Dan being put into the brig for 24 hours for accidentally setting off the alarm during a fight. Each of the two characters uses the time to think about different topics, Ryu outlines the nature of the spying that he is doing for the long-haired man. Ryu is providing technical readouts of the SARG units as well as classified battle information from all FUNERAL sorties as well as mention the primary goal of the alien invaders – to reach the “Pilgrimage Point”, a point in Western Colorado. « read less

The latest alien attack has the FUNERAL group stumped; this new alien has a superior defensive capability that allows it to manipulate its molecular density to defend against external attacks be it ballistic or physical. Ryu devises a harmonic attack using a wave amplifier named “Excalibur” that he designed for the specific alien. « read less

The latest alien invader is a dangerous new variant, its approximately 1000 times the mass of a regular invader and is about as tall as some mountain ranges. To make things more interesting its surface can absorb shocks so the Excalibur will be ineffective… oh, and did I mention the FUNERAL base is directly in the path to the “Pilgrimage Point”? After a joint attack with the SARGs and Frank fail, Commander Inez decides to employ the nuclear device attached to Frank only to find out that there was no nuclear device on him, it was a dummy warhead. To make matters worse, it appears that Frank may be knocked out of commission from the damage that he sustained fighting the invader. « read less

With the survival of the FUNERAL base (sort of) it's now time for the inquiry and general bookkeeping with the command staff. The meeting serves a twofold purpose, a general showcase of new information and theories for the constant alien invasions as well as reasons the alien congregate towards the Pilgrimage Point. The truly disturbing aspect of this episode is watching the politicians and generals argue over who’s to blame despite the fact that they’ve been involved and are still involved in a prolonged war. « read less

Being at the research facility has made things more difficult for Ryu, as the memories of his time with Maki keep resurfacing; so much so that he even snapped at Hattie for being too flighty and not acting her age. The group in charge of Frank’s revival are a trio of scientists that intend to revive him by using the templates of four alien heads that were recovered. During the revival program, the four alien heads activate themselves while Frank remains comatose, and they begin destroying the research facility. « read less

In the start of the episode, Guenevere’s SARG is contaminated by an alien’s punch; while the team was returning to base, her SARG broke free from formation and headed towards the Pilgrimage Point. While trying to get Guenevere free of the runaway unit, her SARG attacks Dan and Sue, knocking them out of commission. Because of the imminent threat of reaching the Pilgrimage Point, UN fighters armed with nuclear warheads are dispatched to prevent the rogue SARG from getting there. « read less

So much going on in this episode, it’s easy to get lost. Upon arrival at the forward base, the FUNERAL team with Frank is not sent out to engage the alien but instead watch as a new alien fighting team is activated – complete with the black SARGs that attacked Ryu and Frank earlier. With the revelation of the new SARGs, Ryu realizes that his spying was so competition to FUNERAL could be created and that his revenge was merely used to keep him pliable towards the needs of the long-haired man. These new SARGs ruthlessly attack the alien, blowing off all of its limbs until the alien activates its motor which allows it to fly many times faster than the SARG units and move unfettered towards the Pilgrimage Point. At this point, Frank is dispatched to fight the invader and is dragged all the way to the Pilgrimage Point before defeating the alien. During the battle between Frank and the alien, Ryu kidnaps Hattie and also reveals his true identity to all FUNERAL members present. Flying after Frank in the Pilgrimage Point, Hattie and Ryu witness the destruction of the alien and then the subsequent dissolving of Frank’s left arm to reveal a giant ring exactly like the one that Dan and Sue saw on their last sortie. « read less

After returning back to base with a comatose Yuri, the FUNERAL base is seized by the new invader fighting group (the ones piloting the newer SARGs) and Commander Ines is removed, but not before the other traitor is revealed (don’t worry, I won’t reveal it… it’s just too damn good). With the capture of the FUNERAL personnel, the high end staff members are being transported to another base for interrogation; but the group discusses the known facts and are able to trace the extent of influence that this new group has had, running back to their interference with the original creation of Frank at the research facility. Thankfully, David Lawrence shows up in a SARG unit to force down the transport, but his news isn’t good. David tells the FUNERAL staff that another invader is approaching Earth… one that’s over 8,000 km long and possesses enough mass and magnetic forces to destroy the planet. « read less

Another packed episode. The traitor holds Ryu and Hattie at gunpoint, and he suddenly betrays the guards by locking them out of room that they are in. Telling Ryu and Hattie to go on ahead, Dan heads towards the brig area and frees Commander Ines. On the surface, Guenevere is trying to battle the alien but is not having much success. To even the odds, Sue takes control of one of the damaged ZODs and joins the fray. Guenevere spends the entire fight closing on the alien while trying to save the captured pilot on-board the alien. Her SARG manages to free the pilot before failing due to sustained damage. At this point the alien unleashes its’ primary attack, a supernova with itself at the center. Unable to move, Guenevere and the saved pilot are now directly in harm’s way. « read less