Episode 0, “The Times”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Daisuke Jigen finds himself at odds with the changing landscape of thievery and the world in general and wonders if he should quit. Plastic guns, drones, restricting foam, it all becomes too much for him. But the world’s gratest thief, his friend Lupin III, is confident that he still has value, and he wants to utilize it to escape from Inspector Zenigata. Has Jigen’s time run out, or does the gunslinger have a few more rounds?
“Thrice Upon a Time”
(Spoiler-Free) Synopsis: Shinji, Asuka, and Rei are welcomed into a sleepy little village of survivors from the Near Third Impact, an event Shinji inadvertently caused. Having failed to redeem himself for his mistake, Shinji is at first unresponsive to the kindness given to him. But soon after settling in, it becomes clear that the world needs him once more in the fight between WILLE and Nerv, a fight to decide the outcome of the human race itself. Will the machinations of Gendo Ikari come to fruition? Will the Instrumentality Project be a success, or will it be stopped before it starts? It’s the final showdown and the final Evangelions are prepped for action!
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS: It’s Universal Century 105, 12 years after Char’s Rebellion. The Federation continues to devour resources on the Earth, but are opposed by a group called Mafty that assassinates Federation leaders. Their leader is Mafty Navue Erin, who unbeknownst to most is really Hathaway Noa, the son of Federal Forces hero Bright Noa. After him is the Federal Force’s Circe unit, led by Kenneth Sleg, a determined and tenacious officer dedicated to stomping out Mafty and its influence. Hathway must find a way to cloak his activities as he seeks to change the world.
To wrap up 2018 I wanted to share a something I’ve been working on over the past year, my list of top Sci-Fi novels (slash series where applicable).
First off, let me state that this list is a terrible, awful, no good, bad idea. No matter what order I would put these in there will always be someone who disagrees. That’s totally okay, there are parts of this list that I may disagree with myself depending what lenses I’m looking through. There’s so much going on in the science fiction genre that trying to compare and sort by best is like trying to compare apples and oranges. How do you compare ground breaking works that introduced new concepts well ahead of any real world implementation against enjoyable, albeit unimaginative, military sci-fi serials? What about series with four plus novels that dip and rise in quality depending on what’s going on? Or even works elevated beyond written form by fantastic audio book narration? The short answer is you can’t, not realistically at least.
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS: In the year 2045, sustainable warfare has made an even wider gap between the haves and the have-nots in certain areas of the world. Motoko Kusanagi, Batou, and other former Section 9 members are now GHOST, a PMC that cleans up messes in the U.S., but have found themselves entangled in a bigger plot. So-called “post-humans” threaten the world order, and Section 9 is revived in Japan, at the behest of the newest Prime Minister. But is the Prime Minister just a puppet for the American government? And is there more to these post-humans than just superhuman monsters? The gang’s all back to brain dive into a brand new series by Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki!
Episode 24, “My Friend”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Peace has returned to the Free Planets Alliance. However, Yang Wen-li has his doubts as to the nation he’s saved, and its leader, Job Trunicht. Yang is surprised when he hears Imperial Admiral Merkatz has defected, and plans to take him at his word. Trunicht and his inner circle discuss what to do with a reluctant Yang, but he has no fear and leaves it be for the moment. Reinhard, now recognized as a duke, and de facto in charge of the Empire, visits Siegfried Kircheis’ grave on Odin, while Yang visits the graves of Jean-Robert Lapp and Jessica Edwards on Heinessen. But meanwhile, on Earth, the cult of Terra waits to see if their machinations pay off.
Episode 23, “Farewell to the Days of Old”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Reinhard is presented with the war prisoners at Geiersburg. Farenheit is brought into his fold. Ansbach makes an attempt on Reinhard’s life, but misses, and fatally injures Kircheis in the struggle, then commits suicide. Reinhard is devestated by the loss of his dear friend, seeing and talking to nobody for several days. Oberstein contacts Annerose in an attempt to stir his superior from his seclusion, which works. Meanwhile, Minister of State, Lichtenlade, is taken into custody to prevent his schemes into stopping Reinhard’s rise to power.
Episode 22, “The Fall of Goldenbaum”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Kircheis confronts Reinhard over the Westerland Incident and the latter’s allowing it to happen. This creates a small rift between the two as Lohengramm’s forces close in on the nobles. Said nobles, meanwhile, are dwindling after failures in battle and bad publicity. Flagel is determined to challenge an admiral one-on-one and is rejected by Reinhard’s men. He is ultimately killed by his own subordinates after refusing to listen. Admiral Merkatz’s own subordinate saves him from a suicide attempt and suggests he defect to the Free Planets Alliance instead. And Prince Braunschweig’s assistant, Ansbach, forces him to die by poison to go out with dignity. Geiersburg Fortress is occupied by the new power in the Empire.
Episode 21, “Victory For Who’s Sake?”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: The last obstacle between Heinessen and the Yang Fleet are the twelve defense satellites that circle the planet, Artemis’ Necklace. First, Yang has Bagdash announce that the coup on the FPA government was orchestrated by Reinhard von Lohengramm. This astonishes and angers the National Salvation Council, but Real Admiral Lynch admits it’s true. At this point, Yang destroys the satellites with propelled masses of ice that shatter them. Lynch kills Admiral Greenhill and is, in turn, killed by Greenhill’s subordinate. The coup is over. Frederica mourns the loss of her father. Order is restored to Heinessen and Job Trunicht reemerges, in care of the Earth cultists. On Phezzan, Adrian Rubinsky assigns Boris Konev to spy on Yang Wenli.
Episode 20, “Tragedy”
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Kircheis, Lutz, and Walen engage the Littenheim Fleet in battle. Littenheim fires at his own supply ships when they block his escape, leading some to defect. One soldier kills Marquis Littenheim and damages Garmisch Fortress, giving Kircheis an easy victory. Reinhard lures Braunschweig and the nobles’ forces into a trap and they are just barely saved by Admiral Merkatz. Following this, Braunschweig, enraged that one of his territories has begun to rebel, orders the bombing of the planet. Reinhard receives word of this ahead of time, but is convinced by Oberstein to allow it in order to show the high nobles’ true colors to the public. After the attack is carried out, Kircheis recieves word of Reinhard’s forknowledge and worries.
