The Guy I Kinda Like is a Sergeant - Episode 1
Our story opens on scenes characterizing peaceful Japan. The ocean, regular traffic and bridges - there is nothing out of the ordinary about the scenes at all. However, there is mysterious chanting music softly humming the scene to life along with our main character, Kaname Chidori, speaking in time with the words about “Rugon and Ninikke, Omega tita Q tani… Noninna structure’s primary construction material Platheodium, televium, polyal, amydogel, fle, flexibale ishal muscle… Paladididium reactor is a cube, curil nucleon electromagnetic force, holo is camouflague…” As we enter her bedroom through the curtains we see that she is still awakening from sleep and speaking not of her own volition. Our first exposure to her Whispered world. Her alarm clock gently entices our sleeping beuty awake.
The viewer is suddenly wisked off to The Soviet Union, Suburb of Khabarovsk. A barren frozen tundra under the cover of night. As if from nowhere a helicopter materializes from the horizon disrupting the local wildlife. A Jeep going an extreme speed hurries through the dead forest. A uniformed man is in the military issued vehicle with a young red-headed girl in a flimsy white gown, much like one would wear at the hospital for surgery or a routine examination.
We are not aware that the Jeep is under pursuit of the helicopter until we ride a missle’s course straight for the vehicle. It is also very possible that while the gentleman urges the girl to stop nervously biting her thumb until it bleeds, finally intervening with physically pulling the hand away from her he is rewarded with a severe bite on his hand, that they are aware of being pursured but perhaps not by such an undefeatable, silent enemy. It is obvious that this girl has gone through some tramatic experience recently when she asks that she be killed. We see brief scenes of what he girl has been through and he sympathizes with what a horrible thing had been done to her. He also offers her a piece of hope by exclaiming, “Look! Look! It’s the mountains. Do you see them? We’re almost there. We can go home.”
Scenes of spring-filled flowers adorning the hills cause the girl to smile. But sadly, this scene is destroyed when the flying missle strikes dangerously close to the Jeep with such force it throws her from the framework and kills the driver. The wreckage is horrible mangled. The victimized girl finally sits up from the snow and makes it over to the vehicle. The hand of the driver is extended from what is left of the window holding a mysterious disk. As she picks the item up to exam it the helicopter emerges right behind her.
Firing several rounds the girl is tortured and tossed ruthlessly trying to avoid the fire unintended to kill her. The pilot in the cockpit rather enjoys his chance to reprimand the girl for trying to run away before a shadow appears in a distant cluster of trees, and a heated blade flies his way - immediately sending the helicopter off balance and heading to crash straight for the girl. A humanoid machine suddenly appears as if from cloaking behind her and wrestles the helicopter before it is able to crash on it’s intended target.
The red-head knows right away what the machine is. An Armed Slave. She describes it with shock, awe and a bit of fear while she clings desparately to the disk she recovered from her savior’s hand. The AS takes the enemy Hinde down before turning to the girl. Air chambers release and fold the parts of the M9 back so that the pilot can emerge.
Enter a boy as young as her, dark hair and compassionate. His partners radio to him in the background and we can tell a female who is direct about business and a more light-hearted male comprise his team, small for such a huge scale operation. Even more impressive when one considers that this 16 year old boy wrestled a helicopter to the ground. He claims the pick up will be in precisely fifteen seconds and proceeds in dosing the damsel in distress with a powered syringe to the neck; knocking the girl unconscious. She has the chance to ask him who he is and what he’s going to do with her. The hero of our story introduces himself as Sousuke Sagara and comforts her saying they are going to take her back with them.
The name of the girl is never revealed, nor does she show up again in any of the current animated episodes of Seasons 1, 2 or 3. The names of the helicopter pilot or deceased driver, while less central, are also never revealed.
We then pan over to the hanger housed within a submarine where the military machinery is being worked on, repaired and rearmed after the sortie. The blonde, more gregarious team member takes this opportunity to brag on the young teenager’s talent after expressing disbelief in the boy’s bold movements. He talks up his comrade complete with animated noises before he is interrupted by the more serious member of the team we heard earlier. We find she is a female, strong and direct. Even in the hallway heading down to recieve orders the first sign of attraction between the two, we learn in the next scene that they are Kurz and Melissa.
The three report for duty, introduced formally as Sergeant Major Melissa Mao, Sergeant Kurz Weber and Sergeant Sousuke Sagara. Here we meet Liutenent Commander Kalinin whom presents their most recent mission. Kurz is quick to jump in commenting on the looks of the mission objective and with how advanced the Mithril machinery is, from just the opening scenes we’ve seen, it is hard to believe that the most recent photo they can obtain is four years old, however this is the photo presented to our team. Kurz’ enthusiasm over the young girl is quickly damped when he hears she is the target for kidnapping, most probably by the KGB.
Enter the cerulean-haired girl from the very beginning of the series. She ties into the picture as the mission objective to be guarded. The amount of faith in the ability of this small team is highlighted when they are the only three on assignment with minimum weaponry, equipment and aid in the from of government intellegence.
• 1 m9 with minimum equipment (Class B Equipment)
• 2 external condensers
• Knowledge that they are up to the task
Kurz after getting over his disbelief of success and Mao, whom leads the way, take on an air of excitement preparing for the mission thinking out loud their to-do list. Sousuke remains in the office questioning photos and forged documents. He does not understand what they are for.
The first time we see emotion of any kind in the stoic hero’s face is when he is informed by the Lt. Commander that those photos and forged documents are for his transfer papers to enter the same High School as Kaname Chidori. Sousuke Sagara, as we will learn, has never attending High School before. This will be his most challenging mission to date!
Once frugal tablets are now littered with typical teenaged music, magazines and other miscellaneous items that can be found in any High School student’s backpack. Sousuke being completely unaware of what any of these items are, this is going to be a tough lesson for Kurz and Mao to teach! Kurz struggles to get a half way decent photo of the young Sergeant in-cognito High School student when Sousuke recognizes something on the table! He picks up a condom and questions why a High School student would have such a thing. Melissa takes this chance to tease the young boy, whom responds he has used one quite a few times. This scene does an amazing job of displaying Sousuke’s true paradoxical innocence - while Sousuke is not aware of its contraceptive use, he is aware of its wartime ability to save a soldier from dehydration. He is far from innocent in the ways of war.
As the helicopter docks to take off toward Japan, Mao inquires about the potential danger and unease she feels about Sousuke using his real name. Kurz asks if Sousuke is sure he’ll be ok. Mao hints at the soft spot the Captain has for Sousuke, to which Sousuke responds with such innocence that he misses what Mao was talking about. Sousuke is truely one who is not street smart when it comes to women. Their helicopter shows up its capability to disappear into the surroundings.
Chidori finally manages to get on her feet out of bed. Turning on the shower she finally gets her day started reluctantly and somewhat haphazardly. Across the way from her apartment we see our team has nested with superior viewing access of her parameters and the team has already had enough time to bug her apartment. Sousuke packs for his first day of school ever while Kurz and Melissa banter over Kurz’ perversions and inpromtu with regard to his mission. As Kurz enters his M9, Mao relays the current motions of Chidori and sets her team up into ready position. This is the first time we hear of the cloaking device’s name as ECS and get a front seat view of Kurz’ piloting ability. While it was diffcult to get Kurz out the door, Sousuke is prompt and gone before Mao has to order him to be in position.
Kaname nearly floats on air as she heads to school. The wind compliments her characteristcally long hair perfectly, flower petals grace her pathway and her features exude peace turning the heads of every male she passes. While Japan is a peaceful country, it can be taken two ways when one sees the teacher checking each bag of the students before they can enter the premises.
• Things are not always what they seem. Japan is not as peaceful as one thought.
• The way of maintaining that acquired peace results in checking for potential dangers.
The teacher comments on Kaname’s unique tastes in interest, further defining our main character. Items in her backpack include
• Living Like Zhuge Liang!
• Warning of the Dolphins - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
• Marvels of Archeology: Did Moai Write the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Sousuke, completely contridicting everything we’ve learned about him thus far, completely misses the checkpoint. The Sousuke we know would observe this checkpoint and comply as not to draw attention to himself. Reasons for this include
• He is so taken by the mission objective that he does not pay attention to his surroundings or his mission
• He does not wish his personal arsenal to be discovered by the teacher
• He is nervous about his first day of school
• He is so concentrated on the mission he is not taking into account common sense
Enter Kyoko, Kaname’s best friend whom has apparently ticked her off for setting her up on a terrible blind date. We see the total turn around in Kaname’s personality as she explodes on her friend, whom seems to have become immune to the fear-inducing actions. Kurz is immediately disappointed in his idol, in what he thought was a perfect match for him in Kaname.
An important foreshadowing point in their argument comes about when Kaname strives to get her point across with a bit of sarcasm in asking “If someone asked you to sell me to a foreign country, would you do it Kyoko? I’m really curious.”
When the teacher pursues our rebelous Sousuke Sagara (but lets Kyoko go right past her while holding her own backpack open at a running pace glancing to check it without scolding her!), Kaname interrupts her wrecked train track to plummet her best friend to stare at the new student, commenting about how obsessed he is with the military. Kyoko picks up on the interest immediately and through an especially suggestive tone of voice answers to Kaname’s nickname of “weirdo” for him in a way that only she can see as potential for attraction, for Miss Chidori.
While Kyoko captures their first moment together on film, Sousuke argues that his valuable and limited equipment is not a toy. The teacher has already pegged him as a trouble-maker, thus setting the basis for their relationship. We enter the classroom and find that Sousuke is joining our class 2-4! Kyoko can’t resist teasing Kaname, whom has a plastered face of complete disbelief in one of those figures-this-is-my-life-why-would-I-expect-otherwise? expressions.
When asked to introduce himself, Sousuke answers with his rank and militant stature. While is this most comfortable for him, he quickly realizes that he should not have while undercover. Students make fun of him, completing the characteristic teenage classroom joshing. The students seem to make fun of him already, as is most commonly to be expected from this age group but they are still intersted in asking him questions, such as his hobbies and where he’s from. While most of the students become in an induced stupor from the amount of knowledge base Sousuke has in his hobbies, no one sees that him and one student are instant friends!
| Where he’s from | Hobbies | Technical/Periodicals | Music |
| -Afghanistan | -Fishing | -Jane’s Almanac | -Goro Kadokawa |
| -Lebanon | -Reading | -AS Fan | -Suppin’ girls |
| -Cambodia | -Harris Publisher’s | ||
| -Iraq | -Soldier of Fortune | ||
| -Columbia | -Naval Institute Press |
Sousuke seems to handle and keep his cool until asked about the music he likes. The true discomfort Sousuke feels in this completely new setting is displayed in sweating severe bullets and his inability to come up with an answer. It appears Sousuke is out of his league here! He recovers beautifully given the circumstances, but poor Kurz is already exhausted from the mission! And it’s only just begun.
Sousuke finds himself apologizing a whole lot his first day of school! Kaname takes her private time from Sousuke’s stalking from the day in the locker room to express her long list of grievances to Kyoko. The pig-tailed girl loves the opportunity to hint at the potential of a relationship between the two while getting ready for softball. She even comes right out and asks Kaname if she is interested in Sousuke. Her only answer is a nervous fretful laughter, which will become more and more commonplace in the series.
But while Kaname feels a sense of security is being away from Sousuke’s searching eyes in the locker room, this security is shattered when her and Kyoko go to leave the locker room and find Sousuke at the door! 0_0 The half naked girls are so flustered by his sudden (and uninvited) presense that they respond by throwing articles of clothing and whatever is nearby at the intruder. While Sousuke does not consider himself a threat, he concludes that there must be an intruder behind him and moves swiftly to protect his mission objective.
In the act, he accidentally injures Miss Chidori! While it is a minor scrape and not at all life-threatening, our hardened soldier finds it important to apologize to her. He also finds it important that she doesn’t hate him after that first day of school. But, we’ll return to that point here shortly. For now, we’re in the middle of a very messy locker room with Sousuke’s misplacement demanding an answer from the surrounding softball team members. He searches for a reasoning (through Kaname’s ineffective choking) of why he is there and comes up with a claim that he wants to join the their softball team.
But our mentally-sharp hero proves not up to par this day yet again! This is a girl’s softball team. Emphasis on ‘girl’s.’ Harsh reaction arises from the enraged girls again in the form of a ganging up on the perverted interruption. Peaceful scenes of Japan at the end of day are narrated by Kurz’ rendition of the day, navagating the narrow streets less-than-gracefully in his M9. Mao responds by teetering a beer on Kurz’ forehead inviting him to take the edge off for the day.
The radio picks up a phone call in Kaname’s apartment and Melissa is so infatuated with the conversation when Sousuke comes up that she barks at outside noise interrupting her listening. Kaname is speaking with her little sister in New York. They discuss quite a few things, including Sousuke’s novelty to the school. Turns out, the ruckus entering the apartment is Sousuke, outsmarted by Kaname and handcuffed to a folding chair!
Sousuke seems a might bit impressed at Kaname’s resourcefulness, and this position puts him prime to listening to the phone conversation without putting up a fight. As Kaname says that Sousuke is kind of interesting, Melissa smiles and Kurz repeats the words as a question. Sousuke expresses that he really doesn’t understand what that means, that her demeanor at home contridicts the aggressive front she puts up at school and almost sighs in relief that Kaname doesn’t hate him after such a rough introduction at school. Melissa picks up on this and comments, “You almost look happy [about that] Sousuke.”
“Is that so?”
We leave a peaceful sleeping Kaname on her bed clinging her Bonta-kun teddy bear with a smile on her face.
Featured Specials
• Report Sheet for Kaname Chidori
• Mission Command detailing First Mission
• Episode 1, More Than Special Edition
• Episode 1 Complete Dialogue Script
Fave Episode Quotes
1. “Mithril’s knights in shining armor to the rescue! Hang on Princess!”
- Kurz Weber, Anything to take the heroic standpoint, huh Kurz?
2. “Pick up in fifteen seconds.”
- Sousuke Sagara, Sousuke is always precise as ever!
3. “It appears out angel has low blood pressure and doesn’t do well in the morning…”
- Melissa Mao, The more we learn about her the more we find the opposite! Kaname is volatile and apt to have high blood pressure.
4. “If someone asked you to sell me to a foreign country, would you do it Kyoko?”
- Kaname Chidori, The role of best friend is not to be taken lightly with Miss Chidori ^.~
5. “Ma~ni~ac, bang!”
- Kyoko Tokiwa, Because Kyoko is just awesome like that :]
6. “Miss Chidori must be a pretty resourceful girl.”
- Sousuke Sagara, Impressed much are we Sergeant Sousuke?
Compiled by Miz
