Robotics;Notes - Episode 18

After the heart-rending difficulties caused by recent events, Aki has proved determined to continue the GunPro-2 project no matter what, and come this week's episode the project has not only come to fruition, but it's sent our two remaining Robotics Club members to Tokyo to show it off to the wider world.

Before that however, there's the problem of a shared room with only one bed for Kai and Aki, and more importantly both individuals are trying to come to terms with recent events - for Aki, she is still worried by the lack of contact from her sister, while Kai is haunted by the wide spread across the Internet of the Kimijima reports, although not as much as he's haunted by Mizuka's death.

Still, all of this has to be put to one side once the Expo begins and GunPro-2 is unveiled - a debut which proves to be a hugely tricky one given the negative publicity currently surrounding Gunvarrel and how anime series ties into current events and public nervousness around robots.  There are still some moments of triumph for the duo as they allow the GunPro-2 and its AR interface to strut its stuff, but there are few real plaudits for their work so when a chance to speak to her sister greets Aki, she's keen to take it up... a decision that looks set to launch them into a whole new world of trouble for both siblings.

Once again, having seemingly found an interesting path this week's Robotics;Notesloses its way somewhat - sure, the completion of GunPro-2 and its exhibition is an important milestone in the show and its narrative, but it's presented in a way that feels rushed and doesn't really add anything to either the story or the development of its characters.  This again means that it's left to the big cliffhanger to drag us back to the show for next week - it certainly is a compelling cliffhanger too, but how many of those have we had now that have failed to live up to their expectations?  You'd probably need an AI to successfully calculate the answer to that.