Robotics;Notes - Episode 8

Kidnapped and whisked away by men in black, it seems as if the Robotics Club has gotten itself in some rather major trouble...

...or not, as it turns out, as the group are simply dragged off to JAXA, where they're introduced to Nae Tennouji, an employee of the space agency who seems willing to offer the group exactly what they're looking for - assistance and funding in building a giant robot.  Although all of this seems too good to be true (and the presence of Aki's father blatantly suggests that strings are being pulled), nobody is going to look that kind of gift horse in the mouth... unless you're Aki, who refuses based on the requirement that the group starts work on building a new robot rather than finishing off the GunPro-1.

With that project back to square one, Kai returns to his unusual AI companion and the conspiracy that seems to be at her fingertips (not that AI have fingertips, but you know what I mean...) via the Kimijima reports - indeed, it seems that the means to unlock the second report is at his grasp, provided he can clear a few "flags".  While some of these requirements are easy, others are a little more difficult or time-consuming, and on Kai's part his decision to open up the protective shell of the radar tower at the centre of it all just before a typhoon hits is a stupid and almost deadly one.  Still, ultimately Kai wins the day, pushing us a little deeper into a world of illuminati and conspiracy theories.

Having felt like we were about to plunge headlong into the real meat of the series after last week's cliffhanger, I can't help but feel some sense of anti-climax here as we quickly shifted back to a slower-moving pace in terms of both the Robotics Club's efforts and Kai's investigations.  This episode also felt a little as if some of its more important moments were almost glosser over while less critical stuff was given more time to sink in - not to the extend of making things confusing, but just enough to feel a little dissatisfied at the end result.  Of course, if Steins;Gate is anything to go by we're still a little way off reaching the peak of the show, and its growing conspiracy and use of technology continues to be plenty interesting enough for the most part.