Another recap episode. No new Lunamaria scenes. Bleah. The only new stuff like changes to the OP, the ED Zaku! Zaku!! campaign and GSD 42 preview has already been covered and screencapped, with his usual verve and efficiency, by Omni.
I will just conveniently use the structure of this episode to discuss some concepts in international relations theory which GSD brings out quite well. There is nothing original about this, of course. In my undergrad days, there was a conference on the influence and uses of popular culture in international relations theorising and one of my profs’ papers was on how technology can radically change political norms, imagined through the sci-fi novels of Iain M. Banks. I would love to be able to do something like that with anime one day and am hopeful that Prof Matt Thorn will continue to pave the way.