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This is a recap and review of episode 8 of Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall, available on Hulu and Disney Plus.     

In this episode, we learn why it’s called “Dawn Fall” and that Dead Master is terrified of bugs! 

Spoilers to follow!

The episode starts with the team finding a restaurant (in the middle of a cliff) where they can finally take off their masks. Colonel reminds us of Artemis’ plan to use an orbital elevator to link the earth to the moon to bring her robots to earth to cleanse it of humanity once and for all. They’ve got two weeks until “dawn fall!”

To stop Artemis, they need to cross the Iron Ocean into the territory of Lunatic. To lead them are the Iron Ocean Fishers, led by Captain Isana (who, like Monika, doesn’t like pants). 

In a flashback, we learn that Isana and Monika have a history together. After Monika shares her heartbreak with Empress, the younger woman prepositions her (much to Monika’s surprise). When Monika tries to explain the difference in the situations, Empress interrupts her to point out massive bug-like creatures overheard and gigantes in the distance.

Isana turns off the ship’s engine to let the gigantes pass, and Monika spots an island she is sure will contain organic enhancement parts for Empress. 

The island is very reminiscent of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind movie.  

After a bridge collapses, Empress and Strength walk further to find a dead gigantes – the source of the parts. Inside, Empress touches a glowing orb that turns the gigantes back on. Despite Empress detaching the orb, the shaking of the gigantes alerts the other creatures. 

Dead Master’s fear of bugs causes her to recklessly shoot at one chasing Empress and Strength, which alerts even more of them. 

While the rest of the ship’s crew fight off the massive bugs, Isana and Monika leave with the orb as a decoy. Empress chases them down to save them. As they drive, Isana and Monika quickly hash out their past.

A creature divebombs their boat, sending Isana toward the water. Empress saves her, and in so doing, uses the orb’s power to upgrade herself. She generates the Yamato Gun of arm cannons and saves the day by blasting the attacking bug to dust.

Afterward, the crew lands on the opposite side of the ocean. Isana offers to pick up where they left off with Monika, but like the giant creature, she’s shot down. 

While decidedly a filler episode, this jaunt was a lot of fun (as fillers tend to be). The Iron Ocean was a fun concept, and it was great to get more backstory on Monika. I always enjoy it when the stoic badass character (Dead Master, in this case) is scared of something small, like bugs. 

The next episode airs on December 14th!

Tina S. Beier

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T. S. Beier is obsessed with science fiction, the ruins of industry, and Fallout. She is the author of What Branches Grow, a post-apocalyptic novel (which was a Top 5 Finalist in the 2020 Kindle Book Awards and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition) and the Burnt Ship Trilogy (space opera). She is a book reviewer, editor, and freelance writer. She currently lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband, two feral children, and a Shepherd-Mastiff.

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