Recap: The Yamato squares off against Commander Domel in a grand battle that takes its toll on both sides.

Gee’s Thoughts: This episode has hands down had the best battle I’ve seen in this show so far. Yamato 2199 has had its fair share of truly epic clashes and scrapes that leave the Yamato escaping by the skin of its teeth, but this episode took that to a whole new level. Domel and Okita square off in a battle that pushes both commanders to the edge. Especially Domel, who shows off why exactly he is the best the Gamilans have. A decoy operation leaves the Yamato without an air force, which allows the Gamilans to pepper the Yamato, knocking out its sensors. Akira does an admirable job of holding off the fighters, but the damage is done, which allows Domel to complete the next part of his multi-faceted plan.

And here is where the non-Gamilan crew introduced in the previous episode plays their part. Turns out their mission is to kidnap Yuki for currently unknown reasons, though her conveniently identical appearance to Yurisha is probably a good start. Alas, Hoshina doesn’t even get a chance to stop the kidnapping before he’s ruthlessly gunned down. We shall miss your boyish smiling face. Simultaneously, it looks like the trauma of seeing the boy you have a crush on being killed in front of you is what it takes to kick out the Iscandarian spirit residing in your body.

Unfortunately, Kodai is unable to rescue Yuki, and while they manage to kill most of the non-Gamilan invaders, they manage to escape with Yuki in tow. However, this is only the beginning of the Yamato’s troubles. Indeed, Domel has planned to take out the Yamato’s trump card, the Wave Motion Gun itself, with a rocket-propelled drill loaded with explosives. Luckily, Niimi’s release from the brig along with Analyzer’s help manage to avoid a worst case scenario.

Finally, the Yamato and Domel’s fleet come to blows in a truly tremendous clash that does an excellent job of highlighting everything great about battles in the space opera genre. This is the kind of things I love. No Code Geass-esque bullshit where the commander somehow knows every angle and has a plan that instantly ensures victory. This is a war, victories must be earned and mistakes are paid in blood. Both sides take tremendous losses and finally, Domel is nearly defeated due to some sly thinking on Captain Okita’s part. In the end, Domel and Okita exchange their mutual respects before Domel blows up his own ship. The Yamato barely survives the encounter, yet somehow lives to see another day. I won’t lie, manly tears were shed for Domel. This man truly earned the title of “worthy opponent” to the bitter end.

This was a truly excellent episode of Yamato 2199, being nearly an entire 22 minutes of nothing but space opera combat, ranging from gunfights in the corridors of the Yamato, to exciting dogfights between the fighters, to the clash of the titanic ships themselves, each shot and laser beam cutting a swath through the other. We watch Yamato 2199 for the characters and the encounters like these. By getting to know the characters and their motivations, we grow attached to them, which makes the payoff of the grand battles like the one featured in this episode all the more exciting. Yamato 2199 does a perfect balancing act of giving us enough character development to be engaged in the story while sating our desire for excitement with its amazingly well done battles. As usual, Yamato 2199 continues to be the best damn thing around.