In this episode, I've noticed a substantial increase in air time of the Pandora's wobbly bits. Not that it bothers me, but it is something to point out as this is around the time people begin to drop anime after they try the first three episodes -- though it might just be them settling down briefly to gear back up. Either way, I had to turn down my volume sometimes because of the heavy breathing in some, specifically exercise, scenes.
The bright side to those types of scenes, besides boobs, is it allows for more character development. The prediction I made back on first impressions keeps on popping back up as I see more animosity coming from the E-Pandora toward the original Pandora. Gina still seems to be holding a grudge toward almost any Pandora that isn't in her small group of people she hangs out with regularly. And that conflict lead her to be the first, and most likely only, to volunteer to be a test subject for Mark IV -- and this is the main course of the episode.
Coming off of the second episode, it ended on the military giving the green light to use something call "Mark IV". It was quite obvious that this was something dangerous simply based on reaction alone, but after watching the follow up episode, we now know the severity. With this being the fourth installment of Mark, there was clearly three other failures, but the only one we found out about was Mark III.
So Mark is basically a way to increase the power of the artificial Stigma attached to E-Pandora bodies. Since E-Pandora are normal humans, this puts a lot of strain one their bodies, so it is a potential risk to continue to flirt with this type of experimentation. Mark III was the experiment Amelia volunteered for and that is how her hair ended up becoming mostly white, when her hair was red before -- this also serves as a content reminder to Dr. Ohara of her past failed experiments, making it that much more difficult to agree to such experiments.
Mark IV was really the topping to the failure of a cake that is the Mark series. Since the scientist used information from the original Pandora -- in this case Satellizer -- we end up with an even worst side effects inflicted on the E-Pandora's body. Gina ended up becoming a Nova right after the "successful" showcase of how much E-Pandora improved after Mark IV was implemented on her.
The most interesting thing reveal about this episode, at least for me, is the way the higher up in the military treat the people involved in the Mark experiments. They are far more concerned about their public image and results, as a result, most of their pushes for advancement feel a little shady. The complete disregard for human life makes them as a whole a bit more evil -- but with the context of Nova appearances increasing, it is a bit more understandable. The only thing is, the experiment itself contributed to the Nova problem rather that subdue it.
So when it comes down to it, we have a three way struggle of power. First one being the Pandora, who are doing what they can for humanity, so the just want the E-Pandora to get stronger. Next is the scientist, who are both following orders from higher ups, and want to prove Project Evolution Pandora is a success, however they still care for the people involved in said project. And last, as I have mentioned, the high ranking military officers, who are there to see results and nothing will obstruct their goal.
So even with the increase in fanservice, there was also some real meat to this episode that might result in less trust for the military. I'm hoping to see maybe a full scale rebellion, but it might be difficult with them being the only support Pandora have to find and fight Nova. But, as for the immediate future, there is going to be a battle between Nova Gina and the Pandora team, and that I'm looking forward to it since killing her might cause some tension in the E-Pandora camp.