The Pumpkin Scissors try to find out information on a reloading device found in the tank they confiscated in episode two; however they end up tin the middle of an attack to destroy the tank and keep its secrets.
This episode was defiantly one of the best episodes so far I think. Not only did it have a lot of action in it, which really fit the whole setting that this series has given off so far, but there was a lot of plot and mystery in this episode as well. Of course it’s always been a focus around the mystery of Oland’s past but there is also about the Invisible 9.
Was defiantly impressed with Mach. Although he kind of got started asking questions by that one woman who gave them the job and who was in charge of the tank, he seemed to gather a lot of information on the question of who Oland really was. He looked up in that huge book at every army unit in the federation and found how none of them started with “9” Hopefully they will show him meddling around a bit more, gathering information because I thought that was very interesting.
It defiantly seems as if Oland was part of the secret group the Invisible 9. They mentioned them be3fore in the first episode, as the guy who used bio weapons was a member of the invisible 9, not 901 but some other 90_. It seems as not only is there the whole mystery of what exactly the nine are and why they were made, but also what the abilities are of the other installments. I don’t think the “nine” part refers to there being nine Anti-Tank troupers, but to there being nine different types, two of which are Anti Tank and Bio Weapons.
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The dialog indicated that they’re called the “invisible 9″ simply because of their secret nature and unofficial status. There could be as many as 100 such units (unit 900 through unit 999), each with however many soldiers as necessary to fulfill whatever their role was. The first episode also made mention of the “invisible 9″ in reference to the chemical-weapons troopers, who were (if memory serves) the 903 CTT.
The significance of the number 9 is related to an old superstition dating back to the first Emperor of their nation; they don’t put the number 9 into anything if they can help it, much less use it in a unit designation.
Every nation has, from time to time, the need to call upon resources and tactics that it does not want to publicly call attention to. This generally falls under the heading of espionage, but experimental weapons and such and merit such special handling as well, as would any kind of secret police. Leaving an obfuscated paper trail leaves the officials involved with plausible deniability, sheltering them from personal responsibility.
Internal politics and scheming can make for great plot hooks, especially when the cast includes a healthy mix of the curious, the idealistic, the lazy, and the cautious (hey look, that would be most of the Pumpkin Scissors cast right there!)
I know the significance of 9, I mentioned it above and they clearly stated it in the episode. The whole thing with the emperor and all, that’s why Mach found it so odd. I however still don’t think there would be 99 units that secretive. It woudln’t be logically feasible for there to be that many variations in secretive and illegal procedures going into a unit. Not only would there not be enough speical hooks such as one that uses advacned illegal bio weapons and another that seems to be enhanced by soem brainwashing means, but also it would be hard to keep secret.
Also, if there were as many as 99 secretive units that belonged to the 9 _ _ then it would drasitcally take away from the importance of these. A unit out of nine speicals ones gives that unit much more mystique and prestige. If there are only 9 units it makes it more speical to be oen of those. If there were 99 then each unit would be less important.
The invisible part is obviously as you said due to their secretive nature and that they are not officially listed or anything like that. However, I don’t think there can be up to 99. Techncially, there could be and they would all fit under the whole starting with the tabooo 9, but plot wise it would really hurt the story.
I dare say that if this series actually comes up with as many as nine of these units and tries to use them during a single season, they’d be stretching plausibility rather badly; five or six will probably be plenty for the purposes of the entire show. I mentioned the possibility of 100 of them simply because I don’t think anybody that isn’t a real power-broker in the empire would have any solid idea of how many “invisible nine” units there were in the army. One of those “invisible” units is almost certainly responsible for keeping the particulars a secret (specifically the folks that the old designer called on the phone), and they would of course have better access to such information than most of the co-conspirators involved.
Anyhow, the specific quantity of secret units is probably irrelevant, and fluid based upon the needs of the army at the time (is there still a 901 ATT? Probably not, or Orland would still be in it). I’m personally satisfied to have the 9 refer to the unit designation and no more. I suspect that reading the manga (or watching the rest of the series) would reveal all, and show one (or both) of us to be quite wrong :)
On the other hand, it may be that this story isn’t really heading in that direction at all. Is this a tale of government conspiracy or a tale of Alice and her crew patching up the wounds left behind by war? Or something else? We’re only a little ways into the story, and part of its appeal for me is this… flexibility.