English Dub Review: Girls’ Frontline “THE KINDLING 01”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Gentiane has been summoned to a secret location and she’s not sure why. But when she arrives, there are a bunch of other Griffin commanders and it’s revealed that this is Griffin’s secret headquarters. They have been summoned to discuss a top secret plan of the Sangis and see some new dolls, but when the Sangis attack the base, all is thrown into chaos and it’s up to M4 and the AR team to save them.

Our Take:

The eighth episode of Girls’ Frontline is here and it’s really stupid. That’s not a big surprise, though, and I will say that this is the kind of stupid you can enjoy somewhat if you get into the right mindset. With all the commanders in one place and a horde of Sangvis dolls, it’s shaping up to be the biggest two-parter yet.

THE KINDLING 01 represents a bit of a switch up for the show. After following the exploits of the AR team for the last handful of eps, we get to go around with Gentiane this week. I’m not complaining, because she’s definitely more interesting than any doll, although that’s not saying much.

Getting to meet the other commanders of Griffin was exciting at the outset, too. I was hoping we’d finally get more backstory and really dive into what Griffin is all about, but there wasn’t as much of that as I was wanting. We do get to hear a mysterious audio clip that makes me think of a last human survivor in a world overrun with robots, but apart from that the episode really doesn’t have much to offer that’s new.

Gentiane’s fellow Griffin commanders are all cardboard cutouts who either a) want to ogle the new dolls or b) want to ogle her. All attempts at comedy fall flat in this show, but there was one moment that literally made me laugh out loud, which is when the Sangis are flooding the base and the big guy commander yells that they are ready and willing to die for Griffin—and then the other commanders all tell him to shut up.

Speaking of Sangvis, we don’t get a break from them this week unfortunately. There’s yet another new ringleader named Destroyer and either she’s really good at her job or Griffin sucks. Or both? Either way, Griffin summoned all of their best commanders to a single location, and then somehow missed an entire Sangvis base and army within walking distance. It’s so silly that it’s funny.

Since all of the human commanders are apparently unable to communicate with their dolls due to radio interference or some such plot device, Gentiane decides to let the AR team take command of themselves and destroy the Sangvis base in order to give them any chance at survival. They’re able to find it super quickly and infiltrate it super easily, but we’ll have to wait until next week to see if they’re able to overcome whatever surprise Destroyer has waiting for them.