VF-25 Messiah

Not really. I thought they focused more on Alto's damage to be honest. Anyway, as been stated it's the typical (samurai) showdown sequence, with a run by where both attack once. The audience then gets to determine who won the exchange by looking at the damage each sustained, which usually only becomes apparent once they've long passed each other.

Okay... not quite the way I expected things to go. Doesn't actually fit completely with what we've learned yet, so there's going to be pretty intense development leading up to this point as well. Also, I'd translate the longer spoiler as follows: Horrid wording but it contains more info than the other. I'll try to polish it a little once I've woken up more...

My guess is Sheryl dies, and Alto and Ranka go their sepperate ways. Alto will most assuredly live though.

Luca's a goner. Nanase is going to wake up from her coma and not even notice he's gone.

Try listening to Bobby's version. It tends to produce interesting results.

Allow me: "Definitely no! Theme: Blog. Death. The future I thought would go on forever is being swallowed up by pitch black darkness. No. Definitely not!"　(note: the word used for 'no' or 'not' here is generally used for expressing displeasure and or rejection... that being said the entry sounds less dorky in the original japanese than this translation)

Nothing is said or done to imply that Bilrer knew or gave his blessing about the Quarter going rogue.

I think everyone arguing that Michel may be alive are setting themselves up for disappointment. Me? I'd rather not have a another Gamlin, even though I liked Michel as a character a lot.

Exactly. The body is used as bio fuel. Thus no body in the grave. A tombstone but no content. Just my opinion but I don't see anything that obviously disproves it. Doesn't change the fact that he's dead though.

Ask and ye shall receive. Of course, don't actually think anyone's buried there. Doesn't frontier avoid burying people at all? Still think he's dead though.

I have to retract my last comment, as it seems we're in agreement. I too am a bit unsure wether Alto was shooting to kill, but he was for certain taking the fight way more seriously than Ozma was. As for performance differences between the machines, they might actually be monstrously huge or not so big at all, but it doesn't actually have any bearing on the original question: "Did Ozma in the VF-25S pwn Alto in an upgraded VF-171? OR where they evenly matched?" It does have bearing on potential followup questions "Would the result have been the same if they were piloting the same machine?". Small but important difference

Why you are quite welcome, Sir. Oh and if you feel you cannot await the release of the much anticipated second OST, I am happy to inform you that the song in question may be found on the "Lion" single which is out now.

I'm kind of happy the whole Charles, Ragnarok, Sword of Akasha, kill God etc bull is over with. Greatly upped the chances for a more straightforward down to earth finale involving the showdown between Lelouch and Schneizel.

Northern Cross. Same title as the episode title. A pattern that's been used since episode 19. Makes me wonder if the pattern's gonna break next week or are they going to whip out a new song called "True begin?"

I disagree, but that could just be because I'm an unabashed GARma Lee fan. I could certainly see this being the case though.

They both got a hit in, but I thought Ozma's looked like the bigger hit. Alto scraped the top of Ozma's armour pack while Ozma got a good hit in the shoulder area of Altos VF-171EX Also I think that Alto was shooting to kill (He was firing at Ozma a whole lot at least), while Ozma just shot once to incapacitate Altos fighter. (It's the only time he fires in their entire matchup). Ozma then comments "You've gotten better". So yeah, this one goes to Ozma.

The katakana reads "トゥルー・ビギン", "Turuu bigin", "True begin".

"True Begin" (Yes, not beginning, but begin)

'bout time

Oh come on. The original, no matter how dated, deserves to be viewed under better conditions than that.

The latter I believe.

You mean this?