Awesome / Gate

• Itami's actions during the Ginza Incident. When he sees the things he likes threatened (The Comiket), he immediately orders local police officers to help organize an evacuation, where there he also organizes the defense of the imperial palace and the evacuation by providing the quickest route to evacuate and stationing officers at critical fortifications. He manages to hold off the Imperial army until the JSDF arrives and continues to command the forces until the attackers are apprehended. He definitely deserved that field promotion to 1st Lieutenant.
• Anytime the JSDF gets serious and sortie, you know a Curb-Stomp Battle is coming.
  • The Battle of Alnus Hill, in particular, featuring ten thousand men from the JSDF versus ten times their numbers in veterans from the Empire's allied kingdoms. The first wave of the allied kingdoms is ten thousand men... And is wiped out in seconds by an artillery barrage. The second wave suffers 40,000 losses, and all they have to show for it is getting close enough to be shot at by the tanks and one of their dragons being shot down over the Japanese trenches. Finally, the allied kingdoms attack with all their remaining forces during the night, confiding in the new moon and thus the poor light to hide them long enough to fight back, and in a sense they're successful: their commander gets close enough to shoot a single arrow while a dozen men who had arrived that close was taken down by machine guns and mortars. In the end, the Allied Kingdoms' Army suffered nearly 100% dead, with only a few hundred escaping and becoming bandits and some others being captured, while the Japanese suffered at most one casualty, depending on that single arrow hitting anyone.
• The JSDF fighting the Imperial army in the Gate World. Sure it's a Curb-Stomp Battle, but it's still awesome to see modern technology fighting a medieval-era force.
• Modern army (JSDF) versus an ANCIENT FLAME DRAGON and WINNING.
  • Props have to go to Tuka's father, who managed to (while NOT using modern earth technology) blind the dragon in one eye... with nothing more than a bow and (magically-charged) arrow. Bad. Ass.
• The Battle of Italica.
  • The 4th Combat Team is to attack Italica in a group of UH-1 helicopters at around sunrise, due for a veritable turkey shoot considering that they are up against a vastly inferior enemy. Colonel Kengun, always one for spectacle, seizes the chance to top off the massive, burgeoning Apocalypse Now reference by having the helicopters attack with the rising sun at their rears, all while blasting Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" in the midst of the battle.
  • Rory and Kuribayashi doing a Back-to-Back Badasses as they fought the brigands at the East Gate. Rory's introduction to the melee is staged as a Big Damn Heroes moment, complete with Over Crank. Kuribayashi, meanwhile, charges in alone and fights with her handgun and bayonet. Even without superior technology she still shows herself as a superior fighter.
  • The JSDF organize the 4th Combat Team Airborne fitted with attack and transport helicopters to fend off a force of 600 marauders from Italica. The JSDF No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the marauders definitely showed the locals of the Gate World just how powerful they are compared to the Empire or anyone else in the world.
  • The 4th Combat Team instructs Itami and co. to get out of the path of incoming fire. They then slaughter anything that moves in under a minute. Of course, for Piña, it was Nightmare Fuel.
  • Before the arrival of the JSDF, Piña cautions the mayor against surrender, as the men would be killed and the women raped. The old maid then cautions Piña against eating too much rich food before the battle to come. Piña notes the maid's experience and asks if she's seen battle before. She informs Piña, yes, she has. Her village was attacked by Piña's empire some time ago. Nothing is said outright, but the implication is she's seen firsthand the very horrors Piña describes, and was a victim of Piña's family, however direct or indirect that might be. She then casually tells Piña that to wake her, she'll douse her with buckets of cold water. She does just that, later.
• During the hearing at the Diet, one politician is constantly trying to trip up the JSDF with her questions, hoping to make them look bad to score political points. None of her questionings is going the way she wants, but she keeps trying. Rory Mercury is the one to finally stomp her arguments flat.
  Rory Mercury: (suddenly speaking Japanese) Itami and his team did something that no one has done before. One-fourth died? Wrong. Three-fourths were saved. The soldiers of this country must have a hard time with senators who can't even understand that.
  • Also, Rory continuously calls the senator in question a "little girl" ending with "who just sits in comfort and complains" and when the Senator snaps and demands Rory treat her elders with respect, Lelei points out that Rory is 961 years old and the senator is both shocked and humiliated because the senator is the one who is not treating her elders with respect.
• The shoot-out at Hakone. The Japanese Special Force Group does so well that the American, Chinese, and Russian special forces can't even compete with them. They had to use politics to make the Japanese SFGs stand down.
  • That said, they were actually PMCs from each respective country, with former special ops guys, but still props for the Japanese Special Forces showing them just what "Home Field Advantage" can do.
• After the attack at Hakone, Risa scores a non-combat moment of awesome by coming up with a way to get everyone to the Gate safely: manipulating the message boards to use the otaku as a witness should US, Russia, and China tried to attack them when they're heading to the Gate. It works extremely well...maybe a bit too well when they finally arrive at Ginza to see MASSIVE number of people gathering there.
• Kuribayashi is ordered to make prince Zorzal (already established as an all-around egocentric asshole and rapist) more willing to talk. Five pages of him getting the ever-loving shit beaten out of him (and this is after she's bayonetted and gunned down the Praetorian Guard that showed up, by herself), each more glorious than the last. Even better, the anime lets the audience see Kuri-chan knock a few molars loose as well as hearing the once snide arrogant tone of the prince be reduced to crying and whimpering like a little girl after suffering the beatdown.
  • In the anime, when Zorzal sics his men on the JDSF contingent, ominously building violins start playing as Itami cocks his pistol and, with an ice-cold look on his face, calmly orders Tomita and Kuribayashi to "fire at will."
    • This is followed by Kuribayashi taking out four very big men in close-quarters combat with just her bayonet and rifle butt. When the Praetorian Guard finally lines up for an organized attack, we are treated to a first-person perspective of her gunning down the guard complete with Call of Duty -style reload sequence.
  • Speaking of the Praetorian Guard, after Kuribayashi had finished mopping the floor with them, she grinned, licks her lips, and asks who's next.
  • Preceding that one is Itami punching Zorzal in the face for enslaving Noriko. That punch would make Tyrion Lannister proud. In the anime version, the punch launches Zorzal into his men and knocks them down.
  • And then, to show the Emperor that Japan means business about getting back ALL of their captured citizens, they call in an airstrike of the Senate building. Which the manga makes even more awesome than all the others. The Phantoms are ordered to go low, just over the rooftops, blasting their afterburners to give the Empire a "wake up call" and then they drop a laser-guided bomb (target being marked by "Sabre") through the window of the Senate, right on Emperor Molto's throne. For a bonus, this all occurred after an earthquake, so the denizens, seeing giant swords flying in the sky of the capital, were convinced that Molto was being punished by the gods.
• Yanagida earns a spotlight when he sees a threatening figure with what appears a knife pointed at a seated person (Delilah and Noriko respectively), his first response is to pull out his pistol and shoot at the aggressor. Said aggressor happens to be a highly-skilled warrior with great agility and Yanagida can get a few hits on her with a few grazes as well. He then gets stabbed, but not before unloading what's left of his pistol into the aggressor. For a 1st lieutenant who we had known up to this point to be simply sitting at HQ while the whole story is laid out by Third Recon, this is his Moment of Awesome.
• The Ancient Flame Dragon dealing with the two fighter who are measuring its capabilities. Here's a creature that has lived over a millennium and never even seen gun powder. But once it realizes that it's no longer the invincible top-dog, it takes them very seriously and almost roasts one.
• In Chapter 44-45 (Episode 17 in the anime), it's Itami and a small group of dark elves against the freakin' Flame Dragon.
  • The Dragon's (eventual) demise. First Itami and his team meet up with some dark elves and lay an ambush for the dragon, by hiding explosives under a bunch of swords to create the mother of all nail bombs. When the dragon sneaks to them (yes), Lelei saves the day by basically rail gunning the swords into the dragon (and looking batshit insane while doing so). Then as Itami grabs her and Tuka to escape the still alive and pissed-off dragon, Tuka snaps out of her BSOD and zaps the dragon, detonating the explosives.
• Chapter 46 (still Episode 17), we see the JSDF plan against the Flame Dragon devised since Chapter 28 go into action, except that there are two of them now. It works out flawlessly and takes out the dragons with little effort. This is due to the dragons being juveniles and lacking the durability of their elder.
• As much of a Nightmare Fuel it is, Itami and co. fighting zombies in Chapter 50! We see the medieval depiction (bows and swords) and the modern depiction (guns and explosions). Unfortunately, this was glossed over in the anime.
• In Episode 19, we see a Wizard Duel between Leilei and her sister Arpeggio. This is the first fight between mages we've seen in the series and despite being seen as "obsolete" with the new technology that even the Empire has, the two showed great potential and destruction in the arena.
  • And after the duel, an assassin comes up and tries to kill Leilei. Then out of nowhere, Grey Co Aldo jumps out and runs the assassin through his sword.
  • Later, at a Wizard conference, another assassin tries to kill Leilei, only to find herself on the receiving end of a Magic Missile Storm, being hit with at least a dozen attack spells. The entire congregation had been warned that someone was out to kill Leilei, and were ready and waiting for the attempt.
• Episode 20 shows us Sherry's cunning intuition, making her far wiser than her age should be otherwise. Such as when bargaining for food, she brings up how if the man takes the whole pearl necklace she's offering rather than just a few pearls, he would still be short on a full necklace for his wife and the wife's greed may end up having him buy more pearls. The man relents and just takes half of the pearls for food.
  • Also, Sherry's courage and determination takes extra points here. Note that Sherry's only 12 years old and she's already outwitted a man in a barter. So when she has to cross multiple guards at the Jade Palace to bring her and Marquess Casel to safety, despite knowing there is a lull in the change of guards, she decides to walk right in through the front door, and it works.
    • Marquis Casel realizing that for all the Oprichnina wanted to kill Sherry's parents, it's her who they should have killed.
  • Earlier in episode 18, Sherry tells Sugawara the benefits of associating with her. While other Imperial nobles are polite and respectful to the Japanese ambassadors, they are still shown to be wary of them, and thus, do not initiate conversation. An Imperial noble like Sherry interacting with the Japanese would show that they are to be trusted while the Japanese ambassadors can expand their connections, thus greatly improving political relations for both sides. Clearly, Sherry knows her way around politics and Sugawara even asks if she's as old as she claims to be.
  • In the manga, Sherry's parents retreat to a storage room as the Oprichnina approach to arrest them and their daughter. Remaining perfectly calm, they offer the soldiers some drinks. As the soldiers advance, they pelt them with jars of alcohol... and toss a lit candle at them. Then the attackers notice the room's full of oil jars. Sure, both perish, but they took down the entire platoon and allowed their daughter to escape. Furthermore, both die happy in their convictions and with their beloved by their side.
• The Rose Knights being able to defend the Jade Palace, where the Japanese Embassy in the Special Area was, from Zorzal's army deserves mention. At that time the units residing in the Jade Palace were 300 people, composed mostly of women and old knights, and they manage to keep an army of 1000 men at bay long enough until the JSDF arrive.
  • Once the JSDF arrives, they took control of the city's west gate in less time than it took for news to reach Zorzal. In fact, the only warning he got are the paratroopers storming the city en masse, who were the last to arrive. By the time he found out about it, they were already taking control of the prison and freeing all the political prisoners. Once they reached the besieged Jade Palace, the squadron of soldiers routed the besieging army in minutes and they were led by a rookie going into combat for the first time.
• Itami's rescue of Pina. Unlike a full operation, he only has less than 10 operatives to work with, but he managed to sneak into the throne room without killing anyone. He only needed to kill a giant troll to make Zorzal admit defeat and freaked him out so much he developed a phobia of loud noises.
  • After killing the troll, Itami prepares to leave with Pina, but Zorzal, being a Sore Loser, angrily declares the battle isn’t over and challenges him to a fight. A sniper shot stops him dead in his tracks, and Itami coldly tells the arrogant asshole that he’s way in over his head. Basically, “we got you by the balls, and if you piss us off again, you’ll get a bullet through your fat head”.