Well that's a shame. Messer had developed into a pretty enjoyable character. Too bad he came back to the battlefield to get killed off. Though a pretty darn good battle to be sure. Even with Hayate in 'riding the wind' mode, not sure how he or anyone is going to be able to handle Keith right now. That guy just has everyone outclassed.
Though his win here was mostly due to having a better machine. The match doesn't end like that if Messer has the ability to drop physical shields in front of attacks like that. I think in terms of pure skills it was pretty darn even. Put in the same machine and who knows what happens. But such is how it goes. Sometimes you get the weaker option.
Rather more impressive that with 10 episodes of dog fighting so few members have actually died. And it's only going to get worse if the show doesn't come up with some way to balance things out. Without Messer they were getting their rears kicked out there. It completely balanced out with his return and now he's down again....not good.
Well that sucks. Figures the moment that someone like Messer becomes sympathetic....he's basically dead. Well to be fair he was pretty screwed anyways. With the Var getting to him in any given conflict. The moment he got passed that you knew he was dead. Able to actually use the Var to his advantage and pilot like a badass? Yeah he's got to die. Can't let anyone stand between Hayate and top pilot status here
. Certainly death has an impact in shows. But I do agree that it certainly costs the show an interesting aspect with Messer out of it.