Like fine wine

Giving this a five star because of what it USED to be.
I'm not sure if anybody else has noticed, but Oscar's account and even his videos are now all irreversibly damaged. I get redirected from his content to random article websites...
What's happened...

Here's where all those cinematic aspirations hiding just below the surface of the last episode come out in full.
The animation in this one is a good deal better than in the previous one. I especially like the backgrounds. They're bare, but that's the point. It sells the idea that this is an undermanned outpost in a desolate universe. The way their eyes move is really weird though.
The voice acting is corny and the accents are very over-the-top, but I find it fun. It somehow manages to sell the general as a somewhat believable character. If you allow yourself to be immersed, the strange accentuation almost seems to be an in-universe way of disguising his own low hopes. The characters are all very clear archetypes, but there seems to be a subtle depth to them implied by their interactions. This is the case when Beecher refuses to let the general have the book at first. Etrius, however, seems kinda boring. A retired one-man-army, brought in for one last job, reluctant to cooperate, snarky and disillusioned. There just isn't any hint of depth to him like with the (admittedly over-the-top) general. I guess the thing inside him will provide some depth in the future episodes. I can't quite remember what happens next.
The world-building is decent. It is an info dump but it's justified and spiced up by enough conviction to be fun. The flashbacks could have been shorter. The ones for episode 1 were nice as they gave the author a chance to re-do the animation from that episode (and the dragon does look awesome), but I feel the ones for episode 2 were too long, although they also had some awesome animation.
Overall, visually this is top-notch except for the close-ups, particularly the eyes. There are some issues with the pacing, but ultimately it's a good set-up for future plot developments.

Childhood. Actual worth its file size in gold animation and a good shift towards story from an otherwise pure action animation series.

This is where it starts picking up.