In episode 2 of Arpeggio of Blue Steel anime. I-401 had a battle with Takao, as he charged the super-gravity cannon he suddenly decided to not aim for Takao after seeing Takao's mental model.
Has there been any explanation on his decision?
In episode 2 of Arpeggio of Blue Steel anime. I-401 had a battle with Takao, as he charged the super-gravity cannon he suddenly decided to not aim for Takao after seeing Takao's mental model.
Has there been any explanation on his decision?
Disclaimer: This is just my speculation but I will try to support it with facts.
The history of humankind is full of war. As time progressed, we learned that waging wars, i.e. killing our enemies is not always the best way to get what we want. Waging war is expensive, and we learned that negotiating and coming into agreement is far cheaper and results in less bloodshed.
Gunzou is a rational thinker. He is a tactician too. He knows from history that killing your enemy after you have defeated them is not really a good choice. The moment Gunzou was successful in charging the super gravity cannon and aiming it at Takao, he already achieved victory and defeated Takao. However, he decided, as per the reason I previously mentioned, to spare her. Sure he may have made a bad choice and Takao might come for revenge. But as you have watched in that episode, Iona and the crew were against overwhelming odds, and yet they still managed to achieve victory. This indicates to us, and to Takao probably, that she really stands no chance against Gunzou.
Sparing Takao also aligns with Gunzou's belief. He believes that there is a possibility of humans and the Fleet of the Fog coexisting in peace. The wikia says:
He's also one of the few people in the world that sees the possibility of the "Fleet of Fog" and humans coexisting (relatively) peacefully.
It is a step towards the future that he was hoping for.