04.28
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Last week I used the term “Avidya Zone” to describe the evil dome on the other side of town. From this point forward I will be using “Lightless Realm” which is what they use in the official Daisuki subs)
Well last week’s episode was the usual blur of confusion, annoyance, and ambivalence I get from Mari Okada’s fine catalog of work. WILL THIS EPISODE BE AN IMPROVEMENT?!?! (nope)
Enzyte'll fix that.
So anyway, Minashi, the jogger who was also out that night when Akashi had to save Emiru from the Red Poop, has joined the Exploration Team for some reason. Considering he’s actually a bigger moron than Emiru and kind of a creeper, I’m not sure if this is an improvement. It really doesn’t matter as much of this episode is concerned with the next new member of the M3 gang, Heito (get it? HATE-O!) Isaku, a shallow Accelerator clone who’s been locked in a padded cell for several years after murdering his family in cold blood. Now that he’s out of the the pen, Heito wants only one thing, a giant robot called The Argent but nicknamed “The Reaper” due to its habit of giving its would-be pilots violent and terrifying visions that drive them insane.
The Wit and Wisdom of Mari Okada.
MEANWHILE, the Exploration Team’s instructor, a boorish man who gropes Maamu’s… maamus, winds up getting killed by the Red Poop. This occurring just moments after Maamu (being the Tomoko Kuroki clone that she is) wrote in her journal about how he’d get murdered, as well as Emiru, because let’s face it, Emiru is the stupid bitch of the show. Emiru of course has to just find this journal and not particularly pleased about her being a murder victim, drags Maamu off to the creepy abandoned hospital where The Reaper has been stored. Frankly I have no idea why this plot is doing here other than “Hey! We need to create a potential hostage situation! Allow the two girls to get captured by Accelerator NOT! so that boring guy can save them!”
Nah he's just Kirito.
Speaking of Akashi, he’s still a dick. He spends the entire episode strutting around, calling Emiru a slut, and then gets a new robot because The Argent decided he was Pikachu or something. As for Raika and Iwato, they just stand around and fill up the background again. Clearly this show has SUCH GREAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!
OTP This season.
The problem with this episode is pretty simple, there are two plots, and neither of them are interesting or memorable. Hell I had to strain my brain just to try to remember the point of the “B” plot (or was that the “A” plot?). In one story, you have a bunch of characters who are bitchy and forgettable, in the other you have one who is psychotic and forgettable. And then there’s the crux of the thing, The Argent, which is introduced in a flury of blink and you’ll miss it technobable exposition and barely amounts to anything more than a glorified Wing Zero clone only to then give up to King Dickweed Akashi almost immediately. Why should I care? What is the point? Where is this going? Who am I supposed to root for? Etc. If the next 22 weeks are anything like the first two, I jump ship early. 4/10