Metallic Rouge – 06 – Killer Space Cruise

Naomi and Rouge try to enjoy a post-mission vacation aboard a luxury space liner en route to Earth, but Hell Giallon has stowed away disguised as a member of the crew. They’re at the pool when a general alert is issued warning of a murder on the ship. Vacation or no, Naomi and Rouge are on the case.

Unfortunately, Ash and his assistant Noid are also aboard, and when they cross paths with Naomi Ash arrests her, having watched security footage of her killing a passenger. There’s also the matter of Aletheia and Orchrona not being the best of buds. Naomi orders Rouge via bird to stay in their quarters, but Rouge isn’t about to sit around while others are murdered.

When Naomi manages to slip away and reunites with Rouge in the library, Giallon is already gone. He stabs Ash while disguised as Noid, and when Naomi and Rouge find him, he takes Rouge’s form and runs back to the pool. Naomi manages to tell the two apart because Rouge is terrible at math, but Giallon still manages to give them the slip.

When everyone the precise weight of 82.2 kg are rounded up (that’s the weight of Giallon’s original disguise upon boarding the ship), Rouge has the very simplistic test of determining who he is based on who withstands her punch. The last suspect is a St. Bernard, and just when you think she won’t punch the dog, she kicks it. Turns out it is Giallon, so she didn’t really kick a dog. This whole scene had me rolling.

Now cornered, Giallon transforms into his Gladiator form, Rouge follows suit, and the two have a nifty fight outside the ship with a lovely view of Earth as a backdrop. While his attacks are more crafty than Rouge’s brute force, the latter eventually wins out, cutting his legs at the ankles and causing him to fall into the atmosphere. That said, I’m not yet convinced a trickster like Giallon is truly dead. He may yet turn up somewhere – though odds are it will be in an ocean.

Rouge gets back in the ship and tracks down Naomi, and everything seems hunky-dory until a foreboding ship docks with the liner and dour looking officers approach them. Naomi identifies them as Ochrona’s Artifical Life Department, walks over to them, then places Rouge under arrest for violating the “Use of Artificial Life Code.”

Do you mean to tell me that after establishing these two as thick as thieves, somewhat artificially tearing them apart and then allowing them to reconcile, and then enjoying a sliver of down time, this whole time Naomi was the Ochrona mole Gene’s boss warned about?

If so, I don’t like it one bit. It cheapens all their previous interactions, and feels like a twist for twist’s sake. And speaking of cheap: I noticed a dip in animation quality this week, aside from the (brief) space battle. These two developments don’t bode well for a show I’m watching primarily for the visuals and the chemistry of the lead duo.

Classroom of the Elite – S3 07 – Closing the Distance

Ayanokouji sows the seeds for his plan right from the start, by questioning Suzune’s resolve to choose someone from their class to expel. This puts Suzune in a state of irritation: because her brother has taken an interest in Ayanokouji, his opinion carries weight. It’s the groundwork that will make her receptive to what her Manabu tells her later.

Whether out of sheer concern for her fellow second-year Honami or simply a stitch in a larger tapestry not her own, Asahina Nazuna reaches out to Ayanokouji and informs him of the bargain proposed by President Nagumo. She believes he can do something with the information she gives him, and in his way the giving serves as a “prayer” that doesn’t require any other direct action from her.

Ayanokouji takes the rare step of inviting a girl to his place so he can confirm the deal Nagumo proposed to Honami. She doesn’t see any other way to prevent one of her classmates from being expelled. Ayanokouji won’t judge her, nor does he see any reason to judge her. That he was concerned enough about her to invite her over makes Honami happy, to the point she almost says too much about how amazing he is, and how his not thinking he’s amazing only makes him moreso.

Speaking of girls with a crush on our Best Psychopathic Boy, Kei calls Ayanokouji to inform him of an emergency situation: at least half of the class is planning to vote to expel him. He’s so calm about it over the phone that Kei assumes he must have some kind of plan, but can’t help but blush when he says it’s precisely for times like this that he relies on her.

That night Ayanokouji asks Kikyou to meet with him. At first, she won’t reveal the ringleader behind the vote to expel him, but when he says he’s unlikely to determine who it is in the time he has left, she changes her mind and tells him it’s the potato-face Yamauchi Haruki, who had been acting very smug and relaxed of late.

Ayanokouji immediately connects the dots to suspect that Arisu is using Yamauchi as a puppet to remain a degree of separation from his ruin. Kikyou’s change of faces indicates he is correct. In light of this, Arisu’s big bold announcement of a ceasefire might only have been an attempt to lull him into a false sense of security. That said, I doubt Arisu expected it to succeed.

Ayanokouji makes a call to Manabu, and the next day, Manabu meets with his little sister alone for the first time in three years. What a family. Even so, while he’s been harsh with her in the past, and Suzune is so intimidated by his presence she can’t help but fiddle with her hair, it’s a highly productive encounter.

Suzune tells Manabe what Ayanokouji knew she would: that while the rest of the class it trying to run away from choosing someone to expel, she wants to face the exam head-on. Manabe asks her how her school life has been, and while she can’t say it’s been enjoyable, it hasn’t been boring.

He praises her for widening her view and escaping her life of boredom. When he asks her what she thinks of Ayanokouji, she says she doesn’t really care for him, but does want to catch up to and someday surpass him. Manabe says that’s not possible, but she doesn’t have to: she should grow in a way that’s “more like her.”

Their talk ends with him telling her that to close the distance, she must step forward … and step forward she does, in the last class before the day of the vote. Armed with the motivation given to her by her brother (at Ayanokouji’s urging), she addresses the class as a whole, and points out the elephant in the room.

Someone has to go, but she wants to prevent that person from being an “excellent student” who could help Class C continue to rise. As she talks, her line of thinking is supported by both Kouenji and Sudou. Rather than discuss with the class who the person should be, she comes right out and names the one who should be expelled: Yamauchi Haruki.

Whatever future challenges the class faces, I doubt Yamauchi will play much of a role. He also has a criminally stupid face. But will he make enough of a stink about her choosing him that he’ll influence enough people not to vote for him? Suzune has taken a step toward leading her class. We’ll see if they follow.

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage – 07 – Leaping to an Unknown World

Something I’ve been able to glean about Mimimi through her interactions with Tomozaki is that she likes the guy. She’s probably also happy he’s come out of his shell more. So when the two end up alone together on the way home, she flirts with him via head-butt, only to discover he’s sturdier than she thought. He responds by saying she’s just really light, without realizing the intimate position they’re in.

As usual Mimimi cuts the awkwardness short by declaring that they keep walking. Tomozaki, eager to check another photo of his Insta list, tells Mimimi he has a sudden craving for ramen. When she orders gyoza instead, he resorts to asking her to have a bite, which catches her as off guard as his “really light” compliment. He gets a “blurry” shot of her, then surprises her again by scarfing a gyoza she offers. They technically share two indirect kisses.

When the two part for the evening, Mimimi is suspicious of whatever Brain’s up to, but also clearly enjoyed having a meal with him, and perhaps happy to be the first person he’s invited to an after-school meal. And while Tomozaki is a nervous wreck trying to get Mimimi’s photo, his recent interactions with Tama tell him that the best method with her is to be upfront. She gives him a funny face, he snaps it for his Insta, box checked!

Fuuka brings her manuscript for Tomozaki to read, and once he does, he has a lot of positive feedback, including about how one of the stories reminded him of her favorite author, Andi. When he says one of the stories was cut off, she turns as red as someone as fair-skinned as she is can turn, and admits to having not yet finished that. But as soon as Tomozaki volunteered to direct an original play for the culture festival, my first thought was “…and Fuuka can write it.”

That’s exactly what goes down, but because Fuuka is being so careful not to break this story she loves so much, he assumes she wouldn’t be ready to have anyone perform her work. However, Fuuka is actually fine with using the story for the play, because as she’s seen Tomozaki leap from a lonely world to an unknown one, she wants to see that world too, so she’ll take a leap with him.

The moment Mimimi learns Fuuka wrote the story for the play, she can’t hide her obvious concern. She also can hide that concern when she sees Tomozaki and Fuuka making eyes at each other in front of the whole class when her involvement as scriptwriter is announced. Clearly the table is set for a love triangle situation. I smell drama!

As for Tomozaki, he isn’t thinking nearly enough about who he wants to date, instead focusing more on the comparatively easier Insta checklist. Mizusawa in glasses might be tough, but he’ll have some prime opportunities when he joins him for the invite-only cultural festival at their co-worker Tsugumi’s school. Her all-girls school.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 07 – Sayo’s Slump

Sayo continues to be the member of Tres Magia who gets captured first. Haruka would never put her down about it, as everyone has slumps, but Kaoruko insists she get her head back in the game. Alas, her kinky interactions with Baiser has her literally slumping, mimicking Utena’s posture. She can’t her comrades what seems to be her real problem: she’s largely come to enjoy what Baiser does to her.

While on a head-clearing walk (after she has to stop herself from playing with her own boobs) she encounters Utena, and we have the odd sight of Baiser and Azure being right next to each other in front of a Tres Magia poster, but neither know their magical alter-egos. While the magical girl exhibition fills Utena with excitement, it only further depresses Sayo. The old TV show is just fiction where everything works out.

That said, Sayo still tries to put up a brave front, just as she did in the incident that got her recruited by Haruka (back when Magenta was the only magical girl in town). When she transforms and is confronted by Baiser (who is alone because Kiwi is on vacation and Korisu is asleep), Azure is the one who takes the initiative, putting up a barrier with the intention of finally beating her nemesis.

It’s going relatively well, and Baiser even praises her revived enthusiasm, but the power gap is still there, and when Baiser escapes Azure’s coup-de-grace, she places Sayo in a playground panda ride-turned-bondage contraption. Despite the worry she went too far with Azure and caused her to lose her fight, Utena can’t help herself form going too far here as well.

As a result, Sayo’s magical girl heart cracks, and so does Sayo. She gives in and calls Utena “Baiser-sama”, and looks ready to literally lick her boot. Her masochistic is bared for her master to see. But this sudden display of unbridled submission doens’t please Utena: quite the opposite. She’s disgusted by the display, channeling Kaoruko’s directness by telling her to cut the bullshit and have some dignity as a magical girl whom little girls look up to.

Later, Utena admits to Venalita that she’s being a bit of a hypocrite here, even though she’s technically a villain and thus not subject to the same “rules of conduct” as Azure. But now she’s found the limit to messing with a magical girl where it becomes Not Fun anymore. As for Sayo, after another devastating loss not just to Baiser but to herself, I’m not sure where she goes from here.

Will she finally open up to her comrades about what’s going on with her? Even though Utena objected, Sayo switching to Enormita kinda makes sense! The timing of all this is interesting, as we’re about to be introduced to the four preposterously dressed OG Badgical Girls of Enormita, who all consider Baiser, Leoparde, and Neroalice to be pathetic wannabes.