Whisper Me a Love Song – 04 – The New Senpai

Himari is over the moon when Yori tells her she’s joining the band, because it means she’ll get to see her on stage. But when Himari asks why Yori did it, it reveals her blind spot. Yori tells her she joined because it might make Himari fall for her, and Himari checks herself, saying she “looks up to” her rather than “loves” her for doing something like that for her.

The band practices mean they won’t see each other on the rooftop after school as often, but when Yori suggests they have lunch together on those days instead, Himari eagerly agrees. Yori is a little out of synch with her new bandmates at the studio at first, but when she maintains eye contact with them—particularly Aki, who likes that—she starts to actually have a lot of fun playing.

Himari, suddenly faced with a couple days a week of Yori-less time, decides to check out a club. She settles on the cooking club, for which she only needs to come twice a week. The club also has just one other active member: the beautiful Satomiya Momoka, who immediately picks up on the fact Himari might want to cook something for someone special. That said, Momoka also takes an immediate shine to the adorable Himari.

When Himari informs Yori of her new club situation, and the fact she’s bascially hanging out alone with another senpai, it’s actually a dagger for Yori. Here she is, already feeling a distance between herself and Himari since she asked her out, and now there’s a new pretty senpai in the picture.

When her next practice goes poorly Aki gets her to talk about it, and does her best to comfort Yori, patting her on the head and assuring her she has nothing to worry about as no other girl could hold a candle to her. It helps a little, in the moment, but Aki can’t do anything about the little anxieties sure to pop up in Yori’s head in the middle of the night.

Aki is comforting and reassuring Yori because she doesn’t want the girl she loves to be gloomy or upset. But when Miki invites Himari over and has to take a club phone call, Aki suddenly finds herself one-on-one in her home with the source of Yori’s anxiety. Aki doesn’t mince any words, asking Himari if she’s fallen in love with Yori yet.

When Himari says not yet, Aki continues tobe direct: she’s in love—romantic love—with Yori. If Himari isn’t, maybe she could step aside let her have her? I feel bad for Himari, who genuinely does love Yori but not in the same way as Yori loves her, and is struggling to find the right answer, suddenly being placed on the back foot by someone far more confident in her love.

But honestly it’s also good to get everything out in the open here. Aki had been suffering in silence, and rooting for Yori all the way. But if the object of Yori’s love is, from her point view, stringing her along and “keeping her options open”, Aki’s actions here make sense. She’s looking after Yori, but also herself.

Classroom of the Elite – S3 05 – Unbreakable Ichinose Honami

Ichinose’s Class B defenders nearly come to blows with Hashimoto, whom they accuse of spreading awful rumors. Even Ayanokouji admits he suspects him, but clearly isn’t looking for a fight. Shiina defuses he situation, but the same day Ichinose returns to class, Sakayanagi barges in flanked by Hashimoto and Kamuro to inform Class B that she has proof that the rumor about Ichinose being a criminal is true.

Rather than allow Sakayanagi to continue influencing the class, Ichinose takes her fate into her own hands. She stands before the class and admits she was a criminal. Four years ago, her sister badly wanted an expensive (~$200) hairpin worn by her favorite idol. When their mother worked too many shifts, collapsed, and was hospitalized, and no one would hire a middle schooler for part-time work, Ichinose stole the hairpin from the store.

While she knew it was wrong, her sister’s smiling face gave her comfort and cover to ignore the guilt eating away from within. But when her mother saw the pin and knew Ichinose stole it, the smiles turned to tears and her guilt became an open wound. She withdrew to her room for months, letting the wound fester, but her mom urged her in a note not to give up on her dream of high school. She worked up the strength to leave her room, got back to work, and started fresh.

Back in the present, Ichinose apologizes for being such a bad leader, but her classmates don’t believe she is. Having heard her full story, they can relate to the circumstances that led to her crime, and are happy she trusted them enough to share her secret with them. Then Sakayanagi raps her cane on the floor and says “shoplifting is shoplifting”, saying Ichinose doesn’t deserve their sympathy.

Ichinose then agrees with Sakayanagi, and admits that maybe all her hard work came from a “place of pretend virtue.” Even if all that is true, and her sin will never go away, Ichinose wants to graduate with her classmates and friends, and gives a tearful and moving appeal to come with her to the very end. Her classmates all agree that they will.

As Sakayanagi’s little gambit to destroy Ichinose grows weaker and weaker in the face of Class B’s stalwart unity and Ichinose’s genuine contrition, the last nail in the coffin is the arrival of President Nagumo flanked by two teachers. Leaving aside who reported what to them, they know about the rumors, and put forth a stern warning that anyone caught spreading them will be punished.

Now that the adults are involved, Sakayanagi gracefully withdraws, but not before casting her lovely gaze on Ayanokouji. Later she congratulates him on a game splendidly played, and he admits he got her to confess her past to her when he visited her in her room. When she asked him how she could leave that room, he told her she’d just have to face what she’s done head-on. Touyama Nao puts on a powerhouse vocal performance throughout the episode, and particularly powerful here.

Ayanokouji calmly tells Sakayanagi that he shattered Ichinose’s heart, the part of it that broke healed stronger than before, allowing her to survive Sakayanagi’s assault. As for Kamuro, he knew all along Sakayanagi sent her to him, because the beer she “stole” was the same one she gave Sakayanagi, something he could tell from the sell-by date.

Sakayanagi puts her cards on the table: she launched an attack on Ichinose and drew him into it with Kamuro just to get him “interested” in her, because she wants to have a proper competition with him. If he wins in the next exam, she’ll be expelled. But if she wins, she’ll tell everyone he’s the Mastermind of Class C.

That night, Ayanokouji has one more meeting with a pretty girl: Kushida, who provided him with all of the dirt on the students in exchange for a payment of half of all his points going forward. Ayanokouji then gave that information to Vice President Kiriyama for distribution on the message boards, warning him if he didn’t comply he’d tell Manabu that Kiriyama flipped his allegiance to Nagumo.

So while Kushida provided the dirt, Ayanokouji is the one who had it circulated among the classes … including the info about Ichinose, along with the rumor about him having a crush on Kei. He did it all for the primary purpose of determining the quality and quantity of Kushida’s information, as part of a larger effort to eventually compel her expulsion.

No doubt Ichinose’s heart would break all over again if she found out Ayanokouji was the source of the rumor. Or maybe not, as the next we see her she is significantly more cheerful and lighter of foot. It’s thanks to him she was able to gather herself enough to put her old demons to rest.

But like Ichinose’s theft, Ayanokouji did what he did, and it harmed her. Whether he tells her he’ll always offer an ear to listen should she need one to make up for the harm he caused her or to just maintain good relations with a valuable ally, his offer gives Ichinose the courage to do one more thing: give him a box of belated Valentine’s Day chocolates.

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R – 09 – Déjeuner de mensonges

Even though she’s unaware Masamune just had a dream about Yoshino being his girlfriend, Neko can tell something’s still off about him, but everyone else gets caught up in a Valentine’s Day chocolate-making frenzy. Even Aki isn’t immune to this, as Yoshino convinces her to make homemade sweets for her boyfriend, and when that fails, she makes cookies. When Masamune declines to taste one of his sister’s chocolates, she warns him that won’t fly if a girlfriend puts her heart and soul into them, which Aki most certainly does.

Kojuurou keeps stepping up to the plate and striking out, disinterested as Neko is in him as a romantic partner. Masamune gets a motherlode of chocolates from various pretty admirers, including the obsessive one who still has his water bottle. But the one he wants chocolates from most is Aki, and she doesn’t disappoint. He accepts her cookies, tastes one, declares it delicious, then has another. It lifts Aki onto cloud nine, and for that alone, I’m grateful, even if he’s forcing himself to eat for her sake.

On their first date in a while, the pattern continues: Aki takes Masamune somewhere and they stuff their faces. The problem is, he can only eat so much before he’s sick, especially after eating more despite her warnings. That being said, it’s not like Masamune isn’t enjoying spending time with Aki, or even that he resents the threat to his chiseled physique. In fact, before they part ways he says he wants to go on more dates and eat more things with her. Of course Aki can’t turn that down!

Neko, desperate to know what’s going on, has lunch with Yoshino, whom she assumes is feeling lonely what with her Aki-sama being with Masamune all the time. And indeed the two are together, in the gym storage room, chowing down as usual. Masamune makes a comment about still exercising because he “doesn’t want to look like he used to” way back when. Aki’s sad smile broke my heart…moreso once Neko confronts her after school.

Neko solemnly insists that Aki break up with Masamune, because he doesn’t really love her. Aki suprises her with her response, which is that she already knows that, thanks to the revenge journal she found. There’s still that key misunderstanding keeping them from being together: she believes he’s still on his revenge scheme, when the truth is he’s put that behind him and actually does love her.

But for now, as far as Aki knows, Masamune is just doing this so that he can one day dump her. And despite knowing this, Aki loves him too damn much to let him go of her own accord. She’s noticed him not touching her and acting distant at times during their dates, which she chalks up to the fact he hates the “past and present her.”

So she believes her love for Masamune to be just as unrequited as Neko’s…the only difference is, she’s Masamune’s girlfriend, and she’s going to remain so as long as she can. Kojuurou ends up overhearing all of this when he’s out in the hall, but honestly I care a lot more about this getting straightened out!

Yes, Masamune’s hives are an issue, but they’re not a surefire sign he shouldn’t be with Aki. And yes, Aki believes Masamune hates him because of that notebook, but it wouldn’t take long to explain that the notebook was only for when he thought she turned him away. Frankly Masamune and Aki need to talk a lot more about the things they’re carrying…as does Yoshino. Until then, the beautiful mess continues.

Jujutsu Kaisen – 29 – Like Cheers in Rain

A year after Riko and Touji’s deaths, Satoru continues to develop and refine his abilities, while Suguru looks worn out. He’s haunted by the Star Religious Group’s applause the day Satoru reclaimed Riko’s body, such that both the shower and rain sound like their horrible clapping.

His eyes narrow and darken as his hatred for non-sorcerers stews within him and he struggles to see the point of protecting them. While we know he’s the big bad in season one, it’s still rough to see the acceleration of his descent, particularly as it happens under a preoccupied Satoru’s nose.

After a lighthearted interaction with his kohai Haibara Yuu, who is headed off on a mission, Suguru is aproached by a tall, mysterious blonde: Special-grade sorcerer Tsukumo Yuki. A Jujutsu High apostate, she has her own ideas about how to solve the cursed spirit problem.

Simply put, rather than treat the symptoms—killing cursed spirits when they’re born—she wants to treat the cause: create a world where cursed spirits aren’t born. She sees two ways of doing that: eliminate cursed energy from mankind, and make it possible for all of mankind to control their energy.

Fushigurou Touji was an example of a non-sorcerer who could perceive cursed spirits and energy yet his own had dropped to zero. Yuki wanted to pick his brain so that she could try the first method, but he refused, and then Satoru killed him. That leaves creating a world where everyone can control their cursed energy.

Whether Yuki intended to draw it out of Suguru, discussion of this topic and the fact it starts raining outside (reminding him of the clapping zealots) causes Suguru to suggest that killing all non-sorcerers would achieve the same goal as making them all sorcerers. She agrees that’s a way for sure, but she for one isn’t crazy enough to do it.

When Suguru talks to her at length about his current internal crisis: hating both non-sorcerers and the part of him that harbors that hatred and has those dark thoughts. But Yuki tells him he’s neither of those people…yet. The choices he makes in the future will determine which of those possibilities become his true feelings.

That future comes faster than even Yuki might have expected. Haibara Yuu returns from his mission in a body bag—another sorcerer on the growing pile of sorcerer corpses being created out of deference to ungrateful masses. Then he’s summoned to a village where two twin girls (Nanako and Mimiko, his future supporters) are caged and beaten as scapegoats for cursed spirit attacks.

I don’t know if Suguru sees a bit of Riko in the twins’ faces, or just sees two innocent kids being abused for no good reason, but it’s the last straw for him. Rather than “do something” about the girls, he turns his powers against the villager who mistreated them. It amounts to a massacre of 112 people, and when Satoru learns that Suguru is the culprit, he can scarcely believe it.

In this way, Suguru goes through a three-strikes-you’re-out progression. Losing Riko in that awful, awful way (and learning from Yuki that she was essentially expendable, as another vessel ended up stabilizing Tengen), losing his kohai to a stronger-than-expected cursed spirit, and finally the outrageous injustice of the imprisoned girls.

Wanting to kill all non-sorcerers is obviously not okay. Suguru is not a good guy. But unlike Star Wars Episode III with Anakin, JJK did an excellent job showing his downfall and heel turn. Combine that with the fact he and Getou and Shouko were basically shattered as a friend group, leaving him increasingly isolated.

I don’t know Tsukumo Yuki’s whole plan in speaking to Suguru was to give him her tacit blessing to do things she wasn’t “crazy” enough to do to in order to achieve her goal of eliminating cursed spirits from the world, but she definitely seems like a catalyst to get Suguru into that state of mind. Not that discouraging him at that point would have made a difference.

After the deed, Suguru meets up with Shouko in the middle of bustling Shinjuku, and confirms what he did and why: he wants to create a world without non-sorcerers. Shouko calls Satoru, who speaks to Suguru in the middle of a dense crowd of passersby as cars, trucks, and buses zoom past.

When Satoru says such an undertaking is impossible, Suguru calls him arrogant, as he believes Satoru to be very much capable of eliminating all non-sorcerers should he choose to do so. Saying someone else can’t do it when he can is basically admitting he believes he’s the strongest. But he’s not strong enough to execute his best friend.

Tsuguru learns that a new religious group bought the church that was once owned by the Star Religious Group, dons the traditional robes he’ll wear as the big bad of season one, musses the hair of the liberated twins, takes the stage, and declares that he’ll be taking over and renaming the group. When there is an objection, he brings that person to the stage and smashes them into jelly with a cursed spirit. No doubt no further objections followed.

The last scene in the flashback that has occupied these past four episodes involves Satoru meeting a young Megumi for the first time, and being shocked by how much he resembles his father Touji. He also learns that Megumi is extremely precocious, and has no interest in his father, only in protecting Tsumiki’s happiness.

That’s when Satoru wakes up in 2018, with Juuji, Nobara, and a grown Megumi looming over him in his office, having summoned them there before he nodded off. Now that the three co-stars of season one are here, this season can get started in earnest, flush with the context of the tragedies and darkness of the prior decade that drive Satoru to be the best damn sorcerer he can be, and train the next generation to do the same.

Skip and Loafer – 12 (Fin) – A Glorious Part of Our Youths

When Ririka starts to unload on Sousuke’s mom, Mitsumi feels like a mouse who finds herself to close to some kind of wild cat. Clearly Ririka is harboring some hardcore resentment towards Sousuke’s mom as barb in about her making her son act for her again.

When they meet up with Sousuke, Ririka makes sure all the NPCs around her know that Sousuke used to be a professional child actor, making him uncomfortable and causing his mom to make a polite but quick getaway. When Ririka turns on Sousuke himself, Mitsumi instinctively gets between them…and tries to make herself as big as possible!

This makes Sousuke smile and laugh in a way Ririka has told him he doesn’t deserve to, because Mitsumi is unwittingly emulating the practice of the lesser anteater, as he read in the biology club’s publication with Keiri. Ririka heads off to get a seat at Sousuke’s play.

As he awaits his final scene, Sousuke is lost in thought, pondering if it’s okay to act if it’s for himself, not just to make his mom happy but for his own happiness. He also realizes he didn’t speak to Kanechika-senpai after his play on purpose, because he was envious.

Sousuke forgets his last few lines, but it doesn’t matter, as his nonverbal acting is enough to evoke a positive crowd response. After the play Sousuke comes right down to it and asks Ririka if she’ll let him have a high school life, even if he can’t make up for what happened.

Ririka hears “Forgive me, I want to be happy”, which is the gist. She fires her hat at him, ignoring the fact she’s a celebrity out in public, and tells him to do what he pleases. When he thanks her, she flips him off. On the taxi ride home, Ririka is sobbing, but at least understands that what happened wasn’t all Sousuke’s fault back then.

Ririka is upset that because of what happened, regardless of blame, he’s always looked like he’d rather be anywhere then with her, and that it’s “easier” to be with girls who “know nothing.” I for one was glad for this scene that finally showed Ririka drop her armor.

Another one crying bitter tears is Takamine as the festival ends. She’d dreamt of being student council president, but Kazakami beat her in a free, fair election. Kazakami apologizes for crushing Takamine’s dream, but won’t apologize for wanting to do something with his high school life after his soccer injury.

Kazakami tells Takamine (who didn’t ask) about how strict his family is and how high their expectations are for him. No doubt they were disappointed when he hurt his knee, but he’s still expected to get into Tokyo U like everyone else in the family. In a sweet gesture of consolation, he gives Takamine the beautiful bouquet he was given earlier.

As the festival comes to a close, Mitsumi meets with her friends for a hot minute for a cold drink and the promise of a study sleepover soon. It’s so heartwarming to see how close and comfortable these four ladies have become in such a short time.

The rest of the class is headed to a restaurant to fill their bellies after all their hard work, but Mitsumi has to stay behind for a staff meeting. Sousuke breaks off from the group to come back to Mitsumi and ask if he can help with anything; he’s happy to do so.

Mitsumi says no, it’s fine, it’s just a meeting, and he should go off and have fun. As she skips down the hall, Sousuke calls out her name one more time, and for a moment, I thought he was going to confess! I imagine Mitsumi might’ve felt something like that too. It doesn’t happen, which is fine.

The episode, and indeed the season, ends with everyone in a good place. Hopefully there’s a second season, because I could always use more Mitsumi, Sousuke, Mika, Yuzuki, and Makoto in my life.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 16 – The Next Generation

Eve’s Rainbow Shot not only beat Mizuho and Kaede and gained her and Aoi the All-Japan Girls’ Tournament trophy. It also cut through a memory block she’d had since she was eight years old. She remembers who she is and who her parents were. This causes Aoi’s mom Amawashi Seira to go down memory lane to when she, Amuro Reiya and Hodaka Kazuhiko were brought on as ambassadors for her father’s new golf company Athens.

The three were rivals in golf but friends in life—and in Seira and Reiya’s case, lovers. We learn that Amawashi intended for the leadership and legacy of Athens to carry on when he passed, so he decreeds that Seira would marry whichever man won a new Athens-sponsored Japanese leg of the pro tour. Reiya was was ahead of Kazuhiko until he suddenly collapsed and had to forfeit. Kazuhiko went on to the pro tour.

Seira is informing her father that she’s pregnant with Reiya’s child when a disheveled Kazuhiko returns. Her father wants her to get rid of the child, but Kazuhiko vows to marry Seira and raise Reiya’s child as if it were his own, including teaching it how to play golf. It’s an arrangement Seira’s father accepts. The child born is Aoi, and Kazuhiko is true to his word: both he and Reiya teach her their golf.

But the truth is, Aoi was led to believe that the wrong man was her father. Kazuhiko returns to Nafrece whenever he can to see his true love, Eleanor, and his daughter, Evangeline. Eve and her mother live a simple, quiet life. Kazuhiko teaches Eve golf, and comes to believe she’s even more talented than he is.

But while on a family luxury cruise, this family is shattered in a shipwreck. Kazuhiko and Eleanor perish at sea, but Eve washes ashore with a head injury and with amnesia. The rest we know: Eve ends up in a new family with Klein and Lily, works on-again, off-again as an underground golfer for Rose, and was finally able to rise out of that whole mafia mess and escape to Japan with her sweetheart and top rival, Aoi.

Hearing Eve say her father’s name is Hodaka Kazuhiko weighs on Aoi, until she finds Eve on a rooftop just as it starts to rain, and tells her that her father once went by Hodaka until he married into the Amawashi clan. If Kazuhiko was both their father, that makes them sisters. But Eve doesn’t believe it, and Aoi insists it’s true. Eve concludes if neither of them are lying, someone else is…and the only one of their of their parents still alive for sure is Aoi’s mom.

A rain-soaked Aoi confronts her mom that night, but Seira has lived this lie for nearly a decade, and isn’t about to own up to it now. She assures Aoi that Kazuhiko is her one and only father, and that her mother wouldn’t lie to her (even though she has been). In any case, Aoi needs to rest up; Seira has big plans for her to become the youngest tour pro.

Aoi begs her mother to let Eve play in that tournament too, unaware that many years before, the two most important ment in Seira’s life were pit against each other in a similar manner. But Seira forbids it; she now knows about Eve’s mafia entanglements, and wants neither Aoi, Athens, or the Awawashi brand anywhere near it.

Just when it looked like our golf girl sweeties were about to take the next step, everything seems to have blown up in their faces thanks to this new question of paternity. But one thing is certain: Aoi and Eve are but pieces in a game of chess their elders have been playing for too long. To flip the board over and start anew, they’ll need to cease being pieces.

Classroom of the Elite – S2 12 – Introduction to Fear

I didn’t give Karuizawa Kei enough credit last week. Yes, she does come ever so close to giving up and descending into an abyss of despair. But at a certain point, she decides that no matter how much torture Ryuuen doles out, she’s not going to tell him the name of the mastermind. Period. Even soaked and freezing, the fire in her eyes mocks Ryuuen’s efforts. Fine, he says; he’ll just keep going.

Kiyotaka and his friends are about to go into the karaoke parlor, but he craps out at the last second, citing fatigue from an all-nighter. Like the ANN reviewer of this show, I was not particularly looking forward to an entire episode of Kei getting tortured (even if it wouldn’t get Ryuuen what he wanted), so I was relieved that after informing both Chabashira Sae and former StuCo President Horikita Manabe of the situation, Kiyotaka arrives in the lion’s den.

At first Ryuuen, Mio, Ishizaki and Albert are amused by the notion this guy is a.) the Class D mastermind and b.) dumb enough to come there alone. However, they are the ones who should be scared. They may think they’re lions, but Kiyotaka is a dragon, and a particularly unemotional one. Ryuuen sends Ishizaki and Albert at him to test him, and both underlings go down in seconds.

At no point does Kiyotaka raise his voice or break a sweat taking down two of the toughest motherfuckers in the school. But they’re only tough compared to everyone else. There’s no comparing anyone at the school to Kiyotaka. Kei can only sit in the corner, shiver, and enjoy the show, just as gobsmacked as her torturers by Kiyotaka’s skill.

Mio, more pissed off at the situation and by how fucked up both Ryuuen and Kiyotaka  are, does her duty as the next opponent, and while her kicks are impressive, she is absolutely no match for Kiyotaka, who knocks her out with a well placed hand to her neck.

Yet Ryuuen still doesn’t panic. Why would he? he believes himself to be the school’s foremost expert and wielder of violence. It’s likely none of his underlings would last five seconds in a fight with him, but the gap between him and them might as well be the length of a car, compared to the gap between his strength and Kiyotaka’s.

Ryuuen hangs in there only because his fighting style is unique to him, developed from a life of fighting. Unpredictability and raw talent in the place of formal training and discipline will serve you well…right up until it doesn’t. Ryuuen’s fatal flaw isn’t that he thought he could win in a fight against Kiyotaka…it’s that he could evoke any emotion at all in their fight.

Even as Kiyotaka is fighting back yawns while he meticulously bashes Ryuuen’s face into paste with his deadly fists, Ryuuen talks about how he’s never felt fear, and how even if he loses this fight, he’ll be around every corner, 24/7, waiting to spring on Kiyotaka. Instead, Kiyotaka not only gives him a much-belated introduction to fear, but shrugs off his “victory” as a “mundane task” that would never inspire the slightest bit of emotion from him.

Once Ryuuen has stopped moving, Kiyotaka covers Kei up and holds her as she shivers and weeps. When asked why she didn’t give him up, she says, simply, “for myself.” It was loyalty to Karuizawa Kei, not Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, that fueled her resolve until he arrive. That’s not to say she’s not happy he came, and that she wasn’t wrong to believe he would.

As Manabe told Chabashira, Kiyotaka went into that lion’s den to “end the war” all by himself. I can’t imagine Ryuuen will be able to hide the marks of his fight anytime soon, nor do I think he’s in any hurry to tell anyone who was able to beat him so thoroughly. Class C has been dealt a serious blow, but as he always ruled with violence, I imagine plenty of Class C would welcome his downfall.

While in general I abhor violence as a means of solving problems (it usually only begets more violence), this situation is rather unique, due to the fact that a villain like Ryuuen was never going to be defeated by any other means but superior force, and the fact that Kiyotaka took no discernable pleasure in the victory.

That said, he does express regret for making Kei suffer so much to achieve this result, and reiterates his promise that should she ever find herself in trouble again, he will rescue her without fail. After what she witnessed, I daresay Kei can trust in those words. But to answer a question she raised in her monologue, yes, Kei, you are extremely effin’ cool.

Classroom of the Elite – S2 11 – Stone Cold

God, Kiyotaka sucks so much. Can’t even say “Good Morning” back to Kei. Even so, I had no idea just how deep and harmful his sudden, impulsive cutting off of communications would end up being by episode’s end. With no new tests being announced, Ryuuen strolls into Class D on a fishing expedition.

He and his crew end up following and confronting Koenji. Ryuuen’s goal is to determine if the blonde bombshell is the Class D Mastermind. You have to admit, he looks the part, and his seeming indifference and passivity to everything is the perfect cover. Of course, we know he’s way off base, but it’s still a ton of fun watching him verbally spar with Kouenji, perhaps the only student more self-involved than he is.

But hold on, here comes Arisu and her crew, who stick their noses into the confrontation. When she uses Ryuuen’s least favorite nickname “Dragon Boy” twice, he rushes her and prepares to dropkick her. It’s a testament to Arisu’s toughness and confidence in her underlings that she doesn’t flinch an inch, but lets one of those underlings block the kick.

Ryuuen may not have bagged the Mastermind, but he takes solace in knowing one less possibility is off the board. He tells Mio that he’s having a shitload of fun. His next move is to prepare bait for the Mastermind in the form of Kei, whom he knows the Mastermind protected thanks to Manabe.

Ibuki, your standard monstrous collaborator who does nothing to stop evil, instead takes part in it, sticking around as Kei is lured into a refrigerated space with no security cameras. There, Ryuuen threatens to expose her bullied past to the whole school if she doesn’t give him the name of the Mastermind.

Never has Ryuuen been more cruel and menacing than in this scene, underscored by the dramatic, theatrical lighting and intensely cold atmosphere. Like Arisu, and as we know, Kei is tougher than she looks, and refuses to give up the name, even when bound and threatened.

So Ryuuen has his underling slowly pour a bottle of water over her, and then another, then covers her head with a cloth and pours another one on. It’s essentially waterboarding, only with the added threat of hypothermia. It’s here where I throw up two big middle fingers at the show for continuing to put Kei through the ringer. This is truly sickening, to the point I needed a nice hot shower after watching this.

Worse still, we see Kiyotaka agree to hang out with his new friendly friend group to celebrate the end of their term with some karaoke. His promise to protect Kei is rendered toothless by the fact she can no longer contact him via phone. Even if somehow Kiyotaka senses something’s up, it’s way too late for him to come to her rescue, isn’t it? The damage is done, with Ryuuen dragging her deeper into the cold darkness, making a promise of his own: to utterly destroy her.

DanMachi IV – 08 – Elfhunt

Bell joins Bors’ party as they descend to the 27th floor, and proves his Level 4 mettle by making quick work of both a lead merman and laser-shooting foes. He learns that some of the party members actually understand why Ryuu is going after those who caused the destruction of the rest of her familia…but the 80 million in bounty is far more pressing to all of them.

When he gets a chance, Bell breaks from the party to find the source of the singing everyone hears. He knows it’s Marie, who is extremely spooked when he encounters her. Something is down here that shouldn’t be, and it’s powerful enough to make huge holes in the Dungeon walls that don’t quickly heal.

Marie also helps lead Bell to Ryuu’s location, and their encounter is pretty cut-and-dried: Ryuu doesn’t want someone like Bell, a gentle soul from a gentler part of her life, to be anywhere near this place. Bell wants her side of the story but she has no time for him, and flies off.

Meanwhile on the 25th floor the rest of Bell’s party waits, which Cassie believes is the key to keeping everyone alive. That said, Turk, the werewolf who pinned the Rivira murder on Ryuu, insists on searching the floor for Ryuu. Some of the hunting party stay put per Bors’ orders, but Bell’s party decides to follow Turk’s, if only to keep an eye on him, as Bell asked.

Bell reunites with Bors’ party just as they end up afoul of Ryuu, who is targeting the last survivor of the Familia that contributed to the destruction of hers. Letting him survive simply isn’t an option to her. She makes quick work neutralizing everyone who comes after her, but Ryuu keeps up the chase, until it’s just him, Ryuu, and her prey.

For the first time, Ryuu raises her wooden sword, warning Bell that she won’t hesitate to cut him—even him—down to get to her target. Bell, who did not come to capture Ryuu or collect a bounty, simply wants everyone to get along and be happy. But it would seem he’s out of his element here. How can he hope to quell Ryuu’s murderous rage when he’s never experienced the trauma of losing his entire Familia?

Can he say he’d remain the kind-hearted live-and-let-live Bell Cranel if that fate befell him, as it does in Cassandra’s premonition? But with that giant evil snake slithering around, it’s looking more and more like Ryuu isn’t the cause of that particular “banquet of tragedy.”

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – 09 – The Selfish, Mistaken Prince

For her role in saving everyone from the horde of monsters with her purification magic, Sei is rewarded by being teased by Grand Magus Drewes, much to Albert’s displeasure. Upon returning to the palace, word of her great saintly deeds precedes her, and she’s even more of a celebrity with the nobles.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Prince Kyle specifically waited until Sei returned in order to stage his spat in the courtyard with Elizabeth, who both wants to be a friend to both Sei and Aira. Kyle lays it on rather thick, calling Sei an “impostor” and “most definitely not the Saint”, making things even more uncomfortable for poor Aira.

Liz, unaware that Kyle is carrying out a ploy, takes him to task for his foolishness, but then both she and Aira spot Sei, and Kyle takes aim, pretending not to know who she is and even trying to put his hand on her. Albert comes out of nowhere to prevent that.

Drewes, who slinked off, returns with the king himself and his retainers, and takes Kyle to task for spreading fake news. Kyle continues to maintain that despite Aira having no accomplishments of note, she’s still the only person he summoned. The king orders them to continue this discussion in private.

There, Kyle bears all, admitting he was intentionally acting like a boorish lout so that all the heat from the public would fall on him, while Aira would be seen as a victim in his craven schemes. After learning he played the fool for Aira’s sake, Liz is no longer angry at her fiancé, and in fact seems to have come to admire him even more, while lamenting how awkward he is.

As for Liz, Aira is left in her care, and she arranges a tea party so that Sei, who is now officially recognized by all as the Saint, can finally meet Aira, and vice-versa. It’s a little awkward at first (due to the age difference, among other things), but Aira soon learns that Sei is a gentle, kind person who is eager to spend more time with her.

She and Liz also suggest that if she wants to continue her magical studies, she should join the Royal Magi Assembly. Considering how long Sei and Aira were kept apart, this first meeting has a very understated, almost anticlimactic quality. And maybe that’s for the best: one thing Sei and Aira have in common (besides their homeworld) is a general distaste of the limelight. A laid-back tea party was the perfect place to begin their friendship in earnest.

The king, striking an Ikari Gendo pose, consults with his chief of staff about the region in most need of assistance against the scourge of monsters and miasma: Klausner’s Domain, AKA “The Alchemist’s Holy Land”, the kingdom’s primary source of medicinal herbs.

When Sei learns Albert and his knights will be headed to Klausner’s, she volunteers to come along, surprising her director who assumed Sei would want to stay put at the institute and was preparing excuses for her. Albert says Sei’s safety is paramount, but what’s a safer place for her—or him—than by each other’s sides?

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – 05 – Unappraisable

There’s a lot of lead-up to Sei’s introduction to Grand Magus Yuri Drewes—yet another hot guy who just recovered from the coma he suffered after summoning her and Aira. But when it comes time for him to do his duty as the most powerful mage in the kingdom and appraise Sei’s power, his spell is unable to penetrate her own far superior magical power. That means Yuri is fairly certain she’s the true Saint, because he was able to appraise Aira’s power.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Yuri’s inability to properly appraise Sei means he can’t be certain she is the Saint. Aira may not possess her incalculable magical power, but she is progressing abnormally quickly in her training at the academy, which is to prepare her to do battle against the monsters threatening the kingdom. If Sei were to follow a similar path, she’d be playing catch-up, at least on the training side of things.

Yuri relays his findings to King Siegfried, assuring him he’ll continue his research, but a satisfactorily definite answer as to who is the Saint probably isn’t forthcoming. All Siegfried has is Yuri’s expert opinion that Sei is the true Saint in one hand, and an unruly son in Prince Kyle who insulted Sei by choosing Aira as his Saint.

Siegfried decides to flex his royal power by officially inviting Sei to the court, which is a whole thing. Marie and a phalanx of maids thoroughly bathe her, massage her, and dress her in saintly robes. Then Hawke (who it turns out is the younger brother of Earhart, the Assembly’s second-in-command) arrives to be her personal escort, as both he and Johan worried she’d feel lonely entering the court on her own.

Sei, who is a bundle of nerves, is happy to have Commander Hawke to lean on, but once they enter the court chamber, she alone approaches the throne. Siegfried descends from the dais, and he and the rest of the court bow their heads in formal apology for Prince Kyle’s conduct. Sei accepts the apology and is praised for her grace and once again asked what she wants.

It was at this point that I figured the thing she wanted most was to continue living a quiet but rewarding life at the Research Institute. Considering she doesn’t seek any land or titles, this would be a simple thing to grant. But even there she’s hit a bit of a wall, so she asks for two things that will help breach that wall: access to the forbidden section of the royal library, and a magical tutor to teach her the ways of spellcasting.

Siegfried appoints the only person remotely qualified to tutor a saint: Grand Magus Yuri Drewes. As for Prince Kyle, he hears a report about his father’s activities and digs in his heels. As far as he’s concerned, there’s only one Saint, and it’s Aira, whom we finally see in the flesh, but unfortunately don’t hear her utter any actual words. Still, it’s inevitable that Sei and Aira will meet. I hope they won’t allow all the politicking going on around them to spoil what could be a meaningful, supportive friendship.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World – 03 – Allies for an Afternoon

Iska and Alice can’t stop thinking about each other. It dawns on them both that their recent meet-cutes haven’t been a matter of mere coincidence. That’s further reinforced when Iska is offered his Saint Disciple status back in return for apprehending the Ice Witch.

Meanwhile, Rin and Alice learn that Iska was imprisoned for, of all things, freeing an astral witch from captivity, once again calling into question everything they think they know about their enemy. However bad the Empire might be, if there’s someone like Iska helping her kind, then perhaps there is a sliver of hope for the peace for which she yearns.

The two decide to test their propensity to run into reach other in the Neutral City. This time Captain Mismis accompanies Iska, while Rin sticks by Alice’s side. Both “chaperones” are well out of their comfort zone, but Iska and Alice want to learn more about each other.

In particular, Alice considers Iska’s past actions to contradict his current mission to capture her. Iska explains that nothing he’s done has been contradictory, but all in the greater service of peace. Ever since he freed that young, low-powered astral witch from a cruel fate, his overarching loyalty has been to the effort to end the war, not win it for the Empire.

Alas, Alice, who like Iska with the Imperial Senate is beholden to her set-in-her-ways mother, assures him capturing her won’t change the Sovereignty’s position. But perhaps, if he defects and serves under her, that position might soften.

Before he can respond to this shocking offer, the sky literally cracks and the Founder, Grand Witch Nebulis, emerges. Drawn to Iska’s location by Iska’s astral swords, Nebby is there to smite him, as well as any who “corrode the planet and its astral power”.

When Alice’s mom discovers the Founder has escaped, she’s happy, because it means the Empire’s defeat is all but certain due to her immense power. However, that belief lacks the nuance required of a leader carrying their people into the future, not just concerned with quarrels of the past.

The Founder doesn’t care about the future, only senseless wrath. When Alice tries to reason with her, she’s labeled a traitor and attacked along with Iska. It’s here when Alice is convinced the Founder cannot save her people; she is merely an uncontrollable relic of a bygone era. She can revere her for founding the Sovereignty, but her ancient grudge will only lead to further death and suffering for all.

On their own, neither Iska nor Alice are a match for the outdated agent of destruction, but when they stand back-to-back and combine their powers, Iska is able to climb Alice’s staircase of ice to literally clip the Founder’s wings and force her retreat. They also join their voices in telling the Founder to shut up and fuck off, cutting off her ponderous speechifying!

Before she returns to the cracks in the sky, Alice tells the Founder to go back to sleep for another hundred years. She’ll ensure that when she wakes up again the world will be a better place. That said, Iska rejects her offer to defect, so while the two exhausted fighters call a truce for the rest of the day, tomorrow they’ll be enemies again.

But Alice can’t deny that she and Iska want the same basic thing, and that her Founder can’t provide it. Saving the world is going to be up to the two of them, so they can’t remain enemies much longer.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 12 (Fin) – The One He Wants

We’ve finally arrived at the end of one of the most frustrating, problematic rom-coms I’ve experienced in quite some time, and it ends pretty much how I expected: by not ending. But despite how hard it was to watch at times, I could never quite look away.

On not one but two occasions this week Kazuya shows signs of not only knowing what he must do but stepping up and doing or saying it, only to abandon the effort a half-step short of the finish line. First he does this with Ruka, realizing how lucky he is to have her and how unreasonable he is for feeling like she’s not enough.

He is right in the middle of telling her he’s ready to move past the “trial” period of their relationship and declare them “official”—only to be distracted by the arrival of Mizuhara and Mami at the karaoke parlor. It’s the first of two “showdown” scenes between the two women, and in this first one Mami has all the power and relishes wielding it.

Mami tells Mizuhara she didn’t book her to rag on her profession, but now that she knows she’s a rental, she couldn’t stay quiet. She doesn’t like the fact Mizuhara and Kazuya have had a fake relationship this long, and aside from deeming it bad for Kazuya, just watching it in practice pisses her off “a teensy bit.” None of her words are that harsh or cruel, but Yuuki Aoi’s expert delivery and Mami’s odd expressions make them feel like icy daggers.

Because this is a show where Everything is About Kazuya, Kazuya feels it’s his duty to not only eavesdrop on Mizuhara and Mami’s date, but pretend to be sick and excuse himself from work to follow them. Mizuhara rewarded him last time he did this, so why wouldn’t he do it again? He has an excuse ready to go: he doesn’t want Mizuhara to bear the brunt of Mami’s hate.

Meanwhile Ruka is left holding the bag, wondering if Kazuya was serious about making them official. Kazuya finds Mizuhara and Mami on a bridge about to wrap up the date, but not before a “rematch” of sorts, only this time with Mizuhara having a slight rhetorical edge.

Mizuhara asks Mami straight up how she feels about Kazuya, as she’s sure Mami still occupies a special place in the guy’s heart. Mami doesn’t take the bait, but tosses the question back to Mizuhara, suspicious that in a year of fake-dating, she’s fallen for Kazuya for real. Mizuhara simply states “He’s my boyfriend”, not adding the “rental” part because at this point, until the end of their contract, whether it’s a rental or not is irrelevant.

Mami considers that a dodging of the question and turns to leave, but Mizuhara grabs her hand and tells her they’re not done. As scenes of Kazuya crying about Mami flash by, Mizuhara tells Mami how being a rental girlfriend helped her realize the importance and difficulty of falling in love. She asks if Mami ever faced Kazuya’s feelings head on, in good faith, seriously engaged with his love, or considered that he may be the one to make her “happy for life”.

Mami tells her to buzz off under her breath, and states that all of that is between her and Kazuya. Fair enough, but Mizuhara wins this round. She knows Mami wouldn’t have bothered with this date if she didn’t care one way or another about Kazuya. Of the three lead women, Mami is the one most unready, unwilling, and unable to reckon with her feelings, preferring her cool, aloof, gives-no-fucks, bored-with-everything…facade.

That night, Kazuya is waiting by Mizuhara’s door when she comes home, confessing he saw and heart what she said to Mami, thanking her for having his back once again, and apologizing for not being able to do those things himself. Mizuhara then shocks Kazuya by apologizing in turn, for not being able to secure him a real girlfriend (apparently Ruka doesn’t count!).

As she’s suggesting he consider asking Mami out again, for closure if nothing else, Kazuya steps up to the plate, as he did with Ruka, and says something he should have said long ago: “You’re the one I want. It’s gotta be you.” At last, some progress! Only no, he immediately recants, saying he wants her “as a rental girlfriend”, before rushing into his apartment with a curt good night.

Yet another disappointing, immensely frustrating moment of failure for Kazuya, who comes away from the incident thinking it’s a sure thing that Mizuhara isn’t into him. Meanwhile, next door, a blushing Mizuhara wonders WTF just happened. I have no doubt if Kazuya had made it clear he truly did want her as a real girlfriend, it would have been better for both of them, whether Mizuhara accepted or rejected him.

Instead, as a closing montage indicates, it’s still very much anyone’s game when it comes to winning the Kazuya Sweepstakes. Sumi’s out there doing her job with renewed confidence, Ruka smiles at the phone background of her and Kazuya, Mami is utterly bored to death by her latest rich old dude, and Mizuhara is still showing up early for dates with Kazuya.

They’re still rental dates, and she’s still a rental girlfriend. I get it; that’s the name of the show. And the point of the show wasn’t really about Kazuya to end up with one girl over the others, but to explore the different ways in which we fall in love, now made more complex and at times strange via new technologies.

Kazuya was almost always abysmally hard to watch, but that was kind of the point too. What kept me coming back were Ruka, Mizuhara, Mami and Sumi—in that order—as much care was put into their voices, character designs, clothing, and personalities. They were the stars, while Kazuya was an unfortunate but necessary variable in the equation. If RaG were to return for a sequel, they’d be the ones who’d bring me back.