Skip and Loafer – 08 – Clout Chaser

When Nao-chan learns Mitsumi will be going to the zoo with the Shima boy she’s always talking about, she immediately worries that he’s a hot city boy giving a country girl a try before dumping her like a sack of potatoes. She’s concerned enough that she almost considers letting Mitsumi leave the house in the outfit she chose for herself. Almost!

We rewind a bit to Sousuke apologizing to Mitsumi and Mika for when Saijou Ririka bothered them. He says Ririka is a childhood friend, but Mika doesn’t buy it. She digs into Ririka online and learns she was caught drinking in sixth grade and was cancelled for snapping back at online criticism.

Mika now thinks she knows why Sousuke’s so “chill” around girls at school: because he’s a “clout chaser”, surrounded by messy glamorous types like Ririka. Considering she’s still harboring some feelings for the guy, that prospect disappoints her.

But on to the date-not-date between Sousuke and Mitsumi! Nao-chan picks out an adorable ensemble for Mitsumi, but also decides to shadow her on the date, to get a better idea of this Sousuke fellow. Naturally, Mika decided to do the same, thing, and they end up joining forces. Notably, Nao-chan is in “disguise” as a male, and introduces herself as Mitsumi’s uncle.

As you’d expect, Sousuke and Mitsumi have a splendid time together, snug as two bugs in a rug. Mitsumi soaks in the big city zoo and all the exotic and adorable animals, while Shima is soaking up Mitsumi’s wonderful vibes. When Nao-chan asks Mika why Shima took Mitsumi out, she can’t answer; it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking.

But when Nao-chan asks if Sousuke could be toying with Mitsumi’s heart, Mika is unequivocal: there’s no chance of that. Nao-chan reads Mika’s face and deduces that she likes Sousuke too, but Mika insists she just wants to snag a “hi-spec” boyfriend while in high school—any hunk will do!

While on the zoo monorail, Nao-chan and Mika tempt fate by sitting right across from Mitsumi and Sousuke. Sousuke is clearly worn out (it’s a very hot day), and Sousuke suggest they hit up the gift shop and call it a day. When Mitsumi voices her disappointment that they weren’t able to do everything she planned, Sousuke tells her they can simply come again. There’s no reason this had to be a one-time thing.

As Mika overhears, she kicks herself for thinking Sousuke was a “clout chaser”. If anything, that’s a label she could apply to herself. At the gift shop, Mitsumi buys herself and Sousuke matching panda pendant/straps, while Nao-chan reveals her true identity as a woman to0 Mika and suggests they cool down with some mango ice cream at a spot she’s heard good things about.

The second half of the episode is the pajama party, which is relocated to Mitsumi’s house. Nao-chan is so happy Mitsumi has made such sweet friends, and Mika and Yuzuki even start to bond a little over their shared knowledge of fashion trends.

Yuzuki also finally feels she can talk honestly with Mitsumi, Makoto, and Mika, which wasn’t the case at her previous fancy international school. Yuzuki admits she went with the flow and ended up in an undesirable spot; she decided when she transferred she’d wear her heart on her sleeve.

While she might’ve initially come off as cool and even a bit prickly, now that everyone knows her better it’s worked out quite nicely. In her mind, Mika analyzes how Yuzuki’s old classmates might’ve realized how special a girl she was and decided to tease her “just a little”—and feels a little guilty for at times being that kind of person herself.

Meanwhile, Sousuke is at cram school with Mukai, and even there he gets hounded by girls, much to Mukai’s chagrin.

When the evening rolls along, Mika says her goodbyes and takes her leave, as she’s going to go out to dinner with her family. But while on the elevator down to the exit, Nao-chan nails it on the head: there is no family dinner. It’s Mika’s turn to be analyzed—this time by Nao-chan.

She can tell that Mika keeps up with styling trends an clearly worked hard to get into Mitsumi’s school, but lacks confidence and is afraid of being hurt (much like Nao-chan herself at that age). Once outside, she tells Mika it’s not too late to go back inside and say she got the day wrong. Mika says that would be “cringe”, but Nao-chan points out that a little cringe can be endearing.

After cram school, Sousuke is about to go out to eat with Mukai, but gets a text and suddenly runs off. He meets Ririka at a family restaurant, thinking there would be other friends there, but it’s just her. She asks him to go on a walk with him. On this walk, she brings up Mitsumi, “the bob-haired girl”, whom she’s pegged as Sousuke’s “favorite”.

When he says they’re friends, Ririka laughs a cruel laugh, and says he’s always liked “circus acts.” Sousuke doesn’t hesitate to tell Ririka not to talk about his friend like that.

To this, Ririka’s mood sours. She tells him that just because four years have passed since the “controversy” doesn’t mean he has any right to a fun little high school life of his own. Back in the sixth grade, Ririka came along at Sousuke’s urging to the gathering where alcohol was being served, and now her life is under a microscope.

When Ririka wants Sousuke to walk her home while holding hands, the way they used to when they were little kids and child actors, it’s made clear that her interest in him goes beyond their long history. Furthermore, Sousuke clearly feels guilty about what went down with the drinking incident. It makes him servile towards her, and she’s willing to exploit that at will.

While Mika was wrong to be disappointed in Sousuke for chasing after models earlier in the episode, it’s clear there’s a part of him he’s keeping secret from Mitsumi, even as she’s a totally open book.

It’s true that she seems to be developing some deeper feelings for him that he may not feel he deserves to reciprocate. But that aside, they’ve demonstrated they can be open and earnest with each other. I wonder if this Ririka matter is something he’ll ever ask her about.

As Mitsumi has a classic sleepover with her three girlfriends (yes, Mika decided to take Nao-chan’s advice and return to the party. Good for her!), Sousuke lies in his dark, messy room, contemplating his messy past and Ririka’s harsh words. And we must contemplate whether Sousuke starts to put some distance between himself and Mitsumi, heeding Ririka’s warning that he’s not allowed to have a fun high school life. That would be a damn shame.

Classroom of the Elite – S2 08 – The Sword of Truth

Class D splits into study groups, with Suzune and Kikyou overseeing. When two students paired up despite having the same strengths and weaknesses ask for help, Yukimura volunteers to lead their group, and Suzune has Kiyotaka join them. After his performance at the relay, his classmates tell him he should stop holding back.

When Kiyotaka agrees to sit in on Suzune and Kikyou’s group, Maya tags along, and despite him not putting in any effort, other students still view them as a cozy couple. Honestly I feel bad for Maya, who could have had a crush on virtually anyone else and fared better.

Two notable exceptions are Ryuen and our two-faced charmer Kikyou, whom Suzune meets one-on-one in an empty classroom. She tells Kikyou that she only knows vague rumors about what went down in middle school, Kikyou has no way of trusting her. So Suzune proposes a bet.

She’ll let Kikyou choose one of the eight subjects they’re being tested in. Whoever gets the higher individual score will win. If Kikyou wins, Suzune will leave the school of her own free will. If Suzune wins, Kikyou will cease her vendetta. Suzune brings in Manabe, whom both trust and respect, as a witness, and the bet is formally agreed to.

Of course, Kikyou is well aware that Kiyotaka is listening in on Suzune’s phone, so later that night she meets with him and Suzune and proposes an amendment to the bet: if she wins, Kiyotaka leaves the school too. Suzune is against it, but Kiyotaka will bet on Suzune winning every time.

In exchange, he asks that Kikyou tell them both exactly what happened. If they’re putting their school lives on the line, they deserve that much. Kikyou agrees, and slides into Dark Backstory Mode. It all started in grade school when she’d get praised and recognized for every little thing she said and did.

When that automatic praise stopped and started to be distributed across her classmates, she vowed to become the friendliest, most helpful, most trusting classmate she could be; indispensable to all. This took an emotional toll, and she needed an outlet for her pent-up rage and resentment. Perhaps misguidedly, she chose a public blog.

While she changed all the names in her blog entries, it became a receptacle for all the class’ dirty little secrets, which she of course collected by being everyone’s best friend. The system worked until someone found the blog and exposed her, and suddenly she was everyone’s worst enemy.

Rather than cower or run, Kikyou fought back, dumping all of the secrets she hadn’t written about in her blog to that point. With that tinder she set the entire class against each other, resulting in its rumored annihilation.

Suffice it to say, she wants anyone who knows anything about this incident out of her life so she can reset things as everyone’s best friend. So now Kiyotaka and Suzune know the full story, and the full depth of Kikyou’s depraved, bottomless desire for recognition, praise, and of course, dirty secrets.

Even now she’s collected enough of Class D’s to destroy the class, but would rather not. Instead, she’s staking everything on getting a better math score than Suzune. I can’t imagine she’ll succeed. It’s not that such an outcome wouldn’t be interesting; it just doesn’t seem plausible for our two leads to suddenly drop out.

Vanitas no Carte – 23 – La Liberté de la Solitude

We’re into Unstoppable Force vs. Unmovable Object territory, with seemingly no good outcome that can emerge from Vanitas and Noé fighting. If Vanitas gets through Noé and harms Misha, Domi will jump to her death. But Vanitas doesn’t care. Neither Noé nor Misha have the whole story, and Vanitas is resolved to keep it that way—Noé and Domi’s lives are expendable to him.

This enrages Noé, but it doesn’t take long to figure out that Vanitas is intentionally provoking him to throw him off and force him to use too much of his strength. After all, he can’t get Vanitas’ memories from his blood if Vanitas is dead. The last thing Noé wants is to kill Vanitas, but he can’t lose Domi, either. It’s just a shitty situation all around…Thanks OMisha!

Vanitas’ little brother also tells Noé that Vanitas has hypnotized himself for one purpose: killing anyone who tries to suck his blood. Whatever genuine feelings of friendship or love for anyone or anything have been temporarily taken out of the equation, which combined with his considerable Chasseur skills (not to mention the freaking Book of Vanitas) make him extremely dangerous.

Unfortunately, it also saps his agency. This isn’t the Vanitas we know doing and saying these things: he’s basically in Fail-Safe Mode; his will and ego replaced by a rigid set of directives. He did to himself what Misha did to Domi, but Inner Domi throws a little wrench in Misha’s machinations by jumping without him telling her to, in hopes taking herself out of the equation will keep Noé from getting hurt.

Physical harm aside, nothing would hurt Noé more than losing her, but fortunately she’s unable to follow through on her suicide attempt, as Jeanne arrives and snatches her out of the air. She isn’t quite sure what’s going on, but her orders from Luca are to keep Domi safe, and she’s going to do that. Even if Misha is able to nullify her main weapon and Domi is still under his spell, Jeanne’s intervention allows Noé to focus on Vanitas.

Vanitas may go on about how Noé knows nothing about him, and that might’ve been true when they first met, but Noé is confident he’s been with Vanitas long enough to know what kind of person he is. For instance, he knows Vanitas considers solitude to be freedom, which is why he vows never to set Vanitas free.

That seems to break the hypnotic hold Vanitas placed on himself, but the episode ends abruptly without revealing the result of their fall. I understand having to save something for the finale, but it felt less like a cliffhanger and more like the episode just…stopped. That said, the second half should be something.

Vanitas no Carte – 22 – Période Bleue

And so we descend into the heretofore untold story of Vanitas, AKA Number 69. He’d already been one of Dr. Moreau’s child experiments/torture victims when poor little Misha arrived. But rather than keep his head down and endure Misha’s screams, he volunteered to undergo the procedure in Misha’s place. Moreau, the quintessential mad scientist, is moved by his gesture.

So is Misha, who is pretty well-adjusted for someone who had already endured untold sexual assaults by his mother’s wealthier clients. Despite his aloof demeanor, Vanitas becomes a reluctant protective big brother to Misha. In a first act full of darkness and unspeakable cruelty and evil, it was nice to see these two children could find a moment’s warm relief under their dingy blanket.

I’ve long not been a fan of Moreau for always looking like the extra-stylized/simplified/cartoony version that other characters sometimes slip into for moments of levity. But after watching him this week do the things he does with a smile, it absolutely adds to the terror surrounding the character. He is an unhinged Mad Hatter with a Cheshire Cat grin. To his eyes, this grim, brutal world is a magical paradise of innovation.

I also felt a deep pressure in my stomach watching the “ordinary” human researchers doing Moreau’s bidding without emotion. You get the feeling they’re not under any duress (i.e. Moreau keeping their families hostage) but simply doing their jobs and following orders like good proto-Nazis. Moreau is outwardly mad, but they must be too to be able to do what they do to Vanitas and Misha.

Fortunately, they receive swift justice when Moreau’s procedure to convert the boys into “quasi-members” of the Blue Moon Clan so he can open the two Books of Vanitas. The resulting explosions kill everyone and leave Moreau crippled, and the mysterious black-skinned, white-haired vampire who claims responsibility for the chaos is primed to leave…until Misha begs them to take them with them…and when given the choice, Vanitas agrees to go with them too.

When the mysterious person introduces themselves as the Vampire of the Blue Moon, Vanitas’ chasseur training kicks in, asking them what they’re doing. They simply reply that they are helping them, since they asked for help. All of the exhaustion and the stress of the procedure catches up to Vanitas, and he passes out.

He comes to in a comfy bed of one of the vampire’s human acquaintances. When Vanitas asks how that’s possible, the vamp makes it clear that the more occult-aligned folks have always preferred consorting with vampires than the church. When the vamp asks Vanitas why he was calling out for his mother, he tells the story of what happened to his parents.

He was the bastard child of a successful doctor who abandoned his old family for his mother, a performer at some kind of traveling show. He says his mother died giving birth to him, and when vampires attacked, his father died protecting him. When the church and then Moreau took him in, he learned that humans were far more terrifying monsters than the vampires he’d spent his life loathing.

More importantly to understanding Vanitas’ character through all that tragedy and pain is the fact that he never tried to escape Moreau’s clutches for the same reason he tried to protect Misha: because he didn’t want someone else to experience that pain and trauma in his place. He is, as the vampire says, “a truly kind child”.

And yet even in the present Vanitas believes he’s no one who should be loved. In this act, we see the vampire who will later be known as Luna, Vanitas, and Misha becoming a family. We learn that Vanitas soon surpassed cooking and cleaning skills, while they made sure Vanitas and Misha got both an education and the opportunity to be boys and have fun.

But Luna knew that it couldn’t last like this for long, as both Vanitas and Misha would one day succumb to the strains against the natural world caused by Moreau’s experiments on them. So they offered their adoptive sons a choice: die as humans when the time comes (which could be in days or years), or become official members of the Blue Moon Clan when Luna turns them.

We know that Vanitas chose to live his remaining days as a vampire, even if it meant dying tomorrow. This, despite saying humans are the ultimate monsters. It’s as if he knows he could only right the wrongs of humanity by remaining a human as he began his crusade of healing curse-bearers, thus bearing his own self-imposed curse, a product of his deep-seated kindness.

As for Misha…whether he is still human or not isn’t as important as what he’s after, and how he’s willing to hurt Vanitas to get it. Misha’s already done far more than Vanitas would typically forgive, sharing memories of their past with Noé. Noe and Vanitas’ relationship has been irrevocably altered. How will Vanitas respond to these actions by his long-lost kid brother?

Vanitas no Carte – 21 – Jetez un Coup d’oeil sous la Peau

This week segues nicely from the parting reveal of Domi as the culprit in the latest vampire attacks to the heartbreakingly tragic past events involving her, Louis, and Noé, this time from her perspective. In the aftermath of the bloodbath that claimed both Mina and Louis, Domi weeps at Noé’s bedside, blaming herself for involving Noé in trying to save Mina. Her sister Veronica lives up to the family name, pretending she never had a brother, and revealing that Domi and Louis were twins.

Veronica further twists the blade by saying the twin chosen to live was made on a whim, and thus wonders whether the right (i.e. more useful) twin was spared. Noé comes to and mistakes Domi for Louis, inadvertently compounding her belief that everyone would’ve preferred if she had died instead of Louis. She cut off all her hair and started dressing like Louis, trying to be what everyone wanted. Seeing her in this sorry state, Noé vowed to protect her at all costs from the darkness of their past.

Unfortunately, that past has re-surfaced thanks to the cheerful and mysterious white-haired lad, who introduces himself as Mikhail when Domi is out searching for Jeanne (presumably while Jeanne and the others were in Gévaudan, though I may not be right about that). Mikhail seems uniquely suited to bring out the pain in others, and uses it to take control of Domi.

Noé receives a note from Mikhail and arrives at the grounds of this world’s 1889 Exposition Universelle after dark, and finds Mikhail in front of a carousel and Domi standing atop a Ferris Wheel—two machines invented to imbue their riders with fun and joy. A third machine: a metal dog automaton, guards Mikhail, and he whips out his version of Vanitas’ book. Mikhail says if anyone harms him, Domi will jump, and introduces himself as Vanitas’ little brother, AKA Number 71.

Mikhail is here for one thing: Vanitas’ memories. He used Domi as bait to bring Noé to him, and will now use Noé to drink Vanitas’ blood and thereby gain those memories, including learning why Vanitas killed “father that day”. That Vanitas killed his dad comes as a shock to Noé; Mikhail can tell and concludes that even after all this time Noé must not know a damn thing about Vanitas. That’s hard to argue: it could be everything Noé knows is simply what Vanitas wants him to know.

Mikhail remedies that by pulling his shirt down (revealing the same spreading blue  malady that affects Vanitas) and offering his own blood for Noé to drink, making it a demand when Noé hesitates. When Jeanne learns Domi hasn’t been seen in three days she rushes to find her, but by then Noé’s fangs are already in Mikhail.

We flash back to Mikhail’s past, when she was in custody after her mother, a prostitute was found dead. Mikhail’s mom presented him as a girl and offered him to her best customers. He runs into a badly-wounded but still chipper Roland, who tells Mikhail he has a new home from this day. Roland is called away by Olivier, and Mikhail is suddenly grabbed and chloroformed.

When he comes to, he finds himself before the Marquiss Machina, and a boy he calls “Number 69″—a young Vanitas. Thus begins Noé’s long-awaited journey into his best friend’s murky past…but will they still be friends when Noé returns from that god-forsaken place? I see now why last week was so pleasant and lighthearted—it was a momentary breather the torrent of sadistic dread dished out in spades by this episode…and it’s only the beginning.

Love of Kill – 06 – Death On Denial

Chateau isn’t aboard the Artemisia long before she encounters Song, and immediately takes him aside to ask what he’s up to. He’s his usual coy self; his target may well be her client—who also happens to be her boss Euripides’ wife, the billionaire tycoon Hawk Ritzland…(these names). But he does offer Chateau this: he won’t do anything on this cruise as long as she keeps her eyes on him.

This results in the two being practically inseparable for the remainder of the voyage. After clearing it with Euripides and setting up surveillance cameras, she agrees to share a stateroom with Song. While she initially insists on sleeping on the couch, her inability to fall asleep results in him carrying her to the bed, where he promises he won’t try anything.

The next day Song takes Chateau to one of the many shops aboard the ship where she’s fitted for a proper evening gown, the better to blend in with the other passengers. She remarks how she feels weird having her shoulders exposed and would prefer something “more modest”, but Song assures her that it’s about as modest as evening gowns get.

I’m still not buying the “love” half of Love of Kill, owing to the complete and utter dearth of romantic chemistry between the two leads. While she’s learned to trust Song more, Chateau still merely tolerates his presence as a necessary condition of her mission.

Euripides reaches out to Song through Chateau’s phone, ostensibly to meet and talk about Chateau’s past as Chateau Noble. However, before they can meet Euri gets a butterfly knife to the throat. Song, who we last saw putting a gun in his tux, is clearly not the sneaker-wearing culprit, who is the boy assassin we met last week and didn’t see at all this week.

I can’t say I’ll really miss Euripides, who didn’t make much of an impression the last five weeks other than “long-suffering boss with a goofy name”. But even though his marriage to a billionaire* came out of nowhere, his death surely heightens the stakes aboard the Artemesia.

*It’s entirely possible Hawk Ritzland is worth ten billion yen, or $86 million US, though if the whole damn boat is hers, she might well be worth ten billion dollars. In any case, she’s down a husband.

Love of Kill – 05 – A Pest On Land and Sea

Hou takes Chateau hostage and sticks her in the back of a car with a bomb, but as soon as she spots the bomb, she’s able to escape the car before it explodes. Despite being only about ten feet from the explosion the most she suffers is some glass in her leg, which I’d call a win.

Song wins his duel with Hou, but it’s not much of a fight, as the main issue is that Hou’s “nerves are fried”, which means it just takes a couple of minutes for his body to realize its riddle with bullets. In those minutes, Song manages to get himself pretty torn up, but he too doesn’t succumb to his wounds until he’s seen Chateau out of the burning warehouse and into his car.

Chateau may be extremely irritated by this guy most of the time, but she still follows a code that won’t allow her to let the man who saved her life bleed out. Thanks to her co-worker Jim (who is the actual most irritating character in the show—like, why no mouth, and why does he talk like that?), she gets him to a mob doctor who stitches him back together.

Chateau sits by his bed and “sleeps”, giving him a chance to slip out. It’s a cute little exchange. The next day she wakes up from a recurring dream where a man, whose hair kind of looks like Song’s covers her face to keep her from seeing his. Then her phone rings that horrible incessant ring, and it’s Song, announcing he’s going on a trip.

It happens to be the same trip Chateau goes on with her boss and Jim after she once again begs his forgiveness for getting into trouble during her suspension. That suspension is apparently suspended for the mission on the megaliner Artemisia, where their job will be to pose as tourist while protecting a VIP.

Along with Chateau and Song, there’s a third assassin aboard: your bog-standard childish happy-go-lucky murderer type. I mean, since he reminds me of Souma Momiji he’s at least a little more interesting than Hou, whose most distinctive feature was his dumb face tattoo. More interesting still will be whatever hijinx Song and Chateau get up to, and how they’ll team up to thwart this kid.

Love of Kill – 04 – Noble Pursuit

Chateau, off-duty and on probation, returns home to visit her mother and to visit the grave of her father, content to be rid of Song Ryang-ha for a bit. Naturally, he follows her there, and it’s probably a good thing too, as she wasn’t sufficiently prepared for the assassins who come for her.

While Song deals with the cut-rate killers, Chateau runs back to her father’s grave, where Hou, the guy she met after her car crashed, is waiting. Once again, Chateau is overpowered, as her stun gun is ineffective against Hou, whose nerves are a bit fried from the drugs he’s taken throughout his life. He knocks her out, again, turning her into a damsel in distress in need of rescue, which is a bit of a downer.

The frustration of Chateau constantly getting her ass kicked is somewhat tempered by a look back at her past, when one Detective Dankworth, one month from retirement, finds her sleeping in a car driven by a boy, apparently dead, named…Song Ryang-ha. Dankworth and his wife end up adopting her, as they’re the only ones she trusts. Let it be said without hesitation that Lil’ Chateau is cute as hell.

So is this Song the same Song who was found apparently dead in that car by Chateau’s eventual adoptive father? Or did the present-day Song simply take his name? I’m inclined to believe they’re one and the same, and that this is the reason Chateau got into bounty-hunting…so that she’d one day encounter him.

It could be he killed her parents, which would make him her arch-nemesis; someone to be killed. So I understand if she suddenly has conflicted feelings about killing him when he continually comes to her aid. Lame car bomb fake-outs aside, I’m intrigued by what Chateau is still hiding from us regarding her deadly admirer.

Love of Kill – 03 – Chez Château

After a recap of last week’s episode that seems specifically designed to pad the runtime, Song opens the curtains of the motel room and learns that Chateau isn’t a morning person. She takes him up on the offer of a shower, only to find he’s taken her clothes to wash them. Chateau’s reactions are fun, and actually suggest she has a pulse, which is nice.

Their motel comedy gives way to a flashback to five years ago when Song, who is about to be promoted to executive in the criminal organization of which he’s a member, betrays his boss by shooting him in the head. But being presented with his treachery doesn’t explain why he did it, or why we should care.

After getting a talking-to from her boss (who is awfully one-note as exasperated bosses go) Chateau heads home to her tiny studio apartment in what looks like the 24th Ward’s Shantytown. Naturally, Song is waiting for her to invite him in—like an annoying vampire—but at least he brought some high-end cream puffs.

Chateau isn’t in the mood to talk, and remains befuddled that Song insists on all this contact with her. His comment about her smell not digusting him is something I’d hoped would be followed up on, but a call from Chateau’s mom puts Chateau in such a state that Song excuses himself for the time being.

Sigh…I don’t think I’ll ever forgive a show for such poorly drawn and animated cars, but I remain sufficiently intrigued by the mysteries Love of Kill is coyly dangling to stick around a bit longer.

Love of Kill – 01 (First Impressions) – With a Song in Her Heart

Bounty Hunter Chateau Dankworth (Oonishi Saori) comes afoul of a killer more skilled than she: Song Ryang-ha (Shimono Hiro). He overpowers her, but it’s not her life he wants to steal; it’s her heart. So he lets her go in exchange for her name and number.

While Chateau’s options were limited that night, she quickly comes to regret the one she chose. Song proceeds to constantly text, call, and even send her a video of a target of hers he caught first, and is willing to offer her in a trade.

They meet at a juice bar Song digs, but as you’d expect, Chateau wants to get down to cold, logical business, not juice. Her gambit involves surprising and then stunning him with a taser, but he’s to quick, and almost seems to predict her movements. It’s gotta be frustrating for a skilled killer like Chateau to more than meet her match.

Song’s terms for giving her her target are nothing monetary. Rather, he wants to go on a date with her for Christmas Eve. Chateau, who distrusts anything free but can’t pass up the opportunity to cross a name off her list, goes along with it, showing up an hour late doing the bare minimum needed for their encounter to be interpreted as a “date”.

Song takes thing to a fancy hotel room with a gorgeous city view, complete with dinner and a 1982-vintage wine. Chateau wisely remains at a remove, wondering out loud how Song plans to “use her” and why she’d be “of interest” to him. To Song’s credit, he doesn’t try anything truly vile, and when Chateau wants to leave, they check out.

Before parting ways at the station, Song does get in a quick farewell hug to “confirm” something: her “scent” doesn’t bother him, while everyone else smells “putrid”. We end with a cryptic voiceover portending a “final stop” in their romance “ending in tears”, then a flashback to a young Chateau in the back of a car, presumably her parent murdered in the driver’s seat.

Love of Kill had me feeling a lot of things. Contempt for Song, mostly, and sympathy for Chateau, who couldn’t escape his clutches if she tried. I love stoic, logical characters like Chateau; even though she doesn’t really say or do much, she exudes a wonderfully cool detached aura, which makes Song’s stalking that much more upsetting.

The thing is, as someone rather desensitized to antiheroes (Soprano, White, Draper, and Dexter to name a few), I didn’t despise Song, and even kinda sorta came to understand why he decided to pursue Chateau with such gusto. If everyone in the world “smelled” terrible to you and made you sick, what would you do if you suddenly found someone who didn’t?

So far I can’t really see Chateau falling for this guy, but at the very least they seem to be kindred spirits: killers keeping themselves at an expansive remove from the rest of humanity. Regardless, I definitely want to see where this goes.

Talentless Nana – 11 – Proper Ventilation

Nana arrives late to the latest murder scene with Detective Kyouya already working the case. He questions those in the adjacent room: Muguo and three acolytes, whose talents are voice mimicry, astral projection, and magnetism. They apparently didn’t hear a struggle in the Ryuuji’s room last night.

Ryuuji’s girlfriend, Sorano Fuuko, is the most suspicious to us because she’s in the opening credits and also just framed suspiciously. Fuuko demonstrates her power to focus atmosphere into a powerful weapon on a willing (and invincible) Kyouya. She does it outside because she finds it hard to focus in a closed interior space.

After the demo, Kyouya goes off to ponder, while Nana checks out the crime scene. If Fuuko needed air, that explains the open window and bugs that got in the dorm, as well as the messy state of the place. Michiru tags along, and Nana senses something has been off about her since last night.

Nana is also surprised to find she can’t hold back her emotions when Michiru thoughtlessly talks about how great her parents are when Nana told her about her parents’ fate the previous night. The fatigue could well be getting to them both, but then Nana thinks she’s figured out the reason for Nana’s off-ness when the teacher comes by with a fresh uniform.

Kyouya told him to deliver it, and Nana recalls she had a bottle of poison in it. Thus she suspects Michiru is off because she found it, and like the incriminating photo of her, is torn between their genuine friendship and suspicions of her own.

When Kyouya suddenly appears, her fears seem to be confirmed, but the detective only wants Nana to accompany him for an interview with Fuuko, hoping her mind-reading will help him determine if Fuuko is telling the truth. Interestingly, at no point during their time with Fuuko does Nana consider this is why Kyouya brought her.

When he asks about Fuuko’s thoughts, Nana tells the truth: she wasn’t focused enough, but for what it’s worth, she doesn’t think Fuuko did it…yet. But when Kyouya starts piecing together the night of the murder in intricate detail, he ends up starting to convince her that it could be Fuuko. It’s great procedural stuff.

That brings Nana back to Michiru’s, as she didn’t like where they left things the last time they were together (Nana yelled at her and stormed off). Michiru is in the shower, so Nana searches her dorm for the poison. Instead, she finds Michiru’s open journal, which is full of beautifully pure, earnest entries about how much she loves and admires Nana.

I should know better considering her conditioning prior to coming to the island and, ya know, all the people she’s murdered, but Nana seems…chastened by this journal…even a little guilty for ever suspecting Michiru? No doubt those suspicions were somewhat influenced by Jin’s fake “Dark Michiru”.

Right on cue, Jin appears. Turns out he took the potion from Nana’s clothes before Michiru or Kyouya could find it. He’s determined to allow Nana to “keep swimming”, i.e. continue her mission until he can draw out more about the people she answers to.

Jin then forebodingly mentions how Michiru has been in the shower quite a long time, and takes his leave. Nana suddenly panics and rushes in the bath, where Michiru is slumped over the side of an overflowing tub. Could this be the end of dear, sweet Michiru? Was Nana snapping at her really their last interaction?

Something else to consider: Is this the act of the one who murdered Ryuuji, or did that last terse interaction drive Michiru to kill herself? We don’t know, and at the moment neither does Nana. From the first episode she’s prided herself on being on top of things with regard to who is up to what; it’s what any serial killer needs to be to avoid ending up caught or dead.

But at the moment Nana herself is a bit “off”—both unsure of the second murderer and morally conflicted vis-a-vis Michiru. It’s an intriguingly uncertain place for her to be with just two episodes remaining.

Talentless Nana – 10 – Just Your Typical Little Girl

When Nana breaks free of her icy anklet, Jin uses Moguo’s fire Talent to stop her in her tracks, but apologizes for going too far. Still, her phone’s “potential kill count” messages cause him to suspect she’s a “crusader” like someone from his class who believed he was sent to kill the “minions of Satan.”

Jin isn’t interested in using others’ Talents to force Nana to talk. He wants to patiently build trust with her, human to human, something he wasn’t able to do with his class, whom he dehumanized all too easily when he used their own Talents to kill them.

Badly burned and about to lose consciousness, Nana gives Jin a little of what he wants: insight into who Hiiragi Nana is. She tells him she had an older brother she was too young to remember, and a mother and father who were murdered one night by an Enemy of Humanity.

Before passing out, she smiles when he asks if she sees Talented as Enemies of Humanity, then he carries her back to the dorms, warning her that now that the bodies are starting to pile up, the psychopaths among the current class will soon “come out of the woodwork”. Basically, she’s not the only murderer on this island.

When Nana comes to it’s in Michiru’s dorm; Jin left her at her dorm and Michiru did what Jin knew she’d do: take Nana in and heal her. Michiru also mentions that an impostor went to class when she was too tired to go (due to Jin drugging her). Nana realizes if she’s more open with her traumatic past, her reckless actions will be more easily explained by her “noble vendetta.”

Michiru wants Nana to know she’s always there if she wants to talk. As Nana talks to her about how her house was broken into and her parents killed, Michiru exhibits all the qualities of an empathetic, caring, even loving friend. But after revealing Yuuka’s true colors, she can’t help but still wonder if even sweet Michiru has a dark side.

In the meantime, memories of that horrible night well up and haunt Nana. As she ponders her next move in her dorm, Jin pays her a visit. He agrees to return her phone to her if she’ll “share more of her soul” with him via more information about her past. Then Michiru shows up , and Jin disguises himself as the kitty Nana saved.

Michiru and Kitty!Jin listen as Nana gives details about what kind of “typical little girl” she was. She loved games of skill like Chess, Shoji, and Go, and was so good at them that other kids didn’t want to play her. She also made a mess of all the games in her rooms, and played long into the night, often slipping out past midnight to go to the konbini to buy manga, another passion.

Her parents always told her to make sure her window was locked, but one night she fell asleep without doing so, and that was all a burglar needed to gain entry. The next morning she found her parents brutally murdered, and she carried her father’s head out in public. Nana begins to break down over the guilt of being the reason the murderer targeted their house and got inside, but Michiru offers her hand in support.

At some point, Nana falls asleep at her desk, and wakes up the next morning to find Michiru sitting on her bed, awake and oddly alert. Before she can say anything, Kyouya bursts in and asks the two girls to come with him. There’s been another murder: a male student’s throat has been slashed, apparently by a sliding dorm window.

It’s clear Nana didn’t do it this time, which means there is indeed another murderer on the island. But who? The camera lingers on a girl with bangs and a pony tail whose eyes are always shut—according to MAL, her name is Sorano Fuuko. It could be her—whoever she is—or it could be someone else.

For all we know, it could even be Michiru, who may have left Nana’s dorm to kill after Nana fell asleep. That goes against everything we’ve learned about Micchy so far, but if this show has taught me anything, it’s not to trust anyone or anything!

Assault Lily: Bouquet – 03 – Always Look Your Best

Riri is elated that Yuyu is officially her new Schutzengel, but Yuyu has no intention of going easy on her Schild, delivering no shortage of tough love in the training facility and continuing to be cold and aloof.

Riri also gets to watch the Alfheim legion work. The nine-lily team who work together to bring down a low-level Huge—basically the opposite of Yuyu’s go-it-alone strategy.

While bathing with Kaede an Fumi, Riri is approached by Alfheim members, who offer some explanation for why Yuyu is the way she is: in a battle two years ago her own Schutzengel was killed. She still haunts Yuyu, noting that she’s “scared” both for and of Riri, and thus quick to turn her away.

Eventually Riri manages to focus her Magie and parry her attack. Right afterward the pair are on duty, and Yuyu makes sure to fix Riri’s tussled hair and uniform: an Assault Lily must look her best on the battlefield.

When the Huge arrives, it is a Restored, a Huge that survived previous attacks and returned to its base for repairs. Its shell is lined with the broken CHARMs of dead Lilies, and Yuyu decides that Riri will sit this one out. She says it’s because she’ll be in the way, but really it’s to avoid a repeat of what happened with her Schutzengel.

You see, Yuyu’s “Rare Skill” is Lunatic Trancer, so called because it transforms her into a white-haired berserk killing machine who will fight friend or foe until her Magie is spent. Seeing the CHARMs of fallen Lilies triggers the skill, and Yuyu goes on an unfocused rampage.

Due to the threat she poses, none of the other on-duty freelance Lilies can lend aid, but once Riri learns the rest of Yuyu’s story—that she was initially suspected of harming her own Schutzengel while in Trancer mode—she decides that she’ll be the one to break her out of it.

Riri rushes in to meet Yuyu, but when they cross CHARMs a first and then a a second time, Riri holds firm, and their Magie touches through the blades. Yuyu dismisses herself as a despicable monster consumed by hatred, but Riri tells her she doesn’t care, she’s still her sister, and gives her a hug that pulls her out of her trance.

Together they finish off the Restored, which will be restored no more. Afterward, Yuyu takes Riri to the cemetery where her Schutzengel Kawazoe Misuzu is buried. Later, in the dark of her dorm, Yuyu remembers clearly when she came out of a trance to find she’d run Misuzu through with her blade, but even then her big sister urged her to forgive herself and move forward.

Her roommate Matsuri Hata comes in, turns on the lights, mentions that she heard Yuyu sortied, and says “good work”, Yuyu thanks her, which is apparently enough of a rarity for Hata to note that she can’t recall the last time Yuyu was so nice. Clearly, the Schutzengel is working out swimmingly so far for both her and Riri.