My Dress-Up Darling – 07 – Like, the Best Thing Ever

Marin really wants to do a group cosplay with Sajuna, even offering to share the expensive studio fees for the shoot. So does Wakana, for that matter, whom Sajuna learns is responsible for Marin’s cosplay makeup. When Sajuna still looked reluctant, Marin did something I’m very appreciative of: she backed off, telling Sajuna to forget about it.

Marin sensed Sajuna wasnt comfortable, and gave her an out rather than keep the pressure on. But the more Sajuna saves on studio fees, the more she can put into her outfits, so she agrees to collaborate “just this once” (it won’t be just this once).

Its not just saving money thought; Sajuna wants to work with someone as dedicated to their craft and detail-oriented as Wakana, who wants to watch every episode of Blaze!! to get a better handle on Shion and Neon. Marin happens to have all 126 episodes on DVD; Wakana just has to come by her place to collect them.

Back home, Wakana is worried about his Gojou Doll skills suffering, but his gramps assures him he’s improved, and his once-stiff strokes have softened. Clearly happy his grandson has met someone, he tells Wakana that he’ll have to observe more than just dolls so be good at making them.

The next day Wakana arrives so early that Marin’s doorbell essentially wakes her up, and she comes to the door with neither a bra nor her color contacts—which I didn’t even know she wore! Naturally, she’s embarrassed far more by the latter, as she’s already upset Wakana’s seen her without her makeup.

Marin is a teenager and takes great pride in the appearance she crafts for the outside world, but she’ll soon come to realize that neither contacts nor makeup matter to Wakana…and despite her thinking he’d never notice she’s not wearing a bra, well…he does, Marin…he does. At any rate, I love her natural dark brown eyes, and I’m sure Wakana does too!

Wakana is so nervous about being in a girl’s house for the first time he’s on the cusp of hurling in Marin’s genkan, but Marin won’t let him simply collect the DVDs and skedaddle, especially when he came bearing fancy pudding. She invites him to her very loud, anime-and-eroge-dominated bedroom to watch the DVDs together.

What results is some of the sweetest few minutes of pure bliss this side of Takagi-san. Wakana, whom Marin is on record as wuving, is not only sitting beside her and watching the anime but actually getting into it. She’s so happy she doesn’t want the moment to end. It’s so adorable and relatable, since there’s nothing like watching (or doing!) something you love with someone you love.

Marin’s Cloud Status falls from Nine to Zero when her stomach lets out a great groan, but even that is an opportunity to move the home date into the kitchen. Wakana initially says he’ll take care of dinner, as always, but kudos for Marin for pushing back and saying no, you’ve cooked enough for me, it’s my turn to feed you!

And while Marin is definitely not going to win any Shokugans, the show doesn’t mock her lack of professional culinary skills, but simply portrays the process of cooking for someone you love (or in her case, wuv) organically. She’s so nervous when he takes his first bite of “omurice” (which he assumes is just fried rice with some egg). But despite how it looks, it actually tastes great! And she knows Wakana is not one to lie about such things!

After Marin and Wakana laugh and cry through the rest of Blaze!! (or at least a good chunk of the run), we rather abruptly shift back to Wakana’s house as he has a combination voice and video call with Sajuna about her Black Lily cosplay. It’s here we learn that despite their very unfortunate start, these two make a good team.

Sajuna in particular is impressed by Wakana’s detailed schematics of the costume, especially when she learns that Marin’s Shizuku-tan was his very first project. She clearly feels it’s just not fair that he’s this good this soon. But Wakana knows he still has plenty of room for improvement, and also wants to learn more about photographing Marin.

So does Marin, for that matter, and for that Sajuna has them meet her little sister Shinju, who is only smaller in years, since she’s almost 5’11” despite being in middle school (compared to Marin, who is just over 5’4″). Shinju is as shy as she is statuesque, but despite Marin being a little too loud about it, she has nothing to fear from her and Wakana.

They, on the other hand, have everything to learn about cosplay photography, since Shinju is clearly very talented if she’s Juju’s photographer. While I’m hoping Wakana starts to pick up on Marin’s vibes, I’m still looking forward to the non-romantic part of the series that remains, involving getting better at this whole cosplay thing by collaborating with two of the best in the business.

My Dress-Up Darling – 06 – True Wuv and Black Lily

First Marin was called beautiful by someone who doesn’t use that word lightly. Then it dawned on her when she looked into Wakana’s eyes while they were washing her wig in his laundry room, one of the most adorably domestic things to do imaginable. That “it” is the realization that she’s developed feelings for Wakana. That’s how it goes sometimes!

That closeness she feels towards him only gets closer when she meets his gramps (who is clearly relieved the stockings weren’t his grandson’s) and is welcomed to their table for dinner. There, Wakana and his gramps learn that Marin’s idea of “eating well” is…a bit of a stretch! But watching Wakana interact with his gramps about her outfit and also being an ace cook only endears him to her more.

We also learn that both Wakana and Marin’s moms are dead, and since Marin’s dad is always away for work, she basically lives by herself. Gramps invites her to come by for dinner from now on, and Wakana doesn’t object. Just like that, the two are so much closer than they were even when he was taking her measurments. On the train ride home, Wakana’s words “we weren’t doing anything inappropriate” linger in her thoughts. “What if we did, though?” she rebuts.

I like how this episode didn’t just jump into the next cosplay project for Marin, but instead explored how quickly they’re becoming the most important people in each others’ lives. It’s also the opportunity to introduce Inui Sajuna, whom Wakana meets in the worst possible way. Wakana, likely unaccustomed to knocking in his own house, is also worried his gramps let a con artist into the house. Instead, he let a soaked Sajuna use their bath so she wouldn’t catch cold…and Wakana barges right in and sees everything.

The two seem to get over that initial unpleasantness when Sajuna asks to see the “outfits” and Wakana, like gramps, assumes she means those of the dolls. Sajuna is charmed by the etheral beauty of said dolls, but suddenly changes gears and gets back on track for her true reason for visiting the shop: she wants Wakana to make her a cosplay outfit.

She starts by threatening to report him to the police for being a peeping tom, only to explain she found out where he lived by stalking him and Marin. So really, Wakana has the stronger case should the police get involved.

Fortunately they don’t, but Marin does when she shows up for her now regularly-scheduled din-din with the guy she’s decided she not only loves, but wuvs. Her shock at Wakana hosting a tiny girl wearing his shirt is soon dissipated when she realizes Sajuna is “Juju”, one of her favorite cosplay idols, who is actually a year older than both of them despite her size.

Sajuna wants Wakana to craft for her the outfit Black Lily, from her favorite magical girl anime. To Sajuna’s surprise, Marin is not only a big fan of Black Lily, but also knows everything there is to know about said anime. Marin further endears herself to Sajuna by assuring her she’d never cosplay as Black Lily, because she’s the kind of cosplayer, like Sajuna, who only chooses characters she resembles in both appearance and demeanor.

When Sajuna first saw the pics of Marine-as-Shizuku-tan, she assumed that Marin was just an “annoying bitch” who dressed up as characters she thought were cute. Now that she knows they share a deeper passion for the practice, Sajuna openly sobs in apology, though of course Marin has no idea what’s going on.

Marin also wants to be Black Lily’s sister and arch-nemesis Neon, and while Sajuna quickly shuts down the idea of cosplaying together in a heartbeat, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ultimately do collaborate not too far down the road.

Sajuna is also the indispensible “third character who can see what’s going on,” as she assures Marin she only wants Wakana’s contact info for the purposes of making her outfit. She assumes, this time not unfairly, that the two are dating. Upon hearing this, Wakana turns beet-red and loses it, telling Sajuna he’s never “gone steady” with anyone.

Hearing this is music to Marin’s ears, as she also assumed (for some reason) that Wakana was spoken for. She’s absolutely delighted that he isn’t. While things didn’t start smoothly (or G-rated) for Wakana and Sajuna, I’m looking forward to, well, all of this: Marin dealing with her powerful crush, Wakana hopefully coming to some kind of realization of his own vis-a-vis Marin, and Sajuna continuing to barely tolerate the pair’s blinding adorableness.

My Dress-Up Darling – 05 – I Seriously Can’t!

The longer Kitagawa is in her new Shizuku-tan cosplay, the more she notices how perfectly Gojou got all the details, and the more giddy she gets. She’s just overflowing with pure joy to the point she starts shouting “I can’t! I seriously can’t right now!” until Gojou helps her calm down. Dude did good!

Invoking Kitagawa’s unbridled elation means its hard at first for her to pose as Shizuku-tan for the first series of photos, since her natural inclination is to flash her trademark gleaming smile and a peace sign. While she deems these photos “sorta hilarious”, once she gets Shizuku’s more serious look down, she gets a bunch of great shots she immediately posts under the hastily chosen cosplay alias Marine.

She’s so happy and excited, she decides she wants to attend tomorrow’s cosplay event after all. And why not? Gojou got the job done on schedule! At first he’s extremely self-conscious and even on the verge of panic when suddenly being among so many people dressed as their favorite characters. Kitagawa gets it, and once they go to a more chill section of the event, he begins to enjoy himself, surrounded as he is by people doing what they love.

He did such a good job on his first try, Kitagawa soon gets a huge line of photographers, many with much nicer cameras than her phone. Kitagawa is so incredibly psyched that people want to take her photo. Gojou hangs back, suddenly realizing that with his promise fulfilled, this will be the end of hanging out with Kitagawa…the big dork! But then Kitagawa suddenly looks panicked, looks around, then flashes a huge smile and starts running towards Gojou when she spots him.

Not only was she worried he’d disappeared on her, but she kinda messed up, deciding to wear two “NuBras” to enhance her bust even more, resulting in her boob bag being close to bursting. Add to that the summer heat and the thickness of the higher-quality fabric, and Kitagawa almost gets heatstroke. Gojou gets her into some air conditioning, and there Kitagawa demonstrates the trust she has in Gojou by having him unzip her back and even wipe the profuse sweat from her back.

Gojou is understandably nervous about such close contact with Kitagawa, but notes that this is no time to panic; Kitagawa is so hot she can barely move, and is relying on him to help her. Once she’s feeling better, she shows just how nice a person she is when she returns to the plaza and tracks down the last woman in line so she can get some shots…including some unplanned upskirts that show the tally marks Kitagawa hand-drew on her inner thighs for extra Shizuku-tan authenticity (the lady deletes these shots).

Kitagawa and Gojou are blessed with a near-empty train car on their way home. Gojou, feeling bittersweet about their last day together coming to an end, formally thanks Kitagawa for everything. She thanks him back…then subverts his assumption by asking what they should do for her next cosplay. Obviously, this was never the end of anything; it’s only the beginning for these two.

As the sun gets lower, Gojou betrays his fatigue by starting to nod off. I was expecting him to fall into Kitagawa’s lap, but instead, he drowsily tells her she was “very beautiful” at the event, thinking not about her posing as Shizuku-tan, but when she spotted him and ran to him beaming. Kitagawa remembers Gojou saying he never uses the words “pretty” or “beautiful” unless he “absolutely feels it from the heart”, realizes it’s no casual compliment, and cannot mask her bashfulness.

Fortunately for her, Gojou has nodded off and doesn’t see this face. But if he did, he’d surely turn just as red.  So ends another tremendously sweet and uplifting episode of one of the most joyful and beautiful animes of the season. Honestly—and I mean this in the same way Kitagawa does—I can’t…I seriously can’t with this show!

SSSS.Dynazenon – 10 – Moblie Suit Yourself

After the group ended last week in the very highest of spirits, enjoying their own little summer fireworks festival, this week everyone seems a bit board. When it’s mentioned there haven’t been any kaiju in a while, that’s basically the…ahem…Trigger for one to appear. And this kaiju is unlike any that have come before.

Not content to fight a battle with mere, matter or energy this handsome, hulking mecha-beast’s unique ability is to blip people and objects out of time and space. Shizumu celebrates its arrival by saying he’s been waiting for this particular kind of kaiju; one that will “free them all”.

First Mujina vanishes in the blink of an eye, leaving only a motionless shadow. Then it’s Yume, who was right beside Yomogi. She ends up in the back seat of her car, younger and smaller, and her sister Kano alive and well. As Yume focuses on her sister, a tiny Dyna Wing flies behind her and eventually comes apart.

The kaiju trudges through the city, blipping out entire buildings, and its here where Dynazenon, already a proven virtuoso in the field of sound design, really takes it up a level. There’s just something so terrifying and yet also oddly calming about how it goes about its business in dead silence. Like the characters, it feels like dread is lurking just around the corner, and you wont hear it when it’s finally upon you.

Yomogi and Koyomi are on an elevator to a rooftop, but only Yomogi makes it to the top, as Koyomi is absorbed into his memory of finding the cash with Inamoto-san. Yomogi, discouraged, leaps into the kaiju’s mouth before the building beneath him vanishes. Anti is transported back to when he was in Akane’s world, and Akane even makes a cameo at the restaurant where Anti pigs out.

Even Gauma isn’t immune to the Kaiju’s insidious attack, being transported back over five thousand years to the time he wore the same uniform as the Eugenicists, and they were all buds, and he met the Princess, his affection for whom led to him betraying his comrades.

Yomogi ends up in the memory when his mother first brought up her new boyfriend/husband-to-be, but unlike the others Yomogi isn’t that interested in this illusion. He regrets not telling his mom he didn’t want to meet the guy, but he doesn’t try to re-live anything, because he’s primarily concerned with saving Yume and the others.

It’s foremost in his brain that it’s All Up To Him. And as his Dyna Soldier isn’t broken, he grasps it and manages to shatter the memory, ending up in a void somewhere within the kaiju’s body. There, he can see through the various mirrors, windows, and displays in the memories of the others, including Yume, but is unable to attract her attention.

Meanwhile, the buildings and people still existing in the city are dwindling fast as the kaiju continues its relentless march, but both Chise and Second are protected from being blipped by—you guessed it—the trusty Goldburn. But they’re unable to do anything in that shield; only hope someone can undo the kaiju’s undoing.

Despite being in their respective past younger selves, Yume, Koyomi, and Gauma are still aware on some level that their situations are chances to right wrongs they’ll later regret. Koyomi doesn’t run from Inamoto, and takes her on a joyride to the beach with the cash. Yume tries to stop Kano from leaving for the flood gate, but isn’t able to follow through.

As Chise starts to seriously worry, Second assures her whether the others can return is “entirely up to them.” That may be true, but it’s mostly up to Yomogi, who after literally throwing himself at a solid wall again and again says he simply Will Not Stand for Yume feeling bad—is finally able to shatter the boundary between them.

Yume instantly transforms back to her present-day age, and holds the beaten-up Yomogi when he collapses. Once again, Yomogi puts others first, exclaiming for them to stop her sister. Kano is indeed atop the flood gate, singing a lovely but also sad and lonely song. But to Yume’s relief, she’s not trying to kill herself. She has no intention of dying, and she genuinely wants Yume to come to her recital.

Yomogi leaves Yume with her sister so they can talk for a little while, confident that unlike last time Yume will come back. He then proceeds to free Koyomi, Gauma, and Anti. Koyomi learns that even back then Inamoto wasn’t serious about them running away together, and suspected the cash was fake.

Gauma faces his former friends and says he didn’t betray the others for the country that betrayed them, but for the Princess alone. Anti…well, Anti seemingly knew what was going on all along and was planning to leave of his own accord.

Getting back to Yume, she has what so many people who have lost someone under mysterious circumstances would dream of having: not a chance to bring that person back, but to learn what actually happened so she can have closure. When Kano realizes this is an older version of Yume from after her death, she regrets distancing herself from Yume due to her superior “agreeability”.

It soothes Yume’s heart to no end to know Kano didn’t take her life or invite her to her recital as some kind of cruel goodbye crystallizing their rift for all time. Instead, the reason for her being on the flood gate was all too practical and mundane: she wanted somewhere solitary to practice singing.

Before they part, Kano urges Yume to “make sure you rely on people”—something Yume mentions she’s already gotten the hang of. When Yume asks if she should stay in this world with her, Kano tells her the same thing she used to say to her all the time—”suit yourself”—but this time its  meant out of love and confidence in Yume, not apathy or resentment.

With all four Dyna Pilots plus Anti freed from their pasts, it’s time for a kaiju battle, which is quick and clean. With a full head of steam and maximum motivation and synchonization, the group blasts out of the kaiju and combine with Goldburn to become Super Dragon King Kaiser Gridknight.

When their opponent proves quick and elusive, they power up Dyna Saber and unleash a Kaiser Knight Circular, and ever-expanding purple ring that eventually catches up to the furiously darting kaiju’s teal trail, slicing it clean in two. Interestingly enough, the minimalist abstract shape seen from high above calls to mind both the neon signs of the eighties and the graphics once common on Solo cups and pickup trucks alike.

With the highest-difficulty kaiju defeated, every character comes away a changed person, no more than Yume, who celebrates having made up with Kano and learned the truth by singing on the top of the flood gate as her sister once did.

Koyomi learns he was chasing something unattainable all along, and choosing to go with Inamoto didn’t magically make them be together. Yomogi doesn’t really deal with his problems, but to be fair, he was singularly responsible for saving the others. Even if Anti freed himself, he’s not a Dyna pilot, and didn’t harbor anywhere near the intensity of emotions Yomogi harbored for Yume. That may have kept him from helping the others.

The episode ends cryptically, when after Gauma collapses due to apparent hunger, we cut back to him lying on the ground in the past after betraying the Eugenicists. I’m notot sure what to make of this, but I’m certainly intrigued. Despite this ellipsis, this episode still represents another high watermark for Dynazenon excellence.

SSSS.Dynazenon – 09 – Teamwork Makes the BEAM Work

This week’s Dynazenon has a little bit of everything, which is only fitting because it’s about the merits of simply jumbling everything together. It begins with a much-anticipated laser focus on Chise, who has a surreal dream that perfectly visualized how she felt when she attended school—she was off, lost in her gorgeous, intricate doodles.

She wakes up in her cavernous, modern bedroom as an Alice stand-in, finding all of her possessions are either far bigger or far smaller than they should be. Turns out that’s the handiwork of a little golden kaiju born from the growth she found and carried with her all this time. Because the kaiju has imprinted upon her and has come to know her heart, it obeys her wishes. She names it Goldburn, after a band.

There’s a fireworks festival soon, and while neither Yomogi or any of his friends are that interested, Yume wants to give it a go, so Yomogi is in too. Chise is trying to tell Koyomi about the “hypothetical” good kaiju in her suitcase, but he’s distracted by Yomogi’s call inviting them to join them. When Chise then tries Gauma, he’s firm in his belief all kaiju must be defeated.

As she wavers over what to do, her friend suddenly grows in size, scooping her up and taking her on a ride through the skies over the city. It’s fun until it suddenly isn’t—when Chise spots her school. Goldburn almost obeys the momentary emotions in her heart wishing the school wouldn’t exist, but she’s able to steer Goldburn out of a potentially destructive dive.

Yume is walking home with her friend, who is curious whether she and Yomogi are dating, when Yomogi calls her back to school, reporting that Kano’s ex-boyfriend Futaba has arrived to talk to them. If Yume was hoping for some kind of groundbreaking revelation from him, then she’s bitterly disappointed by the resulting talk.

Futaba claims that while he heard about Kano being bullied in the chorus club, he never witnessed it first hand. When Yume asks then why Kano committed suicide, Futaba repeats the official line that it was merely an accident, and that “Kano wasn’t like that”, offering no further explanation. His answers not only don’t impress Yume, they downright upset her.

But just when she is overcome by emotion, they get a call from Gauma about a new kaiju, and she clams up for a moment to assure Yomogi that she’s fine, they should go, and she’ll be right behind him. Meanwhile, Chise is considering what to do with her enormous friend when Goldburn suddenly flies off on his own.

Yomogi arrives to find Gauma, Koyomi, and Gridknight in dire need of someone with wings to lift them off the suddenly soft and undulating ground (due to Juuga’s kaiju’s power) Yomogi ain’t that. When he tells Gauma what went down with Yume, the captain orders him to go back and get Yume, you jackass, because you’re the only one who can bring her back.

With Goldburn off on his own, a lonely, left-out looking Chise locates Yume perched atop the tower where her sister died. When Chise asks what’s wrong, Yume tosses out her boilerplate “it has nothing to do with you”, adding that “nothing good” comes of it whenever she fights. But Chise has tried to fight hard alongside everyone all this time, so she does not want to hear that it’s nothing to do with her.

Right on cue, Goldburn arrives, but of course both Yume and a quickly approaching Yomogi assume its foe, not friend, and Chise doesn’t have time to properly explain, because Yomogi is coming in hot to save Yume. Chise asks Yume who else would fly in to save her like this, and tells her she “doesn’t know what she’s got.”

But the wind from Dyna Soldier blows Yume’s ankh puzzle out of her hand and over the edge, and she dives off the tower after it with no regard for her safety. Yomogi lunges toward her to catch her in midair, but just misses. Fortunately, Goldburn is listening to Chise’s heart in this moment, and pluck Yume up by her cardigan mere feet from the water.

Chise, Yume, and Yomogi arrive at the scene of the battle where Gauma, Koyomi, and Gridknight are getting their asses beat by Juuga’s kaiju. Fortunately, with the aid of flight, a lot of the enemy’s advantage is lost.

More to the point, the minute Gauma, Yomogi, Yume, Koyomi, Chise, and Gridknight decide to all join forces into one big, beautiful kaiju-mecha melange, it spelled the beginning of the end for the Eugenicists’ chances of victory.

In an absolutely bonkers, virtuoso combination sequence paired with the most lavishly bombastic orchestral accompanied yet, Dynazenon merges with both Gridknight and Goldburn to create a big, brash, bulky and beautiful Super Dragon King Kaiser Gridknight, which is a mouthful of name for a framefull of robot. He’s even got a sheer purple cape, the better to dazzle the stage.

There’s nothing Juuga can do once all of his adversaries got “all lumped up”, which makes them stronger and faster and able to counter any attack thrown its way with tenfold force. After doing a little parkour off flying skyscrapers, Yomogi’s Dynamic Cannon delivers the beam-de-grace, and the team victory is immediately celebrated by the fireworks display amazingly not cancelled by the kaiju attack.

The ending scene is the perfect cool-down sequence after all that high-octane mecha madness. Much to Chise’s delight, Gauma accepts Goldburn as an ally despite being a kaiju, and while the whole team—including Gridknight and Second—make a run for it, they still miss the entirety of the festival. No matter; they all buy fireworks and have their own festival on the waterfront.

Yume takes her leave, promising she’ll be back, but I already knew exactly what she was up to, so there was no need to be wary. Sure enough, she returns resplendent in her gorgeous yukata, which understandably took a while to put on, but was worth it. While she plumbed the depths of despair after interviewing Futaba, here Yume rises to new heights of joy as she and Yomogi and everyone else enjoy each other’s company, all lumped together, and all the better for it.

Net-juu no Susume – 10 (Fin)

Sometimes ten is a really good number for a series—it works fine for KonoSuba. Net-juu no Susume also ends at ten eps, and it wraps up very nicely and neatly indeed…I just wish I could spend another episode or two with the surpassingly adorable new couple of Morioka and Sakurai.

Finales are always, in part, a “thank you” to those who have watched the whole time, and NjS’s fulfills that role with aplomb. There’s no more misunderstandings or missed opportunities with these two, just a general (and understandable) nervousness and excitement.

It’s a thoroughly fun and joyful episode, which takes place mostly in Sakurai’s apartment. Morioka’s soaked clothes quickly led to a far more intimate situation than either party expected, to the point Morioka has to snap out of it lest Sakurai see her underwear in the changing room.

Each and every little domestic situation you’d expect of, say, a live-in couple, is experienced for the very first time by both Sakurai and Morioka. Take Sakurai’s computer terminal, which like Moriokas was a place of deep physical solitude for so many hundreds of hours, but sharing his computer and the experience of playing Lily, if only briefly, is as enjoyable for Sakurai as it is for Morioka.

These are also two very well-matched people, with Sakurai being very polite and even “old-fashioned” for his age, which isn’t even that much younger than Morioka to begin with. When they accidentally touch, they’re both embarrassed, but neither fins they really dislike such accidents.

Then Morioka’s stomach grumbles, and she defiantly accepts that this is “just who she is”; she also helps Sakurai cook and wash the dishes, and the two are already looking like an old married couple. They’re both having such a lovely time despite being so flustered.

Inevitably, the konbini incident comes up, and Morioka’s putrid sense of self-worth rears its ugly head. Sakurai, thankfully calling her out, gently tells her that while she often puts herself down, both he and likely everyone else values her a lot more than she thinks they do. He continues that both as Harth, Lily, and Sakurai Yuta, he’s very glad to have met her.

When Morioka cries tears of joy, he dries them with his sleeve, and the two almost seem ready for a kiss when the frikkin’ talking dryer startles them. With her clothes dry, Morioka takes her leave, thanking Sakurai for his hospitality.

Naturally, Sakurai reconsiders simply staying behind and walks Morioka home. Before they part, he lets her know he’d very much like “another day like today”, whether in Fruits de Mer or real life. Morioka agrees.

In a nice little moment while in the game, Lily notes the full moon, but Hayashi looks up and sees a crescent. But it’s really Sakurai talking about the moon IRL. And it’s IRL where they finally have their first (really second) date; with a very pleased Koiwai’s full blessing.

The two can’t help but notice the other couples are acting around them, and it makes them both a little embarrassed…but both want to power through that embarrassment. Gaining strength from their avatars and alter-egos, the triumphant Fruits de Mer music starts to play as Morioka takes a step forward, trips, and is caught by Sakurai.

That means they’re holding hands, but they don’t let go and continue on with their date, drawing strength and courage from one another. The episode ends rather abruptly (and with no “thanks for watching” card), but that’s alright; I’m not going to complain after such an enjoyable, heartwarming finale!

Fate / Zero – 12

“Why do I always sit on my smokes?”

After the Rumble in the Marble, most Servants take a step back and assess the situation. Kiritsugu sits in a dark hotel room and pores over intel as he chats with Maiya on the phone…and that’s about it, really.

“I like the way your tent your fingers. Why don’t you work for me?”

Reports and conversation are the name of the game again, but instead of interacting with Saber and Rider, Archer is stuck with Kirei, trying to connect the dots as part of his larger plan to make him one of his men. Kirei delivers his report on the motivations of the other Masters to Archer, who points out that the one that seems to interest Kirei the most is Matou Kiriya, who also seems to be enduring the most pain and suffering.

“I mean, this isn’t how I would drive, but this is fine too, I guess…”

Pain doesn’t seem to be an issue for Iri, while Saber doesn’t seem to be feeling the lasting effects from her throughout putting-down she endured at the hands of Rider and Archer. But Saber does find it odd that Iri has her drive and perform every other task that requires the use of her hands. When she asks Iri about it, she reveals she’s become extremely physically weak as a result of shutting down her sense of touch (a homonculus ability, apparently).

While she believes she can recover a bit of strength by sitting in the right kind of magical circle, the bottom line is that she’ll be relying on Saber more and more as this War progresses. Saber, obviously, is up to it. I must say I underestimated her mental toughness. That circle is drawn in a storeroom on a Japanese mansion that looks very much like the place where Emiya and Saber live and practice in UBW.

“Feel that sting? That’s pride, fuckin’ with you!”

From there it’s back to Archer gradually wrapping Kirei around his finger, Emporer Palpatine-style. He gets Kirei to pretty much admit that he is actually capable of joy, and even if he’s previously considered such feelings to be a sin, Gilgamesh isn’t a fan of this newfangled puritanical philosophy that generated people like Kirei and Saber. Joy is joy, and leads to happiness.

So Archer gets Kirei to ‘find his bliss’, and Command Seals suddenly reappear on his hand. Archer believes it’s proof the Holy Grail isn’t done with him; indeed it’s almost as if the Holy Grail rejected his previous role as Toosaka’s ally and spy and reinstates him as a full Master. Archer also suggests Kirei go out and steal a new Servant, and not-so-subtly picks up the Archer piece from the chessboard to indicate who he should pick.

While there were some nice character beats, you can really only portray two people sitting around talking for so long from so many angles before it gets a bit tedious. In other words, another cool-down episode on the heels of a solid 10. That leaves one episode left in the first cour.