Classroom of the Elite – S3 11 – Warmth through Contact

This week’s opening quote, from the 19th century French writer Stendhal, states There is only one rule in love: bring happiness to those you love. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was born in the “White Room” facility. It was run by his father, who made it a point to tell his underlings not to go easy on his son, even if it broke him.

Ayanokouji was raised without love or happiness. One day Sakayanagi Arisu visited the facility with her father, who loved her and encouraged her to love others. She spotted Ayanokouji playing chess from the observation gallery, and she was immediately smitten, vowing to one day face off against him.

That day has finally arrived thanks to the circumstances of the final special exam, and while Ayanokouji is his usual neutral self, Arisu having an absolute blast. Class C jumps to a 3-2 lead with wins in basketball, typing, and archery, while Class A secures wins in English and Math.

When the Mental Math subject comes up, Kouenji doesn’t take it seriously despite likely knowing all the answers, and Class C loses. Ayanokouji took a calculated risk and accepted that he wouldn’t be able to control every element in the exam. This leads to a 3-3 tie.

The deciding subject is chess, of course, and not even Ayanokouji could convince Arisu that it isn’t destiny that they face off against one another in the final game. That said, they are represented at the physical chess board by their proxies, Suzune and Hashimoto.

The two novices begin play on their own, with Suzune only learning a week ago and Hashimoto only a few months earlier. The latter tries to psych Suzune out by talking about Ayanokouji, but she already prepared for that eventuality. Arisu starts issuing instructions first, and for a few tense moments, Suzune is left hanging, but then Ayanokouji issues her instructions, and the real match begins.

Unfortunately, the animation of Suzune and Hashimoto as well as the chess board itself are rendered in somewhat stiff and plasticky CGI. This was most likely a cost-saving measure, but I suppose I’ve seen worse, and it didn’t pull me out of the game. In fact, I was spellbound as the game went on and each move gained more importance.

To Suzune’s distress, Arisu ends up winning, but later she learns the match was rigged: an instruction Ayanokouji sent to Suzune was edited by Tsukishiro, likely on orders from Ayanokouji’s dad. While he loses, the protection point prevents him from expulsion. That’s no solace for Arisu, who is disgusted by the interference, and promises Tsukishiro that he’ll “pay a high price.” I’m just glad Tsukishiro didn’t knock her over again.

The adults can’t keep our two scheming geniuses down, however; they replay the match as it unfolded in person the library, but this time, with none of his moves edited, Ayanokouji beats Arisu. He probably would beat her every time. She’s satisfied with the result, and more importantly glad to have gotten closure on their competition. It’s her loss, and she can live with that.

But it’s also her gain, because she was finally able to compete against the boy she saw in that cold, loveless White Room, and learn something in the process: his genius wasn’t and isn’t artificial or manufactured, but simply a product of his birth, like hers. She likens herself to a childhood friend pining for someone she wasn’t able to find, but now she has, and she’s elated.

Arisu is positively glowing for this final scene, and Hidaka Rina’s voice has never been kinder, gentler, or prettier. She admits that she chose to be a captain so she could spend as much time beside him as possible. And since he showed her he was a true genius, she tenderly takes his hand in both of hers and impresses upon him the importance of the warmth of human contact.

In the end, Arisu wasn’t some conniving mastermind hell-bent on destroying Ayanokouji, but a surprisingly sweet, emotionally intelligent girl in love who refuses to accept that anyone—not even unquestioned geniuses—can survive without love, warmth, and happiness. Is Ayanokouji is truly beyond saving, or is there still hope he may one day grow a heart in that chest of his? I’m sure if you asked Arisu, she’d say anything is possible.

Classroom of the Elite – S3 10 – Out of the Darkness

Yukimura wants to try recruiting 1-A’s Katsuragi as an informant, offering him a transfer to their class once they reach Class A. Suzune turns the idea down as unrealistic considering the vast amount of points needed (2o million). Ayanokouji agrees to at least accompany Yukimura. Katsuragi doesn’t agree to their terms, but he still wants Sakayanagi to lose, so he gives them some broad strokes and best guesses as to Class A’s exam subjects.

In the time they’ve known each other, Ayanokouji has gotten much better at avoiding Suzune’s bad side, at least when he’s not trying to access it. His reward this week is getting a classy home-cooked meal from her as she discusses class analytics. He’s content to leave everything in her clearly capable hands, but does request that she participate in the chess competition. He’ll be her coach.

Two days before the exam, Suzune tries to get Yousuke to at least commit to giving the bare minimum effort if group activities when the day arrives, but he ignores her. Mei once again tries to get him to talk to her, but she shoves her down. Kouenji witnesses the violence and swoops in as her shining white knight, his way of rattling Yousuke’s cage and get him to understand how his pathetic uselessness is hurting those around him.

Ayanokouji observes this exchange, and determines the time is right to truly bring the hammer down on this “broken” Yousuke. He approaches him and asks him simply to tell him why he is being the way he is. When Yousuke asks him what purpose that would serve, Ayanokouji says him he’ll have told him, which can be a purpose in and of itself.

Yousuke acquiesces, and we learn how his inaction in a class bullying regime almost led to the suicide of a classmate. He vowed never to let something like that happen again, and decided to rule the class with an iron grip, meting out punishment to anyone who fell out of line. The result was a broken class, in which everyone acted like cowed automatons. He thought he’d learned his lesson, only for this latest situation with Yamauchi to unfold.

Ayanokouji doesn’t mince words with Yousuke: Yamauchi’s expulsion wasn’t Suzune’s fault, nor was it his; it is solely Yousuke. While he wanted to save everyone, he didn’t do everything possible to make it happen, the way Hounami did in Class B. His belief was nothing more than a fantasy.

If he truly did everything he could, and still failed, it’s incumbent upon him to take all of the blame, and keep walking forward. If he’s struggling, he can ask those same classmates for help. He’ll get out what he puts in. By showing he’s doing everything he can for the class, they’ll do everything they can for him. They can walk forward together.

As Ayanokouji calculated, this cage-rattling did the trick, snapping Yousuke out of his personal pity party. The next morning he’s cleaned himself up, apologizes profusely to Mei and the entire class, and promises going forward he’ll help the class succeed in the coming exam. And while he doesn’t regret opposing Suzune’s methods in the previous exam, he acknowledges she wasn’t wrong, and offers a hand of friendship, which Suzune takes with a smile.

With the return of amity and cohesiveness to Class C, they’re in as good a position as any for this final exam. The day before it begins, Suzune plays 54 online games against Ayanokouji losing all but three, but he assures her she’s made extraordinary progress.

The next morning, Class D’s Captain Kaneda doesn’t show, and Ryuuen arrives in his place to take on Honami and Class B. They head one way, while Ayanokouji and Sakayanagi head another, to finally have their big season-ending showdown.

Classroom of the Elite – S3 09 – Triggering a Flag

Sakayanagi informs Ayanokouji what he likely deduced on his own: she had Class A use their positive votes on him to spare him expulsion, all so they could have a proper duel. She also chose Yamauchi to expel because he was a dick to her at the training camp. Their chat is interrupted by their soon-to-be new Chairman, Tsukishiro, who will take over in April.

He skips the foreplay and knocks Sakayanagi’s cane out from under her, then pins Ayanokouji to the wall. Little more than a thug, he relays a message from his father: voluntarily drop out now. By not blinking twice, or even once, Ayanokouji refuses. Once Tsukishiro departs with this answer, Ayanokouji proposes that he and Sakayanagi officially compete in the next special exam.

That exam, which will be the last of the school year, involves two Classes competing against one another. Each class choses ten subjects of competition, be it athletics, academics, or games, to create a pool of twenty. Of those, seven will be chosen at random by the school. Each class also picks a captain who can’t directly participate in any subjects, but can guide everyone else.

Sudou and Ike want to know why Ayanokouji won the most positive votes. Suzune defends him, inferring that Sakayanagi betrayed Yamauchi by sending her votes to Ayanokouji. That said, class trust in him has been shaken by the last exam, so he volunteers to be the captain, understanding that if Class C loses to their opponent, he’ll be expelled.

The class isn’t without its malcontents. Kouenji isn’t quite that, but he’s so damn stubborn and whimsical you never know if he’ll pull through or not. As for Yousuke, the last exam straight up broke the guy. Now he harbors no illusions about being nice to anyone, not even Mei, perhaps the sweetest girl in class who is only worried about him.

When Kei calls him out for being mean to Mei, Yousuke glares at her and tells her to stop calling him by his given name, then warns her to get off his case, lest he go nuclear and tell the class their relationship was a complete fabrication. He storms out, and Mei runs after him.

That night we get out Kei-Being-Cute Scene of the Week, as she arrives at Ayanokouji’s dorm with a “Heyo.” He invited her there to talk about various class dynamics as usual, but also to give her a birthday gift. She’s touched he learned it, and when she finds it to be a golden heart necklace, she’s … confused?

Turns out it was the top gift for a high school girl on a website Ayanokouji purused. While it’s the thought that counts, Kei would have preferred he actually pick something out based on what he knew of her. But while she’s critical, she’s not about to reject a birthday gift from the boy she likes, particularly a heart. The old Karuizawa confidence shines through when she admits that she’s so gorgeous, anything looks good on her, which is the truth.

Ayanokouji happens to encounter Manabe and Akane at a crosswalk, and reports that Suzune is giving the newest exam her all. Ayanokouji asks Manabe why he was so rough with Suzune back when they first met, and Manabe’s answer is enlightening. He didn’t want her to perfectly imitate him, because it meant she was dependent on him, rather than growing into her own.

Manabe freely admits (and betrays his high regard for his sister) that if Suzune were to stop “chasing his phantom” and face herself with “perfect honesty”, she’d surpass him, and become someone even Ayanokouji couldn’t ignore. Ayanokouji not only believes Suzune can change in that way, but wants to be the one to try changing her.

On that note, Ayanokouji asks if Manabe and Akane are dating. Akane’s reaction is priceless, as is Manabe’s immediate reply in the negative. Manabe poses the question to Ayanokouji, who admits he does not have a girlfriend at the moment. Manabe wouldn’t mind giving him and Suzune his blessing, but doesn’t see them as a couple. Akane again interjects, warning him not to “trigger a flag”.

The moments of levity in this episode are welcome after that particularly tough voting exam followed by Tsukishiro’s naked brutality towards both Ayanokouji and Sakayanagi. Honestly, the best partner for Ayanokouji may be and may have always been the Short Queen of Class A.

She clearly considers him someone worthy of her attention and her maximum effort, and with Class C going against Class A and one of A’s subjects being chess, it looks like she’s already determined what form their duel will take.

No Guns Life – 08 – The Justice in Personal Motives

As she rides a taxi to the memorial with Tetsuro to help Juuzou, Olivier recalls when her MP father first told her he’d be assigned to Norse Scott, a job he said “someone had to do.” Olivier didn’t like how her dad was an MP at all, and dedicated herself to rising to the ranks in order to fire him.

Turns out she didn’t reach those heights in time; Gondry murdered her dad along with sixteen others, and all she got out of it was a bouquet and a can of very bad-smelling food. But Gondry was just a puppet, utilized by Armed, while Juuzou is another person he has to erase in order to preserve the progress he believes he’s made with Extended-Anti-Extended relations.

To that end, he crushes the last of Juuzou’s medicinal cigarettes, which results in Juuzou going berserk and revealing heretofore unseen arsenal of weapons and directives. Once he’s in battle formation, the protocol governing his operation awaits “authorization” from an operator called “Hands.”

Ironically, he remained utterly harmless until Armed attacked him, after which the berserk Juuzou mops the floor with him. Olivier eventually arrives, having heard Armed blab about his grand corrupt plan and his inherent egotism; but manages to wake Juuzou up by lighting up one of the cigs Tetsuro brought and blowing the smoke into his mouth—in other words, kissing him.

The awakened Juuzou regains his senses, and resists the urge to kill Armed, even though it’s what his client Olivier wants in the moment. Instead, he’s to face a court, while Juuzou is carried off by Tetsuro. But as he rides in a paddy wagon with Olivier, he asks what court would try him?

Olivier and Juuzou have stepped into something probably better left alone, now that they’ve come to the point where there will be no true justice, since powers far above her authority have already tacitally (if not directly) approved Armed’s actions.

Additionally, since Armed has info that could harm those powers that be, he is killed by Pepper—using Harmony to operate a Gun Slave Unit whose name we learn is Seven—by blasting a huge hole in the wagon. It’s just one thing after another…

No Guns Life – 07 – You Can’t Put the Bullet Back in the Gun

As Olivier is suspended and replaced as EMS director for failing to take care of Gondry and acting on her own, Juuzou and Kronen battle Gondry, whom the former learns is a tough customer, but one whose extended components use up a huge amount of energy.

When Kronen’s paralysis needles fail due to him being unable to his Gondry’s internal sub-brain, Juuzou engages Gondry in a battle of stamina, constantly wailing on him until his armor finally cracks and his sub-brain overheats. It’s reckless and crude, but effective.

Last week I lamented that so much time was being spent on what I deemed to be a one-dimensional crazy-evil villain, but Gondry proves more than that. Unbeknownst to either Juuzou or Kronen, Gondry was being controlled remotely via Harmony by a pink-haired woman named Pepper, whose partner is a Gun Slave unit like Juuzou. That’s an interesting twist!

It also means when Pepper’s link is severed, Gondry has no idea what’s going on, and sounds like he thinks the war is still going on. That means all of the murders of his old unit might have been done using his body, but without his consent or knowledge. Now I kinda feel bad for the ugly bastard!

Turns out he may not have done any of the murders after all. That’s because once Armed realizes Juuzou and Kronen intend to get intel from Gondry about the old days, he turns on both of them, declaring them collateral victims of the overarching need to protect the Extended industry and the money it brings the nation.

This is good stuff. First you have the wildly popular and esteemed war hero Armed possibly being a big ol’ fraud, who might even have orchestrated the murders himself—if Pepper didn’t do them through Gondry…unless Pepper is working for Armed. There’s a lot of neat angles to this. And Armed even has a good big picture point, even if it boils down to ends justifying the means.

At any rate, there’s no way he’ll succeed in killing Juuzou or Kronen. Aside from the fact they’re tough bastards in their own right, Tetsuro managed to escape protective custody by inhabiting a guard thru Harmony. His goal is to get Juuzou the cigarettes to which he’s so addicted. Mary hints that they don’t just ease the pain of his Extended parts, but could be suppressing…something.

It’s a nice secondary plot thread that continues to fester in the background, and could come to the fore at the worst time for Juuzou, who it must be said doesn’t seem to have the best luck. But hey, at least he’s got good friends, or in the case of Kronen, people he doesn’t like he can trust nevertheless.

No Guns Life – 06 – Watch Out for the Little Kid

With Mary, Tetsuro, Scarlet and her dad all in safe EMS custody, Juuzou can focus on tracking down and apprehending Hayden Gondry, who just happens to be the first renegade Extended case. Why he was being transported in an ordinary paddy wagon with three other prisoners is beyond me (if it were me I’d keep him on the prison island) but he’s loose, and he’s already murdered three people.

Olivier (whose compulsion to smell really bad smells is an interesting detail about her) warns Juuzou to take their arrangement seriously and bring Gondry in alive so he can face a formal trial. Judging from the photo on her desk, Olivier seems to have a personal stake in this case: either Gondry killed her father, or is her father.

Juuzou visits the mansion of the latest victim, walking past a photo that could be a young Mary, but his work is interrupted by the arrival of Section Chief Kronen, and the two fight until the latter is out of poison needles. Juuzou makes the connection between the three victims—they were all “extension subjects” for the first-generation unit, Tindalos.

He also knows who the next victim will be, so Kronen gives him a ride in his vintage Corvette to that next victim’s present location. That would-be victim, the famous and well-loved world’s first full-body Extended, Tokisada Mega Armed, is inspecting a massive statue being constructed in his honor. On the way to Armed, Juuzou encounters a cute young child who isn’t scared of his gun face.

As Armed is moving through a crush of admirers, Gondry strikes—and is instantly captured by Juuzou. Gondry breaks free, and Kronen hits Juuzou with more needles because he’s in the way, but then Kronen launches a kick at Gondry but hits Juuzou, whose head smashes what is revealed as a Gondry mask—only a decoy.

Meanwhile, Armed has gotten away—incidentally, with the same cute, innocent kid with whom Juuzou crossed paths. That turns out to be bad news, since the kid is actually the real Gondry, who is able to change his form and use holography to mimic the girl. We’ll see if Juuzou and Kronen can put aside their differences, because it will probably take both of them (and possibly more) to bring the guy down.

While there are a couple moments of decent humor and action, this episode was a bit of a drag, groaning under the weight of too much exposition and setup surrounding someone who is, so far, a two-dimensional murderous baddie. I also missed Mary and the others; while it’s logical to detain them for their safety, it would have been nice to cut to them at least once.

Alderamin on the Sky – 01 (First Impressions)

Five students en route to elite military officer exams end up having to abandon ship in a storm, and end up with their princess behind enemy lines.

First of all, Alderamin avoids a common pratfall of warring-country fantasy shows—the introductory infodump—by simply plopping us right into the thick of things, letting pertinent facts crop up in natural conversation, and trusting its viewers. This felt like a supremely confident show, with taut dialogue and attractive characters.

The protagonist and reluctant hero is Ikuta, who should, by all rights, be immensely annoying, and yet remains almost painfully likable throughout the episode. He’s seemingly quietly good at everything, including war, and yet he hates war and exerting energy of any kind.

He’s also an enthusiast of women (a poonhound if you will), but he’s kept nicely in check by his longtime friend Igsem. Ikuta and Igsem’s frienship is an early hook for me. Igsem is strong, proud, and supremely confident in who she is, what her relationship with Ikuta is, how to deal with him, and most importantly, isn’t trying to change the rascal.

It’s nice to see a boy-girl pair good friends without being either a couple or overly confrontational to each other, and I enjoyed their banter, chemistry and comedy. Not to mention Igsem is voiced perfectly by Taneda Risa (Rory from Gate).

I even enjoyed the rather lengthy scene of the five soldiers meeting below decks. Each character has a distinct look and personality, and it’s fun to watch Ikuta bounce off them one by one. Heck, he even gets an inappropriate comment about the princess in after she momentarily appears at their door.

But generally, things in this scene stay nice and breezy, capturing the close quarters, boredom and need to pass time a maritime journey consists of. It also lulls us into a sense of security that’s suddenly, rudely thrashed when the ship hits a storm and starts to go down.

Ikuta also shows that while he can be a cad, he also won’t hesitate to rescue a drowning girl in a storm, at the risk of his own life.

Mentioning before the ship sinks that chess between soldiers is most properly played blindfolded (due to the need for a general on the ground to fill in blanks of a battle with their imagination), Ikuta clearly has a good sense of things.

It’s auspicious, then, that his act of heroism was directed at none other but the princess of the empire he serves, the 12-year-old Chamille Kitora Katjvanmaninik (Gesundheit!), voiced ably by the always adorable Minase Inori.

Ikuta, along with gunner Torway Remion, also discover that they’re in the territory of their sworn enemy, the Kioka Republic. When he reports this to the princess and the others, and lists their choices (surrender, which is easy, or attempt to break through the border, which is a gamble), Princess Chamille rejects surrender with extreme prejudice.

Watching a member of the royal family really gets to Ikuta (surprising even himself) but while he overreacts (requiring Igsem to take him down) the princess realizes she overreacted as well, and the group decides to take a couple of days to figure out what to do.

Like the meet-and-greet aboard the ship, things get light again, with the group having a sumptuous feast, and Ikuta even has time to weave himself a hammock out of leaves (like I said, guy can do everything). The moment Chamille “got it” and entered into the Church of Hammocks (of which I’m also a practicing member) was lovely moment perfectly curdled by a Kioka scout blimp sighting.

Just as life was perfectly normal aboard the ship until it suddenly snapped, the group’s haven is breached just as suddenly. Chamille is also every bit a little kid, too, as she runs far too far away to go to the bathroom and ends up being pursued by Kioka soldiers.

She’d have been in deep doo-doo were it not again for—you guessed it—Ituka distracting her pursuers; neither his first, nor likely his last, demonstration of heroism, leadership, and immense competence. Funny how the first episode of this “chronicle of fantastical warfare” didn’t have any actual warfare in it, and was still more than adequately entertaining. I shall be back for more!

Kiznaiver – 10

After the seven Kiznaivers recovered from their collective “overload”, they decided to stay away from each other for the rest of the Summer. When they return to school, no longer bearing Kizna scars and no longer connected, Yamada seems to rub salt in the wound by describing all the crazy experiences they had over the Summer, even if things got a little too intense at the end.

Hisomu isn’t able to stay away from Katsuhiro, rightly worried he won’t properly feed himself (not that Hisomu does either, with those cans), and despite everything that’s happened—nay, because of it all—Nico still loves everyone and wants to stay connected. The pure joy she exhibits upon taking the hands of Hisomu and Kacchon, spinning around giddily, was infectious.

These three can be friends again without major issues. But what about the others? Harder to say. Tenga hopes that if Chidori gives him a strong, unambiguous rejection, she’ll feel better…but she knows she won’t. We barely see Yuta and Honoka, as the latter won’t talk or listen to the former.

Then there’s Sonozaki. The mayor informs her of an imminent investigation, and in the meantime, the Kizuna Experiment is being shut down, meaning everything she’s worked for in her life is about to go down the drain into a sea of futility. She can’t bear that outcome, and so races to the nearest ledge, and as she seemingly falls, Kacchon feels her pain in his newly-appeared chest scar, as strong and horrible as ever.

His desire to find and help her leads him to the secret subway station to the school, where he finds an Urushii who, perhaps feeling a bit of guilt right about now, is receptive to giving him, along with Hisomu and Nico, more answers about what exactly they were a part of.

This project isn’t just about pride for Sonozaki; it’s about her life, and the lives of those she lived with. Once she was connected to eighteen other kids, including Kacchon, she began to feel all of their combined pain as well as her own, multiplied nineteen times. Only with the use of harsh drugs that dull all her senses allow her to function.

Worse still, her body never returned any of the sensations she absorbed form the others, leaving some the ones who are still alive as serene mannequins, unable to function at all. Once Kacchon hears they’re still alive, is allowed to meet with them, and sees the hollow husks they’ve become, he breaks down and cries, as if Sonozaki’s hold on his emotions was weakened or suspended.

Kacchon clearly wants what Sonozaki wants: to undo what’s been done to their friends, as well as to end her suffering. The Kizuna System, it would seem, was always critically flawed and untenable. But maybe there’s hope for the unfortunate souls involved.

Kiznaiver – 09

What started this spiraling closed loop of intense pain that took down six of the seven Kiznaivers, leaving them writhing in the rain? Kacchon left Chidori. He left her at a critical time; when she was oh-so-close to telling him her past love for him is still present.

Worse, Kacchon left her to go after Noriko, whom she always suspected was a rival but now has to deal with the devastating reality that he chose Noriko, not her. He did it without even knowing what it would do to Chidori.

Yamada twists the knife by getting the other six Kiznaivers into an A/W room and playing a live feed of Kacchon’s talk with Noriko, as they discuss whether he likes her. He’s not sure, but he can’t stop thinking about her, and the little girl in the dream he has has become clearer since he was Kizna’d. He knows it’s her now.

It’s too much for Chidori to watch, and seeing her so hurt makes Tenga pained and angry. Nico, in turn, is pained and angry by Tenga’s concern for Chidori and not her. But both Tenga and Nico decide to go to that gym, Tenga hoping something can be done, Nico so she can “get hurt properly.”

Some shit is going down in that gym. The closer Kacchon gets to Nori, the more memories come flowing to the surface; the names of the other child subjects—those who weren’t so lucky—combine with Noriko’s rhythmic ball-bouncing that is a kind of heartbeat to transport Kacchon to that time.

A second Kizna scar, on his chest, glows just like the one on Noriko’s neck. These two are connected; they always were; long before the other connections. As his dream promised, Kacchon wonders if he’s finally getting his pain back. In any case, he can’t stop holding Noriko.

At this point, the others arrive, and it goes about as well as you’d expect. Chidori runs off; Tenga sucks it up and tells Kacchon to go after her; Nico runs off; Yuta tells Tenga to go after her; and Tenga learns for the first time Nico loves him. It’s a mess, and it’s wonderful how quickly a couple of initially cute love polygon vertices start to fray at the edges and become twisted into something far darker.

Urushii can tell this isn’t going to end well, but Yamada insists the experiment continue, seemingly unconcerned with whether the subjects undergo full mental breaks. Thankfully, Urushii remembers a man’s weak spot and heads out.

She might be too late; the damage is done in the soupy, pounding rain tinged with industrial light; a striking venue for the things that transpire. At this point the Kizna scars turn blood red, and everyone can start hearing each others’ hearts. Chidori tells Kacchon to let go, but her heart wants him to hold her.

He listens to her heart, but that only makes things worse, since she knows he’s not doing it sincerely as with Noriko. Tenga, rather than go after a distraught Nico, starts beating the crap out of Kacchon. Nico and everyone else shows up, and the combined emotional pain starts coming in intolerable waves.

It’s even enough for Maki to reconsider getting any closer to anyone…and who can blame her, under such extreme, torturous circumstances? But what’s so sad is that Maki things this is what will always happen if people try to grow closer and closer.

She forgets that they’re all young people, and what seems like world-ending emotional distress can be seen as frivolous to an adult, like, say, Yamada. How many teenagers have screamed through their parents’ hallway, before slamming the door to their room, something along the lines of “MY LIFE IS OVER”?

Even so…this situation looks pretty damn bad, no matter what your age. It’s interesting, though, that Kacchon outlasts everyone in staying upright. Is his pain lessened by the fact he’s also connected to Noriko, and has been already through something similar to this for years?

All I know is, our would-be friends came face-to-face with more secrets about who has feelings for who, things have gotten very weird and dark, and I would hope, with three episodes left, this is rock bottom. As to how things get better or how they’ll wear the wounds they sustained this week, I can only conjecture.

Kiznaiver – 08

The Kiznaivers have never been closer, even if they still tend to snipe at each other, they also all show up when Nico invites them to the mall to hang out take booth photos together (which is what regular friends do) even during a typhoon warning.

Back at Kizuna HQ, Yamada and Urushi are licking their chops at the opportunity to move the experiments to the next level, and the conditions are perfect, so they use the Gomorins to bring the team in.

Before they do, the sight of an outdoor playcenter reminds Kacchon vividly of the time he was test subjects with Noriko. When Yamada nonchalantly explains more about the Kizuna Project and how they even went so far as to experiment on researchers’ and sponsors’ own children, it’s pretty clear what’s coming: some kind of epiphany between the currently frustrated Noriko and a Kacchon who is “disappointed” in her.

I must say, I’m not a big fan at all of Yamada or Urushi, who are way too laid back about the fact they essentially tortured children who had no say in the matter, not to mention all the adults who suffered from early experimentation. Morally speaking, the ends don’t usually justify the means…and they don’t even have any ends yet.

All they have are seven youths who have already demonstrated that they not only share each other’s physical pain, but also strong emotions, be they negative or positive. And Yamada and Urushi want to delve deeper into the positive by pairing everyone off. Again, it’s a bit icky, but they’re committed, as is Noriko, to ensuring the experiment is completed – regardless of how the subjects feel.

The chart of Kiznaivers relationships reminded me of the character charts Zane used to spend way too much time making, but once they were complete really gave a concise picture of who liked whom (One instance that was at times a closed circle of one-sided relationships was Nagi no Asukara).

Here, Urushi lays out the obvious: Yuta likes Honoka; Honoka still likes Ruru; Nico likes Tenga; Tenga likes Chidori; Chidori likes Agata, and Hisomu likes pain. Noriko can figure out the last one for herself, to the surprise of the adults: Agata likes her.

She’s known for a while that he had strong emotions, but didn’t know they were romantic. Now, all of a sudden, the pieces are falling into place for her, and she heads to where the others are to “kickstart” the experiment.

As Noriko purposefully makes her way, time runs out for Chidori to properly confess to Kacchon, despite the two being all alone for an extended period of time. Kacchon’s attention is turned elsewhere, quite suddenly, by a stronger sensation, and either the symbolic visualization or straight-up hallucination of his younger self and hi fellow test subjects leading him to where he needs to be.

That precise time and place turns out to be crucial, as Kacchon arrives at the place just in time to save Noriko from being crushed by a falling statue just as she emerges from an abandoned metro station. Just like that, Noriko’s experiment has taken a huge step forward.

Why? Simply put, Kacchon has achieved a kind of “spidey-sense” vis-a-vis Noriko. Or rather, he’s always had it, and it has finally fully re-awakened. That explains the cryptic visions of the younger Noriko. It isn’t that her feelings reached him in time. She is a part of him and vice-versa.

To confirm, Noriko removes her choker to expose the Kizuna scar on her neck, glowing brighter and purer than any of the others’ wrist scars. That’s Kacchon in there, and that’s huge, as it not only progresses the experiment, ill-begotten as it was, but marks the loosening of a knot that had been festering in Kacchon’s heart for years. I for one am intrigued.