Qualidea Code – 12 (Fin)

Qualidea Code wasn’t always (or really ever) the prettiest, but it was the best-sounding (musically at least), and also never seemed to stand still. It improved right up until the end, at least as far as resolving a major issue early on: a mysterious, faceless, malevolent enemy.

By this final episode, the enemy is no longer faceless, or malevolent (though some mysteries about what they are or where they come from remains unknown to the end, thankfully). In fact, it seems strange to call Airi and Asanagi enemies at all; merely a party with a different agenda.

Placing them in a grayer area, and resolving their story in a more nuanced way than “kill bad guys” went a long way towards helping me mostly overlook the fact that the show seemed to have run out of budget this week, as huge swaths of animation are simply missing.

I didn’t even mind Aoi’s sudden but inevitable (and heavily telegraphed) “betrayal.” But just like Asanagi, who turns out to be her father, her decision to side with him and Airi is borne out of love, not hate, so it’s hard to condemn what she does.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want Ichiya and the others to succeeding in ridding the world of the Unknown, and watching them fight desperately, initially without their worlds, made for a thrilling final battle, despite the animation shortcomings. Asuha headbutting Aoi, and Hotaru holding her sword in her mouth were among the highlights.

In the end, everyone gets a boost in power thanks to the return of Canaria’s song, which gets a slightly different (but still very danceable) arrangement for the finale, in which Airi is killed by Hime, who remembers learning which conditions would allow Airi to die contented.

In the end, Airi does not mind leaving her mortal coil, for she achieved what she wanted: she and Asanagi were able to make another, entirely new life: Aoi. Asanagi does not die, but stays with his daughter.

The Kasumis visit their injured mom, who is ecstatic they’re safe and sound. The dimensional tear is sealed, the skies return to blue, and the heads and subheads of Kanto all vow, in their own way, to rebuild what was toppled.

While we don’t get to hear Ichiya’s answer to Canaria’s question “how do I look to you now?”, we didn’t need any words from him to know how he feels: She’s all he needs.

Qualidea Code – 11

Kasumi and Asuha’s mom isn’t shy about her goal: to wipe out each and every Unknown she can. In addition to being angry they kept her children captive and used them as tools for so long, she also believes there’s no reasoning with a creature so alien.

And yet, as we learn later this week as the Unknown wind down their operations on Earth, Johannes isn’t quite right about the second thing. Not only is an Unknown able to feel how a human feels, she’s also able to love, in her way. And she in turn is loved back by a human.

Aoi, who continues to be a tense wild card just waiting to go off and undermine the plans to eradicate the Unknown, seems to understand this. It’s not just that she lacks perspective due to an emotional attachment to Yunami and Asanagi…it’s that they’re worth being worried about. She can sense that the two are different from Johannes’ black-and-white, no-quarter viewpoint.

Unfortunately, a great deal of the Unknown still seem committed to attacking humans, and Johannes isn’t in the mood to carefully pick her targets. She launches a huge attack with her big cannon, but when it proves insufficient and she’s taken out of action with an injury, it provides an opportunity for the kids to keep doing what they do best: fight for themselves.

Of course, for our six peeps, fighting for themselves means fighting for those they love: Rindo and Hime, Asuha and Kasumi…and Canaria and Ichiya. Whatever other issues are at hand, they don’t want to lose each other, so they have to fight and they have to win. That means infiltrating enemy HQ and closing the dimensional gate that allowed the Unknown in to begin with.

Aoi remains the third, or rather seventh wheel, following everyone but constantly looking conflicted, and with, as I mentioned, good reason. The ones she wants to protect are the adults who cared for them so kindly all those years, making them more parents than her actual parents (which are probably gone).

As Rindo and Hime encounter what seems to be Yunami’s true form, and the others meet Asanagi, who was human all along, it will be interesting to see how the final showdown will turn out. Will there be a need for fighting? Will the Unknown, led by Yunami, peacefully return to where they came from? Are there more twists in store that will test everyone’s priorities? The endgame approaches.

Qualidea Code – 10

The truths of the real world our heads and subheads are now awakened to roll in like relentless waves this week, and it’s a lot for them to take in.

All this time, they’ve been captives of the Unknown, who altered their perception of the world so they would see adult humans as Unknown, and thus fight them. In a way, it’s worse than The Matrix, because they’re not just batteries, they’re weapons the Unknown are using to wipe out whats left of their families.

Suddenly having your world upside down is both frightening and un-mooring, and can mess with one’s sense of identity. The kids hold close to what they know to be true beyond any doubt, and reinforced through the years they were cared for by the Unknown: the bonds of friendship and love they all share.

Kasumi and Asuha’s ambitious (and morally flexible) mother Johannes is in charge of the humans, having climbed a ladder constructed off those who once opposed her, be they dead or now under her heel.

She’s a handful, and while parts of Kasumi and Asuha are glad to reunite with their mother, this has all happened very fast, and an adjustment period will be necessary to process it all, especially the fact that they no longer need to fight, which is what defined them to this point.

Ichiya is also particularly un-moored, because his idea of who he was – a hero who was “all we need(ed)” and the only one who could protect Canaria – has blown up in his face with the knowledge that it was all an illusion. He was nothing but a clown; a puppet being manipulated along with all the other kids.

It’s really good to see Canaria back in the show. Her cheerful demeanor are welcome in such a harsh new world, but Ichiya just can’t function without her. We saw that, and we see just how much these two mean to each other in a lovely scene that nearly turns into a kiss before Ichiya panics and sends Cana flying in the opposite end of the room.

Johannes seems singularly obsessed with three things (in no particular order): grabbing and holding power, protecting her kids, and utterly eliminating the Unknown down to the last one, with extreme prejudice.

Kasumi and Asuha have grown up to the point they don’t really need their mother, or anyone other than each other and their comrades to protect them and give them purpose. The Unknown may have stolen them from their human parents, but the crucial years of development they were separated aren’t coming back.

Not only that, but the Unknown, represented by Asanagi and Yunami, aren’t portrayed as evil this week, but rather as two people stuck in a system who only wants what’s best for the children they’ve come to love. Were they misguided in their actions? Surely.

But they’re not the monsters Johannes makes them out to be, and the kids’ opinions of them are at best conflicted, and in the case of Aoi, totally sympathetic.

Surely the kids can figure out a way to come between their warring parents and the Unknown and come to some kind of negotiated peace or coexistence. That would seem to be the point here. The Adults, led by Johannes, are bent on revenge, and won’t stop attacking. It’s up to their offspring to create a world that moves past this conflict.

When the Unknowns attack Johannes’ fleet, its an indication Asanagi and Yunami didn’t get the final say—perhaps their are other Unknowns in higher positions that think about the humans how Johannes thinks about them.

Another point I want to make: we’ve learned just enough about the Unknown to make them far more interesting and nuanced. They have a face and emotions and dreams and desires just like humans. If they think and feel and act so alike, appearances aside, perhaps they’re not so “unknown” after all.

For the time being, Ichiya and Canara, Kasumi and Asuha, and Hime and Hotaru all decide to keep fighting beside one another, the ones they know for sure they can count on, whatever issues they may have with one another. Keeping things simple by fighting the enemy, staying alive, and having each others backs is the best way to stay centered in increasingly uncertain times.

Which is why Aoi’s isolation and anxiety worries me.

P.S. I somehow forgot to publish the draft of last week’s episode review, so this week you get two. You’re welcome. :*

Qualidea Code – 09

Kasumi is taking all of this weird stuff going on very slowly and carefully. He keeps Asuha out of it for the time being, so he can try to dig up some info on what it is that’s happening to him. He manages to find a ruined building that still has power, but it’s paper books that give him answers, and images, that suggests something very strange going on.

Asuha, with no one else to turn to, turns to Ichiya, who is still angsting over the loss of Cana, but still agrees to help lead the defense during the latest Unknown raid, since he believes he’s the only one who can give proper direction to said defence (making me wonder why they put Aoi in charge in the first place).

Kasumi decides to use this battle to “jailbreak” Ichiya, in a very strange (from Ichiya’s perspective) way: he kills an adult trying to force Ichiya to retreat, then when Ichiya confronts him on a rooftop, Kasumi fires at him and not the humanoid Unknown in front of him. Indeed, Kasumi seems capable of communicating with the ‘enemy’.

At the same time, Asuha is outnumbered and starts to feel like things are going to get very bad, but the Unknown only target her Code, and once it’s shattered, see can see that the Unknown standing before her is actually…a person.

All that’s left is for Kasumi to get Ichiya into a position where an Unknown can shatter his code, thus completing the “jailbreak.” This uncommonly affectionate Unknown turns out to be Canaria, whom I figured was going to return sooner or later.

I don’t mind her resurrection, because the details of her death were so strange I was never 100% convinced she was dead anyway. Her death also turned Ichiya into an even more insufferable wretch, so knowing she’s alive will certainly improve his character, since he’s going to do everything he can to make sure this time he’ll protect her.

And just like that, all six main characters are now aware that the world they’ve seen and lived in as long as they can remember is not, indeed, real, or at least not the only world that exists. The “red” world they can now see, however, is hardly welcoming.

Is it merely the truth they’re seeing: a wrecked post-apocalyptic world the way it really is? Does the ED, which heavily features our characters wearing ordinary present-day school uniforms and doing ordinary present-day school stuff, represent still another reality, or the reality before everything went all “red” and ruined?

Qualidea Code ups the weird in a big way by bringing everyone in on the big secret. It really sells it with awesome sound design and an atmospheric Iwasaki score. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Qualidea Code – 08

This week QC demonstrated its adeptness at extinguishing its own peril and momentum. After blowing open a huge door last week, building upon all my suspicions about the world the kids inhabit, it allowed that door to partially close, albeit leaving it open just a crack.

The apparent “deaths” of Hime and Hotaru created a desperate situation, and yet Kasumi and Aoi are able to goof off on an extended inspection “date.” That desperation is more or less quandered so we can witness events that do little but reiterate the deep bond we always knew existed between Kasumi and Asuha. While we haven’t seen Asuha following her brother on a fake date, I’m not sure we needed to, especially now.

Suffice it to say, the two are good siblings to one another when it counts, so when the evil adult superior Ookuni tries to convince them to transfer further inland, and both outright refuse, and Ookuni tries to corner Kasumi and kill him in the clumsiest way possible, Asuha is right there to bail him out.

What Asuha doesn’t know yet is that her brother has already peeked through the door opened last week. He can see bits and pieces of the “real world” the codes on their necks seem to be suppressing. In her generic villain speech before trying and failing to kill Kasumi, Ookuni provides a little more insight: that she considers the kids “livestock” who need to be kept asleep to serve her needs.

Well, Kasumi isn’t fully asleep anymore, and Ookuni is dead (and there’s nothing left of her, thanks to some overkill by Asuha). Asuha is still “pure” in that her code is intact, but if there’s anyone she’d believe if they told her the secret they’ve discovered, it’s Kasumi.

Qualidea Code – 07

Hotaru lives only to serve Hime, so she’s going to do whatever it takes to fulfill her promise to return to her side when needed. This week we learn more about why, as Airi attempts the close the gaping hole in the sky and Hime desperately holds off wave after wave of humanoid Unknown.

Hime didn’t like the idea of being put into cold sleep in separate shelters, but Hotaru promised it would be okay. It wasn’t; when Hotaru awakened, she had “lost herself.” For ten years, she served as an elite assassin, until her last target was her old friend, who never stopped believing she’d come back. She did, and they’ve remained the closest of friends ever since.

When it looks like Airi isn’t going to be done closing the hole, and Hotaru isn’t going to be able to get to Hime before she runs out of gas, Hotaru enlists the help of Kasumi, Aoi, and Asuha to fashion a sky bridge out of frozen Unknown carcasses. As Hotaru mentions, it’s a great bit of inventiveness from Kasumi, who feelings aside knows full well how boned they are if they lose the Kanegawa head.

The lonely battle Hime fights as everyone while to help her grows increasingly tense and frought, as one small slip-up could mean her sudden heartbreaking demise. Indeed, she seems only a split-second away from having her head crushed when Hotaru finally arrives, keeping her promise by rescuing her.

Not long thereafter, Airi successfully re-activates the barrier, the hole starts to close, and the Unknown retreat. If things had ended with a couple of tender lines between Hotaru and Hime on their way home, this would have been a great wrap-up to a solidly 8 episode.

But that’s no what happened. The end of the battle marks only the beginning of…something else. Airi notices Hime’s vitals throwing errors, and Hime tells Hotaru “something’s not right”, stopping her from defeating the last Unknown charging them.

Hime asks Hotaru to trust her before shattering the Code on her neck, the way her’s was shattered moments before. And just like that, the door to a huge new Pandora’s Box creaks open, as we see from Hotaru’s POV that something is, indeed, not right at all. 

It’s made clearer than ever that these kids are not living in the real world, but an artificial one, governed/regulated by their (admittedly vulnerable) Code chips. By episode’s end, Hime, Hotaru, and Kasumi have been released from those chips, and see the world for what it really is.

The former two also allowed themselves to get swallowed up in the big Unknown, and now they’re “gone” from the world they knew. Perhaps they’ll end up where Canaria and the other “dead” kids went.

This is a huge development; the show is confidently headed exactly where I hoped it would ever since it showed that seagull disappearing, and I’ll be watching with great interest to see what comes next.

7 Awesome Non-Romantic Couples of Summer 2016

Summer 2016 has shaped up to be bursting with interesting boy/girl relationships that aren’t necessarily (or in some cases, even remotely) romantic. Just friends, BFFs, best buds, call ’em what you want, they’ve already made a huge impact this season. Here are seven of our favorites. If you know of one we missed, let us know in the ‘ments.

Heavy Spoilers Throughout.

Takamiya Naho x Suwa Hiroto (Orange)

Orange is primarily focused on the potentially future-and-life-saving romance between Naho and Kakeru, but Naho’s friends play a key role in facilitating her mission, and none more than Suwa. Indeed, in the future where Kakeru dies Naho marries Suwa and they have a child, but both of their future selves seemed committed to making sure their past selves saved Kakeru. That meant Suwa putting his own feelings for Naho aside.

Now that they both know about each other’s letters form the future, Naho and Suwa have a strong, unique non-romantic relationship. In the circle of friends, Hagita and Azusa are another romantic couple in the making, leaving Suwa and Takako, who we think should be a couple so everyone’s paired up and happy.

Kariu Rena x Kaizaki Arata (ReLIFE)

Remember ReLIFE? Zane semi-binged in the first two weeks July, and it was full of great character pairings. Most were romantic: Kariu and Oga (better late than never); Kaizaki and Chizuru (a pairing potentially doomed by circumstance, but not dead); An and Ryou (who weren’t fooling anyone).

But one of the best combos wasn’t romantic: Kariu and Kaizaki. He helped end her misunderstandings about Chizuru’s behavior and brought them together as friends, and then Chizuru helped Kariu repair her friendship with Honoka. Kaizaki was also instrumental in getting Oga to realize his feelings for Kariu, leading to them finally pairing up at the Summer Festival. Being friends with and helping Kariu out also helped Kaizaki come to grip with his own social issues.

Utara Canaria x Suzaku Ichiya (Qualidea Code)

Ichiya has been and continues to be a twerp in QC, but his friendship with Canaria was one of the most humanizing things about him. His boorish “I’m all we need” arrogance is borne out of his intense desire to be strong enough so that his friend doesn’t have to fight (even though he was at his best when she was buffing him with her song).

Not the most original dynamic, but the fact Ichiya and Cana were never even hinted at a romantic couple (and never acted awkwardly towards each other) made the couple more interesting.

Sadly, Canaria was suddenly killed off after just four episodes and all evidence suggests she’s not coming back. Since she was the only person Ichiya cared about in the world, he’s not so high on the world right now.

Hoshino Yumemi x Customer (Planetarian)

This show only spanned five quick episodes, but still packed an emotional punch, and dealt with some very elemental Asimovian themes when it came to human-robot relations.

At first, the customer was impatient and indifferent to the planetarium host without an audience. But her relentless positivity wore him down, and he became enamored of the idyllic island in a sea of apocalypse she represented.

He became so fond of Yumemi that seeing that she made it out of the Sarcophagus City with him safe and sound became as much a priority as surviving, making it all the more tragic when she disobeys his order to stay put when she senses his life is at risk and she sacrifices herself to save him. Thank goodness her memories are backed up!

Yukihira Souma x Tadokoro Megumi/Nakiri Erina/Nakiri Alice/Mito Ikumi (Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara)

Yukihira Souma didn’t come to Totsuki Academy to find a girlfriend or wife, but he DID come to make friends. And that what he considers all the girls listed above: friends, whom he can talk with casually about a number of subjects, bounce ideas off of, and, of course, cook with (or against), enjoy meals with, and learn from.

Souma’s female friends don’t feel like an anime harem because it isn’t one; there are certainly actions and reactions from all of them that suggest they harbor affection or even some feelings for him, but Souma generally treats them non-romantically, as equals.

Which is just as well: his ideal woman would be someone with the qualities of all four: Megumi’s warmth, humility, and inner strength; Erina’s uncompromising pursuit of culinary perfection, unwavering confidence, and veiled decency; Alice’s technical know-how, cheerfulness and humor; and Nikumi’s infectious earnestness and generosity.

Crusch Karsten x Natsuki Subaru (Re:Zero)

If you told us eight weeks ago that one of Subaru’s most intriguing friendships would be with one of his beloved Emilia-tan’s rivals for the throne of Lugnica, you would have sounded preposterous. Yet here we are. Crusch and Subaru aren’t exactly friends, but they do share mutual trust and respect for one another, which is an important step towards friendship…without the slightest hint of romance.

What’s interesting is how this was achieved: through trial and error (and some death and suffering), Subaru finally arrived at the formula of things to say, and when and how to say them (as well as the conviction to back those things up), to make Karsch believe him and agree to his plan to defeat the White Whale. The result of that battle remains to be seen, but it’s nevertheless impressive to see how far these to have come.

Compared with the other two candidates introduced along with her (Anastasia and Priscilla), Karsten’s character has been given the most depth and opportunity to empathize with her as a fully-dimensional person rather than a set of personality traits. Subaru shared a drink on the terrace with her, grovelled in vain and elicited her disgust, and finally came to her with head held high and an alliance she could get on board with. The fact she can magically detect when Subie is lying literally keeps him honest!

Yatrisino Igsem x Ikta Solark (Alderamin on the Sky)

The undisputed crown for best non-romantic couple of the Summer are these two ridiculously-named characters from Alderamin. Preston has gone on at length about what makes these two so fun and riveting to watch, but it all comes back to the fact that you just can’t put them in a simple box like “siblings”, “lovers”, “soul mates,” or “brains and brawn.”

Instead, they have their own box: the Yatori & Ikta Box. Beyond friends, beyond family, and frighteningly effective as a duo, keeping each other out of trouble and making each other better. We were sold on them before an episode aired detailing how they met and forged their unique bond; after that portrait our regard for them only grew. These two make this show.

Qualidea Code – 06

Qualidea Code reaches its halfway point on a nice streak. Despite being the worst-looking show I’m watching, I find myself more and more invested in this weird world full of mysteries being kept secret from the children protecting what’s left of it…even if those mysteries seem deeper and darker than they’ll eventually turn out to be.

This week Hime leads the charge against a huge Unknown aerial force in Tokyo. A new type of Unknown, which I’ll call Cudgel-class, fall from the sky in swarms, smashing students like ants. As the losses mount, Hime tries to keep everyone together, and gets a nice little vote of confidence from her “mom”, Officer Yunami.

But Yunami is worthless on a battlefield, so Hime puts her on one of the non-combat evacuation trains to safety, having her look after her pocket watch. Both that gesture, Hime’s lines, and the flashback to when Yumemi first woke up in the present world, all feel like death flags being flown.

Yumemi lets Hime visit her old, ruined family mansion, where she finds her heroic grandfather’s jacket, which goes on to be her trademark oversized cloak. We also learn the “worlds” or special skills of kids are determined by the worlds they saw before they went into cold sleep, as well as the dreams they had while in it.

Hime’s dreams were all about her and Hotori living happily in a peaceful world, and so she developed a “world” strong enough to make that happen. She orders a retreat and dismisses her devoted underlings, certain Hotori will show up like she promised.

But Hotori is late, busy with her own Unknown swarn after crossing the no-entry zone. Hime gets injured while damaging the Unknown lead ship, but still refuses to board the train A legion of more humanoid-looking Unknown troops advance on her, and Hotori is still not there.

Can Hotori, or the Suguha siblings get to her in time? Or will she be the second main character loss in just seven episodes?

Qualidea Code – 05

QC stuck to its guns b confirming Canaria is dead, as were all the other students who went through the no-entry zone. Ichiya is off in a cloud of grief, leaving Tokyo rudderless. Hime leads the way in stepping in to pick up the slack, initially putting forth policies intolerable enough that she hopes Ichiya’s own people convince him to come back.

Hime shows a lot more depth this week, as more than simply the hyper overpowered princess we’ve seen her as so far. We see the true reason Hotaru cares for her so much. Ever since Hotaru saw Hime’s hands trembling as she told adults she was fine after her parent’s death, she knows when Hime is hiding her true emotions, which she must to in order to try to restore some semblage of morale in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, neither the friendly nor the more hard-line tack do much good against the nearly catatonic Ichiya. She misjudges just how much Canaria meant to him by scolding him for “freezing every time one person dies.” Canaria wasn’t “one person”, she was the person to Ichiya. We also learn that one person managed to survive the post-no-entry purge: Aoi, but only because the adults took out her old Code and installed a new one, with very little explanation other than “you’ll be fine now.”

We know that going into the zone marked Canaria and the others for death by surprise Unknown attack. But we don’t know why, and the adults don’t want anyone else to know, either. That being said, Hotaru still wants answers, and if she can’t get them from the adults, she tries to lead Aoi back to the no-entry zone for clues, all but forcing her to explain why they simply cannot go back there.

As expected, it’s Kasumi who manages to get Ichiya back out into the sunlight, but he’s still a zombie who doesn’t do anything other than grieve and lament his plight this week. This had the effect of giving the other heads and subheads more screen time, and while the Chigusa siblings were their usual half-bored selves, Hime and Hotaru shined.

QC is doing the right thing by keeping its cards close vis-a-vis the Unknown. Typically, the more details one learns about an initially mysterious/inscrutable villain or evil force, the less frightening they become, since there’s nothing scarier than the unknown.

The fact we still know very little about what the Unknown are and what motivates them adds to their creepy mystique, leads us to flex our imaginations searching for theories, and mitigates their uninspired designs.

But it’s inevitable we’re going to learn more about them, especially when the very sky turns red as the largest Unknown force yet amassed seems poised to wipe out the three cities once and for all (a great Oh Shit moment). I just hope we don’t learn more than we need, thus the threat become devalued.

Qualidea Code – 04

Qualidea Code is a flawed show, but it’s showed signs of incremental improvement in the last two episodes. Lask week solved the “not enough peril” problem; while this week fixes Ichiya’s “boundless bluster” problem, delivering a much-needed dose of Canaria’s humility.

Indeed, while the turnabout in his personality was, uh, rapid, rapid change is possible in the midst of the person he cares more about than anyone else getting seriously hurt in a battle he instigated.

As the exterior peril intensifies, internal strife fades away for the good of the whole group. Thus Ichiya’s improved personality raises all boats, showing that when the going (finally) gets tough, he can count on his fellow heads and their subheads.

Ichiya presents this new-and-improved, common sense-armed self to the adult bosses, who endorse his plan to ally with Kanagawa and Chiba to defeat the Leviathan properly.

He’s learned his lesson, and hopefully retired his tired catchphrase “I’m all we need.” Clearly both he and they need more than just him; they need each other, working together.

His new plan for attack is neither nonsensical nor reckless; it is actually pretty by-the-book and straightforward, with each city playing to its strengths in an effort to distract, misdirect, and get through the armor of the Unknown.

Ichiya also leaves Aoi in charge of keeping an eye on Cana, who wakes up shortly after he departs for battle. She immediately sits up and gets dressed to catch up with him, but while Aoi tries to stop her, her fellow Tokyo broom-riders suggest a shortcut and for Aoi to accompany them.

Kazumi uses explosives and something called “dead space” to suspend their assault train into a position from which the ground forces can attack, while Hime surfaces her submarine carrier right beside the enemy to deliver a blow that still isn’t quite enough.

Turns out, the five fighting the battle can’t defeat the Leviathan without their sixth, Canaria, who comes in singing and buffing everyone around her. Realizing he’s stronger with everyone than all alone, Ichiya scoops up Hime and flies her to the spot she needs to get to to take out the Leviathan.

Remember what I said about QC being flawed? Well, while the peril is nicely pitched and the characters have gotten more interesting…the animation during the climax of the battle stinks, with the frame-rate dropping until it’s just a Powerpoint deck of still shots.

The show tries to pass this off as a “slowing of time” effect for enhanced drama, but actually has the opposite effect since at the end of the day, things weren’t really animated at a crucial part of the episode. The result was underwhelming and sloppy.

However, the episode makes up for that a bit with the aftermath, when Ichiya takes Cana back the hospital on his back and everyone celebrates a great victory….only for tragedy to suddenly, unexpectedly strike once more.

A post-credits scene with Ichiya and Cana has all the makings of a quiet epilogue to close the episode out, but for Asanagi’s shocked, pained reactions to seeing something on Aoi’s neck, indicating she, Cana, and the others who broke Cana out of the hospital went through a “no-entry zone.” We also see flashing red lights in the ocean, and one of those foreboding seagulls gets killed in the sky.

Just as Ichiya is telling Canaria he’s asking for a demotion that would swap their ranks, making her head, and telling her how he doesn’t care about anyone in the world as much as her, a huge mass falls out of the sky and smites Canaria. One moment, she’s there smiling, the next, a perfectly circular hole in the ground, and a spot of blood in the water.

I’m not sure exactly what happened here, and it surely adds to the mystery of what the adults aren’t telling the kids. But whatever we learn or however Ichiya deals, killing off a likable main character in the fourth episode is a bold move.

Qualidea Code – 03

In its third and final trial week (to determine if it’s worth watching), Qualidea Code presents its best episode yet, fixing the issues of the first two by further developing Ichiya, greatly upping the peril, and aside from a brief changing scene, ditching unnecessary skin.

It also introduces us to a potentially dark side of life in this new world, as those not up to snuff being transferred “inside” is talked about in weary tones, and a burden the adults must bear. Ichiya skips out on daily patrol to meet with a former subordinate who is being transferred inside due to injury.

He feels embarrassed to be acting so nice and considerate, but he is. But the patrol that sorties without him comes afoul of a new type of Unknown; the biggest and toughest yet and quickly called Leviathan-class.

This is more like it. With Umihotaru and the Aqua Line under enemy control, the Unknown now have a beachhead upon which they can orchestrate a large-scale assault on the remainder of civilization. Kasumi wonders out loud why Ichiya wasn’t leading his patrol, and despite having a good reason, Ichiya stays tight-lipped and orders Cana to do the same.

Still, Ichiya blames himself for this mess, and looking over an old coloring book (where one mostly red-filled page documents the doomsday when the Unknown arrived), remembers he promised himself to get stronger in order to protect Canaria.

Cana pays Ichiya a visit, and sees the book entry, but Ichiya has already gone off on his own to fight the Leviathan.

It’s a really, really dumb idea, but it fits who Ichiya is, and I wasn’t altogether sure he definitely would fail to beat the thing on his own. That being said, Cana makes sure to reach out to the two other heads and subheads, telling them what Ichiya has done and asking for their help.

In the meantime, Canaria and the rest of Ichiya’s squad join Ichiya on the field of an excellent night battle, which Ichiya gets started off right by laying waste to dozens of lesser Unknowns in an attempt to awaken the hidden Leviathan from the sea.

Cana starts to sing to buff everyone, and the battle intensifies, aided by the pulsing soundtrack and light-dark contrast of the magical weaponry in the night. Ichiya even takes command of his people and coordinates their actions with a concentration on self-protection so that he can take on the tower alone, confident Cana and the others will be safe.

But just when Ichiya is about to deliver the decisive blow you thought would wrap this episode up in a neat little bow, Cana’s voice gives out, her song and its effect stops, and Ichiya’s strike fails.

Looking back at an unconscious, bloodied Cana, Ichiya surprises us again by ordering a retreat, just as the Unknown Leviathan rises out of the water, showing that the gigantic tower was only the tip of a very vast iceberg.

This is definitely more like it: no easy battle with easy outcome. Ichiya made mistakes this week, and he has to pay for them. The life of the one person he can’t fight or live without is suddenly in danger, and he’s simply not strong enough to defeat the foe before him. He’s not all they need, in other words.

As for Asuha, Kasumi, Hime and Hotaru, they’re on their way to Umihotaru in their preferred modes of transport, answering Cana’s call for help. Asuha is heartened by how quickly her bro sprang into action, despite his official hatred of Ichiya. He’ll need all of them to get through this.

Qualidea Code – 02

QC scales things back quite a bit in the combat department, as after last week’s big battle with the Unknown, all that’s left for our three heads and subheads is to patrol the areas Hime destroyed as they undergo repairs. Right off the bat, you see what the show is trying to do: get three different pairs (each one with a malcontent) who don’t really like each other to start getting along, for the good of their civilization.

The patrol job was just as boring to watch as it must’ve been to patrol, though the “positive” sides of the pairs—Hime, Canaria, and Asuha (sorta)—do their part. Ichiya, Hotaru, and Kasumi, the “negative” sides of the pairs, mostly just snipe and make the engineering students doing the repairs wonder if they’re always so dysfunctional.

After that, it’s apparently time to put our group in swimsuits for the sake of fanservice, only halfway through the second episode. Not only that, only Hotaru ends up sporting a halfway-practical suit for deep-sea swimming. The others wear pretty bikinis more suited for the beach—including Cana, who can’t swim and doesn’t go in the water. I’m also pretty sure Asuha had sandals when she went in the water, but quickly lost them.

Odd choice of apparel aside, it’s Kasumi, who also can’t go underwater for various reasons, who ends up completing their mission: to find and take out a submarine Unknown that was spotted last night by a couple of kids who went out to kiss (they view these memories with the help of Yaegaki Aoi, who Kasumi seems interested in and vice versa).

Asuha ultimately ends up serving as bait for the Unknown, which Kasumi takes out from the surface with his rifle, impressing Ichiya in the process. And yes, Ichiya is otherwise just as haughty and obnoxious as the first episode, and Canaria doesn’t call him on it enough for my taste.

All’s well that ends well…but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve been here before. The brother-sister pair who have trouble with their feelings; the arrogant fiery upstart and his more passive, charming partner; the serious chick who melts before her tiny, cute partner; even the two adult COs: the more wild, slightly pervy guy and the more straight-laced, mom-like lady.

While this show is considerably less over-the-top than Hundred (and more gender-balanced), it’s also not offering all that much in the way of originality, which means it’s more of a show I’d watch if nothing else is going on.

The one thing I liked about last week that sets it apart is that seagull disappearing in the sky, indicating some kind of barrier. We see the gulls again, and then it’s confirmed that there is indeed a barrier, and the adults are worried the Unknown may be starting to breach it from under the sea.

While this does some damage to my theory about the whole world the kids live in being a simulation (enabling superpowers and such), I’m interested in anything that will hike up the peril for these kids. Things are just a little too easy and a little to comfortable right now.

Qualidea Code – 01 (First Impressions)

After the earth is attacked by an unknown enemy force, the children wake up from cold sleep, and grow up to become soldiers in the ongoing fight. Three cities in Japan fight from the ground, sea, and air to keep the Unknown at bay, often clashing with themselves in the process, due to the fierce competition borne of rankings.

Like Hundred, QC portrays a futuristic world in which a battle is ongoing with a foe but not to the point of desperation. Gleaming new cities tower over the ruins of older ones, and the humans seem to have enough military power to keep those new cities safe.

Unlike Hundred, not everyone is in love with the MC Ichiya. Indeed, few are, as he’s an arrogant little shit whose catchphrase “I’m all we need” wears thin fast. His speech about wanting to protect his world doesn’t jibe with his refusal to work with anyone…except Canaria, the girl he was with when the world ended.

He and Cana aren’t a romantic item, just close companions. While he’ll barely interact with anyone else and forces himself to be nice to the adults who saved them all, Cana is the one person he doesn’t mind having around all the time…if she can keep up with him.

The two also happen to be in the top 10 in the rankings and head and subhead of Tokyo region. While he’s only ranked fourth, Ichiya clearly considers himself the best; those below him are scum and those above him are idiots; only he strikes the perfect balance.

That being said, the other two pairs of city heads and subheads at least have distinct personalities. There’s the young, naive, but kind and honorable Hime, ranked first, and her loyal and trusty lieutenant Hotaru. Then there’s the lazy, disinterested redhead, second-ranked Chigusa Asuha and her brother Kazumi, who’s down at #207.

Ichiya seems like a kind of a dick so far, not the most likable protagonist, considering everyone else presumably went through similar horrors in the past and still managed not to come out as dicks. The most obvious example is Canaria, who was right there with him that day.

Cana calmed him then, and she calms and fortifies everyone still with her “world”, a songstress ability. Another difference form Hundred: the singing is actually animated. Ichiya helps her out by using his power of flight to put her in the best position for the song to be most effective.

The Unknown are little more than pink CGI blobs of various sizes, like the ones we’ve seen in countless other shows. That aside, the multi-pronged battle involving ground troops, naval vessels, and broomstick air wings, had a nice rhythm and flow to it.

Indeed, even much of what would be the more boring bits of this episode are elevated by music from Iwasaki Taku, with theme songs by both ClariS and GARNiDELiA.

There’s also the fact the show all but acknowledges the battle with the Unknown is a cakewalk, and so to avoid the three units and individuals from making it all about who earns the most points, Hime decides to end it with an overpowered attack that ends up destroying a section of a crucial bridge, thus nullifying whatever windfall of points she would have gotten from destroying the last of the Unknown.

This all seems pretty straightforward: post-apoc magic power school with clashing personalities at the top and an arrogant MC with a loyal and affable friend. That is, until one of the seagulls flying up in the sky suddenly vanishes in a pink spark, as if passing through some kind of barrier.

That caught my attention in an otherwise competent but uninspiring start to QC: what happened to these young refugees of a ruined world when they went into cold sleep? Is this futuristic new world, and their fantastical supernatural powers, all an elaborate simulation? We shall see.