(Please note: this post should have appeared on Thursday, 9/10 and has been re-scheduled due to technical difficulties.)
Gatchaman Crowds insight #9 – The Kū are, quite literally, a manifestation of the social “atmosphere” (kūki, which is indeed spelled with the ideogram for “empty”). Everyone thinks this is great when it the instant disappearance of hated minor criminals (subway gropers are A Thing that Japan is very concerned about, to the point where some trains have women-only cars). But the Kū quickly become the force of stifling conformity and social obligation. Soon you can get eaten for refusing a play date.
Not only does Gelsadra still claim to have no idea what these things are, JJ is now convinced that e is important to fighting them. Certainly e is a powerful fighter when roused, as demonstrated by how e barely breaks a sweat defeating Jō and Sugane. But it’s hard to believe the Kū would even participate in a straight-up fight. It may be that Gelsadra is needed to undo whatever allowed the Kū to come into existence.
Meanwhile, Tsubasa has finally come to her senses and been packed off home to Grandpa Yuru. Next time we might finally get his backstory.
Charlotte #10 – All the pieces are in place for Ayumi’s rescue now. Even though Shunsuke can’t use his power anymore because of contrived reasons, Yū can simply pick it up, jump back a little ways, and fix everything. Poof, Ayumi is alive again. It all feels way too easy.
This episode is better when looking at the developing relationship between Nao and Yū. He’s grown enough that he can thank her for things she did even though they never happened in this timeline, and be understanding that the student council held information back from him. I don’t normally approve of mysteries that depend on someone arbitrarily not telling someone else the thing they need to know, but remember, Yū was a cackling villain when they first found him. Definitely not the sort of person that you want to tell that they have more power than they ever realized.
It does seem cruel for Nao to have sacrificed the power of at least one other psychic just to test her hypothesis, though. Yū had to take control of the levitating guy, but there was no reason for him to jump into the body of the baseball player after the situation was already resolved. And it’s awfully presumptuous to snatch Ayumi’s power away, rather than helping her handle the jealous girl another way and letting her learn to control the power.
Since overuse of Shunsuke’s and (presumably) Sara’s powers rendered both of them blind, is that waiting in Yū’s future as he accumulates more and more of other people’s powers?
(Crunchyroll – Wakanim – Viewster – AnimeLab – Daisuki – Aniplex)
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers #10 – A good mystery story should give the audience the same clues as the investigator, and let the surprises come from the investigator being better at putting them together than the audience. Adlet’s magic fiend fingerprint dust is a no-no. Or, at least, not explaining it to us until now is.
Plus, didn’t they just decide that the story about how to activate the barrier may have been a lie? In which case, the fact that Flamie never touched the altar proves nothing.
Back on the fighting side of things, after the umpteenth repetitive tense conversation between Flamie and Adlet (okay, repetitive except for the confession of feelings, which were pretty obvious by now, right?), it’s a grudge match with Maura and another set of not your standard fantasy powers! Maura seems to feel very strongly about shutting Adlet up as quickly as possible, but is it just because she’s tired of arguing, or is she the fake? I still think she’s for real; Chamot has known her for a long time and certainly doesn’t think she’s changed recently at all. Whereas Goldov was commenting last week that Nashetania has changed…
SCHOOL-LIVE! #9 – It’s traditional for anime series with teenage protagonists to throw in a trip to the beach, so they can fill up an episode with fanservice in lieu of plot and character development. Thankfully, since SCHOOL-LIVE! is trapped at the school, there’s no way it could possibly– oh, damn.
Well, there you go then. Girls in bikinis, nekkid girls in the shower, tons of unnecessary boob shots. Everyone happy? Good, because next it looks like they’ll be killing off the dog. And maybe it won’t even be the zombies killing him, either, now that he’s developed the ability to attract zombies. This is possibly the least fun thing I’ve ever watched on a holiday weekend.
