Anime roundup 9/17/2015: Show Your Hand

School-Live-10 SCHOOL-LIVE! #10 – It was amply foreshadowed that Tarōmaru was heading for the worst sort of trouble, and, well, there it is. Now the girls have to face up to the awful truth that he’s worse than dead. And three of them have to confront that it happened to Megumi as well. Even worse, everyone’s clear by now that the zombies still retain some memory of their old lives, so it’s not just that they’re dealing with enemies that look like their old friends, those still are Megumi and the cute puppy to some extent.

Kurumi understandably can’t deal with it, and slips up just enough to be infected. Aha, but the emergency manual says there’s an antidote. Except it’s in the basement with Tarōmaru and Megumi.

There’s a definite feeling of change in the air. Yūri has pointed out that they’re going to run low on supplies soon. Yuki is starting to see reality again. The girls will need to put down the ghosts of their past, literally, and with the antidote, it might be safer for them to venture out of the school again.

(Crunchyroll)

insight-10 Gatchaman Crowds insight #10 – At last Yuru opens up and gives his backstory. As was strongly hinted, the shrine is for his brother who died in World War II. A direct parallel is drawn between the nationalist fervor of the time and the the Kū, making Gelsadra a sort of counterpart to Hideki Tōjō, except for stumbling into near-absolute power rather than deliberately seeking it.

Back to Thinking Fast and Slow, X urges Rui to restart the CROWDS project by pointing out that the difference between it and the Kū is that the Kū are the manifestation of the unconscious, reactive mind– system 1– and CROWDS are controlled by the conscious, reflective mind– system 2.

It ties back into Yuru’s breathing exercises, which are about clearing the mind of the “atmosphere” and allowing consciousness to work. And Gelsadra, finally able to let go of all the accumulated emotions of others and developing eir own thought bubble for the first time.

And then the Gatchaman squad gets to kick some alien-mediated-manifestation-of-the-unconsciousness butt. All philosophy and no action would be boring, and besides, the CGI department spent hours and hours creating those powersuit models and by golly they’re going to get used.

(Crunchyroll)

Charlotte-11 Charlotte #11 – All right, who guessed that the title was the name of a comet? Anyone?

So the psychic powers really are a disease, and Shunsuke wants to vaccinate the world against them. A little more examination of the unchallenged assertion that the powers are bad would be nice. Still, the mechanics of the powers Yū has absorbed come together very nicely here. Shunsuke’s enemies come up with a clever way to protect themselves against time-traveller interference, and are well-prepared to put that power out of action. Unfortunately, they didn’t get any inside info on the “collapse” power, which turns out to activate automatically at moments of high stress. Oops.

It’s not going to be a melodrama if someone doesn’t die, and Kumagami has outlived his usefulness to the plot, so off he goes, faithful to the end. Unless Yū is able to regain use of the time-hopping power…

(CrunchyrollWakanimViewsterAnimeLabDaisukiAniplex)

Rokka-11 Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers #11 – Well, there’s a twist you don’t see much in straight sword-and-sorcery stories: mystical knowledge coming second to the awesome power of SCIENCE!

So the extra conspirator was a co-opted Saint, and luckily for Adlet, the demons came up with a very roundabout way to hide the evidence. I mean, if you can conjure up an entire fake giant demon, there have to be a dozen easier ways within your power to get rid of a body.

Still, now with the full plan revealed, and all the suspects gathered together in the drawing room forest, it’s time to reveal the fake hero! Who will it be? Chamot, Flamie, and Hans have been eliminated by Adlet, and Adlet himself had a genuine visitation from the goddess (unless we’re dealing with a very unreliable narrator). Maura’s reactions seem to confirm that she’s innocent as well.

That leaves Nashetania and Goldov. I’ve been leaning toward Nashetania– or someone or something impersonating or possessing her– all this time, and yet we still don’t know anything about Goldov. Just that he’s interested in Nashetania, and he was away for a long time right before the heroes assembled. And that the director was very interested in making sure we saw the minor wound he took when deflecting Flamie’s shot. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

(Crunchyroll)

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